In contrast more than twice as many US visitors felt that way

In contrast, more than twice as many US visitors felt that way. But important as perception is, it does not tell the full story. The survey - which drew on responses from overseas and British business, leisure visitors and Londoners - also found that satisfaction levels are generally not as high as they should be in a country that sees itself as a service economy.Anybody who has struggled around London's transport system in recent weeks will not be surprised to learn that only half of respondents gave the Underground a top rating and fewer than half gave that accolade to the trains and buses.This is not to say it is all bad news. MSB points to the high ratings given to cabbies and pub landlords, as well as the city's museums and police. Don Porter, joint managing director of MSB, says: "There is a great deal about which to be proud."But he stresses that "there is still some way to go in attaining excellent levels of customer service and value for money across the board". As well as public transport, hotels below the three-star level need to be looked at urgently, he adds.Mr Porter also addresses the "clear distinction between the satisfaction levels of overseas and UK visitors". Whether or not expectations are higher among UK residents, work should be done to consider their requirements, he points out.Organisations keen to see their ratings improve could pick up a few tips from Leonard Berry's new book, Discovering the Soul of Service (Simon & Schuster, pounds 17.99).Although an academic at Texas A&M University, Professor Berry also advises companies, and this role shows in his identification of "nine drivers of sustainable business success".The drivers should be familiar to those abreast of current management thinking: values, trust and strategic focus feature strongly.

But underlying them all is "executional excellence".As Prof Berry points out: "A customer does not experience a strategy; a customer experiences the execution of that strategy - that is, the `total product'." In other words, companies can have the best strategy in the world, but that is no good if they do not bring it into being.This is crucial because in a fiercely competitive world rivals will always be looking to adapt ideas. "Strategy cannot be hidden and success invites imitation," says Prof Berry "The only option is to outperform competitors. A poorly executed strategy clears a path for competitors to succeed with imitation."Equally, though, there is little point in devising strategies and even executing them if they are not grounded in the sort of things sought by customers. Prof Berry talks of "values-driven leadership" and "humane organisational values", pointing out that the best service providers realise the importance of inspiring people. Some organisations, such as the US travel firm Rosenbluth, recognise this to the extent of saying that the customer comes second (to the employee).However, for all the attention being given to customer service, perhaps things have moved on a stage. Tim Brown of the product design company Ideo, for instance, believes that what the customer is increasingly looking for is an "experience".For somebody like him - grounded in coming up with products and services which "add value" - that is obviously a challenge.

But it is also a contest for all those organisations that ensure their staff smile but cannot be sure customers will remember where they were the last time someone said "have a nice day".. IN THESE days of knowledge management and e-commerce, you might assume that huge numbers of companies must already be operating in an interconnected world, writes Roger Trapp. However, a study published tomorrow indicates that in Europe, at least, this is further off than we may think. According to a report by the IT research specialist GartnerGroup, users of electronic documents are much more concerned about practical compliance and security than e-commerce and knowledge management. Next in importance are other practical issues, such as document archiving/retrieval and workflow.The report, commissioned by the Association for Information and Image Management International, finds these views reflected in the fact that 59 per cent of information technology investment in this area is in vertical applications - that is, in claims processing in insurance, new drug applications in pharmaceuticals and call centres generically. And the vast majority of expenditure is on technologies such as workflow, budgeting and planning packages, technology management and imaging.As a result, organisations are in a position to become more efficient and effective at what they do. But it seems they are less able to make the connections with other organisations that are seen as vital for real improvements - for instance, in the supply chain.It is little wonder, then, that the Gartner report predicts strong growth in this market within Europe - from $4.1bn (pounds 2.6bn) last year to $11.4bn in 2003; a compound annual growth rate of 23 per cent, compared with 19 per cent in the world as a whole.But it also appears that growth could be even stronger were it not for the fact that European organisations see the cost of implementing such technologies as higher than it is in the United States.Not that price is the only obstacle.

IT skills shortages and the impossibility of charting a clear return on investment in information projects rank highly, while sellers of IT equipment perceive customers to be ignorant about its benefits.. Given that they charge clients rather fancy fees for their supposed insights into the way business is developing, perhaps we shouldn't congratulate management consultants for predicting that companies are going to form industry clusters, that employees will call the tune in the knowledge economy, and that medium-sized firms will find themselves under threat After all, evidence of these trends is all around us. The findings are contained in Globalisation and the Knowledge Society - the new drivers for business and the workforce, a new book from the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) that examines what Britain needs to do to remain competitive in the next century. What with McKinsey's well-known report on prod- uctivity and other documents on R&D spending and entrepreneurial activity, it might seem more appropriate to talk of becoming rather than remaining competitive. However, the message retains some power if the crux of it becomes a widely accepted truth rather than merely an opinion.As the McKinsey report acknowledged, Britain has some organisations that are global stars on anybody's terms.

The pharmaceuticals companies Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham are obvious examples, while our supermarkets have set some impressive standards.But there is, as they say, a long tail. And it is hard to avoid the conclusion that this is in part a legacy of Britain's industrial heritage. Certain elements seem to think that many UK organisations have a right to exist.Consultants are, of course, always talking about change and how it is much faster than before. But current developments mean that, for once, such claims really are true. The rapid adoption of the internet and the resulting increase in e-commerce have the potential to change the business landscape beyond recognition.British companies, like their counterparts around the world, are starting to throw large amounts of cash at this field. But, as yet, there appears to be little in the way of coherent strategy.