Do tratamento das reclamações à gestão da insatisfação: o comportamento de empresas hoteleiras mediante a insatisfação de seus clientes

Consumer dissatisfaction, when properly handled, is a significant information source for the manager. Studies in this area allow broadening the understanding of certain customer attitudes and behaviors, such as loyalty, repurchase intention or satisfaction and trust increase. Above and beyond supporting consumer feedback, dissatisfaction can provide significant opportunities for organizational learning. Starting from dissatisfied customer information, companies can detect service flaws and develop new products. This work presents the results of an investigation on the behavior of businesses belonging to the hotel sector in Natal, RN, through the dissatisfaction of their customers. We have sought to map the main problems presented by customers to hotels, in the perception of managers and employees, as well as to understand both the process of dissatisfactionrelated data collection, analysis, and processing, and the utilization of such information by businesses. Beyond this, we have compared the habits of organizations to the company reaction approaches described in the literature: Complaint Handling, Complaint Management, and Dissatisfaction Management. The used methodology has been based on case study. Data was collected via indepth interviews with managers and employees in six hotels, two independent ones and four belonging to national and international hotel networks. We have also made use of documents provided by the organizations, such as guest complaint registers and reports from satisfaction surveys on which content analysis was subsequently performed. The results of the investigation point to a high level of awareness in the companies concerning the importance of consumer dissatisfaction. Even though the maximum grade in the procedure scale is not achieved, it has been observed that answer to dissatisfaction is given in planned and systematic form, geared towards consumer satisfaction and improvement of products and processes. Hotel businesses still have to look into other possibilities for mapping consumer dissatisfaction, which implies, among other aspects, articulation with a range of public and private organizations in such a way as to guarantee sustainability of touristic activities in the long term

Customer needs in innovation and R&D strategy development

Tutkimuksen kohteena oleva yritys avasi innovaatiokeskuksen 2015 vuoden loppupuolella. Tutkimuksen tavoite on tutkia keinoja löytää asiakastarpeita innovaatiokeskuksessa sekä selvittää, kuinka asiakastarpeet sisällytetään innovaatio- ja tuotekehitysstrategiaan. Kattava prosessi asiakastarvekartoituksesta esitellään ja prosessi säädetään yritykselle sopivaksi asiakkaille tehdyn kyselyn tulosten mukaan. Lisäksi yrityksen tuotepäälliköille järjestettiin haastattelu, jotta heidän näkemyksiään asiakastarvekartoituksen kehittämisestä ja tarpeiden lisäämisestä strategiaan päästiin myös hyödyntämään. Asiakastarpeiden kartoittamiseen soveltuvaksi menetelmäksi löydettiin ryhmätyömalliin perustuva menetelmä, jossa tarpeita kerätään innovaatiokeskuksessa. Lisäksi tietokoneita hyödyntävä GDSS-kokous auttaa välttämään useita yleisiä kokousten ongelmia. Tutkimuksen mukaan asiakastarpeiden suuret kehityslinjat ja kaikista tärkeimmät tarpeet voidaan lisätä strategiaan hyödyntämällä innovaatiokenttiä, skenaarioita ja roadmappeja sekä asiakastarvetaulukkoja.

O uso do móbile marketing como estratégia de fidelização de clientes :um estudo e empresas do setor de comércio e serviços em natal-RN

