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Gaining competitive advantage in telecommunications (cellular) industry through enhanced service quality and customer satisfaction

The purpose of this study is to describe the telecommunications industry in Malaysia and conduct a strategic analysis. There are 3 mobile operators in Malaysia and these three players are competing in a fierce competition to capture the market share. / Critical analysis and assessment of secondary data revealed that the strongest force of competition is rivalry among the incumbent operators and the bargaining power of buyers. The threat of entry and the bargaining power of suppliers are of medium strength while the pressure from substitute products is weak. The most important resources and competencies depend on pursued strategy. A configuration of the network aligned with the operator's overall strategy is a source of potential competitive advantage. Other operations may also be a source of competitive advantage in terms of distribution, branding and low cost. / The market is getting very tough. Customers are more demanding than ever. Service continues to get worse. The pressure is increasing to reduce cost and prices. Most organizations do not find out about their unhappy customers until it is too late. Customer-base growth and retention is crucial for long-term viability. To accomplish this, one must have a sound understanding of needs. In the telecommunications market, service quality relates to being able to exceed customer expectations while at the same time reducing costs. / The relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction and behaviour responses in the cellular industry (especially in the way the three constructs have been operationalized) is still shrouded in uncertainty. / This paper aims to understand the current situation of the cellular service in the telecommunications industry and relate it to the general understanding of service quality, customer perceived service quality, customer value, customer satisfaction and customers' behavioural response. The rationale of this is to enable the management of the organization to understand the possible implication on the firm based on the customers' satisfaction and to adopt strategic change to be competitive in the industry. / A case study measuring service quality is focused on the Klang Valley. The research was conducted via a structured questionnaire based on the SERVQUAL model and modified to suit the Malaysian environment. The overall study scale reliability shows 0.919, indicating a reasonably good indicator as to 0.92 by Parasuraman et.al (1985). The findings further indicate that 'Tangibles' is being perceived the best compared to the rest of the dimensions and Celcom customers perceive higher satisfaction compared to the Digi and the Maxis. / The study investigates the behavioural consequences of customer satisfaction in the Malaysian cellular industry. More specifically, this study examines the impact of customer satisfaction on behavioural variables. The analysis also identifies that there are no differences among the races on behavioural responses variables. The assessment indicates that tangible has the highest impact on the behavioural variables and network quality (product quality) is seen as the most important factor for customers as decision making criteria. / However, when the analysis is conducted based on racial groups, it shows that there are differences in the decision making criteria to subscribe to a cellular operator in Malaysia, The 'Indians' generally perceive the price as the most important criteria and the Network Quality is second. However, the rest of the racial groups perceive Network Quality as the most important criteria and price as the second priority. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2005

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/286275
Date January 2005
CreatorsAmirthalingam, Danabalan
Source SetsAustraliasian Digital Theses Program
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Rightscopyright under review

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