Price is used by consumers to determine the affordability of products and services. However, some consumers use the price of a product as a measure of its anticipated quality. When consumers are not certain about the quality of a product, they assume that a higher product price indicates a higher quality. The relationship between price and quality is an important aspect of brand positioning that can be important to an organization if properly utilized (Gavious & Lowengart, 2012) .
Customers approach a product or service with expectations of how it might be priced and a higher or lower price might lead to suspicion. The suspicion could be either that the product is of poor quality or the price has been exaggerated. Therefore, it is important to determine the perceived relationship between price and quality so as to set the most appropriate price for the product. Also, it is an aspect that can be applied in goods advertised as designer or high end and are designed to attract customers who are keen on their status. Therefore, the relationship can be invaluable to the performance and brand positioning of a company.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
ISO certification is a standard used in managing quality with the main intention of enhancing efficiency and level of customer satisfaction (Blokdijk, 2012) . The goal is to attach structure of quality management within a company thereby increasing performance through reduction of costs and ensuring that the processes and products are of high quality. The process of ISO certification can at times be very expensive and this brings the need for a company to keenly consider the reasons and expected benefits of undertaking the process. If a company decides to register for the ISO certification, there is need for it to ensure that its suppliers are also certified or compliant to the ISO certification standards so as to maximize on the benefits.
In the 1990s, most companies seemed to be seeking certification mostly because their competitors or other companies were getting registered. Today, before a company undertakes the process it considers the reasons and benefits behind the expensive venture. The major reasons that motivate the management of companies to seek ISO certification are to gain continued business and to maintain efficiency in its operations. Through complying with ISO certification, a company maintains its relationship with existing customers and attracts new ones. Maintaining a good relationship with the customers brings new business through satisfaction of customer demands and advertisement (Farole & Reis, 2012) .
Also, a company could be motivated to register for ISO certification when its main customers demand so. For example, most automobile companies require that their suppliers are certified in QS 9000 which is equivalent to ISO 9000. Another reason for a company to become registered in ISO is because of the belief that after certification, it will have access to most markets in Europe. This is because most companies in Europe do business only with suppliers that are ISO certified. Finally, some companies want to be ISO certified for advertisement purposes and to give an impression that they are better than their competitors. In most cases, it gives competitive advantage over competitors who are not ISO certified.
Some of the important elements of competition in foreign market are standards, replacement parts and service. All these aspects are highly regarded by foreign customers and any company that meets the demands becomes profitable and competitive (Dienel, 2016) . This implies that the lack of any of the aforementioned elements may lead to loss of business for both local and foreign companies. For example, if two equally performing companies were to deliver spare parts to a customer, the company that is able to deliver the spare parts fastest and most economically will get the business and the other one that makes slow deliveries will miss out on the business and many others. This applies even to service and standards in the sense that a company of higher standards and better services gets more business and is more competitive than one with low standards and poor services. Also, in foreign markets, standards and service support businesses into the export market by reducing existing barriers to trade. They create a potential to trade with other international partners by proving the commitment of a given company to quality. Finally, they help in enhancing innovation of a business and in carving out a competitive edge that increases the economy of the company’s host country.
References
Arieh Gavious, O. L. (2012). Price-quality relationship in the presence of asymmetric dynamic reference quality effects. Marketing Letters , 137-161.
Blokdijk, G. (2012). ISO 9000 ISO 9001 100 Success Secrets; The Missing ISO 9000, ISO 9001, ISO 9001 2000, ISO 9000 2000 Checklist, Certification, Quality, Audit and Training Guide. Aspley: Emereo Publishing.
Dienel, H.-L. (2016). Linking Networks: The Formation of Common Standards and Visions for Infrastructure Development. London: Routledge.
Jose Guilherme Reis, T. F. (2012). Trade Competitiveness Diagnostic Toolkit. Washington DC: World Bank Publications.
