Customer care excellence in the new product development process: a case study (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 2001
with first class honours. Subsequently he obtained a MSc in Medical Physics from Aberdeen University in Scotland, specialising in developing software for the analysis of heart function. For fourteen years he worked in the electronics industry: as an engineer on new product development; managing customer support groups; and as a marketing manager. Parallel to his working responsibilities he studied for a Ph.D. at Cranfield School of Management, graduating in 1993. His research on customer support has practical applications that have been put to use at a number of companies. In 1995, Keith joined the teaching faculty of Cranfield, where he teaches operations management on MBA and executive programmes. His research interests are all focused on innovation, including product support for high-tech products and innovation rates in different industrial sectors. He has published widely, including articles in the ABSTRACT Customer support is an essential element in the successful marketing of many products-from domestic appliances to high-tech computer networks. Many aspects of support are strongly influenced by a product's design and so customer support requirements should be evaluated during new product development. However, researchers have largely ignored the relationship between new product development and customer support. The current study addressed this gap by using case studies and a workshop, both conducted with leading companies, to identify how customer support is typically evaluated at the design stage and to determine the importance of this aspect of new product development. The results have implications for managers responsible for product innovation-they show the need to allocate adequate resources to integrating customer support requirements into new product development.
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