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The purpose of this paper is to propose a modified Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) model and calculates the performance of quality characteristic for the purpose of defining quality improvement strategy.

This study developed modified IPA by introducing the Mahalanobis Distance and multiple regression analysis to evaluate the performance gap and implicit importance of quality characteristics. This paper used a large air-conditioning manufacturer in Taiwan as the case analysis and study targets. It discussed and validated the modified IPA analytical results by studying case history and market analysis.

Through the case study, the quality characteristics of air-conditioning product and service needed to be improved immediately are Green product (Q3) and Repair service (Q10), and the Price (Q11) and Serviceability (Q2) could be kept or enhanced to win the market competitive advantages.

This study developed a modified IPA to help organization identifying key quality characteristics of product and service, and choosing its improvement strategies to win the market competitive advantages effectively.

Based on attribute research in marketing, importance-performance analysis (IPA) provides a useful analogy to examine employer branding concepts. The purpose of this paper is to use IPA to evaluate employees’ perceptions of important employer value proposition (EVP) attributes and their corresponding psychological contract fulfillment scores. IPA is applied to 40 EVP attributes and their corresponding EVP dimensions – “Economic Value”, “Development Value”, “Social Value”, “Work Value” and “Employer Reputation.” Further, the paper examines the difference between highly engaged and less engaged employees in their relationship to importance and fulfillment of the five EVP dimensions.

Data were drawn from information technology-business process management employees (n=520) in India through a questionnaire survey. The IPA matrix was used to plot the importance and fulfillment scores. Independent samples t-test was used to assess the difference between high and low engagement scores.

The results indicate that several EVP attributes fall within the “Concentrate Here” quadrant that requires more focus. With respect to EVP dimensions, social value needs focus; economic value received “Low Priority”; and work value and employer reputation are identified as “Potential Overkill.” The findings also suggest that, organizations should engage employees across all dimensions, by both prioritizing and fulfilling their obligations promptly.

The study highlights the need for HR practitioners and academicians to draw insights from attribute research in marketing to effectively devise the employer branding strategy of individual organizations.

This paper is the first of its kind to apply IPA to EVP attributes, which contributes to the growing literature on employer branding.

Small-medium enterprise (SME) service industry is an industry that continues to experience growth in developed and developing countries, including Indonesia. SME service industry that engaged in the service industry, namely, rental for generator set, air conditioner and sound system. In recent years, this SME has been experienced in declining in sales and getting some complaints from their customers. Many studies suggest that service quality and customer satisfaction are the key factors in the service industry. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the quality of service based on the customer’s perspective.

Data was collected using a combination of literature review, interview, brainstorming and questionnaires and analyzed by using importance-performance analysis (IPA) and quality function deployment (QFD) model.

This research resulted in nine technical requirements that allow the company to focus on these attributes to help the company enhance its customer satisfaction.

Based on the theory, applying service quality, IPA and also QFD will result in customer satisfaction. Practically the enhancement in customer satisfaction is not as easy as expected. Nowadays, customers always expect more and more and it is impossible to fully captured customers’ needs and always satisfy customers. Nevertheless, for this research company can understand their customers better, companies can evaluate their performances based on the customers’ perspective and know their customers’ needs. The company also know their strengths and weaknesses to allocate the resources and maximize their potential. Last but not least, the company is able to know their strategic priority that needs to be done for their better performance in the future to fulfill their customers’ needs and hope to enhance their customer satisfaction

A lot of research about customer satisfaction but still limited especially in the service industry in Indonesia using a combination of IPA and QFD model. So this research will give benefit for SMEs in Indonesia to allocate their resources more effectively by looking at the results of the four quadrants of IPA and house of quality (HOQ) framework can be used for a company as the references for their priority strategic option. Yet, to keep improving, the company recommended reviewing HOQ periodically.

To analyze the limitations of two methods used in the identification of satisfaction attributes in products and services – importance performance analysis (IPA) and Kano method – and to propose a new method for identification of improvement opportunities based on the competitive analysis of the improvement gap.

A case analyzing attributes of the service “rodizio de pizzas” a kind of pizzeria found in Brazil, was used to illustrate the proposed method. Resulting from a focus group, four attributes, one of them being an innovation, were specifically chosen to include the different categories of the Kano model: basic, performance and excitement attributes. A survey was conducted with a random sample of 110 undergraduate students that eat regularly at pizzerias.

As a major limitation, IPA leads to different conclusions depending on how an attribute's importance is figured. Also, it does not take into consideration the non‐linear relationship between the performance of the attributes and customer satisfaction, possibly misleading improvement decisions and hindering the introduction of innovations. The Kano method identifies the non‐linear relationship between performance and satisfaction, but it does not take into consideration the current level of attributes' performance in the analysis. The proposed method successfully identified improvement opportunities in a service case, including the possible impact of including a new attribute, i.e. an innovative attribute, overcoming limitations of the IPA and of the Kano method.

