Samenvatting

Relationships between buyers and suppliers are highly important for doing business in an international environment. Before the buyer actually makes a purchase, several steps should take place in order to ensure satisfied customers. The complete process of a buyer who is searching for the right supplier, to eventually receive their products is called the customer journey. A specific moment on the customer journey in which buyer and supplier share any kind of information is called a “touch point”. All these touch points throughout the customer journey can be placed into a customer journey map. Following, the level of satisfaction per touch point will be measured as well as recommendations on how to improve that touch point. The customer journey in the Dutch milk powder sector is being used for this thesis, in order to find improvements on how to increase satisfaction per specific touch point. Increasing the overall satisfaction throughout the customer journey will result in more long-term relationships between buyers and suppliers. When long-term relationships have been established in the milk powder industry, greater emphases can be placed towards innovative implementations to stimulate sustainability. These innovative implementations are highly important in today’s world due to the shifting climate change. The company which is used throughout the research is a producer and exporter of milk powder, based in the Netherlands.