Total Quality Management Vol. 16, No.

10, 1127 1137, December 2005

The Rened Kanos Model and its Application

CHING-CHOW YANG
Chung-Yuan Christian University, Taiwan, Republic of China

ABSTRACT Kanos model of ve categories of quality attributes attractive, one-dimensional, must-be, indifferent, and reverse quality is widely used by industries and researchers. However, the model has a deciency that prevents rms from precisely evaluating the inuences of quality attributes. The weakness is a failure to take account of the degree of importance accorded to certain quality elements by customers. Kanos model can be rened. The present study adds the importance of quality attributes and, in so doing, the rened model divides Kanos rst four categories into eight categories highly attractive and less attractive, high value-added and low value-added, critical and necessary, and potential and care-free. Based on the rened model, rms can obtain a more accurate understanding of the quality attributes from the customers perspective, and can thus make more precise quality decisions. In addition to modifying Kanos model, the present study also develops an importance satisfaction (I S) model. By integrating the rened Kanos model and the I S model rms can gather even more valuable information on quality decisions. The rened Kanos model and the I S model are illustrated with a case study. KEY WORDS : Kanos model, importance satisfaction model, highly attractive attribute, high value-added attribute, critical attribute

Introduction To sustain competitiveness and long-term protability, companies devote themselves not only to the attraction of new customers, but also to the retention of old customers with a view to a continuing business relationship through incremental increases in purchases and the maintenance of customer loyalty (Gorst et al., 1998). Several studies have demonstrated that high loyalty and customer retention are associated with increased intention of future purchases (Eklof & Westlund, 1998), and that customer loyalty is dependent on the customers perception of the quality of the goods or services provided (Gorst et al., 1998; Sirohi et al., 1998). Industries therefore pursue quality in product and service in order to satisfy their customers.

Correspondence Address: Ching-Chow Yang, Department of Industrial Engineering, Chung-Yuan Christian University, Taiwan, Republic of China. Email: chinchow@cycu.edu.tw 1478-3363 Print=1478-3371 Online=05=10112711 # 2005 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080=14783360500235850

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In the past two decades, industries have implemented a range of quality management systems and standards, such as QCC, ISO 9000, TQM, and so on. The aims of these quality activities are to achieve customer satisfaction (Kano et al., 1996; Kondo, 2001) and to win their long-term trust by creating products and supplying services that full customer requirements and exceed their expectations. Indeed, the pursuit of customer satisfaction and loyalty should be the main concern of all companies (Gorst et al., 1998). In the past, customer satisfaction has been perceived in one-dimensional terms the greater the fullment of desired quality attributes, the higher would be customer satisfaction. However, there are some quality attributes that full individual customer expectations to a great extent without necessarily implying a higher level of customer satisfaction (Matzler & Hinterhuber, 1998). Several studies have therefore attempted to link the physical and psychological aspects of quality to see how specic attributes of a product or service actually relate to customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction, where the physical aspect is concerned with the physical state or extent of the specic attributes, and the psychological aspect is related to the customers subjective response in terms of personal satisfaction (Schvaneveldt et al., 1991). Similarly, Kano et al. (1984) considered two aspects of any given quality attribute an objective aspect involving the fullment of quality and a subjective aspect involving the customers perception of satisfaction. Kanos model is illustrated in Figure 1. Using this model, quality attributes can be divided into ve categories as follows: . attractive quality attribute: an attribute that gives satisfaction if present, but that produces no dissatisfaction if absent; . one-dimensional quality attribute: an attribute that is positively and linearly related to customer satisfaction that is, the greater the degree of fullment of the attribute, the greater the degree of customer satisfaction;

