Enhancing Competitiveness Through Quality and Marketing
Competitiveness and Quality
The quality of a product is the set of properties and characteristics that confer its ability to meet demand. Improving quality involves establishing a management system that includes the following points:
- Define desirable factors.
- Determine quality standards or specifications.
- Establish a monitoring system to verify that specifications are met.
- Identify and correct problems of poor quality.
The costs of quality improvement are less than the costs of poor quality. Investments to improve quality are key to increasing a firm’s competitive position in the market.
Total Quality Management
Companies use distinct quality improvement systems, from production inspection to more innovative management systems. The concept of total quality requires engaging all members of the organization. Quality must be present in all stages.
Commercial or Marketing Function
The commercial or marketing function allows the firm to maintain contact with consumers’ needs to produce goods that satisfy those conditions.
Marketing Approaches
- Product Focus: Companies focus their business efforts on making quality products, striving to manufacture superior products for customers.
- Sales Approach: Applicable to products that have no competition, companies are obliged to encourage consumers to buy their products.
- Marketing Approach: Represents a shift in companies’ perception of the market. The purpose of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product fits their needs.
- Social Marketing Approach: Questions whether the pure marketing approach is the most appropriate in an era of environmental degradation.
Marketing uses a set of tools (market studies, consumer preferences) with the final goal of meeting the needs of users.
- Strategic Marketing: Find out the needs of consumers.
- Operational Marketing: Starts the product launch process.
Types of Markets
1. According to the possibilities of expansion:
- Current Market: Today’s consumers of a particular product.
- Potential Market: Today’s consumers of our product and those who could become customers with proper marketing.
- Target Market: The market segment that the company has set as the target of its marketing plan.
- Market Trend: Those expected to be able to purchase our product in the future.
2. According to the type of buyer:
- Consumer Markets: Individuals buy for their own consumption or that of their relatives.
- Industrial Markets: Organizations buy according to objective criteria, following a rational, long, and complex negotiation process where power is greater due to higher purchase volumes.
Market Research
Commercial research, or market research, deals with the systematic collection, recording, analysis, and interpretation of data related to the marketing of goods and services.
Objectives:
- Provide information about the market and needs.
- Analyze the environment, marketing problems, and market opportunities.
- Facilitate the development and evaluation of commercial strategies.
- Define and evaluate market segments.
- Provide information for market control and planning.
Most important methods:
- Surveys and Questionnaires: Questions are asked to the consumer.
- Observation Method: Observe the actions of consumers.
- Experimentation: Test the effects of changes in product specifics on the consumer.
Market Segmentation
Segmentation is a process of dividing the market into homogeneous subgroups in order to carry out a differentiated marketing strategy for each. A market segment is a set of customers demanding a product with similar characteristics or that share a number of characteristics.
Segmentation Criteria
1. General: These criteria serve to classify any population or group of people regardless of their purchasing and consumption patterns:
- Demographic
- Geographic
- Socioeconomic
- Lifestyle
- Personality
2. Specific: These criteria are related to the product or the buying process:
- Structure of consumption: Large, medium, occasional.
- Type of purchase: First-time or repeat, impulsive or rational.
- Degree of loyalty: Brand loyalty and rewards or benefits sought with the consumption of the product.