J. D. Power and Associates公司

Established in 1968, the firm's primary objective is to assist companies in achieving their operating goals by providing relevant information and business solutions based on the expectations of their customers. J.D. Power and Associates has gained practical experience developing customer service models across industries by becoming intimately familiar with consumer decision-making, habits and perceptions. As a result, the firm can quickly assist companies in better understanding their customer base by analyzing consumer experiences with products and services and translating that information into actionable improvement initiatives. Key Dates: Power publishes results of national ownership survey that reveals problems with the Mazda rotary engine. Power begins developing the Power Information Network to capture daily sales data of automobile dealers. Power then began preparing independent surveys that were sold to automakers on a subscription basis in the early 1970s. The first was a national ownership survey of the Mazda rotary engine. The survey revealed that owners were having major problems with the unique engine. Although Mazda initially denied the problems, the company later acknowledged them. The survey gave Power great credibility and showed that the agency was not just a spokesperson for the auto industry. In the mid-1970s Power surveyed American car owners about front-wheel-drive vehicles. At the time U.S. automakers were not offering that option; only Honda and Subaru were. Power's front-wheel-drive survey showed that American consumers were interested in front-wheel-drive if it performed well and was reliable. The survey clinched Power's position as an auto industry prophet. Still, the Power agency was one of several statistics-gathering organizations in the 1970s and did not really stand out among automakers. Power's annual Consumer Satisfaction Index, first published in 1981, measured satisfaction among customers who had owned their cars for one year. Consumers were asked to rate their vehicles as well as dealer service during the first year of ownership by checking off a list of defects and service problems. The 1983 survey indicated the overall index was up 9.5 percent, which could be taken as an indication that automobile manufacturers were becoming more concerned with quality. While imports dominated the list, Ford was able to pull ahead of a number of imports in the survey. Power's revenues were $7.5 million in 1987, the year in which the agency introduced its Initial Quality Study (IQS), which covered automobile owner experiences during the first 90 days of ownership. The study was released every May. In the first IQS the Toyota Cressida was ranked first with a score of 69 problems per hundred cars. By 1989 the Power agency was sending out four million questionnaires annually to car owners and taking in $12 million. About 35 percent of the mailed surveys were answered, a higher than average response rate. At the end of the 1980s quality was the biggest issue among carmakers. They were spending millions of dollars promoting the findings of the Power organization, which had grown in status during the 1980s due to three main factors: increased professionalism of the Power staff; increased attention given to domestic automakers; and a substantial increase in the number of winners who purchased advertising to promote the Power findings and the organization. Automakers cited Power's improved technical support. They were completely confident in the Power organization's ability to conduct interviews and code results properly, without bias. At the end of the 1980s Power was publishing four major automotive reports annually, plus numerous minor ones. Its best-known surveys were the Customer Satisfaction Index and the Initial Quality Study. Customers were not allowed to publish or release the contents of an entire survey, but they could report and publicize favorable findings as long as Power approved it for accu