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A validation Study of House of Quality key performance indicators
interaction/solidarity, safety and information merely explain 24, 3% of the variation in the overall
performance of the online union.
5.3 Implications
The House of Quality directly links the technical requirements to the needs of the members and
therefore can be considered to be one of the most untainted instruments for improvement (Akao,
1990). Two types of data were integrated in the House of Quality. First of all the gaps between the
expectations and perceptions of the online union measured by the method of the SERVQUAL model
and secondly the Kano category to indicate the influence of each item on member’s satisfaction.
The method of quality function deployment is used to provide De Unie direction for informed
decision making. First, by questioning the members’ needs; and, second by tailoring the design of the
online union. Continuously, to match the demands of the members as closely as possible in a
responsive manner.
What are the main implications of the House of Quality results?
For one, “Digitalization” is observed as the most important in the ongoing process of improvement
and enables the online union to meet the widest collection of member’s needs. Subsequently,
translate such needs into desirable and valuable services to generate and maintain a cash flow on
which De Unie depends for its growth and survival. Although the online union already is an
organization that functions online, the concept of digitalization should be understood as a
continuous process of versioning information. Shapiro and Varian (1999) refer to ‘versioning’ as a
technique to lever ‘value-based pricing, i.e., to sell the online union’s services to different members
at different prices will certainly help to improve services of and offers opportunities to meet the
most important member requirements. Value-based pricing of services affords the development and
exploitation of two-way communication with members and stakeholders. Such online approach
affords De Unie the opportunity to obtain valuable market data without expensive and time-
consuming marketing studies. Simply, by offering members and third parties a menu of services and
monitor which one they choose. For instance, De Unie can offer a product line with one product
offered at members and another one at ‘outsiders’ and observe sales figures to observe purchase
patterns in both markets evolving. Shapiro and Varian (1999:54) refer to this technique as
‘versioning’. Digitalization in this case enforces the opportunity to connect different parties in the
network of the online union. Therefore it enables interaction between De Unie and her members,
mutual between members but it can also enforce the integration of third parties. From this
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