Quality means bug free output and no deviation from the expected behavior. Other than this there is no other alternative to quality. What is required is required by our client or stakeholder or end users. If there is any discrepancy in the product or any fault then the quality is failed. This is the job of a QA or tester to verify and validate various quality metrics and make the product or application as per standards.
In a software testing company , any application is tested from various point of view, for example, application functionality workflow, transactions flow, invoicing approval workflow, application security testing, UI, application performance under varying users or data load. So, if any of the factor is malfunctioned at user end then definitely user will not use it. Stakeholders also face the losses due to poor quality.
A STLC has defined parameters to make sure that the output is 100% as per expectation and there will be no flaw. Any lacking from QA perspective surely lead to capital loss, bad impression in the competitive market, and loss of project too.
Thus quality mean perfection with defect-free workflow to stakeholders.
I hope above notes will be explanatory of what quality means to stakeholders.