Market-driven product and service design: Bridging the gap between customer needs, quality management, and customer satisfaction

Bridging the gap between a firm's internal quality improvements and external measures of customer needs and satisfaction is an important yet complex translation process. The process has traditionally been studied within two very different domains. An external focus on customers has been the domain of marketers. Manufacturing and engineering-based approaches to quality management and improvement have traditionally taken a more internal, process improvement focus. Both areas have recognized the need to broaden their focus and bridge the gap between internal quality and external customers needs and satisfaction. This paper offers a framework to integrate these two domains. A case study is presented to demonstrate the usefulness of an integrated approach. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.