Convenience stores are playing a pivotal role in the contribution to profitability in the fuels retail environment. In order to increase market share that will lead to increased profits it is imperative to provide excellent customer service. Customer experience has been identified as the key construct in the modern retail environment to be addressed, in order to ensure a satisfied customer. It has been noted that customer experience is not measured in the convenience stores, but only at the pump stations and the carwash service points of Sasol garages. Sasol Oil has a fuels retail market share of 9% and it will be beneficial for the company to explore all avenues to increase market share since convenience stores contribute 25% towards the total profit of the company. A literature review was conducted to identify the important controllable elements of the total customer experience and the measuring instruments that can be used to measure these elements, which formed the basis of the empirical study. The measuring instruments discussed in the literature are Servqual, Kano and customised models. One of the dimensions of the total customer experience is service quality and a customised model was chosen as the measuring instrument of choice. Questionnaires were developed, based on the controllable elements of customer experience, and distributed via email and handouts. In total, 260 questionnaires were distributed with a response of 47.7%. Descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis were employed to analyse the data. The reliability of the questionnaire was tested using Cronbach alpha. Cronbach alpha values above the minimum requirements and a cumulative variance of only 47% was achieved. Conclusions were drawn from the empirical study and recommendations were made in the final chapter. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Convenience stores are playing a pivotal role in the contribution to profitability in the fuels retail environment. In order to increase market share that will lead to increased profits it is imperative to provide excellent customer service. Customer experience has been identified as the key construct in the modern retail environment to be addressed, in order to ensure a satisfied customer. It has been noted that customer experience is not measured in the convenience stores, but only at the pump stations and the carwash service points of Sasol garages. Sasol Oil has a fuels retail market share of 9% and it will be beneficial for the company to explore all avenues to increase market share since convenience stores contribute 25% towards the total profit of the company. A literature review was conducted to identify the important controllable elements of the total customer experience and the measuring instruments that can be used to measure these elements, which formed the basis of the empirical study. The measuring instruments discussed in the literature are Servqual, Kano and customised models. One of the dimensions of the total customer experience is service quality and a customised model was chosen as the measuring instrument of choice. Questionnaires were developed, based on the controllable elements of customer experience, and distributed via email and handouts. In total, 260 questionnaires were distributed with a response of 47.7%. Descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis were employed to analyse the data. The reliability of the questionnaire was tested using Cronbach alpha. Cronbach alpha values above the minimum requirements and a cumulative variance of only 47% was achieved. Conclusions were drawn from the empirical study and recommendations were made in the final chapter. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The usage of artificial intelligence in banking is an important theme within entrepreneurial research. The purpose of the study was to analyse the motivations, challenges and opportunities for Swedish banking institutes to implement artificial intelligence based solutions into their customer service process. The research is based on a case study of the Swedish banking institute Swedbank AB, who introduced an AI based virtual assistant (Nina) to deal with customer requests. For the qualitative study, interviews with Swedish banking customer and experts were conducted. Further, to understand the managerial motivations of Swedbank, a theory of Moore (2008) regarding innovation management was applied. The findings display that Nina improved the service spectrum of Swedbank with the potential of decreasing costs, while maintaining customer satisfaction. Further, the results displayed a high acceptance of new technologies from the customer perspective. This provides the foundation for Swedbank to introduce further artificial intelligence based services. Banking institutes and other service oriented organisations with high customer interaction can use the implications of the thesis when considering to more effectively handle customer requests.

