This research report aims to define the drivers of Customer Equity in the SouthAfrican Consulting industry. The Driver Model of Customer Equity was used toformulate this research.This report uses a supply-side qualitative survey, and a demand-sidequantitative survey to test if the propositions put forward from the literaturereview and the qualitative survey held true. The identification of the drivers wasdone through the literature review, and the qualitative survey that wasconducted among the suppliers of management consulting services. Fivesupply-side managers and senior practitioners within consulting firms were usedin the qualitative round; the research instrument was a semi-structuredinterview. The quantitative survey was designed to elicit demand-sideresponses about what customers considered as important in choosing aconsulting firm. The quantitative survey had 36 respondents. The responses tothe quantitative questionnaire were tested using a distribution fitting approachand exploratory factor analysis.The distribution fitting approach found the following attributes within the driversof customer equity to be significantly important: Value Equity - the quality ofservices rendered; Brand Equity – the customer’s perception of brand ethics,based on the sub-drivers of ethical behaviour and the high regard received fromthe community/ society; Industry Specific Drivers – the ability to deliver basedon a proven track record of successful delivery, as well as the knowledge andintellectual capability of the firm, based on the drivers of intellectual ability andhaving the right calibre of people to get the job done.The exploratory factor analysis helped to show the interdependent relationshipsamong the variables in the quantitative questionnaire and the underlyingconstructs that existed in the responses. The factor analysis resulted in a 5-factor solution. The factors obtained were described as: Familiarity, Value,Low-risk, Brand and Retention or Prior experience based purchase decisions
