Satisfied customers do not switch service providers as often, purchase more goods
and can raise the profits of a firm. This research looks at what determines satisfaction
and dissatisfaction in small and medium sized North American customers who
purchase goods from suppliers in Taiwan in the business to business market. There is
very little written about service quality in the business to business setting involving
small international players.
Using the critical incident technique and grounded theory we looked for behaviors
and actions that resulted in incident satisfaction and dissatisfaction. We found two
broad categories of determinants. Longitudinal factors included time/money and
relationship. These longitudinal factors are developed over time and cannot easily be
used to determine satisfaction or dissatisfaction in one specific instant. Episodic
factors are attitude, ability, flexibility, recovery and specification conformance. These
factors occur within episode between the buyer and seller and actions at that time can
help do determine satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

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