Investigating Customer Satisfaction at Wintech

Transcription

1 Investigating Customer Satisfaction at Wintech Executive Summary A brief summary or overview of your proposal.

2 Background Wintech is a business-to-business computer supplier that has operated in the computer hardware industry for over 17 years (SIC Code # 3571, Electronic Computers). In addition to business computers, Wintech offers network servers, workstations, and storage systems. Wintech is a public company that trades at an average of $9.50 per share. The company has been managed by the same executive team for the last 10 years. More than half of its members were part of the original start-up team and have a high level of expertise in this industry. Also some of those serving on the Board of Directors are considered pioneers in the industry and are well connected to both the computer industry and the financial community. Even though other companies in this sector appear to be holding steady, sales revenue for Wintech in 2005 was $10,587,400, down 11% from last year. Blah, blah, blah Industry Analysis Situation Analysis Corporate spending represents about 80% of all technology spending, therefore, economic conditions that depress business capital spending have significant negative consequences for computer hardware sales (Doe, 2004). According to analysts, while the computer industry in general is growing at a steady pace of approximately 10.5% since the slump in the early 1990 s, the industry is showing classic signs of a maturation (Doe, 2005.). For example, the number of players in the industry has remained steady over with few new entrants in the market. The focus for many vendors is on cash management and on higher inventory turns and returns on assets, rather than new business development (cite). There are still untapped markets for the computer peripheral markets. Blah, blah, blah Competitive Analysis One of the major contenders in the category is ABD, Inc. ABD has competed in this sector for years, but with the emergence of ABD s new computer peripherals and quick 2

3 response to the technology market, sales have been unexpectedly vigorous and will continue to be over the next five years (Doe, 2004). Blah, blah, blah. SWOT Analysis (here you could summarize what your situation analysis revealed) STRENGTHS Board of Directors well connected to the financial community High level of expertise among executive team OPPORTUNITIES There are untapped markets WEAKNESSES High inventories THREATS ABD. Other competitors -Not researched its market - -Unable to respond quickly to technology

4 Since Wintech has not conducted any significant research among its current customers and target market, this investigation should prove to be highly valuable for the company and its board of directors. The results of the research may providewintech with indicators for its sagging revenues, particularly since competitors appear to be holding steady in the current economic environment. Statement of the Problem The major challenge facing Wintech is how to invigorate sales. The specific problem is to investigate why Wintech s customer base has waned significantly and why its ability to attract new customers has been unsuccessful. Blah blah blah Describe here your problem formulation (see text for discussion) Strategy and Method Secondary research efforts are paramount for Wintech in order to benchmark itself against other players in the industry sector. Secondary data indicate that while the computer industry in general has migrated to the mature stage in its product life cycle, there is nonetheless opportunity for growth in the form of peripherals and still untapped domestic markets. What is troubling for Wintech is that while this is an industry that continues to grow at a slow, but steady pace, Wintech is lagging behind its competitors. The purpose for the primary research activities is to specifically investigate Wintech s challenges in this area. The overall strategy for Wintech is to reconnect with the market to investigate how they can better serve their existing customers and how to win back its former customers. In order achieve this strategy, Wintech will hire an outside marketing research agency to first conduct two focus groups among its local past and current customers to uncover potential sources of dissatisfaction. Customers will be given a $100 Target gift card in appreciation for participating in the focus group. A survey will then be developed that will reflect the findings of the focus groups in addition to integrate the specific questions that managers would like investigated. A survey method was chosen because it was an efficient, practical way to identify attitudes from a significantly large sample of its 12,000 past and current customers. 4

