Diplomová práce se zabývá problematikou analýzy spokojenosti zákazníků společnosti Deloitte Belgie. Srovnává teoretické poznatky s praktickými dovednostmi získanými během stáže ve společnosti Deloitte. Metoda osobního dotazování byla použita za účelem získání cenné zpětné vazby od klientů a k provedení analýzy spokojenosti zákazníků. Na základě vyhodnocení bylo identifikováno několik oblastí vyžadujících zdokonalení a navržena opatření vedoucí ke zlepšení zjišťování spokojenosti zákazníků a zvýšení stávající úrovně spokojenosti zákazníků.

A field experiment examines within a financial services firm the impact of a customer satisfaction survey-based intervention that enables front-line employees to identify and contact less-than satisfied customers (less than 9 on a 10-point scale) to proactively prevent potential customer defections. The impact is measured using operational data from 28,000 new customers and their associated defection behavior over a period of eight years. The experiment applies binomial Z-tests of proportions to assess the difference in defection rates of targeted and non-targeted customers before and after the intervention. The research finds that the use of closed loop satisfaction measurement reduces customer defections (by 40%, p>.001). Further, the research finds that the primary reduction is for non-targeted customers rather than for targeted customers, contrary to expectations. The research also provides additional support for the 'service recovery paradox' wherein customers who are less-than satisfied who are satisfactorily resolved have reduced defection rates compared to customers that are satisfied (by 47%, p=.016). The primary limitation of the research is its reliance on data from a single company. Another limitation is the potentially confounding impact of the Great Recession on defections during the study period, which could threaten the validity of the analysis. Consequently, additional tests were performed to control for this and other potentially confounding factors. These tests show that the Great Recession and the host company's cost cutting reactions did impact defections and therefore data from these periods were eliminated from the analyses. The primary theoretical contributions are the use of actual customer defections to measure the impacts and the use of a proactive rather than a reactive intervention. The contribution from a practitioner perspective is the relatively low cost of this intervention for improving customer retention.

Titel: Kunden har alltid makt – En studie av Customer Empowerments inverkan på företag inom retailbranschen.    Nivå: Examensarbete på Grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi    Författare: Jacob Cedergren och Christin Rampeltin Molin    Handledare: Anna Ljung och Akmal Hyder   Datum: 2021– januari      Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka och analysera företagens uppfattning av Customer Empowerment och dess inverkan på företag inom retailbranschen.   Metod: Vi har valt att använda oss av ett induktivt tillvägagångssätt. Det empiriska materialet har inhämtats genom en kvalitativ intervjuundersökning, med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Företagsrepresentanter inom retailbranschen har utgjort studiens urval, då vi anser att deras kundkontakt och möte slutkunden är viktigt för att kunna besvara studiens frågeställningar.   Resultat & slutsats: Studien visar att respondenterna uppfattar att de idag styrs av kunden och kundens behov. Intervjupersonerna beskriver att internet har ökat kundens inflytande och makt, på grund av tillgången till en obegränsad mängd information. Respondenterna beskriver en maktförskjutning från företag till kund. Studien visar att begreppet Customer Empowerment, CE, har förändrats från en företagsinitierad strategi för att skapa kundengagemang och nöjdhet, till en okontrollerbar kundmakt, vilket innebär att kunden har övertagit flera av företagens roller. Ett koncept vi har valt att namnge omvända roller då kunderna, enligt respondenterna, styr och innehar makt över företagen medan företagen försöker anpassa sig efter kundens behov och önskemål.    Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien bidrar då den beskriver begreppet Customer Empowerment, CE, och dess inverkan på retailföretag, utifrån företagens perspektiv. Tidigare forskning av begreppet CE har framhållit dess fördelar. Denna studie beskriver att kunden idag inte bara erbjuds inflytande utan även har övertagit makt och kontroll från företagen. Denna maktförändring leder till negativa effekter, vilket beskrivs i två teoretiska figurer. Det praktiska bidraget är att studien beskriver de negativa effekterna som kundens makt kan inneha på företag, inom retailbranschen.    Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Denna studie bygger på 10 intervjupersoner, från retailbranschen, vilket gör att studiens generaliserbarhet endast speglar en del av retailbranschen samt en liten del av svenska företag. Det vore intressant att undersöka företagens syn på CE inom andra branscher, exempelvis inom B2B- branschen.    Nyckelord: Customer Empowerment, Kundmakt, Kundfokus, Kundorientering, Retail, Retailbransch / Title: The customer always has power - a study of how Customer Empowerment affects companies in the retail industry.   Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration    Author: Jacob Cedergren and Christin Rampeltin Molin   Supervisor: Anna Ljung and Akmal Hyder    Date: 2021 - January     Aim: The study aims to investigate and describe companies' perceptions of Customer Empowerment, CE, and its impact on companies in the retail industry.   Method: We have chosen to use an inductive approach. The empirical material has been obtained through a qualitative interview survey with semi-structured interviews. Company representatives in the retail industry have made up our selection, as we believe that their customer contact and meeting the end customer are essential to answer the study's questions.   Result & Conclusions: The study shows that the respondents perceive that they are governed by the customer and the customer's needs. The interviewees describe that the internet has increased the customer's influence and power due to the unlimited amount of information. The respondents describe a shift in power from the company to the customer. The study shows that CE's concept has changed from a company-initiated strategy to create customer engagement and satisfaction, to an uncontrollable customer power, which means that the customer has taken over several of the companies' roles. This concept we have chosen to name reverse roles, as the customers, according to the respondents, control and hold power over the companies while the companies try to adapt to the customer's needs and wishes.   Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes as it describes Customer Empowerment, CE, and its impact on retail companies, from the companies' perspective. Previous research on the concept of CE has highlighted its benefits. This study describes that the customer today is offered influence and has also taken over the companies' power. This change in control leads to adverse effects, which are described in two theoretical figures. The practical contribution is that the study describes the damaging effects of the customer's power on companies in the retail industry.   Suggestions for future research: This study is based on ten interviewees, from the retail industry, which means that the study's generalizability only reflects a part of the Swedish companies. It would be interesting to investigate whether this view of customer power is also valid in other industries or, for example, in the B2B industry.   Key words: Customer Empowerment, Customer Power, Customer Focus, Customer Orientation, Retail, Retail Industry

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Master of Technology: Marketing, Durban University of Technology, 2012. / The aim of this study is to investigate service quality at retail banks, such as Standard Bank, ABSA Bank, First National Bank and Nedbank in Durban. The four objectives of this study are set as: Firstly, to identify the level of satisfaction with customer service received from different retail banks in Durban; Secondly, to identify customers’ expectations in terms of quality services provided by retail banks; Thirdly, to ascertain the perceptions of customers towards the service provided by retail banks in Durban; Fourthly, to measure the gaps between customer expectations and perceptions of service quality, using a modified version of the SERVQUAL model. The instrument used to assess the retail bank customer’s expectation and expectations of service quality, was the SERVQUAL questionnaire, measuring expectations and perceptions according to five quality dimensions. A total of 448 students were surveyed. Quota sampling was used in this study, in order to improve representativeness. Using quota sampling involves selecting the characteristics that are required in the sample and then sampling until enough representatives of each category are achieved. Although this is a form of non-probability sampling, a quota sample can provide a good approximation to a probability sample. It means that distributing questionnaires to a certain group would be stopped after the prescribed quota is reached. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Conclusions and recommendations were thereafter drawn from the literature and the findings of the study. The study shows that retail bank customer expectations of service quality exceeded their perceptions in the five service quality dimensions used in the SERVQUAL questionnaire. This study is also important because it will assist bank managers to convert negative perceptions to positive impressions. Consequently, customers will benefit from the improved, outstanding customer service.

This study attempts to identify possibilities for creating a unified offline and online customer experience across communication channels in a retail company. With the current technological development and the trend of customers shifting more to the online channel, the customers also expect more from this communication channel. Within the online channel a development into an omni- channel (unified experience across channels) approach is leading to new possibilities, and keeping up with the development will support companies to keep their competitive advantage. The study reviews a case (Mio) with an offline channel represented by several large scale retail stores in Sweden, and also providing an online channel as a website meant to complement the stores. The study reviews previous literature in the field of customer experience both online and offline, omni channel retailing, and marketing. This is the foundation, together with a benchmark case (comparison case), and a survey to gain further insight and widen the knowledge. The results indicates that there are specific features which could contribute to a more positive and seamless experience across channels for the customer. These are information availability, quality and consistency across channels. As well as, functionality for purchases, order handling and tracking, and interactive customer service online. This could preferentially be fused in one place as a customers personal profile, allowing for a portal with everything the customer needs during all phases of the shopping experience. These findings provide insight into how the online channel could be used to better complement the offline channel, working synergistically. Future research is needed to validate these initial findings.

