Uncovering Hidden Needs in Ground Engineering: Case Study of LKAB Wassara

Sammanfattning: This thesis stemmed from the need for better understanding of the ground engineering market by LKAB Wassara - an innovative company that developed a novel technology of hydraulic DTH-drilling; and from the insight that achieving customer satisfaction through fulfilment of hidden needs in the construction industry is a promising yet challenging endeavour.  The challenge addressed in this thesis is twofold: firstly, the conventional market studies often lead to the hidden customer needs being lost, while these needs are important for product innovation; and secondly, there is a lack of case studies exploring the explicit or hidden needs in the construction business that might be partially explained by complexity of interrelations of products, services and stakeholders inherited to the construction market. These considerations shaped the presented study to be aimed at performing a case study for hidden needs analysis in the construction sector; exploring explicit and hidden customer needs in the ground engineering market in Sweden; and developing recommendations for Wassara’s current and future product offerings and business development based on results of the ground engineering market study and the needs analysis. To meet these aims an extensive literature review on methods for uncovering hidden customer needs and approaches for customer satisfaction analysis has been made, resulting in a tool-kit that enabled a market study and analysis of customer explicit and hidden needs for the ground engineering market in Sweden. In its turn, the market study succeeded to reveal both the explicit and hidden needs that have not been satisfied by any of the companies operating on the market. The uncovered needs have been translated into recommendations for Wassara’s future product offerings and business development through the Kano’s matrix and the value perception equations. Finally, the construction equipment market is found to be very technology led, which is not necessarily a limitation, but there is a need to both be able to invest into new technology projects and to act upon customer needs. In particular, the study found many evidences that service, support and knowledge communication to the customers and users is important in order for them to retain the full value of the product.