IKEA was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad and is currently retailing in 44 different countries around the globe. With the implementation of 25 year warranty the importance to validate the quality have increased to satisfy the customer. The aim of this thesis have therefore been to find out the critical factors for kitchen worktops through the expectations of the customers. In addition to this the product development process was investigated to gain an understanding on how IKEA deals with customer complaints today. The thesis was divided in four stages. First the customers’ expectations were investigated by using the survey research method. The formulations of the questions are of great importance in this research method so that the information needed can be gathered without confusion and irritation. The critical factors of the kitchen worktops were also located in this survey and are out of the customer point of view. After the survey was done and the critical factors identified a concept generation phase was started to analyze possible ways of solving the issues with the kitchen worktops. Three proposals of concepts was generated; improvement in quality, improvement in the information communicated by IKEA, and a combination of these two. These proposals were analyzed against each other, against the survey and against the possible concrete gains. When the proposals of concepts were completed a decision to investigate the product development process was made and suggestions on how these critical factors could be found earlier in the process were made. Lastly a proposal of a database system for categorizations of the customer complaints when it comes to different defects were made and proposed to IKEA. Out from the information received by the survey these proposals could be made and the conclusion that scratches and to some extent heat was the most critical flaws, which would be the thing to focus further on. The product development process could also be improved to make it possible to take notice of these critical flaws earlier in the process. To summarize the project was successful and IKEA was really happy with the results, and the extra tasks that were added to this thesis. The first problem description was to only find the customers’ expectations but to get something out of this we added the proposals and the attempt to change the product development process when it comes to kitchen worktops.

Magistro darbe išanalizuota organizacijos kultūros esmė, jos ryšys su aptarnavimo kultūra. Išanalizuoti įvairių autorių aprašyti organizacijos kultūrą veikiantys veiksniai ir faktoriai, nuo kurių priklauso klientų aptarnavimo kultūra. Nustatyta, kad klientų aptarnavimo kultūros pagrindinis veiksnys yra žmogiškasis faktorius. Atlikta personalo motyvavimo, kvalifikacijos kėlimo, vadovo ir darbuotojų asmeninio požiūrio įtaka klientų aptarnavimo gerinimui. Ištirta klientų aptarnavimo kultūros būklė Šiaulių apskrities valstybinėje mokesčių inspekcijoje darbuotojų ir klientų požiūriu. Numatytos klientų aptarnavimo kultūros gerinimo kryptis Šiaulių apskrities valstybinėje mokesčių inspekcijoje. Patvirtinama autorės suformuluota mokslinio tyrimo hipotezė, kad klientai apie organizacijos kultūrą sprendžia remdamiesi jų aptarnavimo kultūros lygiu. / Organizational culture and its relations with service culture are analyzed in the master’s work. Accentuated described by various authors organizational culture influencing factors that affect customer service culture. It was determined that the main customer service affecting factor is human factor. It was established personnel motivation, training in-service, executive and staff personal approach impact to customer service improvement. In Siauliai Country State Tax Inspectorate customer service culture was analyzed from customers and personnel point of view and also was prepared suggestions how customer service culture could be improved in this organization. In master’s work the author hypothesized that customers make decisions about organizational culture according to the level of their service culture. This hypothesis was confirmed.

Ms Jennie Chua, President and Chief Operating Officer of Raffles International, Singapore once said that if "high-tech" represents the higher spectrum of industries in the manufacturing sector, then "high-touch" would represent the pinnacle of the service industry. "High-touch" is the art of service. It is the personal touch, the extra effort, the Attention and alertness to customer needs and preferences. Excellent service is both a skill and an attitude. Training equips our people with the know-how to provide good service. Excellent service exudes warmth and friendliness, not cold efficiency. Yet how many of our catering companies have reached that pinnacle? For our enterprises to stay productive and competitive in the midst of high business and labour cost, offering excellent service is one differentiating factor. This study was concerned with analysing the Fedics division of KZN, with special emphasis on the customer service. According to Strauss and Frost (2001), there are many trends that are apparent about individuals and businesses, which are important in developing marketing strategy that involves the catering industry. The research analyses the effects of buying behaviour and makes recommendations for the improvement of Customer service, which is an important strategy for any service related organization to survive and grow. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.

