Product development benchmarking versus customer focus in applications of quality function deployment

The study explores the tradeoff between efforts to benchmark on product-development practices and be customer focused in the implementation of a quality-improvement method. The results of a survey of thirty-three firms' experience with quality function deployment (QFD) reveal that benchmarking on how competitors, peers, or role models develop products facilitates process improvement but hinders customer focus. Smaller firms are also shown to gain more customer focus and process-improvement benefits from QFD than larger firms.The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Office of Manufacturing Management Research, the National Quality Research Center, and the Manufacturing Forum at the University of Michigan's School of Business Administration as well as the kind assistance of the American Supplier Institute for making this study possible.