...Introduction 2 Theoretical background 3 Service quality 3 Service Quality Evaluation Models 4 1. SERVQUAL Model 4 Description of the company 5 Starbucks 5 Importance of Marketing Research for Service Quality 5 Research objectives 5 Methodology 6 Questionnaire 6 Questionnaire description 6 Interview 8 Appendices 9 Appendix 1 (Questionnaire) 9 Appendix 2 10 (Interview map) 10 References 11 Introduction Recently the new trend that is developing is narrowed towards offering to the customer good service despite the good product. Having high service quality is accepted as one strong competitive advantage that is difficultly built but it brings high success for the company if managed properly. Service quality is following the perceptions of the customer of what he/she thinks that quality of service is about and meeting exactly their expectation. Theoretical background Service quality Defining service quality may mainly be based on assumptions because of the intangible nature that services have. Moreover, different circumstances might shape the definition of service quality differently. (Brown, 1999) Despite the intangibility that describes the services, the second very important element when giving theory based on service quality is that services are heterogeneous. Presenting them varies from producer to producer or from client to client. Finally, the last characteristic describing the services is the inseparability of the production and...
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...MZUMBE UNIVERSITY (CHUO KIKUU MZUMBE) GUIDELINES FOR WRITING THESIS OR DISSERTATION Prepared by: The Directorate of Research, Publications, and Postgraduate Studies P.O. Box 63 Mzumbe Morogoro, Tanzania Tel: +255 (0) 23 2604380/1/3/4 Fax: +255 (0) 23 2604382 E-mail: mu@mzumbe.ac.tz Website: www.mzumbe.ac.tz TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION ONE INTRODUCTION .. .. .. .. .. .. 1.1 Preamble .. .. .. .. .. 1.2 Thesis versus dissertation .. .. .. 1.3 Objectives of the thesis or dissertation option 1.4 Non-thesis /Non- dissertation option. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 1 1 1 1 SECTION TWO FONTS, MARGINS, SPACING, PARAGRAPHS, PAGINATIONS, ETC. 2.1 Typing and spacing .. .. .. .. .. .. 2.2 Dissertation/ Thesis title and its chapters.. .. .. .. 2.3 Fonts .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2.4 Paragraphs .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2.5 Language .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2.6 Treatment of abbreviations .. .. .. .. .. 2.7 Quotations .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2.8 Pagination .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2.9 Margins .. .. .. .. .. .. 2.10 Capitalisation and bolding of words .. .. .. .. 2.11 Tables and their numbering .. .. .. .. .. 2.12 Figures, diagrams, graphs, charts, illustrations, and photographs SECTION THREE THESIS/DISSERTATION OUTLINE 3.1 Sequencing the major parts .. 3.2 Details of the preliminary items 3.3 Headings .. .. .. 3.4 Length of the thesis/dissertation 3.5 Final submission .. .. SECTION FOUR DOCUMENTATION 4.1 Documentation styles .. .. 4.2 APA style for in-text citations 4.3 APA style for references...
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...bite. With the hectic lifestyle nowadays, it is no surprise that more people tend to eating-out in fast food restaurants. Thus, fast food restaurants are competing among each other, advertising their brands in order to attract customers. As the customers now have a huge range of fast food patterns and restaurants to choose, local fast food restaurants have to be sensitive in current demand and be innovative to ensure they meet their customer satisfaction. This research will focus only on service quality as a factor influencing customer’s satisfactions. The aim is to do an investigation about the service quality and customer satisfaction at A&W restaurant, Seksyen 7, Shah Alam. Using 5 SERVQUAL instruments, questionnaires will be designed and distributed to respondents. The findings will create awareness of service quality and customer satisfaction, thus help to develop future marketing strategy. 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Fast Food Industry The fast food industry is also known as Quick Service Restaurants (QSR). As its name suggests, fast food is any food that can be prepared and served within a short span of time. That being said, the concept encompasses all those restaurants and stores which sell or serve preheated or precooked food items to its customers (www.buzzle.com/articles/fast-food-industry.html) According to Bender and Bender (2001), fast food is a general term used for a limited menu of foods that lend themselves to production line techniques and that are typically...
