Consumer issues in the evolving environment: characterizations of the U.K. marketplace

It is now 10 years since Greyser and Diamond¹ published their study which examined how U.S. consumers viewed the marketplace. This study, to some extent, is a reprise. It aims to provide an insight into how the U.K.'s marketplace is characterized by household consumers, private and public sector organizations. The result suggests that fundamental changes have occurred in the perception of the marketplace, with less visible consumer activism and less overt support for antibusiness sentiments.     

A framework for conducting a customer orientation audit

It can be all too easy for senior managers, especially those in large organisations to become cut off from their customers and hold comfortable illusions about how well products and services are being received. This underscores the difficulties companies face in sustaining a systematic programme of customer orientation. This paper argues that the difficulties arise primarily from lack of effective internal organisation. It provides a framework which is intended to help decision makers in organisations to analyse and evaluate their overall customer strategies, and determine whether or not such strategies truly reflect a culture of customer orientation. The method offered here is requisite for strategic customer management, which is called for in today's turbulent business environment.