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The paper aims to help companies develop a better understanding of customer needs through quantitative analysis of Kano's model.

A novel approach is developed to measure and quantify the relationships between customer satisfaction and the fulfillment of customer requirements (S‐CR) as depicted in Kano's model. A case study concerning notebook computer design is conducted to illustrate the application of the proposed approach.

By implementing the proposed approach, S‐CR relationship functions have been identified from Kano's model to illustrate the impact of different customer requirements on customer satisfaction. The case study demonstrates that the proposed approach can be implemented successfully.

In order to identify the S‐CR relationship functions, several assumptions have been made in determining the shape of relationship curves in Kano's model. Future work could focus on improving the assumptions to derive the relationship functions more objectively.

The proposed approach enables companies to develop a better understanding of customer requirements by visualizing the impact of customer requirements on customer satisfaction through S‐CR relationship functions. More importantly, it provides a way for companies to integrate Kano's model with other mathematical models or tools to support engineering design.

The proposed approach goes beyond the qualitative analysis in Kano's model by identifying S‐CR relationship functions, both linear and nonlinear, to measure the impact of different customer requirements on customer satisfaction, which is currently a new attempt in the analysis of Kano's model for quality improvement.

The purpose of this study was to examine overall customer satisfaction associated with medical service quality in Taiwan by integrated Kano’s model and customer satisfaction index model. Another purpose was to confirmed nonlinear and asymmetric relationship of Customer Satisfaction and Quality Performance by the research outcome. By analyzing 1,100 patients or their family members, this study used the structural equation model (SEM) with AMOS software for data analysis. The results show that must‐be attributes, one‐dimensional attributes and attractive attributes had a direct effect on overall customer satisfaction, Surprisingly, overall customer satisfaction had positively influenced customer loyalty customer satisfaction had negatively influenced customer complaints. The study also found that customer complaints have direct effect on customer loyalty. Importantly, the study found out the must‐be attributes, the attractive attributes and one‐dimensional attributes increased, the level of overall customer satisfaction also increased. The customer satisfaction positively influences customer loyalty in medical service quality in Taiwan. The findings might reveal new insights for researchers dealing with quality of medical service and for hospital managers who devote resources exclusively to achieving highest possible levels of patient satisfaction.

With increasing market competition, it is not sufficient for organizations to rely solely on continuous improvement in order to maintain and develop their competitive edge. There is a need to begin a strategic move towards innovation. This paper proposes an integrated approach involving SERVQUAL, Kano’s model, and quality function deployment. The approach aims to help organizations to evaluate customer satisfaction, to guide improvement efforts in strengthening their weak attributes, and to expedite the development of innovative services through the identification of attractive attributes and embedding them into future services. A case study is presented to evaluate the image of Singapore from the Indonesian tourists’ perspective. Several strong and weak attributes of Singapore tourism were identified and analyzed. Strategies to improve the weak attributes were identified.

In today’s highly competitive business environment, the main approach of all businesses is to optimally provide customers’ requirements and gain their satisfaction and trust. The process of value creation for customers consists of value chain activities which are concentrated on providing maximum level of customers’ needs. The purpose of this paper is to propose a holistic model by which the quality, the transferred value to customers and the firm’s competitive advantage would be improved simultaneously under budget constraint.

This study uses a combination of several quality management (QM) tools including SERVQUAL, Kano’s model, quality function deployment and knapsack problem. Moreover, the triangular fuzzy logic is used throughout the model to address data uncertainty and increase the model flexibility. The proposed model includes five steps which are implemented in the case study of life-insurance services.

The lack of coordination and cooperation between the people working in the inherently related sections leads to incorrect decisions and also the failure in implementation of adopted decisions. Hence, the interface between quality and strategic management should be well considered in organizations. The model generates an integrated vision to the process of decision making in this interface. The framework has several significant outcomes which would be used by both researchers and practitioners.

The study shows that the individual elements of decision-making process in the interface between quality and strategic management are related to each other, recommending the need to coordinated and consistent effort between different parts of a firm. The results are limited by the sample size and geography of the survey.

This paper is among the few in the literature that have presented a holistic and step-by-step approach to the decisions on the intersection between two areas of quality and strategic management, recommending the managers to not have insular look to the issues and try to make a sufficient and efficient relationship between the different sections. This study is an important step in reflecting these relations and the need to create an integrated decision model.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to identify a list of fashion attributes preferred by young Bangladeshi consumers while buying casual clothes; second, to test the applicability of Kano’s quality theory in the apparel industry; and, finally, to explore the differences in fashion priorities between male and female consumers.

This study is based on primary data collected through a survey from 1,177 young consumers of urban Bangladesh. Structural equation modeling was used to develop the attribute index. Also, convergent and discriminant validity and construct reliability of the index were tested.

The study offers a four-dimensional 19-item index representing the desirable fashion attributes. This paper also confirms the applicability of Kano’s theory in the apparel industry. Results revealed that “well-designed casual attires” and “discount offers” are top-ranking attributes as perceived by both male and female consumers. However, there are differences in the preferences. Women prioritized irritation-free, durable and soft fabric, whereas men preferred attributes such as suitability of color and functionality in the workplace.

