James A. Narus
James C. Anderson *
May 2002
*
James A. Narus is Professor of Business Marketing, Babcock Graduate School of Management, Wake Forest University. James C. Anderson is the William L. Ford Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Wholesale Distribution, and Professor of Behavioral Science in Management, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University. He is also the Irwin Gross Distinguished ISBM Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM), located at Penn State University, and Visiting Research Professor, Department of Technology Management, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. The significant contributions of Jan Peter van der Hoek, Ewald Bruggeman, and Erwin van den Broek in gathering and analyzing case information are gratefully acknowledged. Please note that we prepared this case as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. We have disguised some case information. Send correspondence to: James A. Narus Babcock Graduate School of Management Wake Forest University Suite 150, One Morrocroft Centre 6805 Morrison Boulevard Charlotte, NC 28226-3551 USA +1.704.365.6717 (telephone) jim.narus@mba.wfu.edu (e-mail)
©
2002, James C. Anderson and James A. Narus. All rights reserved.
CROON ELEKTROTECHNIEK, B.V.
A loud but warm greeting startled Fred Kombrink, a lead engineer from Croon Elektrotechniek’s Engineering Department. It came from Bart Van Asch, a senior account representative from Océ Technologies B.V. Along with a technical sales team from Océ, Bart had driven one hour by car from their offices in Den Bosch to Croon’s headquarters in Rotterdam to give a sales presentation for the Océ 950 Digital Reprographics System. “Let me introduce you to my team, “ Bart said enthusiastically as he gave a brief summary of the qualifications of each person. The team