Research for exploring customer foresight In the non-profit sector : a case study of Pohon Oy
Alidjaja, Ivan Stephanus; Katsara, Ioanna (2023)
2023
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023110929047
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023110929047
Tiivistelmä
For-profit industries have made significant progress in understanding the needs and behaviour of present and future customers, enabling the design and development of products and services tailored to their requirements. However, the non-profit sector is perceived to be lagging behind other industries in this aspect.
The objective of this thesis was to analyse present and future customer behaviour by using customer foresight research methods and use the findings to suggest development of new products for a case company. The methodology used in this thesis was qualitative and exploratory. Customer foresight journey was used as an umbrella for methods such as netnography, future scenarios, expert discussion. In addition, other methods were added to enhance the process: survey, triadic model of future signs, sci-fi, blog analysis, web-search analysis, SWOT analysis and probable-plausible analysis.
The research revealed that future customer behaviour was influenced by varying degrees of weak and strong signals from the present, which could either diminish or grow stronger over time. These signals encompassed the impact of technology and research & innovation on customer behaviour, the significance of transparency and effectiveness, altruistic behaviour, customer engagement, and the trust factor. The thesis concluded that the case company must be adaptive, agile and resilient in order to anticipate fluidity of future customer behaviour that are influenced by generational behaviour and trigger factors (weak sign, strong sign, trends, black swan event).
The objective of this thesis was to analyse present and future customer behaviour by using customer foresight research methods and use the findings to suggest development of new products for a case company. The methodology used in this thesis was qualitative and exploratory. Customer foresight journey was used as an umbrella for methods such as netnography, future scenarios, expert discussion. In addition, other methods were added to enhance the process: survey, triadic model of future signs, sci-fi, blog analysis, web-search analysis, SWOT analysis and probable-plausible analysis.
The research revealed that future customer behaviour was influenced by varying degrees of weak and strong signals from the present, which could either diminish or grow stronger over time. These signals encompassed the impact of technology and research & innovation on customer behaviour, the significance of transparency and effectiveness, altruistic behaviour, customer engagement, and the trust factor. The thesis concluded that the case company must be adaptive, agile and resilient in order to anticipate fluidity of future customer behaviour that are influenced by generational behaviour and trigger factors (weak sign, strong sign, trends, black swan event).