All organisations compete on the basis of service. In today‘s highly competitive world, organisations need to compete to retain their customers and to offer good customer service that will give them a competitive advantage. In the South African pharmaceutical market, the introduction of the Single Exit Price (SEP) and generic substitution have led to the price of equivalent medicines no longer being the differentiating factor in a customer deciding which manufacturer‘s product to purchase. The availability of generic medicines at the pharmacy or hospital has become the differentiating factor. Two types of customers exist in any organisation, namely, external customers and internal customers. Much has been written about the external customer, but less about the internal customer. Many managers do not perceive internal customer service as a priority. Any organisation attempting to deliver quality service to their external customers must begin by serving the needs of their internal customers. Internal service quality is characterised by the attitudes that people have towards one another and in the way that employees serve one another inside the organisation. By improving customer service, the organisation can improve its profitability, sustainability and customer retention. The aim of this study was to determine whether the levels of internal customer service between the three sections of Aspen Pharmacare are optimal. Determining the current performance levels between the staff of the sections will assist in highlighting the areas that require attention. The three sections of Aspen Pharmacare that are internal customers of one another and have been used in the study are: - production; - demand planning; and - distribution. The results of the study show that all three sections rate three service quality dimensions (communication, tangibles and reliability) as important. The results were used to develop an internal customer service model for Aspen Pharmacare.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA), Business Studies Unit, Durban University of Technology in the Faculty of Commerce, 2008 / The conditions for doing business are changing rapidly. In the last decade, the resin market has witnessed a substantial growth and rapid changes globally as well as domestically. Customer satisfaction is a critical issue in the success of any business system, hence, one of the key challenges of this market is how to satisfy and retain their customers. This issue is strongly related to how service quality is managed and which holds a significant importance to customers’ satisfaction and their perceived performance of companies. In order for companies to survive and grow, they must find new ways of thinking, which has led to doing marketing researches, especially those related to customer satisfaction. In this study, the SERVQUAL model was employed to establish the customers’ perceptions versus their expectations of service quality at Cray Valley Resins. Both primary and secondary data were used to inform this particular research. The research was quantitative in nature and conducted in the form of a self-administered survey. The type of study used was the cross-sectional analytical survey method. The summary of the findings reveals that the dimensions with the highest expectation were tangibles followed by responsiveness. Coincidently these two dimensions also had the largest gap scores. The overall mean gap score (-0.326) is relatively small. Thus, it can be concluded that although the customers hold a good opinion of the quality of the services provided, expectations of the services were higher.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

M. Tech. (Office management and Technology) Vaal University of Technology| / Telework can be defined as a flexible work arrangement, where selected employees work at home one or more days per week or at a site near home, instead of physically travelling to a central workplace. Telework has progressed globally, especially during the past decade to a work option that has an impact on commerce and industry in a most beneficial manner. This flexible work arrangement emerged in organisations because of the development of information and communication technology (ICT) that forms the key component of the teleworkers equipage. This investigation focussed on telework aspects, such as the effects on the environment, quality of life and economic effects. It is evident that telework generates significant benefits to the corporate environments, improves work and personal life experiences for human resources, improves environmental and social circumstances and has resulted in a significant paradigm shift in the corporate arena. The investigation also identified barriers that constrain managers from implementing telework. The investigation furthermore determined how South Africa, in particular, might benefit socioeconomically Inferential conclusions indicate that telework could counteract many of South Africa's transport and related socio-economic problems that pose detrimental consequences for the environment and other resources, as is the case in many other countries.

Abstract also in Chinese / Bibliography: leaves 122-123 / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1983

This thesis consists of two essays. Both essays are related to customer base concentration. In the first essay, I examine the impact of customer base concentration on selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) costs stickiness. With a sample of 65,549 firm-year observations from 9,460 unique firms on the US market from 1980 to 2012, I find that concentrated customer base accentuates SG&A costs stickiness, even after controlling for related variables such as asset intensity, employee intensity, firm size and firm age. Further findings indicate that the positive association between customer base concentration and SG&A costs stickiness is enhanced if supplier firms are in durable industry (SIC 3400-3990), or have more relationship-specific investments, but weakened if the duration of the relationship between a supplier firm and its customer base is longer. The findings are robust to alternative measures of major variables and to alternative testing models. In the second essay, I examine the impact of customer base concentration on investment efficiency. With a sample of 57,852 firm-year observations from 12,123 unique firms on the US market from 1980 to 2013, I find that concentrated customer base is positively associated with investment efficiency improvement. The findings are evidenced by the testing results that concentrated customer base strengthens the positive association between investment activities and investment opportunities. From shareholders’ perspective, concentrated customer base also strengthens the contribution of investment expenditure to shareholders’ value. In addition, I find that the positive association between customer base concentration and investment efficiency is influenced by some salient features of the supplier-customer relationship. Generally, such association is more pronounced if the supplier firm’s industry share is larger; if the supplier firm relationship-specific investment is greater; and if the supplier-customer relationship is longer. The findings are robust to a number of sensitivity tests. Keywords: customer base concentration; SG&A costs stickiness; investment efficiency; agency problem; information asymmetry