Aim of this thesis is optimisation of system of managing stocks in Viscofan CZ s. r. o. and suggestion of measure to reduce lock capital in stocks with increase of customer service level. On the base of ABC analyse was chosen skinless and fibrous products. Skinless is main product, on the other hand fibrous is minor. Chosen casing was analysed to turnover of stock, lock capital and structure of stock in the respect of time of storage. On the base of these results was found out that approximately in the skinless is locked about 69 mil. Kč. In the fibrous it is more than 12 mil. Kč. Necessary to say, the outdate stocks of skinless form 18 % of whole stock that represent 12,5 mil. Kč. In case of fibrous form 46 % that mean 5,56 mil. Kč. Old stocks arise because of refusal of acceptance goods by customers. From this situation result need of optimization of system of managing stocks to lower lock capital. Two types of optimisation were suggested. First type tries to minimize amount of new outdate stock. First I suggest to start analysing of customer service level. This remedy could lead to reduce new outdate stock about 50 % that means saving almost 5,7 mil. Kč. Important benefit could be higher reliability of company for customers. With this optimization is connected another that suggest implementation of participation of sales representatives on income from sold product with reflection to reliability of their customers. The more reliable customer the higher commission. Second type of optimization is way of reduce current old stocks. One possibility is to compensate new orders by outdate stocks. This could lead to provide lock capital, mostly 20 mil. Kč. Second possibility is to sale with discount. All suggested optimizations start from current needs of company. Combination of optimization could bring higher benefits than individual implementation.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Jason Bergtold / It is challenging to know when customers are satisfied or dissatisfied with a product or service. Feedback mechanisms such as surveys are frequently used to gain feedback and evaluate the customer’s perceptions of the product or service. John Deere, like most companies, takes an active role in understanding customer satisfaction, using surveys and feedback through field teams and the dealer channel. Shortcomings with this method include the need for customers to voice their complaints first, which can take a significant amount of time, delaying John Deere from providing needed service. The purpose of this research is to examine the usefulness of using primary diagnostic data collected by John Deere to assess customer satisfaction. Specifically, to examine if the number of diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) on a John Deere 8R series row crop tractor experiences has an impact on customer satisfaction scores reported on surveys. Then determine if this data would be useful to help identify dissatisfied customers proactively. Statistical analysis and regression were used to understand the impact DTC’s have on customer satisfaction. Analysis indicates that for every 100 Total DTC’s a machine exhibits one could expect to see a 4 point reduction in overall CSI score by the customer. This information may prove valuable in being able to understand customer satisfaction more proactively.

Contact Centre agents operate in closely monitored and highly controlled environments and their work consists of solving service requests or assisting customers with information on products or services. Consequently their work involves a great deal of emotional labour and stress. It is not surprising then, that the working environment of the Contact Centre is reported to have a negative impact on the levels of Quality of Worklife of Contact Centre agents, and that in the Contact Centre context, it is likely that low levels of Quality of Worklife exist. It is argued that it is important for organisations to be particularly aware of the Quality of Worklife perceptions of their employees should they want to address Quality of Worklife levels and benefit from the positive consequences of higher levels of the construct. Numerous variables are reported to play either an antecedent, moderating, mediating, or consequential role in relation to the Quality of Worklife construct. A systems model of Quality of Worklife is developed, which illustrates the inter-relationships of these variables and how they affect and are affected by the Quality of Worklife construct. It is argued that leadership is an important antecedent to Quality of Worklife, and this is the antecedent of interest in this study. It is proposed that it is not just any leadership that will contribute to an improved Quality of Worklife, particularly within a challenging context such as the Contact Centre environment. Rather, it is suggested that certain qualities of leaders will have a greater influence on Quality of Worklife. For example, leaders who focus on relationships and are caring - characteristics associated with servant leaders - are deemed more suitable for the Contact Centre context. The research also proposes that there are close associations between Servant Leadership and Trust, which in turn has the potential to affect Quality of Worklife positively. It is argued, therefore, that Trust mediates the relationship between Servant Leadership and Quality of Worklife in the customer service frontline context. While there is a broad base of literature available on servant leadership that focuses on the senior or executive level of leadership, Van Dierendonck and Nuijten (2011) have argued that it is also relevant at the middle level of management and have validated an eight dimensional measure of servant leadership that is suitable for this management level. The Van Laar, Edwards and Easton (2007) Quality