Creating customer value and building stockholder value are the cornerstones for excellence in any business endeavour. In an under-developed economy, financial institutions may accomplish these objectives through a customer focus strategy and implementation of some quality management principles. However, with the increasing accessibility to new technologies and intensified competition, managers have been alerted and become more aware of the fact that achieving excellence is made even more difficult - financial institutions must now do much more to excel in the competitive retail banking environment of the new millennium. It is believed, and the findings of the present work support, that the formulation of a robust improvement model capable of guiding through the whole excellence pursuant process will provide a solid foundation for successfully meeting the challenge. The burning desire to enhance competitiveness and drive for achieving business excellence have nurtured the development of a new Business Excellence Model for successful implementation of TQM in retail banking. It was found that existing TQM and business excellence models provide only prescriptive and indicative roadmaps for companies to follow but fail to provide a complete coverage of TQM concepts, holistic measure of business excellence and validated links between TQM elements and business excellence. Hence, some financial institutions may cast doubts on their applicability of TQM because the relationships between TQM principles and the results of business excellence are not assessed. As such, it should be valuable to develop and provide a model, which is capable of covering the TQM essence in a structured way to drive total quality improvement efforts. The present research aims to develop a theory-driven as well as practical model for retail banks and the retail banking sector to achieve business excellence. In the process, Hong Kong retail banks and the Hong Kong retail banking sector were chosen as the context for the present research to obtain valuable data on how successful implementation of TQM essence could contribute to business excellence in a Chinese society. Both employees and customers inputs, being the important sources of stakeholder information, have been the basis for analysis. Top performing bank's executives were interviewed to identify the core activities and factors that determine their bank's success. Further, data were collected from executives of 47 retail banks in Hong Kong. Structural equation modelling was employed to develop the new Business Excellence Model (BEM). SEM's software programme was employed to analyse the goodness of fit of the new BEM. The forces of excellence indices and business excellence indices of the sampled retail banks were computed using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique. The same procedure was also applied to the data collected ll from retail customers in the survey to measure the level of customer satisfaction of the retail banking sector. The indices of the BEM were then matched to the customer satisfaction indices of retail banks and retail banking sector for higher level of analysis. Findings of the present work indicate that the new BEM fits the data of the 47 retail banks very well. The BEM is a valid and reliable model for enabling retail banks to review the current level of practice in relation to their critical success factors continuously. With the new BEM, they can now measure and drive improvement in their critical activities and finally achieving business excellence. Similar results obtained for customer focus dimension of the BEM and the customer satisfaction measurement have further substantiated the robustness and usefulness of the new BEM. Hence, the new Business Excellence Model should be a valuable means for retail banks and the retail banking sector to pursue business excellence and to gain a competitive edge in the new millennium.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--California State University, Dominguez Hills, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-81).

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of controllable service quality factors as firm-based antecedents to two dimensions of customer engagement behavior among Formula One racing spectators. This study uses the theory of customer engagement (van Doorn et al., 2010) as a guiding framework and applies Bettencourt’s (1997) model of customer voluntary performance (CVP) to examine how perceptions of ancillary services and value can prompt management cooperation and prosocial behavior among spectators of a recurring mega sport event. Findings suggest that spectator interactions with event personnel and the physical environment can positively impact consumer perceptions of value and lead to greater fan engagement. Event organizers should focus management and marketing efforts on the utilitarian value (price/value for money) associated with attending a mega event and promote physical environment factors that can enhance the overall event experience.

