A model to measure and increase customer perceived relationship quality: A case study

Abstract: The competitive market of today is characterized by globalization, increased demands from customers and similarities of products and services. High demands are thus put on organizations ability of differentiating themselves from competitors acting on the same market. Within this area, the customer relationship itself has turned out being an efficient tool. In addition, a high quality customer relationship is considered as an important factor when creating loyal customers, growth, profitability and competitive advantages. In order to reach high quality customer relationships, an ability of identifying and validate actions aimed for relationship quality improvements is needed as well as clear guidelines and managerial support regarding creation of value adding activities supporting such process. This thesis is supposed to, by the creation of a model, make improvement processes of customer perceived relationship quality in a B2B context possible. The model consists of actions and tools aimed for measurement of customer perceived relationship quality and identification of value adding activities from a customer perspective. The developed model is encapsulated by three steps, take-off, investigation and action/evaluation. The developed model was tested in a case study and it turned out to be practically applicable. It had a positive effect on the customer perceived relationship quality and additionally on the dyad´s transaction costs.