This paper presents a conceptual framework for managing the process of systematically deriving improvement actions from customer expectations and strategic decisions through business processes, and prioritizing improvement actions that will most contribute to strategic objectives. It proposes the use of management practices and concepts such as business process mapping, performance measurement and benchmarking. After some introductory theoretical background, the proposed framework and a set of steps to guide the implementation of such an approach are presented and detailed. Finally, some considerations are made based on the potential benefits and limitations of this proposal.
quality management; improvement management; performance measurement; business processes; benchmarking; quality function deployment