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IMPORTANCE-SATISFACTION ANALYSIS: A DIAGNOSTIC

C3 TOOL TO IDENTIFY KEY DRIVERS

Helder Ferreira10
Paula Fernandes11

Abstract
This research aims to analyze the Importance vs. Satisfaction applied in a case study in
order to identify key factors in the implementation of marketing strategies. The object of
study was a sample of 225 customers of the company Futurlab - Material de Laboratório
Lda. (Laboratory Supplies Ltd), located in Lisbon. With this analysis the Futurlab
Managers can evaluate and identify the major strengths and weaknesses of the key
success factors.

The Analysis of Importance vs Satisfaction allows us to identify the most important

attributes to the consumer, with the greatest impact on customer satisfaction and
simultaneously the attributes of low performance which require to be improved
immediately. In the present work and to meet the main goal of the study it was used the
Importance-Performance/Satisfaction Matrix developed by Martilla and James (1977)
and adapted by Matzler, Sauerwein and Heischmidt (2003). For data collection, it was
used a questionnaire (Wu, Tang & Shyu, 2009) applied randomly to 225 company
customers and it was assumed a sampling error of 5,8 % and a significance level of 5
%.

Through the results obtained it can be concluded that the Critical Success Factors to the
company Futurlab were the Pricing Competitiveness and Free Services, Loyalty, Image,
Supply and Stock, Information, Logistics and Strategic Management of the Company,
were located in quadrant B, these evidenced great importance and satisfaction in the
10 2
Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Portugal; Management Applied Research Unit (UNIAG), Portugal,
helder.pires@sapo.pt; Telf.: 00 351 273303103
11 2
Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Portugal; Management Applied Research Unit (UNIAG), Portugal, E-mail:
pof@ipb.pt; Telf.: 00 351 273303103

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Futurlab costumers, so they are factors that represent the opportunities to gain or keep
competitive advantages in the market where Futurlab acts and the company must keep
the good work.

Keywords: Importance-Satisfaction; Critical Success Factors; Satisfaction; Consumer

perception.

1. Introduction

T he marketing has been increasingly adopting strategies of communication as well

as aggressive promotional campaigns to stimulate demand. The promotional
campaigns include a wide variety of payment plans, discounts, home delivery
services and other promotions to attract more consumers, such as loan with low
interests and installment payments, etc.

It is important that the companies provide the correct information about their products/
services to customers, since these are increasingly informed at a competitive level.
Thus, it is necessary to know the information which enables meeting the real needs of
consumers, as well as how the best way to satisfy and retain them.

This study aims to understand how it is possible retain customers and if they are
satisfied with Futurlab - Material de Laboratório (Laboratory Supplies Ltd.) (hereafter
Futurlab), and allow administrators/managers assess and identify the major strengths
and weaknesses of today's key business factors and possibly suggest the modification
of some, with the goal that the company can sustain and maintain the success which
achieved in the market.

This study not only provides a specific analysis of the case study but also summarizes
the strategies of the company from a more practical point of view, and in a real context.

It intends to apply an assessment tool to measure the degree of satisfaction and

importance of key factors in the implementation of Marketing strategies and this can be
used in the universe of Portuguese companies of laboratory supplies and equipments.

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So, the study was done with Futurlab customers. The universe was a total of 1055
costumers spread across different types of companies and/or economic sector. The
collected data are related to 2010/2012.

It was applied a questionnaire, already validated, which was intended to obtain generic
information about customers, identify the assigned importance and the level of
satisfaction for each item evaluated of the company and analyze the dimensions (Critical
Success Factors) quality of the services provided. Subsequently the results of the
research was positioned in the Importance - Satisfaction Matrix, adapted by Matzler,
Sauerwein and Heischmidt (2003), in order to observe what was the perception of
customers on the different policies adopted by the company.

2. Background

In order to follow the technological, scientific and economic progress, it is required more
and more to actual companies that they seek strategies that maintain them in the
competitive market of the economic society, namely defining and implementing
promotional campaigns to stimulate demand, with offer of payment plans, discounts,
home delivery and other promotions to attract more consumers, such as offering loans
with low interests and installment payments, and other benefits that can please
customers and at the same time not harm the company.

With this line of work, companies must identify a limited number of action areas where
the results are satisfactory, which will ensure a successful competitive performance for
the company which according to Rockart (1979 ) defines what are the Critical Success
Factors (CSF) , as clear indicators that can guide the course of business to the success.
Rockart (1979) stated that the analysis of CSF is an empirical method based on
interviews that allows indentify management priorities, the results of this interviews are
later analyzed by managers for use in planning and construction of information systems.