This study was conducted among clients of Mediterranean Shipping Company with three principal aims in mind. Firstly, adopt the appropriate measuring instrument to measure customer satisfaction levels within MSC, using the five SERVQUAL dimensions namely Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy. The second is to measure the levels of customer satisfaction within MSC and lastly to make recommendations towards improving the levels of service quality and ultimately begin implementing a customer orientated quality assurance programme within MSC. The results show that there are significant differences between the respondents' expectation and their perceptions. All five dimensions showed that customers' expectations exceeded their perceptions, with Tangibles having the smallest gap and Reliability having the largest gap. It has been the talk of many customers that MSC provides very good service to their customers. On the contrary, this study reveals that there is still some level of dissatisfaction among the customers. Therefore, it is hoped that this study would contribute to MSC's understanding of their clients' perception of service quality and develop a marketing strategy that will increase their customers' level of satisfaction and improve their relationship with MSC. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

The development of relationship marketing, which is oriented towards developing lasting relationships with clients, emerged in the 1990's. The concept suggests that by better understanding customers on an individual level and by delivering to them information, products and services targeted to their specific needs, marketers can develop a long-term relationship with them that translates into worthwhile profits. Thus, relationship marketing focuses on customer orientation, with high service emphasis and high customer contact. Relationship marketing uses improved information technology to regularly communicate with firm customers and to base product/service offerings on the customer's buying behaviour. Computer linkages, advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, sponsorships, publicity, special events and exhibitions aid communication among channel members and also create a relationship between buyer and seller. Whilst research has been conducted on a general aspect of relationship marketing, there appears to be no significant study on how communication efforts can promote relationship marketing in the cellular industry. It is the intention of this study to examine the way in which relationship marketing is currently being employed in the cellular industry and to assess how improved communication can result in the effective application thereof. The objectives of this study are to investigate whether the communication efforts of the cellular operating companies are satisfying customers, to establish if the communication tools used by the companies are effective in promoting relationship marketing and to explore whether existing customers will become advocates of the company. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Research Administration at the University of KwaZulu -Natal. All subjects were aware of the purpose of the study and the aims and objectives. All subjects signed and consented to be part of the study. The target population consists of existing cellular phone users from whom the researcher attempted to draw conclusions and make generalizations. In KwaZulu-Natal, 251 cellular phone users volunteered and participated in this study. Informed consent was required of each of the respondents. 53% were contract customers and 38% were prepaid customers. There were 94 males (38%) and 141 females (56%) in the sample. The overall response rate was 83.7%. The main results yielded from this study indicated that cellular phone users were satisfied with the communication efforts of their service providers. Therefore, the communication tools used by their service providers were effective in creating, maintaining and enhancing relationships with their customers. Also it was very evident that existing customers are advocates of their service provider and will continue to be so into the future. This study recommends that customers must understand and be informed of the future direction that their service provider will take. They must be informed of long and medium term plans, new developments and any fundamental changes that are going to take place. Since service is the nerve centre of any organization, service providers must improve on their service to customers. Service providers should conduct regular satisfaction surveys to get feedback from customers and monitor their attitudes towards them and assess the performance on their accounts. The fulfilment of these recommendations will promote and enhance relationship marketing in the cellular industry. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.

Syfte - Att undersöka hur en kundsegmenteringsprocess kan utformas samt vilka variabler man bör iaktta för att kunna erbjuda en lämplig kundservicenivå. För att uppnå detta syfte skall följande frågeställningar besvaras: 1. Vilka variabler bör ingå i en kundsegmentering? 2. Hur kan en kundsegmenteringsprocess utformas? Metod - En generell kundsegmenteringsprocess utformades. Processen har utvecklats genom kvalitativ forskning baserad på litteraturstudier samt intervjuer i en fallstudie. Under litteraturstudien granskades teorier i ämnet för att besvara frågeställningarna. Detta jämfördes senare med empirin som samlats under fallstudien. Resultat - Den utformade processen innehåller sju dimensioner med tillhörande variabler. Under studien har variablerna utvärderats för att ta reda på hur de påverkar situationen. Endast de variabler som hade ett stort inflytande på situationen togs med i processen. Studien visade att det finns olika strategier för att utföra en kundsegmentering. Vid utformning av en kundsegmenteringsprocess är det viktigt att veta vilka variabler som passar organisationens bransch samt hur de påverkar resultatet. Omfång och Avgränsningar - Rapporten är begränsad till att utforma ett förslag på en kundsegmenteringsprocess. Processen kommer därför inte att tillämpas på fallföretaget under fallstudien. Processen kan fortfarande generaliseras och användas av företag med liknade egenskaper. Ytterligare forskning skulle kunna sträva efter att inkludera andra variabler som passar in på fler branscher. Implikationer - Den utformade processen hjälper till vid beslutssituationer avseende kundsegmentering. Genom att balansera de variabler som föreslagits möjliggör dem en grund för olika kundserviceerbjudanden. Dessa variabler beaktar den eftersträvade generaliseringen. Bidrag och Rekommendationer - Kundsegmenteringsprocessen som presenteras i denna rapport är, såvitt författarna vet, den första i sitt slag med sin layout. Variablerna kan även användas i andra segmenteringsprocesser vilket visar en hög grad av generalisering. Vad som är unikt med den designade processen i denna rapport är att den innehåller en mix av två väl beprövade teorier inom kundsegmentering nämligen, Kotler’s (2009) Bottom-Up-Approach och Weinstein’s (2004) B2B Market Segmentation. / Purpose – To examine how the process of customer segmentation can be designed, and which variables to consider to offer an appropriate customer service. To achieve this purpose the following questions will be answered: 1. Which variables should be included in customer segmentation? 