The Quality Management of Vibram Five Finger Shoes for Mountain Climbing - Case Study Example

Vibram Five Finger shoes for mountain climbing Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code and Name: University: Date of Submission: Vibram Five Finger Shoes for Mountain Climbing Executive Summary Mountain climbing is one of the most dangerous sports that human beings freely participate to explore different talents. For this reason, the Vibram Five Finger shoes were introduced into the mountain climbing industry. This was mainly to ensure that the risk involved in the mountain climbing sport is reduced by increasing the stability of the climber. The shoes resemble a barefoot which improves the body mechanic of the climber. This increases friction between the foot and the rock thus reducing instances of sliding and falling. The Vibram Five Finger shoes usually allow the feet of the climber to work as usual (Bisharat 2009, p. 102). This is unlike other foot ware shoes that only offer protection from the ground but not stability and conformability. The ergonomic results of using the Vibram Five Finger shoes are strong grip, balance and agility. Since the manufactures ensures that Vibram Five Finger shoes is of high quality, the shoes are sold with ease to the customers. Introduction Vibram Five Finger shoes are mostly used for mountain climbing since the shoes are comfortable and offer tight grip. Unlike other shoes that offer mostly protection of the feet only to the user, the Vibram Five Finger shoes also offer comfort ability and agility. Each of the five toes is provided with a different toe pocket ensuring that the foot is comfortable. Since mountain climbing is an extremely dangerous sport, the Vibram Five Finger shoes are mostly used to offer mechanical support to the body. The main advantage that is posted by the Vibram Five Finger shoes is that it resembles a bare foot (Connally 2004, p. 91). The human body needs balance which is usually offered by the feet. Most of the shoes usually deny the body the required balance and comfy feeling since the entire foot is usually fixed in shoes. This is not the case with the Vibram Five Finger shoes which gives free space for every toe. The quality of the Vibram Five Finger shoes enables the manufacturing company to purchase the shoes to customers with ease. Since the shoes are unique and of high quality, the process of advertising the Vibram Five Finger shoes to customers is exceedingly straightforward. All that the manufacture does is to inform customers of the price and sizes. This ensures that all the customers that intent to purchase the Vibram Five Finger shoes acquire vital information concerning the shoes. The quality of the shoes is in accordance to the make depending on the color and the main futures of the shoes. For instance, unlike the other shoes, the Vibram Five Finger shoes have a thin sole that enables the climber to feel the rock. This prevents the climber from skidding and falling since each toe can find strong grip from the cracks found on the rock surface. The quality of a product is determined by the number of the sold products that are distributed to the society with zero defects. This is achieved since the manufactures of the Vibram Five Finger shoes; consider the suppliers as members of the organization. Although the manufactures can produce superior products, the suppliers are the determining factors especially in sales. The suppliers distribute commodities from the factory to the customers. The condition of the product to the customer is particularly beneficial. This is basing on the fact that the product must amuse the customer before being purchased. Most of The customers in the marketplaces usually purchase diverse products because of the appearance. The more a product attracts a customer is the more likely the product is to be bought. The main cornerstone of any business is to ensure that long-term improvements are made to the products to ensure that the customer’s demands are achieved. The quality of the Vibram Five Finger shoes has always been high to ensure that the customer’s demands are acquired. The suppliers ensure that the views proposed by the customers are forwarded to the manufactures (Clark & Wright 2002, p. 129). The manufactures of the Vibram Five Finger shoes implement the required needs of the customer hence increasing the quality of the product. For this reason, the Vibram Five Finger shoes remains to be competitive in the marketplaces enabling the manufactures to receive enormous-profitable gains (Bisharat 2009, p. 123). Therefore, the suppliers of the Vibram Five Finger shoes are of immense help in the organization since the quality of the shoes are determined by the manner in which they communicate with customers. There are various ways that the quality of the Vibram Five Finger shoes is communicated by the supplier to the customer. However, the supplier ensures that customers are well versed with the benefit of the Vibram Five Finger