British zyxwvutsrqponm Journal of Management, Vol. 7, 231-245 (1996) zyxwv Competitive Advantage, Quality Strategy and the Role of Marketing zy Neil A. Morgan and Nigel F. Piercy” Judge Institute of Management Studies, University of Cambridge, Trumpington St, Cambridge CB2 1AG and *Cardiff Business School, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF13EU, UK The improvement of product and service quality has been widely discussed in the liter- ature as an appropriate competitive strategy for achieving sustainable competitive ad- vantage. However, neither the linkage between competitive strategy and quality, nor the role of marketing in the implementation of quality-based competitive strategy, has received detailed attention in the marketing and strategy literatures. This paper explores the interface between marketing and quality management in seller organiza- tions, by developing a contingency model of quality strategy. This model is grounded in the literatures of marketing, strategy and quality management, and the perceptions of managers uncovered in exploratory interviews. Introduction The 1980s witnessed increasing attention to the strategic nature of product/service quality (e.g. Leonard and Sasser, 1982; Parasuraman et al., 1985; Jacobson and Aaker, 1987). A number of studies, particularly those utilizing PIMS (Profit Impact of Market Strategy) data, have suggested that perceived productlservice quality is posit- ively associated with business performance (Curry, 1985; Buzzell and Gale, 1987; Capon zyxwvut ef al., 1990). Consequently, quality improvement has been widely cited as a basis for achieving sustainable competitive advantage (e.g. Ross and Shetty, 1985;Luchs, 1986). In response to the growing im- portance of productlservice quality, analysts have identified changes in management approaches to the quality issue culminating in the emergence of a ‘total quality management’ (TQM) paradigm (Garvin, 1988; Schonberger, 1990). TQM em- phasizes interfunctional involvement in the quality improvement process, the development of customer-based quality goals, and the use of pro- cess control techniques to ensure conformance (Feigenbaum, 1983; Oakland, 1989; Teboul, 1991). The management of quality has therefore come to be viewed as increasingly strategic and interfunctional in nature (Garvin, 1988). However, in spite of the attention gained by programmes such as the Baldridge Award in the USA (Garvin, 1991), and the evident interest of senior managers in the strategic management of quality, our knowledge of the linkages between quality strategy and business performance re- mains limited (Jacobson and Aaker, 1987; O’Neal and Lafief, 1992). The major focus of attention in the marketing and strategy literatures has been on studying the correlates of quality (e.g. Buzzell and Wiersema, 1981; Curry, 1985; Tellis and For- nell, 1988). Relatively little attention has focused upon the fundamental questions of how quality may be effectively utilized as a base for competit- ive strategy, or the implementation role of market- ing in achieving sustainable competitive advantage through product/service quality (Phillips et al., 1983; Takeuchi and Quelch, 1983; O’Neal and Lafief, 1992, Morgan and Piercy, 1992). The aim of this paper is to develop a conceptual model of the implementation role of marketing in achieving positional advantages through quality- based competitive strategies. First, we examine the limited literature concerning the linkages between z 0 1996 British Academy of Management