2. How can a customer segmentation process be designed? Method – A general process was designed. The process has been developed through qualitative research based on literature review and interviews conducted in a case study. During the literature review the authors sought for theories on the subject in order to answer the research questions. This was later compared to the empirical evidence collected from the case study. Findings – The designed process contains seven dimensions with related variables. During the study the variables were evaluated concerning their impact on the situation. Only variables that had a high influence on the situation were implemented in the process. The study showed that that there are various approaches towards performing customer segmentation. When designing a customer segmentation process, it is of high importance to know which variables suit the organizations line of business and how they affect the outcome. Research limitations – The thesis is restricted into designing a customer segmentation process, the process will therefore not be applied on the case company during the case study. The process can still be generalized and usable for companies with similar distribution setup. Further research could strive to include other variables. Implications – The designed process assists in the decision-making situation regarding customer segmentation. By balancing the variables it enables a basis for customer service offering. These variables take the requested generalization in consideration. Originality/value – The customer segmentation process presented in this thesis is, as far as the authors know, the first in its kind with its layout. The variables could be used in other segmentation processes as well which show a high grade of generalization. What is unique with the designed process in this thesis is that it contains a mixture of two well proven customer segmentation theories namely, Kotler’s (2009) Bottom-Up-Approach and Weinstein’s (2004) B2B Market Segmentation.

Much research show that strategies of personalization aiming to meet customers' needs and behaviors are an important aspect to influence the competitiveness within an industry. However there is a gap of studies on how airlines use customer involvement for creating personalized strategies in the field of e-commerce while enhancing the competitive advantage. This study is aims to describe how airlines can create personalized e-commerce strategies by considering the customer involvement in order to enhance their competitiveness. In conjunction with this first assumption the study aims to demonstrate how airlines could increase their customer loyalty by implementing the concept of customer relationship management (CRM) within their e-commerce strategies. A theoretical framework has been developed derived from a review of the existing literature in order to describe how airlines can use personalization as a strategy in e-commerce to develop a competitive advantage.  A qualitative multiple-case study has been chosen for this study. Three companies have been studied within the European airline industry and have been led by a deductive approach which will aim to investigate the theoretical framework.The analysis of empirical findings revealed some relevant conclusions, which can bring value to the research area, and also to the practice. The main findings show that airlines are involving customers into their e-commerce strategies in various forms and different levels regarding a specific project. One of the major result of this thesis is that airlines seem to focus on point of contacts with customers external to the e-commerce platform.

I den konkurrensutsatta bankmarknaden har det blivit viktigare att utveckla kundrelationerna då det är ett bra sätt att differentiera sig från varandra. Avsikten med studien är att förklara och analysera vilken inverkan demografiska faktorer har på lojalitet. I teorin har det framförts en presentation på relationsmarknadsföring och dennes betydelse i dagens samhälle. Efteråt har vi utifrån tidigare forskning beskrivit oberoende variabler som kundnöjdhet, förtroende, kommunikation, engagemang, kompetens och beroende variabeln kundlojalitet. Därefter har en presentation av demografiska faktorerna kön, ålder, inkomst och kultur framförts. Dessa faktorer har varit basen för utveckling av vår undersökningsmodell. Utifrån teorin har vi uppmärksammat att tidigare forskare har kommit fram till att kommunikation är en viktig variabel för både förtroendet och lojaliteten. Även nöjdheten och engagemang har i deras undersökningar ett signifikant samband med lojaliteten. Studien har använt sig av deduktiv ansats och utifrån en positivistisk synvinkel. Studien har genomförts med hjälp av en kvantitativ undersökning genom enkätfrågor. Dessa frågor har baserats på tidigare forskning och tilldelats 130 studenter på Malmö högskola vid två olika tillfällen. Analysen har framförts genom statistiska tester i SPSS. Inledningsvis analyserades vilken tillförlitlighet studien har och det visade sig att alla faktorer förutom kompetensen hade hög reliabilitet. Därefter kan vi genom korrelationstestet se att förtroende, nöjdhet, engagemang, kommunikation har en positiv korrelation till kundlojalitet. Studiens sista test var regressionsanalys som prövade vilka faktorer som har ett signifikant samband med kundlojaliteten. Det visade sig att alla faktorer förutom kompetens hade ett signifikant samband med kundlojalitet. Faktorerna slogs samman till en gemensam variabel; kundlojalitet. Detta gjordes i syfte att jämföra hur demografiska faktorer påverkar kundlojaliteten hos studenter. Det resultera i att endast kön var den faktor som hade en signifikant skillnad vilket innebär att den påverkar kundlojalitet. Kultur, ålder och inkomst hade ingen signifikant skillnad. Vi kunde även utläsa att skillnaderna i medelvärde var för små mellan de olika grupperna mot variabeln kundlojalitet / In the highly competitive banking market, it has become more important to develop customer relationships where it is a good way to differentiate themselves from each other. The purpose of the study is to explain and analyze the impact demographic factors have on loyalty. In theory there has been a presentation on relationship marketing and its importance in today's society. Afterwards we have based on previous research described independent variables as customer satisfaction, trust, communication, commitment, competence and dependent variable customer loyalty. Since then, a presentation of demographic factors gender, age, income, and culture have been made. These factors have been the basis for the development of our research model. In theory, we have drawn attention to the fact that previous researchers have come to the conclusion that communication is an important variable for both trust and loyalty. Also satisfaction and commitment in their studies have a significant relationship with the loyalty. The study has used the deductive approach and based on a positive point of view. The study has been carried out with the help of a quantitative study by survey. These questions have been based on previous research and assigned to 130 students at the Malmo University at two different times. The analysis has been made by means of statistical tests in SPSS. Initially the study has analyzed the reliability and it appeared that all of the factors except competence had high reliability. Then we can see that by correlation test trust, satisfaction, commitment, communication has a positive correlation to customer loyalty. The last test was regression analysis which tested the factors which have a significant relationship with customer loyalty. It was found that all the factors except competence had a significant relationship with customer loyalty. Factors were combined into a single variable; customer loyalty. This was done in order to compare how demographic factors affect customer loyalty among students. The result was that gender was the only factor that had a significant difference which means that it affects customer loyalty. Culture, age and income had no significant difference. because difference in average was too low to detect an impact on customer loyalty. We could also show that the differences in the mean were small between the different groups with the variable customer loyalty.

Organisations are facing increasing pressures in terms of customer service since customers tend to become more demanding as competition within industries increases. In order to succeed in this changing marketplace, organisations should focus on forming and maintaining long-term relationships with their customers. Developing long-term relationships, in turn, depends on the organisation?s ability to exceed customers? expectations and to continuously ensure customer satisfaction. Service organisations in particular find it difficult to provide constant customer satisfaction due to the high level of human involvement in service delivery, which often leads to inevitable service failures. Service failures, as a result, cause the disconfirmation of service expectations. This disconfirmation gives rise to customer dissatisfaction, which is generally considered as the initiator of customer complaint behaviour. Culture is regarded as one of the most influential factors affecting customers? behaviour in response to dissatisfaction with a purchase experience. Customers? culture could have an impact on the manner in which customers engage in complaint behaviour, and could also have a bearing on how service failures and organisations? service recovery efforts are perceived. Organisations functioning in a multicultural country such as South Africa could therefore benefit from gaining a more profound understanding of cultural influences on customer behaviour and specifically complaint behaviour. The primary objective of this study was to determine the influence of culture on customers? complaint behaviour pertaining to service failures within the context of the South African banking industry. A structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from banking customers residing in Gauteng, who were sampled by means of a non-probability sampling method. In total, 600 respondents participated in this study, comprising 150 each from the black, coloured, Indian/Asian and white cultural groups. Results from the study indicate that although the majority of respondents have a propensity to complain, no practically significant differences were found between respondents from different cultures with regard to their propensity to complain. Results furthermore showed no differences between the different cultural groups in terms of their complaint behaviour following a hypothetical service failure. Although it was established that respondents expect the bank to do something about the service failure ? in particular correcting the problem and providing an explanation for the problem ? respondents? expectations regarding service recovery and perceptions of the bank?s service recovery efforts were found not to have been influenced by their respective cultures. The results, in addition, showed that a higher service recovery effort had a more positive effect on respondents? post-recovery satisfaction, likelihood of maintaining their relationship with the bank and loyalty, than that of a lower service recovery effort. It is recommended that banks should not view their customers differently in terms of their cultural backgrounds, but that they should rather focus continuously on providing all customers with the same level of quality service, even after a service failure has occurred. Banks should also encourage all customers to voice complaints directly to them in order to minimise the harmful effects of negative word-of-mouth and to improve recoveries from failures. Since respondents in this study indicated that they expect banks to offer an apology in the case of a service failure, to provide an explanation of the cause of the problem and to correct the problem, banks should ensure that a high level of quality interaction takes place between the dissatisfied customer and employees following a service failure. Such an approach requires banks to ensure that their employees are motivated and competent to solve customers? problems. It is therefore also recommended that banks should invest resources in employee selection, training, development, empowerment, discretionary decision-making power and support in order to ensure that customer-facing employees are able to provide a satisfactory service recovery, and are able to efficiently manage the complaint process. Recommendations for future research include extending this study to other service settings in order to determine whether there are similarities or differences in the influence of culture on customers? complaint behaviour pertaining to service failures. Future research can be conducted in collaboration with a specific bank in order to discover more specific information with regards to service failures and complaint situations within the bank, as well as customers? perceptions of the bank?s existing service recovery systems. Finally, since no differences between cultural groups were found, this study can be replicated in order to compare South African customers with those in other countries in order to determine differences in national cultures. / Thesis (M.Com (Marketing Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Organisations are facing increasing pressures in terms of customer service since customers tend to become more demanding as competition within industries increases. In order to succeed in this changing marketplace, organisations should focus on forming and maintaining long-term relationships with their customers. Developing long-term relationships, in turn, depends on the organisation?s ability to exceed customers? expectations and to continuously ensure customer satisfaction. Service organisations in particular find it difficult to provide constant customer satisfaction due to the high level of human involvement in service delivery, which often leads to inevitable service failures. Service failures, as a result, cause the disconfirmation of service expectations. This disconfirmation gives rise to customer dissatisfaction, which is generally considered as the initiator of customer complaint behaviour. Culture is regarded as one of the most influential factors affecting customers? behaviour in response to dissatisfaction with a purchase experience. Customers? culture could have an impact on the manner in which customers engage in complaint behaviour, and could also have a bearing on how service failures and organisations? service recovery efforts are perceived. Organisations functioning in a multicultural country such as South Africa could therefore benefit from gaining a more profound understanding of cultural influences on customer behaviour and specifically complaint behaviour. The primary objective of this study was to determine the influence of culture on customers? complaint behaviour pertaining to service failures within the context of the South African banking industry. A structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from banking customers residing in Gauteng, who were sampled by means of a non-probability sampling method. In total, 600 respondents participated in this study, comprising 150 each from the black, coloured, Indian/Asian and white cultural groups. Results from the study indicate that although the majority of respondents have a propensity to complain, no practically significant differences were found between respondents from different cultures with regard to their propensity to complain. Results furthermore showed no differences between the different cultural groups in terms of their complaint behaviour following a hypothetical service failure. Although it was established that respondents expect the bank to do something about the service failure ? in particular correcting the problem and providing an explanation for the problem ? respondents? expectations regarding service recovery and perceptions of the bank?s service recovery efforts were found not to have been influenced by their respective cultures. The results, in addition, showed that a higher service recovery effort had a more positive effect on respondents? post-recovery satisfaction, likelihood of maintaining their relationship with the bank and loyalty, than that of a lower service recovery effort. It is recommended that banks should not view their customers differently in terms of their cultural backgrounds, but that they should rather focus continuously on providing all customers with the same level of quality service, even after a service failure has occurred. Banks should also encourage all customers to voice complaints directly to them in order to minimise the harmful effects of negative word-of-mouth and to improve recoveries from failures. Since respondents in this study indicated that they expect banks to offer an apology in the case of a service failure, to provide an explanation of the cause of the problem and to correct the problem, banks should ensure that a high level of quality interaction takes place between the dissatisfied customer and employees following a service failure. Such an approach requires banks to ensure that their employees are motivated and competent to solve customers? problems. It is therefore also recommended that banks should invest resources in employee selection, training, development, empowerment, discretionary decision-making power and support in order to ensure that customer-facing employees are able to provide a satisfactory service recovery, and are able to efficiently manage the complaint process. Recommendations for future research include extending this study to other service settings in order to determine whether there are similarities or differences in the influence of culture on customers? complaint behaviour pertaining to service failures. Future research can be conducted in collaboration with a specific bank in order to discover more specific information with regards to service failures and complaint situations within the bank, as well as customers? perceptions of the bank?s existing service recovery systems. Finally, since no differences between cultural groups were found, this study can be replicated in order to compare South African customers with those in other countries in order to determine differences in national cultures. / Thesis (M.Com (Marketing Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.