CALCULATING THE TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP OF UTILITIES: A CASE OF INTERFIRM COST MANAGEMENT

摘要

Utility providers of today face a new and rapidly evolving environment that forces them to adopt-new processes, relationships, information systems, and people. Deregulation forces them to reassess their market and industry definition, as well as their perception of future skill and organizational requirements to compete. Ultimately, they will have to turn into globally competing, multiservice firms. In particular, their relationship with customers has changed dramatically now that they are no longer the sole utility provider and are exposed to competitive market forces. To survive, utility providers seek new ways to reach their customers. Therefore, utility companies have started questioning their traditional ways of providing services and the types of services they should be providing. Utility companies understand that the key success elements in this competitive market are: a better understanding of the customers' needs, and a better com- munication about their customer-value toward the customer. This will ultimately result in better business decisions, yielding improved processes, and reducing the total costs.