The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Was Established in 1994 to Measure The

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) was established in 1994 to measure the goods and services of companies in the United States and also companies in foreign countries that have a strong market share in the United States. The Index is comprised of 43 industry scores, ten economic sector scores, scores from more than 200 companies and federal government agencies and surveys from the consumers. The range is from 0 to 100. The higher the score the better the customer service is. The index is used by corporate managers, investors and the government. The Government uses the figures to try and determine the best way to stimulate economic growth and raise the standard of living. Investors use the index to determine the current condition of a company. Companies that cater to their customers tend to have more business. Corporate Managers need to know how their customer service is doing because they know that good customer service means more loyal customers which in turn help their profits. (American

Customer Satisfaction Index nd)

There are four models available to use: Baldrige National Quality Program, Balanced Scorecard,

Value Chain model and the Service-Profit Chain Model. Baldrige National Quality Program and the Balanced

Scorecard are used more to see the big picture by the organization heads while the Value Chain Model and the Service-Profit Chain Model are used more by operation managers. The Baldrige National Quality Program is an award that was created to improve performance around the world. Companies that have received this award generally outperform the rest of the companies. There are seven categories that are measured:

Leadership, Strategic Planning, Customer and Market Focus, Workforce Focus, Process Management and

Business results. The Balanced scorecard was developed to include the vision of the company. The Balanced

Scorecard consists of four measures: Financial perspective, Customer perspective, Innovation and Learning

Perspective and Internal Business Perspective. (Collier & Evans 2008) The Value Chain Model is used heavily by Operations Managers. This model analyzes from inventory and receiving to customer service, repair, installations and training. (Porter nd) The Service-Profit-Chain was established to measure customer service in the service industry. The measures include internal performance and external performance which is the customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. (Collier & Evans 2008)

Everyone in Carbide Industries has an impact on customer service. It starts at the top with upper level management and works its way down to the entry level positions. It starts at the top on how upper management handles the public and community responsibility. Upper Management also addresses on the performance expectations of the employees and gives the company a vision. Human Resources need to make sure the employees are trained to provide good customer service and make sure they are trained to develop their full potential as well as to be motivated. Of course the entry level people are the ones that will handle the calls in the call center and are the ones that make consumers wanting to come back to Carbide

Industries. How a customer is treated in the Call Center whether it be repair, installation or customer service has an impact on whether the customer wants to come back to Carbide or go to one of the competitiors.

The Carbide Industries is a petrochemical industry that has also branched out into the electronics field with PC printers, copiers, electronic images and toner cartridges. Their main competitors are Dell, Apple and

Hewlett Packard. Carbide would use the Value Chain Model in measuring their customer service. Carbide faces many issues with its Denver plant. Customers have to drive all over the plant to pick up more than one product. The printer may be in one location and the toner cartridge in another. The trucks that are picking up products to distribute to other plants creates a gridlock because of the different arrival times. The copier rehab center near Charleston South Carolina has a problem keeping parts stocked which causes delays in the repair of the copiers. (CTU online, task list:MGM340-0904A-2, 2009)

Apple has the highest rating on the ACSI with 84 out of 100 and Dell and Hewlett Packard follow with

75 and 74. Carbide has a lot of work to do to reach the level of Apple and to improve their customer service at all the plants. They must consider how the delays in getting the copiers fixed and customers driving from one point to another to pick up products is hurting their customer service and device a plan to rectify the situation.

References:

American Customer Satisfaction Index. (nd). Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved Oct 8, 2009 from http://www.theacsi.org/index2.php? option=com_content&task=voew&id=46&pop=1&pag

American Customer Satisfaction Indes. (nd), Scores by Industry Group. Retrieved

Oct 8, 2009 from http://www.theacsi.org/indes.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=147&Itemid=155

Collier, D & Evans, R. (2008). Operations Management. South-Western:

Cengage Learning, Mason, Oh.

CTUOnline Task List (2009). MGM340-0904A-02:Operations Management Principals.

Retrieved 2009 from http://campusctuonline.edu

Porter, M. (nd). Value Based Management. Value Chain Framework. Retrieved October 8, 2009 from http://www.valebasedmanagement.net/methods_porter_value_chain.html