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This thesis aims to increase the understanding for how customer satisfaction is created in
business-to-business relationships in the copying machine and IT sector. A second objective
is to contribute to the small, yet growing literature on the topic of satisfaction in business-to-
business settings. In order to accomplish this, one company in the copying machine and IT
sector has been used as a base and its customers have been the focus of the study. The results
show that if the expectations the customers have of the product are met, the customers are
likely to be satisfied. Furthermore, parts that have a high influence on customer satisfaction
are technical support, the products’ quality, the product’s user-friendliness and availability of
the staff. The part that contributed the most to customer satisfaction was how the staff treated
the customers. The parts which contributed the least were selection of products, handling of
invoices and delivery times.
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION 3
1.1 PROBLEM FORMULATION 4
1.1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDIED COMPANY AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH CLIENTS 4
1.2 PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTION 5
3. RESEARCH STRATEGY 13
3.1 RESEARCH APPROACH 13
3.2 DATA COLLECTION 13
3.2.1 SURVEY TOOLS 13
3.2.2 SURVEY QUESTIONS AND RESPONSE FORMAT 14
3.2.3 DATA PROCESSING 15
3.3 POPULATION AND SAMPLE 15
3.4 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY 15
7. REFERENCES 30
APPENDIX I: QUESTIONNAIRE 33
2
1. INTRODUCTION
The economy during the first half of the twentieth century was different from what it is today.
Companies tended to be concentrated on manufacturing and productivity. Wealth was created
by selling large quantities of goods to the mass market. What customers needed and wanted
was neglected (Fornell, 2007, p.17). A general assumption was, and to some extent still is,
that if a company becomes more productive, many benefits such as economic growth will
follow. However, this is not always the case. There is a strong negative relationship between
company productivity and customer satisfaction. According to Fornell (2007), many
companies have too much focus on productivity. For example, service companies often see
themselves as manufacturers instead of service providers. But why then can a strong focus on
productivity be harmful for companies? Productivity is basically about doing more with fewer
resources and it is difficult to maintain the same quality and service. This is especially
difficult for service companies. Unlike companies that produce pure goods, services are co-
produced by seller and buyer. The interaction between the seller and buyer and the
performance of the seller is what determines the value and quality of the service. If companies
reduce their workforce in order to increase productivity, the service quality is likely to
decline.
“Declining customer satisfaction reduces demand and sets in motion a vicious circle
of effects that includes erosion of firms’ economic value, labor uncertainty, and,
ultimately, slower economic growth” (Fornell, 2007, p. 14).
Today, the market has changed. Customers have more choice and more power against
suppliers. As a result of this, profit and financial growth are less dependent on tangible goods
and assets and more dependent on relationships with customers (ibid, p. 17). An increasing
amount of companies have realized the importance of satisfying their customers; therefore,
customer satisfaction has become a focal point for companies. One of the most important
reasons for this new focus is the relation between customer satisfaction and other variables.
Companies expect satisfied customers to return and repurchase, i.e. be profitable customers.
Satisfied customers may also speak in positive terms about the company with their family,
friends and colleagues. Thus, satisfied customers can be seen as marketers for the company
through word-of-mouth (Söderlund, 1997, pp. 10-11).
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1.1 Problem Formulation
As customer satisfaction has become more important, there has been a lot of research done in
this area in business-to-consumer (B2C) markets. In these cases, the consumer is seen as a
private person consuming goods. However, literature on business-to-business (B2B)
relationships has mostly been focusing on the purchase process. Post-purchase outcomes and
customer satisfaction have, until recently, been neglected within this segment (Cronin, 1989;
Molinari et al. 2008; Rossomme, 2003). This is despite the importance of the B2B segment.
As stated in the previous section, customer satisfaction is crucial for a supplier company’s
success. Just producing without listening to the customer is not a viable option these days.
Paying attention to what the customer wants and adapting to it is of great importance. Many
supplier companies have realized this and the creation of fruitful relationships between client
and supplier companies have increased in the past years. Academic literature on B2B has also
acknowledged these relationships and networks (O’Donnell, 2000; Andersson et al., 2002;
Gummesson, 1998). But, as stated earlier, work on customer satisfaction is sparse. This leaves
a need for more research on customer satisfaction in B2B relationships. What is customer
satisfaction in business markets? What creates customer satisfaction in B2B relationships? Is
there any difference between customer satisfaction in business markets compared to B2C
markets?
