The Relationship between Customer - Interaction Orientation, Customer Empowerment in New Product Development and Customer Profit Performance: An Empirical Study on Egyptian Food Companies

Abstract

Recent changes in the marketplace have resulted in increased interest in consumer's participation in the process of new product development. Because of the special nature that characterizes the food industry sector as reflected in increased customer demand for healthier product alternatives, unique tastes, and more convenient packaging, customer empowerment through his/her participation in the process of new product development becomes extremely important. It is considered essential for maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. It also enables food companies to respond quickly to customers' needs and wants. The researcher proposed a framework that relates company orientation by customer interaction and customer response, using a 2 X 2 Factorial design to test whether the proposed model and the results indicate a high goodness of fit. It is recommended that food companies should adopt customers' empowerment in order to generate and select ideas that help achieve competitive advantage and success.