The basic design of the fishing rod is simple -- a tapered rod made of six triangular-cut, planed, and individually tapered bamboo strips glued together along their lengths (Penrose, 2008). Flexibility and strength in the individual strips is mediated/enhanced by the positioning of the joints and the strips in relation to each other, and strip size and selection are the primary design and materials elements that affect the outcome of the product -- "faster" action rods have more flexibility in the last third of the rod and decreasing flexibility moving down the rod and closer to the angler's hand, while "slow" action rods have significant bends all along their lengths (Penrose, 2008; Barkley, 2012). Bamboo's unique cellular structure enables this flexibility along the length of the rod while also providing a tensile strength of approximately 15,000 pounds per square inch and a flexural strength of over 2,000 kilo-Newtons per square centimeter (Carrasco et al., 2009). The result is a six-foot pole with a high and variable (based on purposeful selection, in the hands of a skilled manufacturer) level of elasticity and strength to withstand continuous bending and various direction of strain.

The design process has remained unchanged for sometime because there is not a better way to balance the needs of flexibility and strength that has yet been developed, and because there is not demand for more responsive, flexible, or simply "better" rods -- while quality varies considerably in the rods available the high-end rods have been the same for many years (Barkley, 2012). Care will be taken in the design process to emulate proven techniques, with changes to tapering degree and rod length made only after careful examination and consumer feedback collection. Quality in the manufacturing process will be maintained through consistent and open communication with suppliers and through repeated testing of the bamboo at each stage of hand possessing, with only proven high-quality adhesives and bindings used in the actual construction and with an appropriate machine binder used to ensure an even and non-slipping means of compressing the strips into a rod (Penrose, 2008). Through careful control over each aspect of the manufacturing process, quality of the process itself and of the product produced will be ensured. This quality assurance increase is the tradeoff in the difficulties and the expense of skilled hand labor.

Differentiation: Marketing a Classic Product through Manufacturing