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Customer satisfaction with the Information Technology Help Desk is the focus of this study. Technology in the workplace has increased exponentially. Therefore customers are more reliant on the Help Desk then ever before. This has raised the importance of the role that Help Desk plays in the functioning of an organisation. The fundamental aim of this study is to answer the questions below; 1. Is dissatisfaction truly present for individual problems, or is it a generalisation or "urban myth"? 2. Which of the five hypotheses are the most significant in causing dissatisfaction amongst customers? The five hypotheses focus on the areas of Communication, Solutions, Service, Knowledge (up-to-date), and Morale. A computer-based survey was used to query the customers. The survey questions linked back to the hypotheses. The customer was given the opportunity to make an optional comment to discover any sensitive issues that the survey did not address. The average "overall satisfaction" rating for the survey suggested the general population is more satisfied then dissatisfied with the services of the Help Desk. From the study I was able to conclude that dissatisfaction is present for individual problems, but the dissatisfied customer only accounts for 8% of the surveyed population. Having proven that customer dissatisfaction is present the next step was to determine the nature of the problem to provide useful information to reduce customer dissatisfaction. Investigating the surveys on the basis of problem category did this. The results indicated that customer dissatisfaction was most prevalent in calls concerning changes made to PCs and server interruptions. Therefore the Help Desk needs to re-evaluate the processes for handling problems of this nature. In contrast customers were most satisfied with assistance for problems relating to desktop software and hardware. Therefore dissatisfaction is not an "urban myth". Of all the five hypotheses, Help Desk morale stood out as producing more satisfaction than any of the other hypotheses including "overall satisfaction". Help Desk morale proved to be significantly different in nature when compared to the four other hypotheses. Therefore the moral of the Help Desk team is a fundamental ingredient for brewing a successful service. Get this wrong and all aspects of the team and the service will decline. The most important influence on "overall satisfaction" was "satisfaction with keeping up with technological change", and the least important factor was "satisfaction with ability to predict problems through good communication". This would indicate an up-to-date Help Desk is more likely to have satisfied customers.

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Business. / Customer contact personnel (CCP) are recognised as a key determinant in the attainment of customer satisfaction and service quality. While they are readily acknowledged as often representing the service in the eyes of the customer, almost no attention has been given to researching the determinants of service behaviour among CCP, from the perspective of CCP. The work of Shamir (1980), over fifteen years ago, acted as a catalyst for the development of the conceptual model of this thesis. Of particular interest was the inclusion of the first empirical examination of propositions concerning relative status and role conflict. The conceptual model of this thesis extended and developed this work by representing relative status as two constructs, perceived self-status and perceived recognition status, then further, developed the discussion to include the dependent variable of this thesis, service behaviour. Additionally, the conceptual model included other key variables suggested by the literature (uniform perceptions and customer orientation), that directly and indirectly influence service behaviour. Airline flight attendants were considered suitable respondents for this research as they hold a high boundary spanning position. The useable data from the survey of 446 respondents represented a 36% response rate. The data analysis undertaken included path analysis and structural equation modelling. Investigation of the data found that greater insight and better managerial diagnostics could be obtained by splitting the sample dependent on the relative status perspective respondents held concerning their perceived self-status, and refining the conceptual model by dividing the dependent variable, service behaviour, into positive and negative service behaviour. The research findings indicated that the customer orientation of CCP had the greatest influence on service behaviour. Importantly, perceived self-status had a moderating influence on service behaviour, with the direction dependent on the status perspective of `not superior' or `superior'. All other variables of the model were generally found to have significant direct or indirect effects on service behaviour, again influenced by direction if they were mediated through perceived self-status. The structural equation modelling also provided acceptable fits to the data. Although, the study examined relationships that essentially had never previously been empirically tested and therefore, in their research infancy, the findings considerably aid our understanding of antecedents of service behaviour among CCP. Further, the findings have significant implications for management in service organisations where their frontline service personnel occupy a service role that is considered subordinate, both to the customer and the company.

The following dissertation is an exploratory case study of a telecommunications organisation�s call centres. Specifically, it was focused on investigating internal service quality issues that related to the frontline employee role, a clearly underdeveloped area of study in services marketing literature. The study involved firstly identifying the internal services delivered to frontline employees, and then gaining their perceptions of the service quality dimensions most important to them within each workplace situation. This in turn provided an indication of how internal services could be customised and classified to best meet frontline employees� work requirements and therefore increase their job effectiveness. In addition, the case study explored frontline employees� overall perceptions of the quality of delivery of each internal service, which helped provide further insights into their work needs. Frontline employees� perceptions were also sought regarding the importance of each internal service to them, in terms of increasing their ability to generate revenue for the organisation. This provided an indication of how different internal services impacted upon their exchanges with external customers. Twelve internal services and seven internal service quality dimensions were identified through conducting extensive observation and undertaking interviews with frontline employees at one of the call centres. The information obtained helped inform a web-based online survey that was implemented to address the three focal research questions. The online survey was successfully completed by 301 frontline employees. The results showed that while all twelve internal services shared some similarities in their demand characteristics, some groups of internal services were distinctly different to others. As a result of these similarities and differences, the internal services were classified into four categories: trainingintensive internal services; communication-based internal services; real-time-based internal services; and, performance-related internal services. While the four classification categories can provide a solid guide for internal suppliers about how to approach groups of internal services, it was apparent that frontline employees had unique needs in each of the twelve internal services. This emphasised the need for the classification scheme to be used only as a guide, whereby internal suppliers should methodically identify all the quality attributes most important to frontline employees in each individual internal service situation. The results also showed that frontline employees perceived some internal services as more important than others, in terms of increasing their ability to generate revenue for the organisation. As a result, it was suggested that internal services could also be classified according to their �importance� levels, as this could help managers in their allocation of organisational resources. The case study provided a valuable insight into frontline employees� needs, and other internal service quality issues related to their roles. Because the results and conclusions were specific to a particular case, it is essential that this area of research be extended further in future.