1.1.1 Background of the Studied Company and Their relationship With Clients
One supplier company that operates in B2B settings has been chosen to be the focus of this
study. The company will be referred to under the pseudonym IT© to protect the
company. IT© has recently become more interested in what their customers feel. The
company was founded eight years ago and is now a part of a group, which has affiliates
spread throughout Sweden. The group offers its clients custom-made IT solutions as well as
the possibility to buy single products such as copy machines and office supplies. A large part
of their operation is to continually provide service to their customers. The staff of IT©
has in the past two years grown from three to 24 employees. Their five year goal is to increase
their staff to a total of 60 employees and increase their turnover to 125 million SEK. One risk
with their growth strategy is that too much attention could be directed towards the financial
numbers and that the value they create for customers could be neglected. What is not
specified in the goals can easily be forgotten (Merchant & Van der Stede, 2007, pp. 25-35).
Therefore, it is of great importance that IT© is aware of what makes their customers
satisfied. Up until now, no customer satisfaction survey has been executed. For this reason, it
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is interesting to examine which factors affect IT©’s customers’ satisfaction.
When buying a product, the buyer in a company faces many decisions depending, on the type
of buying situation. In B2B, there are three main buying situations: straight rebuy, modified
rebuy, and new task (Kotler et al, 1999, p. 283). The company and customers used for this
study mainly operate in straight rebuy situations. The other two situations occur as well, but
as these are less common, they will not be the focus of this study. In straight rebuy situations,
customers reorder a product without modifications. The situation is handled by the purchasing
department, usually on a routine basis. In many cases, the buying process is automatic to save
time and money for both buyers and suppliers (ibid.). When B2B is mentioned in the text, it
refers to this buying situation. Additionally, B2B in this study refers to companies who are
buying consumption goods from a supplier company. This is because IT©’s customers
are purchasing goods for their own consumption, not goods which are used in their
production.
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2. A FOUNDATION FOR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
In order to answer the research questions and to fulfill the purpose of the thesis, a theoretical
framework is needed to define factors that affect customer satisfaction. Furthermore, a model
will be developed from the theoretical framework, which will allow an analysis of the
empirical study.
“Satisfied customers are not only the sum total of the value of all other company
assets – virtually all costs and revenues have some relationship, however weak or
indirect, to customer acquisition and customer retention” (Fornell, 2007, p. 66).
To create long-term profit and shareholder value, companies need to think of customers as
investors and an economic asset. It is the customers that bring financial revenue to companies.
Hence, customers are companies’ greatest asset (ibid.).
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2.2.1 Expectations and How They Are Met
One important aspect of customer satisfaction is what expectations the customers have of the
product. One definition of expectations made by Sheth (1973, p. 52) is:
These objectives can be product quality, delivery time, quantity, service, price, etc. Different
individuals tend to have different expectations of products. The reasons for this are the
background of the individuals, the amount of information he/she has and seeks, and the
amount of satisfaction with past purchases (Sheth, 1973, pp. 52-53). There is also a point in
differentiating between varying levels of expectations. These different levels are a buyer’s
ideal expectation level, deserved level (where benefits is equal to costs), minimum tolerable
level and anticipated level (Cronin, 1989, pp. 41-42).
The dominant model in literature on customer satisfaction is called the disconfirmation model
and it deals with how well expectations are met (Rossomme, 2003; Churchill & Surprenant,
1982). The disconfirmation of expectations can either be positive or negative (Molinari, 2008,
p. 364). If the perceived product exceeds the customers’ expectations, the customer
satisfaction will be very high. If the product meets the customers’ expectations, the customers
will be satisfied. And finally, if the perceived product does not meet the customers’
expectations, the result will be an unsatisfied customer (Kotler, 2000; Churchill & Surprenant,
1982). This means that if a customer has unrealistically high expectations, the customer will
be disappointed even though the product was of good quality (Grönroos, 2007, pp. 76-81).
There are four stages that the customer goes through in the disconfirmation model. In the first
stage, the customer has a predetermined product standard in mind. Then the customer
experiences the post-consumption performance of the product. In the third stage, the customer
compares this performance with their predetermined standard and positive or negative
disconfirmation is formed. In the last stage, the customer forms a summary of their
satisfaction for the overall experience. This is based on both personal and often subjective
reasons as well as rational reasons (Rossomme, 2003, pp. 185-186).
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2.2.2 Different Parts of an Offer
Söderlund (1997) states that a product can be seen as different parts, which individually create
satisfaction. The customer can be satisfied with some parts of the offer and dissatisfied with
others. The different parts of an offer can be divided into a variety of groups. Examples of the
parts are perceived service, treatment from the supplier, delivery time, reliability, etc. (Seth,
1973; Söderlund, 1997). The customer can also view the product as a compound of the
different parts and create an overall satisfaction (Söderlund, 1997, pp. 42-43).
Another way to look at the various parts of an offer is the classic 4P model; the marketing
mix. This model consists of product, price, place and promotion. The product1 is tangible in
form of goods or intangible in form of services. The price is the amount a customer pays for
the product. The place is the distribution channel where the product can be purchased. The
promotion represents all communication that a company or a marketer may use in the
marketplace. This communication can be advertising, public relations or word-of-mouth
(Jobber & Fahy, 2003).
