TQM in new car dealerships

Transcription

1 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at : a study from the firms perspective Kym Fraser Barbara Hardy Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia Bill Tseng Department of Industrial, Manufacturing and Systems Engineering, University of Texas, El Paso, Texas, USA, and Hans-Henrik Hvolby Centre for Logistics, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark 5 Received 30 August 2011 Revised 4 February 2012 Accepted 15 March 2012 Abstract Purpose New car play an integral role in the initial and on-going relationship between the purchaser and vehicle manufacturer. Evidence, mostly anecdotal, suggests that the buying and servicing experience of the paying public in regards to new car is far from ideal. With continuous improvement systems such as total quality management (TQM) firmly embedded into the manufacturing and supply side of the car industry, questions still exist surrounding the level of quality being adopted by automotive. The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate if a quality culture is being developed within the dealership network in South Australia by testing a number of key principles of TQM such as: the support and commitment from top management, customer focus and satisfaction, process management, and employee involvement. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey was designed and all 105 new car in the greater Adelaide region were targeted. The service manager from each dealership was advised of the pending posted questionnaire and an excellent response rate of 66 percent was achieved. Findings Results indicated a reasonably high level of commitment to quality within, including the important success factors of TQM. Questions still remain about quality endorsement, the type of quality systems being used and the depth of penetration of quality at the ground level. Research limitations/implications The limiting features of this study surround the descriptive nature of the data analysis and the fact that the study was only conducted in one major city in Australia. Practical implications The findings of this paper can give some implications for senior managers to consider when developing firm s policies. Originality/value Empirical studies on quality in automotive are very scarce in the literature. Therefore, this paper provides an insight into the quality culture of new car and examines if key TQM principles such as top management support, customer focus, process management, and employee involvement are in fact practised. Keywords Total quality management, Critical success factors, Cars, Sales, Automotive, Empirical study, Australia Paper type Research paper Introduction The level of service quality demanded by new car owners is continuing to rise, increasing the pressure on manufacturers and alike to provide better quality products and services (Hulett, 2008; Talwar, 2011; Kristianto et al., 2012). While the manufactured quality of cars has greatly improved over the past few The TQM Journal Vol. 25 No. 1, 2013 pp r Emerald Group Publishing Limited DOI /

2 TQM 25,1 6 decades (Lin and Lu, 2006; Zadry and Yusof, 2006), the quality provided by is still being questioned. Dealerships form an important link in the value system of the automotive industry, which can be broken down into four major groups: component suppliers, car manufacturers, dealership networks, and buyers. Dealerships represent the car manufacturers at the point of sale and act as a means of continuous contact between the car producers and the customers, long after the customer has taken delivery of the vehicle. Evidence, most of which is anecdotal, tends to indicate that there is reluctance within many new car to embrace quality principles, leading to a less than desirable experience for customers buying and servicing motor vehicles. Joetan and Kleiner (2004, p. 49) state Automobile salespersons have long been viewed by the general public as cunning and cold. Sinha (2006, p. 8) discusses the need for improved quality in an article titled Quality needed at more car. In a survey by the Harvard Business School, automotive servicing and repair was found to be among the most unpleasant experiences faced by American consumers (Andaleeb and Basu, 1994). One way for to improve their level of service and develop a quality culture is to implement a total quality management (TQM) philosophy throughout their organisations. This proven business strategy has been successfully employed by many organisations around the world, not only improving quality of products and services but also reducing business costs (Valmohammadi, 2011). Prajogo (2005, p. 217) explains that the emergence of TQM has been one of the major developments in management practice in the last two decades. It is now recognised that firms which foster a culture of quality service through TQM are more successful than firms that do not (Kumar et al., 2009). Having said that, Evans and Lindsay (2002, p. 10) argued that while many organisations have integrated quality principles so tightly with daily work activities that they no longer view quality as something special. Unfortunately, many other organisations have barely begun. It is also recognised that most of the TQM attention has been directed towards manufacturing practice with little consideration being given to the service sector (Khamalah and Lingaraj, 2007; Kumar et al., 2011). Therefore, the aim of this paper is to empirically investigate if a quality culture is being developed within the dealership network in South Australia by testing a number of key principles of TQM such as: the support and commitment from top management, customer focus and satisfaction, process management, and employee involvement. Automotive industry, car, and the perceived problems The automotive industry is one of the oldest industries in the world. The well-being of the industry has long been seen as an indicator to the health of the general economy in many developed countries. It is not just the manufacturing of cars and car parts but the marketing, selling, and after-sale service have an equally enormous impact on the economy. In 1999, 18 million automobiles were sold in the USA. In the same year, car manufacturers spent about $8.3 billion advertising aimed directly at prospective car buyers (Spaulding and Plank, 2007). In global terms, the car industry is one of the most globalised industries in the world, employing upwards of 20 million people and has been a long-standing driver of economic prosperity (Strategic Direction, 2002). The European market alone offers about 50 car marques, each with a varying array of models. The car industry also plays an important and major role in the Australian economy, contributing an annual turnover of over $88 billion and the employment of

