The customer’s satisfaction evaluation of Portuguese mould makers based on the ECSI approach

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2008

Authors

Irene Ferreira (Author) FEUP; J. A. Sarsfield Cabral (Author) FEUP; Pedro Saraiva (Author) FEUP

Conference proceedings International

Title: Rapid Product Development, RPD 2008 - Designing the Industry of the Future

RPD 2008

Oliveira de Azeméis, 29 a 30 de Outubro de 2008

Scientific classification

FOS: Engineering and technology > Other engineering and technologies

Other information

Abstract (EN): In recent years, the European Customer Satisfaction Index (ECSI) model has become a popular way of assessing customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction and retention are considered as key issues for organizations in today¿s competitive market place, turning it into a vital concern to achieve customer loyalty. Therefore, it was necessary to develop one reliable and independent frame-of-reference of customer satisfaction, allowing the comparison between companies within the same sector and/or that operate in the same country, or at a macroeconomic level. The ECSI model is a framework, adapted from the Swedish Customer Satisfaction Barometer and American Customer Satisfaction Index, which aims to harmonize the Customer Satisfaction Indexes (CSI) in Europe. This paper describes one approach based on the ECSI model, developed to assess the satisfaction of Portuguese injection mould customers. Two main groups of customers were studied, the Portuguese and the American injection companies, where the data was collected by a self-respondent questionnaire sent by e-mail. The ECSI models were estimated according to two main techniques, the covariance-based or hard modelling methods (sometimes called LISREL) and the componentbased techniques or soft modelling methods (e.g. Partial Least Squares). Therefore, it was possible to compare the satisfaction of the Portuguese and American customers, as well as comparing the performance of the two main techniques used to estimate the models.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 9