A customer‐supplier interaction model to improve customer focus in turbulent markets

In turbulent, highly competitive markets corporate organisations are faced with the dichotomy of “downsizing” their costs, yet at the same time improving the service that they offer their customers. This paper shows how a more market‐orientated approach can bring greater benefits for companies. Additional “soft” services can help to tailor a package of customer service and provide product and service differentiation, while inverting the traditional organisational structure can bring customer and supplier closer and lead to greater collaboration. This requires more open communication systems for the rapid capture, transfer and management of information. This has proved difficult in the past, but Web‐based technology is changing all of that. The paper concludes that all of these features are essential for a customer‐supplier interaction model that can provide the customer with added value in product and service delivery, and the supplier with increased business opportunities.