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Oraganizaional Behaviour

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Understanding and Managing Customer Perception By Dagmar Recklies This article first appeared in Effective Executive, ICFAI University Press, July 2006 |“It has never been more difficult to win – and keep – business through product and price distinction.”[1] | In today’s globalising economy competition is getting more and more fierce. That means it becomes more difficult for products and services to differentiate themselves from other offerings than ever before. Not only is the number of competitive offerings rising due to globalisation of production, sourcing, logistics and access to information. Many products and services face new competition from substitutes and from completely new offerings or bundles …show more content…

The value a customer perceives when buying and using a product or service go beyond usability. There is a set of emotional values as well, such as social status, exclusivity, friendliness and responsiveness or the degree to which personal expectations and preferences are met. Similarly, the costs perceived by the customer, normally comprise more than the actual price. They also include costs of usage, the lost opportunity to use an other offering, potential switching costs etc. Hence, the customer establishes an equation between perceived benefits and perceived costs of one product and compares this to similar equations of other products. Based on this, customer loyalty can be understood as to how customers feel about a product, service or brand and whether their perceived total investments with a it live up to their expectations. The important point here is the involvement of feelings, emotions and perceptions. In today’s competitive marketplace, these perceptions are becoming much more important for gaining sustainable competitive advantage. Customer perceptions are influenced by a variety of factors. Besides the actual outcome – i.e. did the product or service deliver the expected function and did it fulfil the customers need – the whole process of consumption and all interactions involved are of crucial importance. In today’s globalised information driven economy this can also comprise issues like • How other customers or influencing groups

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