...Journal of Economic Literature 2010, 48:4, 935–963 http:www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.48.4.935 Quality Disclosure and Certification: Theory and Practice David Dranove and Ginger Zhe Jin* This essay reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on quality disclosure and certification. After comparing quality disclosure with other quality assurance mechanisms and describing a brief history of quality disclosure, we address two sets of theoretical issues. First, why don’t sellers voluntarily disclose through a process of “unraveling” and, given the lack of unraveling, is it desirable to mandate seller disclosure? Second, when we rely on certifiers to act as the intermediary of quality disclosure, do certifiers necessarily report unbiased and accurate information? We further review empirical evidence on these issues, with a particular focus on healthcare, education, and finance. The empirical review covers quality measurement, the effect of third-party disclosure on consumer choice and seller behavior, as well as the economics of certifiers. ( JEL D18, K32, L15, M31) 1. Introduction A young couple expecting their first child might consult healthgrades.com hospital rankings to help choose where to deliver their baby. A year later, the couple decides they need an SUV and consults performance specifications provided by manufacturers and reads Consumer Reports to learn about reliability. Soon thereafter, the couple ...
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...Community Health Nursing: Quality of Life and Functioning A. Personal Perceptions After reviewing the case of Mrs. Thomas and her situation, there are many feelings I have about the final outcome. As nurses, we always have to take our feelings into account and rationalize what we feel about the health and well being of our patients. After a BRAC analysis was performed, significant results were indicated. I feel empathy for Mrs. Thomas because this technology showed what her odds were for future recurrence of breast cancer. I’m disappointed that a radical mastectomy was not suggested to be performed with Mrs. Thomas’ first surgery to help avoid a further decline. It appears almost obvious that this should have been encouraged by her medical team. I do, however, understand that it is easier to look back on this than to look forward with what options remain. What is most important is Mrs. Thomas’ quality of life for the duration of what time she has left. I define quality of life as the ability to be as emotionally, physically and mentally fulfilled as possible. Quality of life is finding all the moments that matter and cherishing them on a daily basis. There will be better days than others, but what is key is to understand the big picture. The major challenge is promoting the best quality of life when the big picture ultimately has a poor outcome. Health promotion is crucial to increase Mrs. Thomas’ quality of life. Interventions will be initiated in all areas...
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... Making Customers Feel Six Sigma Quality Globalization and instant access to information, products and services have changed the way our customers conduct business — old business models no longer work. Today’s competitive environment leaves no room for error. We must delight our customers and relentlessly look for new ways to exceed their expectations. This is why Six Sigma Quality has become a part of our culture. What is Six Sigma? First, what it is not. It is not a secret society, a slogan or a cliché. Six Sigma is a highly disciplined process that helps us focus on developing and delivering near-perfect products and services. Why ”Sigma“? The word is a statistical term that measures how far a given process deviates from perfection. The central idea behind Six Sigma is that if you can measure how many “defects” you have in a process, you can systematically figure out how to eliminate them and get as close to “zero defects” as possible. Six Sigma has changed the DNA of GE — it is now the way we work — in everything we do and in every product we design. GE’s Evolution Towards Quality GE began moving towards a focus on quality in the late ‘80s. Work-Out®, the start of our journey, opened our culture to ideas from everyone, everywhere, decimated the bureaucracy and made boundaryless behavior a reflexive, natural part of our culture, thereby creating the learning environment that led to Six Sigma. Now, Six Sigma, in turn, is embedding quality thinking — process thinking — across...
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...regulatory compliance. Worldwide Locations With locations close to sourcing areas in over 40 countries, we offer you the convenience of global coverage with local service where you need it. Technical Knowledge & Leadership Our staff participate in the development of international, industry and regulatory standards worldwide, keeping you and us at the forefront of changes in safety requirements and testing methods. Personalized Service At Bureau Veritas, we are committed to meeting your evolving needs and helping you anticipate new market trends. We offer you customized and specialized services to meet your quality assurance needs throughout your supply chain. Providing you with the highest levels of service is a priority for us. So we do the Inspection, Factory & Social Audit to show responsibility by making sure that its facilities, equipment, products and services comply with quality, health & safety, environmental and social responsibility imperatives, whether they are: - regulatory: imposed by applicable codes or regulations which condition the "license to operate", - voluntary: based on sector specific requirements or recognized international standards, - proprietary: based on your own schemes, standards or requirements. We are able to carry out inspections of your facilities, equipment and products, and audits of your systems and processes against practically any referential, on a local or worldwide basis. In a number of cases, inspections and audits will ultimately enable...