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...d SERVQUAL and Model of Service Quality Gaps: A Framework for Determining and Prioritizing Critical Factors in Delivering Quality Services Dr. Arash Shahin Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Iran E-Mail: arashshahin@hotmail.com Abstract Service firms like other organizations are realizing the significance of customer-centered philosophies and are turning to quality management approaches to help managing their businesses. This paper has started with the concept of service quality and has demonstrated the model of service quality gaps. SERVQUAL as an effective approach has been studied and its role in the analysis of the difference between customer expectations and perceptions has been highlighted with support of an example. Outcomes of the study outline the fact that although SERQUAL could close one of the important service quality gaps associated with external customer services, it could be extended to close other major gaps and therefore, it could be developed in order to be applied for internal customers, i.e. employees and service providers. Key words: Service, Quality, Gaps, SERVQUAL, Customer, Expectations, Perceptions Introduction Managers in the service sector are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that their services are customer-focused and that continuous performance improvement is being delivered. Given the financial and resource constraints under which service organisations must manage it is essential that customer expectations are properly...
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...Strategic Service Marketing Reflective Journal Nicolae Focsa B00053177 Department of Business School of Business & Humanities Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown Dublin 15. Word Count 13582 Words General Business –BN101 Strategic Service Marketing 16th December 2014 Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 Week 1 1 3.0 Week 2 1 3.1 1 4.0 Week 3 1 4.1 1 4.2 1 4.3 1 4.4 1 4.5 1 4.6 1 5.0 Week 4 2 5.1 Week 5 and Week 6 2 18.0 Conclusion 2 Bibliography 3 Appendices 1 Introduction In this reflective journal I am required to reflect on strategic service marketing. I am reflecting on 3 dimensions lecture reflection from material that I study in lecture class, employee reflection myself as an employee in service industry how can I reflect on this matter and consumer reflection myself as consumer of services. Week 1 16 of September 2014 In this lecture im going to reflect on some quotations about service Strategic services without process is little more than wish list- Robert Filek. I understand this that services cannot exist without the practice. In order to do services an organisation need to put in process A satisfied customer is the best business of strategy of all- Michael leboeuf Customer need to be satisfied after receiving a service. A customer satisfied...
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...A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research Author(s): A. Parasuraman, Valarie A. Zeithaml and Leonard L. Berry Source: Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 41-50 Published by: American Marketing Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1251430 . Accessed: 07/11/2014 07:27 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . American Marketing Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Marketing. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 202.175.6.45 on Fri, 7 Nov 2014 07:27:25 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions A. Parasuraman,Valarie A. Zeithaml, & Leonard L. Berry A Model of Service Conceptual Its Quality and Implications for Future Research The attainment of quality in products and services has become a pivotal concern of the 1980s. While quality in tangible goods has been described and measured by marketers, quality in services is largely undefined and unresearched...
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...Telecom Malaysia and A.K. Khan and Company Ltd of Bangladesh. It has started its commercial operation in Dhaka as a Global system for mobile communication (GSM) 900 cellular operators on 15th November 1997. Moreover, Aktel has commenced its operation in Chittagong on March 26, 1998. Aktel is the market follower in telecommunication service in Bangladesh having more than 1 million subscribers and is controlling approximately 23% of the market share. According to Islam, Khan, and Rahman (2002), the market share of Aktel is now decreasing at a great extent as the customer loyalty level is decreasing. As the socioeconomic status of the country does not provide further possibilities to enhance the growth of the industry, as a market follower, Aktel should strive to retain its existing subscribers and penetrate other operator’s subscriber. Therefore, there is an emergence of studying the related facets of the customer loyalty in the context of Bangladesh GSM telecommunication system for Aktel to retain and increase its market share. Hence, in the current study, the researchers intend to examine whether there are relationships among service quality, customer satisfaction, trust, and customer loyalty in Aktel in Bangladesh or not. Statement of the problem Customer satisfaction and trust are positively related with customer loyalty (Bruhn & Grund, 2000; Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2002; Gronholdt, Martensen, & kristensen, 2000; Gerpott, Rams, & Schindler, 2001; Kristensen...