5 Sampling Design Rationale: A stratified random-selected probability study of Wintech s previous and existing customers is proposed. Since Wintech has a substantial stake in the results of this research, it was determined that representativeness was a critical component of the research. Thus, a probability study conducted in the U.S., while costly, was worth the implementation costs. Population of Interest: Wintech s U.S. customer base, past and existing. Sampling Unit: Purchasing managers Sampling Frame: Wintech s central customer database. Sampling Method: 1. Determine sample size 2. Aggregate customers by region 3. Determine number of respondents selected from each region 4. Select customer respondents using computer generated software. Respondents selected for the sample will be surveyed over the telephone to insure higher and faster response rates. Measurement Instrument: Some of the questions that the facilitator will ask of the participants in the focus group are: 1. How long have you been a customer of Wintech s? 2. Tell us about your past experiences with doing business with Wintech. 3. Where you were once pleased, is there now an area where you are displeased? 4. Do you think Wintech is lagging behind in technology 5. Do Wintech s product satisfied your business needs? In what way? If not, why not? 6. What can Wintech do to retain/regain your trust and loyalty? The survey instrument (attached) seeks to measure specific areas/attributes of Wintech s computer products. First, respondents are asked to indicate how important various attributes are to them. Then, they are asked to rate how satisfied they are with their current product. Most questions of this nature are measured on interval scales. Again using interval scales, respondents are asked to rate how satisfied they are overall with their computers, and then how likely they are to re-purchase that particular brand. 5

6 Data Analysis A variety of data analyses will be conducted. 1. Run descriptive analysis. For example, secondary research indicated that ABD is growing at accelerated rates due to a new peripheral, so it would be expected to see that ABD has captured some of Wintech s business. 2. Crosstabs to observe which regions have the heaviest concentration of Wintech computers, and which have defected to other competitors. 3. Select out those customers who have defected, and look at their satisfaction ratings on specific brand attributes. Use t-tests to determine if there are statistically significant differences on a satisfaction variables between current and defector customers. Also use t-tests to analyze whether size of company is related to average levels of satisfaction. Results may also indicate that size of customer may impact attitudes about what is important in terms of product features. 4. Regression analysis to investigate the predictors of likelihood of repurchase. Expected Results Obviously, it is expected that there will be significant differences between Wintech s existing customers and its defector customers on key variables such as likelihood of repurchase and satisfaction. It is hoped that the survey will shed light on specific sources of dissatisfaction such as product attributes that do not meeting the needs of certain customers. For example, it may be that Wintech s computer simply are not fast enough for today s market demands. Or it may also be that Wintech lacks innovation that other contenders in the market such as ABD, who is quick to respond to technology innovations and customer demand. There may also be differences between business size and customer demand. For example, larger customers are expected to place greater importance on features such as speed and capacity than do smaller companies. Therefore, the survey is designed to allow analysis of different variables and customer size. The key indicator of likelihood of re-purchase is, of course, customer satisfaction. Moreover, customer satisfaction may depend on Wintech s ratings on various attributes of their products such as speed, capacity, reliability, etc. Blah, blah, blah 6

7 9 Net Comp 15.0% % % % 7 Neural Storm 11.7% % % % 23 WinTech 38.3% % 9 6.5% % 21 ADB Inc 35.0% % % % 60 Total 100.0% % % % East Mid West West Total WT NC NS ABD Current supplier Frequency 7

8 Conclusion Since Wintech has typically implemented a one size fits all promotions initiative, results are expected to demonstrate that it would be reasonable for Wintech to develop a CRM marketing compaign, segmenting customers by size, then by profitability. Specifically, for Wintech s larger customers, a promotional piece emphasizes capacity and speed would be effective since these two attributes are expected to be particularly important to this segment. For its large and most profitable customers, Wintech should also design a rewards/loyalty program where to thank these important customer for their continued business. To win back its defectors, Wintech could use the results to discover where the source of dissatisfaction exists. For example, it may be that Wintech had quality control issues and reliability ratings were not as high as they could be. Or it could be as simple as Wintech not staying close to the customer and being aware of dissatisfaction. Here, Wintech could contact these customers via a direct marketing campaign emphasizing improved systems, state-of-the-art quality controls, of implementation of a Six Sigma initiative, etc. Then Wintech could seek to win back its defecting customers with some type of incentive such as blah, blah, blah 8

9 References 9

10 Mgmt 600 MBA DATA SET Attached is a business-to-business survey measuring satisfaction with computers. The data derived from the survey is what is known as dummy data. In this case, this means that the data file was populated with artificial data for the purposes of demonstrating various statistical analyses. In analyzing this data set, suppose that the survey was distributed to a variety of different size businesses, and its purpose was to determine the level of satisfaction with current computers. 10