Developing a Coffee Percolator In the 1980s, a Japanese home appliance company was trying to develop a new coffee percolator in a highly competitive market. The company started looking at the features offered by its competitors and considered designs like a General Electric model or a drip-type machine like Philips. It also debated if its percolator should be large or small. After much debate, the company asked itself a fundamental question: Why do people drink coffee? The answer was clear-good taste. Further discussion revealed that good taste required good water quality, appropriate coffee-grounds distribution, and a limited time between grinding and brewing. That prompted the company to create a very different percolator-one with a built-in dechlorinator and a built-in grinder. In other words, rather than competing on existing features, the company introduced new features that neither the customers nor the competitors had considered. Discussion question What is the type of customer value the Japanese home appliance company trying to pursue? How it is different to any other type of customer value already discussed