The paper provides an intuitive and simple method that correctly identified improvement decisions in the case studied, including the introduction of an incremental innovation.

This study aims to propose a framework for identifying and measuring the gaps between evaluation and goal setting in service supply chain (SSC) processes towards planning and development of sustainable tourism aligned with the firm's real conditions and capabilities.

By the concept of the service quality gap model, the existing gaps between auditors' evaluation and the managers' goals in SSC processes maturity were examined. Then, each of the designed gaps was measured considering the goals addressed by managers’ and auditors' evaluation. Finally, the strategy and priority of sustainable tourism planning and development were determined based on importance–performance analysis (IPA).

The gaps caused by the expectations and perceptions of the firm about the dissatisfaction of managers regarding their addressed goals and the evaluation of auditors in the planning and development of sustainable tourism can be classified into three categories of goals gap, assessment gap and main gap. To improve the performance of the firm in each of the evaluation criteria under the results of IPA analysis, solutions were provided.

Realistic evaluation and recognition of the capabilities of the organization's processes through the proposed framework can be effective in goal setting and sustainable tourism development policies.

The framework proposed in this study can be a suitable approach for the balanced growth of all aspects of the firm in planning and developing sustainable tourism and helps firms in setting the right and logical goals.

The purpose of the study is to clarify the quality of home delivery logistics services from the perspectives of customers and provide insight to aid the prioritization of service quality improvements and guide managerial strategic planning.

The study used a three-dimensional model that integrated Kano model, goal difficulty (GD) and importance–performance analysis (IPA) for investigating service quality aspects emphasized by customers and determine which attributes should be prioritized according to an enterprise's resource and capability constraints. Data were collected through questionnaires administered to the customers and managers of five primary home delivery logistics service enterprises and six small to medium-sized enterprises in Taiwan. Improving the quality of home delivery logistics services has become of increased interest for enterprises.

The three most important attributes, ranked in order of priority for improvement, were the protection of customers' personal information, delivery of products without damage and reasonable compensation standards for product damage. The study concludes that enterprises should prioritize the improvement of these attributes. Implications, detailed explanations and directions for further investigations are also proposed.

The study discusses the importance and relevant satisfaction levels of service quality attributes from the perspective of customers while also considering the limitations of companies' resources and capabilities. The results indicate that the method can be used to identify service quality attributes of home delivery logistics and formulate strategies for enhancing customer satisfaction.

The authors of this study, who adopted a holistic view of the international organization for standardization (ISO) 9000 series of standards, aimed to evaluate the current status of the standards within the framework of the quality movement. Specifically, the evaluation covered two dimensions, i.e. the significance of the content included in the standards and the quality of the standards’ elaboration, which encompasses such issues as, for instance, their correctness, relevance to current trends in quality management, comprehensibility, etc.

The paper is based on a review of the scientific literature, analysis of the current and all previous versions of the international standards and the results of a survey, through which data were collected from 73 quality management experts from 17 different countries. To evaluate the results, an importance-performance analysis was performed.

As the results of the research demonstrated, experts in quality management have accepted the ISO 9000 standards series. However, this positive view refers mainly to the very idea of developing quality management standards and these standard’s content structure (components included in them). Study participants assigned a low rating to the quality of the standards’ elaboration. Therefore, improving the following aspects of the standards is essential: definitions, guidelines explaining the requirements for a quality management system, self-assessment tools and guidelines concerning quality management concerning chosen forms of activity.

The research described here in has both practical and social implications. First, it delineates the direction needed to improve standardizations, whose use need not be strictly limited to quality management but can be successfully used to improve the standards in other areas of management. Therefore, the conclusions of this research directly contribute to increasing both the effectiveness and the quality of the standard organizations. The significant consequences of this research for managers are the identification of ISO 9000 components which they will find are the most useful.

The research described herein has both practical and social implications. First, it delineates the direction needed to improve standardizations, whose use need not be strictly limited to quality management. However, it can be successfully used to improve the standards in other areas of management. Therefore, the conclusions of this research directly contribute to increasing both the effectiveness and the quality of the standard organizations. The significant consequences of this research for managers are the identification of ISO 9000 components, which they will find are the most useful.

Most research treats ISO 9000 standards as a benchmark for their studies on quality management systems implemented in organizations. The standards themselves are rarely the subject of a study, and so this paper fills a gap in the research and provides insights into desired directions for standards improvement.

The excellence in design and greater efficiencies (EDGE) certification system has seen a gradual adoption worldwide, with Ghana having six out of its eight certified green buildings bearing an EDGE certification. However, little is known about occupants’ satisfaction with the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of EDGE-certified buildings. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the satisfaction of occupants with the IEQ of an EDGE-certified building in Ghana by identifying their perceived performance of the indoor environment relative to their perceived importance.

A survey was conducted to evaluate the performance of 12 IEQ parameters with the occupants of an EDGE-certified office building. The survey results were evaluated using a gap analysis and both traditional and alternative Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) matrices.

