Incorporating the concept of systematic innovation into quality function deployment for developing multi-functional smart phones

- Systematic innovation is incorporated into quality function deployment (QFD).
- Smartphone is defined by marketing requirements (MRs) and technical attributes (TAs).
- The theory of inventive problem solving is employed to resolve engineering conflicts.
- Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is used to extract user preferences for MRs.
- Correspondence analysis (CA) is conducted to capture user perceptions of TAs.

Smartphone has been recognized as one of the most powerful mobile carriers because of its portability, multiple functions, and wireless connectivity. However, the market shares of mobile phones have been intensively fluctuating because many brand companies like Nokia or Motorola have been merged. In order to brainstorm innovative ideas, this paper incorporates the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) into quality function deployment (QFD) to address the following issues: (1) a smartphone is characterized by marketing requirements (MRs) and technical attributes (TAs), (2) engineering conflicts among TAs are tackled by TRIZ, (3) user preferences for MRs are extracted to form a basis of market segmentation, (4) user perceptions of TAs are captured to identify significant features with regard to the ad-hoc segments. More importantly, numerous industrial examples including Sony's QX series, Samsung's K-zoom, Nokia's Lumia 1020, Asus's Zenfone zoom, Asus's Padfone series, LG's G flex, Samsung's galaxy beam, and Lenovo's Yoga Tablet 2 are illustrated to validate this research. In brief, this study does not only provide a way to handle engineering conflicts in designing smartphones but also help product planners generate innovative alternatives for acquiring the ad-hoc niche segments.