Prior literature has examined product quality and service quality separately as antecedents of customer loyalty. In the context of the automotive industry, we present a framework that examines the simultaneous impact of product and service quality on consumers' purchase intentions. The framework is operationalized as several hypotheses that posit relationships between service quality, service satisfaction, product quality, and customer loyalty. The hypotheses are tested using three sources of data: (i) archival data on product quality and customer purchases, (ii) consumersíresponses to a survey instrument, and (iii) Consumer Reports. Results indicate general support for main hypotheses proposed.

We examine the relationship between quality, represented by consumer ratings, and quality-related activities by the customer, represented by maintenance activities in the automotive industry. Based on several converging theoretical perspectives, we present and test a model relating vehicle initial quality ratings to consumers' routine maintenance. Three types of data were collected for the study: (1) vehicle service records at a local dealership, (2) primary data from a survey of vehicle owners, and (3) Consumer Reports data on quality ratings and initial purchase prices. The results of a structural equation analysis of the proposed model indicate a significant link between quality and customers' quality behavior. This link has important strategic implications for both automotive manufacturers and distributors, particularly as "leasing" becomes more prevalent in the industry.Service Quality, Product Quality, Maintenance, Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, Automotive Industry

T his article is divided into two m ain sections. In the ® rst section, we argue that total quality m anagement (T QM ) im plementation necessitates reliance on substantially more infor mation in the design, production and ser vice activities of ® r ms. In the second section, we present a blueprint of TQM infor mation requirem ents using data¯ow diagramming and suggest changes that occur in system usage within the three m ain organizational functions: planning organizational activities, making products and the selling of products. The m ajor contribution of the paper is in presenting evidence, albeit anecdotal, from organizations at the forefront of T QM practice, that TQM is an infor mation-intensive m anagement system, and then developing a model for the inform ation requirements in TQM .

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