3 over 230,000 Australians (Motor Trades Association of Australia (MTAA), 2002). In 2007, new motor vehicle sales in Australia topped 1 million units for the first time (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2009). The role of car within the industry cannot be understated. New automobiles move from the manufacturer s assembly line to the consumers driveway via new car. In the retail automotive sector, about 70 per cent of the dealership s gross profit comes from service, parts, and body operations (Kachadourian, 2005). Therefore, car play an integral role in the initial and ongoing relationship between the purchaser and vehicle manufacturer. It is this relationship which has and continues to present challenges to the expectations of many new vehicle purchasers. Over the years there have been many anecdotal accounts told of perceived poor levels of service quality within both new and used automotive. Car salespersons, finance/business managers, and service departments have each received a disproportional amount of criticism from the buying public when compared to their other buying experiences. John Golding, a senior executive of Volvo Cars Norway, stated believe it or not, customers told us that, given the choice, they would rather visit a dentist than a car showroom (Kramer and Mina, 1996, p. 13). Dale et al. (2001), in an article titled Quality why do organisations still continue to get it wrong?, highlight issues associated with poor quality at a dealership network selling top branded German cars. It is established that about one-half of car buyers who leave a dealership unhappy with their sales experience will not buy the same brand again (Denove, 2003, p. 50). This reflects the importance of sales and service staff within building successful and lasting relationships with buyers because customer satisfaction will impact service department patronage and future sales. Joetan and Kleiner (2004) argue that there is a negative stereotype in the mind of the public when it comes to the professionalism of automotive salespersons. Khanfar and Loudon (2008) go further by stating that a lack of understanding of customer wants and desires has cost the automotive business dearly in the poor perceived reputation they currently have (p. 107). An analysis of complaints investigated by the Office of Consumer and Business Affairs (OCBA) in South Australia for the year 2001/2002 showed that the motor vehicle industry attracted the third highest amount of investigations (out of 11 categories) after residential building construction and general consumer products (OCBA, 2002, pp. 26-7). Complaints investigated by the OCBA range from the purchase of new and used motor vehicles, automotive repair and servicing, and spare parts and accessories. Further analysis of the OCBA data showed that the number one reason (out of 12 categories) for the complaint involved quality, clearly ahead of issues involving contracts and warranties (p. 28). Six years on and quality still remains the number one reason why complaints are investigated followed closely by scams and schemes (OCBA, 2008, p. 34). While the quality of manufactured cars has no doubt made major improvements over the past few decades there still remains question marks over the level of quality being adopted by new vehicle. To demonstrate this point it was only relatively recently, 2005, that a car dealership won the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the first dealership in the USA to win such an award (Edmund, 2006). Following the win, the editor of the American Society for Quality responded by titling an article Quality needed at more car dealership (Sinha, 2006, p. 8). In another example, Khanfar and Loudon (2008, p. 106) stated, Even 7

