Creating competitive advantage through product quality dimensions in medium-sized manufacturing engineering firms in Tanzania

The aim of this research was to develop a framework that could be used to understand how the creation of competitive advantage through product quality dimensions is addressed in medium-sized engineering firms in Tanzania. The important elements in the creation of competitive advantage through product quality dimensions in medium sized engineering firms were identified through literature review. The literature covered product quality, manufacturing strategy and strategic management, from which the elements used in developing a theoretical framework were identified. The key elements that were identified and used in the construction of the theoretical framework were: identification of the important product quality dimensions, analysis of internal and external environments, strategic relationships on the product quality dimensions, firm's strategic choice, strategic benchmarking and leveraging, product quality learning and adapting to the environments, monitoring competitive advantage through product quality dimensions and renewing competitive advantage through product quality dimensions. A phenomenological research philosophy was followed in this research and a qualitative research approach was chosen and justified. The case study research strategy was used in this research. This was chosen to provide rich and deep insights on the issues that were investigated. The data collected were analysed by pattern matching and time series analysis and the findings from the four case studies were used to reconstruct the developed framework and to provide some recommendations to the case study organisations. The research aim indicated above was achieved; a framework was developed. The main contribution of this research was a developed framework that could be used to understand how the creation of competitive advantage through product quality dimensions is addressed in medium-sized engineering firms in Tanzania.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo