Dissertation submitted in compliance with the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology: Business Administration, 2008. / The aim of the study was to identify causes of churning, to find ways of managing it and to diagnose customers‟ communication needs. Furthermore the research tested the impact of messaging services on customer retention and whether these services could compensate for the declining revenue or become new cash cows for service providers. The units of analyses were young people of ages ranging from 15 to 24. This group was chosen because it was found, during the study, that they used new services more often than any other age group. The initial plan, however, was to interview the entire population of cellphone users. Stratified random sampling was used to randomly select the units of analysis. Interviews were conducted at the homes of respondents, in the streets and at a shopping centre. Causes of customer churning were found to be billing by service providers that confused customers and „better phone deals offered by the competitors‟ resulting in some of the respondents switching providers. Other aspects about which respondents complained and which therefore could cause churning are „poor network quality‟, „confusing pricing structure‟ and „long waiting on customer care line‟. The respondents indicated that their communication needs could be satisfied by services that are easy to use, a helpful customer care agent and being able to retain a number when switching a service provider. Therefore churning could be managed by removing or reducing the causes of it and attracting the customers by meeting their communications needs, which are, improving customer care service and designing services that are easy to use. The research was inconclusive on the messaging services. Of the three new messaging services that were studied, only one was extremely popular, while the other two were hardly used. Instant messaging was the second most used service to voice and SMS and it was also ranked second, in order of importance. The other two messaging services, mobile email and MMS, received low rankings from the respondents. In addition more than a quarter (27%) of the respondents had never used mobile email. The implications of these findings are that service providers should improve their customer care service and design services that are easy to use.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

Dissertation submitted in compliance with the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology: Business Administration, 2008. / The aim of the study was to identify causes of churning, to find ways of managing it and to diagnose customers‟ communication needs. Furthermore the research tested the impact of messaging services on customer retention and whether these services could compensate for the declining revenue or become new cash cows for service providers. The units of analyses were young people of ages ranging from 15 to 24. This group was chosen because it was found, during the study, that they used new services more often than any other age group. The initial plan, however, was to interview the entire population of cellphone users. Stratified random sampling was used to randomly select the units of analysis. Interviews were conducted at the homes of respondents, in the streets and at a shopping centre. Causes of customer churning were found to be billing by service providers that confused customers and „better phone deals offered by the competitors‟ resulting in some of the respondents switching providers. Other aspects about which respondents complained and which therefore could cause churning are „poor network quality‟, „confusing pricing structure‟ and „long waiting on customer care line‟. The respondents indicated that their communication needs could be satisfied by services that are easy to use, a helpful customer care agent and being able to retain a number when switching a service provider. Therefore churning could be managed by removing or reducing the causes of it and attracting the customers by meeting their communications needs, which are, improving customer care service and designing services that are easy to use. The research was inconclusive on the messaging services. Of the three new messaging services that were studied, only one was extremely popular, while the other two were hardly used. Instant messaging was the second most used service to voice and SMS and it was also ranked second, in order of importance. The other two messaging services, mobile email and MMS, received low rankings from the respondents. In addition more than a quarter (27%) of the respondents had never used mobile email. The implications of these findings are that service providers should improve their customer care service and design services that are easy to use.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

M.Comm. / The objectives of this study are : To determine customers' perception of service quality of international telecommunications carrier services delivered by Telkom in the business-tobusiness relationships with carriers in Europe; To establish whether differences in service quality exist among the selected business customers; To identify and examine customers' needs and expectations regarding the service delivery by Telkom; To assess how well Telkom is currently performing relative to specific customer needs and expectations; To determine some of Telkom's strengths and weaknesses

South African Mobile network industry has seen many developments since its inception in 1994. When mobile technology was introduced in this country, the first two mobile network operators, namely Vodacom and MTN, enjoyed vast benefits of being early entrance in this business space and they grew at rate that was much faster than they themselves had expected. As expected, in the past five years this growth rate has slowly diminished due to various economic factors; these factors included increase in Government regulations, increase in number of players in the mobile network space and ever evolving technology. The mobile network operators saw interconnect fees, which amounted to fifteen per cent of total revenue for each of these operators, being reduced by more than half, with Government foreseeing total removal of these fees. At the same time, the number of competitors grew from one to three within a period of five years forcing all operators, especially Vodacom and its Vodashops, to search for winning strategies that could ensure retention of their customers thus their revenue. Therefore, the intention of this research is to investigate various strategies that are suitable and can be implemented for one of the Vodashops in Cape Town, namely Canal Walk Vodashop, to ensure that this store manages to retain and possibly grow its existing customers. The investigation led the researcher to find that, in a situation where the affected organisation is at the maturity level of the business, as it is the case with the selected store, the most effective strategy to retain and grow customers is the customer service strategy. This strategy includes various elements which are very important to its success; these elements include providing job specific skills to employees, designing and implementing suitable processes and creating best value for customers on products and services that the company offers. The research was achieved by following the approach below: • A literature study was done in order to determine the key elements of an effective customer service strategy; • A survey of literature focusing specifically on employee skills development, design and implementation of processes and creation of value for the offered products and service; • Insights of customers from the selected Vodashop were obtained via interviews to determine their perception on products and services offered; and • Lastly, interview results were analysed to determine the areas of improvement and also what customer service strategies are suitable for highlighted problems. Through this research, various customer service strategies that must be consistently and continuously executed in order to achieve this excellent customer service were recommended. The recommended strategies include training and development of employees, design and implementation of processes that are aligned to the selected Vodashop and also to the needs and expectations of customers.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration