A customer-based competitive analysis for logistics decisions

Evidence suggests that the recent interest in competitive strategy and competitive positioning, while good in itself, has resulted in the management of many firms placing too much emphasis on competitive performance and too little emphasis on customer expectations. This research in the chemical industry provides support for the conclusion that management needs to refocus on the customer if U.S. companies are going to succeed in the increasingly competitive marketplace. A methodology is presented that can be used by management to collect and analyse customer-based competitive data for use in establishing priorities for customer service expenditures.