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An investigation of possible problems and wants - of Uddeholm Toolings customer offering
2005 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (One Year))Student thesis
Abstract [en]

All companies offer their customers a solution to a specific problem, in the form of a physical product, a service or a combination of the two. Today companies continuously survey their customers in order to understand what possible problems or additional wants they have with this customer offering. In this descriptive study the authors investigate what possible problems and wants the customers of Uddeholm Tooling AB experience. Uddeholm Tooling is a manufacturer and worldwide supplier of steel for tools used in hot or cold work applications. Their customers are amongst others toolmakers, which manufacture moulds and pressing tools for large industries, such as automobile and mobile phone. Earlier studies have been made aiming to identify certain core drivers for the perceived value of an offering, and in a business-to-business setting Wolfgang Ulaga (2003) found eight basic drivers. These eight drivers along with additional theoretical studies formed the basis for a qualitative investigation in the form of interviews. The respondents where participants of the buying centres at eleven Swedish toolmakers and were asked about their buying behaviour and how they experienced different aspects of Uddeholm Tooling’s customer offering. The investigated toolmakers had a highly informal buying behaviour with no real routines or procedures. The main evaluation criteria, delivery performance, quality and price, all inherited from their own customers’ demands. The results of the investigation also revealed only one experienced problem, which was a lack of information from Uddeholm Tooling and ways of receiving it. A number of additional wants were also found, the one of most importance being faster and more flexible deliveries. The toolmakers also wish for more pre-worked steel plates and dimensions. These problems and wants have one main thing in common which is that they all stem from demands placed on the toolmakers’ own customers, the tool users. They pressure the toolmakers for better and more durable steel delivered at an ever-faster pace. These pressures in turn come from the tool users’ customers. One conclusion of the investigation therefore is that Uddeholm Tooling, as well as every other industry supplier, should monitor not only their own customers but the entire value chain from toolmaker to end user. Only then will the company fully understand what the customers in their market truly want with the customer offering.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2005. , p. 58
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-52249Local ID: FEK D-61OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kau-52249DiVA, id: diva2:1100751
Subject / course
Business Administration
Available from: 2017-05-29 Created: 2017-05-29

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • apa.csl
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf