Quality services in manufacturing of automobiles in the context of

competitive advantage:

Service Quality
Service quality is assumed as perceived quality which means a customers level of judgement about the
service which a company is providing to the customer, the quality is basically the overall appearance of
the relative inferiority/superiority of the organization and its services. “Service Quality is the sum of
features and characteristics in a product or service that bear upon its ability to satisfy needs”.Indeed,
this is the reason that all the strategies are based on quality standards

In an attempt to develop a model for service quality, it was found that the variety of factors namely
resource constraints, market conditions, management in differences may result in disagreement
between management perceptions of customer expectations and the actual specifications established for
service developed a model to understand the service quality.

Competitive Advantage
Understanding the concept of competitive advantage, the evolution of the competitive advantage is a
function of the way the firm organizes and manages the activities. Organizations create value though
these activities. competitive advantage can be gained by offering more value to the customers than
competitors. Competitive
advantages are formed by such activities, features, and qualities of an organization that are better than
their competition. Competitive advantage
creation is possible to define only compared to rivals/competitors meaning that the hotel company
needs to create more value than its competitors.

Service quality is considered an important tool for a firm’s struggle to differentiate itself from its
competitors. The relevance of service quality to companies is emphasized here especially the fact that it
offers a competitive advantage to companies that strive to improve it and hence bring customer
satisfaction. Quality of services is one of the most important factors for achieving a competitive
advantage.
Manufacturing of automobile to gain competitive advantage

A fundamental trend in manufacturing industries is the movement from a “pure manufacturing” Image
to a business model in which a central role is assigned to the service component of products based on
the value they provide to consumers .The movement towards a service-based economy has concur with
this change and has encouraged many manufacturing firms to put more stress on the delivery of
services associated with
their product offering. In short, services have become an important part of competitive strategy in
traditional manufacturing industries. Automobile industries also have huge effect on consumers
demand as long as product quality and services attribute are concerned.

In the words of a spoke person from Ford when asked about the reasons behind the warranty length
increase: “We think that some people weren’t considering Ford products because we didn’t have an
extended power train warranty versus some of our competition. We hope that it will increase our
competitiveness.We think that customers do want it, and do care about it

Taking Toyota as an example:

One of the greatest advantages of Toyota is its strong focus on lean production. Lean production is
aimed at the elimination of waste in any area of production including customer relations, product
design, supplier networks and factory management. In order to achieve these goals, Toyota pioneered
and implemented several highly efficient strategies. To meet its objectives, one of the primary tools of
a system are signals between different points in the process, which tell production when to make the
next part. Such signals maintain an orderly and efficient flow of materials throughout the entire
manufacturing process.

Another fundamentally important for a highly efficient and effective production is the continuous
improvement of the production line and the facilities. Only if the machinery and the equipment are at
the forefront of technology and are working reliably without any defects and failures. Based on its
strong resources and capabilities, which ultimately leads to the cost reduction and helps to provide
better service quality to the customers which also leads to the competitive advantage. Toyota has
managed to become the most efficient automobile manufacturer in the world, with the highest overall
productivity. In addition, these competitive advantages allowed Toyota as one of only very few
automobile manufacturers to successfully implement a strategy that may in fact be the true basis for
Toyota’s global success: The strategy of the best-cost provider. This service quality in the
manufacturing of the product has a huge impact on services attribute on consumer demand of Toyota.

Toyota having a good service quality and product quality by following effective manufacturing process
can lead to the good impact on the consumers demand which will increase the competitive advantage in
the market of automobiles.