Steering On Customer Percieved Value. Tools For Customer-Oriented Asset Management By Dutch Housing Associations

As a consequence of a paradigm shift that took place during the 1980ties Dutch housing associations operate increasingly customer oriented. In this approach the (non-profit) landlord tries to match his supply of dwellings better with the developments in the housing market and with the wishes and possibilities of the dwelling seekers. Or he is successful in this regard depends on the degree in which he creates customer perceived value and in which he reinforces the relation with his tenants. According to Woodruff it is the customer himself that determines or customer value is created. Because a residential situation is a high involvement product customer value will be created during the use of the product. To measure customer value, tenantsí satisfaction is seen as an indication of customer percieved value. In addition, the strength of the relation is measured by customer loyalty. The paper shows by means of several cases how a housing association can steer its asset management on customer perceived value. After a short outline of the paradigm shift, the paper explores the way in which housing associations can create customer value and which geographical level is relevant for measuring and steering. However, because satisfied customers are not always loyal, it will be argued that steering on customer value alone is not enough. Also the strength of the relation should be taken into account in the decision-making process. Furthermore a third parameter turns out to be relevant: the price/quality ratio of the product. Next, a decision table is presented to select the proper strategy at the level of a residential estate. The outcome shows that in our pilots the housing association creates in most estates enough customer perceived value. In other estates an adaptation of the management is necessary. Before choosing a final strategy, the remaining lifespan of the estate should be taken into account. In the evaluation of the developed method some dilemmas will be discussed. These are solvable within the existing steering paradigm.