The shifting focus in the role of academic libraries entail a better understanding, awareness and responsiveness to the needs of the library users. In an environment of change and an age of accountability academic libraries have to determine and demonstrate the impact their resources and services are having on their institutional mission. Service quality is not based exclusively on the perception of the librarians, but also dependent on the perception of users. Only customers judge quality; all other judgments are essentially irrelevant" (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, Berry 1999). The reason of this study was to assess quality in the library and to determine the perceptions of the Vaal Triangle Campus Library users as they relate to quality service and to develop a model to improve service quality. The aim was to determine library users' minimum expectations for services, their desired level of service and then to identify the extent of service they currently perceive on three dimensions of service quality: affect of service, library as place and access to information. A triangulation, mixed method research methodology was employed in this study. Data was collected using focus group as well as individual interviews and the LibQUAL questionnaire. Purposive sampling was used to determine participants for the interviews while a total market survey was employed for the questionnaire respondents. Findings indicate that there is a gap between the users' expectations and perception of service quality. The results indicate that there are variations within the different user groups regarding the expectations and perceptions of service quality at the Vaal Triangle Campus library. In view of the findings, the study concluded by developing a service quality model based on Deming's PDCA cycle, the ISO model and the Hoshin Kanri process / Information Science / M. Inf.

由於資訊科技不斷地快速發展下，企業要滿足消費者的需求，除了要提昇產品價值外，面對市場的競爭策略也從產品差異化到服務差異化來創造企業價值。 要在服務差異化來創造企業價值的最重要利基是要建立一個專業的客服中心，同時，將ITIL的Help Desk的觀念導入客服中心的Service Desk的功能上，進而達到全方位的客服中心。本研究以一家國際快遞物流公司的客服中心導入ITIL的Help Desk功能結合個案公司的客服中心現有的應用系統架構中為實例，並探索客服中心的服務功能面與結合Help Desk的功能整合後，應用在目前的系統與程序將足以提昇顧客滿意與期望。 從本研究實例中，可以發現客服中心系統與資訊總部導入ITIL的模組，藉由ITIL的Help Desk的基本理論與實作導入客服中心的Service Desk與CRM的結合，將可以加強客服中心的功能完整性與顧客滿意度的提昇。同時，不論是企業內的客服中心或專業的客服公司，要如何在維運上讓服務品質能更提昇與控制，在客服中心的處理成本降到最低外，這些問題要在客服中心三大組成要素的範疇內，包含「人」、「系統」、「程序」。同時，以Help Desk導入客服中心，發現在後送處理的流程中，對客服中心的服務滿意度及專業度也會有非常顯著的表現。 / In order to satisfy the increasing requirements from customers and to face the rapid innovation of information technology, enterprise not only needs to improve its product value but also to change its business model from product-centered to service-centered competitive strategy. The market competitive strategy has been reshaped from product differentiation to service differentiation that creates the business value. One of the imperative key points to create business value through service-differentiation is that we have to build a professional customer service center. And ,we need to deploy the ITIL Help Desk concept to enhance the service desk functionalities of the customer service center. This study demonstrates the deployment of the ITIL Help Desk functionalities to the customer contact center using an international express and logistics company as a case study. By integrating customer service center service capability and the Help Desk new functionalities, the customer satisfaction and expectation can be improved. In this case study, we the deployment of ITIL model for customer service center system and the information data center can be found. Based on the theory of ITIL Help Desk and the integration of customer service center Service Desk and CRM, it is expected the customer service center functionalities and the customer satisfaction can be enhanced and improved respectively. How to operate a customer service center; improve and control its service quality and minimize the operational costs is very important to the enterprise. Three major elements including people, system and process that form the customer service center are also need to be considered. Deploying ITIL Help Desk in customer service center shows high satisfaction and professionalism when shipment is being processed and delivered.

