The marketing function of a company will be a different ball game when done in line with Six Sigma initiatives. What is customary is that the marketing department does market research by interviewing customers, do focus groups, surveys of customers or other related businesses. They then report what they’ve found out about the market to top management who in turn will give the overall direction of the organization. In other words, marketing takes on a critical responsibility as they identify which arena(s) the company is competitive or not.
With Six Sigma, the marketing department need not only communicate this information with the executives but also with those people responsible for Six Sigma projects. It is even important that the voice of the customer (VOC) is made clearer to the Six Sigma practitioners in the organization. Not only that, it is equally important that the critical to quality (CTQ) aspect is also understood by everyone.
Any information provided to those responsible for Six Sigma projects should be very clear to direct and guide the projects. This is how to do it:
1. Market report must reflect both market and customer feedback. Six Sigma initiatives have the dual purpose of attracting new customers while retaining current ones. Analysis of the information must include the ability to identify the relative impacts of quality and price on customer value perceptions.
2. Both marketing managers and Six Sigma Champions and Black Belts must learn to use the tools of multivariate statistics in order to properly interpret the data.
3. Both must also understand and provide a holistic view of how the market defines the value of quality—that value at the point of production does not necessarily translate into value at the point of consumption. Issues of product support, parts availability, service, warranty and so forth should all be considered equally as these are the metrics by which consumers put value to your company’s offerings. Consequently, the value information collected and provided by marketing must identify those factors that are critical to quality (CTQ) throughout the organization’s value stream.
4. Marketing people must be able to provide the link between value information from the marketplace and those inside the organization, which create and deliver value. This is a critical process as it helps in identifying the Six Sigma projects. Project that will link the organization’s processes (inputs) to competitive performance criteria associated with the CTQs (outputs). Your company must use the tools used that will identify these linkages for you to be able to prioritize your projects.
5. Once you have launched your Six Sigma projects, you must develop appropriate tracking metrics to monitor market-perceived changes in value based on changes brought about through Six Sigma projects. Black Belts are expert at the identification and use of appropriate metrics for tracking internal process changes. Marketing should partner with Black Belts to identify and use appropriate metrics to track changes in market perceptions.
Based on these points, marketing function has been systematized by Six Sigma. It is no longer enough that marketing people do market research and report it during management committee meetings. The data they gather must be something useful for improvement processes.
Source: Marketing Function Is Different in a Six Sigma World.
Found the link on: Promax Consulting website.
