Purpose – The demand for solar cells has increased, creating challenges for solar cell suppliers operating in a B2B context. Customers should be central to all companies, which is why it is important to examine their experience of service quality through the sales process of solar cell suppliers. Thus, the purpose of this study is: To identify improvement opportunities for solar cell suppliers’ sales process based on customers’ experiences from a service quality perspective. Based on the purpose, two research questions were formulated: [1] What strengths and weaknesses do customers perceive that solar cell suppliers' salesprocess have from a service quality perspective? [2] How can solar cell suppliers' sales process be improved from a service quality perspective? Method – The study is a case study, where data was collected from a selected case company and ten of their business customers. To be able to map out the case company's sales process, a document study, and an open interview with employees at the case company were carried out. Based on the collected data, interview questions were created for ten of the case company's business customers. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted to identify the customers' experience of service quality through the sales process, whereupon suggestions for improvement could be identified. Results – The identified strengths meant a high experience of service quality according to the customers. The strengths were professional treatment, effective communication, detailed planning, well-executed execution as well as detecting and resolution of problems. The shortcomings identified through the sales process resulted in an experience of low service quality according to the customers. The shortcomings were slow response, overworked staff, lack of project management, inadequate material delivery, delayed projects, visualization problems and deficiencies in detecting defects. The main improvement proposal is to create a plan with instructions for who is responsible for collecting and transferring information between involved parties. Implications – By creating a plan for the collection and transferring of information, where it becomes clear who has responsibility between both internal and external parties, the service quality through solar cell suppliers' sales process can increase. Technology that creates a seamless service is an important part of the sales process, whereupon developed and efficient technology is important from a long-term perspective. For example, customers can be involved in solar cell suppliers' IT systems to be able to obtain information. Limitations – The study is a single case study, which means that data was collected from only one company. In addition, only ten business customers have been interviewed to collect data. These aspects may indicate that the generalizability of the study can be questioned. Key words – Customer satisfaction, customer value, selling process, service quality, solar cell supplier
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hj-61917 |
Date | January 2023 |
Creators | Svensson, Jennifer, Hansson, Anna |
Publisher | Jönköping University, JTH, Logistik och verksamhetsledning |
Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
Language | Swedish |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
Format | application/pdf |
Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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