The development of an analytical tool for integrating 'the voice of the consumer' in new product development

The developm e nt of an analytical tool for integrating ‘the

voice of the consumer’ in New Product Developm e nt

Pilar de Carlos

_{, Marian Garcia}

_{, Isabel de Felipe}

_{, Julian Briz}

and Federico Morais

1

_{Polytechnic University of Madrid. ETSI Agróno mo s. Depart me n t of}

Agricultural Economics.

Ciudad Universitaria s/n. 28040, Madrid, Spain. (Tel.: +34 913365 79 1;

fax: +34 3365797)

[email protected] p m.es

;

isabel.defelipe@up m.es

;

julian.briz@up m.es

_{Imperial College London, Wye Campu s, Ashfor d, Kent, TN25 5AH, UK.}

[email protected]

3

_{Spanish Food and Drink Federation (FIAB), Diego de León 44, 28006,}

Madrid, Spain.

[email protected]

Paper prepared for presentation at the 98

_{EAAE Seminar ‘Marketing}

Dynamics within the Global Trading System: New Perspectiv e s’,

Chania, Crete, Greece as in: 29 June – 2 July, 200 6

Copyright 2006 by [Pilar de Carlos, Marian Garcia, Isabel de Felipe, Julian

Briz and Federico Morais ]. All rights reserved. Readers may make

verbatim copies of this docu men t for non - com m ercial purposes by any

means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies.

The devel op m e nt of an analytical tool for

integrating ‘the voice of the consu m er’ in New

Product Develop m e nt

Pilar de Carlos

_{, Marian Garcia}

_{, Isabel de Felipe}

_{, Julian Briz}

_and

Federico Morais

1 _{Polytechnic University of Madrid. ETSI Agrónom os. Departme n t of Agricultural Economics.} Ciudad Universitaria s/n. 28040, Madrid, Spain . (Tel.: +34 913365791; fax: +34 3365797)

[email protected] m.es; [email protected]; julian.briz@up m.es

2 _{Imperial College London, Wye Campus, Ashford, Kent, TN25 5AH, UK.}

[email protected]

3 _{Spanish Food and Drink Federation (FIAB), Diego de León 44, 28006, Madrid, Spain. [email protected]}

Abstract

The developme nt of new products and how the process is organised and managed within the firm is a key area in manage m e nt research due to the high failure rate of new products and the consequent waste of limited resources. Developing new products and being innovative requires companies to have deep understanding of the consu mer, the market and the environ me n t but most importantly to effectively apply this knowledge in the developme nt of new products that meet consumer’s expectations. This paper aims at developing an innovative frame work to incorporate the ‘voice of consumer’ at early stages of the new product developme nt (NPD) process. To that end, the paper will consider the practical implementation of the Quality Function Deployme nt (QFD) in the develop ment of new food products. QFD is considered as the most complete and comprehensive methodology for planning the goals of a strea m of processes in order to align them with customer’s requirements. QFD forces the design team to place customer needs in first place and ensures that this customer focus is kept through the NPD process. In doing so, QFD reduces two types of risks: first, the non - correspondence between product specifications and the wants of a predeter mined target consumer group; and second, the risk that final products do not comply with product specifications. To date, QFD has been partially applied in the food area with only a handf ul of studies venturing in this research area.

Keywords : quality function deploymen t, new product develop men t, voice of consu mer.

1. Introduction

A key factor to remain competitive in an ever - increasingly competitive environ me n t is the developm e n t of consu m e r - oriented marketing strategies. The coordinatio n and struct ure of the food sup ply chain is currently conditioned by the increasing deman d by custom er s and consu m er s for informa tion on food quality and safety . Developing quality product s has evolved in the last decades from being a luxury concept in the 1960s to be a key marketing strategy in the current busines s environ me n t. In the past, quality policies aimed at end - product test with the resulting impact on cost. Today, the aim is to translate consu m e r’s food quality perception s into objective param et er s (product attribu t es) to assist the develop me n t of new food prod ucts, leading to profitable busines s strategies.

