Multi-Dimensional Quality Measurement
RCTReview
Product quality in micro-enterprise manufacturing is difficult to measure using market prices alone, making it challenging to evaluate whether development programs achieve actual technical upgrading.
Picture this
Instead of judging an object solely by its price tag, a panel of master craftspeople systematically checks every component—from corner alignment and weave tightness to surface texture—to calculate an accurate overall grade.
What the evidence says
Exporting firms scored 0.79 points higher overall than comparison firms (which averaged 2.96 points), demonstrating measurable physical quality improvements in areas like corners, waviness, and touch.
- Who was studied
- N = 219 small rug producers (74 treatment, 145 comparison) in Fowa, Egypt.
- How
- Randomized Controlled Trial using intermittent double-blind evaluations by master artisans scoring rugs across 11 physical criteria on a 1 to 5 scale over three years (2011–2014).
What to do
Deploy independent expert evaluators to score artisanal product upgrades across standardized structural dimensions rather than relying strictly on gross revenue or sale prices.
From the source
"A master artisan intermittently measured the quality of firms' rugs along eleven dimensions: corners, waviness, weight, touch, packedness, warp thread tightness, firmness, design accuracy, warp thread packedness, inputs, and loom."
egyptian-rug-firms-weave-their-way-into-foreign-markets.pdf