Infusing the organisation with customer knowledge

The article explores the experiences of a company that learned to become more customer oriented. How did the company succeed in generating learning opportunities and learning, which could have a sustainable impact on its operations? The company’s use of a customer study appeared to create a situation of “unfreeze”. It also provided directive information that was used constructively in a participative search. Inductive and dialectical qualities appeared to have been created, and these helped to develop practical knowledge. The process of joint construction, together with feedback which showed the new ideas to be working, were important factors in putting the knowledge to use. Further development of the feedback systems was integrated into normal operations, which served to stabilise the reorientation. The nature of the continuous learning process which the company’s accomplishment represents is also examined.