Figure 1. Kanos model of quality attributes

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. must-be quality attribute: an attribute whose absence will result in customer dissatisfaction, but whose presence does not signicantly contribute to customer satisfaction; . indifferent quality attribute: an attribute whose presence or absence does not cause any satisfaction or dissatisfaction to customers; and . reverse quality attribute: an attribute whose presence causes customer dissatisfaction, and whose absence results in customer satisfaction. Questionnaire surveys of customers can be used to categorize quality attributes (Kano et al., 1984; Bolster et al., 1993). Once quality attributes are categorized, products and services can be designed to meet the different requirements for each quality attribute, according to its category. It is critical to identify must-be quality attributes and to meet demand for these at a minimum threshold level at least. Firms must also do their best on the one-dimensional attributes which are typically articulated by customers as being a functionality they would desire. The attractive quality attributes can be selected as competitive weapons to draw the attention of customers, especially new customers (Rao et al., 1997). Using Kanos model, quality attributes that have the greatest inuence on customer satisfaction can therefore be identied, and these can then be used to focus on priorities for product or service development and improvement (Hinterhuber et al., 1997; Matzler & Hinterhuber, 1998). Several researchers have studied Kanos model. Kano et al. (1984) empirically conrmed the applicability of their model for quality attributes of television product and other manufactured goods. Miyakawa & Wong (1989) studied Kanos model in manufactured goods. Schvaneveldt et al. (1991) explored the applicability of Kanos model to four mass-market services retail banking, cleaning services, family restaurants, and supermarkets. Matzler & Hinterhuber (1998) demonstrated the applicability of Kanos model, in combination with quality function deployment, using a case study from the ski industry. Sa Moura & Saraiva (2001) used Kanos analysis to develop an ideal kindergarten. The Rened Kanos Model The most useful applications of Kanos model are in the area of product and service development and improvement. However, trade-offs are sometimes necessary. If two product requirements cannot be met simultaneously for technical or nancial reasons, rms must consider the criteria that have the greatest inuence on customer satisfaction (Matzler & Hinterhuber, 1998). Usually, for any quality attribute, its inuence on customer satisfaction is closely related to the degree of importance attached to it by customers (Kristensen et al., 1992). For example, in a car, an automatic gearbox and a luggage carrier are both attractive quality requirements. However, most customers consider an automatic gearbox to be more important than a luggage carrier. Therefore, adding an automatic gearbox will create greater customer satisfaction than adding a luggage carrier. Kanos model can therefore be rened by taking into account the importance of certain quality attributes. With respect to the must-be quality attributes, if such a quality attribute is also found to have high importance in the estimation of customers, this quality attribute is not only a necessary quality requirement but also a critical quality requirement. In contrast, if a must-be quality attribute is considered less important, it can be dened as a necessary quality requirement, but without being considered critical.

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Table 1. Categories of quality attributes in unrened and rened Kanos model

Categories of quality attributes in Kanos model Attractive One-dimensional Must be Indifferent

Categories of quality attributes with high importance in rened model Highly attractive High value-added Critical Potential

Categories of quality attributes with low importance in rened model Less attractive Low value-added Necessary Care-free

With respect to one-dimensional quality attributes, increasing such attributes will raise customer satisfaction. A one-dimensional quality attribute is therefore a value-added quality attribute. It is therefore possible to dene some one-dimensional quality attributes with high importance as high value-added quality attributes, whereas others can be classed as low value-added attributes. For the attractive quality attributes, those with high importance can be classied as highly attractive quality attributes, whereas those of lesser importance can be classied as less attractive quality attributes. The indifferent quality attributes are referred to in this study as care-free quality attributes. However, if an indifferent quality attribute does possess higher importance than another, it can be dened as a potential quality attribute because it does have some potential to attract customers. The indifferent quality attributes can therefore be classed as carefree or potential, depending on their degree of importance. Table 1 lists the redened categories of quality attributes obtained by rening Kanos model. In Figure 2, curves are used to illustrate the means of the redenitions of quality attributes.

Figure 2. Rened Kanos model of quality attributes

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The redenitions of the categories of quality attributes according to the rened model allow rms to make quality decisions with more precision. The following descriptions illustrate the application of the rened model. 1. Kanos attractive attributes Highly attractive quality attributes These are good weapons for rms to attract potential customers. These represent strategic attribute offerings. Less attractive quality attributes Because these have little attraction to customers, these quality attributes can be discarded if cost considerations demand this. 2. Kanos one-dimensional attributes High-value-added quality attributes These make a high contribution to customers satisfaction. They therefore can lead to increased revenue. Firms should therefore make efforts to provide such attributes to customers. Low value-added quality attribute These attributes make less contribution to customer satisfaction. But rms cannot afford to ignore these attributes. The rms also need to avoid providing too less level of these attributes to dissatised customers. 3. Kanos must be quality attributes Critical quality attributes These are essential to customers. Firms must provide sufcient fullment of these attributes to customers. Necessary quality attributes Firms can meet these at a required level to avoid dissatisfying customers. 4. Kanos indifferent quality attributes Potential quality attributes These attributes will gradually be coming the attractive attributes. Firms can consider providing these as strategic weapons to attract customers in the future. Care-free quality attributes If necessary, rms need not offer these attributes in view of cost considerations. These brief descriptions demonstrate how the rened Kanos model can help rms make accurate decisions on quality planning.

Applications A Practical Example of the Rened Model The author has conducted several kinds of surveys for many companies, one of which is a home-appliance manufacturer. The survey for this company covered the product quality of various goods including an air-conditioner, a refrigerator, a washing machine, and a television, together with service quality associated with these products. In this article, the example of the air-conditioner is used for further discussion of the application of the rened Kanos model.