This study aims to understand the effects of the mobile marketing use as a relationships tool for companies that operate locally, because of the lack of information about this new marketing tool, as well as the scarcity of studies in this area. This is an exploratory and qualitatively study, based on primary sources, raised through books, articles in the marketing area and the telecommunications industry organs as well as secondary sources. With the purpose to look into the issue, a semi-structured interview is made with the companies managers of the sectors of trade and services in Natal-RN. The advances in technology allow an important discussion focused on the marketing in the new communication technologies scenario. It appears that the mobile marketing adoption and use by local companies is already a reality and companies are awake to changes and technological innovations accessible, especially the mobile telephony as well as convergence with other media. There is, however, that the use of technologies offered by mobile marketing is still limited to the sending of text messages (SMS), despite the numerous possibilities of it use. Moreover, the results obtained with mobile marketing use show that companies can identify them, but there is no effective monitoring in quantity and financial terms. Only affect sales growth and support for progress in loyalty with customers. It shows up that the mentality of not measuring the results still in the plan of changes and technological innovations. The data allow saying that the mobile marketing is a reality, however has not yet signed as a tool for carrying out campaigns and marketing tool for loyalty of customers, despite presenting a wide range of possibilities to streamline and make more effective the marketing businesses process

Using importance-satisfaction analysis in evaluating student satisfaction: a case study of economics and administration Faculty of Qafqaz University

Education is one of the main industries in the world, which needs to focus more than other types of industries. As Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world” (www.brainyquote.com). Global economic recession era put serious pressure on private Higher Education Institutions (HEI), which resulted as decrease in the university spending`s budget. Therefore, HEI forced to develop more competitive ways to find new financial resources for rapid technological and organizational changes (Savsar, 2012). Students are the motive of being of Higher Education. The aim of this study is to implement İmportance-Satisfaction Analysis (IPA) matrix to evaluate the student`s satisfaction and assess importance of different attributes in terms of student`s perception. The students that participated in this study enrolled in the present academic year, 2015/2016, in the Economics and Administration Faculty-Qafqaz University. In order to perform study, survey method applied to collect the data and number of received valid questionnaire were 266. Questionnaire used to collect demographic information of students, identify importance given to each attribute and satisfaction degree of each attribute. Descriptive analysis used to identify profile of respondents, also find satisfaction and importance degree for each attributes. To evaluate differences between groups, built association between variables, find relation between variables and answering to the research hypothesis inferential analysis applied. Moreover, IPA matrix was been used to explore the attributes that needs improvement that perceived as attributes that are more important for the students. The result showed that generally students are satisfied with service quality offered by HEI-on sample of the Qafqaz University. In addition, research found that there are no differences in overall satisfaction and importance by department, gender, academic year and grade point average. IPA matrix highlighted the main attributes, which performs well, namely Academic Services and Teaching aspects, and in another hand needs to concentrate in Undergraduate program and External Relations. In addition, research found that loyalty of students is very low and there is a negative correlation between loyalty and satisfaction.

An agent-based simulation of in-store customer experiences

Agent-based modelling and simulation offers a new and exciting way of understanding the world of work. In this paper we describe the development of an agent-based simulation model, designed to help to understand the relationship between human resource management practices and retail productivity. We report on the current development of our simulation model which includes new features concerning the evolution of customers over time. To test some of these features we have conducted a series of experiments dealing with customer pool sizes, standard and noise reduction modes, and the spread of the word of mouth. Our multidisciplinary research team draws upon expertise from work psychologists and computer scientists. Despite the fact we are working within a relatively novel and complex domain, it is clear that intelligent agents offer potential for fostering sustainable organisational capabilities in the future.

Using text-mining-assisted analysis to examine the applicability of unstructured data in the context of customer complaint management

Double Degree

Customer relationship management model - A strategic and analytical approach for Amorim Turismo

