Customer responsiveness

You could use your own reject note or nonconformity report format to notify the customer of a defective product but these are not appropriate if the product is lost. You also need a customer response to the problem and so a form that combines both a statement of the problem and of the solution would be more appropriate. 

What behaviours are associated with each of these If, for example, one of your competencies is customer responsiveness, the behaviours associated with it might include reacts to client needs in a timely and effective manner clarifies client expectations checks for safisfacfion priori-fizes client needs anticipates client needs. 

Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) and Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) both are operations models in the consumer goods industry to ensure delivery capability and avoid stockouts based on an automated replenishment of outlets using product inventory, historic and/or planned sales information at the point-of-sales (POS). CPFR focuses on a close cooperation between retailer and manufacturer. ECR focus on the customer-facing reaction on customer responses in logistics, sales and promotions. 

Third, simple approaches constrain the relationship to be the same for all contexts. Jones and Sasser (1995) find that the customer satisfaction-customer loyalty relationship varies by industry, possibly because of differences in competitive environment. Bowman and Narayandas (2001, 2004) find that customer-specific factors such as the competitive context at a given customer account can occasion differential responsiveness. Accounting for heterogeneity in customer relationships and customer response to a vendor s strategies and tactics is a key theme of much recent research in management science. 

The NovaScan is presented on a PC-compatible computer equipped with standard memory and visual capabilities, and is run on a DOS-based operating system. A customized response apparatus, including a joystick, control keys, and a keypad, is recommended. Trials of the tasks chosen to be included in the test system are displayed on the computer monitor in a random manner, thereby eliminating the need for the user to focus attention among simultaneously presented tests. However, divided attention components can be added, if needed. The length of the test (i.e., number of trials presented) can be adjusted based on the demands of the test environment. Performance is evaluated in an automated fashion using a change-from-baseline approach, and the test can be administered in an automated or supervisor-controlled manner. 

Thus, for the average customer, responsible perhaps for buying water treatment products and services for only one or two cooling systems, the perceived disadvantages of the largest companies may outweigh their benefits. 

How are customer responses folded into development plans ... 

Two rationales for change pertain to market-driven, consumer-oriented features of motor vehicles. One is the value of power train electrification, enabling highly controllable, quiet, smooth, and customized responsiveness to driver input. The other is the need for ample onboard electric power to provide a variety of amenities as well as enable power train electrification. 

This forms the basis of appearance profile analysis (APA) which can be used to catalogue logically such properties (Hutchings 1999). The technique can be used to define and understand product appearance, as well as customer response to appearance. It provides the methodology for development of designer products and the scientific basis upon which product appearance development can be promoted. 

Historically, the fundamental disposition of core business processes is to prepackage and shrinkwrap as much product as possible, take advantage of economies of scale, and then persuasively offer these products. Service is viewed as a way of enhancing the attractiveness of products. The New Economy enterprise, on the other hand, wiU design core processes that concentrate on assembling modular elements into a customized response to a specific customer s specific request. 

Waste, rework, and other indicators of process inefficiency Backlog of work in process Customer response time... 

How do products with different attributes impact demand Given customer responses to different attributes, how should a manufacturer position products in the attribute space What is the impact of promised lead time on capacity required ... 

Perhaps it would help to view the decision from the perspective of the shipper. The shipper had to contend with the transport costs, inventory costs, other incidental costs as a total supply chain cost effect. Would it help if ABC enabled customers to evaluate the total supply chain cost of alternatives If salespeople for ABC Rail could get an idea of competitive total supply chain cost by customer route, then ABC could identify how to adjust schedules and decide the number of wagons to wait for in order to beat the competition. Such an approach, repeated over and over across customers, would generate a customer-responsive train freight schedule. ABC had heard of an initiative by Burlington Northern called ShipSmart, which offered a similar service to shippers. Should ABC Rail use such an approach ... 

Responses Customer responses form the central theme of the supply chain strategy. The market value of the supply chain can be dramatically enhanced by jointly creating profitable revenue growth through integrated inter-enterprise solutions and responses. 

The three constituents—e-network, customer responses, and technology—could be seen as the input into e-SCM working together to achieve the ultimate aim (output) ofthe supply chain— that is, customer satisfaction. In synergy with the model developed by Goldman, Nagel, and Preiss... 

Convenience Multiple customer access modes Multiple customer response modes... 

E-SCM has been a hot term for the past few years, but linking many business partners has been extremely difficult. Everyone from the raw material supplier to the ultimate seller in the chain must be able to get accurate information quickly and easily about orders, shipping, and customer responses to products and services. Business partners must decide which areas they will try to link first. Each partner then focuses on key internal groups that have the most to gain by adopting e-commerce. 

Figure 3.3 illustrates a supply chain flexibility specification. The example that follows for a sandwich shop defines supply chain flexibility requirements for product mix, volume, and customer response time. 

Response time provides a standard that is competitive. It is a uniformity element, meaning that customer response time must be uniform over the range of volumes in which the supply chain must operate. So, the sandwich shop must provide uniform service within minutes at both high and low volume levels. 

Table 11.1 outlines the survey. Customer responses to the survey can be converted to the QFD format, which, in turn, supports collective decision making for supply chain design. The following sections describe how to interpret and use the information gathered. 

A veiy interesting website that tallies customers responses to price discrimination by Amazon can be found at frttp j jwww.kdnuggets.ccymf polls 12000lamazcmjprices.htm... 

This section provides several examples of actual ATP business practices. Each example has its own special features in terms of customer order format, customer response strategy, problem complexity, and resource allocation approach. We start with a generic description of the so-called conventional ATP, which represents the traditional view of ATP and which is probably the approach still most broadly used today. 

Customer Response Space the most fundamental decision related to an order is whether or not to accept the order. Assuming it is accepted, other decision choices could involve delivery date, order quantity and... 

Customer response time - Customer response time measures the time lapse between order placement and the timing of the corresponding promise. Under an e-commerce relationship (especially associated with B2C), customers generally expect to receive an order promise (or response )... 

Profitability and Priority - In general, a manufacturer prefers higher profit orders in terms of quantity, unit price, or both. However, in the short term other priority considerations may sometimes supersede purely profit-based criteria, particularly under B2B and partnership-based relationships. A well-designed customer response space, e.g. employing differentiated sales channels, can be used to effectively balance the tradeoffs between profitability and priority criteria. 

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