Syfte och frågeställningar: Syftet med denna studie är att bidra till ökad kunskap inom kundorientering genom att undersöka hur nöjda kunder skapas både utifrån organisationers och konsumenters perspektiv för att på så vis få en djupare förståelse av goda kundupplevelser.  ● Hur skapar framgångsrika organisationer nöjda kunder?  ● Vad innebär goda kundupplevelser för konsumenter?   Metod: Kvalitativa intervjustudier. Studie 1 utgörs av fyra intervjuer med representanter från framgångsrika företag, studie 2 utgörs av tjugo intervjuer med oberoende konsumenter. Efter insamlad data har separata innehållsanalyser genomförts vilka har resulterat i två träddiagram. Resultat: I studie 1 identifierades fyra viktiga huvudteman för att organisationer ska kunna skapa nöjda kunder, dessa är Alla ska med, Kunden är kung, Bygg en stark grund och Ständig utveckling. I studie 2 identifierades fyra viktiga teman för att skapa goda kundupplevelser, dessa är Personligt bemötande, Pålitlighet, Enkelhet och Det lilla extra. Slutsats: Studierna visar att samtliga identifierade teman behövs för att skapa nöjda kunder men att teman från studie 2 har olika vikt beroende på vilken typ av kundupplevelse det handlar om. Studie 1 bekräftar tidigare teorier om att kvalitetsutveckling och nöjda kunder går hand i hand. Båda studierna visar att en satsning på att förbättra kundupplevelsen också leder till ökad lönsamhet eftersom konsumenter som fått goda upplevelser skapar långsiktiga relationer med företagen medan negativa upplevelser gör att konsumenterna istället bojkottar företaget i fråga. Detta innebär att arbete med kundorientering blir allt viktigare och att skapa goda kundupplevelser därför är bästa sättet för verksamheter att sticka ut i mängden. / Purpose and issues: The purpose of this study is to contribute to increased knowledge in customer orientation by exploring how satisfied customers are created from the perspective of both organizations and consumers in order to gain a deeper understanding of good customer experiences.  ● How do successful organizations create satisfied customers?  ● What do good customer experiences mean for consumers?   Method: Qualitative interview studies. Study 1 consists of four interviews with representatives from successful businesses, study 2 consists of twenty interviews with independent consumers. After collecting data, separate content analyzes have been performed which have resulted in two tree diagrams. Findings: Study 1 identified four main themes for organizations to be able to create satisfied customers. These are: Everyone must be involved, The customer is king, Build a strong foundation and Continuous development. Study 2 identified four important themes for creating good customer experiences according to the customers, these are Personal treatment, Reliability, Simplicity and Go the extra mile. Conclusion: The research studies show that all identified themes are needed to create satisfied customers, but that themes from study 2 are of varying importance depending on the type of customer experience. Study 1 confirms previous theories that quality development and satisfied customers have a strong connection. Both studies show that an investment in improving the customer experience also leads to increased profitability because consumers who have had good experiences create long-term relationships with companies, while negative experiences mean that consumers instead boycott the company. This implies that the work with customer orientation is becoming increasingly important and creating good customer experiences is therefore the best way for businesses to stand out from the competition. / <p>2021-06-06</p>

In the business-to-business (B2B) financing industry, financiers offering financing to SMEs are finding it increasingly difficult to attract new customers and to retain existing customers. One way of attracting and retaining customers is by creating superior customer satisfaction, as it is believed that customer satisfaction leads to loyalty which ultimately results in customer retention. Customer satisfaction could also be an important indicator as to whether customers would want to build long-term relationships with financiers. With the current tendency towards the standardisation of financing products and services, building and maintaining relationships with customers is becoming increasingly important as a way to distinguish financiers from their competitors and, concurrently, to ensure survival. However, not all customers want to build long-term relationships with financiers. It is therefore important that financiers should identify those customers who have positive relationship intentions and focus their marketing efforts on these customers. The primary objective of this study was to develop a framework for relationship intention, satisfaction, loyalty and retention of SMEs in the business-to-business (B2B) financing environment. The descriptive research of this study is based on information gathered through quantitative, self-administered electronic surveys that were distributed among a South African financier’s (Business Partners Limited) customer database. In total, 120 SME respondents participated in the study, resulting in a final realisation rate of 12%. Results from this study indicate that the relationship intention measuring scale used in this study was valid and reliable in the B2B context within the financing environment. Results also show a significantly large positive relationship between respondents’ overall satisfaction and their loyalty towards Business Partners Limited (BPL), as well as a significantly large positive relationship between respondents’ loyalty and retention towards BPL. In addition, respondents with high relationship intentions showed higher overall satisfaction with loyalty and retention towards BPL than those respondents with moderate and low relationship intentions. Furthermore, the results indicated that respondents with moderate relationship intentions have higher overall satisfaction with BPL than those respondents with low relationship intentions. Respondents with moderate relationship intentions also displayed higher loyalty and retention towards BPL than those respondents with low relationship intentions. The results