Abstract
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 US 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.