Final draft report presented to the Graduate School of Business Leadership, University of South Africa / The main purpose of this study is to ascertain the major service quality variables that determine customer satisfaction for the Carbonated Soft Drink market which is dynamic and is also part of the highly competitive impulse beverage industry in South Africa. Amalgamated Beverages Industry (aka Coca Cola) still holds the lion’s share of the market although its share has fallen in the last 5 years presumably due to the growth in the consumption of substitutes such as bottled water, 100% fruit juices, energy drinks and dairy juice blends. The proliferation of “diet conscious” consumers has exacerbated the situation. These alternatives are the primary growth areas in the impulse beverage market. This has obviously threatened the viability and profitability of major players in this industry. To date the performance of Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSDs) has been less than satisfactory. There are other key players which have penetrated this market namely Pepsi, trading as Pioneer Foods, Royal, Pioneer Foods, California Cola, Pick ‘n Pay and Quality Beverages. For purposes of this study the three key players were chosen namely ABI, Pepsi and Quality Beverages. These key players have made huge investments in this industry at the level of production and distribution. In addition heavy investments go towards advertising and promotional campaigns. This research is exploratory in nature and makes way for further research in order to reach a more logical conclusion. This study is conducted within the confines of Gauteng region and more specifically Johannesburg North and Central. These two regions were chosen because the researcher resides close to these regions and wanted to minimize the costs involved in this study. The researcher also assumed the findings are a true representation of the broader picture of the South African scenario. Before collecting information the researcher initially consulted recent articles, books, magazines, company reports and even the internet in order to develop a clear understanding of the industry. This also helped the researcher to make logical decisions in the course` of undertaking the research. To that effect the researcher adopted the service quality SERVQUAL and the Gaps models in coming up with a measurement instrument for the research. The CSD companies have two broad categories of customers namely the trader and the end user or consumer. The trader purchases the product for purposes of research whilst the end user buys for consumption. This research focused on the trade customer. According to research experts a sample of more than 5% of the total population does not compromise validity. However the researcher opted for more than 10% of the total population in order to increase reliability of the results. Thus from the population size of 965 trade outlets the researcher arrived at a sample of 100. The traders were classified into four major categories namely retail outlets, wholesalers, restaurants and service stations. Information was collected from these 100 traders using personal interviews. The researcher is the one who conducted all the interviews. Information was gathered from buyers, managers and owners. The researcher took advantage of the Statistical Package for Social Scientists in order to make a meaningful analysis of the data collected. Many service oriented recommendations have been promulgated by this research. They are neither exhaustive nor prescriptive given the time constraint within which this research was conducted.

The fierce competition on the retail market has led firms to stop focusing on firm-customer transactions and start focusing on firm-customer relations. New customer demands makes it impossible for firms to gain a sustainable advantage by focusing only on their goods assortment. This forces retailers to consider the customer experience and differentiate themselves by how they offer what they offer. This have led to that many retail companies try to shape the behaviours and emotional displays of their frontline employees in encounters with customers. Many firms define customer service concepts as an attempt to create high quality customer experiences. However, a successful realisation of these concepts can be challenging.   Service-Dominant Logic researchers argue that firms cannot single headedly create value but that it is co-created in the interaction with customers. Therefore, they can only create value propositions, which is a proposal for value co-creation based on an integration of products and services. Services marketing researchers emphasise the importance of internal marketing for enabling frontline employees to represent the firm in the interactive value-creating process with the customer. Prior research focuses on the customer-driven development of value propositions, and techniques to conduct internal marketing, but does not provide relevant theories about the realisation of value propositions or the implementation of these internal marketing techniques. This thesis conceptualise the human factor of the realisation of the value proposition with the concept of intended and enacted value propositions. The purpose was to develop a deeper understanding of how internal marketing can be used to manage the gaps between intended and enacted retail value propositions. This was addressed by investigating one of Sweden’s largest retail companies on commission. Since the company has requested to remain confidential, it will be called Anonymous Commission Company (ACC) in this thesis. The current study has answered the following research question: “How can the gaps between intended and enacted retail value propositions be managed through internal marketing?”   The research question was answered through a qualitative study and in-depth interviews with both CS concept managers and frontline employees. The intended value proposition was investigated by a combination of ACC documents related to the CS concept, and interviews with the CS concept managers. By interviewing the frontline employees, their perceptions and enactment of the value proposition was investigated, as well as how they experience the current internal operations at ACC. The findings confirmed the proposed concept of intended and enacted value propositions, and four main barriers causing the gaps between them were identified through a thematic network analysis. Internal marketing theories were used to analyse how retail companies can overcome these barriers by engaging, enabling, empowering and ensuring their frontline employees. The thesis offer implications for retail managers on how they can manage the gaps between intended and the enacted value propositions. The study contributes to prior research by combining value proposition theories and internal marketing theories, and by offering detailed recommendations for retail firms. Furthermore, the study enriches the practical implications regarding retail value propositions and retail value proposition realisation.