furthermore showed positive linear relationships between respondents’ relationship intentions and their overall satisfaction with BPL, between respondents’ relationship intentions and their loyalty towards BPL, as well as between respondents’ relationship intentions and their retention towards BPL. The results did not point to any clear parallels between respondents’ business size and their overall satisfaction, loyalty or retention. However, this study found positive relationships between respondents’ relationship intentions and their satisfaction, loyalty and retention. It is especially noteworthy that customers showing high relationship intentions overall, also showed a higher inclination to be satisfied, to be loyal and to become repeat customers (thus indicating retention). It is therefore recommended that financiers should rather use their customers’ relationship intentions and not their business size as focus, because strong positive relationships exist between respondents’ relationship intentions and their overall satisfaction, loyalty and retention. It is furthermore recommended that financiers should focus their marketing efforts and spending on customers with high relationship intentions as these customers tend to show higher satisfaction, loyalty and retention than those customers with moderate and low relationship intentions. Future research may consider using the relationship intentions measuring scale found to be valid and reliable in this study to other B2B contexts to determine the applicability thereof in other industries. Also, future research could consider testing the antecedents of relationship intentions, such as perceived brand equity, perceived organisation equity and perceived channel equity to determine the influence thereof on customers' relationship intentions. Finally, the study can be replicated under financiers’ B2C customers to determine whether relationship intentions are also applicable to these customers in the financing environment. / PhD (Marketing Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The management and implementation of unique resources contribute to the creation of a sustainable competitive advantage that has a positive impact on the owner of the resource’s profits. Customer relationship management becomes very important because customers with their own personal devices and options such as cloud computing, social media and mobility have converged into a renewed driving force expecting organisations to remember their experiences. These experiences should not been stored in separate channels or silos. With a customer resource management system organisations could have the opportunity to get better insights of customers and derive better business value. Customer data should be managed by organisations just like any other corporate asset. Because of the importance of customer data and the critical advantage it creates, organisations see an effective customer data management strategy as an important cornerstone of a customer relationship management strategy. A system should have the ability to provide accurate, timely, and reliable data and information that can tailor customer capabilities that could influence an organisation’s performance. Big data is an extension of customer relationship management and big data customer relationship management initiatives will require integration and analysis of both structured and unstructured data to identify the most relevant insights of a customer and determine the most appropriate customer action. Knowledge management should be applied to solve business problems to support current work styles and make better use of social software. The biggest reason for organisations to address knowledge management is the impact of fast retrieval of the right information to ensure customer satisfaction. The role of information technology is to enable information management and transform the organisation to business excellence. Information technology is a powerful tool for defining, organising, and building knowledge assets within an organisation. Information technology is developing fast and organisations can apply technology to enhance their competence which showed a positive correlation in a customer focused approach. Together with customer resource management, market resource management could be used to support more customer centric strategies with fewer resources. Management of customer resources using information technology could develop significant customer relationships and improve an organisation’s competitive advantage in the market. Exploratory research found that in selected South African business schools the use of a customer resource management system to analyse the growing volume and variety of customer information can create better customer insights. The customer resource management system supports marketing efforts and can create new business by gaining new customers. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

In the business-to-business (B2B) financing industry, financiers offering financing to SMEs are finding it increasingly difficult to attract new customers and to retain existing customers. One way of attracting and retaining customers is by creating superior customer satisfaction, as it is believed that customer satisfaction leads to loyalty which ultimately results in customer retention. Customer satisfaction could also be an important indicator as to whether customers would want to build long-term relationships with financiers. With the current tendency towards the standardisation of financing products and services, building and maintaining relationships with customers is becoming increasingly important as a way to distinguish financiers from their competitors and, concurrently, to ensure survival. However, not all customers want to build long-term relationships with financiers. It is therefore important that financiers should identify those customers who have positive relationship intentions and focus their marketing efforts on these customers. The primary objective of this study was to develop a framework for relationship intention, satisfaction, loyalty and retention of SMEs in the business-to-business (B2B) financing environment. The descriptive research of this study is based on