Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The networked economy has resulted in the customer having an unprecedented choice and control over how he/she chooses to do business and with whom. In addition, the ever-increasing commoditisation of products and services has forced businesses to re-evaluate their sources of sustainable competitive advantage. The ability to differentiate an organisation from others has therefore become a major business advantage. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is considered the most significant and only remaining differentiator. Given this importance, it is of concern that high failure rates of up to 70% have been recorded with regard to CRM systems implementations. Findings from literature confirm that lack of or insufficient attention to both technical and social aspects contribute to failed implementations. A hypothesis has therefore been formulated that a lack of and/or insufficient attention to a socio-technical approach to CRM-systems is a major contributor to the high failure rate of implemented CRM-systems. The hypothesis was tested based on identifying the social and technical aspects from literature that must be addressed to ensure successful implementation and was utilised as a basis for conducting empirical research to ascertain to what extent these aspects have contributed (or not) to successful implementations. The empirical research entailed circulation of a questionnaire to organisations that have already implemented CRM systems for B2C purposes and are wholly situated in the Western Cape or have a head office in the Western Cape. Due to the limited responses received, it must be noted that the research results are not necessarily representative of the sample in general or the population as a whole. The research did however indicate some important trends. CRM systems have only been implemented in a relatively small number of organisations and are particularly prevalent in industries such as Life Insurance, Financial Services and Retail. This is considered to be directly linked to the cost and complexity of implementing these systems. Based on the responses received, it can be concluded that the nine organisations that responded generally followed a socio· technical approach to their CRM systems implementations and in most instances respondents rated their implementations fully successful. This is contrary to the high failure rates described in literature and CQuid in part be due to the fact that organisations with failed implementations may have opted not to complete questionnaires in this regard. Inconsistencies between the recorded successful implementations relating to, inter alia, certain aspects being addressed by some and not by others or being addressed during as opposed to prior to implementation warrant further research to establish the interrelatedness of the various aspects with one another and the extent to which certain aspects may carry more weight than others in ensuring success. It is recommended that further research be done regarding a socio-technical approach to CRM-systems implementation with a view to obtaining a representative sample and conclusive evidence as to whether this approach does contribute to success or not within South Africa. The research should also focus on the impact that addressing the various social and technical issues during implementation, as opposed to prior to implementation, has on the success of the implementation. This exploratory research can be utilised as a basis for further in-depth research regarding the impact of various social and technical issues on successful implementations. In addition it can be utilised as a guideline or roadmap for implementation by organisations intending to implement CRM-systems or to assist organisations in addressing problems occurring as a result of fa iled CRM systems implementation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die netwerk ekonomie het tot gevolg dat die klient 'n ongeewenaarde keuse en beheer het oor hoe en met wie hy/sy besigheid wil doen. Daarbenewens word besighede gedwing om, as gevolg van die toenemende gebruikersgerief van produkte en dienste, hulle bronne van volhoubare kompeterende voordeel te herevalueer. Die vermoe om 'n organisasie van 'n ander te kan onderskei het dus 'n belangrike besigheidsvoordeel geword. Klienteverhoudingsbestuur (CRM) word beskou as die belangrikste en enigste oorblywende onderskeidingsfaktor. Gegewe die belangrikheid daarvan is dit kommerwekkend dat hoë mislukkingssyfers van tot 70% aangeteken is met betrekking tot CRM stelsel implementerings. Bevindings uit die literatuur bevestig dat gebrek aan/of onvoldoende aandag aan beide tegniese en sosiale faktore bygedra het tot mislukte implementerings. 