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...Look at Quality and Its Impact on Today’s Environment MGT/449 June 11, 2012 Nikki Henderson Instructor: Ian Finley What is quality? “Quality itself has been defined as fundamentally relational: ‘Quality is the ongoing process of building and sustaining relationships by assessing, anticipating, and fulfilling stated and implied needs,’ Quality Digest, 2001).” Even those quality definitions which are not expressly relational have an implicit relational character. Why do we try to do the right thing right, on time, every time? To build and sustain relationships. Why do we seek zero defects and conformance to requirements? To build and sustain relationships. Why do we seek to structure features or characteristics of a product or service that bear on their ability to satisfy stated and implied needs? To build and sustain relationships. The focus of continuous improvement is, likewise, the building and sustaining of relationships. It would be difficult to find a realistic definition of quality that did not have, implicit within the definition, a fundamental express or implied focus of building and sustaining relationships (Quality Digest, 2001.) Elements of Quality There are three key elements of quality: customer, process, and employee (Key Elements of Quality, n.d...
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... Making Customers Feel Six Sigma Quality Globalization and instant access to information, products and services have changed the way our customers conduct business — old business models no longer work. Today’s competitive environment leaves no room for error. We must delight our customers and relentlessly look for new ways to exceed their expectations. This is why Six Sigma Quality has become a part of our culture. What is Six Sigma? First, what it is not. It is not a secret society, a slogan or a cliché. Six Sigma is a highly disciplined process that helps us focus on developing and delivering near-perfect products and services. Why ”Sigma“? The word is a statistical term that measures how far a given process deviates from perfection. The central idea behind Six Sigma is that if you can measure how many “defects” you have in a process, you can systematically figure out how to eliminate them and get as close to “zero defects” as possible. Six Sigma has changed the DNA of GE — it is now the way we work — in everything we do and in every product we design. GE’s Evolution Towards Quality GE began moving towards a focus on quality in the late ‘80s. Work-Out®, the start of our journey, opened our culture to ideas from everyone, everywhere, decimated the bureaucracy and made boundaryless behavior a reflexive, natural part of our culture, thereby creating the learning environment that led to Six Sigma. Now, Six Sigma, in turn, is embedding quality thinking — process thinking — across...
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...until 1947. Dr. Ishikawa might now begin his profession as a cohort educator at the University of Tokyo, in 1949 Dr. Ishikawa joined the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers quality control examination bunch, it was his aptitudes at activating huge assemblies of individuals towards a particular regular objective that was generally answerable for Japan's quality-change, and is likewise one of the world`s principal powers on quality control. He then attempted the presidency of the Musashi Institute of Technology in the year of 1978, and he has likewise helped many organizations, including IBM, Bridgestone, and Komatsu to turn out higher quality items at much lower cost. Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa needed to change the way individuals consider work, he urged all administrators to oppose getting substance with only enhancing an item's quality, demanding that quality change can just go above and beyond, his thought of companywide quality control called for proceeded client administration. This implied that a client might keep getting administration significantly in the wake of accepting the items, this administration might stretch out over the organization itself in all levels of administration, and even past the organization to the commonplace lives of those included, as stated by Dr. Ishikawa, quality change is a consistent methodology, and it can just be taken above and beyond. Dr. Ishikawa calls center administration and upper administration the guardian and instructor of...
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...----------------------- Energy Trace Barrier Analysis (ETBA) – Qualitative analysis technique used to identify hazards by tracing energy flow into, thru, & out of a system. “Energy hazard” is defind as an energy source tht adversely impacts an unprotectd or vulnerable target. Assessment is conductd by following the energy path to determine if adequate controls are in place to assure undesird energy release does not occur.– Energy flow is tracd through the system operation & energy transfer points are identifid– Barriers to ento energy flow are evaluatd to determine adequacy • ETBA process can be applied at any stage of the project lifecycle & can be very useful for:– Systems design –Developing procedures(e.g., lockout--‐tagout). – Planning/judging operational readiness. – During mishap investigation or making “safe--‐to--‐enter” decisions at mishap sites. ETBA Approach • Examine system & identify all energy sources • For each energy source, trace its path through the system • Identify all targets tht could be vulnerable to the energy source • Identify all barriers in the energy flow path • Determine if existing controls are adequate. Energy Source– any material, mechanism, or process tht contains potential energy tht can be releasd •Electrical •Mechanical •Chemical •Radiation• Sonic• Thermal• Nuclear• Pneumatic• Hydraulic• Others Energy barrier --‐ any design or administrative method tht prevents energy from being releasd or prevents a hazardous energy source from reaching a...
