Quality can best be thought of as: a. the attributes that customers perceive as superior in a product. b. the quantity of inputs that it takes to produce a given output. c. unit cost reductions associated with a large scale of output. d. a competency in investigating and identifying needs of customers. e. product development projects driven by customer needs.

The best answer is option A, but it is not 100% correct either.

A) the attributes that customers perceive as superior in a product.

Explanation:

Quality can be defined in two ways:

the scientific definition of quality (the one economists or students should use) is the standard of a good or service compared to other similar goods or services of the same kind. We measure the quality of something against a standard thing (product or service) of the same type. the common definition of quality refers to the distinctive characteristics of a good or service.

Option A is very close the common definition of good quality, since it refers to the attributes (distinctive characteristics) that consumers perceive as superior in a product. But consumers can also perceive bad quality, which would be exactly the opposite.

a. the attributes that customers perceive as superior in a product.

Explanation:

The customer ordinarily will be willing to pay more for a product considered to be of a high quality compared to that of a low quality.

However, the term quality is based on the perception of the customer as both products may still meet the same need.

As such, Quality can best be thought of as the attributes that customers perceive as superior in a product.