Studies regarding services show that some parts of the offer affect satisfaction more than
others. The part that has the strongest critical effect on satisfaction and often causes
dissatisfaction is core-service failure. Core-service failure consists of service mistakes, such
as contracts that are filled incorrectly; service catastrophes, in which the service provider
actually causes damage to the customer; and billing errors. The second most critical part is
service encounter failures, in which failure happens in the interaction between the service
provider and the customer. The third most critical part is pricing, which does not necessarily
have to do with a high price but rather with a price that the customer feels is not legitimate in
relation to the product quality (Richman, 1996, p. 9).
2.2.3 Subjectivity
According to Söderlund (2000), customer satisfaction can be seen as an attitude that is based
on experiences and subjectivity. Customer satisfaction is a state of mind that the customer has
(Söderlund 1997; 2000). This state of mind is a result of being exposed to offers and taking
part of transactions with suppliers. It can be described as an emotional reaction connected to
the customer’s own experiences (Söderlund, 1997, pp. 37-40). Furthermore, customer
satisfaction is subjective in the sense that it is the customer who subjectively evaluates his/her
1
A product consists of both goods and services (Grönroos, 2007)
8
state of mind, regardless of what is “correct” from an objective point of view (Söderlund,
1997; 2000). That customer satisfaction is a customer’s subjective evaluation means that how
customers view satisfaction differ from each other. The customers’ view of their purchase is
colored by their biased interpretation of their purchasing experience. Also, customers as a
group view satisfaction differently than suppliers (Söderlund, 1997, pp. 38-40).
The first difference deals with measuring the satisfaction of an entire company. Traditional
customer satisfaction is measured on an individual level, as one person evaluates his/her
satisfaction with a product. A company cannot “feel” satisfied; it is the combined satisfaction
of the people within the company that constructs the satisfaction (Rossomme, 2003, pp. 180-
181).
The second divergence is in which people are involved in the purchase process and which
people use the product. Purchasing can be an autonomous act, i.e. it can be delegated to one
party, or even a single person in a company. It can also be a joint purchase decision where
several parties from within the company are represented (Sheth, 1973, p. 54). A related topic
is which people in the organization affect the purchase decision. Rossomme (2003, pp. 183-
184) describes five distinctive roles. (1) Deciders have power to approve final suppliers. (2)
Gatekeepers control the flow of information to the rest of the company. (3) Influencers
provide information and define specifications for the product. (4) Buyers have authority to
select suppliers and arrange purchase agreements. (5) Lastly, users utilize the product and
9
may have wishes regarding quality and user-friendliness. Who will affect the purchase
decision varies from organization to organization and tends to be situation-specific. Different
people can also come in contact with the product in different stages. One person can decide
which product to buy, a second person can take care of the purchasing process and a final
person can use the product. This means that one single person in a company does not
necessarily go through the traditional purchase-usage-satisfaction stages. Furthermore, all
employees within an organization will not come in contact with the product and even fewer
people will use it (ibid. pp. 180-184).
The third difference is that the various people who come in contact with the product tend to
have different expectations on the product they are buying. Section 2.2.1, which discussed
expectations and the disconfirmation process, stated that people have different expectations
on products. Different people in the company, such as buyers and users, tend to value various
parts of a product differently and have different expectations on them. The users usually look
for fast delivery, proper installation and good service. Buyers appreciate competitive prices
and value for money. The difficulty with customer satisfaction in B2B relationships is to
satisfy these different individuals at the same time (Sheth, 1973, pp. 52-53).
A fourth reason as to why customer satisfaction is different in B2B versus B2C situations is
situational and relational factors. The initial purchase is influenced by situational factors such
as economic conditions, strikes, organizational changes, etc. (ibid. p. 56). Situational
determinants also affect B2B relationships and thus customer satisfaction. Examples of such
determinants are availability of alternatives, dynamism of supply market, importance of
supply and complexity of supply. These in turn affect B2B relationships in regard to
information exchange, operational linkages, legal bonds, cooperation and adaptation. Closer
relationships with a high degree of adaptation are not necessarily correlated with a higher
level of customer satisfaction. Studies show that client firms do not want close ties with all
their suppliers since this requires time to build the relationship. However, many close
relationships also result in customer satisfaction (Cannon, 1999; Goodman et al., 1995).
Whether it is positive or not, relationships in B2B contexts tend to be more complex and
characterized by interdependence (Molinari et al., 2008, p. 363).
The fifth and last difference is that companies do not only base satisfaction on personal and
psychological experiences: they also incorporate concrete, rational objectives in their
10
satisfaction judgment process to a larger extent than private consumers do (Rossomme, 2003,
pp. 180-181).
