Prologue

„I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.”

Oscar Wilde (1845 – 1900), Irish writer and poet

In the past, the focus of businesses was the product offered, together with a product oriented marketing and sales strategy. This has changed and it is now recognized that the recipe to success is to put the customer at the epicenter of all business activities and leave the product orientation of the past in the past. This shift of focus from the product to the customer means that efforts have to be centered on satisfying customer needs and expectations.

Long term and sustainable growth of a company is dependent on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty; there has to be a clear focus on understanding customer needs and translating these needs into the R&D (Research & Development) activity of the company to result in tangible benefits for the customer. This requires not only a top level dedication but also a dedicated team which understands the need and value of ‘the customer oriented marketing & sales strategy’.

Today, the availability of new media and easily accessible information allow our customers to be well informed and give the customer the power to compare and choose product offerings. Globalization lends to a changing competitive landscape with increasing number of competitors and easily replaceable products and services. Information explosion leaves the additional challenge to capture customer attention. All these factors contribute to the low threshold for switching and a dissatisfied customer today is unlikely to consume the same product or service again; this presents an opportunity for a truly customer oriented company.

Fresenius Kabi has experienced rapid growth over the past years. This rapid growth and the changing market environment have been major challenges for the company.

These are the considerations under which the former CEO of Fresenius Kabi AG commissioned a customer satisfaction survey at a global level. The aim has been to learn where Fresenius Kabi stands in the continuum from product orientation to customer orientation. How satisfied are customers of Fresenius Kabi as a provider of i. v. generics? What matters to customers and what do they expect from a producer of generic drugs in future?

As a result of this customer satisfaction survey the findings were translated into recommendations for improvement.