Page 289 - (DK) The Business Book

DELIVERING THE GOODS 287

department. They can focus on the also targeting individual For a smooth, fast route to a high-
changing needs of markets and customers, offering them products quality product, companies need to
respond appropriately, making sure in tune with their preferences. make best use of time and resources.
they benefit from the premium This has led to the development of a
price of innovative products, and The cost of quality way of working known as “time-
build a brand loyalty. Companies aim to satisfy customers based management,” which involves
More recently, companies have to get repeat business and good utilizing time in the same way as
also begun to value the creativity of “word-of-mouth,” which can hugely raw materials. It is often used with
their customers. Using an approach boost sales. Those that operate in critical-path analysis, which
known as “open innovation,” new the fast-moving-consumer-goods identifies all the stages of a project
ideas are welcomed from all sources, (FMCG) market, selling such things and puts them into a logical order,
and customer feedback is valued in as chocolate, beer, and cereals, rely saving companies time and money.
the product-development process. on quality for creating customer Finally, businesses can improve
The opportunity for customers to loyalty. In the service industries, processes and sales by observing
post product ratings and reviews following this “added-value” the best practice of competitors in
online allows ready access to approach can be problematic. If their field, using a process known
customer feedback. Some even use competing companies raise the as benchmarking, which takes the
online crowdsourcing to refine the quality of their product or service “best from the best” so companies
design of products. to a level that would be unprofitable can deliver the best products in the
to match, this would signal the best way to satisfy customers. ■
The rise of “big data” need for new strategic thinking.
Computer systems can collect and However, high-quality goods
yield vast amounts of accurate data, can last for a long time without
which can translate into valuable needing replacement, and this
information about employees, was a problem addressed by
production lines, and markets. industrial designer Brooke Stevens. Improvement usually means
Data collected about customers He suggested that companies doing something that we have
is often referred to simply as “big could increase sales by creating never done before.
data.” Customer buying preferences in consumers the “desire to own Shigeo Shingo
and habits can now be tracked with something a little better, a little
Japanese industrial engineer
incredible accuracy—from their sooner than necessary.” This seems
(1909–90)
movements around a website, to especially true today, when new
where and how they like to buy models of products such as
products and services, both online smartphones are produced
and in stores. This gives an accurate regularly—well before their
picture of their overall market, while predecessors are defunct.