“There are three kinds of companies; those that simply ask customers what they want and end up as perpetual followers; those that succeed for a time in pushing customers in directions they do not want to go; and those that lead customers where they want to go before customers know it themselves”
The perception of the customer in business has changed in the course of history, from a mere passive buyer and price taker to an active and vital participant in the market. Today consumers have access to a variety of information about companies and their products, therefore companies need to center their activities on this important market participant. Companies must take advantage of this development and include customers throughout their business model. Leading customers refers to discovering their current and future needs and engaging in joint activities. In the light of this, it is no longer enough to simply use marketing to create interest in the company and to built reputation; consumers have to be involved from the beginning of the process on, i.e. the innovation of new products and services. Therefore, companies face the challenge of creatinge an interface to their customer, thus enabling customers to shape products ac-cording to their needs.
While possibilities of consumer involvement in new product development have received a lot of attention6, the opposite has to be said concerning new service development. This is surprising since in services the customer himself is an important part of the service delivery and thus is of great importance.
Therefore, this paper aims at investigating the importance of customer involvement and the role customers can play in new service development as well as why and how a com-pany can benefit from this procedure.
Table of Contents
- 1 INTRODUCTION.
- 1.1 Nature of the problem and objective.
- 1.2 Methodology and structure
- 2 CUSTOMER ORIENTATION AND SERVICE DEVELOPMENT.
- 2.1 Market oriented product development
- 2.2 The limits of marketing and customer satisfaction measures
- 2.3 Differences of product and service development.
- 2.4 The innovation process in services
- 3 THE CUSTOMER'S ROLE IN THE SERVICE INNOVATION PROCESS
- 3.1 Benefits and challenges related to the customer
- 3.2 Creating customer experience .....
- 3.3 Observing the customer.
- 3.4 Including the customer.
- 4 CONCLUDING REMARKS AND OUTLOOK
- REFERENCES
Objectives and Key Themes
This paper investigates the importance of customer involvement in new service development. It aims to analyze the role customers can play in this process and demonstrate how companies can benefit from including them.
- The significance of customer involvement in shaping successful new service development
- Understanding the limits of traditional marketing and customer satisfaction measures in capturing customer needs
- Examining the unique challenges and opportunities presented by service innovation compared to product development
- Exploring effective methods for creating customer experiences and incorporating their input
- Presenting a framework for customer involvement in service innovation and illustrating its practical application
Chapter Summaries
Chapter one introduces the paper's focus on customer involvement in new service development. It highlights the changing perception of customers in business and emphasizes the importance of actively involving them in the innovation process. The chapter outlines the paper's structure and methodology.
Chapter two delves into the theoretical framework of market orientation, emphasizing the importance of understanding customer needs and incorporating their perspectives. It examines the limitations of traditional marketing and customer satisfaction measures in capturing customer needs. The chapter then explores the unique challenges and opportunities in developing new services compared to product development and provides an introduction to the service development process, emphasizing customer involvement.
Keywords
Key terms and concepts explored in this paper include customer involvement, service innovation, market orientation, customer needs, service development, customer experience, observing techniques, and user involvement.
- Quote paper
- Mathies Pohl (Author), 2006, Customer Involvement in New Service Development, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/66247