Customer
Satisfaction
Expectations Experience
of products of products
o Subjectivity o Subjectivity
o Different parts of an offer o Different parts of an offer
11
an employee can be a buyer and a user, three groups have been formed: (1) buyers, (2) users
and (3) buyers and users.
For the last area, the different parts of an offer, 15 items have been chosen (Table 1). These
have been chosen because they are relevant for IT©’s operation and because they are
identified as vital parts of an offer by the literature review.
3. Selection of products 11. The way the finance department treats customers
12
3. RESEARCH STRATEGY
13
The website chosen for creating the survey was www.surveyconsole.com. This site was
chosen because it allowed unlimited respondents and gave the possibility of creating a unique
Internet address. It also has basic statistical functions for analyzing the results.
The response format in the survey is an important part of the survey since it determines how
the data can be used. The widely used five-point Likert scale was chosen for a majority of the
questions. This scale is designed to allow customers to respond in varying degrees to a
statement, i.e. they are not only able to state that they are satisfied/dissatisfied, but also to
which degree (Hayes, 1997, pp. 67-71). In addition to the Likert scale, a “do not know”
option was affixed as buyers versus users might feel that they do not have enough knowledge
to answer all questions. To complement the Likert scale, customers were also asked to rank
the importance of different components of the product/service offering as mentioned
previously. A liability is that ranking more than eight items is said to take too much effort
(Saunders et al., 2003, p. 296). Therefore, the 15 different parts of an offer were narrowed
down to 10 parts. However, as this is too many, there is still a risk of generating poor answers
or non-responses. It was nevertheless concluded that these items were important to rank.
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3.2.3 Data Processing
The website, surveyconsole.com, used for the online survey has basic analytical tools and was
therefore the main instrument for statistical calculations. Means, standard deviations and
variance were calculated using this tool. Excel was used for doing a correlation analysis.
One thing to keep in mind when reading the results of this study is that the results show the
respondents’ subjective evaluation of their satisfaction. This can be tainted by their
personality, background or even the mood they were in when filling in the survey. Therefore,
15
it is difficult to judge satisfaction, which is a constant dilemma when measuring customer
satisfaction (Goodman, 1995; Molinari et al., 2008; Rossomme, 2003).
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4. CUSTOMERS’ VIEWS ON SATISFACTION
In this section, the result of each question in the survey will be presented one by one. The
results for questions four to six are presented as means. The “do not know” option is not
included in these means. For more in-depth results, see Appendix II.
2. In your relationship with IT©, how would you like to describe your role?
Out of the respondents, 48.50 % are both purchasers and users. 45.92 % are only users and the
remaining, 5.58 %, are only purchasers.
3. Which factors do you regard as being most important when choosing a provider of copying
machines and IT solutions? Please rank the categories from 1 to 10.
The three most important factors were the products’ quality, their user-friendliness and the
technical support. The least important factors were handling of invoices, selection of products
and delivery times (Table 2).
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4. Of which importance do you regard the following factors when choosing a provider of
copying machines and IT solutions?
To complement the ranking above and to give a more nuanced view, the respondents were
also asked how important various categories are when choosing a supplier (Table 3). For 15
different categories, the respondents were asked to give ratings on a five-point scale from
very unimportant to very important. Technical support was seen as the most important factor
followed by the products’ quality and user-friendliness. The three least important factors were
selection of products, handling of invoices and delivery times.
18
asked if IT©’s performance corresponded to their overall expectations, 64.83 % agreed
or completely agreed. 22.76 % were neutral (Figure 4).
35,00%
30,00%
25,00% 22,76%
20,00% 17,93%
15,00%
10,00% 6,21%
5,52%
5,00% 0,69%
0,00%
1 2 3 4 5 do not know
19
the three with the lowest grades are the same ones which corresponded the least to the
customers’ expectations; price, complaint policy and handling of invoices. The customers
were also asked to give a general grade about IT©’s performance. 72.91 % gave them
the grade good or very good. 15.97 % gave them a neutral grade; neither good nor bad (Figure
6).
50,00% 47,22%
45,00%
40,00%
Percent of respondents
35,00%
30,00%
25,69%
25,00%
20,00% 15,97%
15,00%
10,00% 6,94%
5,00% 3,47%
0,69%
0,00%
1 2 3 4 5 do not know
To find out if there was any correlation between how the respondents’ expectations were met
and the grades they gave, a correlation analysis was made. The correlation coefficient
20
between the variables is + 0.86. A coefficient can range from -1 to +1. -1 indicates a negative
relationship, 0 indicates no correlation and if the coefficient is close to + 1, it indicates a
positive linear relationship (Newbold et al., 2007, p. 66). This means that for this correlation,
as the grades go up, the ratings for how the expectations were met are expected to do the same
thing and vice versa. Furthermore, a scatter plot including a regression line was made (Figure
7). A hypothesis test was conducted to find out if the population correlation is different from
zero (Appendix III). The result indicated at a 0.5 % significance level that there is a positive
linear relationship between the two variables and thus, that they correlate with each other.
