The Handbook of Technology and Innovation Management

3.4. Identifying Customer Needs

One widely cited approach for determining the types of customer needs is the Kano Model of Customer Satisfaction (Kano et al., 1984)^[] Kano developed his model by adapting the ideas of Fredrick Herzberg on the asymmetry of the factors related to job satisfaction and dissatisfaction (i.e., job satisfaction is related to 'motivators' such as achievement, recognition, work itself, and responsibility, whereas job dissatisfaction is related to 'hygiene' factors such as company policy, relationship with supervisor, work conditions, and salary; Herzberg et al., 1959; Herzberg, 1968). In the 1970s, Kano was working with the Konica camera company to develop some highly differentiated new products (e.g., Scholtes, 1997). Konica's sales and research groups found that customers asked only for minor improvements to the existing camera models. Kano, however, believed that really new innovations did not come from simply listening to what customers were verbally saying, but that the development team had to develop a deep understanding of customers' real (latent) needs. Consequently, Konica staffers went to commercial photo processing labs to investigate the actual prints taken by customers. They found many mistakes and failures: blurry images, under and over exposure, blank film rolls. Addressing these latent needs led to features such as auto focus, built-in-flash, and automatic film rewinding that are widely available in cameras today.

^[] Other categories of needs ...