Implementing Quality Improvement Programs Designed to Enhance Customer Satisfaction: Quasi-Experiments in the United States and Spain

Journal of Marketing Research Vol. XXXVII (February 2000), 102–112 *Duncan I. Simester is Associate Professor of Management Science (email: [email protected]), John R. Hauser is Kirin Professor of Marketing (e-mail: [email protected]), and Birger Wernerfelt is Professor of Management Science (e-mail: [email protected]), all at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Roland T. Rust is Madison S. Wigginton Professor of Management and Director of the Center for Service Marketing, Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University (e-mail: [email protected]). This research was funded by the International Center for Research on the Management of Technology and the Center for Innovation in Product Development. The authors thank Ning Peng, Lisa Tener, Christine Forte, and Robert Klein, who participated in the design and implementation of the quality improvement effort and the quasi-experiment. The authors also acknowledge the generous contributions of time and data by the firm that is the subject of this study. Applied Marketing Science, Inc., in Waltham, Mass., conducted the qualitative research. To interact with colleagues on specific articles in this issue, see “Feedback” on the JMR Web site at www.ama.org/pubs/jmr. DUNCAN I. SIMESTER, JOHN R. HAUSER, BIRGER WERNERFELT, and ROLAND T. RUST*