Search results

There has been an explosion in the number of retail Web sites since 1995, e‐retail offering shares a few common elements specifically a product search facility (often augmented by a product evaluation facility), an on‐line purchase function and a product delivery capability. There is a body of theory and empirical research in the study of customer loyalty drivers in the services sector, which demonstrates that customers evaluate services on the basis of tangibles, responsiveness, empathy, assurance, reliability and control. These service qualities depend on the customer’s perception of the overall service experience. The most influential element in the service experience is the relationship between the service provider and the customer. The Internet is a poor service delivery medium, it lacks the capacity for direct personal interaction enjoyed by non‐Internet based services. Sets out a number of marketing and Website design implications for e‐retailers and suggests means by which e‐retailers can manage customer perceptions to increase sales and develop greater customer loyalty.

Accommodative competitive entry policies (unbundling, resale and interconnection) yield contestable retail telecommunications markets. The combination of setting efficient prices for network elements and allowing competitors to choose their preferred level of wholesale quality renders the retail market self‐regulating with respect to both price and quality. Any overhang of regulation at the retail level under these conditions is potentially harmful to fostering a competitive market outcome.

Recent studies of bureaucracy and decision making in education using differing methodologies and populations are, the writer claims, pointing to generalizations which are largely supportive of each other. An important question only partly answered is whether the relationships identified as between the bureaucratic variables and situational and personal variables examined are causal. Caution should therefore be exercised in drawing implications for practice. Nevertheless, on the basis of overall consistency in the findings, the writer proposes that moves toward participative management approaches and away from rigid hierarchical organization of schools should lead to positive consequences such as improved supervisor effectiveness, greater teacher satisfaction, a decrease in student alienation, and improved student achievement.

To conceptualize the elements that define a “cyberscape” (by analogy with a landscape) and to assess how internet users respond to the cyberscape based upon their purpose and internet expertise level.

Pre‐tests were conducted to determine the elements of the cyberscape that consumers use to judge the quality of internet sites. The results of these tests indicated that there are 58, which could be classified into 11 dimensions. Linear regression analyses were conducted to predict how frequently consumers purchase merchandise and socialize on the internet, using the dimensions as predictors. Analyses were performed for low‐skill and high‐skill internet users.

Although consumers respond to all 11 cyberscape dimensions, many are “hygiene factors” rather than satisfiers. Those have to be in place for customers to approach a site, but it is the satisfiers that have the potential to generate customer satisfaction when they exceed expectations. For example, in terms of predicting the frequency of online purchasing among beginning internet users, product selection emerges as the key satisfier among internet beginners, whereas product selection and reliability are significant in the case of expert users.

Managers need to consider all cyberscape dimensions. The hygiene factors are mandatory for satisfying customers and for encouraging approach behavior, but satisfiers are the enhancing dimensions, critical for generating customer satisfaction and loyalty. Future researchers may want to use qualitative methodologies to understand the cyberscape dimensions to which consumers respond at the point of purchase or for information seeking.

Marketing planners can assess their own firm's internet sites on the 11 cyberscape dimensions, survey their customer base to determine which of those are hygiene factors and which satisfiers, and plan their cyberstrategy accordingly.

The paper extends the work of Williams and Dargel, published in volume 22 of Marketing Intelligence & Planning. It also builds upon Bitner's well known “servicescape” framework and the customer‐satisfaction studies of Naumann, Jackson and Rosenbaum.

In the health care area, there is a wealth of information about quality control methods, but little has been written about computer‐based quality control systems. This article focuses on the development of a statistical process control (SPC) system for hospital food‐service operations. An SPC system is put in perspective so that a view is given of where it fits into the food‐service operations and an understanding of some of its important advantages and of some of the implementation problems may be understood. Several insights for building a quality control system are suggested. Management and control issues are addressed. These issues are reviewed and discussed, and some comments are made on the practical implications for hospital food‐service operations.

Churn management is a fundamental concern for businesses and the emergence of the digital economy has made the problem even more acute. Companies’ initiatives to handle churn and customers’ profitability issues have been directed to more customer‐oriented strategies. In this paper, we present a customer relationship management framework based on the integration of the electronic channel. This framework is constituted of four tools that should provide an appropriate collection, treatment and analysis of data. From this perspective, we pay special attention to some of the latest data mining developments which, we believe, are destined to play a central role in churn management. Relying on sensitivity analysis, we propose an analysis framework able to prefigure the possible impact induced by the ongoing data mining enhancements on churn management and on the decision‐making process.

The study focuses on the core issue faced by bankers on how to retain existing customers who have encountered an e-service failure and who are skeptical about the justice received through the service recovery process. It further endeavors to create an internal bench-marking model for assessing e-service recovery satisfaction.

