Question

400 words

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You are a product manager at Goldman Clothing Co. You've received some reports recently that customers are less interested in purchasing your product since you switched from a U.S.-based manufacturer to a Vietnam-based manufacturer.

Your executive has asked you to identify what the problem is, and come up with three (3) alternative solutions to this issue, making sure to be detailed in each solution.

Provide your problem statement and solutions here.

Answer 1

To begin with you have to first determine what exactly the problem is, why aren't people buying your product. So to determine this, the best way is to go for primary research which includes conducting a survey for customers, checking the quality of the product as compared to the previous product, and your competitors, checking the price point of your product along with your competitors product etc. Now let's say primary research was done and the problem comes out to be that customers aren't liking the quality of the new product (manufactured in Vietnam) and are not ready to pay the amount that is being charged for that quality of product. Therefore,

Problem Statement - The problem lies in the customer perception of our product (which may or may not be true) that it is not a good product and the price charged is way too high and is not in line with the quality that is being provided. The competitors provide better product at cheaper price.

Solutions - 1) Establish a Quality Management system in the organization (factory). Automate the corrective and preventive process so as to decrease the chances of bad quality product being given to the customers. Under such regimen the quality would be checked at each stage, i.e. the raw material quality would be checked, the process it undergoes would be examined properly, the produc after it is manufactured would go through all the QC, and then when it is delivered, it should be seen that the conditions are right and not dirty. In this manner QMS would decrease the chances of delivery of a bad quality to the product.

2) Setting up QMS would cost a lot, and therefore isn't the most feasible way. Instead, a team of 4-8 people can be established that can conduct periodic and frequent quality checks. This team can then list down the problems present in the system and come up with solutions to improve the quality of the product. The team can also sugges ways to decrease the cost of the product so as to bring it in line with their competitors.

3) Another way is to establish a quality-cum-purchasing team that would look after all the raw material procurement activities. This team could purchase the raw materials from the most suitable suppliers who can provide the right quality of item at a lower price. This would help in decreasing the cost of production, the benefits of which can be transferred to the customers.