Field lab: Entrepreneurial and innovative ventures

UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER CHOICES IN SERVICE OUTSOURCING AND REVENUE MANAGEMENT

This dissertation investigates customer behavior modeling in service outsourcing and revenue management in the service sector (i.e., airline and hotel industries). In particular, it focuses on a common theme of improving firms’ strategic decisions through the understanding of customer preferences. Decisions concerning degrees of outsourcing, such as firms’ capacity choices, are important to performance outcomes. These choices are especially important in high-customer-contact services (e.g., airline industry) because of the characteristics of services: simultaneity of consumption and production, and intangibility and perishability of the offering. Essay 1 estimates how outsourcing affects customer choices and market share in the airline industry, and consequently the revenue implications from outsourcing. However, outsourcing decisions are typically endogenous. A firm may choose whether to outsource or not based on what a firm expects to be the best outcome. Essay 2 contributes to the literature by proposing a structural model which could capture a firm’s profit-maximizing decision-making behavior in a market. This makes possible the prediction of consequences (i.e., performance outcomes) of future strategic moves. Another emerging area in service operations management is revenue management. Choice-based revenue systems incorporate discrete choice models into traditional revenue management algorithms. To successfully implement a choice-based revenue system, it is necessary to estimate customer preferences as a valid input to optimization algorithms. The third essay investigates how to estimate customer preferences when part of the market is consistently unobserved. This issue is especially prominent in choice-based revenue management systems. Normally a firm only has its own observed purchases, while those customers who purchase from competitors or do not make purchases are unobserved. Most current estimation procedures depend on unrealistic assumptions about customer arriving. This study proposes a new estimation methodology, which does not require any prior knowledge about the customer arrival process and allows for arbitrary demand distributions. Compared with previous methods, this model performs superior when the true demand is highly variable.

Simulating customer experience and word-of-mouth in retail: a case study

Agents offer a new and exciting way of understanding the world of work. In this paper we describe the development of agent-based simulation models, designed to help to understand the relationship between people management practices and retail performance. We report on the current development of our simulation models which includes new features concerning the evolution of customers over time. To test the features we have conducted a series of experiments dealing with customer pool sizes, standard and noise reduction modes, and the spread of customers’ word of mouth. To validate and evaluate our model, we introduce new performance measure specific to retail operations. We show that by varying different parameters in our model we can simulate a range of customer experiences leading to significant differences in performance measures. Ultimately, we are interested in better understanding the impact of changes in staff behavior due to changes in store management practices. Our multi-disciplinary research team draws upon expertise from work psychologists and computer scientists. Despite the fact we are working within a relatively novel and complex domain, it is clear that intelligent agents offer potential for fostering sustainable organizational capabilities in the future.

Exit, voice, loyalty: a supplier’s perspective

Hirschman (1970) suggests that every member of a group can influence the group by either expressing their voice or exiting the group. Subsequent research has looked at exit-voice-loyalty from the supplier-retailer perspective (Blois, 2008). This paper takes an overview of the wholesaler-retailer relationship in the UK convenience sector; it considers how their approach to exit-voice-loyalty may be affecting the wholesalers’ turnover. The results of the research suggest that the wholesalers do not use cost of exit or enabling retailer voice exclusively; instead they now tend to combine both within their retailer relationship strategies.

Customer Engagement kontzeptuaren barnerapena C2C merkataritza elektronikoan

[EU] Hurrengo lana, Consumer to Consumer merkataritza elektronikoan (hemendik aurrera, C2C) fokatuta dagoen azterketa da. C2C merkatu elektronikoaren esparruan kontsumitzaileak erosketa burutzera bultzatzen duten faktoreak identifikatu nahi dira. Horretarako, lehendabizi C2C merkataritza elektronikoaren ingurunea aztertuko da gainetik, gaia kokatzeko asmotan. Ingurune honetan artikulu zientifikoetan, gero eta nabarmentasun handiagoa hartzen ari den Customer Engagement edo kontsumitzailearen konpromisoa kontzeptuaren azterketa bat burutuko da. Kontzeptu hau hobeto ulertzeko asmotan, autore desberdinek eskainitako definizioak eta beste definizio baliagarri batzuk aurkituko ditugu. Behin kontzeptua definiturik, honek barneratzen duen zikloa identifikatzera pasatuko gara. Horretarako, Sashik 2012 urtean argitaratutako ikerketa lana hartu da oinarri lez. Autore honek egindako zikloari, ekarpen propio gisa, kontsumitzaileen jarrera ulertzen lagunduko diguten beste hainbat kontzeptu gehitu dira. Azkenik, aipatutako eta aztertutako kontzeptuak errealitatean identifikatzeko, azterketa praktiko bat burutu da. Azterketa honetan, teorian azaldutakoa, adibide errealen bidez identifikatzeaz gain, inkesta txiki bat aurkituko dugu. Honen bitartez, lan teorikoari erabilera praktikoago bat eman nahi izan zaio.

