Chapter I Introduction I.1 Research Background Small Medium Enterprise (SME) is one of the important keys of economic development in Indonesia. In Indonesia, SMEs always be figured out as a sector with important role, because most of its population is not well educated and live in a small business activities both traditional and modern sector (Partomo, 2004). Nowadays, there are 8.2 million units of SME sector in West with a huge contribution in growth level of the province. One of it is able to provide employment for more than 80% and can contribute more than 60% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of (Kadin, 2012) . This is certainly a positive thing for the economic growth of West Java.

Bandung, capital city of West Java province, has a number of potential SMEs. Until the year 2012, there were 3,000 SMEs in and still grow until now (Kadin, 2012). Most of the SMEs in Bandung is located in Bandung regency.

Aulia Sari is one of SME unit in Bandung which is focusing in processed seaweed production. This is one form of creative industries in Bandung, that the sea in Bandung area is cannot be found, but there is a business unit which is engaged in the processing of seaweed product. Mr. Sutisna as the owner of Aulia Sari has developed several products such as meatballs, , , crackers, and all of them are using seaweed as the main ingredient.

Aulia Sari is moving with a target market of a tourists who came to Bandung, with a positioning of a unique and typical Bandung Souvenir. A reliable product which can fulfill what customer wanted to is needed in order to actualize that positioning.

Table I.1 Dodol selling data in west Java (source: Dinas perindustrian, perdagangan dan pengelolaan pasar kota garut 2013) Year no Brand 2009 (ton) 2010 (ton) 2011 (ton) 2012 (ton) 1 Anugrah 36.9 38.4 37.0 39.6 2 Pusaka 51.3 54.1 52.8 54.5 3 Picnic 63.0 65.0 66.4 66.0 4 Olympic 35.8 37.4 38.9 30.0 5 Azziza 44.6 42.3 43.0 44.0 6 Hade 20.0 22.7 23.2 22.0 7 Saluyu 49.3 50.0 52.1 31.2 8 Eka Sari 30.0 33.8 35.2 36.0 9 Winda 54.7 59.0 62.3 60.0 10 Etc 425.8 418.6 418.0 432.7 Total 811.4 821.3 828.9 829.9

Table I.1 shows that Dodol product has a high demand in west Java. It can be seen from the positive trend of dodol product selling increasing number. Dodol has a high positive trend, so Aulia Sari can also follow this trend in west Java to sell the dodol product which is the seaweed dodol.

Using seaweed as a main ingredient of dodol is the unique side of this Aulia Sari product. Seaweed dodol only can be found in Indonesia and limited in 2 region. NTT and Bandung from Aulia Sari. Beside this uniqueness, the seaweed itself has many benefit for healthiness. It is rich in vitamins (A, B12, zinc, Calium, Iodium, Etc), rich of fiber, can prevent cancer (high anti-oksidant), and can help body detox (Kirsch, 2006). Based on the benefits of seaweed, it shows that Aulia Sari seaweed dodol is safety to be consumed by all ages, and conform to be daily .

These uniqueness can be the value for customer buying decision. The Aulia Sari dodol is also has a high potential to be developed. The result shown from the preliminary survey to people who has already ate the seaweed dodol from Aulia Sari. Table I.2 Satisfaction preliminary study Response Respondent numbers Percentage Tasty 28 87.5% Unique 20 62.5% Conform to be souvenirs 18 56.25% Table 1.2 shows the result of preliminary study that this product has high potential to be developed based on positive customer voice. Based on the survey to the 32 respondents which is not from bandung and have already consume the seaweed dodol from Aulia Sari shows that this product can help Aulia Sari SME gain more profit if the selling number getting higher due to the high development potential of this product. The seaweed dodol with some kind of sweet flavor is one of a developing product of Aulia Sari SME which is suitable to help this SME reach the positioning they wanted to, because this product can easily be brought in long journey, high durability, suitable to be consumed by all ages and also has uniqueness because of the main ingredient is seaweed which is healthy to be consumed.

Table I.3 Complaint Preliminary Study Response Respondent numbers Percentage Color complaint 16 50% Taste complaint 12 37.5% Texture complaint 20 62.5% Less Popularity 28 87.5% Table I.3 shows that in spite of the positive customer voice, this product has several complaints from the customer that make their expectation not fulfilled completely. This might cause a problem that will lead to loss sales of potential market.

After 5 years passed by, the selling of seaweed Dodol is still inconsistent and usually low. In fact, the Dodol itself has a large amount of market, especially in West Java. Previous study of Kano model showed that Kano model can be used to identify the customer needs and help to improve product quality based on what customer needed (Elzerman, Hoek, Boekel, & Luning, 2011). The previous study about product quality also proved that product quality research can help to listen more closely to the real costumer needs (Ferre, 2009). Hence, to achieve the SME’s objectives to be the Bandung unique gift, we want to help this SME to develop the seaweed Dodol product to be suitable to the customer’s needs to increase the seaweed dodol customers decision buying preference using Kano Model.

I.2 Problem Formulation To identify what is needed by the customers, some identifications of customer’s needs of seaweed Dodol of Aulia Sari SME are needed. In this research, product attribute based on product quality dimension is obtained to know what attribute that affect the decision of customer on purchasing a product. Besides of attribute mapping, Kano method will also be used to categorize the product attribute based on satisfaction level which is the result from Kano method. By using this two approach will produce not only the level of customer satisfaction, but also the attributes that have to be and can be developed from Aulia Sari seaweed Dodol. Based on the description before, we can obtain a question such as: 1. What are the attributes of the Aulia Sari seaweed Dodol based on product quality dimension? 2. How is the value of customer satisfaction against Aulia Sari seaweed Dodol product using product quality dimension? 3. How is the attribute classification of Aulia Sari seaweed Dodol in Kano model? 4. What attributes that need to be developed on Aulia Sari seaweed Dodol? I.3 Research Objective 1. Identify the product attributes of Aulia Sari seaweed Dodol based on product quality dimensions. 2. Identify the satisfaction value of the customers to the Aulia Sari seaweed Dodol based on the product quality dimension. 3. Identify the attributes of customer’s needs based on Kano model. 4. Identify the true customer’s needs to develop the quality of Aulia Sari seaweed Dodol. I.4 Research Benefit This study was conducted in order to provide benefits to SMEs with the following explanation: 1. As the reference for Aulia Sari SME to identify seaweed Dodol customer’s needs 2. To give information to Aulia Sari SME about attributes that matters for seaweed Dodol future product development. 3. As a reference for Aulia SME to prioritize the needs attributes of seaweed Dodol

that needs to be developed to satisfy the customer. I.5 Research Limitation

To be focused to the research objective which is identifying the customer’s needs to develop the Aulia Sari seaweed Dodol, the research limitation is needed. There are the research limitation: 1. The object of this research is Aulia Sari seaweed Dodol. 2. The target respondents are Bandung tourists that has consumed Aulia Sari seaweed Dodol, in accordance with the Aulia Sari target market and the reseller of the Aulia Sari SME. 3. The dimensions quality used are only correlated to food and cookies product. 4. This research is a suggestion for the Aulia Sari SME.