of Worklife model is also argued to be an appropriate model and measure of the Quality of Worklife construct, due to the robustness of the instrument design and the appropriateness of its underlying theory to the context of this research. Research has shown that leadership can have a significant relationship with Quality of Worklife. Moreover, a review of the literature on servant leadership reveals that trust, satisfaction, general well-being, and commitment to their jobs increases when employees are exposed to leadership behaviours associated with servant leadership. There is however, no evidence in the literature of any investigation of the relationship between Servant Leadership and Quality of Worklife, or of research investigating the partial mediating effects of Trust between these two constructs. Research was conducted to test this relationship. A survey questionnaire was administered amongst a sample of 555 Contact Centre agents, who were employed in eight different organisations. Confirmatory factor analysis procedures were conducted in STATA (V15.0), to test and validate the factor structure of Servant Leadership and Quality of Worklife models. The research also produced a Servant Leadership, Trust and Quality of Worklife structural equation model that supported the hypotheses of the relationships between the constructs. Mediation analysis confirmed Trust’s role as a mediator between Servant Leadership and Quality of Worklife. The structural equation model confirmed that synergies between Servant Leadership, Trust and Quality of Worklife exist, and that Trust partially mediates the relationship between Servant Leadership and Quality of Worklife. It is therefore argued that an increase in Servant Leadership behaviour by the manager or supervisor of frontline staff has a positive association with increases of Trust, as well as positive associations with Quality of Worklife experienced by employees in the frontline context. Moreover, it is also posited that the relationship between Servant Leadership and Quality of Worklife is partially mediated by Trust of the supervisor. The implications of these results are discussed, and recommendations made for management practice and further research.

abstract: With years of continuous Chinese economic growth and accelerating aging population, better serving the changing demands in wealth management has become the new market development directions. As evidenced in international experiences, the embedded nature of privacy and isolation of managed assets in the trust business have demonstrated built-in consistency with the needs of high-end wealth management and inheritance; hence, trust has become a very fitting vehicle for wealth management. By 2014, total assets under trust management have reached RMB14trillion. However, there is as yet a massive gap between the current service levels received by high net worth individuals and their requirements; a gap that is adverse in establishing a stable customer service relationship; which eventually hinders the vigorous development of the overall industry. With modeling the gaps in service levels as the basic foundation, this paper first and foremost starts with the discussion on the issues in listening to service needs. This paper conducted customer surveys in such categories as customer expected and perceived service quality, service level design and standards, service provided in accordance with the design, and service commitment actually fulfilled. By correlation and regression analyses, this paper analyzed the characteristics of high net worth population, concluding that high net worth individuals with different gender, profession, age exhibit varying needs, preferences and other determining factors in wealth management. This Paper has designed wealth management service standards and value-added asset allocation systems; the Paper has structured a systematic and disciplined framework in wealth management, which serves as a guideline in the implementation of leading wealth management and in the establishment of superior trust management services. It serves as an impetus for the trust industry to thrive as the leader in China’s wealth management domain, enhance industry brand image, accumulate stable customer segments and develop sustainable market core competencies. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2015

Abstract Background Since the emergence of digital banking, the financial sector has experienced a significant transformation in both how business is conducted and how services are provided to customers. Previous literature has examined how new technologies and the digitalization of banks' customer service affect customer loyalty. Although, since virtual agents acting as service providers in the banking sector is a relatively new phenomenon, there is limited research concerning the implications it will have on the bank-customer relationship. Hence, the novelty and relevance of the topic makes it interesting for further research.    Purpose Through the identified underlying factors affecting customer loyalty, the purpose of this study is to examine how customer loyalty will be affected by the implementation of virtual agents as service providers in major Swedish banks.   Method This is a qualitative study, and the empirical data were collected from semi-structured in-depth interviews with bankers at four major Swedish banks, as well as with ten highly-educated customers who are frequent users of bank services.   Findings The findings showed that virtual agents must affect customer service to a large extent to have a profound impact on customer loyalty. Virtual agents will be able to replace human bankers regarding simpler inquiries satisfyingly. On the other hand, the demand for personal interactions regarding more complex matters is found to be important.

