Noah Webster Case

In 1828, Noah Webster said “the value of a thing is what it will bring to market” (Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition, 2014). Value is a return for something in exchange for something provided within the market. Value is based on the relationship between satisfying needs and expectations and the resources required to achieve them. The aim of value is to reconcile all stakeholders’ views and to achieve the best balance between satisfied needs and resources (Boyd & Levy, 1963).

Creating customer value is a key element and necessary condition for a company to be able to establish itself as a viable business in the competitive market. Therefore the meaning of customer value is the product benefits for a certain amount of purchases made in exchange to give the buyer good value for the investment. In addition customer value benefits seeks to satisfy the customer’s personal benefits as well (Boyd & Levy, 1963).

One process that companies are using today is “reengineering. Not only has reengineering contributed to companies’ efficiency, level of production, improvement of job performance and given them a better view and understanding of how their operations fits into the operation as a whole, reengineering has increased value to the customer by giving them high quality products and excellent and rapid customer service that has created profits for the shareholders (Hammer & Stanton, 1999). The authors give several examples of companies that implemented reengineering by integrating their core processes and combining related activities that added value, but the company that I found that made significant changes in the operations function that interacted with other functions to create value was demonstrated by the process management of Texas Instruments’ calculator business. Texas Instruments during the 1990s experienced a significant slump in sales to its competitors. Rather than become a business that folded, Texas Instruments implemented the reengineering process and redesigned the company by creating a process team that integrated employees from all the significant functional departments that management determined would be needed to develop a calculator for customer value. The changes at Texas Instrument calculator unit has resulted in the company being more successful in introducing new products. More importantly the delivery of effective and efficient products creates value for the customers as well as a sense of satisfaction where the customers will more than likely return for additional products.

Duke Power is another example of the operations function that interacted with other functions to create value for the customer. Duke Power has a customer base of about two million customers in North and South Carolina. In 1995, because of deregulation, the company was faced with perceived competition and was forced to address their interaction with the customers. Duke Power