Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Power equipment suppliers that manufacture goods to customer requirements face various opposing forces, such as increasing customer expectations, increasing competition and escalating costs. To sustain margins, companies need to understand what constitutes customer satisfaction, thereby enabling them to differentiate their goods and services from those of competitors, and to charge appropriately for those goods and services. Although customer satisfaction is important to industrial goods suppliers such as power equipment suppliers, most studies have been conducted in the business-to-consumer (B2C) environment, focusing on consumer goods and services, with very few studies focusing on the business-to-business (B2B) environment. Compounding the difficulties with customer satisfaction for South African industrial suppliers is that most literature on the subject is applicable to markets outside of South Africa. This paper aims to give South African industrial goods suppliers some insight into those factors that improve customer satisfaction. The identification of critical success factors seen as important by customers was, therefore, the focus of this research assignment. First, customer satisfaction as a critical success factor is reviewed by comparing it to other success factors in an attempt to validate whether it influences organisational performance positively. Second, a list of appropriate items comprising customer satisfaction is identified from the literature review, and the differences between direct customers and indirect customers are identified and discussed. To reduce the number of constructs to be surveyed, the variables that make up customer satisfaction were ranked using prioritisation matrices against Porter’s Five Forces model (Porter, 2008) and the Blue Ocean Strategy model (Kim & Mauborgne, 2004). The shortened list comprised 39 items, which measured ten constructs of customer satisfaction. Questionnaires were sent to customer representatives who were critical decision-makers when deciding on purchases of industrial equipment. The responses were evaluated as a complete group and showed some statistical significance between the constructs. The responses were then evaluated according to organisational types, which showed no statistical significant differences or interaction effects.

<p>The value of specific individuals for the success of a company has increased drastically because of the increased demand on knowledge and service orientation, and job satisfaction has become more important in the competition of the most attractive employees. Improving job satisfaction also brings along additional advantages. For example, it has been proven to have a direct impact on customer satisfaction. This study aims at providing a working procedure for organizations that wish to increase the level of employee job satisfaction, and a method has been developed that gives practical instructions on how to organize the improvement work. To evaluate the current level of job satisfaction in order to find improvement areas, the most important determinants to job satisfaction have been identified through a literature survey. The method has four phases, Prepare, Investigate, Design and Implement, and is shaped as a closed loop to symbolize the need of continuous improvements. To validate the usefulness and precision of the method, it has been tested in a single case study. The case study showed that the method is applicable in the sense that all four phases were possible to carry out, and that it is capable of providing a practical working procedure to increase job satisfaction. It is also useful when it comes to evaluating already existing working procedures. Most important when it comes to increasing job satisfaction is to let the employees actively participate in the improvement work. This will ensure that the solutions suggested are relevant and enduring, and it will make employees feel acknowledged and motivated to follow out the changes.</p>

I hospitalitybranschen arbetas det intensivt med att erbjuda sina gäster så bra upplevelser som möjligt. Nya teknologiska lösningar som påverkar gästers interaktion med branschen utvecklas ständigt, samtidigt som människors levnadsvanor blir allt mer integrerade med det teknologiska. Flera undersökningar visar att just teknologi inkorporerad i hospitalitybranschen är en bidragande faktor för en förhöjd gästupplevelse, men trots det är det få inom branschen som väljer att anamma den. Tron om att den typen av investeringar är allt för kostsamma, okunskap om att teknologin finns och en allt för konservativ syn är tänkbara förklaringar till att stora delar av branschen halkar efter. I uppsatsen redogörs för några i världen pågående trender och en litteraturstudie genomförs för att undersöka hur teknologi kan användas för att förhöja gästupplevelsen inom hospitalitybranschen med hänsyn till dessa trender. Uppsatsen diskuterar hur branschen är på väg att förändras och föreslår ett par exempel för hur ditt varumärke kan hänga med i utvecklingen redan idag. / B-uppsatser

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Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Providing quality primary healthcare services in a scarce resource environment in South Africa is a challenge. This is exacerbated by segments of the population experiencing high unemployment and extreme poverty leading to a prevalence of diseases such as HIV/Aids and Tuberculosis. Long queues and staff shortages have led to the Department of Health decentralising the primary healthcare system into district facilities, with the intention of offering greater access to equitable healthcare for all South Africans. Sexual reproductive health falls under the category of primary healthcare and is a specialised function, often carried out by inadequately trained providers using quota systems, who consider this essential service to be a low priority. The area of sexual reproductive health includes termination of pregnancy, contraception, treatment of sexually transmitted infections and cancer screening. Although termination of pregnancy is legal in South Africa, reluctance on the part of service providers to offer this service, due to conscientious objection has created a shortage of safe, legal healthcare facilities. In an effort to provide these life-saving services, non-governmental organisations are attempting to fill the service delivery shortfall. With the assistance of international donor funding, Marie Stopes South Africa has established a number of sexual reproductive healthcare facilities in townships in Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal. These services take place from basic structures located within communities most in need of healthcare, and offer a range of sexual reproductive health services at low cost to men and women of reproductive age. As the operational focus is on provision of services otherwise not available, the organisation has not measured the levels of customer satisfaction adequately to date. Due to the preventative and potentially life-saving nature of these services, improved customer satisfaction levels could, through word of mouth advertising and customer retention, increase the use of these facilities by community members, reduce numbers of unplanned pregnancies, and ultimately contribute to a decrease in the incidence of maternal mortality due to unsafe abortions. In this study, the SERVQUAL instrument will measure the gap between customer expectations prior to services received, and perceptions of the services post-delivery, in order to establish the current service quality gaps in township healthcare facilities. Management of the organisation will use this information to implement actions to improve customer satisfaction and monitor the impact of these actions, with the aim of increasing positive word-of-mouth advertising, leading to greater use of services and ultimately the long-term sustainability of the facilities.

