The objective of this study is to identify demands of customers of a sire-producing company in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, by using a methodology adapted from quality function deployment tool. The adaptation consisted on the fact that matrices are treated in an unified manner among product and services due to the high perception of inter-relationship among these business components. The results evidenced that clients priorize traits related to the product, especially genetic value of the bulls. Service items were also highlighted, and they may be presented as an opportunity of differentiation among suppliers. Customer profile influenced priority order inasmuch as farmers with no technical services prioritized performance traits over genetic traits, opposing to those who were assisted and to technical consultants. Concerning to farm size, there were changes only in the tertiary level of the priority order of the demands. The adaptation of the methodology for joint analysis interfered in the results, especially in service prioritization. This study contributed to formatting a model for using quality function deployment in sire production, helping to identify quality demands and its priority levels for the population and researched company, and it may be used in further studies on the product beef sires.
agribusiness; genetics characteristics; quality demand
