M.Com. (Business Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.B.A. / Increasing customer longevity in branch banking is a difficult process, with the average bank loosing fifteen (15%) to twenty (20%) percent of its customers each year, any help a bank can get in holding on to them is welcome (Power, 2000: 19). Central to these concerns is researchers and practitioners realization that: Not all customers should be targeted with retention and loyalty efforts and, Some of the most satisfied and loyal customers might still switch / defect for reasons beyond the control of the bank and at times even beyond the control of the customer. Although it is encouraging to note the increasing awareness that not all customers are alike (Blattenberg and Deighton; Reichheld, 1993), little is known about how and why they differ. Simple put, if important attitudinal and behavioural differences can be identified among various customer groups, service providers can efficiently identify and target customers as part of a broader acquisition, value assessment, and retention strategy. This, in essence is the focus of the current study.

M.Comm. / In today's business environment client service can lead to the success or failure of any business. The client is "king" and should be treated as such. In the employee benefits industry a relationship is created between the employee of the company and that person's clients. This study will investigate if there is a link between the services rendered to client and staff turnover in the employee benefits in this try in South Africa. The question this study aimed to answer is what happens if that person decides to leave the organisation or company. Does this have any impact on clients and the level of service the clients receive from the company or organisation.

Many academic studies in the past have focussed on how to create value for businesses in terms of adding profit to the bottom line through performance, and many argue that adding value for the client is also viewed as a profitable business strategy. This strategy translates as a win-win business relationship since long-term relationships ensure customer loyalty, customer retention and repeat business. In the services sector, it is difficult to quantify the worth or value that a particular service has since services are intangible products. The perception of value of such a service is known as “perceived value” since value recognition rests with the consumer who attempts to quantify the worth of that service. It is generally accepted in the services sector that establishing long-term, mutually beneficial, meaningful business relationships add value for the client and helps them to attach a value to the services that company provides. A company cannot establish such relationships without the help of its employees who represents the face of the organisation and implements the value adding strategy on the organisation’s behalf. Recent studies have begun to address this, examining value creation in business relationships in the context of the sale of tangible goods. The process of value creation for customers in services relationships remains underresearched. Perceived value explains why customers choose one particular service over another, why service companies gain competitive advantage by maintaining genuine longterm customer relationships, and why “the personal touch”, created through emotional attributes such as trust, caring and empathy, adds value from customers’ perspective. This dissertation presents a study of perceived value from the perspective of the customer within the context of the delivery of a credence product in a services relationship model. Using grounded theory methodology; following in-depth interviews with consumers of general insurance, a number of customer-value creation dimensions for businesses have been identified. Parallel interviews with members of staff from the supplier company add a further perspective. This research demonstrates how organisations or suppliers in the services industry can add value when delivering a credence product in a services relationship context. It is believed that an understanding of the value-adding dimensions can be implemented to create opportunities to build value for customers, with commensurate benefits for suppliers. Following analysis of the interviews held with each buyer, a total of six value dimensions are identified in the findings chapter. Each dimension is individually described, discussed, and illustrated with quotations from customers and supplier’s staff. Other issues relating to value arising from the interviews are examined in the discussion chapter. Three areas for further research are proposed in the conclusion.

by Chan Wai Man. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-76). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / LIST OF ILLUSTRATION --- p.iv / LIST OF TABLES --- p.v / Chapter CHAPTER I - --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.0 --- Overview --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- The Rationale --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- The Purpose --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Significance of This Study --- p.3 / Chapter 1.4 --- Outline of This Paper --- p.4 / Chapter CHAPTER II - --- REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND MODEL DEVELOPMENT --- p.5 / Chapter 2.0 --- Overview --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1 --- What is Service Encounter --- p.5 / Chapter 2.2 --- The Role of Temporal Dimensions of Service Encounters --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Duration and Frequency --- p.8 / Chapter 2.3 --- The Conceptual Model --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- "The Causal Relations among Duration, Frequency and Authentic Understanding" --- p.17 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- "The Causal Relations among Duration, Frequency and Perceived Familiarity" --- p.20 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- "The Causal Relations among Duration, Frequency and Efficiency" --- p.21 / Chapter 2.3.4 --- "The Causal Relations among Authentic Understanding, Familiarity, Efficiency and Service Evaluation" --- p.24 / Chapter 2.3.5 --- Summary --- p.27 / Chapter CHAPTER III - --- METHODOLOGY --- p.28 / Chapter 3.0 --- Overview --- p.28 / Chapter 3.1 --- Research Design --- p.28 / Chapter 3.2 --- Manipulations --- p.29 / Chapter 3.3 --- The Sample and the Sampling Procedure --- p.29 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- The Sample --- p.29 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Sampling Procedure --- p.29 / Chapter 3.4 --- Data Collection Procedures --- p.30 / Chapter 3.5 --- Operationalization of Constructs --- p.31 / Chapter 3.5.1 --- Service Evaluation (EVA) --- p.31 / Chapter 3.5.2 --- Authentic Understanding (UN) --- p.32 / Chapter 3.5.3 --- Perceived Familiarity (FAM) --- p.32 / Chapter 3.5.4 --- Efficiency (EFF) --- p.32 / Chapter 3.6 --- Data Analysis --- p.33 / Chapter 3.6.1 --- Manipulation Checks --- p.33 / Chapter 3.6.2 --- MANOVA analysis --- p.34 / Chapter 3.6.3 --- MANOVA by Structural Equation Modeling --- p.34 / Chapter 3.7 --- Research Activities --- p.36 / Chapter 3.7.1 --- Pretest 1 --- p.36 / Chapter 3.7.2 --- Pretest 2 --- p.38 / Chapter 3.7.3 --- The Main Study --- p.39 / Chapter 3.8 --- Summary --- p.39 / Chapter CHAPTER IV - --- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION --- p.40 / Chapter 4.0 --- Overview --- p.40 / Chapter 4.1 --- Manipulation Check --- p.40 / Chapter 4.2 --- MANOVA analysis --- p.40 / Chapter 4.3 --- MANOVA by Structural Equation Modeling --- p.45 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Results --- p.47 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Model Evaluation --- p.51 / Chapter 4.4 --- Discussion --- p.55 / Chapter 4.5 --- Summary --- p.58 / Chapter CHAPTER V - --- CONCLUSION --- p.59 / Chapter 5.0 --- Overview --- p.59 / Chapter 5.1 --- Summary of the Research --- p.59 / Chapter 5.2 --- Contributions of the Study --- p.61 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- The Theoretical Contributions --- p.61 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- The Managerial Implications --- p.62 / Chapter 5.3 --- The Limitations --- p.65 / Chapter 5.4 --- Future Research --- p.67 / Chapter 5.5 --- Summary --- p.68 / THE REFERENCE --- p.69 / Appendices --- p.77

Abstract not available

M.Com. (Business Management) / Over the years, the competitive banking market had forced banks to be innovative in their products. However, regardless of how innovative banking products were, ‘service’ remained the backbone of banking products. With increasing access to information and alternative products, banking customers had more choices as to where to do business, based on the level of service they receive. They expected an exceptional delivery of customer service and were less tolerant of bad service. Customers usually compared the service they 'experienced' to the service they 'expected' when walking into a bank. When the two did not match, a gap arose. This study was undertaken to determine whether customers of a ‘home loan’ division of a South African bank perceived the bank’s service quality to be different to what they expected. It also sought to establish if there was a difference in how customers, in different demographics, evaluate the bank’s service quality. An online survey was used to gather information from banking customers on their judgment of the bank’s service quality, after which statistical tests were done to analyze the data. The study revealed that a gap indeed exists between the service quality customers expected and the service quality they actually received from the bank. Customers reported a dissatisfaction of the bank’s service quality with regards to their provision of reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy in their service delivery. With regards to the evaluation of the bank’s service quality of customers in different demographics, it was discovered that the 40-59 customer age group received the most empathy in service encounters with the bank, customers using property insurance and repayment related services perceived the bank’s service quality across all dimensions to be positive. Lastly, a positive correlation between the number of years customers have been with the bank and their perceptions of the bank’s provision of empathy was established.

