When we think about quality, our minds tend to focus on tangible characteristics: Is the product durable? Is it attractive? Does it work well? David Garvin, a Harvard professor, mapped these characteristics into his famous Eight Dimensions of Quality.
However, in his book Managing Quality, Garvin introduces a vital discussion that goes beyond physical characteristics: the Quality Correlates.
Unlike dimensions and approaches (which help define what quality is), correlates are economic and market variables that are related to quality (especially to the 8th dimension of quality: perceived quality). They often function as “cues” for consumers or as performance indicators for organizations.
Garvin identifies six main correlates. Understanding how each one interacts with quality is essential to avoiding managerial myths.
The Correlates of Quality
1. Price
This is the most common signal. Conventional wisdom says, “You get what you pay for.”
- The Myth: A high price guarantees high quality.
- Garvin’s Analysis: Price is often used by consumers as an index of quality when they lack the technical ability to evaluate a product. Although there is a positive correlation, it is far from perfect. A high price may reflect production inefficiencies or a status strategy, not necessarily technical superiority.
2. Advertising
Why do we trust brands we frequently see on TV or online?
- The Signal: Garvin highlights the theory that advertising works as a market signal. Companies invest heavily in advertising because they trust that the product is good enough to generate repeat purchases.
- The Logic: If the product were poor, the high cost of advertising would never be recovered, since customers would not return. Therefore, heavily advertised brands tend to enjoy higher perceived quality.
3. Market Share
There is a belief that “high quality” is limited to small, artisanal niches, while mass markets accept inferior products.
- The Reality: Garvin shows that superior quality is strongly associated with higher market share.
- The Cycle: Quality creates value for customers, who buy more, increasing market share. This higher volume enables economies of scale, which can then be reinvested to further improve quality.
4. Cost
For decades, the prevailing idea was that “quality is expensive” (better materials, more inspection).
- The Turning Point: Garvin reinforces the modern view (supported by Crosby and Deming) that conformance quality—doing it right the first time—actually reduces costs.
- The Inverse Correlation: By eliminating rework, scrap, and returns, total manufacturing costs decrease as quality increases.
5. Productivity
Many managers fear that focusing too much on quality will slow down production.
- The Correlate: Analysis shows that quality and productivity go hand in hand.
- The Explanation: A factory that produces with high quality experiences fewer machine stoppages for adjustments, fewer bottlenecks caused by defective parts, and a smoother flow overall. As a result, productivity per labor hour tends to be higher in high-quality environments.
6. Profitability
The final outcome of the equation.
- PIMS: Drawing on data from the PIMS program (Profit Impact of Market Strategies), Garvin demonstrates that quality is one of the most powerful drivers of ROI (Return on Investment).
- Double Margin Effect: High quality allows a company to charge premium prices (or maintain prices while gaining market share) while simultaneously reducing internal failure costs. This widens profit margins on both ends.
Conclusion: The Thermometer Is Not the Temperature
To conclude, we can think of Garvin’s correlates through a simple metaphor: they act as thermometers of quality.
When consumers cannot feel the product’s real “heat”—its durability or internal performance—they instinctively look at the thermometer (price, advertising, brand) for a reliable reading. They trust that the number reflects reality. Similarly, managers look at profit or productivity to assess the health of their quality efforts.
However, there is a crucial warning: focusing only on correlates, without taking care of the product’s real dimensions, is like holding a lighter under a thermometer bulb.
The reading will rise quickly. The price may be high, the advertising campaign may look impressive, and short-term profits may appear. The thermometer will indicate high “heat”—but if the product lacks real quality, the surrounding environment will remain cold.
Sooner or later, customers (and the market) will notice the gap between the temperature indicated by the thermometer and the cold reality of the user experience. True quality management means genuinely “heating the room”—improving processes and products—so that the thermometers (profit, market share, and price) rise naturally as a consequence of that authentic effort.
