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The purpose of this research is to examine changes in, and consistency of customer and employee satisfaction for asymmetry with regard to sales changes for a large US specialty goods retailer.

The data came from a 125 store US specialty goods retailer. Customer and employee data represent surveys administered by the firm in 2000 and 2001. Over 34,000 customer questionnaires and 3,900+ employee questionnaires were collected for the study. Pearson correlations and CHAID analyses were used to test the hypotheses.

For satisfaction (employee and customer) to impact changes in sales, perceived performance standards on some dimensions must be consistently delivered and changes in satisfaction levels must cross attribute‐specific threshold levels.

As the data comes from a single retailer, it is not possible to conclusively generalize these findings to all other retailers, or to other industries.

For managers, the typical reliance on simple mean employee or customer satisfaction scores or indexes is unlikely to adequately explain changes in sales. Managers must achieve satisfaction levels on those attributes where consistent performance is linked to sales. Additionally, given the threshold nature of the relationship, it is critical that managers be certain that efforts designed to improve satisfaction do so in sufficient force so as to reach levels that correspond with increasing sales.

While the literature has shown asymmetry in the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer behavior, to date no research has examined possible asymmetry in employee satisfaction data and business performance. Furthermore, analyses of asymmetry in customer satisfaction data have largely focused on cross‐sectional data and individual‐level customer data (as opposed to business performance indicators). Understanding the asymmetric nature of the examined relationships should result in better allocation and use of marketing resources.

The satisfaction and loyalty research argues that customer satisfaction is an antecedent to share of wallet (SOW). The double jeopardy view, however, argues that satisfaction and SOW levels are driven exclusively by penetration levels. Customer satisfaction and penetration, however, are not always positively related. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevance and validity of these two divergent perspectives to creating growth in customer share of spending.

The authors examine a series of models evaluating the impact of both the relative penetration of a brand, and the satisfaction ratings of its customers on SOW using data covering 11 industry sectors, 188 brands, and 4,263 customers.

The authors find that part of the problem in reconciling these two views has been in how satisfaction is measured and analyzed. When using absolute satisfaction ratings of the firm/brand, the explanatory power of satisfaction on SOW is very weak at both the individual and firm level. When using satisfaction metrics relative to other competing brands, however, satisfaction is a strong predictor of customers’ share of category spending.

As predicted by double jeopardy, penetration is a strong predictor of firm-level SOW, but has almost no explanatory power at the individual level.

Managers need to focus on both improving penetration/reach and becoming the preferred brand in a customer’s usage set.

The research examines if (and if yes, how) satisfaction and penetration contribute to customers’ SOW allocations both at the individual and brand level.

This study of professional accounting firm clients identifies a set of common expectations, examines the opportunities to exceed expectations, and considers the potential of exceeding expectations and “delighting” clients.

Using a subsample of accounting firm clients, common activities and behaviors thought to have the greatest potential for delivering exceptional service were identified. Two larger samples of business clients in the US Midwest were interviewed and they rated their accounting service provider on eight activities and then described an outstanding service encounter.

Descriptive statistics showed that the strongest service expectations involve meeting deadlines, relating well to the client's employees, being available, and being knowledgeable about the client's firm and industry. The content analysis of the open‐ended question identified competency and expertise as areas where expectations were exceeded. Comments identified a few instances of client “delight.”

Sample size and the focus on one industry was a limitation. Given the competitive nature of professional services today, more studies from a variety of service providers in multiple settings (domestic and foreign) need to be conducted to assess whether other service providers exceed expectations and how they delight their clients to keep their loyalty.

The results indicate that service providers are meeting and exceeding client expectations, but may stop short of delighting them. The study found that there is no one way to create delight. Service providers need to know what causes client problems and listen to their desires, so that these clues can provide direction as to ways to create delight through cost‐effective endeavors.

This chapter investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic stimulus policies. Based on data from 156 economies, empirical results show that in the medium term, cumulative effect of COVID-19 pandemic is positively correlated with the economic stimulus policies but not in the short term. Heterogeneity tests show that while economic policies are used in developed economies more often, restrictive measures in developing countries are likely used as a substitution; deaths have a positive impact on economic stimulus policies but confirmed cases not. The results suggest that the pandemic may reinforce economic inequality due to potential stimulus policy capabilities, requiring international coordination and assistance to low-and-middle income countries in various aspects.

Winning customer loyalty and repeat business and eliminating or reducing their reliance on coupons and other forms of price promotion is the goal of many service businesses today. The effectiveness of using advertising specialties (imprinted items given away for free) and price promotions was directly compared by way of two controlled field experiments involving customers of a Chinese food delivery service and a drycleaner in a major US metropolitan area. The studies used a controlled field experiment with a behavioral measure. The experiments offered support, in the business‐to‐business and consumer settings, that ad specialties can serve as inducements for a larger dollar volume of repeat business than the use of no promotion, and in some cases more than was generated by price promotion. Results suggest that goodwill engendered among customers by the ad. specialty “gifts”, coupled with the repeated brand exposure opportunities afforded by imprinted items, can exert a considerable impact on purchase behavior.

The present work assesses destination and service quality attributes, in terms of exploring the stronger and weaker points within these entities. In addition, it explores the relative effect of holistic experiences of destinations and the service-specific attributes on tourists’ overall satisfaction with destinations. Building on the perception, performance, and service quality literature a survey is carried out at 5 different tourist attractions among 701 tourists from over 15 countries worldwide visiting Northern Norway. The results divulge that many destination attributes are important; however, tourists find that the destination performs correspondingly with the perceived importance of destinations. The service quality attributes are also important, but reveal a perceptual gap between importance and performance. The study finds that Northern Norway as a tourist destination should concentrate on “uniqueness” and “novelty” to enhance tourist satisfaction. Service providers are advised to keep up the good work on “giving a good impression and a nice welcome” to enhance tourist satisfaction.

This research aims to provide a synthesis of the normative prescriptions from the scientific literature as it relates to customer loyalty tracking and an evaluation of how close practice comes to these prescriptions. It offers a description of the landscape for how and why aspects of loyalty measurement and management converge and/or diverge.

Data is gathered through in‐depth telephone interviews with 92 senior level marketing managers across a variety of industries.

The overwhelming majority of firms view customer loyalty as a top strategic priority but only one in four has a formal definition of customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction and likelihood to recommend are the two most tracked measures. The findings also demonstrate that few firms are relatively sophisticated in their analytics capabilities and only half examine how loyalty influences business outcomes.

The current study uses single respondent per firm.

The results provide compelling evidence that managers need to determine more consciously what customer loyalty means in the context of their business. Furthermore, firms could benefit from the use of more sophisticated and advanced modelling approaches which have the potential to uncover patterns in customer data and link with business results.

This is the first study in the scientific literature that investigates how close what managers are actually doing in practice comes to scientific prescriptions for tracking and engaging with customers in an effort to engender customer loyalty.