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...Abstract The Study of Customer Loyalty Factors in the Mobile Telecommunications Industry in China This article is a study of Chinese telecommunications service customer loyalty factors and the impact of the internal mechanism. The industry empirical study reveals the communications services industry, the impact factors of customer loyalty, and the interaction between these factors mechanism. With the increasingly fierce market competition and increase costs for customers, cultivate and maintain long-term customer loyalty is a business enterprise can be an important factor. On the one hand, enterprises have to get a good income, in addition to the core technology and improving product quality, but customer satisfaction, service quality and Enterprise Image will to some extent affect on customer loyalty, loyal customers are the main profit source. On the other hand, when supply exceeds demand in the market environment, the cost to acquire new customers than to maintain existing customer costs, but the profit contribution of new customers is far less than the original customer. Finally, the loyalty of customers through word of mouth to bring new business customers. Therefore, the development of customer loyalty strategies, research customer needs and maintain long-term two-way interaction with the customer relationship business and academia has been the focus of attention. Customer loyalty in the communications industry, more and more attention, is the communications business...
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...Service Quality: The Future of the Services Industry “Why is quality such an important issue in the marketing of services? Why is quality more difficult to manage in service industries than it is in the case of physical goods? Use examples to support your answer.” The concept of service quality is a relatively new construct in the marketing discipline which first emerged in the 1980’s when organisations began to consider quality not only in the already established manufacturing sector but in the rapidly evolving service industries sector also. Specifically defined service quality is a subjective experience which results from ‘an evaluation process in which the customer compares their perceptions of service with their expectations’ (McColl-Kennedy 2003). In the late 1990s and early part of the 21st century service organisations began to realise the importance of service quality and strived to narrow the gap between the customers perceptions of service and their expectations in order to deliver a quality service that linked to customer satisfaction, retention and patronage. This relisation that service quality was an important source of competitive advantage and long-term profitability for service organisation’s advocated the paradigm shift in marketing from a focus on manufacturing quality to incorporate service quality also. Moreover the modern day services firm strives to deliver a quality service on a routine basis, however due to the uncontrollable and unpredictable...
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...SERVQUAL and Model of Service Quality Gaps: A Framework for Determining and Prioritizing Critical Factors in Delivering Quality Services Dr. Arash Shahin Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Iran. Abstract Service firms like other organizations are realizing the significance of customer-centered philosophies and are turning to quality management approaches to help managing their businesses. This paper has started with the concept of service quality and has demonstrated the model of service quality gaps. SERVQUAL as an effective approach has been studied and its role in the analysis of the difference between customer expectations and perceptions has been highlighted with support of an example. Outcomes of the study outline the fact that although SERQUAL could close one of the important service quality gaps associated with external customer services, it could be extended to close other major gaps and therefore, it could be developed in order to be applied for internal customers, i.e. employees and service providers. Key words: Service, Quality, Gaps, SERVQUAL, Customer, Expectations, Perceptions Introduction Managers in the service sector are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that their services are customer-focused and that continuous performance improvement is being delivered. Given the financial and resource constraints under which service organisations must manage it is essential that customer expectations are properly understood and measured and...
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...SERVQUAL and Model of Service Quality Gaps: A Framework for Determining and Prioritizing Critical Factors in Delivering Quality Services Dr. Arash Shahin Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Iran E-Mail: arashshahin@hotmail.com Abstract Service firms like other organizations are realizing the significance of customer-centered philosophies and are turning to quality management approaches to help managing their businesses. This paper has started with the concept of service quality and has demonstrated the model of service quality gaps. SERVQUAL as an effective approach has been studied and its role in the analysis of the difference between customer expectations and perceptions has been highlighted with support of an example. Outcomes of the study outline the fact that although SERQUAL could close one of the important service quality gaps associated with external customer services, it could be extended to close other major gaps and therefore, it could be developed in order to be applied for internal customers, i.e. employees and service providers. Key words: Service, Quality, Gaps, SERVQUAL, Customer, Expectations, Perceptions Introduction Managers in the service sector are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that their services are customer-focused and that continuous performance improvement is being delivered. Given the financial and resource constraints under which service organisations must manage it is essential that customer expectations are properly...
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...Science and Education Service Quality Management in Hotel Industry: A Conceptual Framework for Food and Beverage Departments Ala`a Nimer AbuKhalifeh1 & Ahmad Puad Mat Som1 1 School of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia Correspondence: Ala`a Nimer AbuKhalifeh, School of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia. Tel: 60-4-653-3741. E-mail: ana11_hbp046@student.usm.my Received: March 8, 2012 Accepted: May 15, 2012 Online Published: July 16, 2012 doi:10.5539/ijbm.v7n14p135 Abstract URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v7n14p135 Service quality has been an important subject of research involving food and beverage (F&B) departments of hotels. Despite a substantial number of studies on service quality, the reasons why guests revisit a hotel and why a high-quality service from the F&B department is needed have remained unanswered. This paper aims to review existing literature on service quality management in the F&B departments of hotels, its process, and the effective service quality management framework. This paper discusses famous models, and explains Parasuraman’s dimensional framework of service quality management in the area of F&B and its application to the hotel industry. The conceptual paper suggests application of the dimensional model in the F&B department and encourages hotels to improve its management to better satisfy their guests. Keywords: service quality, hotel industry, parasuraman...
