The Communication Strategies and Customer's Requirements Definition at the Early Design Stages: An Empirical Study on Italian Luxury Automotive Brands

Paper in proceeding, 2016

At the early stages of the product development, it is important to set up customer's requirements and translate these into the technical specifications with the highest level of precision since the changes in the late design phases have extremely high cost. These requirements are directly dependent on the correct and complete definition of perceived quality attributes. Such attention to the details is vital for the luxury car manufacturers since they are seeking to fulfill customer requirements with the high level of personalization. This research based on the perceived quality framework and presents findings from the empirical study of leading Italian luxury vehicle manufacturers. This research contributes to the existing debate regarding the correct definition of the customer's requirements and communication strategies. Moreover, it highlights possible ways to reduce information asymmetry between car manufacturers and customers.