• correlation matrix
• iso9001
• opportunity
• quality management
• risk

This paper is about a modified quality function deployment approach which has been used in order to help companies to define which the best actions to implement are. This must be done according to risks and opportunities in the business environment. This paper wants to give companies a simple tool that can be used to meet ISO9001 requirements'.
The quality function deployment is used as a comparison but actually it is really different; the number of the rooms was changed and the content as well making it more similar to a matrix.
The methodology used has several steps : first it identifies relevant stakeholders attributing them a numeric value, then it identifies the requirements of stakeholders and prioritize them by giving a score from 1 to 9.
At the same time a context analysis is made from which emerge the most relevant factors in the external environment and to understand how can these conditions change.
In the first part the correlation matrix between external factors (in the columns) and stakeholders' requirements (in the rows) has been done by attributing a numeric value from 1 to 5; some cells were left empty because there does not seem to have a correlation. This output will become next matrix input; in fact the approach also extends to the internal factors of a company: after defining macro business processes and critical factors a second correlation is made; it is between the most critical external factors and most relevant internal ones. Once again the external factors have a weighted value in relation to the previous matrix.
These correlations are made between weighed values in order to make evident which are the most influential external factors and how these affect the company.
In the second correlation matrix the degree of influence shows what can be the risks and opportunities for a company, then the evaluation of each risk and opportunity related internal factors is done.
So, it is possible to highlight potential positive and negative consequences of each connection.
In the last part of the paper the aim is to define actions for treatment of risks and opportunities to improve the company's performance, to help organizations to plan and control actions in term of costs, time, responsibility, results, convenience and feasibility. Further studies can be done to deepen a cost-benefit analysis of each company's choice.
In order to illustrate the characteristics and steps of the technique a study case has been reported: an Italian small business that operates in the shipbuilding sector.
This method can be used by every kind of company, nevertheless it is easy to change and can be adapted to different needs in relation to the type of concerned company, as for every company there are more or less important stakeholder and giving different importance weight to each category would make a big difference in the final results, or there might be more or less influential factors as well as more or less concerned internal processes.
Every step of this paper is explained and different ways to perform these steps are shown.
After mentioning lean management and project management several aspects of the ISO9001 are explained; this method also focuses on total quality management and on the integration of different management systems. An integrated management systems (IMS) certification is a holistic approach that combines multiple aspects of an organization’s performance in order to meet the requirements of several management system standards. The method shows that this can be achieved by modifying the content of the matrixes, in particular the first one so, stakeholder's importance and related requirements and external factors.