Attractive quality for requirement assessment during the front‐end of innovation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a new decision‐aided tool for selecting customer needs during the new product development process. Design/methodology/approach – The study started by examining the principles of attractive quality and its limits. The theory of attractive quality developed by Kano was used to conduct a requirement assessment and classification within four categories. The study also proposed a new method for needs analysis and, finally, an experiment with a case study was carried out for new self‐directed learning software. Findings – This paper proposes a methodology involving the three following steps: identifying customers' needs, classifying and evaluating them, and comparing several concepts of new products. The paper proposes a matrix modeling that is based on the Kano model, which results in an analytical approach of the attractive quality theory. This enables the selection of innovative concepts and new ideas through the evaluation of their impact on needs satisfaction. Research limitations/implications – Future research is required in order to study the impact of the vocabulary used in the Kano questionnaire; misunderstanding these needs could lead to incorrect classification. Moreover, future work could consider other technical criteria for concept selection, including technical feasibility and cost constraints. Practical implications – The formality of the model (clear steps and matrix modeling) and its graphical aspect (decision made based on graphical mappings) makes it a simple decision tool. It can be used by design teams during the Front‐End phases and in activities coming upstream from the more formal and well‐structured New Product Development Process (NPDP). Originality/value – A major concern for companies during an innovation process is to discover users' needs. This paper presents an integrated method for customer environment analysis, needs identification, needs classification, and new concept selection. The most interesting concepts – those that yield satisfaction – will then continue through the innovation process.