Quality strategy

Quality strategy
See also
Organizational innovation Management by values Smart organization Strategic management principles Change management model Value innovation Personnel strategy Strategic management Open innovation

Quality strategy is the part of organization strategy related to quality. Quality strategy is part of market and productivity strategies with very high significance. In addition to product innovations in formulating quality strategy the company must take into account the requirements of the markets and abilities of producer (service provider). There is no doubt that quality is a key concern for the company. It stands out from the others and is the only effective way to beat competition. quality and cost competition play a key role in determining the place of the company's products on the European market.

Factors influencing strategy

The development of an appropriate quality strategy does require to take into account a number of factors:

• external - environment - on the one hand, the challenge for the company, and on the other hand limit to its capabilities; they are: political, cultural, technological progress, changing needs of consumer, market volatility, increasing competitiveness, integration, globalization, lack of energy resources,
• internal - which are associated with capabilities of the company and its employees; it is mainly connected with skills and competences in management, marketing, design, research and technology (S. Sudoł 1992, s.46-74).

Principles of quality strategy

In formulating the quality strategy managers should be guided by the following principles:

1. Quality strategy must be comprehensive,
2. The crew is aware of the existence of the quality strategy and feels the need to participate in its implementation,
3. Quality is the central value and constitutes a source of all the other values in the company (the so-called. Model 7-S's by McKinsey: system, strategy, organizational structure, style, skills, selection of the people),
4. New quality strategy requires substantial changes to the organizational culture of the company by changing the substance of the action necessary to meet the expectations of the customer, (CEO of SAS in 1981. noted that every customer of Scandinavian Airlines had contact with 5 employees of this company and experienced 5 "moments of truth". Because in a year airline has 10 million passengers, SAS's success depends on 50 million such "moments of truth") (J. Carlson 1987, s.3),
5. Adopted strategy should require the full involvement of employees in the implementation of change,
6. Creating a new quality can be divided into three phases that should be included in the adopted strategy:
   • First phase - focus of organizations on creating new products, working without mistakes as the main objective of quality management,
   • Second phase - business attitude focused on economic process (decision-making and implementation) involving quality and improvement of processes,
   • Third phase - achieving fair marketable quality by creating quality as a way of life,
7. Quality strategy should assume implementation of TQM principles in organization, "leadership by quality" as a main purpose, quality is a fundamental principle for the company and all employees participate in its improvement,
8. The introduction of new working methods and management, which will adopt creative talent and energy inherent in all employees
9. Quality is value, therefore, the implementation of the quality strategy must lead to cost reduction and rewarding for the high quality by productivity growth,
10. Realization of quality strategy must lead to the implementation of the mission and clearly set purpose of the organization,
11. Strategy must be based on the idea that the adoption of the active and positive attitude to problems in organization is conducive to their effective overcome.

Quality strategy implementation

The implementation of quality strategy requires defined product strategy. The most important factors determining the success of the product strategy are:

• the level of income and price elasticity of demand for manufactured products,
• knowledge about the needs and preferences of customers,
• information on market size and its range,
• the ability to understand the design of products and to remove its weaknesses and threats,

See also:

• Functional strategy

References

• Barclay Ch.A. (1993), Quality Strategy and TQM Policies: Empirical Evidence, Management International Review, Vol. 33
• Belohlav J.A. (1993), Quality, Strategy, and Competitiveness, California Management Review, Vol. 35 No. 3
• Ittner Ch.D., Larcker D.F., Quality strategy, strategic control systems, and organizational performance, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Volume 22, Issues 3–4