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Associated with the CSF is the quality of services provided, above all by the importance
that this also has in the organizational 'balance' of any company, it should be defined
initially as answer to the demand of customer satisfaction and its expectations.

In the analysis of the evolution of the concept of quality it was noticed that exists an
easier definition of quality when it is related to products and not services, because the
history of this concept is intrinsically associated to the industry, is also correct to note
that the quality is easier identified when we talk about products and more subjective
when it is related to services (Crato, 2010).

Crato (2010) identifies Paladini (2000) as the main investigator who defined the
characteristics of quality management about services taking into account that the
production and consumption are simultaneous and there is no way to define where one
ends and the other begins, the productive processes have a lack of objective information
about their procedures, which do not always occur frequently, that the quality
management is clearly directed to actions that seek greater connection with the
customer, defining their interests, preferences, requirements, needs, suitableness, so all
that is considered relevant in the service provision; that the quality assessment focuses
only on elements – there aren’t specific control points that can be identified; that the
quality management emphasizes the focus of the company to a specific model of
relationship with the customer; that the service can’t have the skill to make stock.

In fact, what should be evaluated, according to the different authors mentioned, is the
customer satisfaction after the provision of the service quality in order to keep it and to
make that him feels more than more satisfied with the services of the company.
When the companies define CSF they should also make an analysis of their position in
the market, in order to evaluate the steady performance and directed to the pursuit of
quality (Porter, 1996), bearing always in mind customers satisfaction.

The satisfaction appears as one of the most important resources available to the
companies always bearing in mind to achieve and enhance competitiveness and ensure
the long term success in environments more than more competitive and more
demanding customers (Rigopoulo, Chaniotakis, Lymperopoulos, & Siomkos, 2008).

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When is compared the importance with the satisfaction of certain factors, this allows us
to identify areas in which we must intervene and focus on the performance of services
(Martilla & James, 1977; Matzler, Sauerwein & Heischmidt, 2003; Aktas, Aksu & Çizel,
2007; Abalo, Varela & Manzano, 2007; Silva & Fernandes, 2010).
In this framework we are going to describe the management tool adapted by Matzler,
Sauerwein and Heischmidt (2003), where the authors replaced the dimension
Performance by Satisfaction and consequently they present the Importance vs.
Satisfaction Matrix. Be noted that this matrix was based on the instrument developed by
Martilla and James (1977), where these authors measure the Importance vs.
Performance of a company. This analysis allows through a representation on a
Cartesian coordinate system identify areas where a company should focus, reduce or
maintain their efforts and also assess the areas where the largest deviations occur
between what is important to the individual and what he is receiving.

So in the next figure in the Cartesian system are obtained four quadrants that allow set
out four distinct strategies, namely:

- Quadrant A - Concentrate here;

- Quadrant B - Keep up the good work;

- Quadrant C - Low priority;

- Quadrant D - Possible Overkill.

All the variables that are being studied are also used to measure the Importance vs.
Satisfaction, from the perspective of customers. This analysis presupposes that there is
linearity between Importance and Satisfaction and the intersection of the axes are the
averages based on each dimension - Importance and Satisfaction.

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5.0

4.5
Quadrant A Quadrant B

High Importance/Low High Importance/High

4.0
Satisfaction Satisfaction

3.5 'Concentrate Here' 'Keep Up the Good

Importance

Work'
3.0

Quadrant C Quadrant D
2.5

Low Importance/Low Low Importance/

2.0 Satisfaction High Satisfaction

1.5 'Low Priority' 'Possible Overkill'

1.0
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0

Satisfaction

Figure 1: Importance vs. Satisfaction Matrix.

Source: Adapted from Matzler, Sauerwein and Heischmidt (2003:115).

From the analysis of the previous figure it can be said that (Martilla & James, 1977;
Matzler, Sauerwein & Heischmidt, 2003; Silva & Fernandes, 2010):

- The quadrant A represents the attributes that are very important, but the level of
satisfaction is evaluated as below average. To increase overall satisfaction, the
company should focus on these attributes;

- The attributes positioned in Quadrant B are evaluated with high importance and
satisfaction and represent opportunities to gain or maintain competitive advantages;

- The attributes positioned in quadrant C are considered less important and the
satisfaction level below average. Usually it is not necessary to focus on these attributes;

- The attributes that will be fixed in quadrant D are valuated with high satisfaction and
low importance. This implies that resources committed with these attributes would be

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better used in others; high performance attributes considered irrelevant indicate a

possible exaggeration.