'n Hipotese is dus geformuleer dat 'n gebrek aan/of onvoldoende aandag aan 'n sosiotegniese benadering tot CRM-stelsels 'n belangrike bydraende faktor is tot die hoë mislukkingssyfer van CRM stelsel implementerings. Hierdie hipotese is getoets deur die sosiale en tegniese aspekte uit die literatuur te identifiseer wat aangespreek moet word om suksesvolle implementering te verseker en dit is as basis gebruik vir die empiriese navorsing ten einde vas te stel tot watter mate hierdie aspekte bygedra het (of nie) tot suksesvolle implementering. Die empiriese navorsing het die uitstuur van 'n vraelys behels na organisasies wat reeds CRM stelsels geimplementeer het vir besigheid tot klient (B2C) doeleindes en wat in die Wes-Kaap gevestig is of 'n hoofkantoor in die Wes-Kaap het. In die lig van die beperkte terugvoering , moet daarop gelet word dat die navorsingsresultate nie noodwendig as verteenwoordigend van die steekproef of die populasie as geheel beskou kan word nie. Die navorsing het egter 'n paar belangrike tendense uitgewys. CRM stelsels is slegs in 'n relatiewe klein aantal organisasies geimplementeer en spesifiek in industriee soos Finansiele Dienste, Lewensversekering en Kleinhandel. Dit wil blyk dat dit direk gekoppel is aan die koste en kompleksiteit verbonde aan CRM stelsel implementerings. Gegrond op die terugvoering wat ontvang is, kan afgelei word dat die nege organisasies wat gereageer het in die algemeen 'n sosio-tegniese benadering tot CRM stelsel implementerings gevolg het. In die meeste gevalle het respondente hulle implementerings as ten volle suksesvol beoordeel. Dit is in teens telling met die hoe mislukkingssyfer wat in die literatuur beskryf word en kan gedeeltelik daaraan toegeskryf word dat organisasies wie se implementerings nie geslaag het nie, moontlik verkies het om nie die vraelys in hierdie verband te voltooi nie. Teenstrydighede tussen aangetekende suksesvolle implementerings met betrekking tot, onder andere, sekere aspekte deur sommige aangespreek en nie deur ander nie en daarmee tesame of dit aangespreek is tydens of voor implementering, regverdig verdere navorsing om die onderlinge verband tussen die onderskeie aspekte te bepaal, asook die mate waartoe sekere aspekte meer gewig dra as ander om sukses te verseker. Dit word aanbeveel dat verdere navorsing ten opsigte van 'n sosio-tegniese benadering gedoen word met die doel om 'n verteenwoordigende monster en onweerlegbare bewys te vind van hierdie benadering se bydrae tot sukses, aldan nie in Suid-Afrika. Die navorsing behoort ook te fokus op die sukses daarvan met betrekking tot die aanspreek van verskeie sosiale en tegniese aangeleenthede tydens implementering teenoor voor implementering. Hierdie verkennende navorsing kan aangewend word as 'n basis vir verdere in-diepte navorsing oor die mate waartoe die onderskeie sosiale en tegniese aangeleenthede bydra tot suksesvolle implementering. Voorts kan dit ook as 'n riglyn dien vir organisasies wat die implementering van CRM stelsels oorweeg en kan van nut wees om probleme wat ontstaan het as gevolg van mislukte CRM stelsel implementerings aan te spreek.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has been referred to as the new "mantra" of marketing management (Winer, 2001: 89), however CRM is a business strategy that calls for the establishment, development, maintenance and optimisation of long-term profitable and mutually beneficial relationships between organisations and their customers. It is a journey of strategic, structural, process, organisational and technological change through which an organisation can manage its enterprise better around customer behaviour. CRM as a business strategy was thought necessary due to stronger and rapidly changing forces that influence business. Forces include globalisation, mature markets, emerging markets, deregulation, convergence of industries and continuous changes in customer behaviour. These changes forced business to realise that customers are an organisation's only sure revenue source and that building relationships with its customers is the best source of profitable and sustainable revenue growth (Brown, 2000: xii). Organisations worldwide spent almost US$44bn in 2000 on CRM initiatives and it is estimated to grow to US$125bn by 2004. The promise of CRM is enchanting, however many organisations will quickly point out that in practise it can be extremely costly to implement and it can be disastrous for building relationships with customers. One of the biggest mistakes that were made when organisations implemented CRM programmes is that CRM was regarded as a technology intervention or solution that would enable any organisation to build long-lasting and profitable relationships with its customers. Not all CRM programmes succeed or achieve the strategic objectives organisations want it to achieve. It is therefore necessary to develop a framework that can assist organisations in their efforts to develop and implement a CRM programme. This thesis provides a system approach and assessment toolkit to guide and assist service organisations to develop and implement CRM programmes and through this to become a CRM enterprise. A CRM enterprise holds the customer-driven vision necessary to succeed in the ever changing environment of the global economy. A system approach was chosen as the preferred method to develop and implement a CRM programme for two reasons. First, CRM programmes are extremely complex as it is a business strategy that impact organisation wide when it is developed and implemented. And secondly, a system approach requires a person to think systemic about systems like CRM. It forces the developer and implementer of a CRM programme to consider the whole impact of the changes across an organisation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kliënte verhouding bestuur is beskryf as die nuwe deuntjie bemarking bestuur (Winer, 2001: 89), maar kliënte verhouding bestuur is veel meer 'n besigheids strategie was vrae oor die vestiging, ontwikkeling, onderhoud en optimaliseering van lang termyn winsgewende en wedersydse begunstigde verhoudings tussen organisasies en hul kliënte. Dit is 'n reis van strategiese, strukturele, proses, organisatoriese en tegnologiese verandering waardeer 'n organisasie sy besigheid beter kan bestuur rondom kliënte gedrag. Kliënte verhouding bestuur is nodig as 'n besigheid strategie as gevolg van sterker en vinniger kragte wat besigheid beinvloed. Kragte sluit in globalisering, ontwikkelde markete, ontwikkelende markte, deregulering, samesmelting van industrieë, en die alewige verandering in kliënte behoeftes. Hierdie kragte forseer besigheid om te besef dat kliënte 'n organisasie se sekerste bron van inkomste is en dat 'n organisasie verhoudinge moet bou met hul kliënte om 'n bron van volhoubare inkomste te verseker (Brown, 2000: xii). Organisasies wêreldwyd het ongeveer US$44bn in 2000 spandeer op kliënte verhouding bestuur initiatiewe en dit is vooruit geskat dat dit kan groei tot US$125bn teen 2004. Die belofte van kliënte verhouding bestuur is betowerend, maar verskeie organisasies sal dit vinnig uitwys dat kliënte verhouding bestuur in die praktyk baie duur wees om in werking te stel en dat dit rampsoedig kan wees vir die bou van verhoudings met kliënte. Een van die groostste foute wat organisasies gemaak het met die implementering van 'n kliënte verhouding bestuur program was om dit te beskou as 'n tegnologiese intervensie wat die organisasie in staat sou stelom lang termyn winsgewende verhoudinge te bou met hul kliënte. Nie alle kliënte verhouding bestuur programme is suksesvol nie. Dit is daarvoor nodig om 'n raamwerk te ontwikkel wat organisasies sal help on 'n kliënte verhouding bestuur program te ontwikkel en te implementeer. Hierdie tesis verskaf 'n sisteembenadering en 'n evalueringprogram wat organisasies kan help om 'n kliënte verhouding bestuur program te ontwikkel en te implementeer en deur middel hiervan In kliënte-organisasie te word. In Kliënte-organisasie het die kliënte-aangedrewe visie wat nodig is om in vandag se al veranderde omgewing volhoubaar en suksesvol te wees. In Sisteem benadering was gekies as die voorkeur metode om In kliënte verhouding bestuur program te ontwikkel en te implementeer vir twee redes. Die eerste rede is dat In kliënte verhouding bestuur program baie kompleks is aangesien dit In organisasie wyd impak het wanneer dit ontwikkel word en geïmplementeer word. Die tweede rede is dat In sisteem benadering die beplanner en implementeerder forseer om die hele impak van verandering in ag te neem oor die hele organisasie.