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A total of 20 key customers were rst interviewed, including the end users and the consignees of these home appliances. At the same time, the nominal group method was used to conduct two panel discussions. The participants included service personnel, sales personnel, and the supervisors from the quality-assurance division and sales division. The purpose of customer interviews and internal panel discussion was to determine the quality attributes to be contained in the questionnaire. As a result, 24 quality attributes of the air-conditioner were developed for study. Three kinds of questionnaires were designed: . the importance of quality attributes; . the satisfaction of quality attributes; and . the categorization of attributes according to Kanos model. For the rst two surveys, Likert-type 5 scales were used. For the study of Kanos model, the method suggested by Kano et al. (1984) was used to design the questionnaire. The questionnaires were mailed out to 1400 customers randomly and 150 valid questionnaires were returned. The 24 quality attributes are listed in Table 2. The degrees of importance were assessed into two categories high importance if the degree of importance was greater than the mean for the 24 quality attributes, and low if below the mean. This allowed classication of the categories according to the rened Kanos model (see sixth column of Table 2). (The nal column in Table 2 the category in the I S model is explained later in this paper.) The rst 12 attributes are above the mean and are therefore classed as being of high importance. Most of these attributes are one-dimensional, due to the features of these attributes. As with all one-dimensional attributes, the greater the extent of this attribute, the greater the customer perception of satisfaction. According to the rened model, these one-dimensional attributes of high importance are categorized as high valueadded. Of the rst 12 attributes, only three belonged to the must-be category. They are redened in the rened model as critical attributes. Among the attributes of lesser importance (numbers 13 to 24 in Table 2), ve are onedimensional, and are therefore redened as low value-added attributes in the rened model. There are four attractive attributes, and these are therefore re-categorized as less attractive attributes. Only one must-be attribute with low importance is identied in this research. This becomes a necessary attribute in the rened model. There are two attributes identied as indifferent, now categorized as care-free attributes according to the rened model. It is not difcult to understand that one-dimensional attributes and attractive attributes can be ranked as being of high importance or low importance. The situation with must-be attributes is not as obvious. It might seem that these should all be of high importance. Indeed, most of those must-be attributes are of high importance but not all. It is possible for an attribute to be required, but still not rank highly in overall importance to consumers. In the present research, only one attribute (the guard net for the n of the air-conditioner) was classied as being necessary (that is, must-be, but with low importance). The advantage of the rened model over the unrened Kanos model is shown by the following example. The attributes compressor noise and free wind control and autolouver function are both categorized as one-dimensional attributes according to the

Table 2. Air-conditioner quality attributes Importance (mean) 4.46 4.33 4.33 4.32 4.15 4.07 4.06 4.04 4.02 3.97 3.95 3.95 3.94 3.93 3.92 3.92 3.86 3.80 3.77 3.68 3.64 3.57 3.56 3.35 3.941 Satisfaction (mean) 3.46 3.88 3.54 3.76 3.90 3.75 3.72 3.65 3.87 3.75 3.63 3.76 3.40 3.71 3.65 3.54 3.79 3.65 3.73 3.77 3.60 3.65 3.66 3.55 3.678 Category in Kanos model One-dimensional One-dimensional One-dimensional One-dimensional Must-be One-dimensional One-dimensional One-dimensional Must-be One-dimensional Must-be Attractive One-dimensional Attractive One-dimensional Attractive Must-be One-dimensional One-dimensional Attractive Attractive Indifferent One-dimensional Indifferent Category in rened Kanos model High value-added High value-added High value-added High value-added Critical High value-added High value-added High value-added Critical High value-added Critical Highly attractive Low value-added Less attractive Low value-added Less attractive Necessary Low value-added Low value-added Less Attractive Less attractive Care-free Low value-added Care-free Category in I S model To be improved Excellent To be improved Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent To be improved Excellent Excellent To be improved Excellent Care-free Surplus Care-free Care-free Surplus Care-free Surplus Surplus Care-free Care-free Care-free Care-free

Ranking 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Quality attribute Compressor noise Durability of fan motor Outlet noise of air-conditioner Anti-erosion of heat exchanger Stainless base Ease of maintenance and cleaning Comfort Air-cleaning efciency Temperature display (room and setting) Drop protection and drainage Inverter compressor Negative ions Price Material accordance of base and internal compressor surrounding Free wind control and auto louver function Cleaning instructions Guard net for n Ease of portability and installation Attractiveness and design for external looks Wired and wireless control function Four key functions in one Universal remote control Cleanliness of surface Pre-order function of starting time Mean

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Note: Ranking is according to level of importance. If two or more attributes have the same importance level, the attribute with a smaller deviation is ranked higher.

