Toward Strategically Aligned Innovative Capability: A QFD-Based Approach

Abstract

The authors show how to use the house of quality, which is the core of quality function deployment (QFD), to develop strategically aligned innovative capabilities. The proposed framework integrates extant prescriptions and assesses the alignment of innovative capabilities with business-unit innovation strategy using a structured, systematic, and customizable approach. The framework was tested using a sample of software business units in India. Results indicate a good fit of the framework between strategic capability and innovation performance, and between ideation capability and innovation performance. The results suggest that the framework may be very useful to business units that can customize the list of constituent innovative capabilities to the specific characteristics of their industry.

• Indian software industry
• innovation framework
• innovative capability
• QFD framework
• strategic alignment

Additional information

Notes on contributors

K. G. S. Kumar

K. G. S. Kumar is dean (academics) at Asian School of Business, Trivandrum, India, and a research scholar at the Amrita School of Business, Coimbatore, India. He is also an adjunct professor at the Indian Institute of Management–Kozhikode and at the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management–Kerala. He has 31 years of experience in industry, consulting, teaching, and research. His industrial work has been largely related to product development, R&D, project management, technology parks, business incubation, and new-venture development. He has actively participated in the creation and development of Technopark, India's first and largest information technology park, and has consulted for projects funded by international organizations like World Bank, UNIDO, and Swedish International Development Agency. After moving to academics in 2005, he has designed and taught courses in operations, strategy, innovation, technology management, product management, and management consulting. He can be reached by email at [email protected].

P. P. Thampi

P. P. Thampi is a management professional with more than three decades of experience in the diverse areas of project management, software product life cycle management, key account management, IT systems management, and technology resource administration with experience of establishing vendor networks and forging strategic alliances and partnerships in the African, South Asian, and Middle East markets. He has overseen multiple, complex software product implementation and consulting projects concurrently across diverse geographies during his tenure as vice president at Oracle Financial Services Software Limited (OFSS), director of projects at i-flex solutions Ltd., senior consultant at Citicorp Information Technology Industries Ltd. (CITIL), and Systems Program Manager at Federal Bank Ltd. Thampi has a post-graduate degree in physics and an MBA in financial management. He is also a certificated associate of Indian Institute of Banking and Finance, Mumbai, India.

A. Jyotishi

Amalendu Jyotishi is the chairperson of doctorate programs at Amrita School of Business, Coimbatore, India, and an adjunct faculty at University of Buffalo. He has a doctorate in economics from the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore, India, where he worked on the ecological and economic issues of swidden agricultural systems. Earlier, he worked at Ohio University-Christ College Academy and in Gujarat Institute of Development Research as an assistant professor. His research work covers a wide range of issues relating to institutional economics aspects of indigenous community, water markets, forestry, inland fisheries, and livelihood issues in varied ecosystems. In the recent past he has been working on issues relating to iron smelting, deforestation, and informal gold mining. He has published his research ideas in journals, books, edited volumes, and working papers.

R. Bishu

Ram Bishu is a former faculty member at the department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He has more than 12 years of industrial experience and over 25 years of academic experience He has more than 200 publications in journals and conference proceedings. His areas of specialization are quality control and ergonomics. Over the years he has performed a number of projects in all areas of ergonomics and quality. He has also developed digital solution strategies, including front-end website design, for e-commerce clients. He has a wide range of publications, and participates in professional societies at the international, national, and regional levels.