I believe that firms aren’t sufficiently customer oriented. Let me explain why. Customer orientation is not a new concept. The marketing guru Peter Drucker argued already in 1954 that “There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a satisfied customer.” The assumption was that to be successful, firms need to create interesting offerings that customers want to buy. For decades, firms have been doing customer satisfaction studies and analyses of service quality in an attempt to create better offerings, more sales, and ultimately more profits. Still, most companies are struggling to attract and maintain profitable customers. Traditionally, the exchange between the firm and the customer has been at the core of business activities. In so doing, firms have focused on their own offerings and capabilities and centered their strategies on attracting the market – both existing and potential customers –to buy their offerings. Exemplifying this through a metaphor of a mu...
