Please read the abstract in the dissertation. / Dissertation (MConsumer Science)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Consumer Science / unrestricted

Over the last few years, there has been tremendous growth in the diversity of products and services offered to customers across all industries. With this increased choice of products and services, the bargaining power of buyers is rising. The products and services offered by the different companies do not vary much, regardless of which companies are selling them. Customers are in the position where they can choose from an array of products and services from more than one company. This shift of power from company to customer forces companies to focus on customer retention and loyalty through improved customer experience. The dissertation introduces a framework for enhancing customer experience through improved business processes. The Enhanced Customer Experience Framework (ECEF) is developed by integrating various well known techniques into one comprehensive framework. As long as fifty years ago, researchers found it neccesary to design techniques that can assist companies in taking care of frustrated and unsatisfied customers. Many of these techniques had merit, and partly succeeded in increasing customer satisfaction. One of these techniques was developed in 1966 by Dr Yoji Akao, with the goal of integrating the voice of the customer into the technical design of products and services. Today this tool is known as Quality Function Deployment (QFD). QFD is used extensively in the ECEF to determine the relationship beween business processes and customer requirements, and to prioritise business processes from a customer perspective. Another technique or methodology is Business Process Reengineering (BPR), developed in 1990. The methodology of BPR – together with the steps associated with benchmarking –provides a useful process that may be followed when reengineering business processes to fit customer needs. The last technique that is integrated into the ECEF is simulation modelling, which can be used to test the impact of process improvements on customer experience. The ECEF consists of seven stages, with sequential activities taking place in every stage. The Framework developed in this dissertation is partially validated against empirical data obtained from the telecommunications industry. In South Africa the telecommunications industry is faced with the threat of new entrants as one of the largest competitive forces. In 2001 a third Telecommunications Company was introduced in South Africa and the market share that always belonged to only two companies was redistributed between three companies. For all three companies to be competitive, they had to invest in delivering quality service to customers. The ECEF may assist managers in enhancing the quality of their service delivery. By designing business processes to deliver products and services according to the needs of the customer, companies will be able to enjoy the strategic competitive advantage of customer loyalty. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Industrial and Systems Engineering / unrestricted

Using the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, this research examines how organizations integrate organizational resources with Web technology to implement Web functionalities to support the four stages of the Customer Service Life Cycle (CSLC). This research examines how combinations of Web functionalities impact the relative importance of the stages of the CSLC in determining customer satisfaction. The relative important of the stages of the CSLC varied depending on the product being considered for purchase (textbook, personal computer, and pair of jeans) and the gender of the online customer. Results of six regressions using policy capturing indicate that, overall, customers consider Web functionality support for the pre-purchase stages of the CSLC to be most important, with the requirements stage or acquisition stage consistently being first in importance. Post-purchase support showed increased importance with the purchase of a personal computer and textbook, and with male shoppers. Significant differences were limited with the retirement stage being significantly different from all the other stages in five post hoc tests, and from just the acquisition stage in the jeans test. By considering the products sold online and gender of the targeted online customer, organizations can invest their resources to build Web functionalities that incorporate values, culture, and processes to increase customer satisfaction with the Web site and influence firm performance.

Artificiell intelligens och maskininlärning är två ämnen som varit mycket aktuella på sistone. Vad som startade som ett banbrytande fenomen är nu inkorporerat i människors vardagliga liv. Trots alla fördelar som kommer med personifiering och ”smarta” egenskaper, finns det också en oro för att världen skall bli för opersonlig och beroende av maskiner. Detta är en utredning som berör dessa ämnen, tillämpad på Parks & Resorts – ett starkt värderingsoch kulturdrivet företag. Syftet är att analysera föroch nackdelar av att automatisera kundtjänsten, och om det är möjligt att göra detta utan att tumma på koncernens värderingar. Resultatet visar att det finns fördelar med att implementera en chatbot, speciellt vad gäller effektivitet, men också att det skulle krävas mycket resurser för att utveckla en som lär bra nog att bibehålla kundtjänstens nuvarande standard.‌ / Artificial intelligence and machine learning has‌been on the radar for a while now. What started as a groundbreaking phenomenon is now incorporated in people's everyday life. With all its benefits regarding personalization and “smart” features, there is also a concern for the world becoming too inhumane, impersonal and dependent of machines. This is an investigation touching upon these issues, applied on Parks & Resorts a highly valueand culture driven company. The purpose was to analyze the pros and cons of automating the customer support, and if it’s possible to do so without cutting corners, taking the company’s values into account. The results show that there are benefits of implementing a chat bot, especially when it comes to being effective, but also that implementing one that is good enough to attain current standards wouldrequire numerous resources.

