Words Of Wisdom said:
I definitely wouldn't because it means that McDonald's cheeseburgers are higher quality than Chile's BBQ ribs. |
Well, let's think about it.
Quality is typically seen by one value, and it in of itself is irrelivent to everything else. Quality is seen as this high art type stuff. It's fancy painitngs, elegant food and, in this case, "good" videogames. We see quality as something seperate from sales and appeal. I belive quality exist so people can say "So what if more people liked it. It lacks quality." If you dwell on it, you'll see that is really stupid. So what does it matter that it's better to some of those "fancy" people if no one else agrees. It comes off as rationilization for being alone in liking that one item.
Let's think about the McDonalds example. They compair and contrast McDonalds to a gourmet chef making a hamburger. The chef can make the patty bette,r season it to prefection, and work his so called magic. McDonalds just puts a premade frozen patty on the skillet. But the chef would probably charge an arm and a leg to make that one hamburger. He'll also be slower then McDonalds. What if you want fries, or a drink. I would take quite a while. The Mcdonalds burger comes with the fries and a drink for a low price. plus, it takes only a little time. McDonalds has a drive though letting one get their food really quick. The restaraunt where the chef works may allow pick up (doubtful since we are saying this is an amazing chef), but it will still be slower then McDonalds.
So how does McDonalds stay in business. If it was about the quality of the food, they would have gone out of business. McDonalds is known for making the asmmebly line for food. This is what made then big, along with their variety of food and their prices. This is why we see so many fast foos chains. These chains are also the ones who do the most penatration into other countries. So, we can say the quality that made McDonalds a household name was/is their prices and their speed. In fact, despite the fact Supersize Me essentually discredited McDonalds on a national level, the company posted increased profits in Q3 of 2004.
So then answer me this: why would we care about "quality." McDonalds is considered low quality. Taco Bell is loved a lot more then other places despite having low grade meat, the epitamy of poor quality. Yet people will there rather then a 5 star restaruant. Then I ask, if companies are making low quality products, then why do we care about it. Who cares is the product is high quality. You may go to a dieing company who specializes in making "quality" and tell them it's all right. It's all right that their company is burning becuase they make quality products. This is what is happening to Sony's game division.
Money is what businesses care about. They care about making customers, so they must find what customers value. So I say, lets make a new "quality." Quality is no longer this higher culture products that the few enjoy. Opera was quality. Pinball was not. But we know that pinball thried during the depression while Opera became a thing of the past. Pinball made money, Operas didn't.
The hads of these comapnies, if their smart, look at what customers like. What they value. They know that finding what the mass consumers want will make then rich. So, they make products the consumer will want to buy. If the consumer does not care about the "quality" of the food, then why make that a focus (this is what Nintendo is doing with the Wii. Many core gamers want Nintendo to follow their path of "quality." Nintendo chose the path of consumer pleasing and is "printing money"). But, if custimers want faster preperation and lower prices, then the company must find out how to achive those goals.
These goals are what quality really is. To the business man, the quality is what consumers like. If he/she can give consumers what they really want, then he will make money. His view of quality is what consumers want. Consumers, on the other hand, want what will improve their life. While a high class restaraunt burger may taste better and be better for them, a McDonalds burger eliminates the wait and allows the consumer keep money in his/her pocket (in this economic scare, this quality is what is going to drive business. You can already see advertisments play on this despite only a month into the scare). So, to them, McDonalds is better quality becuase it fits into their life better. They may not say this, but since they spend more money on the cheap stuff, it has a higher value to them. If we look at this, quality can be judged by consumer's wants. Quality as everyone wants to talk about does not relate to making money or how much people will buy something. If this is true, then why should we care (don't foeget this is a sales forum. This stuff should matter to us,). No, the quality I talk about is the one that keeps the world going. Consumers wanted fast food, so McDonalds thrived. Consumers wanted cheap entertainment, so Operas failed.
Heck, even if we look at in it's basic form, we can see the same solution. If consumers spend so much money on this cheap stuff, then it must have quality. Wouldn't the customer turn away if they were buys products that lack quality. If quality is so importaint, then wouldn't people move towards it, not away. Then it must be these values everyone ignored.