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rules of Kanos model. According to the unrened model, a rm will pay similar attention to these two attributes. However, when the rm recognizes the categories of these attributes according to the rened model, the compressor noise attribute is seen to be a high value-added attribute (and therefore of greater signicance to the rm), whereas the wind control and auto-louver function is of low value-added (and therefore of lesser importance to the rm). As a result, the rm will adopt very different strategies towards the two attributes. Business management normally focuses on improvements to quality elements that are unsatisfactory in the estimation of customers. However, according to the rened model, this is not the only consideration. Firms can simultaneously take care of the satisfaction level of quality attributes and their degree of importance. Firms can thus obtain much valuable information for improvements from a comparison between the satisfaction levels and the degree of importance of quality attributes. This is a very important concept, since customers evaluate quality by using quality attributes that they recognize as important (Deming, 1986; King, 1987; Headley & Choi, 1992). If customers satisfaction on these important attributes falls to a low level, the overall quality evaluation from customers can be very poor. Therefore, those quality attributes which customers consider to be highly important and which have a lower satisfaction level are those that management needs to address as a rst priority for improvements.

The Importance Satisfaction Model The above discussion leads to the development of a model referred to as the importance satisfaction model (I S Model) (Yang, 2003). This is illustrated in Figure 3. In this model, the horizontal dimension shows the degree of importance of a quality attribute, and the vertical dimension shows the satisfaction level of the quality attribute. The order pair (importance scale, satisfaction scale) can then be located on the

Figure 3. The importance satisfaction model

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coordinates. The means of the importance scale and the satisfaction scale can be used to divide the coordinate into four areas, as follows: . I. Excellent area: The attributes located in this area are those that customers considered to be important, and for which the performance is satisfactory to customers. Retention of customers requires that performance in these attributes be continued. . II. To be improved area: The quality attributes listed in this area are those considered as important to customers but for which the performances have not met with expectation. The company must focus on these attributes and make improvements immediately. . III. Surplus area: The attributes listed in this area are not very important to customers, but the perceptions of customers are quite satisfactory. The company can put these quality attributes aside. If the company needs to cut costs, these are the attributes that can be eliminated without incurring a signicant negative impact on the customer satisfaction. . IV. Care-free area: These quality attributes are those about which customers have a lower satisfaction level, but which they also rank as being less important. The company does not need to worry about these attributes, because these items have less impact on the whole quality-evaluation process. Even though this importance satisfaction model is a simple structure, it can nevertheless provide much useful information about a companys quality performance. The model can be applied to the empirical study described above. The last column of Table 2 shows the I S category for each of the quality attributes discussed in the empirical study. The results are displayed in Figure 4.

Figure 4. The display of the I S model for Table 2

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From the data in Table 2 and the display of Figure 4, much valuable information can be obtained. The important points to be noted are as follows. . Most of the must-be quality attributes are found to be important, but not all. The attribute dealing with the guard for the n of the air conditioner is treated as must-be, but it is not considered to be important. It is therefore classied as a necessary attribute. . For one-dimensional attributes and attractive attributes, some are considered to be important and some are not. . In the to be improved area, three attributes are high value-added, but only one attribute is critical. . Although the attribute dealing with the price of the air-conditioner is located in the carefree area, it is very close to the to be improved area. As a result, the company must still pay attention to this attribute. . There are three critical attributes two are located in the excellent area. This means that company has ascertained the critical nature of these attributes, and has also provided them to a sufcient extent. . There is one highly attractive attribute that is located in the excellent area. This is the attribute relating to negative ions. This therefore represents a very good competitive weapon. It is of interest that the company has also emphasized the importance of this point in its advertising. . There are two less attractive attributes (denoted by numbers 14 and 20 in Table 2) that are located in the surplus area. If the company wants to reduce costs, these attributes can be considered. . There are only two indifferent attributes (denoted by numbers 22 and 24). These are listed in the care-free area, they are also identied as care-free attributes in the rened model, and therefore the company has no need to pay much attention to these two attributes. Analyses of this type are very useful and valuable for the company. The company can make better decisions with respect to product quality by referring to the models presented here.

Conclusion Kanos model is a good tool for industries to use in analysing key quality attributes in order to make better decisions on quality strategies. But the unrened model has a deciency in that the degree of importance of quality attributes is neglected. Customers are the only judges of quality in goods and services, and they evaluate the quality by using several attributes that are important from their perspective. Thus, degree of importance is a critical dimension considered by customers when they are evaluating the quality performance. On this basis, the present study has integrated this importance concept into Kanos model thus developing a new rened model. According to the rened Kanos model, quality attributes can be divided into more precise categories. An increasing number of companies conduct surveys of customers. It is the contention of this paper that rms can analyse the categories of quality attributes according to both the rened Kanos model and the I S model. This enables rms to obtain much more valuable

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information. The rened Kanos model is not only a useful practical tool for industries, but it is also a theoretical model for academic research. References
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