Customer Feedback in R&D Business

:Present economic realities, especially the overwhelming
influence of 'market' on every aspect of human existence, has brought about a change in the traditional R&D-philosophy of remaining alooffrom 'business' activities. Now marketing the products of R&D to earn money is considered an essential aspect of R&D activity. Measurement, analysis and management of customer satisfaction,essential for success in business, have been recognised as equally important for success in R&D also- Customer Feedback plays a very significant role in success of marketing technologies developed by R&D organisations. The feedback not only indicates the level of customer
satisfaction, it can also reveal focus areas needing special attention.The paper briefly discusses the factors influencing customer's satisfaction and loyalty, and the various sources of customer feedback. Further, citing examples from a case-study, an approach has been
suggested for measurement and analysis of customer satisfaction,based on customer feedback. At the end, the paper discusses the steps taken so far to obtain meaningful customer feedback through the CSIR's
Customer Satisfaction Evaluation (CSE) programme, at NML, and some analysis of the feedback received. The paper also discusses common problems faced in obtaining useful customer feedback.