Quality function deployment aids effective strategic decision making : Aligning customer demands with future business plans

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to detail how the quality function deployment (QFD) methodology can help companies identify their strategic priorities and achieve customer satisfaction and increased competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach – The paper outlines a case study example of the use of the QFD methodology. It looks at how well it was able to achieve its objectives. Findings – Meeting customer expectations and creating customer satisfaction has become the Holy Grail for companies wishing to improve their competitiveness and profitability. Success, however, for many companies remains illusive. Their ability to align and integrate customer satisfaction with their overall strategic direction has proved to be more difficult that they thought. Their repeated desire to put the customer first is severely hampered by the lack of effective methodologies and tools to support the creation of an integrated process. Companies need a mechanism for aligning important concepts – a tool that will outline the important steps that they need to implement in order to successfully identify business priorities. One company, Geotherm Sri, a firm producing geothermal heat pumps, adopted QFD to help them with their strategic planning and achieve customer satisfaction. How well did QFD meet the challenge? Practical implications – The paper provides a step‐by‐step guide of how to apply the QFD methodology to the task of defining business priorities. Social implications – The paper improves corporate strategic decision making and allows for a more in‐depth analysis of customer expectations/needs. Originality/value – The paper identifies the various steps involved in applying the QFD. It adopts a case study example that will help company strategic decision makers in their quest to determine their business priorities.