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...www.ccsenet.org/ijms International Journal of Marketing Studies Vol. 2, No. 2; November 2010 Customer Satisfaction in the Hotel Industry: A Case Study from Sicily Gandolfo Dominici (Corresponding author) Facoltà di Economia, Dip. S.E.A.F., Università di Palermo viale delle Scienze ed.13, 90128, Palermo, Italy E-mail: gandolfodominici@unipa.it Rosa Guzzo Facoltà di Economia, Università di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze ed.13, 90128, Palermo, Italy E-mail: rosyguzzo@hotmail.it Abstract In order to be successful in the market it is not sufficient to attract new customers managers must concentrate on retaining existing customers implementing effective policies of customer satisfaction and loyalty. In hotel industry customer satisfaction is largely hooked upon quality of service. A management approach focused on customer satisfaction can improve customer loyalty, thus increasing the positive image of the touristic destination. Hence, exploring the importance for customers of hotel attributes in hotel selection is indispensable. Research on the topic of guest satisfaction, which translates into the consideration of whether or not customers will return to a hotel or advise it to other tourists, is pivotal to the success of the hospitality business. Neglecting to pay attention to those hotel attributes considered most important by guests, may lead to negative evaluation of the hotel, thus restricting the chance of repeat patronage. We perform a qualitative analysis of a large...
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...and practical issue for market researchers and consumer researchers (Meuter et al, 2000). With positive results in most research, the significance of customer satisfaction and customer retention in strategy development for a “market oriented’’ and “customer focused’’ firm cannot be underestimated (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990). Specifically, Levesque and McDougall (1996) stated that customer satisfaction and retention are critical for retail banks, because of their impact on the company’s profit. With this, there is the challenge for banks to deliver a satisfactory quality service. After all, customer satisfaction is inarguably one of the two core concepts that are at the root of the marketing theory and practice (Spreng and Mackoy, 1996). The other one is service quality but it can be said it is not purely intertwined with customer satisfaction as a customer can be satisfied even though the service is not of high quality. But then, customer satisfaction is considered a must for customer retention and loyalty, and undoubtedly helps in realizing economic goals like profitability, market share, return on investment and other corporate target (Reichheld, 1996; Hackl and Westlund, 2000). This paper presents the proposal to investigate customer satisfaction in the banking industry and link it with the profit of the company. As mentioned, this theory is also plays an important role to banks. The study will focus specifically on the Barclays Bank of Kenya. Barclays is a UK based...
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...Linking perceived service quality and service loyalty: a multi-dimensional perspective Josee Bloemer, Ko de Ruyter, Martin Wetzels. European Journal of Marketing. Bradford: 1999.Vol.33, Iss. 11/12; pg. 1082 » Jump to full text Subjects: Service industries, Studies, Statistical analysis, Quality of service, Market research, Loyalty, Consumer behavior, Effects, Marketing management, Customer relations Classification Codes 9175 Western Europe, 8300 Service industries not elsewhere classified, 5320 Quality control, 7100 Market research, 2400 Public relations, 9130 Experimental/theoretical Locations: Belgium Author(s): Josee Bloemer, Ko de Ruyter, Martin Wetzels Document types: Feature Publication title: European Journal of Marketing. Bradford: 1999. Vol. 33, Iss. 11/12; pg. 1082 Source type: Periodical ISSN/ISBN: 03090566 Abstract (Document Summary) In recent research on service quality it has been argued that the relationship between perceived service quality and service loyalty is an issue which requires conceptual and empirical elaboration through replication and extension of current knowledge. A study focuses on the refinement of a scale for measuring service loyalty dimensions and the relationships between dimensions of service quality and these service loyalty dimensions. The results of an empirical study of a large sample of customers from four different service industries suggest that four dimensions of service loyalty can be identified: purchase intentions, word-of-mouth...
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