Assessment of customer satisfaction with their online shopping experience, including their point of purchase, inventory picking and delivery quality as well as a comparison of their online versus in-store shopping experiences. / To establish an online grocery shopping service and to attract customers to it is an expensive operation. In order to recoup those expenses, and ultimately make a profit, an online retailer needs to ensure that customers remain loyal and make repeat purchases for as long as possible. Although customer satisfaction does not guarantee loyalty, dissatisfied customers generally take their business elsewhere at the first opportunity. This study investigates the overall level of satisfaction amongst a small sample of Woolworths’ online customer base. In pursuit of this, a multi-dimensional model was developed for assessing customer satisfaction in various areas, highlighting those which may require improvement. The impact of certain key demographic data on these dimensions was also investigated. Since satisfaction is not enough to guarantee loyalty, an assessment of the perceived value in making purchases online is also undertaken in an attempt to ascertain purchase intentions. The key findings of this study revealed a relatively high level of customer satisfaction as well as significant perceived value in shopping online when measured against the sacrifices made. However, a main area for improvement is to enhance the customer’s perception of the value they receive. The demographic variables of age, gender and language had no significant impact on any dimension, while the customer’s connection type was found to have a significant impact on their satisfaction pertaining to the performance of the Web site. Finally, it was established that there is a strong association with the Woolworths brand and corporate image, even though the online shopping initiative was launched as a separate brand.

Title: Marketing research of the customers satisfaction with services of the company "Hardcore Tréninky" Objectives: The main aim of this diploma thesis is to analyze current level of customer satisfaction with the services of Hardcore Tréninky, discover their opinions and reveal potential drawbacks by using questionnaire survey. Base on the results of empirical research, define any problem areas and suggest appropriate management recommendations, which would let to increase the customers satisfaction. Methods: To determine the satisfaction of the customers of the company Hardcore Tréninky, it has been used the quantitative method, which is called questionnaire survey. Respondents were interviewed mostly by electronic questioning, but few of them were also asked personally. Results: From the results of marketing research is clear that the customers of the company Hardcore Tréninky are satisfied with the quality of its services. They positively evaluated especially characteristic features of the HCT services. On the other hand, the biggest problematic area was discovered in the technical condition of equipment and the building of the Vinohradská gym. It is suggested to enable paying by the internet, promote the new Opatov gym and buy new equipment and reconstruct the locker room in the Vinohradská...

Thesis (M. Tech. (Faculty of Management Sciences, Dept. of Human Resources Management) -- Vaal University of Technology / The buzzwords in South African business today is quality service and customer satisfaction. Service quality is an important determinant of customer satisfaction. It is therefore important to measure customer satisfaction and to solicit internal customers perceptions on service received. This research was primarily undertaken to evaluate the quality of services rendered by administrators to Sasol Technology R&D employees. The research is supported by a detailed study of quality and customer service. An adapted internal service quality scale (INSERVQUAL) was used to measure service quality. A thirty item scale was developed, for the empirical study. The instrument was then subjected to a scale purification process through exploratory factor analysis. Both the expectation and perception elements were used in measuring service quality. The five dimensions of service quality namely Accessibility and Tangibility, Assurance, Empathy, Reliability and Responsiveness were identified as internal service quality dimensions. Aspects of Accessibility and Tangibility were incorporated as a single dimension in this study. A six- point Likert scale was used in the questionnaire. The low end of the scale represented a negative response, whilst the high end represented a posit,ive response. With a response rate of 63% from internal customers, the researcher was able to provide evidence that service quality dimensions may influence an employee's perception of the administrators' service quality. The finding in this study also suggests the need for further research to examine customers' expectations in other related services as well as in different culture contexts. The testing of the modified internal customer model of internal marketing developed and described in this study indicates that Access, Assurance, Empathy, Reliability and Responsiveness dimensions may be a useful approach to enhancing service quality.

The e-commerce has increased over the last decades, and this have indicated a change in the booking behaviour within tourism. The change within the tourism business is almost completed to go from offline to online services. This has developed a new form of companies; the online travel agencies (OTAs). As this change has been developed, not all customers is aware of the function of the OTAs. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of the Kano Model when a third party is involved in the sales through a case study of three OTA sites. This study provides a content analysis with gathered customer reviews. The main findings of this study indicate that the five quality elements of the Kano model may be interrupted by a third party. The customer satisfaction of the OTAs can be decreased by factors that they are not able to control.

By applying the Kano Model on mobile payment, the paper aims at giving an overview on thebasic, performance and excitement requirements that affect customer satisfaction. In this paper,mobile payment customer requirements are compared to former research conducted onpayment methods in general. Furthermore, each requirement is divided into two parts focusingon Business-to-Customer and Business-to-Business aspects. The findings of the paper werethat while there is still some overlapping between general payment method and mobile paymentmethod requirements, some requirements such as security, fake-proof nature, reputation andreliability of the method has transformed and became more important. Furthermore, due totechnological advancements new customer requirements occur.