Quality Cambridge IGCSE Business Studies revision

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In plain words

Quality does not mean luxury. It means the product does what the customer expects it to do. A cheap pen that writes every time is a quality product. An expensive one that leaks is not.

There are two ways to get it: catch the faults at the end, or stop them happening at all.

5 things to know

  1. Quality means a product or service meets customers' expectations and is fit for its purpose.
  2. It matters because it builds reputation and customer loyalty, cuts the cost of returns, complaints and waste, and lets a business charge more than its rivals.
  3. Quality control is checking products for faults, usually at the end of production. Faulty goods are stopped before they reach customers, but the materials and time spent on them are already wasted.
  4. Quality assurance is setting standards and checking at every stage, so that faults are prevented. Every worker is responsible for quality.
  5. Total quality management (TQM) is a culture in which everyone in the business is responsible for quality all the time, aiming to get things right first time.

Tips and tricks

  • Quality control finds faults. Quality assurance prevents them. That contrast is worth a mark in most questions.
  • Quality assurance needs trained, committed staff. If workers do not care, it does not work, and that is its weakness.
5 questions, about 2 minutes.

It lands in your notebook with its questions as flashcards.

Quality: 5 questions and answers

These are the quiz’s questions. Do the quiz first, then come back here for the ones that got you.

  1. Quality control involves
    • training every worker to prevent faults
    • inspecting products to find faults (the answer)
    • lowering prices
    • advertising the product

    Inspectors check finished or part-finished goods.

  2. Which is a disadvantage of quality control?
    • faulty goods reach customers
    • faults are found after materials and time have been used (the answer)
    • workers are responsible for quality
    • it needs no inspectors

    The waste has already happened by the time the fault is found.

  3. In quality assurance, who is responsible for quality?
    • inspectors only
    • customers
    • every worker at every stage (the answer)
    • suppliers only

    Standards are built into each stage of production.

  4. Why does good quality allow a business to charge higher prices?
    • Its costs are lower.
    • Customers will pay more for a product they trust. (the answer)
    • The law requires it.
    • Competitors have closed.

    Reputation is worth money.

  5. What does total quality management aim for?
    • checking only the finished product
    • getting things right first time, with everyone responsible (the answer)
    • employing more inspectors
    • producing as cheaply as possible

    Quality becomes part of everyone's job.

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