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Using an already developed model for measuring the quality of online services, the authors of this thesis have developed and later on modified a theoretical model (instrument) for measuring the quality of online banking services in particular. Using quantitative research method including the design and distribution of a questionnaire, empirical data was collected on which statistical analysis has been performed. As a result of the conducted analysis, the initial theoretical model has been modified, so that the final version of the model (instrument) for measuring quality of online banking services includes four quality dimensions (Service Performance, Website Characteristics, Communication and Efficiency) with total of 17 items (questions). Furthermore, based on the modified theoretical model, customer satisfaction with different aspects of the online banking services has been evaluated. Based on the results of the Analysis of the Empirical Data, managerial recommendations are given. Suggestions for further research on quality of online banking services are also offered.

Kraven på att landstingen ska erbjuda hög servicekvalitet inom vården ökar ständigt och det finns för närvarande områden, som bemötande och tillgänglighet, att förbättra. Samtidigt är en ny trend inom denna bransch att tilldela enheter inom den större organisationen mer inflytande över dess egen arbetssituation och styrsätt. En styrform som blivit allt vanligare i Västerbotten är intraprenad, vilken medger större befogenheter för personalen och ska främja intraprenöriellt arbete inom organisationen. Ökat intraprenörskap inom organisationer har visat sig ha en positiv effekt på bland annat servicekvalitet, vilket är centralt för hur vårdtagare upplever besök vid hälsocentraler. Med denna bakgrund och ett intresse för entreprenörskap samt servicekvalitet utgick studien från följande problemformulering. Hur påverkar hälsocentralers styrform vårdtagarens upplevda servicekvalitet? Studiens syfte var att skapa förståelse för hur olika styrformer påverkar den upplevda servicekvaliteten genom att undersöka skillnader och likheter mellan en intraprenad och en traditionellt driven hälsocentral ur ett servicekvalitetsperspektiv. Ett delsyfte var att visa vilka åldersgrupper och vilken könstillhörighet som inverkar mest på resultatet samt ge vissa rekommendationer för hur hälsocentralerna kan förbättra servicekvaliteten. Studiens ansats är deduktiv och baseras på den teoretiska referensramen innefattande teoretiska resonemang vilka bland annat behandlar entreprenörskap, intraprenörskap och servicekvalitet. Urvalet bestod av två hälsocentraler i Västerbotten, en på Ålidhem och en i Burträsk. Hälsocentralen på Ålidhem drivs på traditionellt vis av Landstinget och hälsocentralen i Burträsk drivs som intraprenad inom Landstinget. Totalt medverkade 96 respondenter, 51 vid Ålidhems Hälsocentral och 45 vid Burträsk Hälsocentral. Datainsamlingen genomfördes med hjälp av enkäter, vilket gav studien en kvantitativ karaktär. Resultatet av undersökningen tolkades med hjälp av författarnas förförståelse samt teoretiska resonemang, varvid en positivistisk kunskapssyn användes. Det empiriska materialet jämfördes och kommenterades för att därefter medge analys och diskussion. Figurer och diagram utgör huvuddelen av resultatredovisningen. Analysen fokuserar på differensen mellan upplevd servicekvalitet och dess viktighet, benämnt som differens. De servicekvalitetsrelaterade aspekter som erhållit störst differens vid hälsocentralerna var således i fokus. Det empiriska materialet visade att servicekvaliteten vid Burträsk Hälsocentral upplevdes något bättre av vårdtagarna, vilket även medförde att differensen för de flesta aspekterna var lägre än motsvarande värden vid Ålidhems Hälsocentral. Båda hälsocentralerna har dock tilldelats höga värden för servicekvalitet och har generellt mycket nöjda vårdtagare. Då de rådande omständigheterna vid hälsocentralerna inte är lika är det problematiskt att härleda resultatet enbart till styrsätt. Andra faktorer som möjligtvis påverkade utfallet är hälsocentralernas storlek, upptagningsområde, geografiska placering samt rådande demografi. Då resultatet var något bättre i Burträsk verkar styrformen intraprenad medge bättre förutsättningar för skapandet av servicekvalitet för vårdtagarna. I vilken utsträckning det enbart är styrsättet som ger upphov till de positiva effekterna kvarstår att besvara. Därmed rekommenderas vidare studier med ett annat urval för att tydligare visa vilka faktorer som utgör grunden för hög servicekvalitet, vilka skulle kunna tyda på att intraprenad ger upphov till bättre servicekvalitet.

