R&D: Foundation Stone of Quality

1.1 The role of quality in success on the market Quality management systems have been developing since the beginning of industrial goods production. Producers of goods with higher quality had advantages for fight with competitors and high quality products were the main way how to satisfy customers. Although quality products are still necessary for success on the market, quality itself does not make nowadays business. Since the end of eighties new kind of companies appeared. These companies were orientated not only on quality goods production, but mainly on branding. For these companies quality product was just one fourth of their marketing mix, whose management under certain brand was to satisfy customers. The resting parts of marketing mix are e.g. the price, place of purchase and accompanying services, or promotion quality. The original sense of brand was to label product with the place of origin and name of producer, which together had served as a guarantee of quality. Due to sophisticated marketing methods can brand nowadays bring to customer whole battery of emotional values, which can sort customers into varying social groups. The satisfaction of customers is not brought only by the product quality, but also by emotions connected with social enlistment of brand (Klein, 2005; Olins 2009). Brand management added to product new value, which allowed brand keepers to sell for much higher prices than would be the prices of their products without brand. Because not all customers could afford to pay extra price for emotional values and engaging to higher social classes, the byproduct of branding was the polarization of marked and origin of new distribution channels selling products without strong brands. These products are sold for much lower prices and usually have good enough quality to satisfy demands of its users. These so called cheap brands e.g. made up 40 % of German beer marked in 2005 (Verstl, 2005). Brand management is also the reason why contact of quality department with customers is nowadays mediated by marketing department and quality improvement is often managed by marketing manager.