In recent time, GIS technology has been used in banking sector. Geographical  Information System uses to make a better management in various sectors in the real life world. The GIS technology covered how to make a decision, data sourcing, data quality and used them in real time environments. Now days GIS is one of the useful analysis  tool,  where  we  can  implement  our  thinking  based  on  several  real  life  applications. Developed countries have made proper utilization of GIS technology. At present  Bangladesh  need  to  utilizes  GIS  technology  to  develop  in  different  organizational  sectors  such  as  banking,  fleet  management,  emergency  services,  and tourism and government infrastructure. For example, In the banking sector, we can implement this technology to provides high quality of services to the customers within short  time.  Therefore,  GIS  technology  provide  the  proper  support  in  bank  industry  and our thesis title “Usability of GIS in banking sector” will provide an experimental outline  about  the  banking  sector  in  Dhaka,  Bangladesh.  Generally,  it  is  a  demo  version  for  a  banking  sector,  that  would  be  provide  to  identify  their  customers,  the location  of  the  ATM  booths,  evaluate  land  value,  and  find  out  the  shortest  path,  nearest service centre, important building and city information. At present there is no such  kind  of  existing  model  for  banking  sector  in  Bangladesh.  So,  we  identify  the  problem  and  decide  to  implement  our  model.  In  our  proposed  frame  work,  we  used different type of GIS tools such as ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcPad, CartaLinx, ArcView etc. To implement this model we needed to digitize Dhaka city base map and input different  type  of  data.  For  the  experiment  part,  we  have  chosen  secondary  data  collection method and theoretical frame work support. We have made our own data model to do this experiment and we have covered maximum area in Dhaka city, where we choose a model area named “Motijheel”. Finally we have discussed the simulation result  according  to  our  framework,  which  provides  user  friendly  information.  Our  thesis paper focuses an integrated approach of GIS based system which increases the bank profitability.

No description available.

Aim This study looks at how mobile applications have changed the situation for customer service employees in Sweden. Background In just a few years, mobile applications have changed our way of working. New electronic tools have been developed and the mobile applications replace manual labour as well as paper documents. Methodolody The study relies on data collection from qualitative interviews conducted with customer service employees in Sweden. The empiricism of the interviews has been thematically analyzed. Results The results of the study show that customer service employees work more independently now than before and that the accessibility of work-related information has improved substantially and become more efficient. Conclusion Thanks to the accessibility improvement and the enhanced information density, the possibility of offering an improved customer experience has increased. The results also show the importance of technology to the customer service employees of today. / Syfte Studien syftar till att undersöka hur mobila applikationer har förändrat arbetet för servicemedarbetare i Sverige. Bakgrund På några få år har mobila applikationer förändrat vårat sätt att arbeta. Nya hjälpmedel och arbetsredskap har tagits fram och de mobila applikationerna ersätter både manuella moment och fysiska dokument. Metod Studien bygger på datainsamling från servicemedarbetare i Sverige med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer. Empirin från intervjuerna har sammanställts och tematiskt analyserats. Resultat Resultatet av undersökningen visar på att servicemedarbetarna arbetar mer självständigt nu än innan och att möjligheten till att ta del av arbetsrelaterad information har blivit mycket bättre och effektivare. Slutsats Tack vare att informationen blivit mer lättillgänglig och innehållsrik har också möjligheten att ge bättre kundservice ökat. Resultatet pekar också på hur viktig tekniken är för servicemedarbetarna idag.

Didėjant konkurencijai ir siekiant geriau patenkinti klientų poreikius, darbuotojų žinios ir gebėjimai tampa svarbi paslaugų organizacijos konkurencinio pranašumo prielaida. Tai pasakytina apie visas paslaugų organizacijas. Šios darbo tikslas - išanalizuoti UAB „Čilija“ personalo įgūdžių ugdymą klientų aptarnavimo srityje. Buvo nagrinėjama organizacijos kultūra, jos įtaka darbuotojams, aptarnavimo kultūra bei organizacijos ir aptarnavimo kultūrų ryšys, taip pat analizuojama šių kultūrų vaidmuo klientų aptarnavimo kultūros formavimui ir valdymui. Išaiškėjo, aptarnavimo kultūra labai priklauso ne tik nuo pačios organizacijos, bet ir nuo jos kultūros. Tai yra labai svarbu, nes nuo organizacijos kultūros priklauso ir darbuotojų požiūris į klientus ir aptarnavimą. Tyrimo metu išaiškėjo, jog darbuotojai nori dalyvauti įvairiuose mokymo seminaruose, nes tam yra sąlygos, tačiau kokybiškai aptarnauti daugelį darbuotojų trukdo tai, jog mažai skatinamas komandinis darbas, vadovybės mažai bendrauja ir dalijasi informacija su darbuotojais. Todėl daugelis darbuotojų aiškina, jog jų darbas nepatinka. Tai, žinoma, atsiliepia ir klientų aptarnavimo kokybei. / With growth of competition and trying to satisfy better the client’s needs, the knowledge and capabilities of workers become an important presupposition of competitive advantage of services’ organization. It can be applied to all services’ organizations. The aim of this graduation paper is – to analyze the development of LSC “Čilija” personnel skills in the sphere of client servicing. The culture of organization, its influence to the workers, the culture of service and the relations between organization and service cultures were discussed, also the role of these cultures to the formation and management of client servicing culture was analyzed. It was found out, that servicing culture to a great extent depends not only on organization itself, but also on its culture. It’s very important, because on the culture of organization, the workers view to clients and service depends. During the research, it was figured out, that workers wish to take part in educational seminars, because there are conditions for it, but willing to service qualitatively, the majority of workers face with problem - the team-work is stimulated very poorly, the heads communicate with each other and share the information with workers very poorly. Therefore a lot of workers explain that they don’t like their work. This fact, certainly, affects the quality of client servicing.

Darbo tema Gyvybės draudimo ir ilgalaikio investavimo produktų pardavimo proceso tobulinimas UAB „Finsaltas“; Darbo tikslas Išanalizuoti, įvertinti ir pateikti rekomendacijas kaip pagerinti gyvybės draudimo ir ilgalaikio investavimo produktų pardavimo procesą; Darbo uždaviniai • Išanalizuoti esamą UAB „Finsaltas“ pardavimo procesą; • Identifikuoti pardavimo proceso tobulintinas sritis, naudojant kokybinio tyrimo metodą. • Parengti pasiūlymus pardavimo proceso tobulinimui; Tyrimo metodai • Giluminis interviu; Darbo rezultatai Darbo metu buvo pasiūlyti vadybiniai sprendimai, padėsiantys: 1. pagerinti pardavimo procesą; 2. palengvinti naujų konsultantų įvedimo į darbą procesą; 3. užtikrinti kryptingą konsultantų kvalifikacijos kėlimą; 4. sumažinti nutraukiamų sutarčių skaičių (t.y. pagerinti pardavimų ir aptarnavimo kokybę); 5. rezultate – padidinti pardavimus. / Work title Improvement of Life Insurance and Long Term Investment Products Sales' Process at UAB „Finsaltas“; Work goal To analyze, evaluate and provide recommendations for improvement of the sales process of life insurance and long term investment products at a life insurance agency; Work tasks • To analyze sales process at UAB „Finsaltas“; • Using qualitative research identify sales process areas which require improvement,. • Give recommendations for sales process improvement; Methods of analysis • Depth interview Work outcomes There were recommended management solutions leading to: 1. Sales process improvement; 2. Facilitation of the process of introducing new agents to work; 3. Ensuring coherent process of agents’ qualification improvement; 4. Decrease of the number of lapsed policies (i.e. to improve sales and service quality); 5. As a result – to increase sales volume.

The aim of this thesis is to test the importance and sufficiency of existing constructs of customer service, customer satisfaction and service quality in the logistics function of the UK food processing industry. These activities represent ongoing challenges in the logistics discipline and are under-researched in this industry sector that is affected by primary producer crises, product commoditisation and increasing retailer power. Firms that improve customer service should increase customer satisfaction resulting in better customer-supplier relationships, increased customer loyalty, profitability and a differential competitive advantage. The customer-supplier dyadic exchange between intermediary food processors is the focus of study. There has been little programmatic and integrative study or empirical research of these activities in logistics since work conducted over twenty-five years ago by La Londe and Zinzser. Additionally, some existing studies suffer from a general lack of rigour that pervades the logistics discipline and has prevented meaningful development of research validity and reliability. Finally, existing research into these activities from the marketing discipline is under-utilised in these investigations. Indeed, there has been limited inter-disciplinary research in logistics notwithstanding the genesis of both logistics and marketing as a single discipline at the beginning of the 20th century. This study uses a rigorous two-stage methodology developed for marketing research by Churchill. This methodology comprises generating variables for enquiry from a literature review, collecting and analysing data in a pilot survey to purify variables, and conducting a second survey to assess reliability and validity of pilot study findings. Models used for the study are adapted from existing work in marketing service quality by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry and are supplemented by relationship constructs emerging from the pilot study. A postal survey was administered to 1,215 UK food processors. Respondent data was analysed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling to test variables and constructs. The findings of this study validate constructs of pretransaction, order service and quality and relationship service and quality, thus reaffirming original constructs developed by La Londe and Zinzser. The findings also falsify transaction service quality constructs posited by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry. Issues of price, supplier importance, supplier switching, and relationship power were tested, but did not feature in resultant constructs. These latter issues are discussed in terms of an overarching framework that encompasses the validated constructs and an extended model is hypothesised for future study. The results of this thesis indicate that UK food processors should consider all phases of pre-transaction, transaction and post-transaction events when facilitating operations design and customer service planning.