This paper emphasises the importa nce of the interaction between consu m e r approaches and food indust ry perspective regarding food quality and safety aspects. Despite empirical evidences indicating the need for an integrate d (theoretical) approach to the stu dy of quality perception and safety, studies in this area have mostly focused on the analysis of quality aspect s from a single dimension al appro ach. Therefore, the introd uction of both consu m e r and food indust ry persp ectives into a single approach is para mo u n t in terms of innovation and research and implies an importa nt advance on the current state - of- art. Taking the analysis of consu m e r attitud es and preferences for

beef meat as point of depart u re and using the Quality Function Deployme n t (QFD) as the metho d ological framework, this paper propose s an innovative, integrative theoretical framework in order to translate the ‘Voice of Consu m er’ to the developm e n t of new food prod uct s ().

Figure 1.A framework propos al for a research from consu me r - indus t ry approac h

This paper is structu re d in five sections. After this introd uc t ory part, the paper displays the importa nce of being ‘market - oriente d’ for the food indus t ry. In Section three, it is exposed the necessity of consu me r perceptions study and some employed research tools aimed to the new prod uc t develop me n t process. Section four focuses on the application of a Quality Manageme n t tool, the Quality Function Deployme nt (QFD) and the identification of the main aspects for its impleme n t atio n in the food sector. Finally, in section five, we presen t some conclusions.

2. Market Orientation in the Food Industry

Increased consu m e r awarenes s concerning food product attribute s (i.e., quality, safety, provena nce, etc) is posing increasing deman d s on food companies .The food indus t ry faces the challenge of developing food products that meet consu m e r needs and wants . Continuo u s changes in consu m e r’s buying patterns requires greater emp ha sis by the food indus try in unders ta n d i ng consu m e r s’ wishes and developm e n t s in supplier offerings; in order to speed up the new product developm e n t (NPD) processes .

NPD may arise from new technologies or new market opport u ni ties . In other words, it is closely linked to, in one view, technological change and research and develop m en t (R&D) activities and in the other view, the detection and fulfilment of unfilled needs and wants of potential consu me r s . Developing new product s and being innovative requires not only a better unders t a n di ng of the market, but also a skilful use of that unders t a n di ng, that is, being ‘market - oriented’ (Grunert et al . Therefore, in order to generate a new prod uct concep t, it mus t be combined not only its primary features and a broad unders t a n di ng of the technology needed, but also its consu m e r benefits.

The concep t of ‘Innovation’ refers to any good, service or idea that is perceived by someo ne as new, indepe n d e n tly that it may have a long history . A change in the physical product is not essentially a condition when we refer to produc t innovation. By the way, all changes in marketing param et er s may induce a product to be perceived as new by some actors (i.e. consu m e rs, distribu t ors and prod ucers). For instance a lasting price reduction or a major change in advertising message may be innovation in the eyes of consu m e r s, since it changes the perception of the prod uct (i.e. the value - for - money perceived in the prod uct, etc.). Inventions are usually considered as somet hi ng originate d from R&D activities and, as soon as an invention is commercially introd uce d, it is referred to as an innovation. In sum m a ry, it is not required an invention when referring to an innovation, because not all prod uct innovation s have to be based on R&D. Investm e nt s into new prod uc t s and processes are not always a success tool, since new prod uct s have also to be adequ at e for the market. In other words, the new product or process develop me n t tend s to meet with both technological and market skills. Althoug h

Co nsum e r ’s p e r sp e ct iv e

Foo d In d ust r y ’s p e r sp ectiv e Design of new tools to develop

Design of new tools to develop new food productsnew food products oriented to consum er and market expectations

there is no empirical evidence that it influences directly to improve business perfor m a nce market orientation is becoming a major param ete r in competitio n on food market s. Certainly, the final market acceptance will have in some way an impact on business perfor m a n ce.

