CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND UNDERPERFORMANCE IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY

The subject of this article is the relationship between customer satisfaction and business performance. The aim of the article is to determine the relationship between selected factors which form part of customer satisfaction and business performance as measured by the Economic Value Added (EVA) indicator. The research was carried out on a sample of food companies from the Czech Republic using the companies' publicly available accounting data and questionnaires for customers of these companies. The EVA indicator was constructed through a modular method using the ROE indicator as EVA equity. Customer satisfaction was assessed using six factors: image, customer expectation, perceived product quality, perceived product value, the customer's own general satisfaction and customer loyalty. Firstly, the companies were divided into performing (with positive EVA indicators more precisely, spread and ROE) and underperforming (with a negative EVA indicator spread and ROE). It was found that higher customer satisfaction in certain areas of satisfaction leads to lower business performance. The reason for this is the higher ratio of costs to returns with underperforming companies.