The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Service Quality Assessment Scale (SQAS). The participants of this study constituted of 338 male (53.1%) and 298 female (46.9%) health-fitness club&rsquo / s members. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to examine the factor structure of the SQAS instrument, which assess the service quality of health-fitness clubs. Six-factor model of SQAS was analyzed based on the Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimation method. The goodness-of-fit indices of the model were admissible: for the expectation model Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) was = .067, Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) was = .056, and both the Comparative Fit Index (CFI), the Incremental Fit Index (IFI), besides the Non-Normed Fit Index (NNFI) was = .95. For the perception model RMSEA was = .059, SRMR was = .054, and both the CFI, the IFI, as well as the NNFI was = .96. It was concluded that all of the goodness-of-fit indices of both the expectation and perception model were admissible, with the perception model slight better than the expectation model. The composite reliability and variance extracted was also calculated for expectation and perception model. Analysis indicated that CR values were all above .70 for both expectation model (.74 to 1.00) and perception model (.73 to 1.00). The variance extracted values with the exception of Child Care were comparatively lower than the .50 standard. The present study demonstrated that the SQAS with six-factor model appears to be a reliable and valid instrument to measure the service quality of health-fitness clubs.

Globalization creates for companies’ new opportunities for business development, as well as new challenges. One of the most prevailing challenges is the ability to create new products and services in accordance to diverse customer needs and requirements, as well as implementation of new technologies in future lines of products. Therefore, companies realize the importance of the Marketing and Sales (M&S) and Product Development (PD) departments. The interface between those two departments plays a decisive role in realization of customer needs and requirements, and application of the right technologies in new products. The speed and accuracy with which the information between the M&S and PD department is exchanged directly influences success of one’s products on the market. Consequently, companies strive to achieve greater level of cross-functional integration within the interface, by overcoming barriers to integration, and improving the quality of internal services by utilizing computer based Information Systems (IS). The role of IS in supporting cross-functional work environment is growing, thus companies of all size make investment in IS. Nonetheless, these investments very often fail or not bear expect results, due to lack of alignment of the investment with the business. This thesis documents a diagnosis undertaken for the Case Company. In recent years the Case Company experienced rapid international expansions and fast growth, which in turn exposed a whole new range of problems. The existing work routines turned out to be inadequate to maintain international expansion and growth. A great deal of these problems was enrooted directly in the interface between the M&S and PD departments. Therefore, the company realized a need to isolate and eliminate them, and further foster the cross-functional integration and information flows within the interface by implementation of a computer based Information System. The purpose of this thesis is to enhance the understanding of the integration and communication process within the M&S and PD departments at the Case Company. In order to fulfil the purpose the Enterprise Knowledge Development modelling technique was employed. This allowed tracing the problems to their roots, by mapping business processes, goals, rules, actors, as well as clarification of concepts. As a result an objective snapshot of the current cross-functional integration between the M&S and PD departments was created. Further, this snapshot was compared against a great body of literature in the field of Product Development and Management and Process Management. The comparison made it possible to indicate areas for potential future improvements. The proposed change needs aimed at enhancing the internal customer satisfaction. Last but not the least in deep analysis of the current cross-functional relations within the interface made it feasible to suggest (with literature assistance) initial vital functions of a computer based Information System to enhance the integration and information flows within the studied interface at the Case Company. The proposed functionality corresponds to the current, as well as anticipated needs of the interface that has been derived based on requirements of the actors to fulfil goals and satisfy organizational processes.

