Understanding customer quality requirements: model and application

Article Abstract:

We integrate previous work regarding service and product quality to develop and demonstrate tools useful in evaluating total product quality. Our premise is that competitive advantage can be gained through quality, even in mature commodity industries, but that a quality-based competitive strategy will be successful only if managers understand both how quality is perceived by their customers and their company's level of quality performance. We used information from questionnaires sent to buyers of softwood dimension lumber to develop an empirical model of customer-perceived total product quality. This model and additional data from suppliers were then subjected to Importance-Performance Analysis. Respondents identified quality performance differences, based on five dimensions, between their least- and most-preferred suppliers. The dimension representing physical product characteristics was rated as the most important. Results indicate that the empirical model can be used with Importance-Performance Analysis to develop information necessary to pursue a successful quality-based competitive strategy. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Sawmills, Sawmills and planing mills, general, Softwood Lumber, Research, Evaluation, Product quality, Consumer preferences, Lumber, Softwood, Softwood (Wood product)

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Auditing your customer service activities

Article Abstract:

Buyers are demanding a higher quality of customer service to accompany their purchases. Marketers, to remain competitive, must carefully analyze their customer service offerings to determine whether the services are truly meeting the needs of customers. A taxonomy of customer service is offered which will provide greater structure to an audit of a firm's customer service. The components of customer service which are analyzed in this article are: communications, uniformity of quality, simplicity, truthfulness-accuracy of information, objectives, monitoring the program, economics, and intradepartmental relations. Questions are posed which a manager could use to audit each component of a customer service program. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Services, Accounting and auditing, Customer service, Business-to-business market, Business to business market

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Strategic Alliances: Partner as Customer

Article Abstract:

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Management

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