3. Research Design

3.1 - Questionnaire and research hypotheses

In this research work a questionnaire has been used already validated which was the
basis for the study of the authors Wu Tang and Shyu (2009 ) developed in Japan, who
aimed to identify the key success factors of the company E- Life Mall Corporation
(Taiwan ). The variables of individual characterization were adapted to the Portuguese
context in order to be applied to customers of the analyzed company, namely the client
companies of Futurlab - Material de Laboratório, Lda (Futurlab Company – Laboratory
Supplies, Ltd). This company combines extensive experience that has been built over
the last 30 years in the trade of laboratory supplies and equipment. It has been focused
in the innovation of laboratory techniques in the areas of education, research and
industrial control, which has been positioned as market leader in laboratory equipment.

In this context and based on the Critical Success Factors (Strategic Management of the
company; Convenience Strategy, Promotional strategy, Price competitiveness, After-
sales Service Quality , Information Systems Services, and Corporate image) it is
intended to observe the position of these Critical Success Factors in the Importance -
Satisfaction Matrix for the company Futurlab in the perspective of its customers .

Consequently, in the first and second part were used qualitative variables measured in
an ordinal scale Likert. In the third part there are questions presented in a dichotomous
form, multiple-choice and open response.

To measure the importance and satisfaction of the services provided by Futurlab it was
used the Likert scale of five points: 1 - Nothing Important, 2 - Little Important, 3 -
Moderated Important, 4 - Very Important, 5 - Extremely Important, and the ordinal
satisfaction scale: 1 - Very dissatisfied, 2 - Dissatisfied, 3 - Unsure, 4 - Satisfied; 5 - Very
Satisfied.

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In order to verify if the CSF maximize the satisfaction of Futurlab customers, it was
established the following research hypotheses:

Research Hypothesis 1: The Futurlab customers are Satisfied with all the CSF
identified;

Research Hypothesis 2: There is a positive relationship between CSF and Overall

Satisfaction with Futurlab.

3.2 - Treatment Techniques of Data

In order to meet the aims of this study and respective research hypotheses it was
chosen to proceed with the application of:

i. Management tool - Matrix of Importance vs. Satisfaction;

ii. Exploratory descriptive statistics and inferential techniques to study the behavior of
the attributes under study, as well as the existence of correlation or differences between
the control variables and the latent (Satisfaction and Importance);

Noted that in the descriptive and inferential analysis of this study it intends to verify in a
global way the satisfaction and importance based on the control variables Sex, Age,
Educational Qualifications, Position held in the company, Type of company, Net Profit,
Visits Frequency and Location of the company. To this end as always as possible
parametric tests was applied, namely the t-Student in order to analyze if there are
differences between the averages for two independent samples and to analyze whether
there are differences between the independent samples for the latent variables under
analysis (Satisfaction and Importance) .

In all analysis in order to make decisions concerning to the different research

hypotheses it will be assumed a significance level of 5 %.

3.3 - Brief Description of the Study Population and Sample

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The study population is based on the universe of customers loyal to Futurlab as supplier
of laboratory equipment. We talk about schools, external analytical laboratories of water
and food among others, pharmaceutical industry, food industry, among others. It’s also
important to note that it was also sought to examine what function the respondent plays
in the company and what gender he/she is. So, whole analysis is based on the response
of the director/manager of the client company of Futurlab. It stands out in the period
2010-2012, from a total list of 1055 Futurlab customers that were random inquired, in
which only 225 responded to the questionnaire representing 21% of the study population
and according to the distribution that it can be analyzed in the table below.

To calculate the sample size it was assumed a sampling error of 5,8% and a
significance level of 5 %. Be noted that for the calculation of the relative frequency for
the sample size by sector it was taken into account the universe of that sector.
A curious fact, the 40 external laboratories all responded to the questionnaire, from the
140 food companies 40 responded to the questionnaire representing 29% of the sample,
17% of the sample is pharmaceutical industry and 36% are education institutions or
research laboratories.

The predominance of Futurlab customers is essentially the Education/Research with

23,6 % of the responses, followed by food Industry and External Laboratories with
17,8%. The Pharmaceutical Industry has also a great representation of this, being
12,4%. It is noted that in this variable it was only 2 respondents who didn’t responded,
representing a total of 0,9%.

The majority of respondents are located in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Region (Zona
de Lisboa e Vale do Tejo) with 58,2% of respondents, followed by Oporto and North of
the country (Porto e Norte) with 17,8% of responses. In this case only 3 respondents
didn’t respond representing a total of 1,3%.

With regard to the gender of the respondents that were inquired, being the
directors/managers of Futurlab’s client company, it was observed that the majority were
female, 61% and 39% male. It is interesting to see this significant percentage that

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corresponding to female, so it can be observed the increasing tendency of women to

perform management functions or responsible for departments.

The most respondents are young, belonging to the age group between 31 and 35 years
old, representing 24,9% of the respondents. It may also be noted that 93,8% of the
individuals have less than or equal to 50 years old. Only 6,2% are older than 50 years.
Of these respondents, only 0,9% corresponds to 2 individuals who are older than 56
years.

The educational qualifications of the respondents are mostly graduates (53,3%)

corresponding to a total of 120 respondents. It is also found a large percentage of
respondents holding a master's degree with 25,3% (57 respondents).

We also analyzed the frequency of visits by the Futurlab commercials to the costumer
companies surveyed. From the analysis it is possible to measure the regularity with
which commercial moving companies to customers exceeding one month stands at
46%, and with a monthly visit are 28% and 22% fortnightly. Noted that weekly visits with
only 4% of respondents.

4. Results and discussion

4.1 - Analysis Exploratory Descriptive and Inferential

In the study it was found that only two issues have become sensitive, as the net profit of
the company in which only 96 of 225 respondents answered the question as well as the
issues that would control the number of company employees, who answered only 183 of
the 225 respondents.

Analyzing the control variables is found that the variable Annual Net Income of the
companies it is a variable that many did not respond, they are about 57,33% of the
respondents.

Once it is analyzing the satisfaction and importance, the collected data must be
analyzed in two different ways for Satisfaction and Importance. The total score of each

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table shows the attitude of each respondent towards the CSF, which is much more
favorable higher will be the score.

In the analysis of the importance are standing out the variables 2, 3, 13, 19: Adequate
supply of products; have got a logistic distribution accurately and efficiently, cheaper and
competitive products, services delivery in the client company’s facilities. The items 2 and
3 evaluate the same component about the strategic management of the company, since
the item number 13 evaluates the component on the price competitiveness and item 19
evaluate the after-sales services. In this way, is well evidenced a clear position of
consumers in relation to the components, giving importance to the different areas.

The items with the worse results are 12 and 17: A system of membership cards for free
or with low income; Free call costumers service 24 hours a day, thus they are related to
the promotional strategy component and an after-sales service with quality respectively,
so it can be concluded that the respondents confer importance to these items.

Noted that the values of the standard deviation are low which indicates that there is a
concentration of responses around the average, with no dispersion of results.
Regarding Global Importance in the scale as well as the different components, it is
observed that the empirical averages have scores above the theoretical values (position
of indifference) (see Table 1), which emphasizes the importance that respondents give
to the critical success factors analyzed.

The standard deviation for each latent variable presents very low results, which
indicates that there is a reasonable matching in the responses obtained around the
empirical average. It must be noted that the maximum values reached by components in
some situations they are achieved the maximum and others are very close to the
maximum possible.

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Table 1 - Statistics Summary for each component (CSF) for the latent variable: Importance.

Empirical Standard Maximum Theoretical Z-

Components (CSF) Minimum Maximum
Average Deviation Possible Average Score

After-sales Service Quality 15,00 27,00 22,34 3,37 30,00 18,00 1,29

Price Competitiveness 11,00 20,00 16,43 2,49 20,00 12,00 1,78

Company Strategic
10,00 20,00 15,39 1,94 20,00 12,00 1,74
Management
Information Service Systems 8,00 20,00 15,21 2,86 20,00 12,00 1,12

Corporate Image 7,00 19,00 14,39 2,33 20,00 12,00 1,02

Convenience Strategy 9,00 19,00 14,92 2,29 20,00 12,00 1,27

Promotional Strategy 4,00 18,00 12,76 2,72 20,00 12,00 0,28

Global Importance 77,00 133,00 111,31 13,17 150,00 90,00 1,62

In the analysis of the latent variable Satisfaction are stand out the items, 2, 15 and 19:
Adequate supply of products; Budgets with easy interpretation and all information;
Delivery service in the client company, respectively, which show high values, allowing to
observe that respondents are satisfied with these items provided by Futurlab. Item 19
evaluates the after-sales service and item 2 evaluates the component Strategic
Management of the company, and the item 15 evaluates the component on the price
competitiveness.

