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This paper outlines the use of quality function deployment (QFD) for strategic planning. QFD provides a comprehensive process for defining the issues facing an organisation in terms of customer and stakeholder outcomes, natural segments and key strategic opportunities.

An explanation and overview of the two core stages of strategic planning using QFD are followed by three case examples.

Strategic QFD avoids complex matrix analysis and instead moves directly to concept generation and evaluation. One of the main benefits of strategic QFD is the level of commitment and support for the resulting strategy throughout the organisation. This paper also shows how strategic QFD can be used to identify and optimise internal capabilities and to find and address specific customer opportunities.

Strategic planners will find that QFD‐based philosophy and methods are useful tools for the creation of a customer‐driven strategy.

This paper provides insight for practitioners and academics into how strategic QFD systematically translates vision into action, targeting opportunities and creating innovative strategies that are stable even in fast‐changing environments.

The purpose of this paper is to summarise a recent doctoral thesis on the relationship between project portfolio management (PPM) and competitive advantage in service and manufacturing organisations.

This two‐phase mixed method study comprises a quantitative questionnaire‐based survey and a qualitative multiple‐case study to address the “what” and the “how” of the research questions.

This paper adopts a “dynamic capabilities” perspective, drawing on organisational learning theory to explain the path‐dependent nature of PPM capability development and how PPM capabilities work with the resource base to enhance competitive advantage. Findings support prior PPM studies and suggest a positive relationship between structured PPM capabilities and improved outcomes. The research compares service and manufacturing environments; future challenges are likely to result from the increasing blurring of the boundaries between service and manufacturing industries.

The research has four main practical outcomes: development of a model representing the overall PPM capability; a benchmark for and guidance on specific PPM processes and methods; guidance on the types of organisational learning investments that enhance the establishment and evolution of PPM capabilities; and the initial development of an outcomes and learning‐based maturity model for PPM capabilities.

This paper produces the first benchmark of innovation PPM capabilities in Australia, and is the first to include service product‐focused portfolios. It is the first study that identifies PPM capabilities as dynamic capability, allowing existing research to be viewed through the dynamic capability lens and, more importantly, providing a theoretical underpinning that may influence future research and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to create a benchmark and identify best practices for Project Portfolio Management (PPM) for both tangible product‐based and service product‐based development project portfolios.

A questionnaire was developed to gather data to compare the PPM methods used, PPM performance, PPM challenges, and resulting new product success measures in 60 Australian organisations in a diverse range of service and manufacturing industries.

The paper finds that PPM practices are shown to be very similar for service product development project portfolios and tangible product development project portfolios. New product success rates show strong correlation with measures of PPM performance and the use of some PPM methods is correlated with specific PPM performance outcomes.

The findings in this paper are based on a survey of a diverse sample of 60 Australian organisations. The results are strengthened by comparisons with similar North American research; however, they may not be representative of all environments. Research in other regions would further qualify the findings. As each organisation's PPM process is unique, case study methods are recommended for future studies to capture more of the complexity in the environment.

The paper shows that PPM practitioners and executives who make decisions about the development of tangible products and/or service products will benefit from the findings.

This paper extends the existing understanding of PPM practices to include service development project portfolios as well as tangible product development project portfolios and strengthens the links between PPM practices and outcomes.

Introduced to the West from Japan, Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a powerful approach to customer‐focused product development. In recent years, many practitioners and academics have recognized the potential of these methods and applied them to strategic formulation and decision making as well. Earlier reviews of the documented accounts of QFD‐based approaches to strategy have been presented at the 7th International Symposium on QFD in Tokyo in 2001, and at the 8th International Symposium on QFD in Munich in 2002. This paper updates these reviews, identifying the parallels and contrasts evident in these cases with the techniques of hoshin kanri (also known as policy deployment). The paper then briefly describes a case study of the application of a comprehensive QFD‐based methodology. Leveraging these insights, the paper seeks to address the future direction of the development of this promising field of strategic methodology.

The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of project portfolio management (PPM) capability evolution, in order to guide the implementation and ongoing development of robust capabilities.

This research adopts a dynamic capabilities perspective and draws on organizational learning theory to investigate the path‐dependent nature of PPM implementation and development. It employs a multiple‐case study of six organizations.

Each of the case organizations reported a high level of evolution and change within their PPM capabilities, both purposeful and unintended. Potential “fragilities” are identified, such as the emergence of a “success trap” that inhibits explorative innovation and difficulties in stopping poor projects to reallocate resources. Based on findings from the literature and the multiple‐case study, a capability maturity model is proposed to assist in the development of robust PPM capabilities that will continue to evolve and stay relevant in dynamic environments.

