Customer Value Assessment in Business Markets:

The state-of-practice with respect to customer value assessment in business markets was studied. Familiarity with and usage of nine methods were investigated for a sample of 80 informants from the largest U.S. industrial firms and 20 informants from the largest U.S. market research firms that conduct studies in business markets. Focus group value assessments and importance ratings are the most widely-used methods, while conjoint analysis, though used less frequently, has the highest percentage of judged successful applications. Implications of the results for marketing practice are discussed and some worthwhile areas where academic research might advance the present state-of-practice are suggested.