The items with the worse results are 12, 17 and 29: A system of free membership cards
or low income; Free Call Costumers Service 24 hours a day; Social activities within the
community, which are related to the component promotional strategy, quality after-sales
service, and corporate image, respectively.

Here they are also found low values in the standard deviation for each of the items
presented, which shows the matching of the responses around the average.

Regarding the Global Satisfaction scale as well as in the different components, it can be
observed that the averages obtained have values above the theoretical values (Table 2).
From this analysis it can be comprehended that Futurlab customers are satisfied with
the different activities of the company, particularly with the After-Sales Service Quality,

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following the Strategic Management of Company and Convenience Strategy, on the

other hand there were less satisfied with the Promotional Strategy.

It is noted that the maximum values reached by components and also in Overall
Satisfaction are near the maximum possible, so it can be said that satisfactory values
were obtained. Also, comparing the average values between the theoretical average
and the empirical average obtained it was observed that this registered a value of
100,30 points above the theoretical average which makes it very satisfactory for the
company. The values obtained for the standard deviation for each CSF showed low
values allowing note the almost no variation between the answers given by respondents.
Based on these results we can corroborate the first research hypothesis, so Futurlab
customers are Satisfied with all the CSF identified.

Table 3 - Statistics Summary for each component (CSF) for the latent variable: Satisfaction.

Empirical Standard Maximum Theoretical Z-

Components (CSF) Minimum Maximum
Average Deviation Possible Average Score
After-sales service Quality 10,00 28,00 20,36 3,58 30,00 18,00 0,66
Price Competitiveness 10,00 19,00 14,12 1,89 20,00 12,00 1,12
Company Strategic Management 9,00 18,00 13,76 2,16 20,00 12,00 0,81
Information Service Systems 5,00 19,00 13,65 3,01 20,00 12,00 0,55
Corporate Image 7,00 16,00 13,09 1,78 20,00 12,00 0,61
Convenience Strategy 8,00 19,00 12,86 2,62 20,00 12,00 0,33
Promotional Strategy 8,00 19,00 12,38 2,06 20,00 12,00 0,18
Global Satisfaction 66,00 125,00 100,30 12,49 150,00 90,00 0,83

In order to complete the analysis it was evaluated the connection between the Critical
Success Factors with the Global Importance and the Global Satisfaction. It is important
to stand out that the normality assumption was not violated to apply the Pearson
correlation coefficient.

In this sense, the correlations between CSF and Global Importance were analyzed
(Table 3), all values presented are statistically significant at an assumed significance

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level of 5%. It can be proved that the component that has the highest correlation is
the After Sales Service Quality with a correlation coefficient of 0,854 (Table 3), be
the component with the highest weight on the importance of customers.

The correlation that has less weight in the Global Importance it’s the Strategic
Management of the Company with a value of 0,614 (Table 3).

The correlation between variables of lowest weight is the price competitiveness with the
promotional strategy of the company with a value of 0,282 (Table 3). In this case it can
be inferred that this correlation influences little on the importance, from the costumers’
perspective, in relation to the company in study.

Table 2 - Correlations (Pearson) between components and the latent variable: Global Importance.

After-
Strategic Information
Convenience Promotional Price sales Corporate Global
Management Systems
Strategy Strategy Competiveness Service Image Importance
Company Services
Quality

Strategic
Management of 1 ,573 ,420 ,322 ,318 ,308 ,380 ,614
the Company
Convenience
1 ,347 ,375 ,511 ,410 ,368 ,693
Strategy
Promotional
1 ,282 ,612 ,599 ,436 ,751
Strategy
Price
1 ,549 ,323 ,376 ,642
Competiveness

After-sales
1 ,631 ,505 ,854
Service Quality

Information
Systems 1 ,429 ,760
Services
Corporate
1 ,685
Image
Global
1
Importance

Note: All values are are statistically significant at a significance level of 5%.

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To answer the second research hypothesis we analyzed the correlations between CSF
and Global Satisfaction (Table 4). Thus, it can be demonstrated that the CSF with the
highest correlation are the Price Competitiveness of Services and After Sales Quality
components with a correlation coefficient of 0,808 (Table 4), so they are the components
with the highest weight in Global Satisfaction, from the perspective of customers.

The correlation that has less weight compared to the Global Satisfaction is the
Corporate Image with a value of 0,642 (Table 4), although statistically significant.
The correlation between variables is less weight Services information on the strategic
management of the company with a value of 0,236 (Table 4) systems. In this case it can
be inferred that this correlation influences little satisfaction from the point of view of
customers, in relation to the company under study. Analysis performed by the values
given in Table 4 can be said that also validates the second research hypothesis.