The European Food Indus try has gone through import a n t changes in the last decade being the most active sector in term s of productivity, accounting for 13.6% of the total EU- 15 manufact uring sector in 2002 being larger than auto m o bile, chemical, machinery and equipme n t sectors.

The Spanish Food Indust ry is ranked fourt h in the European Union (15 member s -Europe) in term s of prod uctio n, after France, Germany and United Kingdom, and fifth in terms of turnover .According to the report of the Spanish Agricultural, Fishery and Food Ministry - Hechos y Cifras del Sector Agroalimenta rio Español, - the Spanish Food Indust ry occupies a relevant position in comparison to other indust ries, since it represen t s 17.2% of the global turnover of the indust ry activities and 20.4% of the global expenses in raw materials. In 2001 was the most import an t sector in terms of prod uctivity, in front of the chemical, autom otive, electrical indus t ries. Summari zing, food indust ry has become a strategic sector of the national economy.

Even though it is outsta n di ng the increasing effort made by the Food Indus t ry in order to supply of innovative food produc ts; new product s continue failing at an alarming way and few of the new launched product s are successful in term s of acceptance in the market. Genetically modified food, employment of additives or irradiation of prod ucts are some examples of technological innovations and new food product s, which have not had the expected success. This fact demons t r a t es that supply and deman d do not go so tied, although the food market is considered by the govern m e n t s, distributio n and food indus t ries, as one of the most oriented market s toward consu m e r .

3. Importance of consumer research technique s in NPD

proces s

The develop me n t of food product s that meet consu m e r needs and wants is the challenge facing the moder n food indus try. Informa tio n on attitu des and changes in attitude s of consu m e rs is a crucial aspect to the product develop m e n t and improve me n t process . Food produc t s are complex and the study of consu m e r’s food quality percep tion is certainly a difficult area of research. Consu me r analyses are thus widely recom m e n d e d in the early stages of the prod uc t develop m e n t process in order to allow product developers to go further and deeper in unders t a n di ng consu m er needs . However, many approaches found on the curren t literatu re, adopt a partial, one - sided persp ective focused on consu m e r stu dy. On the other hand, companies want to develop more complex products and to reach a high degree of respon sivenes s. Therefore successful relation s to their direct custo m er s have to be built. For us, the presen t challenge of the food sector comes from an integrative framework which encloses both consu m e r and indus t ry perspective ().

Consu me r - oriente d food prod uct developm e n t metho d s provide a tool to producers to unders t a n d consu m e r voice. Actually, consu m e r feels more concerne d due to the recent food crises causing changes in their consu m p t ion attitu d es: for instance some changes were observed after the last food crises, BSE in some EU countries, like Germany, United Kingdo m and Spain among others. Actually, avian influen z a or ‘bird flu’ is becoming the major concern for European consu m e r, althoug h, up to date, Europe is considered as free from avian influen z a of high pathogenesis. Additionally, the intense existing debate on aspects related to ethical considera tion s relative to the new agricultu ral produc tion techniq ue s, animal welfare concerns, employme nt of horm on e s, antibiotics, GMOs, cholesterol, etc. has arouse d a higher dema n d of more trans p a r e ncy in the food - chain and more informa tio n on the diverse qualitative characteristics of foods (e.g. nutritious value, origin, way of prod uction, etc.).

Generally, custo m er expects that his / he r requirem e n t s were fulfilled, even though they were not well defined. Some of these expectations surpa s s even technical aspects of the

prod uct. shows how differen t consu m e r expectances meet different level of satisfaction. This diagram is known as Kano Model.

