ASPECTS OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT APPLIED IN ...

Annals of the University “Constantin Brâncuşi”of Tg-Jiu, No. 1/2008, Volume 2,
ISSN: 1842-4856
only three are going to reach a significant demand, while, by postponing the clothing items painting,
Benetton would possibly directly answer to the demand within the market. En detail sales system offers
the company data and information that are useful for the manufacturing planning and scheduling, by
means of the daily orders received from the customers. The colors and designs desired for the clothing
articles are established on basis of such orders. The “time” factor has got a particularly important part,
as most popular colors get sold better during the first 10 days of the new season. The prompt reaction
of the system allows the company’s retail dealers to obtain a certain advantage comparing to the other
competitors who have got a certain slower reaction. In order to appraise the demands in the shortest
time possible, the Company uses computer designing for conceiving and creating new models. All
these action of Benetton are supported by an intense publicity campaign.
The example presented above illustrates the contribution of the action itself of serving clients
within a certain total high quality offer. A certain good attending to the customers and clients could by
no means suffice in guarantying the success. That is only a certain pat of the company’s strategy in this
respect. A certain un-pleasing product, even if supported by good services to the clients, has got little
chances to succeed, in the same way that a good product, of good quality but supported by bad
services, could survive but in fact would never have a market share comparable to Benetton’s. Benetton
does not only offer suitable services to its clients and customers, represented by the product availability
and the reaction speed in relation with the demand, but it also offers products appropriate for the
chosen market share, from various viewpoints like fashion, price, design; products sold by stores
having a good image among the buyers and supporting the company’s products.
Both the client’s satisfying and the company’s profitability are related to the quality of both the
product and the service granted. A certain high quality level offers the customer a higher satisfaction, at
the same time allowing the company to practice higher prices and even to often reduce its costs. Thus
the programs for quality development would usually lead to an increase of profitability.
The task related to developing the quality of both the products and services should be a priority,
as the customers become more and more demanding related to the quality of the products they buy.
Therefore the companies have got no other chance than to adopt the system of total quality, this being
the key to value and to client satisfying.
Serving the Clients and the Distribution Strategy
An important influence upon client serving comes from the distribution politics. Traditionally
various experts have looked upon distribution as upon an expenses source, though a necessary one.
This point of view led to the need for improving the functional efficiency of the company and to the
need for reducing costs and expenses. We have in view the improvement in using vehicles, storehouses
and warehouses, in the methods and means of maneuvering and manipulating the goods, which
represent current problems of those dealing with the distribution. Although we do not mean to diminish
the importance of reducing the costs, we should however not neglect the essential task of distribution,
namely of the efficiency of the distribution strategy, and the companies holding a leading position in
the market do admit that they owe this firstly to the strategy they adopted and only secondly to the
efficiency of developing their operations.
The producer does not always obtain the competitive advantage by having the lowest costs, as,
for example, within the automobile industry; Jaguar Company achieved a significant success not by
reducing its costs, but by adding value. It is very interesting to consider the way that Jaguar approaches
the problem of quality, as well as the effects this approach has got over the final product, but, however,
the clients serving has proved to be just as important, especially in the USA, where the dealer-network
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