The Effect of Product Development on Customer Satisfaction Case Study: Mukwano Group Industries

Abstract

The study established the effect of product development on customer satisfaction. The study assessed the effect of product designing on customer satisfaction, examined the role of packaging on customer satisfaction and established the effect of branding on customer satisfaction. The study was carried out due to the fact that the failure rate of products developed had remained high in Uganda for the last decade between years 2004-2014 according to the reports. In addition marketing of developed products has become a long and tedious process and new products fail to gain success in the market which may be due to lack of knowledge or insufficient literature on the strategies that may enable new products to gain success

The study adopted a case study design which focused on Mukwano group industries. The study used both qualitative and quantitative approaches of data collection. The population of the study was 130 and sample size was 97 according to Krejcie and Morgan Table though the actual participants were 80. The field data was coded and analyzed using SPSS version 16 and presented in Pie charts and tables. The primary and secondary sources of data collection were used through the use of questionnaire, journals, textbooks, internet and magazines.

The findings of the study revealed that product design has a positive and a significant relationship with customer satisfaction shown by R 0.634.The findings further revealed a positive and a significant relationship between package design and customer satisfaction shown by R 0.597 and lastly the study noted a positive and a significant relationship branding and customer satisfaction shown by R 0.439. The study concluded that design of a product is important to the firms’ product success since the organization produces products which are valuable in quality. The study also concluded that a good package protect products from damage. The study further concluded that a name of a product can help a company distinguish its products from those of its competitors. The study therefore recommended that the organization should ensure that they change the design of their products often because some products lose market due to outdated design. The management of the organization should focus on improving the quality of the packaging materials if they are to win customers in the market. The management of the organization should carry out customer market research in order to know which brand is selling and increase on the production of the most selling brand.

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