Figure 2. Kano Model

Source:

Whereas Quality represe n t s a required characteristic, typically revealed when we ask consu m e rs as its higher presence implies higher satisfactio n by them; Safety is an expected require me n t, often unme ntione d by consu m e r s until we fail to deliver them. It is thus a basic expectation which absence is very dissatisfying but its presence often goes unno ticed by most consu m e r s. Actually Safety is regulated by law and mus t be always assesse d. Excitemen t is shown in case of new produc t characteris tics, like innovatio n, but not dissatisfying their absence. Quality perception has become, somehow, a question of trust and in order to have a considerable advantage, food companies hereby have to assess that kind of trust. The use of quality labels, brands, origin certification s are some examples of commercial strategies that are widely used to inference quality and safety. Even more, the impleme n t a tio n of traceability system s, manda t ory along the whole food chain since January 2005, is a sort of recognition by governm e n t s and agents to act more market oriented. All these tools consist of an increasingly import an t route for delivering messages about food quality and safety to consu m e rs. Products with differentiate d qualities need to comm u nicate these qualities to consu m e r s and consu m er s need to make inferences to deter mi ne that quality differen tiation. Consequ e n tly, the great efforts made by companies trying to differen tiate their prod uct s offering higher quality and safety as Exciting requireme n t s. Application of consu m e r behaviour researches is crucial from the food product develop me n t persp ective. The knowledge of the relation s hi p between the objective quality and consu me r perceptio ns, the perception differences among consu m e r segmen t s are issues that a new develope d product must be able to exploit . Therefore, the importa nce of consu m e r research techniques to better reflect the specificity of consu m e rs’ food choice processes. In the reviewed literatu re, we have found some

Sa t is fact i

Dis s at is fact io n

Fu lfillm en

Exp ect ed : Safet y Excit in g: R&D

Revealed : Qu alit y

papers which propo se metho d s and techniqu es to use in the new product developm e n t area.

Concerning their purpo s e, curren t research method s in the new prod uct develop m e n t process may be distinguis he d between: marketing vs. R&D and their suitability: purs ue d to repositioning strategies or to launch a new product in a new market. In relation to the approp riat en es s of these metho d s, Van Kleef et al. have reviewed the most com mo n metho d s in product develop m e n t ().

Table 1.Recom me n d e d consu m e r research metho ds

Incremen tal new

prod uct s New product s

For Marketing

Focus grou ps Empathic design

Free elicitation Zaltman metap h o r elicitation technique

Kelly reperto ry grid Laddering

For technical prod uct develop me n t

Category appraisal Informa tion acceleration Conjoint analysis Lead user technique Source

All the metho d s situated at the left hand side of the are appro p riate d for repositioning or updating versions of existing product s. The aim of these metho d s is to captu re consu m e rs’ needs and desires and optimise existing produc ts accordingly. The right hand side of the table frames all the method s more appro p riate for radically new prod uct s developm e n t.

Charteris recom m e n d e d the use of multivariate statistical meth od s to analyse the gathered inform atio n ().

Table 2. Multivariate statistical metho d s for NPD

Qualitative Multidimen sion al scaling; Correspon de nce analysis; Long- linear analysis;

Discriminan t analysis; Logistic regression; Logit and probit analysis

Quantitati ve

Factor analysis; Cluster analysis; Variance analysis; Regression analysis; Canonical analysis

Source

Basically, the aim of all these meth od s is to allow prod uct developers to go deeper in unders t a n di ng consu m e r s’ needs in order to facilitate the design of consu m er relevant new product s. As indicated above, this is crucial at early stages in the NPD process, since it consists in a key success factor. Hence the importa nce of taking them into accoun t in order to select the most approp riat e ones.

4. QFD: The way to translate consumer needs to the Food

Industry

The impleme n t a tio n of research metho d s in NPD helps indust ries to optimize their resources, driving them to product success. These technique s enable firms to develop higher - quality prod uct s that satisfy custo m er s’ needs, providing them the information required to make good prod uct developm e n t decisions. However, it is comm o nly the employ by managers of these techniques in an unfocus ed way, even though they were solely designed to solve specific NPD problem s .

