Managing Customer Value: Creating Quality and Service That Customers Can See [Hardcover]

Bradley Gale (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 1994

Even today with quality improvement the battle cry of American industry, the quality programs in most companies are limited to "conformance to technical standards," according to quality expert Bradley Gale. While some have ventured a step farther to measure customer satisfaction, few of them, Gale demonstrates, have attempted to track market-perceived "quality" -- how buyers select among competing suppliers, why orders are won or lost, and which competitors are succeeding in which market segments.

Using cases including Milliken & Company; AT&T, United Van Lines, and Gillette, Gale shows how leading-edge companies have gone beyond the minimal achievements of conformance quality and customer satisfaction to focus on the third, higher stage, "market-perceived quality versus competitors" and aspire to an emerging fourth stage, "true strategic management." Drawing on his extensive research at AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, Parke-Davis, and other world-class companies, Gale provides new metrics for market-perceived quality that are straightforward and easy to interpret. His set of seven integrative tools for customer value analysis makes up the heart of the "war room wall" to help guide business-unit teams in their effort to outperform competitors in satisfying customers. The great value of these tools is that they are derived from a future-oriented strategic navigation system that tracks competitive information and market-perceived quality. Learning to master this system accelerates customer satisfaction from a slogan to a science and leads ultimately to true strategic management -- the fourth stage of Total Quality Management.

The processes described in this book provide an insider's perspective on the criteria of the Baldrige Award. Bradley Gale's insights and innovative methods for defining, measuring, and improving market-perceived quality will create an entirely new thrust for the worldwide quality movement.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This work by marketing consultant Gale ( The PIMS Principles ) is arguably the most useful marketing study since the formative works of Peter Drucker, Philip Kotler and Michael Porter. The author outlines thought-provoking ideas on "relative quality and value as perceived by customers and . . . how to drive every part of your business from the knowledge those measurements create." Gale adroitly uses case studies and a well-crafted narrative to develop theories about creating power brands ("a name that means satisfaction, quality, and value to the customer"), assessing competing technologies and analyzing customer value. Gale's musings on superior quality driving the bottom line and shareholder value, ISO 9000 regulations, the Baldridge Award and TQM may shape business thinking for years to come.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Bradley T. Gale is president of Market Driven Quality Inc. He served as Overseer for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award during its first three years of existence, and currently is on the Steering Committee for the Conference Board's Total Quality Management Center. Gale is coauthor with Robert D. Buzzell of The PIMS Principles (Free Press, 1987), which has been translated into four languages.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (March 28, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0029110459
• ISBN-13: 978-0029110454
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #869,540 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bradley T. Gale is founder and president of Customer Value, Inc. (CVI). CVI is a US based firm offering workshop courses, software tools, and consulting services on customer value analysis and management that help business teams develop successful product/market strategies. The techniques and tools he has developed for analyzing the performance and value of key products competing in a market were first presented in his book, Managing Customer Value, which was reviewed by Publishers Weekly as

"Arguably the most useful marketing study since the formative works of Peter Drucker, Philip Kotler, and Michael Porter . . . may shape business thinking for years to come."

Bradley has consulted on competitive marketing strategy and introduced value analysis tools at such companies as: AT&T, Caterpillar, Dupont, Freescale Semiconductor, Honeywell, John Deere, Mars, Milliken, Orange, Stanley Black & Decker, Syngenta, Telstra, Trane, and Unilever. He enjoys writing about business strategy and helping companies install customer value analysis systems and action-learning processes that build an embedded value management capability.

Based on insights from consulting projects over the last ten years, he has refined and extended the tools and techniques for value analysis in a recent article, "Implementing Strategic B2B Pricing, Constructing value benchmarks," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, January 2012.

Dr. Gale earned a BS in electrical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a PhD in economics from the Rutgers University. He has worked as a consultant to the corporate planning operation of General Electric, as director of research of the Profit Impact of Market Strategy (PIMS) Program, and as managing director of the Strategic Planning Institute. He is co-author of The PIMS Principles: Linking Strategy to Performance. The book provides empirical evidence on how the competitive position of a product line -- its overall product/service performance and market share -- impact a business unit's profitability. The evidence comes from a multi-company, cross-industry study supported by major companies in North America and Europe. Dr. Gale served as an Overseer for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award during its first three years when he championed using the customer's view of performance quality to complement and guide the internal manufacturing view of closer conformance to product specifications.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Practical and Useful, May 27, 2000

By 

Dr. David Arelette (Yarrambat, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Managing Customer Value: Creating Quality and Service That Customers Can See (Hardcover)

This book has much to recommend it - readable yet with somewhat of a quantitative approach to finding better ways to deliver value to customers.

Its' real worth is that it takes a view that requires the inclusion of the needs of the customer in the process of strategy development.

Too many books describe a process to improve the product or the supply chain without asking the most critical question - will anyone actually pay us for making these changes ?

If it has a (slight) shortfall, the book does not apply the same detail to integrating the needs of the customer to the decision making process. However, this is overcome by the sound way in which Gale seeks to assist us in finding ways to drive value for the customer.

Worth the investment - it does require some effort to read, but most worthwhile books are like that.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still highly relevant today, March 11, 2005

By 

Walter Reade (Appleton, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Managing Customer Value: Creating Quality and Service That Customers Can See (Hardcover)

Managing Customer Value presents a simple yet powerful method to determine where your product falls relative to the competition with respect to quality and value. This exercise alone will most likely be an eye opener for any business. The book then provides the necessary steps that must be taken to shift the location of a product on the quality/value curve. Managing Customer Value is still highly relevant and best of all it is not that difficult to put into practice.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you need tools..., June 23, 2002

By 

"industrialmarketing" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Managing Customer Value: Creating Quality and Service That Customers Can See (Hardcover)

Dr. Bradley Gale is one of the world's leading authorities on the process of Value Mapping. Value Mapping is the technique of turning customer feedback from customers into powerful management tools that point the way to improve profits. Value Mapping is an excellent approach for industrial marketers to include in their arsenal of analytical tools. This book is filled with examples and framework templates that show you how to do it. The key for those of us in industrial marketing is getting the customer data. It's usually more difficult in industry, and there is often low or no funding available for market research. Once your company decides to stop "flying blind" this book can be exceedingly valuable as a handbook that covers to do with the information.

Prentis Hall
President
The Industrial Marketing Practice Association...