Strategic customers

Depending on the business model(s) chosen, companies need to define their specific innovation headroom . This includes answering questions such as how important are innovations in the segment What do strategic customers need Should companies go for innovation in technology, service offerings, or in the value chain What does that imply for R D capacities and skills How can R D best collaborate with marketing and sales, (potential) customers, and external research institutes What level of external versus internal R D is required ... 

This trend has also been accelerated by the fact that producers have, for instance, steadily increased the minimum order size they are willing to ship directly, seeking to provide direct delivery focused on large and strategic customers and to outsource distribution for all others. 

Strategic customer/supplier relationship medium-high... 

Taking the example of the customer segment 1, the level of relationship is high, which indicates that the relationship form strategic customer relationship applies. In contrast, the evaluation of customer segment 2 refers clearly to a transaction based relationship form. 

Customer relationship management is strategic customer relationship ... 

Change relationship management to strategic customer relationship (design customer interfaces with focus on integration, emphasize joint projects e.g. for R D, CPFR, CRM-system, inter-organizational planning of material flows)... 

Rules-based distribution planning system Demand priorities reflecting strategic customer relationships as business policies are automatically followed in allocating resources first-in-first-out (FIFO) is utilized as the default scheduling priority l-Customer segmentation and supply chain strategy 0 X X X... 

With the supply side better enabled, the firm next turns its attention to the downstream side of its supply chain. From an advanced viewpoint, the firm builds on its improvements and looks at customer relationship management (CRM). The concept is to mine databases to better enable the sales and service forces to respond properly to strategic customers and end consumers. The information that the firm and its key customers are willing to share is used to develop knowledge that leads to creating... 

THE CHALLENGE OF STRATEGIC CUSTOMERS In reality, the dynamic pricing problem is more complicated because demand is unpredictable and customers behave strategically in that they may decide to delay their purchases if they know that prices wiU drop over time. An excellent discussion of models that can be used in this more complex setting can be found in Talluri and Van Ryzin (2004). 

The issue of unpredictable demand and strategic customers is illustrated effectively in decisions made by the high-end retailer Saks Fifth Avenue in November 2008. In 2007, luxury... 

Dynamic pricing can be a powerfnl tool to increase profits if the customers sensitivity to price changes in the course of the season. This is often the case for fashion products, for which customers are less price sensitive early in the season but become more price sensitive toward the end of the season. Dynamic pricing should, however, carefully consider strategic behavior by customers who may anticipate future price drops and delay their purchase. With strategic customers it may be better to have a fixed price or reduce the quantity offered. 

Quality in the Chemical Industry. The chemical iadustry uses quahty as a strategic tool for financial success. Oae measure of quahty is the degree of product variatioa from lot to lot. Ia the chemical iadustry, it is oftea difficult to provide product speciftcatioas comprehensive eaough to easure product performance ia all apphcatioas (21). Therefore, the manufacture of product having a minimum of lot-to-lot variabihty allows the customer to use the product without modifying their formulation or process to accommodate such variation. 

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The objectives for quality control should relate to the standards you wish to maintain or to prevent from deteriorating. At the corporate level these objectives will address strategic issues such as safety and reliability or customer care. Although you will be striving... 

On the level of material flow, physical properties ofthe network are designed, i.e., decisions upon the existence of plant sites, warehouses and distribution centers, the transportation links between these components and their capacities are made. The decision upon the customer order decoupling point is a good example of how strategic decisions may influence the level of material flow. 

The sales strategy needs to decide what product to be sold in which sales market representing the sales location in the value chain network. New markets needs to be evaluated for their attractiveness and the own competitive position with respect to existing products or the capabilities in the development of new products for the respective demand. Sales business rules include decisions on the strategic share of contracted business volumes vs. flexible spot business volumes. These business rules often depend on sales channels and frame contracts with customers. The sales strategy can be matched with classical marketing mix decisions on products, prices, promotion and communication, as well as sales channel decisions. 

For instance, it is second natnre for Infoscions to offer a model in response to qneries pertaining to Infosys s strategy. Whether it is their overall PSPD Model, the Global Delivery Model, or the Customer Relationship Model, these models codify bonnds for everyday decisions and actions. For instance, the PSPD Model codifies Infosys s strategic goals. Infosys s CFO and managing director explained ... 

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