| 1. |
- Löfgren, Martin, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Theory of Attractive Quality and Life Cycles of Quality Attributes
- 2011
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Ingår i: The TQM Journal. - Bingley, UK : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1754-2731 .- 1754-274X. ; 23:2, s. 235-246
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – The purpose of this study is to shed further light on the dynamics of quality attributes, as suggested by the theory of attractive quality. The study aims to investigate the existence of the life cycle for successful quality attributes and to identify alternative life cycles of quality attributes.Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on two surveys in which a total of 1,456 customers (708 in 2003 and 748 in 2009) participated in the classification of quality attributes. In particular, the study investigated how customers perceived 24 particular packaging attributes at two points in time, in 2003 and 2009.Findings – The study identified three life cycles of quality attributes: successful quality attributes, flavor-of-the-month quality attributes, and stable quality attributes. The research also extends the theory of attractive quality by identifying the reverse movement of certain quality attributes; that is, that a quality attribute can take a step backwards in the life cycle of successful quality attributes through, for instance, a change in design.Originality/value – The paper provides empirical evidence for the existence of several alternative life cycles of quality attributes. The results of the empirical investigation increase the validity of the theory of attractive quality, which is important, given the limited amount of research that has attempted to validate the fundamentals of the theory of attractive quality.
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| 2. |
- Kowalkowski, Christian, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Internalisation or externalisation? : Examining organisational arrangements for industrial services
- 2011
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Ingår i: Managing Service Quality. - Bingley, UK : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 0960-4529 .- 1758-8030. ; 21:4, s. 373-391
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - Manufacturing firms primarily organise service provision internally, externally or through a hybrid arrangement. This paper aims to analyse how firm-, offering-, and market-specific factors influence the way in which a firm organises its service provision. In addition, the paper analyses the specific challenges that each organisational arrangement presents for a firm. Design/methodology/approach - The study employed a qualitative, multiple-case research design that involved seven manufacturing firms with different organisational arrangements for service provision. Findings - Contrary to certain explicit assumptions, few firms organise for service provision solely through an in-house organisation. Analysis of firms in a wide variety of industries has shown that the organisational arrangements (internal, external or hybrid configuration) are contingent on factors such as market strategy, customer relationships, product-service linkages, internal competences and market channel characteristics. Research limitations/implications - The paper is an initial attempt to understand the strategic choices that firms make in terms of inter-organisational arrangements for service provision. The research should be extended by way of a cross-sectional survey in order to test and further validate the importance of the determinants of the organisational arrangements for service provision. Originality/value - The paper contributes to the service marketing and management literature by examining factors that determine whether firms organise for service provision internally, externally or through a hybrid configuration. Prior research has not explicitly addressed this issue.
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| 3. |
- Witell, Lars, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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Idea Generation : Customer Co-creation versus Traditional Market Research Techniques
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of Service Management. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1757-5818 .- 1757-5826. ; 22:2, s. 140-159
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to understand the differences between proactive and reactive market research techniques during the development of new market offerings. The study focused on the financial and innovative performance of traditional market research techniques, such as focus groups and in‐depth interviews, in comparison to more co‐creation‐oriented techniques that are designed to capture customers' value‐in‐use.Design/methodology/approachThe study was a two‐stage process. Study I, an empirical investigation of 195 development projects in European companies, examined how these companies use different market research techniques and how this relates to the profit margins of new products and services. Study II designed an experiment with 50 users of a consumer good and evaluated the contribution of different market research techniques, based on the degree of originality and customer value.FindingsSignificant differences were found, in terms of both content and originality, between the technique based on customer co‐creation and the two traditional market research techniques (Study II). These findings can help to explain why the relationship between the use of market research techniques and profit margin (Study I) is stronger for co‐creation techniques than it is for traditional market research techniques.Originality/valueDespite empirical evidence that the application of market research techniques based on co‐creation can lead to original ideas, there is a lack of valid studies regarding how co‐creation techniques perform in relation to more traditional methods of collaboration with customers.
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| 4. |
- Wästlund, Erik, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Consumer Perception at Point of Purchase : Evaluating Proposed Package Designs in an Eye-tracking Lab
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal of Business & Retail Management Research. - : Journal of Business & Retail Management Research. - 1751-8202 .- 2056-6271. ; 5:1, s. 41-50
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In today’s retail environment, consumer products are increasingly competing for customers’ attention. Research has shown that 60–80% of purchasing decisions are influenced in-store. Thus, packaging that stands out from competitors gains a competitive advantage. This study investigates the use of eye-tracking as a method to evaluate and design packaging with better Point-of-Purchase qualities. An eye-tracking laboratory was used and shoppers were recruited for three rounds of experiments. In total, 128 participants were recruited in order to assess the potential of eye-tracking. Results show that, when taking some methodological constraints into account, eye-tracking complements traditional methodologies with further insights when investigating the Point-of-Purchase qualities of packaging.
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| 5. |
- Cronemyr, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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Changing from a product to a process perspective for service improvements in a manufacturing company
- 2010
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Ingår i: The TQM Journal. - : Emerald. - 1754-2731 .- 1754-274X. ; 22:1, s. 26-40
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate service improvements in a manufacturing context. Design/methodology/approach – Action research at the gas turbine manufacturer Siemens was performed during a five-year period. In addition, 336 fault reports sent to the service division concerning severity, cost, and occurrence were analyzed. Findings – When moving from a fire-fighting culture to a proactive culture, a company needs to change from a product to a process perspective. The benefit of changing from a product to a process perspective is the change in focus from reduction of internal costs to value creation through service delivery. Practical implications – This paper shows how feedback from dissatisfied customers can be used as a driving factor in process improvements. Based on this knowledge, a company can select the most important Six Sigma projects to improve their service processes. The change from a product to a process perspective shows that traditionally the severity of almost 50 percent of all faults is underestimated. Originality/value – The paper provides a number of fruitful insights on how to work with service improvements in manufacturing companies.
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