Constructing customer knowledge in knowledge-intensivecustomer relationships

摘要

Knowing your customers and their needs is a topic that has attracted increasing interest in the business and academic worlds. In line with this, constructing customer knowledge has come under examination in this study. A firm's ability to construct customer knowledge creates solid ground for responding better to its customers' needs. In the business-to-business markets, customers are demanding increasingly knowledge-intensive services. Therefore, examining the topic is particularly important in this specific context. In this study, the purpose is to find out how customer knowledge is constructed in knowledge-intensive customer relationships. To accomplish this purpose, a qualitative multiple case study is organized around seven case relationships allowing within-case and cross-case comparisons. The findings of this study describe a variety of practices knowledge-intensive firms can utilize in constructing customer knowledge in their daily activities. This study helps KIBS organizations in their efforts to create a source of competitive advantage as customer knowledge is a critical asset for firms, especially in a fast-changing knowledge-intensive environment.