Once upon a time there was an obedient child living in a happy home. One day he came home with a broken shoe, his mother was confused as these were fairly a new pair of shoes. She thought he must have been mischievous kicking around gravel, she bought him a new pair but a few months later the child came back with the same problem. This time the mother was angry, she scolded the child, the child was puzzled because he was not intentionally doing anything wrong nor was, he playing or kicking around in the shoes. Both parents are working and nobody has the time to go to the shopping mall, they wait till the weekend and drive to the shoe shop once more; mother looks in her purse reluctantly and the husband looks back at his wife silently acknowledging the concern, this is throwing their household budget off but it is not an item they can forgo. Both parents ask the child to be more careful but a few months later he comes with broken shoes again.
This causes unrest in the house; parents are disciplining the child whilst grappling with dwindling disposable income. Everybody is stressed, the child suggests trying on a different brand of shoes but the parents insist that they have been buying the same brand for years and it is the carelessness of the child that is the issue. Somehow, the child manages to persuade the father, he waits till the next pay day, which is almost a month away. In the meantime, the child carries on with the embarrassment of a hole and stitching coming off in the shoes. The next month comes, they drive to a different shoe shop and buy the child a new pair of shoes. A few months go by and the child is not asking for new shoes, the problem has resolved itself. It is then that the family realised the problem were the quality of footwear and not their child. Needless to say, the brand was abandoned by this family and every time they drove past the shop it filled them with anger, reminding them about months of agony and unnecessary arguments.
Q: What was the reason of a well-known brand deteriorating the quality of their products?
A: It was cost cutting in an attempt to improve profit margin.
Q: Does the company know what their Cost reduction strategy did to the lives of their loyal customers?
A: No, the customer did complain but it is just another one of the thousands of complaints.
Q; Does this brand have longevity?
A: You can decide for yourself.
This is why wisdom is important when planning a new strategy. Strategy can have unforeseen consequences and could mark the end of a company. It can turn loyal customers against you and you would not even know it.
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