O processo de globalização e a revolução digital têm trazido novos desafios de competitividade às empresas. Um desses desafios é a mudança do foco da gestão organizacional para toda a cadeia na qual cada empresa se insere. A gestão da cadeia de suprimentos (supply chain management) requer, entre outros aspectos, a integração dos \"processos-chave\" de negócios ao longo dessa cadeia. Este trabalho teve como objetivo identificar a relação entre a integração de processos ao longo da cadeia de suprimentos e seu desempenho no serviço prestado ao cliente (customer service). Para tanto, a abordagem utilizada para a pesquisa de campo foi do tipo exploratória, tendo como objeto de estudo a cadeia calçadista da cidade de Franca, a qual constitui-se em um exemplo consolidado e de resultados concretos já obtidos de uma cadeia setorial, além de inserida no mercado internacional pela sua forte tradição exportadora. As evidências obtidas permitiram concluir que o desempenho da cadeia calçadista de Franca no serviço ao cliente está relacionado diretamente a integração dos processos de atendimento de pedidos, gestão da demanda e desenvolvimento de produtos ao longo da cadeia, envolvendo não apenas a integração com clientes, mas também com os fornecedores críticos a montante da empresa focal da cadeia, no caso os fabricantes de calçados estabelecidos na cidade. Pode-se constatar ainda que esse desempenho está relacionado também a existência de competências internas nas organizações estudadas, nos processos identificados. / The globalization process and digital revolution have been brought new challenges for organizations competitiveness. One of these challenges is the change from organizational management to supply chain management. The supply chain management requires, among other aspects, the key-business processes integration along the chain. This work has the aim to identify the relationship between processes integration along the supply chain and its customer service performance. In order to achieve this aim, a exploratory research was conducted, having as focus the footwear chain located in the city of Franca, that constitute itself a consolidate example of supply chain with good results and strong presence in international footwear markets. The evidences obtained allowed us to conclude that the performance of Franca footwear chain in the customer service is straight related to integration of order fulfillment, demand management and product development processes, encompassing not only the integration of shoes manufacturers with customers, but also with critical suppliers upstream the chain. It still can be concluded that this performance is related also to the existence of internal competences in the organizations studied, referring to the processes identified.

Este trabalho apresenta uma proposta de método para a melhoria de fluxos de informação em ambientes administrativos usando princípios da mentalidade enxuta e da reengenharia de processos. O método foi criado através de características encontradas em duas metodologias existentes da mentalidade enxuta e de soluções desenhadas pela reengenharia de processos com este propósito. Estas características foram identificadas, selecionadas e adaptadas para uso no método seguindo um modelo de gestão de mudança. Em seguida, o método foi aplicado em um fluxo de informação em uma empresa do interior de São Paulo, seus resultados foram medidos apresentando boas melhorias em relação à maior velocidade de processamento de informações, redução da quantidade de pessoas necessárias e maior porcentagem de tempo de agregação de valor. Por último, foram apresentadas observações sobre as limitações do método e da generalização dos resultados da aplicação apresentada. / This work presents a proposal of method for the improvement of information flows using the principles of lean thinking and solutions from business process reengineering (BPR). The method was created using characteristics encountered on two existing lean office methodologies, and with the solutions presented by business reengineering. Those characteristics were identified, sorted and adapted to be used in the method based on a change management model. The proposed method was implemented in an information flow of a company in the brazilian state of São Paulo, and its results were measured, presenting significant reduction of the information flow lead time, reduction of people needed to process the information and a larger percentage of added-value time. Finally, limitations of the method and the application results were presented.