The question revolves around the concepts of 'order qualifier' and 'order winner,' which are important terms in operations management and business strategy.
Order Qualifier: This is a characteristic or dimension that a product or service must possess for it to be considered by customers. In this particular question, 'quality' is recognized as an order qualifier. This means that every sub-contractor had to meet a certain level of quality to even be considered for the project.
Order Winner: This is a characteristic that will directly contribute to winning business. For this project, 'on-time delivery' is the determining factor that will secure the lucrative contract for the sub-contractors. In other words, while quality is a prerequisite, it is their ability to deliver on time that truly differentiates them and helps them win the contract.
Therefore, the correct choice for this statement is:
Quality was recognized as being an order qualifier , but on-time delivery was the order winner .
So, the correct multiple-choice option is:
order qualifier, order winner .