<p>The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which providers' practices affect the cost of hospital procedures incurred by patients. The spsecific objective was to explore the magnitude of variations and statistically establish the significance of relationships between admission/specialist costs incurred by patients for four major procedures and the hospital group, geographical location, employer group and demmographic realted risk profiles. The study contributes to a better understanding of the way in which managed care companies could channel beneficiaries of medical schemes to efficient providers.</p>

This research conducted an interdisciplinary field experiment to identify relationships between productivity, user satisfaction and IS Helpdesk USP's use of effective communication behavior. An experimental group of Helpdesk USPs of a large retail organization were trained by communication professionals in communication effectiveness, with emphasis on the needs of the telephone environment.

M.A. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Cloud Computing is a new computing model consists of a large pool of hardware and software resources on remote datacenters that are accessed through the Internet. Cloud Computing faces significant obstacles to its acceptance, such as security, virtualization, and lack of standardization. For Cloud standards, there is a long debate about their role, and more demands for Cloud standards are put on the table. The Cloud standardization landscape is so ambiguous. To model and analyze security standards for Cloud Computing and web services, we have surveyed Cloud standards focusing more on the standards for security, and we classified them by groups of interests. Cloud Computing leverages a number of technologies such as: Web 2.0, virtualization, and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). SOA uses web services to facilitate the creation of SOA systems by adopting different technologies despite their differences in formats and protocols. Several committees such as W3C and OASIS are developing standards for web services; their standards are rather complex and verbose. We have expressed web services security standards as patterns to make it easy for designers and users to understand their key points. We have written two patterns for two web services standards; WS-Secure Conversation, and WS-Federation. This completed an earlier work we have done on web services standards. We showed relationships between web services security standards and used them to solve major Cloud security issues, such as, authorization and access control, trust, and identity management. Close to web services, we investigated Business Process Execution Language (BPEL), and we addressed security considerations in BPEL and how to enforce them. To see how Cloud vendors look at web services standards, we took Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a case-study. By reviewing AWS documentations, web services security standards are barely mentioned. We highlighted some areas where web services security standards could solve some AWS limitations, and improve AWS security process. Finally, we studied the security guidance of two major Cloud-developing organizations, CSA and NIST. Both missed the quality of attributes offered by web services security standards. We expanded their work and added benefits of adopting web services security standards in securing the Cloud. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

Este estudo teve como objetivo principal pesquisar as visões das necessidades do cliente no setor automobilístico através da medição da qualidade percebida. O estudo concentrou-se em concessionárias de veículos automotivos, considerando a influência da montadora. Para que os objetivos propostos pudessem ser alcançados tornou-se necessário mesclar estratégias de pesquisa quantitativas e qualitativas. Para tanto se optou por um estudo exploratório com clientes das concessionárias e entrevistas individuais pautadas em um roteiro de questões abertas para as entrevistas com a montadora e alta administração das concessionárias. Adotou-se a Técnica do Incidente Crítico para elaboração dos questionários de satisfação os quais foram aplicados a clientes, vendedores e gerentes das concessionárias e diretoria e gerência da montadora. Realizaram-se também entrevistas individuais com a alta administração das concessionárias e da montadora a fim de identificar os aspectos de maior relevância e as ferramentas adotadas na identificação e manutenção da qualidade percebida quanto aos serviços de vendas prestados pelas concessionárias. Os resultados permitiram identificar que cada uma das partes pesquisadas entende a qualidade percebida em relação ao serviço de vendas de maneira distinta. Para o cliente a dimensão da qualidade de maior importância é a Competência, enquanto que os vendedores e gerentes das concessionárias acreditam ser a Confiabilidade e a montadora entende que para cliente o mais importante é a Cortesia. Este estudo identificou também que o aspecto avaliador mais mencionado tanto pela montadora quanto pelas concessionárias foi o Atendimento. A análise comparativa entre o aspecto avaliador priorizado e a dimensão da qualidade de maior correlação com a satisfação geral obteve resultados distintos entre a montadora e as concessionárias. Para a montadora, devido à discordância entre os dois entrevistados, não foi possível realizar a análise comparativa, já para as concessionárias, a análise comparativa ocorreu entre o aspecto Atendimento e a dimensão Competência. / The major objective of this study was to search the perceptions of