The role of strategic quality planning in Continuous Improvement Efforts (CI)-Case of a short-term insurance company in South Africa

This paper presents findings on the extent of the role quality planning plays in CI efforts aimed at developing competitive advantage at a short-term insurer in South Africa. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire developed using a 5-points Likert Scale. The study used interviews and a questionnaire aimed at comparing data on current quality planning strategy at this insurer to best practice in the industry, in order to establish the extent to which quality planning is used in the effort to continuously improve customer satisfaction. Findings show that there is a lack of quality planning best practice at the insurer hindering its positioning amongst the top 10 performing short-term insurers in South Africa. Quality is vital in establishing a company as a leader in its industry that satisfy its customer needs beyond their expectations. Quality cannot be stagnant, as customer needs are dynamic. Therefore, quality needs to continuously improve in order to satisfy the ever changing customers' needs. This paper focuses on strategic quality planning in CI efforts from a South African perspective, contribution is made to body of knowledge relating to quality and CI in the short-term insurance environment.