4,40
4,20
4,00
Grades
3,80
3,60
3,40
3,20
3,20 3,40 3,60 3,80 4,00 4,20 4,40
How expectations were met
21
5. HOW CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IS AFFECTED
In this section, the results from the survey will be discussed. The three central factors
(expectations, different part of an offer, subjectivity) presented earlier in the paper will be
discussed one by one.
Overall, there is a high correlation between how well the expectations were met compared to
which grades the parts were given as the correlation analysis showed. The three parts that
received the highest and lowest ratings for how well the expectations were met were the same
as the parts which received the highest and lowest grades. When it came to how well the
expectations were met (Figure 3), the highest ratings were given to the way technicians treat
customers with 4.18, the way the entire staff treats customers with 4.13 and the way sellers
treat customers was awarded a rating of 4.03. This indicates that the respondents to a very
high degree either agreed or completely agreed that their expectations were met for these
categories. Concerning the grades (Figure 5), the way technicians treat customers got 4.27,
the way the entire staff treats customers received 4.12 and the way sellers treat customers
earned a grade of 4.10. As the theory predicted, the respondents gave high grades, which
signals that they are satisfied with these categories. The parts which received the lowest
ratings when the respondents judged how well their expectations were met were price with
3.45, complaint policy with 3.49 and handling of invoices with 3.50. The same categories
earned the lowest grades with 3.39, 3.55 and 3.56 respectively in the same order as above.
Notable is that although these categories received the lowest ratings, the means are still on the
positive side of the spectrum. The survey indicates that the respondents feel to a certain extent
22
that their expectations were met in these parts and that the grades they want to give are
somewhere in between average and good.
A few categories deviate a bit from the linear correlation described previously. For a majority
of the categories, the ratings for how the expectations were met and the grades they were
given were very similar in numerical terms. Note that although these ratings were similar,
they mean different things. Three categories do not quite fit into this pattern. The first is the
products’ quality which was given a rating of 3.74 in terms of how the expectations were met
and a grade of 3.59. These results suggest that the grade is lower than expected. A second
category is how the finance department treats customers. How the expectations were met was
rated 3.62 and the grade was 3.86. Here the reversed happened; the grade is higher than
expected. A last category which showed unexpected results was IT©’s overall
performance. How well IT© fulfilled the respondents’ total expectation was given a
rating of 3.60 and the general grade given to IT© was 4.01. Other categories with similar
ratings for the expectations part received considerable lower grades than the general grade.
When it comes to IT©’s total performance, 64.83 % of the respondents state that they
agree or completely agree to the statement that IT© has met their overall expectations.
The grades show that a slightly larger percentage, 72.91 %, thinks that IT© is doing a
good or very good job. It is noteworthy that about 8 % did not feel that their expectations
were met, yet they think that IT© is doing a good job. This is contradictory to what the
literature says. Furthermore, when IT©’s performance versus the total expectations was
evaluated, 12 other categories were regarded as having met the expectations better. However,
when the general grade was given, only four categories received higher grades.
23
products as the lowest rating followed by handling of invoices and time from offer request to
offer.
For the sake of determining which of these parts are more and less influential on customer
satisfaction, the scores of importance were used as a base. All parts which received a score of
4 or higher on a scale from 1-5 can be seen as very influential parts. This score means that a
majority of the respondents gave the category the grade good or very good. A total of eight
parts received a score that high: technical support; the products’ quality and user-friendliness;
the way technicians, sellers and the entire staff treat customers; availability of the staff; and
price. Complaint policy and time from order to deliver were very close to receiving a score
that high. Instead, they fall under the group which received a score that was lower than 4. The
parts falling under this group, besides the two already mentioned, are: the way the finance
department treat customers, education about products, time from offer request to offer,
handling of invoices and selection of products.
The group with high importance can be assumed to have a big impact on the total customer
satisfaction. The question is if this is the case. When the grades that the respondents gave out
are examined, how the technicians, the entire staff and the sellers treat customers and
technical support receive a higher grade than the general grade at 4.01. One can therefore
state that these should have a positive impact on the general grade. Availability of the staff
received a grade almost up to par to the general grade at 3.94. The product’s quality, user-
friendliness and price received significantly lower grades. As these very important parts
received a low grade, the general grade should have been affected negatively according to the
theory. It might be that this had a slight negative impact, but the general grade is still quite
high. This makes it difficult to say if these parts had a negative effect or not.
As previously stated, one of the main reasons for dissatisfaction was pricing failures, where
the client felt that the price was too high in comparison with the product. Even though the
price received the lowest grade of all parts, the general grade is still fairly high. This result
thus contradicts the theory about pricing failures. One reason why the general grade is as high
as it is can be that personal relationships are more important than the respondents recognize.
