Creating customer value in new technology-based services

Summary form only given. It is becoming increasingly difficult nowadays to differentiate on technical features and quality alone, because of the ever-shorter periods of technical superiority. Companies may overcome this problem by looking at customer needs, instead of technical features. This is the core of the so called ´customer value concept´, which advocates thinking in value attributes instead of tangible features. The intangible character of these services makes it harder to copy, because their quality largely depends on the firm´s personnel and culture. In this paper the concept of customer value is elaborated by evaluating the results of a conjoint analysis into extra service creation at an R&D intensive multinational company in the area of office equipment