Leveraging the Total Market Offering in the Agile Enterprise

Abstract

Agile competitive strategies focus not only on what buyers receive (product attributes) but also on how buyers and sellers interact (interpersonal process attributes) in creating and delivering value to customers. Increased emphasis on interpersonal processes underscores the role of people in contemporary competitive strategies. Yet, support for the importance of interpersonal processes has not been consistent across industries. Accordingly, this exploratory study represents an investigation into the nature of the influence stemming from technical/functional product attributes and interpersonal process attributes on the overall level of customer satisfaction for a firm that takes a raw commodity grade material and processes it into several manufactured products. The relationships between these variables and organizational performance have been highly conceptualized in business research. Results extend recent research and support that interpersonal processes can be a significant determinant of customer satisfaction in core manufacturing industries. Managerial implications are discussed relevant to hiring, training, and managing customer-contact personnel.

• Agility
• buyer-seller relationships
• competitive differentiation
• customer satisfaction
• interpersonal processes attributes
• technical/functional product attributes

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael A. Humphreys

Michael A. Humphreys is an assistant professor of marketing at Illinois State University. He holds a Ph.D. in marketing with specializations in organizational culture and communications from Oklahoma State University. While at OSU, Humphreys served for two years as a research associate in the Center for Product and Service Quality. He is an active researcher and consultant in the areas of total quality management, relationship marketing, and marketing for service and nonprofit organizations. Prior to his academic career, Humphreys had a successful career in sales and sales management in the computer industry.

Michael R. Williams

Michael R. Williams is an associate professor of marketing at Illinois State University. He holds an MBA and Ph.D. in marketing with specializations in organizational culture and communication from Oklahoma State University. Coinciding with his successful academic and research career, Williams brings a rich background of over 20 years of applied business and industrial management experience. As a business consultant and researcher, he has been active in the development of applied business research programs and the presentation of seminars in customer-centered marketing, customer satisfaction, organizational culture, and total quality management.

Ronald L. Meier

Ronald L Meier is an associate professor of industrial technology at Illinois State University. He holds a Ph.D. in vocational/technical education with areas of specialization in computer engineering and automated data collection systems from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Meier is a former member of the Agility Forum's Agile/Virtual Enterprise Focus Group. As a business consultant and researcher for more than 15 years, he has also been active in the development of performance enhancement strategies for small and midsize manufacturers.

This team of researchers has been involved in a stream of programmatic research focused on investigating the nature of workforce competencies that will drive twenty-first century competition. The authors currently are the directors of the Bureau of Market-Driven Quality at Illinois State University. The bureau conducts applied research targeted to assist a broad range of industries with the development and implementation of agile competitive strategies. Additionally, the authors are the principal investigators on a $450,000 two-year National Science Foundation grant that will infuse business management and marketing skills into scientific, engineering, and technical programs.