Developing new services using fuzzy QFD: a LIFENET case study.

PURPOSE The purpose of this paper is to suggest the fuzzy quality function deployment (QFD) method to assess LIFENET customers' spoken and unspoken needs in order to achieve the various objectives like: how to decide optimum portfolio for health services strategically; how to assess competitors' market position in order to reckon the market position of LIFENET; and how to set the revised target in order to satisfy the customers' demand and to fetch profit in order to satisfy managers' mission and vision in a competitive market. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH A fuzzy QFD method has been devised to take care of the various LIFENET objectives. Fuzzy logic's use has been recommended to remove the uncertainty, vagueness, and impreciseness from data obtained to assess customers' spoken and unspoken needs. Symmetric triangular fuzzy numbers (STFNs) may be used to assess various needs to enhance data accuracy. House of quality (HOQ), an in-built QFD matrix, may be constructed to take care of LIFENET's various requirements in order to satisfy internal and external customers. FINDINGS Fuzzy QFD plays a vital role in assessing customers' need in terms of WHATs. Various WHATs thus obtained can be accomplished by incorporating technical parameter HOWs'. The QFD HOQ offers various vital comparisons for instance, WHATs vs HOWs, HOWs vs HOWs, NOWs vs WHATs, etc. to obtain important inferences, which help to revise target to remain competitive in the market Fuzzy QFD helps devise a management strategy to follow customers' needs in health industry successfully. ORIGINALITY/VALUE Accessing Indian customers' needs poses many challenges as the decision to opt for a given healthcare service is most uncertain because it varies from person to person. The set of parameters that influence individual decisions to opt for healthcare services are costs, treatment response time, disease/risk, and health service satisfaction. Fuzzy QFD may help LIFENET promoters to consider customers' favored health services thereby helping strategically in their attempt for major expansion, in order to get the most benefits of becoming first-movers in the sector. Fuzzy QFD may also help LIFENET to avert major investment decisions that looked attractive in short-term, but in fact were unfruitful, in long-term.

[1]  P. Wachtel,et al.  Financial Sector Development in Transition Economies: Lessons from the First Decade , 2002 .

[2]  Zillur Rahman,et al.  Developing customer oriented service: a case study , 2004 .

[3]  J. Hauser,et al.  The House of Quality , 1988 .

[4]  M. D. Dal Poz,et al.  Migration of health-care workers from developing countries: strategic approaches to its management. , 2004, Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

[5]  Rashmi Banga,et al.  Critical Issues in India's Services-led Growth , 2005 .

[6]  Abbie Griffin,et al.  The Voice of the Customer , 1993 .

[7]  Ming-Lu Wu,et al.  A systematic approach to quality function deployment with a full illustrative example , 2005 .

[8]  Berna J. Skrypnek,et al.  Defining spirit at work: finding common ground , 2004 .

[9]  Zillur Rahman.  Marketing Strategy for Logan Cars in India , 2006 .

[10]  P. Farmer,et al.  Managed care or managed inequality? A call for critiques of market-based medicine. , 2002, Medical anthropology quarterly.

[11]  P. J. Arnold,et al.  International Trade and Health Policy: Implications of the GATS for US Healthcare Reform , 2006 .

[12]  E. V. Gijo,et al.  Quality improvement by reducing variation: A case study , 2003 .

[13]  S. Witter,et al.  Health economics in low income countries: adapting to the reality of the unofficial economy. , 2001, Health policy.

[14]  zevki Özgener.  Quality function deployment: A teamwork approach , 2003 .

[15]  Bob D. Cutler,et al.  At your service!Does country of origin research apply to services? , 2001 .

[16]  S. Eaton.  Beyond ‘unloving care’: linking human resource management and patient care quality in nursing homes , 2000 .

[17]  J. Hammer,et al.  Weak Links in the Chain , 2000 .

[18]  Jeffrey G. Williamson,et al.  Capital-Goods Prices And Investment, 1870 1950 , 2001 .

[19]  K V Ramani,et al.  A management information system to plan and monitor the delivery of health-care services in government hospitals in India. , 2004, Journal of health organization and management.

[20]  Martin Ravallion,et al.  Measuring Aggregate Welfare in Developing Countries: How Well do National Accounts and Surveys Agree? , 1999 .

[21]  H. Taylor,et al.  The HMO report card: a closer look. , 1986, Health affairs.

[22]  Nancy C. Praizier,et al.  The Qfd Book: The Team Approach to Solving Problems and Satisfying Customers Through Quality Function Deployment , 1993 .

[23]  J. Luck,et al.  When do developing countries adopt managed care policies and technologies? Part II: Infrastructure, techniques, and reform strategies. , 2002, The American journal of managed care.

[24]  Z. Rahman.  A Model for the Sales and Distribution of E-Services , 2004 .