Submitted by Joana Azevedo (joanad@id.uff.br) on 2017-08-24T17:48:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Vania Coutinho Gomes Andrade.pdf: 1719613 bytes, checksum: 5498e8687b81f7ae44beb7c96979f3a7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Biblioteca da Escola de Engenharia (bee@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-08-25T16:08:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Vania Coutinho Gomes Andrade.pdf: 1719613 bytes, checksum: 5498e8687b81f7ae44beb7c96979f3a7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-25T16:08:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Vania Coutinho Gomes Andrade.pdf: 1719613 bytes, checksum: 5498e8687b81f7ae44beb7c96979f3a7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-04 / Atualmente, o setor de serviços constitui-se em uma das áreas essenciais da vida contemporânea. Por isso, cresce cada vez mais a busca por artifícios que possibilitem às organizações maneiras de inovar, com o intuito de alcançar um maior número de consumidores. A partir daí surgem as metodologias ou ferramentas para incrementar as estratégias de inovação. Portanto, algumas de tais propostas incluem o cliente como o ator principal das pesquisas no processo de criação de serviços. Diante desta perspectiva, a biblioteca entendida como um organismo que trabalha com a entrega de produtos e serviços informacionais também se encontra sujeita ao reprojeto dos seus serviços, fato proposto por intermédio da pesquisa sobre os valores, percepções, necessidades e expectativas dos seus usuários. Através desta concepção, o objetivo deste trabalho se constituiu na utilização da abordagem do Design Thinking como princípio de inovação dos serviços ofertados pela biblioteca do campus Nova Iguaçu, pertencente ao Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca (Cefet/RJ), caracterizando a pesquisa em um estudo de caso. Como método e instrumento de coleta de dados foram utilizados: a) um questionário fechado, oriundo da ferramenta LibQUAL (um extrato da metodologia SERVQUAL voltado para bibliotecas), aplicado aos alunos, professores e técnico-administrativos do campus Nova Iguaçu, com o intuito de realizar um levantamento dos atributos/critérios de serviços a serem explorados; b) um questionário aberto, aplicado aos bibliotecários-chefe do Sistema de Bibliotecas; c) um grupo focal com o objetivo de realizar um debate sobre os dados observados e através de um brainstorming se alcançar possíveis ideias inovadoras. / Currently, the service sector is one of the essential areas of contemporary life. Therefore, the search for artifacts that enable organizations to innovate in order to reach a larger number of consumers is growing. From this stand the methodologies or tools to increase innovation strategies. Therefore, some of these proposals includes the client as the main actor of the research on the process of creating services. In this perspective, the library understood as an organization that works with the delivery of products and information services, is also subject to redesign its services, through research about the values, perceptions, needs and expectations of its users. Through this conception, the objective of this work was to use the Design Thinking approach as a principle of innovation of the services offered by the Nova Iguaçu Library, belonging to the Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca (Cefet/RJ), characterizing the research as a case study. Thus, as method and instrument of data collection were used: a) A closed questionnaire from the LibQUAL tool (an extract from the SERVQUAL methodology for libraries), applied to the students, teachers and administrative technicians of the Nova Iguaçu campus with the purpose of performing a survey of the attributes / criteria of services to be explored; b) An open questionnaire, applied to the system's chief librarians; c) a focus group with the objective of holding a debate on the observed data and reach innovative ideas through a brainstorming.

A fight for customer is nowadays a typical sign of business. There is no doubt about an importance of a customer service. If a company doesn't dispose of quality in this point of view, a dissatisfied customer will use competitor's service in future. There is plenty of sellers, who don't master their roles. However, to measure the quality of service is difficult. One of methods that are used by a modern marketing, is mystery shopping. This instrument serves for an identification of imperfections in the process of service, where occurs a contact between the seller and the customer. It reveals a relief and a complete approach of staff to customers. Based on this there is a possibility to compare results with standards and norms of the company, but also with competitors, the market. Identification of the best and the worst parts is a possibility to improve the performance and the quality of service. A topic of my dissertation is usage of mystery shopping to compare the customer service in perfumeries Douglas and Sephora. The aim of the dissertation is to recommend steps concerning customer service to Douglas and Sephora based on results of mystery shopping. Partial aims are judging aspects as the importance of time of shopping, whether there is a difference between quality of customer service during week and on weekend, how much it's important if the customer is a man or a woman, or if the critical factor is customer's age. I will also try to prove that prices in common stores are noticeably higher than in e-shops.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:23:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Eduardo Bueno Bressane.pdf: 4015830 bytes, checksum: c2cd76f61b37282e8af6f8d15b8ac854 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-11-10 / Currently there are thousands of networks formats established through the Internet that are transforming and innovating each day the behavior in contemporary society. The study shows researches that indicate, by numbers, the high growth of the World Wide Web, both in number of users and the diversity of content, social networks and new forms of interaction in the space that became, as named by Levy, "Space of Knowledge". The Internet has become part of the peoples s routine tasks, like buying, selling, complaining about products or services, relating and entertaining. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the phenomenon of e-commerce and group purchases and relate them to the collective intelligence envisioned by Pierre Lévy. The paper presents cases of collective buying sites like Groupon and Peixe Urbano sites and customer support as Procon and Reclame Aqui, in order to understand how they interact and work through social networks like Facebook and Twitter and became stronger people and crowds in order to gain benefits and advantages in certain common situations of daily life. It also examines the behavior of companies facing the change of the consumer paradigm and transformation of e-commerce caused by social networks, trying to explore some of the new strategies adopted facing this new situation / Atualmente existem milhares de formatos de redes estabelecidas por meio da Internet que estão transformando e inovando dia a dia o comportamento da sociedade contemporânea. O estudo apresenta pesquisas que evidenciam, por meio de números, o alto crescimento da rede mundial de computadores, tanto na quantidade de usuários quanto na diversidade de conteúdos, redes sociais e novas formas de interação no espaço que se tornou, conforme denominado por Lévy, o Espaço do Saber . A Internet já faz parte das tarefas rotineiras das pessoas, como comprar, vender, reclamar de produtos ou serviços, relacionar e entreter. O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar o fenômeno do comércio eletrônico e compras coletivas e relacioná-los com a inteligência coletiva vislumbrada por Pierre Lévy. O trabalho apresenta casos de sites de compras coletivas como Groupon, Peixe Urbano e sites de apoio ao consumidor como o Procon e o Reclame Aqui, visando entender como estes interagem e atuam por meio das redes sociais como Facebook e Twitter e potencializam a reunião de pessoas e multidões a fim de adquirir benefícios e vantagens em determinadas situações corriqueiras da vida cotidiana. Analisa-se também o comportamento das empresas frente à mudança de paradigma dos consumidores e a transformação do comércio eletrônico ocasionados pelas redes sociais, buscando explorar algumas das novas estratégias adotadas diante desse novo cenário