The findings of the study provide clothing suppliers of Bangladesh with information that may be utilized while preparing their options. For instance, as casual clothes are frequently worn and washed, a quality fabric that looks good even after several washes is highly recommended. Dress manufacturers need to offer colorful attires to women, whereas for men, more color options should be available. Casual clothes should be made in a way that they are acceptable in the community and workplace.

As research on exploring desirable fashion qualities in developing markets (especially in South Asian region) is rare, this study is contributing to the literature by offering validated apparel attribute index.

This paper aims to establish an 11‐step “improvement decision model” to enhance learning satisfaction.

This model integrates Kano's model and the relevant concepts for decision making, and puts forward an “improvement decision diagram and principles”. This paper also establishes “constructs of the learning satisfaction measurement” and a “teaching quality management cycle” to make it easy for instructors, administrators and students to jointly upgrade teaching quality.

The “improvement decision model” can effectively assist teachers to enhance their instructional materials and elevate student's learning satisfaction.

With enthusiastic participation of four instructors, the results of the case study are found to be satisfactory and support the applicability of the model proposed in this paper.

As customer expectations expand and as product offerings hardly differ from each other, service excellence has gained in importance as a means of enhancing customer loyalty. The aim of this paper is to focus on expanding and extending what companies can do to achieve service excellence by comparing and evaluating three popular approaches to excellence.

The authors compare three of the most commonly used excellence models, Johnston's conceptualisation of service excellence, the EFQM Model as a representative of national quality award models and the Kano model, and their respective applicability and specific perspective on service excellence. The evaluation is based on theoretical arguments, criteria and on a qualitative expert study.

Combining the selected models provides a comprehensive approach to service excellence. Since all models are compatible and complementary with each other, the analysis provides an enhanced understanding of service excellence and also explains in which context it is most feasible to apply any of the respective approaches. Furthermore, the requirement for a genuine service excellence model becomes evident.

By focusing on three specific excellence models, others such as the Canadian Quality Award and the Australian Quality Award are not considered. Furthermore, a study across industries could reveal how service excellence is achieved in each industry to then transfer this knowledge into other sectors.

By comparing the selected models, benefits of merging the individual approaches are identified. The resulting combined perspectives offered by the individual models present a more detailed insight into what management can undertake to ensure service excellence.

As no prior research has examined the relationship between the selected excellence models and their implications for providing service excellence, this present research offers an innovative approach and thus yields new insights into the conceptualisation of service excellence.

The improvement of service quality has become a major strategy for improving competitiveness. The identification of customers’ requirements and the measurement of satisfaction levels are therefore two crucial activities for enterprises. However, firms frequently fail to understand customer requirements, and the usual methods for measuring customer satisfaction are incomplete. The present research establishes an integrated model for achieving multiple targets in measuring service quality, i.e. to identify the important quality attributes that are identified by customers; to understand customer satisfaction levels with respect to these quality attributes; to discover the difference between employees’ perceptions and the customers’ perceptions of these quality attributes; to use the analytic results to improve service quality; and to identify the categories of Kano’s model of each quality attribute that can be used as critical reference on quality decisions. This integrated model is valuable for practical implementation in industries, and as an important reference for academic research on service quality.

This paper proposes a method for quantifying the types of quality elements proposed by Kano; namely: attractive quality, one‐dimensional quality, and must‐be quality. Kano’s classification of required quality has helped us improve our thinking in product development. However, his classification is conceptual rather than quantitative, and the conventional techniques of questionnaire and group interview cannot provide quantification of the relationship between the degree of customer satisfaction and the degree of sufficiency of required qualities. This paper describes how a quality element under Kano’s quality model can be expressed as a utility function, and describes an application to quality design of a cellular phone.

The purpose of this paper is: to review the most commonly used approaches to the classification of quality attributes according to the Kano model; to identify the theoretical/practical strengths and weaknesses of these techniques; and to provide guidance for future research and managerial practice in this area.

Based on an extensive review of the literature on the Kano model and the relevant marketing/management literature, five approaches (Kano's method; “penalty‐reward contrast analysis”; “importance grid”; qualitative data methods; and “direct classification”) are evaluated in terms of their validity and reliability for categorising attributes in the Kano model. Several illustrative examples provide empirical evidence for the theoretical arguments advanced in the study.

The Kano questionnaire and the direct‐classification method are the only approaches that are capable of classifying Kano attributes in the design stage of a product/service. Penalty‐reward contrast analysis (PRCA) is useful for assessing the impact of product/service attributes on overall satisfaction with a product/service, but its applicability to the classification of Kano attributes is questionable. The importance grid (IG) is not recommended for use with the Kano model. The critical incident technique and the analysis of complaints/compliments are valid for the Kano model, but have questionable reliability.

The study makes some important points about accurate semantic terminology in describing issues related to the Kano model. In particular, researchers should be aware that an attractive quality element (must‐be quality element, respectively) might in fact be a dissatisfier (satisfier, respectively), due to significant conceptual differences between performance in terms of the Kano model (i.e. objective performance) and subjective performance perceptions.