Pro-quality strategy - how to improve the company's operations?

Key information:

• Quality is a key factor in a pro-quality strategy, linking various aspects of a company's operations, including product/service and stakeholder relations.

• Strategic dimension: Quality refers to the set of features that distinguish a product/service from its competitors, which translates into greater market share.

• Customer dimension: Quality is the fulfillment of customer requirements and product suitability, which affects customer satisfaction and loyalty.

• Pro-quality strategy is comprehensive and takes into account both internal (research, production, marketing, management) and external (globalization, technological progress, ecology, stakeholder relations) factors.

• Employee involvement at all levels of the organization is crucial to implementing the strategy, which may require training to motivate and educate the team.

• Organizational culture is subject to transformation, so it is important that employees actively participate in strategy implementation and quality improvement.

Pro-quality strategy - basic assumptions

In a pro-quality strategy, the key factor that links the various aspects of a company's operations is quality. On the one hand, it may seem to be a fairly obvious concept, but in reality, through its multidimensionality, there may be problems with correct interpretation. In the strategic (market) dimension, quality refers to a set of characteristics that distinguish a product/service from its competitors (e.g., a good that has a higher quality than its counterpart is often better perceived by a potential customer, and therefore has a better chance of increasing its market share).  From the customer's point of view, quality is the fulfillment of the customer's requirements and the suitability for use of a given product. In a broader context, it is also important to maintain quality in relations with shareholders, employees and the community. This fits in with the vision of corporate social responsibility.

The pro-quality strategy is comprehensive in nature. This means that many factors must be considered during its development, which are divided into internal and external factors. Internal factors include research, production, marketing and management capabilities. External- contacts with the previously mentioned interest groups and the company's environment (e.g., globalization, technical progress, trends, ecology). In addition, quality must be visible at every level of the company's operations.

As the implementation of the new strategy takes place on many levels and it is assumed that the company's organizational culture is being transformed, there is a need to involve employees at all levels. It is therefore important to motivate and make the team aware so that they improve their skills and take an active part in the implementation of the transformations established in the plan undertaken. To this end, mass employee training can be a useful tool.

Customer focus

The company's activities should boil down to maximizing customer satisfaction. The final customer satisfaction consists of satisfaction of the customer's needs and expectations (if possible, the company should make efforts to go above and beyond), the quality of the products and services offered, their price and availability. If a consumer notices that the goods offered by a brand bring him the assumed benefits, he thus builds loyalty and trust towards the company. This is important because regular customers generate the most profit. In order to understand the current and future needs of potential customers, it is worthwhile to take care of a comprehensive analysis of the market and the competition, and obtain feedback from your customers. Increasing quality, contrary to appearances, can sometimes be less costly than increasing sales in terms of expanding profits. Operating costs generated by promotion and advertising prove to be higher in the long run than those incurred by improving the quality of the good offered.

Continuous improvement

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management strategy that emphasizes continuous efforts in an organization made to maintain high quality customer service and satisfaction. One of the basic tenets of the aforementioned strategy is the idea of "continuous improvement." Quality improvement is about improving and finding new efficient ways to deliver the required value to stakeholders. It is a process that, like the "Kaizen" method, makes changes through a series of small steps toward improvement. An entrepreneur should never think that the work on various aspects of doing business is finished, as new problems and business and technological challenges arise. Pro-quality activities enable approaching perfection (understood as an absolute and ideal image of the enterprise), achieving the established development goals, but it is recognized that it is impossible to catch up.

Business areas of the company (EFQM model)

When designing a new pro-quality strategy, it is a good idea to look at all areas of the company separately. It is necessary to carefully analyze strengths and weaknesses, as well as realistic prospects and directions for improvement. Proper identification of the current state of each area of the company's operation will allow the selection of the optimal strategic plan. The EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) excellence model divides areas of activity into two basic groups-enterprise potential and outcomes. Their elements are:

• Leadership (how leaders develop and enable the vision and mission of pro-quality development)
• Policy and strategy (how the company achieves its goals through established policies stakeholder-oriented strategies)
• Personnel management (how managers develop and unleash the potential of employees)
• Resources (how effectively the company's available resources are used)
• Processes (whether the implementation of processes supports the established strategy and is moving towards continuous improvement)
• Customer satisfaction (how the company meets expectations quality of products/services offered)
• Impact on the environment (what has been achieved in relations with the local community and how the company's presence affects the environment)
• Performance results (whether the results achieved are in line with previously adopted goals)

Pro-quality strategy - implementation

The process of implementing a strategy seeking to improve quality in order to streamline the company's operations is time-consuming and requires a great deal of effort and motivation. Executives therefore need to prepare properly before making long-term decisions and starting the process. It is worth emphasizing that each stage should be accompanied by adequate control measures, so that inadequate decisions do not turn out to be detrimental to the company in the course. Here are five steps to follow when putting your strategy into action:

• Identify the company's processes (essence of operation, company policies and goals, define strategy)
• Strategy planning (defining the activities to be implemented in the various stages and processes, determining the measurement and control of the changes taking place, determining the resources needed to implement the strategy)
• Implementation and measurement of established strategic actions (involvement of the entire team in the company's transformation, ensuring that the plan is properly implemented)
• Process analysis (interpretation of the results of quantitative and qualitative data on the operation of the company after the introduction of the strategy)
• Improving the company's strategy (adapting to the current market situation)

Summary

A pro-quality operating strategy is a common practice in companies. Many companies are using it to improve their operations in a market that is placing increasing demands on the quality of products and services offered. The goal of the described strategy is to maximize the use of one's strengths and reduce the impact of threats and weaknesses, thus developing a stable position in the market. Implementing a pro-quality strategy is a major undertaking. A comprehensive and all-encompassing view of the business opens up entirely new opportunities for development, e.g. introducing new products and services, upgrading technical facilities, supporting employees, reaching new customers. All this contributes to increased profits. However, it is important to remember that the success of the strategy in question is the result of hard work, discipline and risk-taking.