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...372 Quick Review Sheet Videos Toyota • Lift trucks, number 1 in lift truck sales since 2002 Ships • WWII, German U boats sunk more ships than could be produced • Henry J Kaiser, not a sailor, worked on Hoover and San Fran Bay bridge • Liberty Ships, 3 per day, fastest produced in 80 hours Deming History • W. Edwards Deming, statistician who worked for census bureau • Created JIT, Deming circle • Focused on quality control and that workers were important Alaskan Pipeline • Large influx of workers, 28000 at the peak • Wages were good and living quarters were nice • Only 10% women and there were some marriages • Main issue was permafrost so had to build above ground Container Ships • 90% of materials shipped in steel containers • 1/3 of imports brought through Long Beach California JIT – Just in Time, MRP used to combat risk MRP (inbound) – Materials Requirements Planning, Part of larger system QR – Quick Response ECR – Efficient Consumer Response VICS – Voluntary Inter-Industry Communication Standards Committee POS – point of sale DRP (outbound) – Distribution Requirements Planning SKUs – Stock-Keeping Units STB – Surface Transportation Board ICC – Interstate Commerce Commission EOQ – Economic Order Quantity, Works best with single facility, always round up EOQ = square root (2DP/CV) P = Ordering Cost per order D = Annual demand of product C = Annual inventory carrying cost (as a % of product value) V = value of inventory item ...
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...oil – called FLUCOR 405e) with thirty percent of concentration and seventy percent of water. There was no follow up for all costs involved and performance in the operation that could ensure that the usage of the new oil was advantageous for the company. (4) The facilitators were EHS department (Environment Health and Safety), Lubrication department, and Manufacturing department. As internal clients two areas of the company were considered the main departments with possible benefits, Manufacturing and Management tools. (5) Manager EHS Department Quality Engineerig Process Engineering Accounting / Cost Environment Safety Roughness Approval Capability Operator Process Tool Acquisition Maintenance Effluent treatment Reuse Fire Leaking Handly Storage PPE Satisfaction Setup Machining conditions Production rate Part / grind Adaptation Preventive Consumption Manager EHS Department Quality Engineerig Process...
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...According to GE, (2010) there are three main elements of quality; customer, process, and the employee. GE has used these elements of quality to keep their business booming and maintain their competitive advantage. GE has a philosophy that says delighting their customers is a necessity because if they don’t delight their customers then someone else will. W. Edwards Deming is one of the most well known pioneers in Quality and is known for developing the Deming Cycle. The Deming Cycle consists of five parts; 1. Plan – Conduct consumer research and use the research in product planning. 2. Do – Produce the product 3. Check – Check the product to make sure it was produced the way it was planned 4. Act – Market the product 5. Analyze – Analyze how the product is received in the marketplace in terms of quality, cost, and any other criteria The Deming Cycle was developed to link the production of a product with consumer needs and focus the resources of all departments. This philosophy is both summarized and operationalized by Deming’s fourteen points. The fourteen points summarize Deming’s views on what a company must do to effect a positive transition from business as usual to world-class quality and they can be modified to fit specific applications. The elements of quality are useful in today’s business market because no longer are people just trying to compete locally. With the technology available today it is making it easier for companies to go global. When a company...