Table 3 - Correlation (Pearson) between components and the latent variable: Global Satisfaction.

After-
Strategic Information
Convenience Promotional Price sales Corporate Global
Management Systems
Strategy Strategy Competiveness Service Image Satisfaction
Company Services
Quality

Strategic
Management 1 ,582 ,411 ,567 ,297 ,236 ,556 ,670
Company
Convenience
1 ,489 ,584 ,440 ,363 ,322 ,730
Strategy
Promotional
1 ,472 ,530 ,328 ,329 ,692
Strategy
Price
1 ,547 ,454 ,363 ,808
Competiveness
After-sales
1 ,539 ,489 ,808
Service Quality
Information
Systems 1 ,376 ,677
Services
Corporate
1 ,642
Image
Global
1
Satisfaction
Note: All values are statistically significant at a significance level of 5%.

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In order to complete the analysis and to verify if there were differences in Global
Satisfaction and Global Importance, based on the control variables were applied some
parametric tests and when it was not possible to apply them the non-parametric tests
were used.

Table 4 - Evidential value for categories that examine latent variables by control variable.

Control Variable Test Global Satisfaction Global Importance

Gender t-Student 0,083 0,396

Age Kruskal-Wallis <0,001 0,002
Educational Qualifications Kruskal-Wallis 0,303 0,648
Position held within the
Kruskal-Wallis 0,025 0,023
company
Type of company Kruskal-Wallis <0,001 0,058
Net Income Kruskal-Wallis 0,367 0,864
Frequency of visits Kruskal-Wallis 0,925 0,263
Location of the company Kruskal-Wallis 0,001 0,142

Thus, in the previous table, we present the results obtained for the evidential value and
it’s possible verify, taking into account the most pertinent, that: there are sufficient
statistical evidences to affirm that at least one of the distributions for the Overall
Satisfaction in the groups variable age and position held within the company is different,
the same happens for Global Importance. The type of company or sector of activity and
the variable location of the company produce a differentiated effect in relation to the
Global Satisfaction. For the variables location of the company, educational
qualifications, net income, frequency of visits, gender there weren’t statistically
significant differences in responses to the Global Satisfaction and Global Importance.

Thus, and in general, by the obtained values and presented in the preceding table, it can
be stated that the variables: position held in the company, type of company and location
of the company are the variables that contribute to the existence of statistically
significant differences in satisfaction and the importance given to the factors of the
company in study, by the Futurlab costumer.

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4.2 - Analysis Importance vs Satisfaction

At this point, it‘s intended to evaluate Importance vs. Satisfaction, based on the 7 CSF
identified in the study made by Wu Tang and Shyu (2009). For that, was used the matrix
adapted by Matzler, Sauerwein and Heischmidt (2003). In this way, this study was
based on the analysis of 7 CSF and the different variables (attributes) that support the
respective CSF and which are central part of the questionnaire.

The attributes that customers mentioned as the most important and therefore those with
higher averages are: Cheaper and competitive products; Maintenance and cheap
accessories, Budgets easy to interpret and with all the information; refund guarantee if It
is found cheaper, Warehouse/proper store near areas of customer facilities; Adequate
supply of products; Delivery logistic accurate and efficient; Development of a virtual
distribution channel; Professional Advice online (Online Consulting); Supply online
services such as products presentation and price research; Easy and convenient online
services and suggestion links and storage of customer information.

On the other hand the attribute that presented the lowest value, the item with lowest
importance to Futurlab customers was the item: A system of free membership cards or
low income (average 2,7 and standard deviation 1,024).

In the evaluation of the quality services provided by Futurlab, the attributes that had a
higher satisfaction were the attributes the Strategic management of the company,
Convenience Strategy and then Price Competitiveness.

Generally, the aspects considered more negative are related to the promotional strategy
of the company because it is the attribute considered less important and less pleased by
customers on satisfactory terms, curiously. The values obtained for the standard
deviation are considered low, the variations of the responses are low, with some that
recorded significant discrepancy values. This dispersion measurement reflects the
variation of a data set around the average, or the greater or lesser variability of results.
Allows identify to what extent the results are concentrated or not around the central
tendency of an observations set.

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Thus, related to Importance vs. Satisfaction, attributes with values of significant

discrepancy were: Cheaper and competitive products; Cheap maintenance and
accessories and easy access to information about the activities of supplier/distribution
company.

