Introduction

Research into long-term, successful buyer seller relationships from Cranfield School of Management demonstrates that customers continue to turn to particular companies because they are easy to do business with. The roles of quality, technical know-how, price and other features take second place to the desire for error-free transactions. For organisations, achieving this means creating their value offering around an understanding of exactly what it is customers desire. This understanding then forms the focus of the organisation s activities. In many respects, it means turning the supply chain on its head and thinking about taking the customer as the point of departure for the organisation, and not its final destination. Making this an operational reality is then dependent on the effectiveness of service delivery processes and programmes.

In essence, organisations aim to deliver the perfect customer experience . This concept is a valuable one in focusing the resources of the organisation. One of the best examples of its use is by Guinness in the mid-1990s who based an overhaul of their business processes on insight generated into what customers wanted from the company. This was expressed as the perfect pint in every pub and was used to inform internal decision-making about which processes needed to be in place to ensure consistent delivery of the perfect pint, enabling them to adopt a cross-functional approach to business. Guinness worked with its partners in the supply chain to educate the pub trade about the importance of looking after the product and serving it correctly. Consumers were...