The findings revealed that noise level, temperature, cleanliness, sound privacy, air quality and humidity were IEQs that required the highest priority for improvement. Daylight and artificial lighting showed no appreciable performance gap. Space layout was adequately satisfied, whereas space size was overly satisfied. Visual privacy and outdoor view were found to require low priority of improvement.

This study contributes to the state-of-the-art of the IEQ of green buildings. It pioneers the research that seeks to examine the IEQ of EDGE-certified buildings. The gap analysis and the IPA were effective in prioritizing the IEQs for improvement action and provided a practical research framework that helped researchers examine the performance of green buildings, thereby giving valuable feedback to policymakers and building owners.

Importance-performance analysis (IPA) is an effective tool for firms to prioritise service quality attributes, but has limitations in evaluating and enhancing service quality within a competitive environment. The purpose of this paper is to present an evolved model of IPA – importance-performance benchmark vectors (IPBV) – as a benchmarking tool and investigate its applicability in the context of hotel service quality.

Empirical studies based on self-completion survey data from 150 customers of two full-service hotels in Taiwan were conducted in to examine the practical utility of IPBV.

Eight key benchmark typologies were identified and expressed as vectors in the IPBV model which are as follows: “sustainable advantage”, “potential strength”, “false advantage or outstanding advantage”, “cease-fire competition”, “false disadvantage or on-hand disadvantage”, “potential weakness”, “dangerous warning” and “head-on competition”.

The paper extends the methodology to more cases, and other service industries to test further the discriminatory power of the model and to explore the descriptors in the IPBV vector model. Alternative seven-point or nine-point Likert scales could be explored to test the discriminant validity using means. The alternative IPA diagonal approach focussing on GAP analysis may reveal alternative interpretations for the IPBV vector model. Other extended models of IPA, which include competitor analysis, should be compared in practice using a data set where both quantitative and qualitative data could be generated.

The paper proposes the two-dimensional IPBV model which retains the advantages of IPA, but also includes competitor or benchmark comparisons which enable organisations to analyse their relative competitive position. The two-part model provides both quantitative information and qualitative interpretation of relativities. The graphical matrix models provide simple quantitative analysis of attributes, whilst the IPBV vector model provides qualitative interpretations of the eight competitive market positions. Vector analysis enables the development of competitive strategies relative to benchmarks, or within a competitive set. Importance is retained and means that organisations can benchmark against a range of competitors prioritising specific attributes for resource allocation.

The interpretive utility of the model should be explored with practitioners and decision makers in the service industries. The model has been designed for practical use in industry to inform operational and strategic decision making, its usefulness in practice should be explored and the attitudes of practitioners to the model should be tested.

Traditional approaches to benchmarking have adopted a one-dimensional approach that does not include a measure of the relative importance of the service quality dimensions in specific markets. This research develops a two-dimensional advanced model of IPA, called IPBV, which is based on vector relationships between key attributes of service quality. These vectors are explored and described in competitive terms and the model is discussed with regard to its implications for industry, practitioners and researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to present the improvement gap analysis (IGA), a simple method to direct improvement opportunities in services that overcomes limitations of the traditional IPA regarding excitement and basic attributes.

The proposed method is theoretically developed and simulated. The theoretical simulation explains why IGA overcomes limitations of the traditional importance performance analysis (IPA) and how it could identify the impact of excitement innovative attributes. A case study with 287 customers of supermarkets was used to empirically test IGA and compare it to IPA.

The case study confirmed that the traditional IPA may lead to wrong improvement decisions for basic and excitement attributes. It happens because IPA is based on current attributes' performance and considers the relationship between attribute performance and customer satisfaction as a linear one. Also, it cannot identify the impact of excitement innovative attributes on customer satisfaction. Using only information about the company's customers, IGA could differentiate neutral from excitement attributes in the case study and, differently from IPA, it correctly identified improvement decisions for basic and excitement attributes.

Although IGA can theoretically distinguish between excitement innovative and neutral attributes, the case study presented in the paper did not test any innovative attribute. All attributes were already experimented or known by the subjects. Future research should empirically test IGA's real capability to identify excitement innovative attributes.

Managers should be aware that IPA may lead to wrong improvement decisions. It may leave excitement attributes unnoticed or direct the company to the improvement of basic attributes that already have adequate performance. IGA can be a good substitute for IPA with the additional advantage that it does not need information about competitors in the analysis. Also, since service quality evaluation depends heavily on customer perception, IGA is particularly suitable to this industry, but it could also be used for product improvement.

The literature presents several papers discussing IPA's problems. Some papers present the possible decision errors of IPA when dealing with excitement and basic attributes. Fewer have tried to propose methods to overcome these problems. This paper confirms the problems of IPA and presents a simple method that overcomes these limitations, distinguishing between excitement and neutral attributes. Also, because it does not use information about competitors, it can be easily used by companies that have difficulties in gathering such information.