Techniq ues develope d to improve NPD processes may be classified into five categories: - Design techniques

- Organizative techniq ue s - Manufact u ring techniqu es

- Inform ation technologies - Supplier involvemen t

As design appro ach is unders to o d an appro ach that comes up from custo m er requirem en t s an incorpo ra t e them in the quality plan in order to be displayed syste ma tically until the end of the production proces s. Quality Function Deploymen t is considered as one of these approaches and mean s ‘deployme nt of quality thro ug h the deploymen t of quality functions’ . It offers specific method s to assess quality along differen t prod uct production stages. In other words, it consists of a metho d to develop a design quality aimed to satisfy consu me r’s requireme n t and to translate them into design goals and main points of quality assess m e n t.

4.1. QFD philos o ph y

Originally, QFD quality and quality control philosop hy, in line with Japanese appro ach to quality and quality control, inclu d e s h u m a n, s ocial a n d eco n o mics co nce p t s b u t m ai nly e m p h a si z e s t he i m p o r t a nce of t he ‘Voice of con s u m e r’. Subsequen tly, the QFD concept has evolved in line with the ‘Western’ approach to Total Quality Manageme n t (TQM), a philosop hy based upon the idea that entrepre ne u rial success can only be achieved through a) continu ou s improveme n t s in all compa ny activities, b) custom e r satisfaction, c) decision - making based on research and facts; and d) employees’ empower m e n t . As novelty, QFD provides the strategic means (at product develop me n t level) to put TQM objectives into practice.

This QFD is a formal meth o d to assess that ‘Custom er’s voice’ will be considere d during the product or service developm e n t process. It also identifies the ways to assess that custom er requirem e n t s will be followed by all the areas of a compa ny. Therefore, its impleme nt a tio n requires from an extensive comm u nication exchange between consu m e rs, marketers, R&D and operato rs through o u t the new prod uct developm e n t (NPD) process . The practical implemen t a tion of QFD comprises the following three steps:

1) Obtain top managem e n t com mit m e n t and organisatio nal sup po r t to the project. High level decisions will be made regarding project’s objectives (i.e., quality improve me nt, NPD, increase custo me r satisfaction, etc.), time - span and sched ule. 2) Define the objective of the QFD project (i.e., to launch a new prod uct in the market, to improve characteristics of an existing product, etc.).

3) Establish a cross - functional team including member s from all functional areas involved in NPD and market introduc tio n and product testing (i.e., marketing, prod uct and process design, engineering and production, quality manage me n t, sales and distrib u tion).

QFD helps compa nies to design more competitive prod uct s and services, in the less time, with lower costs and higher quality . Hence it is convenient that QDF will be conceived as part of the ‘Total Quality’ progra m m e and thus to be adapte d to the necessities and characteristics of each company.

Basically, an adequa te deployme n t of quality functions consist s in translating those custom er s’ needs that satisfy them (Quality) into a design and assessing that all organizatio nal units (Functions) work together with commo n objectives: to develop prod uctio n process, to get a better com m u nicatio n among functional areas and to plan prod uct costs, among others.

With the aim to provide a comprehe n sive context for product developm e n t in a custom er driven context, QFD employs the following compon e n t s: deployme nt tables, matrices and concept u al model. A quality deploymen t table is a chart that represe n t s levels of deploymen t of a given subject. Informa tion is grouped by affinity and ordere d in levels from the left - han d side of the table towards the right - hand side. A matrix is the combination of two deploymen t tables and, as commen te d, one of the most comm only employed matrices is called the House of Quality (HOQ). QFD employs a set

of matrices to establish quality and deploy it throug h the product developm e n t process. Therefore, other matrices are also used in a cause - effect relation s hip in order to correlate the variables associated with one designed phase to other variables related to the subseq u e n t design phases. This set of matrices are called QFD concept ual model that represen t s the whole develop m e n t. A compre h e n sive quality function deployme n t syste m must reflect a number of deployme nt s, such as quality, technology, reliability and cost consideratio ns .

Generally, companies that have used QFD, consider it as a flexible metho d that permits a clearer asses s m e n t of their main competito rs and also an oppo rt u ni ty to adjust the concep t of the prod uct according to market require me n t s . The size of the matrices, the commit m e n t of group members and lack of experienced and knowledge about this metho d are other difficulties that might come up.

