Abstract:

For several years Scan Test has carried out research assignments for a major Danish oil company, and in the spring of 1986 this oil company requested a mean of measuring what they had achieved by years of striving to develop the service concept in the automotive field and which adjustments they should make in order to live up to the company's objectives of being the customers' best choice - also in the years to come. This paper illustrates how this assignment was accomplished. It illustrates how we based our survey on the theoretical and conceptual framework of service management, stating among other things that one of the most difficult aspects of service is the fact, that often the customers do not know what to expect before they discover, that they did not get it - and that one of the decisive differences between a production company and a service organisation is to be found in the customers' very extensive area or contact to a great number of staff in the service organisation, and consequently, the performance of the staff in service organisations becomes essential.