Age Old Battle of Quality v Quantity

This is something we have seen thought history, in wars, businesses, governments, school and indeed every area of life. But what does it really mean and how do we do choose the right option for our business and life today?

 Battles and wars are won in different ways and businesses succeed in different ways. At one point in time wars were won by who had more soldiers. As war were fought only during a specific time of year, everyone had little experience. But as time went, some leaders started training the villagers year-round to minimize their losses in battles. This resulted in better tactics, better equipment and more skilled soldiers during the warning seasons. With better trained armies beating much larger armies. Which meant the better army would have larger lands, be richer, safer and a bigger population over time.

 In businesses we see from history that products that were of good quality normally took longer to make and costed more. Then someone would come and make the same thing much quicker and a poorer quality and charged less. And we all know the result of this. Buying the same cheap thing every few weeks or months because you can’t afford the more expensive option. But then also it would be your years of experience in the service that would increase your quality and price. For example, an apprentice potter would sell at one price but a potter with 30 years’ experience would be able to sell for more, because the experience resulted in quality.

 As time went on and technology advanced, producing things became easier and cheaper, resulting in some industries and skills being lost. But this also resulted in a bigger competition of good and poor-quality products at different prices and companies making different profits. As time moved on, manufacturing improved and poor quality has become less, but still exists. However, today, people still see that if something is cheaper the quality must automatically be poorer. But this is not always the case. When you do research into where different brands manufacture their products, you find 2 things. 1. They manufacture only for themselves and not for anyone else. 2. One factory makes for multiple brands.

Companies that use the first option, are normally more expensive, but also have a tighter control over the quality of their products, as well as how much is produced. Resulting in better control over their prices.

 This second option is key, as most industries use this option, cosmetics, clothing, food, and may others. You will find that some brands that are known as top quality and expensive, have their clothes made in the same factory as a brand that is very cheap. The difference when it gets to the shop is the name that has paid for the product, has decided the price. Yes, at one point in time, they had a better product, but this is no longer always the case. And you can tell this from looking at some of the large brands, the have products across different price points, reaching out to different groups of people.

 In truth, quality v quantity actually work together. You are not able to improve your quality if you have not first produced a lot of that thing. Using the potters of old as an example. This is true for how we work every day in our jobs. The more we do it, the better we get. Being able to retain staff for longer means that the quality of service and/or product you are able to provide gets better year on year. Your business is not able to achieve quality without first using quantity.

 Now when it comes to deciding on your price, this is up to you. But you must take into consideration your expenses, time, quality compared to competitors, the demand and the market you want to reach.