4.2. Design a Custom er Strategy

As we have mentio ne d previously, NPD is a key factor to be market - oriented and thus, to develop compete nces for market respon sivenes s. Generally, to get informa tion about end users is a hard work which compa nies do not usually pay much attention to but continual custo m er research is required to track changes in the indust ry, especially concerning food product which move quickly throug h a lifecycle and custom er priorities change over time. Hence the developm e n t of a ‘customer strategy’ is a vital step in an approach process and requires a metho d ological proces s as it is outlined in .

Figure 3.Translating custo me r outcom es into custo m er strategy

Many models have been develope d with the aim to explain consu m e r satisfaction and purchas e intentio n. One of the most notable approaches was propo se d by Grunert et al. , the Total Food Quality Model (TFQM). This model is considered as the most adequat e context for the analysis of perceived food quality, its influence at the point of purchase and the design of prod uct s by the food indus t ry with the aim to satisfy consu m e r deman d s and satisfaction s . In the framework of a theoretical and empirical metho d ology, as we mentioned above, it is mostly recom m e n d e d to combine qualitative and quantitative appro ache s; for instance, focus groups, quantitative research

Res ear ch Cu s t om er Ou t co m es Na t u r al Segm en t at io n An alys e o p p o r t u n it ies Det er m in e Cu s t om er Po s it ion in g St r at egies

interviews, conjoint analysis, etc. in order to get a compre h e n sive unders t a n di ng of market requirem e n t s.

4.3. Some tools for QFD

QFD is a planning process for the design of new produc ts considered as the most complete and convincing system for translating custo m er require me n t s into appro p riate company require me n t s’ . In order to translate properly custom e r requirem e nt s, it is essential an adequ ate previous custo m er analysis. Hence QFD application depen d s on the progres s and result of basic research in a num ber of food science areas, such as food choice behaviour. Informa tio n on attitude s and changes in attitu des of consu m e rs is a key factor to the prod uct develop m en t and improveme n t process . Therefore, consu m e r research techniques are needed to better reflect the specificity of consu m e rs’ food choice processes.

Among the curren tly existing consu m er research metho d s (see ), Focus Group technique and Conjoint Analysis, qualitative and quantitative tools respectively, are usually employed as tools to ascertain consum er purcha se behaviour and perception s. For instance, both tools are addres s ed by Van Kleef et al. as approp riate for repositioning or updat e d versions of existing prod uct s. These are prod uct - driven metho d s that provide insights to consu m e rs’ judgem en t s about product s curren tly existing in the market in order to optimise them. According to these autho rs, whereas Conjoint Analysis is highly actionably for prod uct developer s to unders t a n d the ways consu m e r needs are interrelated and translate them into physical product characteristics; Focus Group techniq ue is more appro priate for marketing purp ose s, as it reveals more abstract consu m e r needs and values.