The induction of the tuition fee for higher education in Sweden for students arriving from outside the European Economic Area will affect Swedish universities and in particular Jönköping University considering its position on the educational market as one of the most international universities in Sweden. This, in combination with the BRIC countries’ expanding economies, has inspired the researchers to examine how these four countries experience the educational service quality offered by Jönköping University. With the new legislation of the introduction of the tuition fee, a major change affecting the Swedish educational system has taken place and it is therefore significant to examine the possible effects this might have. This research has used Jönköping University as a case, and the collection of data will be concentrated on international and exchange students attending the university. The reason behind the choice of Jönköping University is because of its strong international profile with many partner universities worldwide, which has resulted in a high rate of international and exchange students arriving to the university (Educations.com, 2011). Due to the nature of a service, the measurement tool of SERVQUAL has been used. Qualitative interviews were conducted to increase the reliability of the quantitative findings, where one student from each country was interviewed. In order to gain sufficient samples for the questionnaire, the researchers have used Geert Hofstede’s theory on cultural dimensions to compensate for the groups missing satisfactory population but also to examine whether students from the covered dimensions experience services differently. Due to the inability to measure the expectations of the students, the zone of tolerance was used in order to indirectly identify expectations of future students. The Total Perceived Quality model was used to demonstrate the connection between experience and expectation of a service in order facilitate the understanding of future expectations.  Descriptive- and factor analyses were used in combination with the zone of tolerance when examining the findings. The quantitative data imply that there is a gap in the educational service provided by Jönköping University and there were strong indications of the students being very satisfied with the educational quality however the qualitative data showed that the students who were interviewed were not willing to pay the fee. In the discussion part, the researchers argue for reasons why the quantitative data may be misleading since it was only implemented on students who had been at Jönköping University for free with an already established perception of the education being tuition free.

Relationships have become more essential today considering that the business environment consists of many actors competing over the same customers. Relationships imply great advantages, for both the companies and the customers, and involve knowledge exchange. This implies that the companies are able to understand and tailor their offering to suit the specific needs of the customers. To understand how the customers perceive a company’s offering it might be useful to assess the dimensions regarding service quality. A company needs to be aware of what they are promising in order to achieve this. The purpose of this thesis is to identify essential aspects that affect the customer satisfaction in the relationship between a wholesale company and a specialized retailer. In order to fulfill our purpose a case study was conducted of the wholesale company Dogman. To be able to understand Dogman’s relationships with their retailers, five service quality determinants were used. Our research indicates that four aspects; information, knowledge, salespeople and responsiveness, are essential for customer satisfaction and long-lasting relationships.

Service quality occurs in service encounters where both customers and employees come together in an interaction. It is therefore important that the staff give their best because the interaction usually takes place in real time, which is referred to as the moment of truth. The aim of this study was to find out how luxury hotels are working to ensure good service quality, and how the staff are motivated to deliver this service. We wanted to examine this from a management perspective, and an employee perspective. Information was gathered through various interviews, where the staff at the Hotel Kämp in Helsinki and at the Sheraton Hotel Stockholm participated. Survey results show that employee motivation, training and empowerment have a significant impact to provide service in high quality. The results also show that the surveyed hotel, to certain level work in the same way, but it reveals some differences even when both hotels are part of the same concern. / Servicekvalitet uppstår i servicemöten där både kunden och anställda möts i en interaktion. Det är därför viktigt att personalen ger sitt bästa då mötet oftast sker i realtid, vilket benämns som sanningens ögonblick. Syftet med vår studie var att ta reda på hur lyxhotell arbetar för att kunna garantera en bra servicekvalitet och hur de anställda motiveras för att leverera denna service. Detta ville vi undersöka utifrån ett ledningsperspektiv samt ett personalperspektiv. Information samlades in genom olika kvalitativa intervjuer, där personalen på Hotel Kämp i Helsingfors och på Sheraton Hotel i Stockholm deltog. Undersökningens resultatet visar att personalens motivering, utbildning och empowerment har en betydande påverkan för att kunna leverera service i hög kvalité. Resultatet visar också att de undersökta hotellen till viss nivå arbetar på samma sätt, men det framkommer vissa skillnader, även då båda hotellen ingår under samma koncern.