The number of service-oriented jobs has increased locally and nationally, and organizations are spending millions of dollars to train front-line employees to maintain customer satisfaction and compete in the service industry. Despite the financial investments of these training programs, little research has investigated the holistic effectiveness of customer-focused training (CFT) programs. Researchers found positive relationships between the constructs under investigation and reported that when CFT programs are delivered on a consistent basis with leadership support, they help build a service-oriented culture. The purpose of this case study was to investigate employee perceptions of CFT and relationships between performance, engagement, and building a service-oriented culture, where the questions were designed to address front-line employees in the transit system of Southeastern Pennsylvania. The conceptual framework for this study was by Service Quality, where the concepts for the framework support organizational culture and social exchange. The total number of participants was 36 with 27 for interviews and 9 for a focus group. The participants were selected using a purposeful sampling approach. The data were analyzed by coding for categories, themes, and patterns to reflect in-depth understanding and reporting of CFT among front-line employees. The participants felt that CFT programs were beneficial for them and could help improve customer service. Given these findings, similarly-situated employees may view training in a positive light and may be willing to engage in more training to improve customer service. Human resource personnel may be encouraged from the positive results of this study to develop and implement more training, which may help employees and leaders build a credible service-oriented culture.

Business managers' failure to retain dissatisfied customers leads to millions of dollars in lost revenue. The purpose of this single case study was to explore managers' training strategies to teach sales associates customer service skills. The sample included 3 training managers from the mobile phone industry in Michigan who recorded a 25 % increase in customer retention after implementing customer service training. The conceptual framework for this study was human capital theory. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and training documents. Data analysis entailed using coding techniques and cluster analysis. Member checking applied to clarify the interpretation of participants' responses and reveal missing information. The 3 themes that emerged were mentoring and recruitment, training and development, and customer satisfaction. Mentoring and recruitment surfaced from the managers' need to hire qualified sales associates. Training and development grew from the need to have a strategy to train sales associates in customer service skills. Customer satisfaction emerged from the need to retain customers for a stable business environment. The findings from this study may contribute to social change by showing the training strategies managers use to teach customer service skills to sustain business and mitigate harmful effects of job loss. The data suggested a trained sales force could work to retain customers and provide customer satisfaction. Data from this study may contribute to the prosperity of mobile phone customers from well-educated sales associates that enhance the quality of using mobile phones in the local communities. The beneficiaries of this research include business managers, sales associates, and customers.

Counterproductive employee behaviors are inevitable, unpredictable, and widespread in the U.S. retail industry. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore U.S. midlevel retail leadership strategies used to prevent and correct employee behaviors that sabotage quality service encounters. Gilbert's behavior engineering model, which links employee behaviors to performance, was the framework used in this study. The data-collection process comprised 7 semistructured interviews with midlevel retail leaders, online company documentation, and researcher observations and assisted in achieving methodological triangulation. Member checking ensured the accuracy of participant responses, while Moustakas' modified van Kaam method was used to guide the data analysis process. Making the customer service experience special, employee rudeness and bad attitudes, and leading by example were the primary emergent themes. The participants revealed key behavior intervention and corrective strategies prior to termination consisted of only 2 steps: coaching or 1-on-1 discussions and formal training. The findings of this study may contribute to retail business practices by expanding existing leadership strategies to engineer employee behaviors that produce consistent quality service encounters, empower employees, improve consumer satisfaction, and increase retail profitability and competitiveness. Resultant retailers' profitability and consumer satisfaction may contribute to social change by directly impacting the U.S. gross domestic product, local communal tax base, and reinforce human civility throughout the retail industry.