information gathered through quantitative, self-administered electronic surveys that were distributed among a South African financier’s (Business Partners Limited) customer database. In total, 120 SME respondents participated in the study, resulting in a final realisation rate of 12%. Results from this study indicate that the relationship intention measuring scale used in this study was valid and reliable in the B2B context within the financing environment. Results also show a significantly large positive relationship between respondents’ overall satisfaction and their loyalty towards Business Partners Limited (BPL), as well as a significantly large positive relationship between respondents’ loyalty and retention towards BPL. In addition, respondents with high relationship intentions showed higher overall satisfaction with loyalty and retention towards BPL than those respondents with moderate and low relationship intentions. Furthermore, the results indicated that respondents with moderate relationship intentions have higher overall satisfaction with BPL than those respondents with low relationship intentions. Respondents with moderate relationship intentions also displayed higher loyalty and retention towards BPL than those respondents with low relationship intentions. The results furthermore showed positive linear relationships between respondents’ relationship intentions and their overall satisfaction with BPL, between respondents’ relationship intentions and their loyalty towards BPL, as well as between respondents’ relationship intentions and their retention towards BPL. The results did not point to any clear parallels between respondents’ business size and their overall satisfaction, loyalty or retention. However, this study found positive relationships between respondents’ relationship intentions and their satisfaction, loyalty and retention. It is especially noteworthy that customers showing high relationship intentions overall, also showed a higher inclination to be satisfied, to be loyal and to become repeat customers (thus indicating retention). It is therefore recommended that financiers should rather use their customers’ relationship intentions and not their business size as focus, because strong positive relationships exist between respondents’ relationship intentions and their overall satisfaction, loyalty and retention. It is furthermore recommended that financiers should focus their marketing efforts and spending on customers with high relationship intentions as these customers tend to show higher satisfaction, loyalty and retention than those customers with moderate and low relationship intentions. Future research may consider using the relationship intentions measuring scale found to be valid and reliable in this study to other B2B contexts to determine the applicability thereof in other industries. Also, future research could consider testing the antecedents of relationship intentions, such as perceived brand equity, perceived organisation equity and perceived channel equity to determine the influence thereof on customers' relationship intentions. Finally, the study can be replicated under financiers’ B2C customers to determine whether relationship intentions are also applicable to these customers in the financing environment. / PhD (Marketing Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The management and implementation of unique resources contribute to the creation of a sustainable competitive advantage that has a positive impact on the owner of the resource’s profits. Customer relationship management becomes very important because customers with their own personal devices and options such as cloud computing, social media and mobility have converged into a renewed driving force expecting organisations to remember their experiences. These experiences should not been stored in separate channels or silos. With a customer resource management system organisations could have the opportunity to get better insights of customers and derive better business value. Customer data should be managed by organisations just like any other corporate asset. Because of the importance of customer data and the critical advantage it creates, organisations see an effective customer data management strategy as an important cornerstone of a customer relationship management strategy. A system should have the ability to provide accurate, timely, and reliable data and information that can tailor customer capabilities that could influence an organisation’s performance. Big data is an extension of customer relationship management and big data customer relationship management initiatives will require integration and analysis of both structured and unstructured data to identify the most relevant insights of a customer and determine the most appropriate customer action. Knowledge management should be applied to solve business problems to support current work styles and make better use of social software. The biggest reason for organisations to address knowledge management is the impact of fast retrieval of the right information to ensure customer satisfaction. The role of information technology is to enable information management and transform the organisation to business excellence. Information technology is a powerful tool for defining, organising, and building knowledge assets within an organisation. Information technology is developing fast and organisations can apply technology to enhance their competence which showed a positive correlation in a customer focused approach. Together with customer resource management, market resource management could be used to support more customer centric strategies with fewer resources. Management of customer resources using information technology could develop significant customer relationships and improve an organisation’s competitive advantage in the market. Exploratory research found that in selected South African business schools the use of a customer resource management system to analyse the growing volume and variety of customer information can create better customer insights. The customer resource management system supports marketing efforts and can create new business by gaining new customers. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015