How business customers judge solutions: solution quality and value in use

Abstract

Many manufacturers look to business solutions to provide growth, but success is far from guaranteed, and how solutions can create superior perceived value is not clear. This article explores what constitutes value for customers from solutions over time, conceptualized as value-in-use, and how this arises from quality perceptions of the solution’s components. A framework for solution quality and value-in-use is developed through 36 interviews combining repertory grid technique and means-end chains. Significantly extending the extant view of quality as a function of the supplier’s products and services, findings show that customers also assess the quality of their own resources and processes, and of the joint resource integration process. Contrasting strongly with prior research, value-in-use corresponds not just to collective, organizational goals but also to individuals’ goals. Four moderators of the quality-value relationship demonstrate customer heterogeneity across both firms and roles within what the authors term the usage center. When shifting towards solutions, manufacturers require very different approaches to market research, account management, solution design and quality control, including the need for a value auditing process.