Prioritizing Actions for Improving the Social Economic Wellbeing in Malaysia Based on Quality Function Deployment Methods

The Malaysia economic had significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for the poorest 40% of the population (B40). Numbers of improvement programs had been outlined by the Malaysia government to improve B40’s social economic wellbeing (SEW). The success of the SEW improvement program is rest on how the programs are prioritized based on SEW needs. Empirical review found that the concept of prioritization for SEW improvement remains ambiguous. There is lack of research on structured approach for the identification and prioritization of SEW improvement actions. Hence, based on the concept of Quality Function Deployment (QFD), this research explores how SEW improvements could be identified and prioritized via a new Social-economic wellbeing Actions Deployment (SEAD) framework. Based on SEAD framework, qualitative data was collected through Expert Opinion Assessment (EOA) and Focus Group discussion among 10 social economic experts. Feedback from the experts was analyzed by Kendall Rank analysis and Grounded Theory approach. Finding from this research reveals that besides government factors (i.e. Government policy and strategy for B40), the roles played by B40 individual (i.e. B40 individual adaptive, absorptive and transformation capability) and industry (i.e. Industry Policy and Program for B40) are also crucial for the improvement of SEW. This research delivers an important message for policy makers to place SEW improvement focus across all stakeholders within the SEW ecosystem, including B40 individual and industry. The research also extends the knowledge of SEW improvement framework by the introduction of SEAD framework as the structured approach for SEW identification and prioritization. Keywords: Social economic, Wellbeing, Prioritization, Quality function deployment.