Kano Model

Attractive Quality and Must-Be Quality (1984)

The Kano Model is a theory of product development and customer satisfaction developed by Professor Noriaki Kano and colleagues (Seraku, Takahashi, Tsuji) at Tokyo University of Science, first published in 1984 in the Journal of the Japanese Society for Quality Control. The model classifies product and service attributes into five Quality Attributes (品質要素, hinshitsu yōso): Must-be Quality (当たり前品質), One-dimensional Quality (一元的品質), Attractive Quality (魅力的品質), Indifferent Quality (無関心品質), and Reverse Quality (逆品質). A key insight is that quality attributes migrate over time: today’s Attractive Quality becomes tomorrow’s Must-be Quality as customer expectations evolve.