Quality
is considered as the key to survival in the increasingly competitive business
world with companies forced to refine their approaches to the delivery of
quality. The dominant theme in recent times has been the need to deliver
quality characteristics that are in line with the expectations of the consumers
(Pakdil, 2010). However, the approaches assumed in the delivery of the same
range from company to company as organisations assume the approaches that they
deem necessary to enable them gain a competitive edge over their competitors. The main approaches to quality can be listed
as value based view, transcendental view, user based view, manufacturing-based
view, and the value based view (Sebastianelli and Tamimi, 2002). In addition to
these approaches, organisations must also pay attention to the product tangible
attributes such as ruggedness, durability, reliability, appearance and others.
MAC
Cosmetics is one of the leading manufacturers and distributors of cosmetic and
beauty products around the world (Mac Cosmetics, 2012). The company’s product
ranges from skin care products to make up tools and even gift cards. The
company concentrates on ensuring that their products are capable of functioning
to the expectations of the market and that the same bear physical features that
the market finds to be attractive (Mac Cosmetics, 2012). In addition to this,
the company creates a brand image that gives the products the image of beauty,
confidence and elegance.
This
paper reviews the approaches to quality as embraced by MAC Cosmetics. It also
highlights the quality of the products. The paper then recommends on how the
company’s quality can be improved with reference to the Total Quality
Management philosophy.
Organisations
assume certain views to quality depending on the nature of the products and the
approach they intend to take in competing in the market. This is mostly
informed by the need to create a competitive advantage and survive in an
increasingly competitive economic environment. The five approaches to quality
include the value based view, transcendental view, user based view,
manufacturing-based view, and the value based view (James, Rowland-Jones and
O’Brien, 2009). According to Sebastianelli and Tamimi (2002), the transcendent
approach borrows heavily from Plato’s view of beauty which held that quality is
synonymous with innate excellence. This would imply that the perception of
beauty should come before direct experience and intellectual interpretations. Organisations
tend to adopt this view in order to create strong images about products that
give their products a higher value than they may actually have. The user based
view is closely related to marketing orientations where the assessed customer
needs drive an organisation’s production and view on quality (James,
Rowland-Jones and O’Brien, 2009). This view has become increasingly popular as
heightened competition drives organisations to strive to gain an edge in terms
of delivery of products that are most desirable by the consumers. The
manufacturing based view has been criticised widely as weak and ineffective due
to its equation of quality to conformance with set production designs (James,
Rowland-Jones and O’Brien, 2009).
MAC
Cosmetics predominantly embraces the transcendental approach which aims at
giving the products a value that may not necessarily be physically attributed
to them. Through its advertisements and marketing campaigns, the company has
consistently attempted to associate its products with courage, elegance and
attractiveness (Havery, 2011; Dubin, 2011). A case in point is the popular Mac
Wonder Woman line of products and subsequent marketing campaign. This strategic
approach to marketing was aimed at giving the impression that using the
products had the ability to bring out a hero in every woman (Havery, 2011;
Dubin, 2011). Users of the products would therefore have the courage and
elegance of a Wonder Woman. This dominant approach to quality is however
supplemented by other approaches which include the user based view and the
value based view. While emphasising on the extraordinary and intangible
quality, the company takes care to ensure that the products offered to the
market are in line with the user specifications. The company produces a variety
of products which are made to accommodate diverse tastes. Each product line is
produced in a variety of sizes and varying packaging designs in order to cater
for user needs as is determined through the fact finding part of the company’s
new product development companies (MAC Cosmetics, 2012).
The
approach embraced by the company is in appreciation of the fact that
transcendental value must be accompanied by actual functionality of products
for it to be effective. Consumers would be unwilling to purchase low quality
products or those that do not deliver on their expectations irrespective of how
comprehensive the organisations’ marketing programs are. MAC Cosmetics
prioritises the transcendental view while also monitoring changing customer
needs and responding to them through innovation and accelerated new product
development processes.
Product
quality characteristics help in distinguishing products from each other with
the main qualities being functionality, appearance, reliability, contact,
recovery, and durability (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2004). In a
questionnaire survey conducted on users of MAC Cosmetic products, the company’s
products were noted to have important qualities such as high levels of
functionality, reliability, ease of use, and good appearance. Functionality
refers to the ability of a product to deliver the benefits that the user seeks
from them. Users of beauty products mainly do so in order to improve their
appearance and become presentable in public (Dimitrova, Kaneva and Galluci,
2009). The users also emphasise the need to maintain their skin health and
therefore emphasise that the products be as safe as possible. Of the
respondents surveyed, 80% expressed concerns that some of the products that
exist in the market tend to be harmful to skin health. Functionality should
also apply to a wide range of customers. Being that the skin can be sensitive,
it is important to ensure that products can be used by a large number of people
without facing unnecessary skin complications (Dimitrova, Kaneva and Galluci,
2009). MAC Cosmetics products were hailed as usable even by people with
sensitive skins with the company citing very few cases of reported incidents in
terms of products harming customers.
While
emphasising the importance of functionality, it should also be appreciated that
beauty products users tend to attach a certain level of importance to
appearance (Hunt, Fate and Dodds, 2011). This ranges from the appearance of the
packaging to the appearance of the product itself. A significant proportion of
the respondents involved admitted to having strong preferences in terms of
appearance. In some cases, it was stated that some purchasing decisions have
been done before on the basis of appearance. This was especially so where different
products offering the same level of functionality were either packaged
differently or having different product appearances. Different people have different preferences
for shapes, colours and textures. In recognition of these preferences, MAC Cosmetics
produces a variety of products which are distributed in a variety of sizes and
packaging designs. Sources at the company indicate that this approach has
greatly influenced their growth and dominance in the industry. Beauty is
aesthetic and users of beauty products consider it important that they feel
good about the outward appearance of the products. Even though users tend to
rank functionality above appearance in the beauty industry, it should be noted
that appearance plays a major role in determining purchase decisions where the
functionality of products under consideration is either equal or with a minimal
disparity (Dimitrova, Kaneva and Galluci, 2009).
