In order to survive in today's competition, organisations are faced with a challenge of continuous improvement. At the core of any improvement efforts in the production and marketing of goods and services there is. quality improvement. Product or service quality has become one of the elements that give an organisation a competitive edge over its competitors, since today's customers logically take purchasing decisions based on what they pay for versus the price paid. For businesses, a race to customer satisfaction is infinite, customer satisfaction is no longer a choice but the only means for survival for many organisations. Therefore, organisations do all that is in their powers to satisfy customers, retain or increase the market share, make profit and survive in the business. In view of such a tough business environment it has become necessary to study the two important business concepts namely product quality and customer satisfaction. The question is whether the efforts put on producing and supplying the best quality of products enhance customer satisfaction. In other words, are the two concepts related in some way? The aim of this study is to describe relationships between product quality and customers satisfaction in the aviation market of the oil industry, specifically Air BP market. Since customer satisfaction is also manifested through other ways like product demand and customer loyalty, the research also studies the relationships between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, as well as' customer satisfaction and product demand. Finally the relationships between product quality, product demand and customer loyalty are studied as indications of customer satisfaction. While emphasising on relationships, the study also describes the significance and importance of various quality dimensions to Air BP customers. It explains various quality definitions and dimensions and determines the most significant ones to the aviation market. The study also looks at the importance of product quality in comparison with price and service given to customers. Finally conclusions are drawn on the hypotheses and recommendations are given to Air BP. While the study recommendations are not prescriptive, they provide necessary information relevant to Air BP Marketing in a pursuit for customer satisfaction, customer retention and market share. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

Notre étude relève d’une analyse exploratoire fondée sur une étude de cas. En partant d’un exemple de débat articulé autour d’un enjeu public, en l’occurrence la responsabilité sociale d’entreprise (RSE), nous appréhendons le discours comme un instrument de pouvoir déployé par des acteurs en position conflictuelle. Nous prenons comme un cas d’étude la crise écologique provoquée par British Petroleum (BP) au large du Golfe de Mexique le 20 avril 2010. Pour sélectionner notre corpus, nous avons désigné deux populations cibles de discours, en l’occurrence le discours tenu par le gouvernement américain (discours d’Obama) et le discours représentant l’avis officiel de BP (communiqués de presse de BP). Nous avons analysé les discours publics d’Obama et de BP datant du 20 avril 2010 jusqu’au 19 septembre 2010. Nous avons considéré tout discours produit dans un contexte conflictuel travaillé par une crise comme un instrument porteur symboliquement des signes de pouvoir et mobilisant des rapports de force entre les acteurs impliqués. Nous partons de l’hypothèse suivante : les discours organisationnel et gouvernemental étudiés et produits dans un contexte de crise, sont forcément des discours conflictuels au sens de Windisch (1987). Et nous avons utilisé la grille d’analyse élaborée par Windisch (1987) pour mettre en exergue le fonctionnement interne d’un discours conflictuel envisagé comme un vecteur du pouvoir et de légitimation. Nous avons précédé l’analyse de discours, méthode principale dans notre étude, par une analyse de contenu qualitative. Le recours à l’analyse de contenu se justifie par notre souci de déterminer les divers thèmes développés dans le discours, d’examiner comment les acteurs imprègnent de sens le thème de la RSE et de poser le corpus dans sa réalité propre, en ayant recours au logiciel d’analyse de contenu qualitative HYPERRESEARCH. En outre, en mobilisant les présupposés théoriques et les outils méthodologiques issus de l’analyse de discours, nous avons ausculté le potentiel performatif légitimateur des discours construits et élaborés dans un contexte de communication conflictuelle. Pour ce faire, nous avons utilisé le logiciel d’analyse textuelle TROPES reconnu comme un outil d’analyse textuelle capable de générer des modèles représentatifs de la structure du corpus et de son organisation thématique. NOTIONS-CLÉS Discours conflictuel, stratégies discursives, RSE, légitimité, pouvoir, tandem État/firme. / Our study is intended to be an exploratory analysis based on a case study. Starting from a sample debate articulated around a public issue, namely the corporate social responsibility (CSR), we apprehend the discourse as an instrument of power deployed by actors in a conflict position. We take the ecological crisis caused by British Petroleum (BP) in the Gulf of Mexico since April 20, 2010 as a case study, and the reaction of the U.S. administration to intervene and reassure the public opinion alarmed by this crisis. In order to select our corpus, we have identified two target populations of discourse, in this case the speech given by the U.S. government (Obama's speech) and discourses representing the official opinion of BP (BP's press releases) dated April 20, 2010 until September 19, 2010. We considered any discourse occurring in a context of conflict symbolically as a power signs carrier and a mobilizing instrument of power relations between the involved actors. We start from the hypothesis stating that organizational and governmental discourses, studied and produced in a crisis context, are necessarily conflictual discourses within the meaning of Windisch (1987). And we used the analytical framework developed by Windisch (1987) to highlight the internal functioning of a confrontational speech seen as a vector of power and legitimacy. In our research, we preceded the discourse analysis, the main method in our study, by a qualitative content analysis. The use of content analysis aims to determine the various themes developed in the discourse, examine how actors define the CSR topic and put the corpus in its own reality, by using the HYPERRESEARCH qualitative content analysis software. In addition, by implementing the theoretical assumptions and methodological tools from discourse analysis, we auscultated the performative legitimating potential of discourses constructed and developed in a conflict communication context. We used the TROPES text analysis software recognized as a textual analysis tool able to generate representative models of the corpus structure and its thematic organization. KEY CONCEPTS Confrontational discourse, discursive strategies, CSR, legitimacy, power, tandem of government and enterprise.

Within two months of its emergence, the BP Gulf Oil spill had become the worst environmental disaster in United States history. However, for those studying public relations the oil spill brought more than ecological disaster, by providing a case study of crisis communication. Although there were a number of crisis responses from BP throughout the course of the oil spill, the primary crisis response crafted by BP was an image restoration campaign which premiered in early June 2010. This campaign, though it exhibits qualities of a standard crisis response, was wildly unpopular with the United States Government and citizenry. This rhetorical analysis attempts to uncover the reasons behind the campaign's failure through an application of the genre model of criticism. By defining the crisis communication genre and applying it to the artifact, the current study uncovers the reasons behind the failure of the campaign. Through this discussion, this analysis identifies that BP did not address all necessary exigencies, nor did it consider the influence a rhetor can have on a message. An explanation for the failure of BP' s campaign provided a plethora of implications to the fields of public . relations and rhetorical criticism, while beginning a discussion to help define the crisis communication genre.