shoes over the other shoes. This can be achieved through exposing diverse designs of shoes to the customers. Samples of the Vibram Five Finger shoes can also be distributed to the customers. One of the most common methods that the suppliers use to communicate the quality of the Vibram Five Finger shoes to the customer is through advertisement. Most of the people are unable to visit the stalls and the marketplaces to purchase new products. This makes it extraordinarily difficult for such customers to be able to physically view new products in the marketplaces. For this reason, various advertisement modes are used to inform customers of the new products in the markets. This can be through the media, internet or posters. The poster advertisement was strongly used in communicating the quality of the Vibram Five Finger shoes to the customers. This was achieved through distributing of different posters with different types of Vibram Five Finger shoes. Different colors were also used to ensure that the posters were bright and visible from long distances. Free supply of the posters was offered to the customers interested in purchasing of the Vibram Five Finger shoes. This increased awareness of the new shoes making it remarkably easy for the mountain climbers to purchase the shoes (DeMello 2009, p. 152). The suppliers also ensured that the packaging of the Vibram Five Finger shoes was attractive to customers to communicate the quality of shoes to the customers. The Vibram Five Finger shoes were packed each pair in its own transparent paper to enable visibility of shoes in the shopping centre shelves. The shoes were also made of bright colors to ensure that they are extremely attractive to the client. The transparent paper used for packaging the Vibram Five Finger shoes was also made tough to assist in the storage of the shoes. The paper also prevented the shoes from being destroyed from other dust and other unwanted materials. Although the suppliers of the Vibram Five Finger shoes faced competition from other shoes supplying companies, the quality of the commodity still attracted more customers. Most of the climbing shoes that are available in the marketplaces are vast and heavy (Dahlgaard, Kristensen & Kanji 2005, p. 165). This makes it extremely difficult for the mountain climbers to be able to climb the steep rocks with ease. In most cases, the mountain climbers usually need to feel the different places that they are stepping on the rock surface. This is exceedingly difficult to feel especially if shoes with solid soles are used for climbing. For this reason, the Vibram Five Finger shoes are usually considered by many of the mountain climbers. F1. A picture of the Vibram five fingers hiking mountain climbing shoes The material that is also used to make the Vibram Five Finger shoes is also unique and comfortable. Most of the mountain climbing shoes are usually made from leather material to cover the entire foot. This makes it exceedingly difficult for the climber to move the toes especially if using a crack or ridge on the rock to climb. This is usually made possible by the using the Vibram Five Finger shoes to climb on the top of the rocks. The toes can be moved with ease since each toe has its own position in the Vibram Five Finger shoes. The entire top surface of the shoes is usually left uncovered. This is to ensure that the temperature of the leg is regulated with the external environment hence giving a favorable condition for climbing Connally 2004, p. 145). The quality of the Vibram Five Finger shoes can also be obtained from the information that is offered by the supplier concerning the shoes. Information concerning the shoes usually describes the nature of the shoes making it possible, for the customer’s to recognize the product. For instance, describing the Vibram Five Finger shoes as a semi-fitting form of rubber sole that ensures that you feel everything gives the consumer a rough idea of the quality of the product. This makes the consumer obtain the urge of purchasing the Vibram Five Finger shoes even though he or she never intended to buy the product. The description information that is offered to concern the Vibram Five Finger shoes also gives the quality of the shoes. This also promotes the purchase of the shoes by the customers (Hoyle 2007, p. 183). F2. A picture of the Lowa which is also used as climbing shoes The Lowa shoes which are also used for mountain climbing offer a stiff competition to the Vibram Five Finger shoes. This is for the main reason that they are made up of think material, unlike the Vibram Five Finger shoes. For this reason, the Lowa shoes are usually preferred in cold regions to protect the feet from freezing effect of ice. The Vibram Five Finger shoes are usually preferred in hot and dry weather were tight grip is needed. The grip is usually offered by the rubber sole. The sole, which is made, from the rubber material also makes it to be possible for the climber to feel the rock thus building confidence. However, the