Managing for Quality and Performance Excellence 9th Edition by James Evans,William Lindsay

Exercise 13

Note: Data sets for several problems are available in the Excel workbook C07Data in the Student Companion Site for this chapter. Click on the appropriate worksheet tab as noted in the problem (e.g., Prob. 7-5, etc.) to access the data.
Newfonia, Inc. (Problem 2) faces three major competitors in this market: Oldphonia, Simphonia, and Colliefonia. It found that potential consumers placed the highest importance on reliability (measured by such things as freedom from operating system crashes and battery life), followed by compactness (weight/bulkiness), followed by flexibility (features, ease of use, and types of program modules available). The operating cost was only occasionally noted as an important attribute in the surveys. Studies of their products yielded the information shown in the table in the worksheet tab Prob.7-3 in the Excel file C07Data. Results of the consumer panel ratings for these competitors are also shown in that spreadsheet. Using this information, modify and extend your House of Quality from Problem 2 and develop a deployment plan for the new smartphone. On what attributes should the company focus its marketing efforts?