EPSI, European Performance Satisfaction Index, is an economic indicator based on modeling of customer assessment of the quality of goods and services purchased in European countries. It reflects causes and consequences of customer satisfaction and their mutual relationships. 

Financial Indicator

EPSI is an important indicator of economic performance, both for individual firms and on the industry and national economy levels. It is related to leading indicators that are able to predict consumer spending and stock -market growth. 

Background of EPSI 2007 study

The results for the 2007 round of EPSI studies in the Northern part of Europe are now ready. The studies have been conducted during the period September – December 2007 in the respective nations. They have been conducted in accordance with the EPSI-Research approach using the causal model approach, see www.epsi-rating.com.

Harmonized questionnaires for the empirical work are developed within the EPSI-initiative.

Data collection is done based on telephone interviews to more than 225,000 respondents (both final consumers and corporate customers).

The majority of the field work has been done by EDB Business Partners – for Sweden; and Hermelin Nordic Research – for other Scandinavian countries and the Baltic States. Data collection in the other included countries has been conducted by national survey institutes.

In the following a few special aspects of benchmark conclusions are reported for common sectors and countries with an appropriate spread in terms of coverage.

• Finland has been on top of the national ranking list during a number of years in terms of scoring their suppliers. In 2005 – 2006 Finland experienced decreasing national results, while the satisfaction scores have once again improved in 2007.
• Sweden has improved further and is now in the middle for the Nordic countries.
• The national index in Norway has decreased a bit more and been stable in Iceland in terms of overall national satisfaction. These Nordic countries and Russia exhibit the lowest national satisfaction levels in 2007.
• The gaps between the Nordic countries are further reduced during the recent years.
• Satisfaction in the Baltic countries is still high on average (with Lithuania at top); see Graph 1 and Table 1.
• Banking industry has a positive trend while the trend for retail trade is more negative. The score for both mobile phones and General Insurance has improved this year; see Graph 2.

• Among the Nordic banking groups, Handelsbanken (SHB) performs best, with Danske bank on second place.

• Tryg Vesta with operations that are included in the EPSI measurement in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden performs among the top companies in the general Insurance industry.

• TeliaSonera with measured operations in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and all Baltic States come on top in the Telecom sector.

• Citizens of Denmark, Finland and Russia have the most optimistic outlook at their respective national economy for the coming year (2008).

• People, living in Denmark, Russia and Iceland, have the highest expectation on their own economic situation for 2008. The largest positive gap between the general and own economy are indicated for people in Iceland, Latvia and Ukraine.

Pan-Nordic/Baltic financial groups

Position in the eyes of customers

Handelsbanksgruppen

1

Danske Bank

2

Swedbank

3

SEB

4

Nordea

5

Nordic (General) Insurance companies/groups 

Tryg Vesta

1

If

2

International tele/datacom companies/groups

TeliaSonera

1

Tele 2

2

Telenor

3

From year 2004 also questions about the consumer sentiment (how the consumers perceive the overall economic future the next 12 months, and how they perceive their own future economic situation).

These measures aim at giving an indication of how the demand will develop in the economy during the coming year.

The higher score (between 0 – 100) the more optimistic are the individuals.

During the Fall 2005 - 2007, the following overall scores were obtained (the higher score the more positive future perception).

The results for the respective year are based on measurement during September to December. It is possible to also split by month (as the number of observations are very high) in order to also trace short-term changes in this crucial business-cycle index.

EU

to monitor and devise policy instruments focusing on the competitiveness of, for example, European industry compared with other economic centres like the US and south-east Asia;

Government 

for economic policy formulation, analysis of competitiveness, quality analysis and adjustment (including calculation of price development, GDP-estimates, productivity trends, etc.). It is true when it comes to living standards for citizens;

Non-governmental organizations

industry specific and  citizens associations – for their policy updating and influencing government (including elections and lobbing);

Investors 

to understand the relationship between a company's current condition and its future capacity to produce added value;

Corporate managers

for improving company profitability due to benchmarking and improvements in value chain;

Consumers/citizens

to have a voice in measures those reflect living standards.