In relation to Conjoint Analysis; this technique allows researches to implicitly estimate the relative importa nce of individual produc t attributes as well as reflects the role that differen t product attribut es play in the purchas e evaluation process. Additionally, it allows analysing the most preferred product profiles in different market segment s and based on the different attribut e levels, to target market segmen t s in order to work in a more market oriented way. The identification of custo m er segment s basically consist s in grouping custo m er s into segmen t s where they share the same outco m e priority and satisfaction percep tions; which is also useful to predict market shares. Cluster analysis is a statistical techniq ue used for revealing these natural segment s. These technique s enables researcher to get a deeper unders t a n di ng of consu m e r perception s and to identify custom er segmen t s in order to better design market strategies; therefore all they are sum m a ri z e d in the above com me nt e d develop m e n t of a ‘custo mer strategy’. As it is paten t the importa n ce of gathering custo me r data in the early stages of QFD impleme nt a tio n and as aim of our research, as com men t e d at the beginning, the presen t research has carried out a detailed analysis of consu me r s’ food quality and safety perception of beef prod uct s. Firstly, a qualitative study based on Focus Groups’ metho d ology was undert ake n in order to identify concepts relating to consu m p tio n, purchasing behaviour, quality cues and safety percep tio n of beef; to determine strategies, which could increase consu m er confidence on beef (e.g. brand s and quality labels) and consu m e r willingness to pay. Five Focus Groups were organised between May and June, 2004 and conducte d in five Spanish cities. The following stage involved a quan titative research based on the results of the Focus Group s and the initial literature review. A sample of 519 rando mly selected consu me r s was interviewed, face to face, between January - March, 2005 in different Spanish cities, in order to get a represen t a tive sam ple. The followed metho dology and collected data has been fulfilled according to the Conjoint Analysis with the aim to estimate the relative importa nce of individual pre -specific attributes and the degree of preference for each level of each attribu t e. Moreover factor and cluster analysis and a study of market share preferences were under t ake n. The findings of these researches have allowed us to assimilate properly this ‘voice of consu m e r’ into the prod uct and develop m e n t process. It is importa nt to point out the crucial importa n ce of these information - gathering and –processing phases, followed by a dissemi natio n phase, in the ‘four - phase stage’ implemen t a tion process and moreover,

to realise them during the prod uct develop m en t process for each scenario: prod uct, manufact u ri ng and prod uc tio n process.

4.4. Impleme ntation of QFD in the Food Industry

Althoug h it is a concept introd uce d in 1966 in Japan in the shipbuilding indus t ry and that has been adopte d by Japanese, American and European firms mainly within car and electronic indust ries; the practical impleme nt a tion of QFD in the food indust ry to date, has been quite limited due to the lack of interest and involvement by food compa nies, the limited adap ta tio n of the QFD model to account for the special features of the food indus t ry, and the lack of awarenes s by food technologists of QFD’s key principles. In the reviewed literature we find author s that claim the suitability of QFD meth od for food prod uct developm e n t as those who attribut e some failures to its impleme n t a tio n in case of not accom plishing some modifications .

Research in the food area has mostly focused on the implemen ta tio n of the first quality matrix, known as House of Quality . House of Quality, is the basic design tool of QFD that consists in a concep t u al map that provides the means for inter - functional planning and comm u nication . The foun da tio n of the House of Quality is the belief that prod uct s should be designed to reflect custo m er’s desires and tastes and hence can be perceived as a grap hical tool to translate custom er criteria into producer criteria and to adapt prod ucer criteria to input factors in order to reduce the inherent risk of NPD .

Some modification s of this first quality matrix are foun d in the published literat ure. For instance, a new struct ur e of the HOQ in which relations hi p s between sensory, technical attribu te s and consu m e r requirem e n t s are highly detailed was propos ed by Bech et al . The main room of HOQ was divided in two rooms, one referring to the technical relation s and the other specifying relations between results of sensory analysis and custom er require me n t s. This modified HOQ was used to optimise the translation of consu m e r requireme n t s into sensory attributes meas ur able by descriptive sensory analysis. Viaene & Janus zews k a also employed a trained panel to find out which sensory attribu te s drive consu me r preferences with the aim to integrate instru m e n t al and sensory results in the House of Quality with application to chocolate couvert ure. A second modification for the implemen t a tion of House of Quality is described by Holmen and Kristen sen who divided consu m e r deman d s into interme diat e users require me n t s and end - users requirem e n t s. They added an incom p atibility matrix to the right side of the relations hip matrix in order to show incom pa tibilities between these dema n d s and to provide developers a suggestion about the way the prod uct has to follow as well as reveals incom p a tibilities which are considere d as an input for the prod uct develop m e n t process. These modifications of the first matrix are expected to better reflect the specificity of food prod uct develop m e n t (namely of food sensory proper ties) in QFD projects . In our opinion, QFD must not be restricted to the application of the first quality matrix but additional phases / m a t r ices should be required for further develop me n t of the research in order to translate successfully product requireme n t s. A proper deploymen t should cover all the deploymen t s, i.e. costs, quality and perfor m a n ce deploymen t s, including risk analysis.

