Integrating customers' voice inside network environments

Abstract

Business networks are increasingly important for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) regarding the growing complexity, shortening product life cycles, and intensity of the competitive environment. Building up business networks supports the access to complementary resources and can lower monetary risks. Other risks like dependencies, missing customer contact points, lack of trust, or loss of knowledge may arise. One main aspect regarding these factors is the measurement of customer satisfaction which is demanded by ISO 9001. Therefore, the authors provide a solution to allocate the origin of performances through parallel or even identical benefits and facilitate performance measurements for network partners without having customer contact points. All parts of the modular framework of Generic Customer Satisfaction Measurement for business networks (GCSM-Net) are introduced. The GCSM-Net is then applied in a business network of an SME in the cutlery industry. Finally, the approach and instantaneous limitations are discussed within an outlook for further research.