4 TQM 25,1 8 though the dealership was a member of the prestigious President s Club, unfortunately the personnel reflected a negative image that has become widespread within the new car industry. Clearly implementing a quality culture at the dealership level has not been easy. In a study exploring strategies to improve customer satisfaction and business performance at Volvo Trucks North America, Edvardsson et al. (2010, p. 241) found, that despite agreement among all regarding the importance of continually implementing product and service quality improvements in order to gain higher customer satisfaction, the challenge had come from implementing it at the dealership level, and implementing in a consistent manner throughout all the. Therefore, it would seem that issues involving quality and car still abound. With the majority of car being small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) evidence indicates that the rate of implementation of quality initiatives such as TQM in SMEs is much lower than larger organisations (Gill, 2009; Fotopoulos and Psomas, 2010). Therefore, it would seem that many automotive dealership operations still have a way to go on improving their levels of service, via developing a quality culture through the implementation of an improvement strategy such as TQM. TQM and CSFs Many empirical studies have confirmed that organisations that have adopted a qualityoriented strategy have achieved improved productivity, greater customer satisfaction, increased employee morale, improved management-labour relations, and higher overall performance (Longenecker and Scazzero, 2000; Klefsjo et al., 2008; Sharma and Kodali, 2008; Kumar et al., 2009; Conti, 2011). A philosophy which has been successful in achieving these improvements is TQM. TQM represents an integrative approach to pursue customer satisfaction, and has generated a huge amount of interest in many sectors of the economy such as manufacturing, service, government, and education in many countries around the globe (Chin et al., 2001). Prajogo (2005, p. 217) added the recognition of TQM as a source of competitive advantage has been widely promoted around the world, especially in Western countries, and today very few (especially manufacturing) companies can afford to ignore the term. In the context of TQM, it is essential that organisations identify the key CSFs, which need to be given special attention for ensuring the successful implementation and ongoing development of a TQM philosophy. CSFs are those few things that must go well to ensure success for a manager or an organisation, and therefore, they represent those managerial or enterprise areas that must be given special and continual attention to bring about high performance (Wali et al., 2003). van Schalkwyk (1998) found that the underlying key principles of TQM were customer focus, continuous improvement, management commitment and leadership, employee empowerment, and process management, and if implemented well would ensure that companies continued to meet their customers rising needs and expectations. Wali et al. (2003) carried out a review of CSFs of TQM in 12 studies between 1974 and While many factors were discussed, Wali et al. found that the most popular CSFs identified were employee involvement, top management leadership, and process management. In a more recent study, Lewis et al. (2006) reviewed ten studies in an attempt to identify CSFs of TQM in SMEs. The study consolidated a list of 46 criteria items into 12 factors with customer focus and satisfaction, process management,

5 leadership and management commitment, and employee involvement ranking the highest. In a study to determine the impact of TQM and organisational performance, Sohail and Hoong (2003) used a quality management criteria model with six factors, these being employee empowerment, customer involvement and satisfaction, process management, top management commitment, quality measurement and benchmarking, and strategy and planning. In another review of both academic- and awards-based (international and national quality awards) frameworks, Sharma and Kodali (2008) found that top management commitment, customer focus/satisfaction, employee involvement, and process management clearly feature at the top of the list of core elements needed to achieve excellence in TQM. While only a few studies are discussed above, many researchers have investigated the principles and CSFs associated with TQM (Sila and Ebrahimpour, 2002; Tari, 2005; Karuppusami and Gandhinathan, 2006; Kumar et al., 2011). In regards to the automotive industry, the literature shows that studies have been conducted on the quality of car component suppliers and automotive manufacturers (Zeller and Gillis, 1995; McDermott, 1996; Kawahara, 1997; Wilson and Collier, 2000; Lin and Lu, 2006; Zadry and Yusof, 2006), but research at the dealership level is very limited. The few studies found tended to focus on the relationship between customer and dealership, customer satisfaction and the buying experience (Ehinlanwo and Zairi, 1996; Roscino and Pollice, 2004; Joetan and Kleiner, 2004; Spaulding and Plank, 2007; Darley et al., 2008). Clearly from the many studies discussing critical factors associated with TQM, four factors have been identified as being critical to the ongoing success of TQM. These four key factors are: (1) top management commitment; (2) customer focus and satisfaction; (3) employee involvement; and (4) process management. In a project to establish quality as a strategic process at a large UK motor trade group, Willoughby and Wilson (1997) discuss the need to implement a formal quality system, hold regular meetings to discuss both quality issues and system improvements, and ensure the quality system is maintained and managed by designated personnel, not simply added as another task to already busy departmental managers. These three conditions, including the four CSFs listed above, will be tested in this paper to determine the level of commitment to service quality in new car in South Australia. 9 Methodology The target sample for this study was all new car listed under Motor Cars New within the Adelaide Yellow Pages. The Adelaide Yellow Pages covers the Adelaide metropolitan and surrounding areas. Research shows that the Yellow Pages directory is the most used source of buying information for people in the Adelaide area when they are looking for a supplier of goods or services (Sensis, 2008). To overcome any bias, which may have occurred due to the fact that some may choose not to be listed in the telephone directory, the list of obtained from the Yellow Pages was checked by motor industry representatives to ensure that all within the target sample had been captured.

