A product of good quality can be defined as one that best satisfies the consumer's needs at the price they are willing to pay. While it is integral to business success, it is certainly not the only factor that guarantees it, simply because businesses function as an integrated whole, and the success of only one part does not guarantee success of the entire organization.
Business success can be referred to as an achievement of common objectives such as profitability, growth, or increasing market share. A good quality product undeniably brings positive contributions to the success of a business. One benefit is customer satisfaction. Once they are satisfied with the product, the customer will be likely to make repeat purchases, and over time develop a strong loyalty towards the brand. When the business has a reputation for producing good quality products with a strong customer base, it establishes itself in a strong position in the market, giving it the opportunity to increase its market share. As a result, retailers would be more willing to stock their products, giving the business more options in terms of the channel of distribution, and thus giving them a competitive advantage. This can also lead to marketing economies of scale, whereby a cross marketing of brands can be used to strongly promote different products simultaneously because an overall positive brand image has been created. Another cost saving is that fewer complaints will need to be dealt with, and because of this, fewer repairs and wastage costs will be incurred. These savings of average costs could then be kept as retained profits, or invested in business growth, proving beneficial to business success.
It is evident, then, that businesses must find some sort of way of monitoring quality that best suits them to ensure quality products are consistently produced. This could involve quality control, where inspectors check a sample of finished products for defects, or quality assurance, where quality is the responsibility of each worker and is built into the production process. Quality control could perhaps work better with management that believe in a more strictly controlled work environment, whereas quality assurance works better if management empower and trust workers more, allowing them participation in the improvement process. Provided these methods are implemented well enough, and are appropriate to the corporate culture of the business, this crucial aspect influencing business success can be ensured.
However, because businesses operate in complex environments there are many other contributing factors to business success, which, if not integrated with good product quality, will have negative effects. From a marketing perspective, in the research and development stage, market research must be conducted accurately to predict demand; otherwise, even if a very good quality product is produced, if a target market is not defined or there is no demand for it at all, then the product will fail. In the development process, value analysis should be conducted, where the appearance, performance and the economy of manufacture of the product should be compared to achieve an ideal balance. If the business solely relied on product quality, it would focus on appearance and performance and neglect the economy of manufacture, which could lead to the production of a good that customers find to be of high quality, but costs so much to produce that it is not profitable to the business, and not worth making.
For example, while Georgie Pie's one-dollar menus proved popular because of their excellent quality, because they were selling each pie at a loss it eventually caused the business to fail. Therefore, while a business should always strive for high quality, it must also constantly be aware of the costs involved in maintaining this quality and either find ways to reduce the additional costs or raise prices to recoup them. This also relates to the marketing mix, which must be integrated to ensure success. If prices are raised, the quality the customer expects will also be higher, so somehow value must be added to the product without raising costs proportionally. Once the price and product are integrated, a suitable promotional strategy is just as crucial in ensuring success, as there is no use of a good quality product with a reasonable price if no one knows about it. Similarly, the channel of distribution must be carefully thought out so that anyone in the target market should be able to have access to the product in order to maximise sales. If these elements are not integrated, success will be hindered. Product quality alone cannot fix these problems.
Good, motivated staff is just as important for business success as good quality products. Staff must be well motivated in order for the quality product to be produced efficiently. If guidelines are too strict that staff do not get any autonomy, especially with inspectors constantly appraising their work, they will feel like they are not being trusted, leading to lack of motivation. While product quality would remain at the same level, having a lack of a motivated staff tends to increase rates of absenteeism and labour turnover, meaning lower productivity. The impact of this is that if the business sells the quality product very well, but not enough of it is produced due to low productivity, then maximum sales cannot be achieved and business success is again limited.
If the business owns the retail store for the product too, the selling staff also has an important role in ensuring a successful business. They must be knowledgeable about the product, especially in technological industries where customers are likely to ask many questions regarding the functions of a product before purchasing. Customer service in general must also be excellent as there is no room for mistakes. Even if a product is of good quality, if the unique features are poorly explained to the customer, or the customer feels neglected by sales staff, they will be put off the product and purchase a competitor's. Furthermore, the reputation of having bad quality service would spread through word-of-mouth, and trying to correct this image could be costly.
Therefore, it is clear that while product quality should be an integral focus for a manufacturing business, it should not be the sole focus, or its advantages will be undermined by problems arising in other departments of the business, which could ultimately hinder the success of the business. It must be remembered that businesses require all departments to work towards a common objective in order to be successful, so stating that one element can guarantee success is too simplistic in approach.