The purpose of this study has been to examine online travel magazines as an information source and as a virtual service scape. The traditional travel magazines are facing a change due to the technological development and the web has become an important platform for both customers and companies. The virtual service scape opens new opportunities for interaction and we found a great interest in examining which possibilities and limitations travel magazines are facing. This study is based on a qualitative approach because we wanted to gain a deeper understanding and a complete picture of our chosen subject. We have completed six interviews; three of them were consultants, one publishing director, one editor and a research student. The good variety of respondents contributes to a broader perspective and useful knowledge.In chapter five we present our conclusions on the basis of our empirical analysis. We have found in our paper that travel magazines are much more available than traditional magazines because of the possibilities the web provides. Some of the main conclusions are that online travel magazine as virtual service scapes enables interaction and involvement between customers, and the company, which creates new opportunities but also constraints. Since this is a qualitative study it is difficult to create a comprehensive picture of the final conclusions, thus we refer to Chapter 4 Empirical and theoretical Analysis and Chapter 5 Conclusion, to get a deeper understanding of our study.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH SUMMARY: Total quality management (TQM) can be defined as a systemic approach on a global level, based on process management of continuous quality improvement by all human resources within the business or company environment, with the specific intent to satisfy the implicit expectations of all stakeholders in the specific business environment. Various factors play a role in the active drive towards a quality-driven learning environment. These factors include increasingly changing market forces, changes in customer requirements and the very way in which quality is perceived by the employees within a company. The above statement raises some important questions, such as • What is the quantifiable value of quality, and • Why is it very easily ignored by various companies? The reason for such questions is the significant shift needed in the thought patterns of management, difficulty in abandoning misconceptions about TQM and difficulty in learning from own mistakes and those of others. It seems that the biggest barrier to the implementation of a total quality system is the misconception that quality will immediately be perfect and is a quick solution which is self-sustaining. TQM is, in fact, not a model that is built in concrete, but a journey consisting of sequential steps. As with any staircase, it can only be sustainable if it is solidly founded on factors such as managerial commitment, drive, fairness, motivation and mobilisation of human resources. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Totale gehaltebestuur word gedefinieer as ‘n sistemiese metode op ‘n globale vlak, gebaseer op die bestuur van deurlopende gehalteverbetering deur al die menslike hulpbronne binne 'n onderneming, dit wil sê die sake- of maatskappy-omgewing, met die spesifieke oogmerk om aan die implisiete verwagtinge van die aandeelhouers in die onderneming (besigheidsomgewing) te voldoen. Daar is verskeie faktore wat 'n rol speel in die aktiewe strewe na ‘n kwaliteitsgedrewe leeromgewing. Hierdie faktore behels onder meer die voortdurend veranderende markkragte, veranderinge in die verwagtings van kliënte, en die kwaliteitsbeskouing van die werkers binne ‘n maatskappy. Bogenoemde ontlok belangrike vrae, soos • Hoe word die meetbare waarde van kwaliteit bepaal, en • waarom word dit so maklik deur ondernemings geïgnoreer? Hierdie soort bevraagtekening is 'n aanduiding dat daar ‘n merkbare en betekenisvolle gedagteskuif by bestuur nodig is ten opsigte van hul beskouing van gehalte, dat wanbegrippe oor totale gehaltebestuur verander moet word, en dat probleme in verband met die leer van lesse uit eie foute en dié van ander oorbrug sal moet word. Die grootste probleem ten opsigte van die ontwikkeling van ‘n totale gehaltebestuurstelsel, is die wanpersepsie dat gehalte meteens foutloos sal wees, dat dit ‘n vinnige oplossing is en dat dit selfonderhoudend sal wees. Totale gehaltebestuur is nie ‘n model wat, by wyse van spreke, in beton gegiet is nie, maar ‘n proses met opeenvolgende stappe. Soos met enige stel "trappe", kan dit net volhoubaar wees as dit ‘n sterk fundering het, wat gerugsteun word deur bestuursbetrokkenheid en - deursettingsvermoë, dryfkrag, regverdigheid, motivering en die mobilisasie van die werksmag.

The traditional quality culture in the pharmaceutical industry is driven by the regulatory process of marketing authorisation and manufacturing authorisation. These components of the South African regulatory control system are exclusively technically-orientated, with no managerial focus. This study identifies several quality management principles which could find general application in the pharmaceutical industry. The research compares the current regulatory control system with the total quality concept, and highlights the positive contribution which the total quality approach is able to make in terms of its field of reference; the strategic business value of quality; quality policy formulation; the quality organisational structure; enhanced operations management; and management's control over quality costs, in particular / Economic & Management Sciences / M.Com. (Business Economics)

The traditional quality culture in the pharmaceutical industry is driven by the regulatory process of marketing authorisation and manufacturing authorisation. These components of the South African regulatory control system are exclusively technically-orientated, with no managerial focus. This study identifies several quality management principles which could find general application in the pharmaceutical industry. The research compares the current regulatory control system with the total quality concept, and highlights the positive contribution which the total quality approach is able to make in terms of its field of reference; the strategic business value of quality; quality policy formulation; the quality organisational structure; enhanced operations management; and management's control over quality costs, in particular / Economic and Management Sciences / M.Com. (Business Economics)

Introductory part of this thesis concludes the development of air traffic, division of airports in the Czech Republic according to the Ministry of Transport, according to the Law on Civil Aviation and according to the Coding of the airports (Requirement L 14). The aim was to realize theoretical definition and division of output and economic indicators. After that comes choice of appropriate airports from the European Union. The choice has been made on the basis of the number of check-in passengers at the airport in Prague-Ruzyně. Eight most suitable airports have been chosen from all twenty-seven member countries of the EU. The following step is comparative analysis of these chosen airports on the basis of specified output and economic indicators for the years 2005-2009. The year 2010 has not been included, because the chosen airports did not complete their annual reports, balances and statements of profit and loss. From these sources the values for calculation of individual indicators have been chosen. These indicators have been shown in charts, evaluated by means of graphs in Excel Programme and further they have been characterized in words. The aim of the thesis was also the evaluation and comparison of output and economic indicators of effectiveness and after evaluation, proposal of methods of evaluations has followed.