In the ever increasing competitive market of executive education, providers not only need to deliver new and innovative courses on an ongoing basis, but also need to find a competitive edge to distinguish themselves from the rest. The consumers of executive education courses base their purchase decisions on more that just the academic excellence of the course. In addition to the academic excellence of the courses, the experience of the delegate attending such a course needs to be exceptional. The focus of this study was high calibre customer service which reinforces the excellent academic experience of the delegate. This would include an extraordinary experience before, during and after the programme. In order to capitalise on the strengths of an action research approach, a relatively new action research approach, Appreciative Inquiry was used in this study. The focus was on the development of new methods to improve customer service by building on the positive experiences of the past. In a planned and systematic way this study explored new methods of taking ordinary customer service to a level of extraordinary customer service. The result of this positive action research intervention resulted in a multitude of positive actions and provided UCT GSB with a method to open-up their thinking and actions and to become more innovative and resourceful. / Prof. Freddie Crous

M.Comm. / The first objective of this study is to determine the techniques appropriate for building customer relations. The second objective of this study is to establish the guidelines necessary for improving customer relations. The third objective is to establish the levels of relationships that have taken place between the respective manufacturing and customer (retail) companies under study. The fourth objective is to discover if any best practices with regards to relationship building can be identified. Restrictions/Limitations The study under focus relates only to a small sample in the South African economy. Although one could probably use the findings as a representative sample, a more valid statistical measure will be gleaned from a larger sample. Unfortunately little research has been reported on relationship marketing in South Africa in recent years. A report by Jordaan et. al. (1997) was released on key account management, which is an instrument to successful marketing relationships. In fact, no concrete conclusions have been drawn with regards to South African companies' channel relationship positions between suppliers and customers. Due to the latter, the research study has been of an exploratory nature. The hypothesis put forward, together with the research study, will serve as an excellent cornerstone for further research developments. Research methodology Part One: Theory Information for this study has been collected by making use of the following ways. Firstly information concerning the development of customer relations from the pre 1960's, was retrieved from a product manager at Unilever, by means of an interview. Secondly, information was captured from published and unpublished literature about the development of the concept of relationship marketing and its rightful place within the general field of marketing. Information concerning techniques, guidelines and best practices for relationship/partnership building, have been extracted from various literature sources. Part Two: Empirical study An empirical study has been undertaken to determine to what extent South African fast moving consumer goods companies have progressed towards a synergistic partnership between supplier and customer. The information was collected by means of an unstructured questionnaire directed at the following five focus group companies, namely, Cadbury's/Schweppes, Coca-Cola, Nestle, National Brands and Unilever.

Contact centres (CC), are the primary interaction point between a company and its customers and these are rapidly expanding in terms of both workforce and economic scope. An important challenge for today's CC solutions is to increase the speed at which CCAs retrieve information to answer customer queries. CCAs, however, differ in their ability to respond to these queries and do not interact with the computer user interface (UI) in the same way as they each have different capabilities, experience and expertise. Studies have provided empirical support that user performance can be increased when the computer UI characteristics match the user skill level. Adaptive user interfaces (AUIs) are the key to creating personalised systems. Their sole task is to provide an interface most suitable to users' needs whilst facilitating the users' varying skill levels. The aim of this research was to develop an AUI model for CCs to support and improve the expertise level of CCAs. A literature review of CCs, user expertise, AUIs and existing AUI models resulted in the proposal of an AUI model for CCs. The proposed AUI model was described in terms of its architecture, component-level and interface design. An AUI prototype was developed as a proof-of-concept of the proposed AUI model. A literature review on existing AUI evaluation approaches resulted in an evaluation strategy for the proposed AUI model. The AUI prototype was evaluated according to the evaluation strategy that was identified. User testing incorporating eye-tracking and a post-test questionnaire was used to determine the usefulness and usability of the AUI prototype. Significant results were found with regards to user satisfaction ratings, the learnability of the AUI prototype and its effectiveness. This dissertation makes an important contribution in the design of an AUI model that supports and improves the expertise level of CCAs. The model could be used to assist the development of CC applications incorporating AUIs. Future research is however needed to evaluate the effect of the proposed AUI model in a larger CC environment.