In order to address the importance that customers attach to different CSF in analysis as
well as their degree of satisfaction with Futurlab, the averages and standard deviations
were calculated for the aggregated data.

The research results are reflected in Table 6, according to the averages. Regarding the
importance all attributes had an approximate or higher average score of 4 (from
relatively important to very important in Likert scale) varying between 3,207 and 4,107.
The three attributes considered most important were: Price competitiveness (average of
4,107 and a standard deviation of 0,792), Strategic Management Company (average of
3,847 and standard deviation of 0,775), Services Information Systems (average of 3,803
and standard deviation of 0,918). The attribute considered less important was the
Promotional Strategy (average of 3,207 and standard deviation of 0,943).

These results are in general low standard deviation values. So, in this case the
discrepancy values of the responses are considered low.

Based on the values in the table and on the degree of company satisfaction, it were also
calculated the averages and standard deviations. The average of the satisfaction
attribute varies between 3,094 and 3,529 being the average of responses between the 3
- Nor dissatisfied, and neither satisfied and the 4 - Satisfied, according to the Likert scale
used. It can be stated that the average values are satisfactory since they are always
above the midpoint value 3. These results indicate that in general customers are
satisfied with the performance of Futurlab as the average of all aggregate variables is
above the midpoint.

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Table 6 - Customers opinion about the Importance Satisfaction of CSF for Futurlab.

Importance Satisfaction
Components/CSF Standard Standard
Average Ranking Average Ranking
Deviation Deviation
Strategic Management Company 3,847 0,775 2 3,529 0,774 1
Convenience Strategy 3,729 0,809 4 3,439 0,737 2
Promotional 3,207 0,943 7 3,094 0,725 7
Price Competitiveness 4,107 0,792 1 3,413 0,950 3
After-sales service quality 3,724 0,944 5 3,393 0,849 4
Information
3,803 0,918 3 3,239 0,816 6
Systems Services
Corporate Image 3,597 0,768 6 3,272 0,559 5
Global Average 3,716 0,850 - 3,340 0,773 -

As well, by the analysis of the values recorded in the previous table, the attributes that
most fulfilled, considering those who had an average value higher than the global
average was 3. The 1st place in the ranking was for the Strategic Management of the
Company, 2nd place for Convenience Strategy and finally Price Competitiveness. The
Promotional Strategy was the attribute that registered less satisfaction from costumers’
perspective.

Also, these results are in general low values of standard deviation, considering that the
values of variance of responses are low.

The Importance vs. Satisfaction analysis, as already mentioned, can be made by

examining the quadrants. In Figure 3 are distributed and positioned the 30 attributes
analyzed.

It is indispensable to make an analysis of the Quadrants based on the overall median

values for the axes, in order to allow see the trend of attributes, according to Lynch,
Carver and Virgo (1996) and Martilla and James (1977).

So, the following figure shows the attributes position having as orientation the median
values. Consequently, four quadrants can be observed, being the axis defined by the

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overall median values (3,26; 3,73) and for the attributes to the overall averages.
With the same figure it’s possible to see how they are distributed in the Importance vs.
Satisfaction matrix the 30 variables in study and the average of the responses. It’s
obviously in which variables the company has good results. They are 14 variables of 30,
with 6 of the 7 latent variables present in the quadrant B and they are not variables of
Promotional Strategy (virtual channels, promotions/conferences, discounts, and points’
card).

There is only one variable in the quadrant A: it is the free maintenance and this is a point
to improve, because it is an attribute of high importance and where the evident
dissatisfaction is. It has already verified this fact in the analysis of the Figure 2 values.

Also, in quadrant C there are 14 variables. However this is a low priority for the
company.
In the quadrant D is also found only one variable: it is creative promotional strategies for
integrating virtual channels as practical and this is a superfluous effort for the company.

5.00

4.50 32 19
13 15
14 20
25 27
4.00 24
Importance of attributtes

5
28 6
18 8
11
3.50 22 23
16 21
26 4 9
7 30
29 10
3.00 17 1

12
2.50

2.00

1.50

1.00
1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00
Satisfaction with the company in study

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Figure 1 - Analysis of quadrants for the attributes, for the global averages with axis in the
medians (3,26; 3,73).

Grouping the 30 attributes in their CSF proposed and presented in the original
questionnaire and similarly, It’s applied Importance vs. Satisfaction matrix for the
following CSF: Strategic Management of the company , Convenience Strategy,
Promotional Strategy, Price competitiveness, After-sale Service Quality, Information
System Services , Corporate Image.

