Kano Model Deployment and its Relation to Customer Centricity

Abstract

Many companies strive to become more customer centric due to its many advantages in the competitive landscape of today. However, to become truly customer centric is difficult for many companies. The case company of this study is developing a safety-PLC for the machine guarding safety industry and is aiming at becoming more customer centric. Hence, the purpose of this study is firstly to map how the users of machine guarding safety-PLCs rate the attributes according to the Kano model. Secondly, to elaborate on how the results from the Kano model can be used by companies to be become more customer centric. Eleven interviews were conducted with company representatives, retailers, and machine guarding safety users to map customer needs and requirements. Following the interviews, a survey was distributed to gather the information needed to classify the attributes according to the Kano model. The sampling method can best be described as a combination of quota sampling and snowball sampling, and it resulted in a sample size of 132 respondents. The result reveals that twelve of the twenty attributes are rated as Attractive, while the other eight are rated as Indifferent. There are some tendencies that the Steel & Metal, and Automation industries are more positive towards the attributes that are included in this study. However, no consistent or noteworthy differences are present when the results are segmented on company size or respondents’ position. It can be concluded that the Kano model provides necessary insights on customer needs and preferences which is a key aspect of customer centricity and thus can facilitate a company’s strive towards it. However, becoming customer centric is a multifaceted concept which includes several factors, e.g., organizational changes, therefore the Kano model can only provide a small, although important, fraction of the tools and actions needed.