Products
are said to be reliable when they always function as they are expected to
(Slack, Chambers and Johnson, 2004). This feature is especially crucial where a
user uses a product for an extended period of time. The user would want the
assurance that a given product would function just like the previous products
used. Users would find it difficult to trust a product if they had to keep
learning of its functionality each time they buy it. This calls for quality
assurance and ensuring that no significant variations are made to the products.
To this end, MAC Cosmetics has dutifully ensured that its product
specifications are held constant over time. Significant changes are made
through the introduction of new product lines and not through the arbitrary
modification of existing product lines. Durability on the other hand refers to
the quality of products remaining functional over extended periods of time.
This quality can be critical as users would dislike purchasing products that
would go bad before they can use them up. However, this property was not
greatly emphasised as users tend to purchase products based on the rate at
which they would consume them.
In
terms of importance, the qualities were polled as follows:
While
the four qualities listed above are important, functionality was ranked as the
most important quality. MAC Cosmetics recognises the importance of ensuring
that its products deliver the desired benefits and invests heavily in research
and development and in quality assurance processes.
Total
Quality Management is a management concept that aims at ensuring that
organisations deliver the highest possible quality. Among the crucial
principles of TQM are the need to satisfy the customer, the need to satisfy the
suppliers and the need for continuous improvement (Vuppalapati, Ahire and Gupta,
1995). The customer provides the foundation for the organisation. It is the
customers who purchase products and generate the much needed revenues for the
organisation. This requires the establishment of a mechanism through which
information on the evolving user needs can be captured and translated into products
with the desired functionality. The cosmetics industry is faced with rapid
developments in terms of technologies and customer preferences (Dimitrova,
Kaneva and Galluci, 2009). The rate at which the market has been evolving has
been very high in recent times. The information explosion as characterised by
the growing popularity of the internet and globalisation. There has also been a
growing trend towards preference for natural products and a reduction in the
extent to which strong chemicals are included in the production of cosmetics.
It
is important to establish a network or a system through which changing customer
preferences can be noticed and a self-triggering mechanism that culminates into
the testing of resultant ideas and the innovation of new products where viable
ideas are developed (Bugdol, 2005). This approach would ensure that the
company’s products are at all times consistent with the user’s expectations. It
should also be appreciated that the satisfaction of the supplier is also a core
principle of TQM. In the manufacture of cosmetic products, MAC Cosmetics is
forced to acquire specialised and general raw materials from a variety of
suppliers. The company-supplier relationships were among the first areas of
focus for with experts suggesting ways of ensuring that supply chains are made
as efficient as possible (Mazumbor, 1993). The company should ensure that its
relationship with suppliers is assured. This would not only help in reducing
the cost of inventory and ensuring that production is uninterrupted; it would
also ensure that the company is able to secure the best quality raw materials
and this in turn would help in ensuring that product quality is sustained over
the long term.
Also
of importance in TQM is the need to embrace the concept of continuous
improvement (Ahire, Walter and Golhar, 1996; Babbar and Aspelin, 1994). Innovation
is emerging as a necessity in the world of business and organisations are
hard-pressed to ensure that they remain ahead of the pack in terms of product
innovation. Recent developments in the beauty products industry have seen a
radical shift towards the use of more natural materials and less chemicals
(Dimitrova, Kaneva and Galluci, 2009). Technological advancements also make it
easy for product features to be replicated and this makes it difficult for any
organisation to sustain a competitive advantage when it comes to product
innovation. Continuous improvement is can also be in terms of the marketing processes
and the marketing message. MAC Cosmetics has in the past been prominent in
using media advertisements, product launch events and personal selling efforts
(Hunt, Fate and Dodds, 2011). However, with the evolution of communication
strategies, there is need for the company to not only refine its marketing
approach but also ensure that the systems evolve in line with the changes in
the market. Continuous improvement should also be pursued in terms of business
processes as well as manufacturing processes. With the heightened competition
in the industry, it is important to ensure that the cost of operations is
minimised in order to ensure that prices charged are competitive. Moreover,
improvement in staff relations and the creation of a healthy working environment
could help the company to transform its human resources as a source of
competitive advantage in the market.
This
three pronged approach in line with the principles of TQM could lead to long
term improvement of MAC Cosmetics.
Quality
is crucial in business and the approach adopted towards the same could also
help in determining the extent to which an organisation can excel in the
market. MAC Cosmetics embraces the transcendental view which emphasises the
creation of value in the minds of the consumers: a value whose significance
surpasses the tangible product attributes. This approach is evident in the
company’s launch of the MAC Wonder Woman line of products and subsequent
campaigns where the company strategically developed a message whose theme was
emphasis on the fact that its products could bring out the courage and elegance
of a hero in every woman. In addition to this approach, the company continues
to be keen to monitor user needs and ensuring that the products produced and
distributed provide the functionalities desired.
In
order to ensure that it remains successful in future, the company needs to
embrace the principles of Total Quality Management and focus on the customer
and ensure that changing preferences are noted and addressed through new
product development and modification of existing products. The company should
also ensure that its supplier relationships are excellent as this would help in
delivering quality and ensuring operational costs are minimised. A culture of continuous
improvement should also be established in the organisation with a focus on
innovation, marketing communications and internal processes.
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