Elementos de la prescripción adquisitiva predial en sede notarial

The goal of this chapter is to present the empirical data, which was collected through primary research via interviews, conducted with both Alfa Laval employees and customers. These findings essentially reveal what attributes Alfa Laval employees perceive their customers to value as well as what virtues the customers actually claim to value. The empirical data will guide the authors to make relevant recommendations on how to strategically manage the company’s value propositions.

5.1 Introduction

A number of employees from various departments and customers of all sizes and degrees of loyalty and satisfaction in regards to Alfa Laval were interviewed in order to collect the empirical evidence for the authors‟ study. Naturally, having interviewed over 20 individuals, not all employees represent the same department or job function and so the authors decided to draft different sets of relevant questions for each separate department. Employees holding positions as regional managers, market segment managers, AIFS, engineering & sales, parts

& services, equipment, process technology and the former MD were all asked to answer the given questions from the perspective of their position and related services. The majority of the structured questions concerned how Alfa Laval perceives its customers to value its brand.

Therefore, many questions focused on quality, technology, marketing and customer relationships, competition, customer demands, customer satisfaction, Alfa Laval‟s own organizational structure‟s strengths and weaknesses as well as after-sales service. Employees were interviewed a week prior to customer interviews so trends in employee responses were later used to draft the authors‟ customer interview guides. This allowed the authors to gather responses to similar questions from both employees and customers and then compare the answers. A wide variety of customers were interviewed which exposed the authors to skeptical as well as highly satisfied customer opinions of Alfa Laval‟s products and after-sales services providing for comprehensive results.

In an effort to clarify the exhibition of the empirical data, the authors present their findings first in written summaries of employee and customer responses as seen in Appendix II and in this chapter in the form of a table. The table is structured according to topic in relation to the factors that have been identified as value enhancers. This format was selected as a way of identifying means other than price that Alfa Laval can compete upon. These value enhancers will then be used in the analysis to answer the research question as well as sub-questions posed.

Table 3: Summary of empirical evidence

Topic VOT Employees’

-Alfa Laval is a trend setter in terms of innovation

-Alfa Laval is a trend setter in terms of innovation

Topic VOT Employees’

Topic VOT Employees’

Topic VOT Employees’

order to avoid price wars in a cost-driven market

order to avoid price wars in a cost-driven market

Topic VOT Employees’

Topic VOT Employees’

-Print ads are also run to keep customers informed of their

Topic VOT Employees’

Topic VOT Employees’

Topic VOT Employees’

over-Topic VOT Employees’

5.2 Summary of empirical evidence table

The empirical evidence confirmed the authors suspicion that price, although important, is secondary to a number of alternative factors of value. These factors recognized as value enhancers are highlighted and thus determined the structure of the table. According to employees at Alfa Laval, the company seems to be lacking a comprehensive corporate strategy. Regarding Alfa Laval‟s innovative capabilities there‟s split among employees meaning that some are convinced that Alfa Laval‟s technology is the best in the Indian market while others feel Alfa Laval is falling behind its top competitors. On the other hand, an overwhelming majority of customers believe Alfa Laval‟s innovation is in need of updating.

By nature, Alfa Laval favors selling equipment rather than a total process whereas customers state that they prefer total solutions. According to most employees, price is the most influential factor when making a purchasing decision, however customers have asserted that it is not. Alfa Laval is said to base its prices on the total cost of manufacturing and selling plus a profit margin. However, some employees think that Alfa Laval should leverage its value more in terms of pricing. Furthermore, employees would like to see more flexibility in terms of the company‟s pricing strategy. Marketing is the next factor highlighted in the table and Alfa Laval‟s marketing strategies are currently seen as being sufficient in the opinion of many employees but not customers, who desire more contact from Alfa Laval in the form of newsletters and phone calls. Onto the strengths and competencies, employees and customers perceptions of Alfa Laval‟s align somewhat, with a few discrepancies having been noted. As previously mentioned, customers do not support that price is the most influential factor when making a purchasing decision. Finally, both employees and customers realize that the company‟s after-sales services have to be improved since this is a common source of criticism.

The conditions gathered via the empirical evidence will be compared to the previously presented theoretical framework in the following chapter. This analysis will be followed by the authors‟ recommendations to the case company.