Executive summary

Every company always aspires to have a strategic plan that will help realization of a competitive edge. This is even more important during the modern dynamic economic where the competiveness has been very stiff and desire for quality products and services has increased among the consumers. For a company to realize its long term objectives, it is imperative that it puts in place a comprehensive program that determines the main approaches of the organization and make suggestions on resource allocation.

In order to have such an effective plan in a company, it worth understanding the environment within which the organization operates. This will help make critical decisions on how the company can increase its competiveness. Quality function deployment (QFD) and SWOT analysis are essential analysis tools that can help the company understand its market position and plan accordingly. Nevertheless, the integration of these two tools has been an issue of concern for most organizations. The considerations of different factors critical in decision making make it important to examine how well the two tools can be integrated for organizational success.

QFD and SWOT integration

As earlier stated, the level of competition in the modern economy has been very stiff. With this in mind, every management in any company is striving to ensure that their organization is in a position to compete at the highest level. An organization can only plan its future if it has proper understanding of its current position. For instance, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are determined thorough SWOT analysis. However, there is a challenge associated with this analysis tool since it fails to address the importance of these factors since in most cases they are personal preferences.

In order to validate the purpose of SWOT analysis, it is important that it is integrated with QFD. QFD helps in determining the weight of the SWOT factors which forms an integral part to customer satisfaction. There are various numerical calculations to determine the relationship between customer requirements and the top management of the organization.

Recommendation

Despite the challenges associated with the integration of the two concepts, it is recommended that the management of the organization must strive to derive the best formula to gain competitive edge. Situational analysis remains a critical aspect in strategic planning and the company must consider both internal and external factors of the organization. It is recommended that the integration process must involve House of Quality (HOQ) that will help determine the consumer requirements that placing the company in a strategic position. It is also important that calculations are calculated in a fuzzy environment due to the uncertainty in the decision making factors. It is however, worth noting that the integration of the analysis tools should be determined by the situation for effective strategic planning.

Summary

In summary, it is worth noting that SWOT analysis cannot comprehensively appraise the strategic decision making in an organization. This is because it is mainly concerned with qualitative analysis and fails to address major issue necessary for strategic alignment. It fails to provide an analytical means to determine the relative importance of the decision making factors. Integration of both SWOT analysis and QFD forms a perfect mix for strategic planning.

The integration ensures that all the customers’ needs are put in consideration. The analysis also helps determine the position of the company in relation to the competitors that enabling them derive a competitive edge. Furthermore, the approach help the organization to save unnecessary spending on recurrent strategy formulation and implementation which would be the case in absence of integration.

References

Adegbesan, J. A. (2009). On the origins of competitive advantage: Strategic factor markets and heterogeneous resource complementarily. Academy of Management Review, 34 (3), 463-475.

Mankins, M. C., & Steele, R. (2008). Stop making plans; Start making decisions. In Harvard business review on strategic renewal . (pp. 147-169). Boston: Harvard Business Press.

Oliver, C., & Holzinger, I. (2008). The effectiveness of strategic political management: A dynamic capabilities framework. Academy of Management Review, 33 (2), 496-520.

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