By the experimental study, the authors confirm a measurement model using structural equation modeling for examining the impact of perceived service recovery quality antecedents on e-service recovery satisfaction moderated by perceived justice. In total, responses from 399 e-banking customers, who had experienced a e-service failure, were recorded using a 5-point Likert scale with a structured questionnaire.

The perceived e-service recovery quality antecedents identified were perceived information quality, digital commitment, perceived employee performance and perceived service orientation of organization. The empirical results revealed that “perceived information quality” was the most significant predictor of e-service recovery satisfaction. Perceived justice moderates the relation between perceived service recovery quality and e-service recovery satisfaction.

The research does not contemplate the e-service recovery satisfaction of customers who have undergone multiple service failures.

The conclusions of the investigation suggest that the four antecedents of perceived e-service recovery quality model are suitable instruments for creating benchmarks for e-service recovery satisfaction for banks, and that perceived justice moderates the relationship between e-service recovery quality and e-service recovery satisfaction. Therefore, policymakers in banks can use this model to assess the e-service recovery quality, and they ought to enhance the perceived justice feel of the customers who have experienced a service failure.

There remains scarcity of empirical research focusing on perceived information quality and digital commitment as antecedents of perceived e-service recovery quality and its effect on e-service recovery satisfaction in the banking context. Furthermore, similar studies within the banking sector have rarely considered perceived justice as a moderator variable. Hence, this paper attempts to accomplish the research gap by empirically testing the e-service recovery satisfaction level of a large sample of the population toward four antecedents of perceived e-service recovery quality rendered by banks and create a benchmark model to ascertain e-service recovery satisfaction.

This paper describes the design, fabrication, testing, and mathematical modeling of a supported membrane type polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) tactile sensor. Using the designed membrane type sensor (MTS), it is shown that the entire surface of the PVDF film can be employed as a means of detecting the force magnitude and its application point. This is accomplished by utilizing only three sensing elements. Unlike the array type tactile sensors, in which the regions between the neighboring sensing elements are not active, all the surface points of the sensor are practically active in this MTS. A geometric mapping process is introduced, thereby, the loci of the isocharge contours for the three sensing elements are determined by applying force on various points of the sensor surface. In order to form a criterion for the comparison between the experimental findings and the theoretical analysis data, and also to determine the magnitude of the stresses generated in the membrane, finite element modeling is used. The correlation between the theoretical predictions and experimental findings is proven to be reasonable. Potentially, the designed MTS can be incorporated into various medical probes for tactile imaging.

This study aims to determine the influence of relationship marketing on consumer behavior in the fine arts sector. Specifically, it examines the relationship marketing dynamics that significantly impact art enthusiasts' intention to purchase and their satisfaction with the artist.

The proposed model was tested through the “structural equation modeling” technique to explain how and to what extent each variable affected purchase intention and satisfaction. Using a paper-based and online survey method to gather data, the authors analyzed 303 responses from art students, art collectors and art dealers in Mongolia. Eight hypotheses, including two mediating hypotheses, were developed and tested.

The results indicated that relationship investment and communication significantly influence trust, satisfaction and purchase intention, while trust significantly influences satisfaction and purchase intention. The study also assessed the vital role of trust as a mediator.

The study's results provide insights that may help artists, art collectors and art dealers promote and improve the sales of their art products. The interactions demonstrated between the construct reveal essential implications for art marketers interested in relationship marketing strategies.

This study is the first to explore the application of relationship marketing in the fine arts industry.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the efficiency of accident management from the angle of reducing highway accident response times while taking into account total daily work hours.

The authors developed a patrol beat scheduling model, which is formulated as a chance-constrained optimization model, with the objective of minimizing the sum of officer work hours. Along with the model, a simulation program was also developed to help evaluate the effectiveness of the model-generated beat schedule in terms of response times.

This study concluded that, first, the current manually designed beat schedule could be improved should the National Highway Police Bureau adopt the proposed model. Second, the total daily work hours of the model-generated schedule at the confidence level of 100 percent were 64 hours, 21 hours less than the average work hours recorded in the 2006 data, or about an improvement of 24 percent. Should the model be adopted, not only response times will be improved, the 24 percent reduction in work hours could be translated into a cut in personnel cost.

The scheduling model and simulation program are both built upon one-year historical data whose accuracy and completeness is prerequisite.

The proposed model can be adopted by other public service agencies such as fire departments, or emergency service centers. By replacing the historical data used in the study with their own data, agencies can evaluate the efficiency of their existing schedule or generate various schedules based on institutional needs.

This model utilizes historical accident data to generate optimal beat schedule and evaluate the efficiency of such schedule. Similar models have not been found in other studies.