THE FIRST CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Purpose of the Research
According to Apudo (2010), today's consumers are more likely to stick with a brand if it consistently produces high-quality items. According to Brown&Eisenhard (1995), providing consistently excellent and high-quality items over a long period of time increases the value of customer familiarity and trustworthiness, which is a result of customer pleasure. Historically, most organizations' success has been linked to their ability to provide high-quality goods, and this has been based on their ability to recognize customer wants and quickly produce items that meet these needs (Brown et al., 1995). As a result, product development may be seen as the lifeblood of every company (Hassan, Hamid, Muhammad, & Rahman, 2010). As a consequence, Connor, Galvin, and Evans (2005) note that firms must now focus on the value that consumers require rather than the value that products deliver. In order to keep customers, companies are increasingly designing and manufacturing items that fulfill their needs.
It is clear from the above that businesses spend substantially in quality management systems in order to guarantee that their goods and services are of the highest quality possible, which results in customer satisfaction and retention. High technical standards and strong customer interactions are crucial to ensuring customer happiness, as indicated by Jun & Cai (2010) in their study of corporate organizations. Consumer needs and expectations must be met if enterprises are to succeed in a competitive market, according to Apudo (2010). Due to the fact that consumers put a high value on what they get from using or consuming things, this is why (Jaafreh and Al-abedallat, 2013).
An organization's ability to produce effective and efficient products may be guided and regulated via a series of coordinated measures known as quality product management. To put it another way, client retention is based on the availability of high-quality items, which is why this collection of processes is so important. Michael and Grend (2019) did a research on product quality and customer retention in Ghana and found that customer retention and brand loyalty are influenced by product dependability, perceived quality, and brand trust. Because of this, excellent goods are crucial to client pleasure and loyalty.
1.2 Defintion of the Issue
Satisfying the needs of consumers is a priority for businesses, according to William and Baldasare, Patrick (2007).
Product development is an interdisciplinary activity that involves inputs from almost all organizational departments rather than just being a marketing or design challenge.
However, the product development process relies on three key functions. William and Patrick Baldasare (2007) argue that they include marketing and design, as well as the manufacture of high-quality items.
Noncompliance with the processes and modus operandi of quality control management implementation has impeded most firms' adoption of quality management systems. Although they have concentrated on small enterprises in developed countries, research on quality control management and consumer retention have indicated that a manufacturing company's capacity to keep its customers via the regular supply of high-quality goods is crucial to its survival. As customers have access to a wide range of options, today's business climate is more competitive than ever before. In order to prevent rivals from stealing their consumers, companies are working hard to maintain their customers and build customer loyalty (Chalotra, 2012). It's impossible to exaggerate the significance of factors like product quality when it comes to retaining customers. In the simplest terms, a quality product is one that fulfills the needs of the client. According to Jun (2010), consumers are loyal to companies that consistently and effectively satisfy their needs via the availability of high-quality items. As a consequence, if manufacturers want to retain and attract new consumers, they must acknowledge the issues that impact the quality of their goods. Product quality has been shown to have a significant influence on customer retention in manufacturing companies.
Aims And Purpose Of The Research
Product quality has a significant influence on client retention in manufacturing organizations, according to this research. Specifically, the investigation will look at;
Determine whether there is a connection between product quality and consumer loyalty.
Product durability and client retention should be examined.
Examine the link between customer retention and product conformity.
1.4 Hypotheses for Future Research
For the purposes of this research, we want to investigate the following claims:
H01: Product reliability and client retention have no connection at all.
Product durability has no substantial effect on customer retention.
Neither product conformity nor customer retention have a strong link, according to hypothesis H03.
The study's significance is estimated as 1.5.
The importance of offering high-quality goods to customers has long been recognized, yet despite this, some businesses continue to regard it as an afterthought. So this research will once again remind and educate manufacturing organizations on the need of producing excellent goods and maintaining high quality standards in the market so that they can please their consumers and avoid losing them to their rivals.
It will also be used as a review of the literature by succeeding researchers. As a result, other students who may want to undertake research in this field will be able to utilize this study as a source of information that may be analyzed. When it comes to understanding how product quality affects customer retention in manufacturing organizations, this study's findings are always a significant addition to the body of knowledge.
1.6 Study Subjects and Objectives
According to the findings, manufacturing businesses' ability to retain customers is directly impacted by the quality of their products. In addition, it will look at the connections between product dependability and customer retention, product durability and customer retention, and product conformity and customer retention in more depth. Some manufacturing firms in Enugu State will be used as case studies for this research, which will be done there.
1.7. The Study's Limitations
Time limits, money constraints, language obstacles, and the attitude of the respondents were some of the challenges faced by the researcher while conducting this study.
There was also researcher bias involved. As a result, biases in data collection, interviewing and sampling may have been introduced as well as the interpretation of the results that resulted. All of this has the potential to have a significant impact on the results and conclusions.
As a result, the results of this research may not be applicable to other businesses or locations since they were based on a small sample.
1.8 Term Definitions
Only when a product meets a variety of criteria specific to how it will perform in the hands of the end user can it be considered high quality.
This refers to a firm or product's capacity to keep its consumers for a certain amount of time.
Reference
Customer retention in micro and small firms in the Nairobi city-county of Kenya is the focus of this study.
Chakraborty V. (2012). Customer satisfaction with items from small-scale enterprises.
Sohail Hassan (S), Hamid (A), Muhammad (N.), and Rahman (N) Decisions made by a manufacturing business in regard to purchasing industrial items.
Al-abedallat, A.Z., and A.B. Jaafreh (2013). Organizational Performance in Jordan as a Result of Quality Management Practices
M. Jun and S. Cai (2010). Investigating the links between internal customer satisfaction and other aspects of service quality inside the company.
Lars Nilsson, M. D. Johnson, and A. A. Gustafsson are the authors of this study (2001). Customer happiness as a result of excellent procedures.
A Study of Product Quality and Consumer Brand Loyalty (2019), by Michael Nwiepe and David Grend.
"O'Connor, G., "Kathy," "Evans," and "Kevin" (2005). The role of technology in electronic marketing and marketing communications. Kimmel's fresh approach to marketing communications.
Asymmetrical Effects of Negative and Positive Attribute-Level Performance on Overall Satisfaction and Repurchase Intentions, by William T.
.