Title: An integrated model to identify and rank the after sales service strategies of firms engaged in household appliances business

Authors: Sivanesan Murali; Singaram Pugazhendhi

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Vels University, Chennai 600117, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Chidambaram 608 002, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: The problem of identifying the strategic objectives to improve the performance of an organisation based on its internal and external environment and further, to identify the action plans that will help in meeting these objectives, is addressed in this paper. An integrated model by conjoining strength, weakness, opportunities and threat (SWOT) analysis, balanced scorecard (BSC), analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and quality function deployment (QFD) is developed to tackle this problem. The initial strategies are identified through the SWOT matrix, which are then categorised into the four BSC perspectives. These strategic objectives are used as 'WHATs' in the QFD process and AHP is used to determine the relative weightings of these objectives; after identifying the action plans that are the 'HOWs' of the QFD, the prioritisation of the action plans is done by using the concepts of QFD. The proposed model will help in translating the vision of an organisation into action and a case study involving the after sales service (ASS) operations of a firm engaged in household appliances business is considered to show the efficiency of the proposed model.

Keywords: strategic management; after sales service; ASS; strengths weakenesses opportunities threats; SWOT analysis; balanced scorecard; BSC; analytical hierarchy process; AHP; quality function deployment; QFD; household appliances.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2016.075765

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2016 Vol.24 No.1, pp.99 - 124

Received: 09 Jul 2014
Accepted: 19 Oct 2014
Published online: 02 Apr 2016 *

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