customer needs in the automobile sector using the perceived quality measure. The study based on automotive dealers, considering the car assembler influence. In order to achieve the proposed objectives it was necessary to join quantitative and qualitative research strategies. For such, it was chosen an exploratory study involving dealer customers and individual interviews based on a script of open questions directed to car assembler and dealer interviewees. The Critical Incident Technique was used to create the customer satisfaction questionnaires which were applied to dealer customers, salesmen and managers and car assembler high management. Individual interviews had been conduced among dealers and car assembler high management in order to identify the major aspects and tools used to identify and maintain the perceived quality of sales services offered by dealers. The results obtained showed that each part searched understands the perceived quality of sales service in a different way. To the customer, the most important quality dimension is Competence whereas dealer sales and managers believe it is Reliability and car assembler understands that the most important to customer is Courtesy. This study has also identified that the aspect of evaluation most mentioned both by car assembler and dealers was Attendance. The comparative analysis between the priorized aspect of evaluation and quality dimension most correlated to the customer satisfaction in general has reached different results among car assembler and dealers. For car assembler, due to different opinions between the two interviewed, it was not possible to carry out the comparative analysis, whereas for dealers this analysis has occurred between the Attendance aspect and Competence dimension.

Close friends have been shown to influence adolescent problem behaviors, especially alcohol abuse (Urberg, Degirmencioglu, and Pilgrim, 1997). The degree of influence, however varies as a function of individual characteristics such as peer acceptance (Laursen, Hafen, Kerr, and Stattin, 2012) and age (Popp et al., 2008). The present study examines whether differences in influence extend to perceptions of friendship quality. Using a sample of 764 Swedish adolescents involved in stable samesex reciprocal best friend relationships that lasted at least one year, analyses used distinguishable dyad actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) analyses (Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006) to track influence over two years of the friendship. More satisfied friends were more influential than less satisfied friends on intoxication frequency and truancy. The findings of this study indicate that influence accompanies perceptions of quality. Those with higher perceptions of quality exhibit more influence on friends who perceive relatively lower quality. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

This research explores the impact of interactive communication on business-to business (B2B) relationships. In the past decade the internet and especially social media as a mode of communication has grown rapidly in both consumer and business markets. Drawing on marketing channels and communications literature this paper identifies the dimensions of interactive communication and develops a theoretical framework to examine their impact on satisfaction, commitment, and advocacy. Media synchronicity theory and the concept of the internet as an alternative to the real world are used to distinguish between digital and non-digital modes of communication. Relationship marketing is used to identify the dimensions of interactivity: rationality, social interaction, contact density, and reciprocal feedback. The framework developed is usedto explore the influence of face-to-face (F2F), digital, and traditional, impersonalcommunications on the dimensions of interactivity.Hypotheses linking the mode of communication: personal, digital, and impersonal with the dimensions of interactivity and relational outcomes are empirically examined with data from the commercial printing and graphic design industry. Confirmatory Factor Analysis is used to analyze the measurement and structural model. Personal, F2F communication has the greatest impact on social interaction, reciprocal feedback, and number of contacts. Digital communication has a weaker effect on these dimensions and impersonal communication has the weakest effect. Personal and Digital have equal impacts on rationality and rationality is the only dimension of interactivity positively associated with relationship satisfaction. Contact density has a negative impact on relationship satisfaction and this negative impact is greater with personal communication that it is with digital. The study shows that affective commitment leads to advocacy in a B2B channel, but trust and calculative commitment have no impact on advocacy. The findings of the study have implications for both managers and researchers regarding the mode and content of communications in B2B relationships. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

This dissertation examines factors with influence on the organizational cultural competence of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems. The purpose of this study was to draw on theories of representative bureaucracy and transformational leadership to assess cultural competence in Emergency Medical Services systems from the perspective of EMS leadership, within careful consideration of the external environment in which EMS systems operate. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015 / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection