Any type of commercial organization, such as a firm, can achieve a competitive advantage through a wide range of key elements. According to Disaggregated Competitive Priorities Analysis, a company gains such an advantage by focusing on improving quality, which can be divided into eight dimensions (Garvin, 1987). These include perceived quality, aesthetics, serviceability, durability, conformance, reliability, features, and performance (Garvin, 1987). The given characteristics can be considered as analytical framework components of the strategic level. By focusing on eight dimensions, a firm can obtain a significant degree of competitiveness in the market. For example, perceived quality is a major aspect of a product or service because it is based on reputation and marketing rather than objective measurements. Aesthetics build a basis for the brand identity of a firm by making appealing associations between the overall style and good within the customers’ minds.
Serviceability also contributes to increasing the competitive advantage of a company. One should understand that no product or service can be generated with any faults. Therefore, a firm needs to provide repair options for defective ones. Durability is critical in determining the product life length because consumers of certain goods expect that they will be able to use them for a prolonged period. A firm can also achieve high levels of competitiveness by conformance, which means that products’ or services’ key elements meet the current standards. For example, modern smartphone users expect certain features, such as high-resolution cameras, properly functioning touchscreens, and gigabytes of built-in memory storage. Reliability determines goods’ fail-proof aspect, where customers expect that there will not be any failures. Lastly, both features and performance are paramount in achieving competitive advantage because the former improves the appeal of a product, and the latter contributes to its operational elements.
Reference
Garvin, D. A. (1987). Competing on the eight dimensions of quality. Harvard Business Review. Web.