Vibram Five Finger shoes manufacturing company overcomes competition through manufacturing different shoes brands (McCoy 2010, p. 136). Mountain climbing shoes rating Vibram Five Finger mountain climbing shoes Lowa mountain climbing shoes Boreal Ninja mountain climbing shoes The rating scale that has been used to compare the three types of the mountain climbing shoes developed from different graphs that indicate the different sales of the three shoes types. From the rating it is vividly clear to illustrate that the Vibram Five Finger shoes are preferred in the marketplaces as compared to the other shoes (Thornnton 2004, p. 174). This is for the main reason that the shoes are comfortable and offer tight grip to the climber. The Vibram Five Finger shoes are also opened on the upper surface to ensure that there is aeration of the toes. This assists the climber not to get exhausted and also prevents the feet from burning during hot sunny weather. F3. A graph that compares the sales of the Lowa shoes and Vibram five fingers shoes The red lines represent sales for Lowa shoes The blue line represents sales for Vibram five fingers shoes Shoes value (million $) Number of shoes in thousands From the graph drawn above, it is vivid that the number of sales of the Vibram Five Finger shoes is higher as compared with the Lowa shoes. The difference in sales is created by the virtues of the quality of the shoes. The quality of the Vibram Five Finger shoes is higher than that of the Lowa shoes hence mountain climbers preferring the brand. For instance, ten thousand (10,000/=) pairs of the Lowa shoes are sold at eight million dollars while the same number of Vibram Five Finger shoes are sold at thirty four million dollars. This indicates that the mountain climbers prefer the Vibram Five Finger shoes to the Lowa shoes for climbing (Peker 2001, p. 122). Conclusion The quality of any given product is strongly determined by the suppliers since they freely interact with both customers and the manufactures. For instance, the suppliers of the Vibram Five Finger shoes ensure that customers receive the expected shoes in favorable conditions. The quality of a product is also determined by the manner in which the suppliers distribute the readily available products. This is enhanced by the relationship between the manufacturing company and the suppliers. The suppliers ensure that the demands of the customers are achieved by the manufacturing company. During the process of distributing commodities, the suppliers ensure that they listen to the views of the customers. This enables the demands of the customers to be implemented in the commodities that are yet to be introduced in the marketplaces (Slack, Chambers & Johnson 2009, p. 163). There are different ways that the suppliers can communicate the quality of a product to the customers. One of the key ways that the suppliers use to communicate the quality of a product to the client is through advertisement. For instance, the suppliers of the Vibram Five Finger shoes advertised the quality of shoes to the customers so that the shoes would be purchased. The main mode of advertisement that was used to advertise the Vibram Five Finger shoes is through posters. Different posters indicating different Vibram Five Finger shoes with diverse colors were displayed in almost all leading towns. This increased awareness of the customers to the product enabling the Vibram Five Finger shoes to be more competitive in nature (McCoy 2010, p. 158). The supplies used other forms of advertisements to communicate the quality of the Vibram Five Finger shoes are through internet, media and magazine advertisement. List of References Bisharat, A 2009, Sport Climbing: From Top Rope to Redpoint, Techniques for Climbing Success, The Mountaineers Books, Michigan. Connally, C 2004, The mountaineering handbook: modern tools and techniques that will take you to the top, McGraw-Hill Professional, New Jersey. Clark, K & Wright, W 2002, The product development challenge: competing through speed, quality, and creativity, Harvard Business Press, Chicago, 1994. Dahlgaard, J, Kristensen, K & Kanji, G 2005, Fundamentals of Total Quality Management: Process Analysis and Improvement, Routledge, London. DeMello, M 2009, Feet and footwear: a cultural encyclopedia, Greenwood Press, Cambridge. Hoyle, D 2007, Quality Management Essentials, Butterworth-Heinemann, New York. McCoy, N 2010, A New Mountain to Climb: Heroes I've Met and the Mountains They Climb Every day, Tate Publishing, New York. Thornnton, A 2004, Variation risk management: focusing quality improvements in product development and production, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Peker, J 2001, Total quality management: guiding principles for application, Volume 22 of ASTM manual series, ASTM International, London. Slack, N, Chambers, S & Johnson, R 2009, Operations and process management: principles and practice for strategic impact, Prentice Hall/Financial Times, Chicago. Read More