The research is based on six organizations and may not be representative of all environments. The proposed maturity model has only been used in initial trials to evaluate capability maturity, and its use in guiding capability development has not been studied. Further research is required to test and evolve the maturity model.

The maturity model will be of interest to managers as a tool to analyze PPM maturity and identify areas for further development or to guide new PPM implementations.

The proposed maturity model extends existing maturity models by incorporating organizational learning capabilities, by recognizing antecedents for maturity stages that build upon other capabilities, and by including steps to recognize and avoid potential “fragilities” and to ensure robust PPM performance over time.

IN making the suggestion, as some of my friendly critics have done, that the classes Fine and Useful Arts should be restored, as in Dewey, they rather miss the humour of the situation. The Subject Classification is not an amended Dewey or Cutter, but a humble attempt at an entirely new system, designed to meet the needs of popular libraries. It is not even a classification of knowledge, but, as experience has proved, a very practical and simple rearrangement of the factors of knowledge as set forth and preserved in books. The scheme is not indebted to any other system for aught but suggestions of main classes; all the details of the tables having been worked out independently, without reference to any classification save the Adjustable. It will be manifest, on reflection, that it would be fatal for the compiler of a new system to allow himself to be fettered or influenced by the schedules of other authors. I am one of those who decline to believe in the value of standardization of ideas or practice, save to a small degree in certain mechanical matters, and it would therefore be foolish to follow in the same rut as certain predecessors, simply because a longer existence has to some extent established their findings as settled conventions.

To present a simple yet comprehensive customer complaint management system (CCMS) which includes tools and concepts from total quality management (TQM) and quality function deployment (QFD) proposed by the authors.

A comprehensive CCMS model based on the Deming cycle that integrates practice‐tested methodologies such as QFD, problem solving and failure mode effect analysis (FMEA) was developed. In order to provide an example of the application, possibilities and limitations of our proposed CCMS model, a project developed for a major Latin American transportation company is presented.

Excellent service can only be achieved with a profound knowledge of evolving customer needs. Functional CCMS should be implemented in every company, regardless of its size, structure or products. QFD, FMEA and problem‐solving tools are very useful but, rather than the tools themselves, the fundamental element to develop a successful CCMS is the spirit of improvement towards total customer satisfaction energized by top management's leadership and commitment. A successfully implemented CCMS can change the perspective of complaint management and transform the process of answering complaints from a trivial activity to a more exciting process‐design and learning experience, renovating the spirit of continuous improvement towards service excellence.

The model may not be useful to some major companies that already have their own database systems for storing and analyzing customer complaints in real time. The results were only validated in a single project with its particular characteristics.

In a service economy, comprehensive systems for capturing, analyzing and translating customer complaints into adequate actions for focused improvement are required for competitiveness. Simple CCMS can be implemented without significant investment, in order to exploit customer complaints.

This paper presents a simple, yet comprehensive CCMS based on practice‐tested methodologies successfully implemented in an improvement project. Companies that do not have formal CCMS can find efficiency in the model because of its simplicity.

The practice of logistics management has changed from an operational concern with the elemental activities to a strategic interest in how effective logistics management can help reach corporate objectives. Recent Australian government policy has emphasized world competitiveness and Australia′s place in the Asian trade bloc. Management rubric advocates strategic alliances with customers, suppliers and even competitors. Surveys a group of 86 practising logistics managers to establish the issues which they think will be important for the future direction of their logistics operations. Examines the impact of environmental pressures, changing power relationships in the logistics channel, the use of technology, the global marketplace, uses of outsourcing and the reduction in the cycle time to market. The result is a rather inward‐looking orientation – a focus on the strategy and activities of their own organization operating in the domestic market.

This paper revisits a typical bricks and mortar company that had successfully applied strategy development and deployment methodologies such as Hoshin and QFD to their transformation process. With the explosive growth of the Internet, and the increasingly turbulent economic environment, the viability of current business models is threatened. In the process, it is calling into question the methodologies that worked so well in the past when long‐cycle environments prevailed. This paper explores the impact of this on a company’s strategic process and concludes with the hypothesis that a robust strategic process is needed now more than ever and that this should ride over the top of the turbulence. It also identifies where some traditional tools and methodologies may evolve to be effective in the new economy.