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...mentioned the JoAnn.com discount of 10% on two sewing machines, and the Offermatica graphic example? The author wants to illustrate the application of randomized test in company. Offermatica shows the way that Super Crunching often exploits technology to shorten the time between data collection, analysis and implementation and conduct multiple tests at once. It also emphasizes the power of testing multiple combinations that it lets companies be bolder. As a conclusion, the power of randomization is about marketing. The author mentions a method known as Taguchi. Google this term to get more insight on this and write a synopsis of this technique. Taguchi methods are statistical methods developed by Genichi Taguchi to improve the quality of manufactured goods, and more recently also applied to engineering, biotechnology, marketing and advertising. Professional statisticians have welcomed the goals and improvements brought about by Taguchi methods, particularly by Taguchi's development of designs for studying variation, but have criticized the inefficiency of some of Taguchi's proposals. Give your thoughts about the number of tests run by Captial One in 2006. Is it possible for one company to do this much testing? I think it’s possible. In fact ,Captial One has been running randomized tests for a long time. Way back in 1995, it ran an even larger experiment by generating a mailing list of 600,000...
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...three primary locations and one “sister” café. There is the “North Star” location at Burnet and 183, the “Texas Star” location at 30th and Guadalupe, and the “South Star” location at Little TX Lane and IH-35. The sister is called the South Congress Café which is also locally owned by the same owners. Trudy’s is moderately priced for the great quality of food, drinks, and service. It’s casual but fun environment attracts a variety of guests which results in a very high-volume restaurant. The service is extraordinary, despite the occasional glitch in which case the management does a fabulous job in taking care of. It seems as though Trudy’s tries to exceed all the expectations of its guests to keep them more than happy and always willing to come back. The menu at Trudy’s has a decent variety of food to offer, all for an affordable price. Other than the typical Tex-Mex, (tacos, enchiladas, nachos etc…) they have items from salads, to chicken fried steak, to fish and shrimp tacos, to stuffed avocados, to mango tilapia quesadillas. Some items on the menu that are found at other Tex-Mex or Mexican restaurants are typically served with better quality at Trudy’s. From personal experience, I’ve had “flaquities” at Serranos as well as at Trudy’s and Trudy’s won by a long shot. Not only that, but I’ve also had enchiladas at Tres Amigos and Trudy’s, and again, Trudy’s wasn’t comparable. The food always comes out in less than 20 minutes and is typically still steaming, depending on what was...
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...Lecture 5 SIX SIGMA 1 COMPANIES USING Six Sigma is in use in virtually all industries around the world. Some of companies can be listed as: • Motorola • Ericsson • General Electric • Sony • Ford Motor Co. • CITI bank 2 WHAT IS SIGMA ? • A term (Greek) used in statistics to represent standard deviation from mean value, an indicator of the degree of variation in a set of a process. • Sigma measures how far a given process deviates from perfection. Higher sigma capability, better performance 3 WHAT IS SIX SIGMA? • Six Sigma - A highly disciplined process that enables organizations deliver nearly perfect products and services. • A philosophy and a goal: as perfect as practically possible. • A methodology and a symbol of quality. 4 WHAT IS SIX SIGMA? • A statistical concept that measures a process in terms of defects – at the six sigma level, there 3.4 defects per million opportunities. But, it is much more! 5 WHY SIX SIGMA ? • a natural evolution in business to increase profit by eliminating defects • business environment now demands and rewards innovation more than ever before due to: Customer Expectations Technological Change Global Competition 6 Examples of use • HR managers can use 6 sigma to reduce the cycle time for hiring employees • Regional sales managers can use it to improve forecast reliability, pricing strategy, or pricing variation 7 Why do we call Six Sigma? 8 • At 3σ level, 99.73% of output will fall...
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...Project Selection Method and Flowchart for a Project OPS/TM571 October 31, 2011 Project Selection Method and Flowchart for a Project My organization has a handful of customers, but because the product in the field is still immature, I receive a lot of support issues that need almost instant response on root cause analysis. These issues usually come through email or phone calls from the sales engineers. The steps I follow are, once the issue comes through an email or phone, I file a defect in the defect tracking system with the information at hand, and then the issue goes to engineers to reproduce and perform the root cause analysis. After that, the priority is to find the workaround for customer, provide the feedback in email and wait for customer response on the workaround, in some cases, the customer needs issue fix in the product and that request goes through the product management. I would like to streamline this process, because the email communication for the issues is very confusing and time consuming. Project Selection Method to Evaluate the Process Improvement List of problems: 1. Issues coming through emails do not have enough information about the issue itself, such as platform, configuration, customer setup, priority of issue, frequency of issue. 2. The sales engineers do not file any issue in the defect tracking system and email directly to engineers many a times for customer issues. 3. The emails have multiple issues under one subject matter...
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