Another possible reason can be that since many of the respondents were users, they might not
need to consider the price. To have an ill-functioning relationship; to commit a service-
encounter failure; is said to be a key reason to dissatisfaction. Here the reverse becomes
24
evident; that good relationships can increase customer satisfaction. How the staff behaved
towards the customers had a very big impact on customer satisfaction. Furthermore, another
denotation can be that in B2B situations, when relationships are very important, other parts,
such as quality, user-friendliness and price become less relevant in comparison. The third big
failure mentioned in the theory was core-service failure, which included incorrect contracts
and billing errors. As the grades given for handling of invoices and the way the finance
department received more average grades, there is a chance that this type of failure has been
committed to some degree. However, as the general grade is fairly high, it does not seem that
this failure had an extensive effect on the overall satisfaction.
5.3 Subjectivity
As stated earlier, subjectivity is a difficult part to measure when doing a study on customer
satisfaction. This is because of the fact that subjectivity is an emotional reaction and a state of
mind. In this study the respondents were divided in three groups: buyers; users; buyers and
users. Most of the participants categorized themselves as both buyers and users (48.50 %) or
users only (45.92 %). As so few respondents were only buyers, it was not possible to see if
the opinions differed between buyers and users. This is because a correlation analysis could
not be done with significance. It was also not possible to notice any differences between
clients who bought IT-solutions versus those who bought copying machines as very few
respondents purchased IT-solutions. No significant analysis could be made here either.
It was however possible to discuss the results from other aspect. User-friendliness and product
quality are said to be important for user since they are the ones using the products. This study
strengthens this assumption. The two most important factors were product quality and user-
friendliness. Technical support was a factor that also was seen as important. The grades
(Figure 5) given to IT© in the three most important categories were 3.59 for product
quality, 3.74 for user-friendliness and 4.04 for technical support. All these are fairly high
grades, but not quite spectacular. The overall satisfaction was graded 4.01, which is a high
grade considering the fact that the grades for the most important categories were not that high.
According to the literature, other factors that users look for is fast delivery time. This category
was ranked as number eight and received an average importance rating of 3.95. The fact that
delivery time only ranked as number eight is contradictive to the theory. However, this
category’s average importance rating indicates that it still is an important factor. Many of the
respondents also stated that they were buyers. These are said to value competitive prices.
25
Price was ranked as number four in importance and received an average importance rating of
4.13. This is in agreement with what the literature review states.
26
6. CONCLUSIONS
The main factors affecting customer satisfaction in B2B relationships are presented below.
Also, the factors which were shown in this study to have a big versus small impact on
customer satisfaction are listed.
How expectations were met was proven to have a strong correlation with how satisfied the
customer is with the product, or the different parts of the product. If the expectations are met,
the customer is satisfied. Thus, this study gives additional support to one of the main
satisfaction theories there are; the dissatisfaction model. However, not all categories that were
measured followed this pattern. The largest divergence from the linear correlation was how
the total expectations were met and its corresponding variable, the general grade. The general
grade was considerably higher than the rating of how the total expectations were met
suggested. This indicates that although the total expectations were not quite met, the
customers still think that IT© is doing a good job. It is noteworthy that it was the general
grade which diverted from the linear pattern.
When the customers rated which parts of an offer were most important, eight had an average
rating which indicated that the parts were seen as important or very important. These were:
technical support; the products’ quality and user-friendliness; the way technicians, sellers and
the entire staff treat customers; availability of the staff; and price. Nevertheless, all of these
did not appear to have the same impact on the general grade that was given. When the
customers graded the different parts of an offer and IT©’s overall performance, the
variables which appeared to have a strong impact on customer satisfaction were how the
technicians, sellers and entire staff treated the customers and the technical support offered.
Thus, one conclusion is that in B2B settings, how the staff treats customers is a variable
27
which plays a vital role in creating customer satisfaction. It might even be the most important
factor. One factor which seemed to have a smaller impact on customer satisfaction was price.
IT&Copy received a high general grade even though the customers expressed that they were
not completely satisfied with IT&Copy’s prices. Reasons for this can be that many of the
respondents were users and thus did not need to care about the price or perhaps other
variables such as how the staff treats customers were seen as being more valuable.
The parts of an offer which the respondents stated as least important were selection of
products, handling of invoices and time from order to delivery. Other parts of less importance
were complaint policy, how the finance department treats customers, education about the
products and time from offer request to offer. Many of these received low grades, yet the
general grade given to IT©’s overall performance was quite high. Therefore, these items
listed can be said to have a smaller impact on customer satisfaction. However, based on the
study it appears that few of the respondents come in contact with invoices and IT©’s
finance department. Therefore, this list might have been different if they came in contact with
these areas.