Background: The financial services industry is a highly competitive and fragmented market. Firms are realizing the need and advantage of retaining customers rather than only focusing on acquiring new customers. Managers should focus on increasing customer satisfaction and communication levels as well as providing higher service quality. They should also emphasize the importance of building better relationships with customers to create loyalty. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate if customers of a local bank office are loyal, find the factors that create disloyalty and analyze how the bank can increase customer loyalty.  Method: To complete the purpose of this paper, the authors prepared a case study on a local Swedish bank and conducted a survey of the bank’s customers to determine levels of loyalty within the company. The authors spent four days in the bank office to have the customers fill in the survey immediately after their experience with the bank. Participants in the survey were customers who visited bank tellers, had booked meetings, or un-booked meetings. Conclusion: It was found that the bank had high levels of customer loyalty, as a majority of the customers were exclusively customers of the bank. Never the less a significant amount of customers had an additional bank(s) which shows the bank has an opportunity to strengthen their market position, but also a need to retain their customers. Customers were satisfied with the service quality provided and the relationships were satisfactory between customers and their advisers. The majority of the customers were contributing to a positive word of mouth, which is an indicator that they are loyal customers. However, the main area of improvement needed by the bank is to implement a better customer complaint management system, as many customers did not know how or where to complain. / Bakgrund: Den finansiella tjänstesektorn är en starkt konkurrensutsatt och fragmenterad marknad. Företag inser behovet och fördelen av att behålla kunder snarare än att enbart fokusera på att värva nya. Genom att fokusera på att öka kundnöjdheten för att de existerande kunderna kan de erbjuda en bättre service kvalitet. De bör också betona vikten av att bygga bättre relationer med kunder för att skapa lojalitet. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om en lokal banks kunder är lojala, hitta de faktorer som skapar illojalitet och analysera hur banken kan öka kundlojaliteten. Metod: För att uppnå syftet med vår uppsats utarbetade författarna en fallstudie den lokala banken. Författarna genomförde en undersökning av bankens kunder för att analysera dess lojalitet till företaget. Författarna tillbringade en vecka i banken för att utvärdera kundens erfarenhet i relation till dess besök. Deltagarna i undersökningen var kunder som besökte banken i ärenden inom kassa, bokat möten, eller obokat möte. Slutsats: Det konstaterades att banken hade hög kundlojalitet, då en majoritet av kunderna var endast kunder i banken. Icke desto mindre, en stor mängd kunder hade ytterligare bank(er) vilket visar att banken har en möjlighet att stärka sin ställning på i den lokala marknaden, men också att stärka sin ställning i den existerande kundkretsen. Kunderna var nöjda med den servicekvalitet som banken tillhandahåller och relationer var tillfredsställande mellan kunder och deras rådgivare. Majoriteten av kunderna bidrar med positiva rekommendationer, vilket är en indikator på att de är lojala kunder. Dock är den viktigaste biten av förbättring krävs av banken för att genomföra ett bättre system för hantering av anmälningar, eftersom många kunder inte vet hur eller var att klaga.

Limited research has been conducted on how system administrators actually can affect information systems (IS) after they have been implemented; hence, this study examines how system administrators can affect IS success in an implemented IS. The study identified a system administrator´s affect on the three IS quality dimensions in the DeLone and McLean IS success model. The empirical findings was based on a single case study where the data was collected through interviews with the system administrator and the system assistants, but also through a questionnaire answered by the users of the IS. The empirical findings suggested that the system administrator can affect IS success through the IS quality dimensions both directly and indirectly. The system administrator´s affect on IS success proved to be highly dependent on the external system vendor and the structure of the internal support unit.