The presen t survey represen t s a willingness to consider previous intention s of QFD application and go further implemen ti ng QFD along the fresh beef meat chain, involving prod ucers, manufact u r er s and retailers. The unique inten d of application of QFD in beef meat sector was made by Dalen who propose d a simplified quality matrix with no modifications. Our purpo s e is to offer a practical and clear (compre he n sive) metho d ological approach to impleme nt QFD by means of the develop m e n t of differen t matrices, according to the following planning roadm a p.

Figure 4.Propose d Quality Planning Roadma p

10 ACTIVITIES

1. Identify custo m er requirem e n t s (product characteristics)

2. Identify chain - value agents’ requirem en t s

3. Determine para met er s and correlation s

(product param ete r s) 4. Develop process features (product param ete r s)

OUTPUTS

a. List of custom e r need

b. List of require me n t s

c. Build a correlation chart

d. Process design

The dema n d e d qualities mus t be converte d into meas ur able design and engineering element s. Whereas planning and develop m e n t activities are related to users’ satisfactions and safety, design is related to process control items (e.g. critical process analysis para me ter s, identification of potential engineering bottlenecks, cost requirem en t s, etc.)

Certainly, QFD implemen t atio n must not be rather metho dical neither complex. Once, that the determi na n t phase of consum er information gathering has been carried out, next challenge is to study how QFD could better fit into the stages of the product develop me n t process.

5. Conclusion s

Nowadays, competitivenes s in the food sector is increasing as well as the interest of prod ucers in obtaining more value added product s. Market orientation is thus a key element in the innovation process; trying to satisfy consu m e r s’ needs, either real or potential. A critical success factor for NPD is to incorpo rat e the ‘voice of consu m er’ in the early stages of the new prod uct developm e n t process. Food consu m p t io n behaviour is difficult to unders t a n d and predict; conseque ntly, it is essential and not arbitrary the choice of an adequate metho d or technique to gather informa tio n data. The first challenge to the research scientists is to find what to measure in the end prod uc t and the way to measu re it .

An emerging quality manage m en t tool in this sector might be Quality Function Deployment (QFD), considere d as an adequa te strategy to integrate custom er needs into final product characteristics and process param ete rs. The impleme n t a tio n of QFD means to traduce the Total Quality Managemen t approach in a company or value chain. Import an t successful results are attached to the implemen t a tio n of this metho dology; nevertheless, its application in the food indus t ry has been quite limited and has been perceived by food researchers with scepticism.

In this paper we have outlined different aspects to consider when developing an adequa te concep t u al metho d ology for practical implemen t a tion of QFD in the beef meat sector. As initial phase, we have carried out an exhaustive and compre he n sive consu me r choice analysis in the framework of the Total Food Quality Model (TFQM) propo s e d by Grunert et al.. By mean s of Focus Groups technique and Conjoint Analysis develope d with face - to- face interviews along different Spanish cities, we have reached an explicit unders t a n di ng of consu m e r s’ beef choice process which must be included in the QFD process to be traduced into final product characteristics.

This paper is an attem p t to impleme nt QFD metho d as prod uct develop me n t struct u r e that enables a develop m e n t team to specify consu m e r s’ requireme n t s and evaluates the propo s e d product syste matically in order to deter min e its impact on realising these needs.

6. Acknowle dg e m e nts

This paper results from a stu dy carried out in the framework of a national project (CAL03- 021 - C2) supp o r te d by the Spanish Institute for Agricultural Research (INIA). Research partner s in the project include Polytechnic University of Madrid, Imperial College London and the Spanish Food and Drink Federation. The author s want to thank the helpful collaboration of Manuel Navarro, from NCA Consultores, whose guidance was enorm ou sly valuable for the comp rehe n sion of QFD technique.