As for the subjectivity part of the research model, the respondents’ subjective point of view
when assessing their own feelings must be taken into consideration when the results are
analyzed. Most of the respondents stated that they either were users or both users and buyers
and what they stated as being important parts of an offer reflected their roles in the
companies. Users typically value technical support, quality and user-friendliness and this
survey confirmed this as these parts were stated as being most important. However, although
they stated these as being important parts, when the respondents gave out grades, it appeared
that how they were treated by the staff mattered the most.
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creating satisfaction in a company. Subjectivity and objectivity are very tough to measure, but
this would be an interesting area to investigate further. A third suggestion is to do more
research on how satisfaction differs in B2B and B2C settings. An example can be that private
individuals and people working in a company consuming the same product are studied. The
product would be something that both private individuals and companies use. The study could
then explore what creates satisfaction for the two groups and see what differences there are. A
last suggestion for future research is to study how relationships affect customer satisfaction.
This study has suggested that how the staff treats customers was the most influential factor
affecting satisfaction, however why this is and how this works was not explained.
Furthermore, relationships do not only include how people behave around each other,
variables such as how much businesses adapt to each other and the intensity of the
relationships are also necessary to include.
29
7. REFERENCES
Andersson, U., Forsgren, M. & Holm, U. 2002. “The Strategic Impact of External Networks:
Subsidiary Performance and Competence Development in the Multinational Corporation”.
Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 23, no. 11, pp. 979-996.
Cronin, J. & Morris, M. 1989. “Satisfying Customer Expectations: The Effect on Conflict and
Repurchase in Industrial Marketing Channels”. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,
Vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 41-49.
Fornell, C. 2007. The Satisfied Customer – Winners and Losers in the Battle for Buyer
Preference. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Goodman, P., Fichman, M., Lerch, J. & Snyder, P. 1995. “Customer-Firm Relationships,
Involvement and Customer Satisfaction”. The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 38, no.
5, pp. 1310-1324.
Hayes, B. 1998. Measuring Customer Satisfaction: survey design, use, and statistical analysis
methods. Milwaukee, USA: ASQ Quality Press, 2nd edition.
30
Jobber, D. & Fahy, J. 2002. Foundations of Marketing. Maidenhead, United Kingdom:
McGraw-Hill Education.
Merchant, K. & Van der Stede, W. 2007. Management Control Systems – Performance
Measurement, Evaluation and Incentives. Harlow, United Kingdom: Pearson Education
Limited.
Molinari, L., Abratt, R. & Dion, P. 2008. “Satisfaction, quality and value and effects on
repurchase and positive word of mouth behavioral intentions in a B2B services context”.
Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 363-373.
Newbold, P., Carlson, W. & Thorne, B. 2007. Statistics for Business and Economics. Upper
Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall. 6th edition.
Richman, T. 1996. “Service Industries: Why Customers Leave”. Harvard Business Review,
January-February, Vol. 74, no. 1 pp. 9-10.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., &Thornhill, A. 2003. Research Methods for Business Students.
Harlow, United Kingdom: Prentice Hall. 3rd edition.
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Sheth, J. 1973. “A Model of Industrial Buyer Behavior”. Journal of Marketing, Vol. 37,
October, pp. 50-56.
Söderlund, M. (red). 2000. I huvudet på kunden, EFI:s Årsbok 2000. Malmö, Sweden: Liber
Ekonomi.
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APPENDIX I: QUESTIONNAIRE
(Own translation from Swedish)
Dear Customer,
As our customer, you mean a lot to us at IT© and we are therefore working on
developing our business to be able to meet your needs in the best possible way. In order to be
successful in this matter we need your help and we therefore ask you to fill in a customer
satisfaction survey. The survey is being done in cooperation with two students from Uppsala
University, whose focus of study is customer satisfaction. The survey will be used as a base
for the improvement process that will take place at IT©, as well as a foundation for a
thesis that is being written at Uppsala University about customer satisfaction.
Your answers will be treated with strict confidentiality and will be kept anonymous.
Estimated response time is 15 minutes. Please note, in order to receive correct answers, we
ask you to finish the survey you have started filling in. This means that it is not possible to
start filling in the survey and then finishing it at another time.
We appreciate if you fill in the survey no later than Wednesday April 29th.
Thank you!
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1. Which products does the company you represent purchase?
(Please choose one alternative)
IT solutions
Copying machines
2. In your relationship with IT©, how would you like to describe your role?
(Please choose one alternative)
Purchaser of product/service
User of product/service
3. Which factors do you regard as being most important when choosing a provider of
copying machines and IT solutions?
Please rank the following categories from 1 to 10 (1 = most important, 10 = least important)
Selection of products
Price
Technical support
Delivery times
Handling of invoices
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4. Of which importance do you regard the following factors when choosing a provider of
copying machines and IT-solutions?
Selection of products
Price
Technical support
Handling of invoices
Complaint policy
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5. How well does IT©’s performance correspond to your expectations?
A number of statements are presented below. Please check the box which matches your views
most closely.
1: Completely disagree
2: Disagree
3: Neutral
4: Agree
5: Completely agree
DNK: Do not know
1 2 3 4 5 DNK
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correspond to my expectations
37
6. Which grade do you want to give IT© in the following categories?
1: Very bad
2: Bad
3: Pass
4: Good
5: Very good
DNK: Do not know
1 2 3 4 5 DNK
Selection of products
Price
Technical support
Handling of invoices
Complaint policy
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APPENDIX II: RESULTS
Question 1
Which products does the company you represent purchase? (Please choose one alternative)
IT solutions 9,05%
Copying machines 69,40%
IT solutions and copying machines 21,55%
Question 2
In your relationship with IT©, how would you like to describe your role? (Please choose one
alternative)
Purchaser of product/service 5,58%
User of product/service 45,92%
Purchaser & user of product/service 48,50%
Question 3
Which factors do you regard as being most important when choosing a provider of copying machines and
IT solutions?
Please rank the following categories from 1 to 10 (1 = most important, 10 = least important)
Final
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ranking
The products' quality 32,52% 19,33% 10,00% 5,93% 3,33% 2,52% 1,69% 3,42% 5,00% 13,56% 1
The products' user- 21,14% 18,49% 14,17% 11,86% 2,50% 6,72% 4,24% 4,27% 9,17% 4,24% 2
friendliness
Selection of products 5,69% 3,36% 6,67% 3,39% 7,50% 12,61% 11,02% 15,38% 12,50% 21,19% 3
Price 4,07% 14,29% 12,50% 16,10% 12,50% 10,08% 13,56% 9,40% 5,83% 1,69% 4
Availability of the staff 4,07% 7,56% 14,17% 12,71% 20,00% 14,29% 12,71% 11,11% 2,50% 1,69% 5
Technical support 13,01% 13,45% 17,50% 17,80% 10,00% 11,76% 5,08% 5,98% 3,33% 1,69% 6
Education about 3,25% 10,08% 5,00% 6,78% 9,17% 10,08% 17,80% 14,53% 18,33% 5,08% 7
products
The way the staff treats 2,44% 5,88% 10,83% 8,47% 18,33% 21,85% 13,56% 12,82% 5,83% 1,69% 8
customers
Delivery times 3,25% 5,88% 4,17% 14,41% 10,00% 7,56% 12,71% 13,68% 22,50% 7,63% 9
Handling of invoices 10,57% 1,68% 5,00% 2,54% 6,67% 2,52% 7,63% 9,40% 15,00% 41,53% 10
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Question 4
Of which importance do you regard the following factors when choosing a provider of copying
machines and IT-solutions?
1 2 3 4 5 DNK
The products' quality 0,67% 0,67% 2,67% 28,67% 65,33% 2,00%
Time from offer request to offer 1,32% 5,92% 26,32% 49,34% 12,50% 4,61%
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Question 5
1: Completely disagree
2: Disagree
3: Neutral
4: Agree
5: Completely agree
DKN: Do not know
1 2 3 4 5 DNK
The products’ quality 0,68% 7,53% 19,18% 54,11% 12,33% 6,16%
Time from offer request to offer 0,69% 1,39% 25,00% 30,56% 12,50% 29,86%
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Question 6
1: Very bad
2: Bad
3: Pass
4: Good
5: Very good
DNK: Do not know
1 2 3 4 5 DNK
The products' quality 0,71% 4,26% 19,86% 51,06% 17,73% 6,38%
Time from offer request to offer 0,69% 0,00% 18,06% 29,17% 13,89% 38,19%
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APPENDIX III: HYPOTHESIS TESTING FOR CORRELATION
BETWEEN HOW EXPECTATIONS WERE MET AND GRADES
The sample correlation between how expectations were met and grades was 0.8567842. The
sample size consists of the pairs of different parts of an offer and the company’s overall
performance; 16. The aim is to determine if the population correlation, ρ, between these
measures is different from 0. Thus, the test is formulated:
H0 : ρ = 0
Against H1 : ρ > 0
Using the sample information: n = 16 r = 0.8567842
α = 0.5 %
The decision rule is to reject H0 if:
(r √(n-2)) / (√(1-r2)) > tn – 2,α
Test:
t = (r √(n-2)) / (√(1-r2)) = (0.8567842 √(14)) / (√(1-0.85678422)) = 6.216691042
6.216691042 > t14, 0,005 = 2.977
Conclusion:
The null hypothesis is rejected at the 0.5 % significance level. The result suggests that there is
a positive liner relationship between how the respondents’ expectations were met and the
grades they gave.
The calculations are made using a method presented by Newbold et al. (2007, p. 404-406).
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