6 TQM 25,1 10 The target group for this study were service managers of new car. Service managers were chosen for two main reasons. First, service managers are responsible for the ongoing maintenance and repair of customers vehicles and, therefore, the important issue of customer satisfaction over the warranty period of the motorcar and beyond. Second, service managers have a central role to play within car. The success of a service department relies on the sales generated by the new and used car departments therefore much time is spent ensuring that this important (internal) customer is satisfied with the level of service provided. On the other hand, the service department is a major customer for the dealership s parts department. Therefore, at an internal dealership level, most service departments are both service providers and customers. The questionnaire survey used in this study was designed to test the four CSFs identified above, and was developed from observing previous surveys used to determine CSFs for TQM. This study is intended to be a preliminary study to gaining a better understanding of quality within, and second, improving the questionnaire for a larger, wider study to be conducted in the future. From the original listing of 105, 38 listings were found to be part of either a multi-franchised or multi-location group. Another two listed were found to be no longer operating, therefore reducing the total number of service managers, available to be targeted by the survey, to 65. Each service manager of the 65 was mailed a questionnaire together with a covering letter and a reply-paid envelope. 43 service managers responded to the survey, providing a response rate of 66 per cent. Data analysis of the responses was carried out using the statistical package SPSS version To provide a profile of the targeted in this study the following two tables are presented. Table I indicates the size of based on employee numbers and is a representation of the 43 service managers (66 per cent) which responded to the survey. Table II provides a dealership vehicle profile of the make, origin, number of, and manufactured status for the 105 targeted in this study. Findings Is TQM a practised management philosophy in new car in South Australia? Top management commitment. See Tables III-IV. Customer focus and satisfaction. See Table V. With 95 per cent of service managers believing a quality system will improve the service standards and customer satisfaction of service departments, a common theme was also identified in the respondents comments as shown in the few expressed below: The quality system establishes a standard and a measure we can all relate to. Quality also becomes an established norm and develops a culture which everyone responds to. There is a sequence everyone is responsible for. This is traceable and therefore mistakes or poor performance can be identified and fixed. Our system monitors the quality of the service we provide directly to the customer. We follow up on all poor quality results and look to find ways to improve. If we didn t have a system, we could not measure nor determine our performance. Table I. Size of surveyed (number of employees) Employees Over 100 Number of Percentage

7 Vehicle make Make origin Number of Manufactured: local/imported Alfa Romeo Italy 1 Imported Audi Germany 1 Imported Bentley UK 1 Imported BMW Germany 1 Imported Chrysler/Jeep USA 2 Imported Citroen France 1 Imported Daewoo Korea 5 Imported Daihatsu Japan 3 Imported Ferrari Italy 1 Imported Ford USA 12 Local/imported Holden USA 12 Local/imported Honda Japan 3 Imported Hyundai Korea 6 Imported Jaguar UK 1 Imported Kia Korea 3 Imported Land Rover UK 2 Imported Lexus Japan 1 Imported Lotus UK 1 Imported MG UK 1 Imported Maserati Italy 1 Imported Mazda Japan 5 Imported Mercedes Germany 2 Imported Mini UK 1 Imported Mitsubishi Japan 9 Local/imported Nissan Japan 5 Imported Peugeot France 1 Imported Porsche Germany 1 Imported Proton Malaysia 1 Imported Renault France 1 Imported Rolls Royce UK 1 Imported Rover UK 1 Imported Saab Sweden 1 Imported Subaru Japan 3 Imported Suzuki Japan 3 Imported Toyota Japan 9 Local/imported Volkswagen Germany 1 Imported Volvo Sweden 1 Imported 11 Table II. Dealership vehicle profile Every time Most times Sometimes Rarely Never How often are quality related meetings/ issues within the dealership attended/ addressed by the dealer principal/general manager (%) Table III. Provides focus, consistency, continuous improvement. A quality system provides guidelines to maintain customer satisfaction by all staff at all levels. Without any quality systems in place we would not survive. It is the No. 1 priority to give quality service therefore quality is given high priority and is in focus at all times. This makes financial sense as repeat business is critical.

