El derecho subjetivo al medio ambiente como derecho de libertad

Some years ago one of the authors was contacted by a producer of housing textiles who wanted to have a detailed discussion of the quality concept in relation to the factory’s product line. Until then, quality control had been limited to inspection of incoming raw materials and 100% inspection for misprints but they had become aware that in relation to the market they were hardly paying attention to the relevant quality dimensions.

To uncover the company’s ‘culture’ in the area, the analysis started out with interviews with the mercantile as well as the technical managements of the company. The interviews were unstructured and unaided and the purpose of them was to uncover what aspects should be considered when assessing the quality of the products.

The mercantile manager, who had a theoretical business background and had always been employed in the textile industry, stated the following quality dimensions for his products:

1. smart design; 2. nice colours;

3. highly processed colours; 4. inviting presentation.

According to the mercantile manager, there must of course be a certain technical level but when this level has been reached, e.g. through a suitable inspection of incoming material, the technical aspects are not of importance to the customer’s assessment of the quality. In the market under review, it is a question of feelings and according to the mercantile manager, it does not serve any purpose to use considerably more time on technical standards! Resources should be concentrated on uncovering what determines the quality of a design and on the development of alternative methods of presenting the products (packaging). Accordingly he was of the opinion that the technical aspects of a tablecloth could only be considered as expected qualities. In order to give the customer some value added it was necessary to concentrate on the aspects mentioned above.

The technical manager, who was engineer by education, had—not unexpectedly—a somewhat different attitude to the concept of tablecloth quality. He started the interview by the following definition of the quality concept:

Quality=The Degree of Defined Imperfection

The dimensions on which imperfection can be defined were stated as the following (unaided):

1. creasing resistance (non-iron); 2. shrinkage;

3. fastness of colours to wash; 4. fastness of colours to light; 5. rubbing resistance (wet and dry); 6. tearing strength;

7. pulling strength; 8. ‘Griff.

The first seven dimensions are defined as technical standards and the eighth is the only subjective element. ‘Griff is the overall evaluation of the cloth by an experienced producer when he touches the cloth.

After some aid, the technician extended his description with the following two points: 9. design and colour of the pattern;

10. design of the model.

The difference between the two managers’ perceptions of the quality concept is thought- provoking and it is not surprising that the company felt very uncertain about the direction to choose for future product development. With the mercantile manager, all qualities were latent, while practically all qualities (to begin with) were manifest with the technical manager.

After a number of talks a consensus was reached on the future quality concept. It was decided to determine a technical level in accordance with the points listed above by using a benchmarking study of the competitors and then concentrating resources on an optimization of the quality of design.

The following procedure for a continuous optimization of the quality of design (including colour) was used from then on:

1. The design department produces n different design proposals on paper.

2. The proposals are screened internally and the proposals accepted are painted on textile. 3. The painted proposals are assessed by a consumer panel on an itemized five-point

rating scale, using products from the existing product programme as well as competitors’ products.

4. The results are analysed statistically by means of multidimensional scaling (internal procedure) and the underlying factors (latent quality dimensions) are identified if possible.

5. The results are communicated to the design department, which is asked to come up with new proposals in accordance with the results from point 4.

6. The new proposals are test-printed and manufactured.

7. The resulting product proposals are assessed again by a consumer panel and the best proposals are selected for production, supplemented, however, with marketing analyses of cannibalization, etc.

The statistical method mentioned, multidimensional scaling (MDS), covers a number of techniques the purpose of which is to place a number of products in a multidimensional space based on a number of respondent’s attitudes to the products. It is assumed that neither respondent nor analyst in advance can identify the quality dimensions used by the respondents.

By means of the data from point 3. products as well as consumers are placed in the same diagram, the products as points and the consumers as vectors oriented in the preference direction. The diagram is examined by the analyst who, by means of his background knowledge, tries to name the axes corresponding to the latent quality dimensions.

Software for MDS is available in many variations. A relatively comprehensive collection of scaling techniques can be found in SPSS for Windows (Professional Statistics) which in the module ALSCAL offers an extremely flexible approach to MDS. Furthermore the manual for the package gives a very good introduction to the concept of scaling.

Figure 13.1 shows the first result of an MDS run for the mentioned textile factory. The company analysed two existing designs (E1-E2), six new designs (N1-N6) and one competing design (C1).

The first run was used for determining the latent quality dimensions and revealing any gaps in the market which it might be interesting to fill. It became clear relatively quickly that the design quality is dominated by two dimensions. One distinguishes between whether the pattern is geometric or floral (romantic), the other whether the pattern is matched (‘harmonious’) or abstract ‘(disharmonious’). The first of the two dimensions mentioned divides the population into two segments of practically the same size, whereas for the other dimension there is no doubt that the quality harmony ought to characterize the design for tablecloths.

Fig. 13.1 Latent quality dimensions for

It further appears from the map that, apart from one, hardly any of the new proposals have a chance in the market. It is also clear that—as assessed by the products included— there is a substantial gap in the market for products with harmonious floral qualities.

This information went back to the design department, which was given the special task of finishing the floral area. It was decided to drop N6 and to stake on an adjustment of N5 from the fourth to the third quadrant. Besides, if possible, move N3 and N4 away from the competing product C1. The result can be seen from Figure 13.2.

It appears from the map that the company has succeeded in obtaining a better position in the third quadrant after the adjustment of N5. On the other hand, the adjustments of N3 and N4 were less successful in relation to the quality optimization.

The result for the company was that it chose to launch N1 and the adjusted version of N5. N2 was dropped completely, while the last two designs went back to the design department for further changes in order to be used at a later stage.

Fig. 13.2 Adjusted quality map for tablecloths.

It appears from the analysis that through the use of latent techniques like MDS it is possible to obtain considerable insight into the quality dimensions not directly measurable. The analysis phase itself is not very difficult and it will be easily mastered by persons who normally work with quality control. It is somewhat more difficult, however, to get analyst and designer to play together and it requires some experience to translate the results of the latent quality dimensions into practical design adjustments.

13.2.2 MEASUREMENT OF SEMI-OBJECTIVE QUALITY: CASE