The Value of Feedback : Improvements based on the Voices of Customers & Dealers

Sammanfattning: This thesis investigates the utilization of customer and dealer feedback within organizations. Only few companies seem to fully exploit the valuable information they receive on customer and dealer opinions and preferences. The purpose of this study is to examine how firms can ensure that feedback contributes to the development of improvements in the organization in order to become more customer-centric. Theoretical approaches to a company’s relationships with customers and dealers, the importance of internal and external customer satisfaction, the creation of knowledge and the role of the organization have been considered. Thereafter, the current processes of feedback utilization in the case company Volvo Construction Equipment Region International have been analyzed, the organization’s internal environment studied and the perspective of its dealers included. These steps have been taken in order to answer the main research question of this thesis, namely ‘How can the administrative functions of an MNC become more customer-centric by improving an existing customer and dealer feedback process?’ Several conditions have been identified in this study, which need to be in place in order for companies to benefit from customer and dealer feedback. Especially the development of adequate processes for feedback analysis, knowledge creation and action-taking, as well as an appropriate organizational culture, appear to be central in this context. The provided recommendations of this thesis regarding the involvement of employees, procedures in the process of feedback utilization, a framework for company-wide learning, and the role of the dealers shall help to understand how to make better use of feedback in future.