CUSTOMER PERCEIVED VALUE IN BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING: IS IT STILL ENOUGH?

This study provides a better understanding of business relationships between suppliers and industrial buyers. Based on previous research models, we explored the value drivers that industrial buyers, in particular health professionals, perceived as relevant in the hearing-aid distribution industry. A nationwide online survey was the principal data-collection instrument. Based on previous research, we evaluated several drivers measuring the perceived value delivered by hearing-aid suppliers, including offer quality, service elements, relationship costs and personal interaction. We researched not only the customer value (CV) but also the ability of the suppliers to anticipate customer needs. The results demonstrated that other than offer quality, none of these drivers represents or affects the customer value. However, these drivers were found to affect the anticipation of customer needs, surprisingly demonstrating that succeeding in each of the drivers reflects the anticipation of customer needs but not customer value.