Analyzing the quadrants based on the overall median values, these are represented in
the Figure 3, where the axis defined by the overall median values (3,26; 3,73) and for
CSF the overall average.

It’s clear that the company has good results, both in terms of importance or satisfaction,
for CSF: Competitiveness of Prices and the Strategic Management of the Company
(Figure 3), where it is suggested to keep the good work.

It should focus on the CSF: Service Information Systems, the Promotional Strategy in
Quadrant C which represents a low priority and in quadrant D the Corporate Image falls.
It must be noted the After-sale Services Quality that are on the axis between quadrant B
and D.

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5.0
Quadrant A Quadrant B Strategic Management of
4.5 the company
"Keep Up the Good
Importance of the attributes

Work" Convenience Strategy

4.0 "Concentrate Here"

3.5 Promotional strategy

3.0
Price competitiveness
"Low Priority" "Possible Overkill"
2.5
After-sales Service Quality
2.0

1.5 Information Systems

Quadrant C Quadrant D Services
1.0 Corporate image
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0
Satisfaction with the company in study

Figure 2 - Analysis of the quadrants for CSF, with the axis in the medians (3,26; 3,73).

The CSF which recorded high importance and satisfaction on Futurlab customers’
perception they are factors that represent opportunities to gain or maintain competitive
advantages in the market where Futurlab operates and the same must continue this
good work.

Conclusion and future research lines

This study aimed to identify Critical Success Factors in the development of strategies
that maximize satisfaction of customers the company Futurlab - Material de Laboratório
Lda. (Laboratory Supplies Ltd.), located in Lisbon.

This work is intended to analyze Satisfaction and Importance given by the clients of the
company , identifying the dimensions related to the quality of services that influence
satisfaction and of course a preview of the ability of the company to attract and retain
their customers .

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From the developed research and analyzing the Importance vs. Satisfaction Matrix with
the total of initial variables of the questionnaire offered to customers, it was found that
it’s essential to concentrate efforts to improve the services of free maintenance, it is an
attribute with high importance and where dissatisfaction is evident. The Futurlab should
aim to redesign the creative promotional strategies for integrating virtual channels as
practical. It’s being a superfluous effort to the company because it has low importance
despite of customer satisfaction.

This theory was confirmed with the analysis to the initial latent variables and in which the
questionnaire offered to customers was divided, which concludes that there are good
results for the price competitiveness and for the strategic management it is advised to
improve the After Sales services quality. Should be taken special care and focus on the
attribute information systems service. It is desirable to reformulate the promotional
strategies, and it is considered that the corporate image is an unnecessary effort.

In general, customers are satisfied with the performance of Futurlab and this has all the
necessary conditions to provide quality services to attract new customers and retain its
current ones. Satisfied Customers contribute to loyalty to the company maintaining the
company for future purchases.

To conclude this analysis was purpose of the present study to verify if there are
differences between female and male customers, educational qualifications, position
held in the company, by type of company, net income, by frequency of visits and
company location in relation to the Global Satisfaction and Global Importance, The use
of parametric and non-parametric tests it was concluded that there is sufficient statistical
evidence to affirm that at least one of the distributions for Global Satisfaction in groups
of the variable age and position held is different, the same happens for Global
Importance held in the company by type of company, net income, by visits frequency
and company location . The type of company or sector of activity and the variable
location of the company produce a different effect in relation to the Global Satisfaction.
For the Variables for company location, educational qualifications, net income, visit
frequency, gender there aren’t statistically significant differences in responses to the
Global Satisfaction and Global Importance.

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In this way, because of the analysis made the two research hypotheses were
corroborated. That is, customers are totally satisfied with the Critical Success Factors
identified for the Futurlab Company and correlations between the critical success factors
and the total score have a direct positive relationship with either the Global Satisfaction
and between them, assuming a level of significance of 5%.

This research presents an important contribution because it allowed us to identify the

level of satisfaction of Futurlab customers, never analyzed until the moment, and also it
made possible to identify the attributes and dimensions related to the quality of services
that influence customers’ satisfaction and a preview of company's ability to attract, retain
and engage their customers.

As future lines of research the authors propose to do a cluster analysis to identify the
group of homogeneous costumers and to validate this analysis would be interesting to
perform a trajectory analysis (Path Analysis), in order to understand the relationship
between the latent variables and Critical Success factors identified.

Finally, it can be concluded that in this field, there are many opportunities for further
investigation because it is a very wide area of research.

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