8 TQM 25,1 12 Table IV. Number of in which the dealer principal or general manager personally addresses meetings on quality issues either every time or most times 71 Number of whose top management conducts either weekly or monthly meeting concerning quality issues 78 Number of whose dealer principal or general manager is considered to be the driving force behind quality within the dealership 71 Number of service managers that support a quality culture within the dealership by discussing quality issues with staff on either a weekly or monthly basis 86 Number of whose top management supports the quality process by having a designated person to maintain and manage the quality system 74 % % Table V. Number of service managers who believe quality systems helps improve the customer satisfaction index (CSI) rating of the dealership 98 Number of service managers who believe a quality system helps reduce customer complaints 98 Number of service managers who believe a quality system improves the standard of servicing and customer satisfaction within the service department 95 Number of service managers who believe that a quality system is not more relevant to the new and used car departments than the fixed operations (service and parts departments) 93 Employee involvement. See Table VI. Process management. See Table VII. Discussion Is TQM a practised management philosophy in new car in South Australia? Top management commitment. TQM assumes that quality is the outcome of all activities that take place within an organisation. Accordingly, all functions and all % Table VI. Number of service departments whose staff are aware of the quality system and the areas which relate to them 100 Number of that conducted either weekly or monthly meeting concerning quality issues 78 Number of service managers that discuss quality issues with staff on either a weekly or monthly basis 86 % Table VII. Number of that have a designated person whose duties include maintaining and managing the quality system 74 Number of service departments whose staff are aware of the quality system and the areas which relate to them 100

9 employees have to participate in the improvement process to ensure a quality culture is developed. Critical to the success of this outcome is senior management s commitment and ongoing involvement. Fox (1991, p. 10) states that, the most common observation expressed by people at all levels in a company which embarks upon the TQM process is: I will believe the company is serious about quality when they provide some evidence that they are prepared to apply the TQM concepts. They can be anyone from a first-line supervisor to the board of directors. In reference to the meaning of top management, both service managers and dealer principals/general managers are included in this heading. In regards to senior management commitment, this study found that top management held meetings concerning quality either weekly or monthly, 78 per cent of the time, with monthly the most popular at 57 per cent. To determine if dealer principals or general managers attended such quality meetings and whether their attendance was more than a symbolic gesture, the study found that 71 per cent of dealer principals/general managers did in fact attend and address quality meetings either every time or most times. To determine if quality information flowed on to the lower level of car dealership, the study found that 86 per cent of service managers discuss quality-related issues with the staff they manage either on a weekly or monthly basis, with monthly being the most popular time period at 51 per cent. Another measure used to determine the commitment of top management to quality, was to test the perception within of the dealer principals/general mangers attitude towards building a quality philosophy. The study found that 71 per cent of respondents believed that the dealership s most senior manager was considered to be the driving force behind developing a quality culture within car. To complete the evaluation of whether a quality philosophy is supported by top management in, a question about the allocation of resources was asked in relation to supporting the quality system. The study found that 74 per cent of have a designated person whose duties included maintaining and managing the quality system/s. The question is important in that it is an indication of how serious senior management are about quality within the dealership. If top management feel quality is important enough to incur the costs of having a designated person to maintain and manage the system, it is therefore saying that they are serious about the process and the benefits it can provide. Customer focus and satisfaction. Customer satisfaction should be a critical focus for all organisations. On average company loses as many as 35 per cent of its customers each year, of which about two-thirds are lost because of poor customer service (Evans and Lindsay, 2002). Customer retention is a key factor for competitive success and is closely tied to quality and customer satisfaction (Evans and Lindsay, 1999). Clearly, profits can be greatly improved if only a small percentage of these customers can be retained by the company. In an effort to establish if there was an understanding of the importance within new car of the link between customer satisfaction, customer complaints, and quality systems, the study found the following. In regards to customer complaints, 98 per cent of service managers believed that a quality system helped to reduce customer complaints. When asked about customer satisfaction, 95 per cent of service managers believed that a quality system improved the standard of servicing and customer satisfaction within the service department. Many new car are placing increasing importance on customer satisfaction index (CSI) ratings (Edmund, 2006; Sinha, 2006). CSI ratings are determined from the results of surveys sent from the vehicle manufacturer to the new car owner. Most 13

