SKEDSOFT

Total Quality Management (Tqm)

STEP 12:

The results of a customer satisfaction survey should also be used at the strategic level. The quality map is a perfect instrument for this. Usually strategic discussions will take place using a SWOT analysis, i.e. identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Using the quality map the SWOT elements can be identified.

Fif: SWOT analysis based on a customer satisfaction survey

 

  • Of course the threats will be found where the importance is high combined with a low satisfaction and strengths will be where both are high.
     
  • Actions concerning these two are not very different at the strategic level from the operational level. It is somewhat different when we consider the other two elements of the figure.
  • From an operational point of view the actions will be to adjust the parameters in this part of the map in such a way that they will be concentrated in the low/low part. This will not necessarily be the case when we consider the map from a strategic point of view.
  • From this point of view parameters in this part of the map should not exist or rather they should all be changed to become strengths. In this case the parameters with a high degree of satisfaction are our opportunities. With these parameters we are already performing well and consequently the job will be to convince our customers that this group of parameters is important to them.
  • Concerning the low/low parameters these may strategically be seen as weaknesses. We are not doing very well. On the other hand the parameters are not very important but if the situation changes and customers change their evaluation then the parameters may become a threat.
  • This could easily happen if our competitors find out that we do not perform very well in these cases. They may then try to convince the customers about the importance of the parameters and all of a sudden we are left with a threat.