WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT?

QUALITY VS QUANTITY

The world defines all things in different ways. We believe in different traditions and grew
up in different culture that molds and serves as the foundation of our beliefs and perceptions.
We perceive things differently and do things the way we think is better. In the business and
industry world, we often hear the word quality and quantity. Some may favor in either of the two
and some focus and stay consistent on one concept alone.

Agreeing with what my teacher once told me, he/she said that it is quality rather that
quantity is what that matters. Quantity is the size, number or amount of a product or an object
which means that it relies on mass production and does not care much about the quality while
on the other hand, quality is how we see or define it to be since it is subjective(lifted from
discussion of MANECO). Through commitment and consistency in quality product, I truly believe
the Deming chain reaction where through quality products, people with high purchasing power
will keep their loyalty to it that will keep the business in the industry, raise the profitability and
lower the cost which will help them in improving and developing the potential and quality of the
new or existing product. In consonance to this, quality products usually last longer and function
better than products from mass production. An example would be buying low quality products
and having the need to buy it over and over again because of its poor quality (e.g. does not
function of one time used). Basically, in my opinion, quantity is barely achieving the
characteristic and function of the product while quality focuses on the features, characteristic
and design of the product that will increase its quality.

In contrast, at times and at some company, business or industry, the importance of

quantity and quality varies and depends on the situation and practices of the producer or
manufacturer. An example of this can be found in china where they produce products with low
quality but with a higher quantity and sells them at a lower cost. They believe in the concept of
“Quantity Produces Quality.” This caused their manufacturing economy to boom and grow
extensively since their products are cheap; they are patronized by the largest class in our
economy (middle and lower class). Personally, I do buy china product but I inspect whether the
price is worth the quality. One of my experience in buying bulk products rather than quality
products is the 12pcs friction pens for only 60pesos and a friction pen I bought at National
Bookstore which cost me 86pesos. The cheap pen started to not function as it is supposed to be
while the other pen is still functioning well. In situations like this, I favor quality over quantity. I
see it like how we choose our peers or friends; you don’t need a lot of friends, what you need
are true friends. In my point of view, Products that are a necessity (e.g. water and food) needs
to have quality so you don’t have to repeatedly buy cheap products that are easily broken. But
on luxurious items like clips, stickers, or products that will be used just once, I buy products that
have lower quality since it has lower cost.

In relation to this, I believe that having companies based on either quality or quantity
balances the scale in our society. People with high purchasing power will always depend on
quality products while normal and unfortunate ones will always patronize the lower quality
products since they cannot afford the quality products. As for my preference, I do depend on
both and use products with either high quality or low quality.