10 TQM 25,1 14 manufacturers send out two surveys, one four weeks after the date of delivery, and another one between 9 and 15 months after date of purchase (or after at least one service has been performed). This allows the manufacturer to produce a customer satisfaction rating for each dealership within its network in regards to the customers purchasing experience and after-sales service. Dealerships gain prestige from winning CSI awards and receive financial benefits from manufactures (increased warranty labour rates). In regards to the issue of improving the CSI ratings and quality systems, the study found that 98 per cent of service managers believed a quality system improved the CSI rating of the dealership. In an effort to determine if service managers believe in a total quality philosophy for, the question was asked if they believed a quality system would be more relevant to the front-end (new and used car departments) of a dealership than the back-end (service and parts departments). The study found 93 per cent of service managers indicated that quality systems were not more relevant for one department compared to another, therefore adding support to the results above and also showing that service managers believe in the concept of quality being throughout the whole dealership, a total quality philosophy. Employee involvement. Employee involvement helps people understand quality principles and instils these principles into the corporate culture (Evans and Lindsay, 1999). In TQM, quality is everyone s responsibility, and at a number of successful TQM firms, quality information is communicated directly to employees during monthly meetings. Sohail and Hoong (2003) explain that more frequent informal communication helps assure managers that everyone in the system is aware and involved. At the core of TQM lies also the idea that all individuals play a substantial role in quality improvement (Kumar et al., 2009). This study examines three measures in relation to employee involvement within car. In regards to the level of employee awareness to quality issues within the service department, the study found that all staff (100 per cent) were aware of the quality system and the areas which relate to them. In regards to the regularity that service managers have discussions with service department staff on quality issues, the study found that 86 per cent of service managers have informal communication with staff on either a weekly or monthly basis. At a higher level within, management meetings about quality were held either weekly or monthly in 78 per cent of. Process management. Process management is identified as being another critical factor of TQM (Sila and Ebrahimpour, 2002). Process management involves planning and administering the activities necessary to achieve a high level of performance in a process, and identifying opportunities for improving quality and operational performance, and ultimately, customer satisfaction. Included also is the continuing process of evaluating process performance and taking corrective action when necessary (Evans and Lindsay, 1999). Carefully examining processes shows how much easier work can be, which includes breaking down barriers between departments, and between people, so they can work together more effectively. Once work on a process is undertaken and the best way to do it is decided, the new way must be documented and become standard practice. Fox (1991) discusses the need for most companies to appoint a co-ordinator or facilitator to administer and control the TQM process and systems. The study found that 74 per cent of had a facilitator to manage and control the various process issues discussed above. In regards to the number staff aware of the quality system and areas which related to their individual areas, all (100 per cent) indicated their knowledge of this aspect.

11 Conclusions This empirical study set out to determine if TQM was a practised management philosophy within new car, albeit from the firms perspective. From a single state in Australia this study found that the level of commitment to quality in new car was reasonably high. The four CSFs used to evaluate TQM were found to be well supported in the majority of. While the findings were encouraging, it would seem that a reasonable level of negativity still persists (albeit majority anecdotal) about the buying experience of new car purchasers. Clearly senior management of need to ensure that service quality is integrated into all dealership procedures and ingrained into all levels of the organisation. With higher than normal turnover rates experienced by dealership, senior managers must endeavour to develop policies which instil the quality message on a day-to-day basis. To achieve these outcome will be required to employ personnel dedicated to the enhancement of quality throughout the dealership. Further research is needed to determine the quality of the quality systems being used in, and the depth in which quality and TQM is emerged and ingrained into the various levels of dealership life and culture. While this study targeted service managers, future research could focus on sales personnel and sale departments to enhance understanding of commitment to quality and quality systems. Finally, research should be conducted to determine the perspective of the new car buyers in an effort to balance and validate the likely bias findings achieved from. 15 References Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2009), Sales of new vehicles, Cat. No , available at: (accessed 17 September 2010). Andaleeb, S. and Basu, A. (1994), Technical complexity and consumer knowledge as moderators of service quality evaluation in the automobile service industry, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 70 No. 4, pp Chin, K., Pun, K. and Hua, H. (2001), Consolidation of China s quality transformation efforts, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 18 No. 8, pp Conti, T. (2011), No panaceas for organizational diseases, but better knowledge and systems thinking, The TQM Journal, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp Dale, B., van der Wiele, A. and Williams, A. (2001), Quality why do organisations still continue to get it wrong?, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp Darley, W., Luethge, D. and Thatte, A. (2008), Exploring the relationship of perceived automotive salesperson attributes, customer satisfaction and intentions to automotive service department patronage, Journal of Retailing and Consumer services, Vol. 15No. 6, pp Denove, C. (2003), Sales staff can make or break the deal, study shows, Automotive News, Vol. 77 No. 6053, p. 50. Edmund, M. (2006), Shifting quality into high gear, Quality Progress, Vol. 39No. 9, pp Edvardsson, B., Gustafsson, A. and Roos, L. (2010), Improving the prerequisites for customer satisfaction and performance, International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp Ehinlanwo, O. and Zairi, M. (1996), Best practice in the car after-sales service: an empirical study of Ford, Toyota, Nissan and Fiat in Germany part I, Business Process Re-engineering & Management Journal, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp Evans, J. and Lindsay, W. (1999), The Management and Control of Quality, 4th ed., International Thomson Publishing, Cincinnati, OH.

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