Fundamentals of Management 6th Edition by Ricky Griffin

Exercise 7

Exercise Overview
As we noted in this chapter, the quality of a product or service is relative to price and customer expectations. This exercise is designed to show that a manager's diagnostic skills-his or her ability to visualize the most appropriate response to a situation-can be useful in positioning a product's quality relative to price and customer expectations.
Exercise Background
Think of a recent occasion when you purchased a tangible product-say, clothing, electronic equipment, luggage, or professional supplies-which you subsequently came to feel was of especially high quality. Now think of another product that you regarded as being of appropriate or adequate quality, and then a third product that you judged to be of low or poor quality. (You should now have three separate products in mind.) Next, recall three parallel experiences involving purchases of services. Examples might include an airline, train, or bus trip; a restaurant meal; a haircut; or an oil change for your car. (Again, you should have three examples in total.)
Finally, recall three experiences involving both products and services. Perhaps you got some information about a product that you were buying or you returned a defective or broken product for a refund or warranty repair. Were there any instances in which there was an apparent disparity between product and service quality? Did a poor-quality product, for instance, receive surprisingly good service or a high-quality product receive mediocre service?
Exercise Task
Can high-quality customer service offset adequate or even poor product quality? Can outstanding product quality offset adequate or even poor customer service?