Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1977. / Includes vita Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-131). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2007. Graduate Programme in Higher Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-120). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR32062

Univ., Diss.--Basel, 2005.

Thesis (M.S.M.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Nov. 30, 2006). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis, PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2005. / Field problem. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on September 14, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

M.B.A. / Building relationships with various groups of stakeholders is critical to an organisation’s success. One critical group of stakeholders are the organisation’s employees – the Internal Market. Internal Marketing is the key to superior service and the result is external marketing success. Internal Marketing can be defined as the promoting of the organisation and its product(s) or product line(s) to the organisation’s employees. Internal marketing as a term evolves from the notion that employees constitute an internal market within the organisation. This market needs to be informed, educated, trained, rewarded and motivated to meet external customers' needs and expectations. Understanding customer expectations is a prerequisite for delivering superior service. In order to achieve customer and organisation alignment, the organisations have to ensure that their internal processes, systems and employees are aligned to their common objectives of retaining customers and delivering superior service. Internal Marketing (IM) and Customer Service Centre (CSC) employees was chosen as the subject for this research to determine and establish the nature and perceptions of internal marketing in the service delivered by the Customer Service Centre employees from this specific Bank. IM has wide application in the service sector, but there is little empirical evidence that shows how Customer Service Centre employees perceive it. IM comprises of five components. Customer orientation and customer satisfaction involves leveraging customer relationships and their associated in-depth customer knowledge, which guides an organisation’s strategy towards meeting customer objectives. The implementation of specific corporate or functional strategies relates to the alignment, education and motivation of employees so that they can deliver on customer expectations, whilst meeting the organisation’s objectives. Employee motivation and employee satisfaction relates to attracting, developing, motivating and retaining qualified employees through job products that satisfy their needs. Inter-functional co-ordination and integration involves internal cross-functional relationships or co-operation to deliver effective service to the customers. The marketing-like approach refers to internal marketing-like activities that can influence employees to become customer-conscious and marketoriented. It is critical that employees within an organisation understand their impact and influence on other employees who are part of the complete value-chain that renders a service to the customer. This is important as employees within an organisation provide a service or support to other employees who deliver the end product or service to the customer. This study identified the employees’ perceptions of the internal marketing components within a Customer Service Centre of a leading Bank. The Customer Service Centre provides first level telephonic support to the Bank’s employees. This is a key function in order to ensure that all problems are resolved quickly so that the employees can deliver service to their customers. This research contains a background to the study, a literature review that was researched to clearly define and understand IM, it concepts, as well as related subjects to IM and call centre environments. A survey was then conducted with the CSC employees and the findings were then analysed and proposed recommendations were then concluded. The outcomes of the research identified that four of the five IM components are present in a CSC environment.

M.Comm. / The supposition was made that when customer service is not formally planned and managed, it could result in customer service, as a competitive strategy, not being optimally exploited due to it being done in an unco-ordinated, disorganised and ad hoc manner. The aim of this study is to set guidelines for customer service and management to ensure that customer service, is optimally exploited as a competitive strategy. This study commences with a theoretical framework followed by empirical research. During the theoretical study, customer service was defined and related theoretical aspects discussed. Emphasis was given to the conditions for applying customer service in the enterprise including the service quality model of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1988). General management tasks were defined and the content of each task briefly discussed. Thereafter, the principles of these tasks were applied to customer service management. A customer service model was formulated, which integrated the theory of customer service and general management tasks. The model is based on the assumption that customer service management can be applied at executive, functional and operational level. A questionnaire was designed with the theoretical review as foundation. All facets of customer service management were analysed and questions were posed to determine the extent to which local banks comply with these management principles. The questionnaire was sent to the top ten Commercial banks in South Africa, selected according to the size of their total assets. The completed questionnaires were then analysed with the following results. The management tasks satisfactorily applied in customer service management are: planning, organising and leading. Management tasks that are not satisfactorily applied in customer service management as a result of all the gaps identified are: control, motivation, discipline, communication, delegating, decision making and the management of information. This indicated that customer service is not always managed on a formal and structured way because some of the management tasks are neglected. None of the general management tasks should be neglected as the omission of one of these tasks may lead to an ineffective management process. A customer service manager should thus continuously focus on each one of these management tasks to ensure that they are effectively carried out. If all the management tasks are performed out effectively, and are not neglected or ignored, the management process will be completed satisfactorily and improved results can be expected. The enterprise will therefore have a continuous competitive advantage over its rivals and the primary objectives of a enterprise, namely optimization of income, can thus be attained.

M.Tech. / This study deals with the measurement of customer service quality in an industrial environment. The concept was to measure service quality and then develop a competitive strategy based on this. The mechanism used is the SERVQUAL model. Subsequently reengineering aspects of customer service based on the findings is proposed as a competitive advantage. The study is diagnostic in nature offering insights on the application of a well researched service quality model in an industrial environment. The study was undertaken due to the necessity and position that the research organisation found itself in. Critical factors, that shaped the business environment contributed to the choice of the research. These being : Change Customers Competitors Michael E. Porter shows, in his book Competitive Advantag, creating and sustaining superior performance, that two competitive advantages can be accessed by most organisations, these being cost leadership and differentiation. Adding to this three generic strategies enable competitive advantage(s) through : Cost leadership (low cost production) Differentiation Focus. Based on the above the first and the last strategy, cost leadership and focus respectively, was not feasible for the organisation. The first strategy failed the sustainability hurdle while the last strategy was not entirely applicable. The answer emanated in differentiating from competitors. It was decided to differentiate on customer service. Research was conducted through questionnaires derived from the SERVQUAL model. The original customer questionnaire was modified to suit the research context, an industrial environment. Primary data was gathered via face to face interviews from a sample of 70 customers and 30 employees inclusive of management. Subsequently data was analysed by the SPSS statistical package. Findings are discussed, supported by tables and figures. The conclusions of this study shows that : o The SERVQUAL model is valid and reliable in an industrial environment. o The customer service as it exists is deficient substantiated by negative SERVQUAL gaps. A reengineering intervention can be applied to specific areas based on the findings. The competitive advantage aspect of reengineering customer service in future using the present gaps asbenchmarks