Gradual increment or improvement

Having overcome the hurdles of identifying products to replicate and mobilising required resources to set up, the next crucial factor is to focus on continuously improvement to meet the taste of the target market. One of the participants who manufactures cold-water starch explains how the product is improved upon in these words:

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Yes yes we’ve tried as much as possible to make it more cold water soluble at least to be able to dissolve in cold water, within three minutes maximum. Yes at least we’ve been able to work on that and we’ve been able to work on the fragrances we are using at least to upgrade it, to make it more attractive (interview 1).

Another participant manufacturing chocolate expressed similar sentiments with the narration below:

Hmm, yes I will say there has been improvements, eh for instance our premium chocolates initially we use to experience ehm melting. You know chocolates melt and you know we are in tropical region, so we use to experience ehm, ehm melting, so we had to go back and do some research and come up with the another product it will still melt but not as quickly as our initial product line that’s for premium chocolate (interview 4)

Another participant that manufactures ranges of household products, which include liquid detergent, has this to say when asked if there has been improvement on the products:

Drastic improvement, anytime we produce the product, we produce something better than what you had the last time (interview 2).

Perhaps because it is a continuous of circle of producing and pushing to the market to get customers’ feedback to gain perfection, this is especially noticeable at the initial stage of product existence as noted by a participant below:

Yes, yes that’s what I tell you that you improve every time. If there is any any complaint, because we always tell our customer if there is any complaint, they have to report to us in order to amend the eh, because you cannot claim perfect it’s only the public will tell you what is okay, are you getting my point (interview 6)

The above statement indicates that the firms continuously improve their products through the feedback they get from users. Another participant, manufacturer of various ranges of wines, in response to a similar question on product improvement affirms:

Yes, eh, there have been some small changes yes before let me take the example of the cabre that’s why it was not the carbonated product, but as we were able to try at least to stay in along with the, leaders (interview 3)

Perceptible from the statement above is effort to match the quality of their product with the cloned product. These firms use the imported or multinational product as threshold to gauge

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the quality of their product. Another comprehensive statement below details the mechanics of how these small firms constantly renew themselves to remain competitive in the market:

Yes improvement, in this will, we make sure that eh we do intermittent market survey, One, we look at products that are, emerging products, emerging products in the market, we look at their quality, we go buy them, we see them apart from gaining feedback from people, compare with what in terms of brand, in terms of everything, compare with what we are doing, you understand, because something is eh, there are some, things that appeal to people , the branding. You understand, so we discover, we, we look at that, that ah, okay, ah!, this our package has been for like two three years, okay what do we do to, make it add something to it, to make it a bit look newer, more attractive, see how whatever we can add in addition, to what is there currently, okay oh! In a new pack, in a new terms of you know packaging like branding, and also in terms of the quality, eh the material input, for instance there are some materials we use, that we discovered that eh, when there is any emerging new, even when we discovered there are new materials in the market, we looked at okay. Let’s sample this new one, with what we have been using before, let’s see if it’s going to make any further impact, on it, so we tried to experiment, so if we discovered that we don’t need to change from what we have been using, we just leave it if we discovered that there is need to change, then we say okay, let’s alter it a bit to One, just to ensure that eh, we maintain that eh the quality used (interview 5).

The above statement identified and discussed two dimensions in which these small firms make efforts to level up with multinationals: packaging and quality. They know quite well that the cloned products are better off on these two dimensions, they therefore make considerable strive to make their own product close to them since they know they cannot match the cloned products in these two dimensions.

Another dimension of continuous improvement is reflected in the variation in size as a result of feedback from users as the statement below states:

In fact, when we, we started, we started with, the 125ml per bottle, we found out that is too small, many of our customers they, were demanding for more, so we as time goes on, we now, added eh, 250ml, now we have 1litre to it. Not only that, in the same eh, I think this the, free time we have, direct fix now, of it, we have eh, the wag, that forms in green color, we have the one that comes from a wine colour, so that eh, we have the same, applicable to other products, in fact we give our customers variety to make a choice, depending on what they need so far we meet up their demand (interview 7).

A participant emphasises the importance of continuously being on guard by constant monitoring and improvement by giving an anecdote above; a multinational, which used to be

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dominant in the market but has now been relegated due to tough competition from substitutes:

We are still learning, you understand, some of the things we are still doing, now, we are still on the road, so, we still work, like when you came now, some things you asked, we say okay. From there we are able to see how we can, make do, you asked question then, that eh, how do we improve on what we do, we don’t just go and sit back that ah, we have gotten there no. What I would say is one of the problem is that eh, sorry to use this example, I think Maclean those days, Maclean is only about the only tooth paste, it got to a point that eh, when you want to call tooth paste, you call it Maclean unknowingly, I think, don’t know what happened sha, it just, I don’t know whether they slept or whatever (interview 5).

The firms realise that to sustain their presence in the market, they need to embark on continuous improvement to meet the need of the target market. The process of constant and continuous improvement requires trying out and tweaking mainly the raw materials employed in the production of the products.