Acceptance of smartphone-based mobile shopping:mobile benefits, customer characteristics, perceived risk and the impact of application context

Despite their generally increasing use, the adoption of mobile shopping applications often differs across purchase contexts. In order to advance our understanding of smartphone-based mobile shopping acceptance, this study integrates and extends existing approaches from technology acceptance literature by examining two previously underexplored aspects. Firstly, the study examines the impact of different mobile and personal benefits (instant connectivity, contextual value and hedonic motivation), customer characteristics (habit) and risk facets (financial, performance, and security risk) as antecedents of mobile shopping acceptance. Secondly, it is assumed that several acceptance drivers differ in relevance subject to the perception of three mobile shopping characteristics (location sensitivity, time criticality, and extent of control), while other drivers are assumed to matter independent of the context. Based on a dataset of 410 smartphone shoppers, empirical results demonstrate that several acceptance predictors are associated with ease of use and usefulness, which in turn affect intentional and behavioral outcomes. Furthermore, the extent to which risks and benefits impact ease of use and usefulness is influenced by the three contextual characteristics. From a managerial perspective, results show which factors to consider in the development of mobile shopping applications and in which different application contexts they matter.

Análisis de las variables de marketing que afectan al valor del cliente. La permanencia como variable controlable

To know how marketing variables affect customer value is essential for a company in order to be market and customer oriented, and to improve investment efficiency in both attracting and retaining customers. Thus, the assessment of the influence of marketing variables in customer value is of prime importance. This is recognized in many empirical studies of these variables, which address the impact of a single variable (or sets of a few variables) on customer value. A comprehensive, integrated assessment of all marketing variables and their interdependencies is an arduous and complex task for researchers and marketing managers. This research proposes a theoretical model of customer value that takes into account all significant marketing variables that have been partially addressed in empirical investigations of other researchers. These marketing variables include brand and reputation, point of sale, employees, price, termination fee commitment, discounts, complementarity of products, experiences, emotions, perceived value, quality, satisfaction, switching costs, and loyalty. The model incorporates the relationship between each variable with retention and with customer value as well as the relationships between them. A special focus is placed on the empirical analysis of the termination fee commitment and its relationship with customer value. This variable is widely used in the telecommunication’s industry for its influence on customer retention from the moment of purchase. However, there is strikingly little research in this topic. A large customer database of a telecommunications company containing five years information about 63.165 customers is used for this purpose. Multivariate linear regression and ANOVA method are applied...

Communication across cultures? An intercultural approach to customer service in the hotel industry: a study with globally branded hotels in the United Kingdom

In a professional and business-social context such as that of global hotel brands in the United Kingdom, intercultural communication, contacts and relationships are found at the heart of daily operations and of customer service. A large part of the clientele base of hotels in the United Kingdom is formed by individuals who belong to different cultural groups that travel in the country either for leisure or business. At the same time, the global workforce which is recruited in the hotel industry in the United Kingdom is a reality here to stay. Global travelling and labor work mobility are phenomena which have been generated by changes which occur on a socio-economic, cultural and political level due to the phenomenon of globalization. The hotel industry is therefore well acquainted with the essence of different cultures either to be accommodated within hotel premises, as in the case of external customers, or of diversity management where different cultures are recruited in the hotel industry, as in the case of internal customers. This thesis derives from research conducted on eight different global hotel brands in the United Kingdom in particular, with reference to three, four and five star categories. The research aimed to answer the question of how hotels are organized in order to address issues of intercultural communication during customer service and if intercultural barriers arise during the intercultural interaction of hotel staff and global customers. So as to understand how global hotel brands operate the research carried out focused in three main areas relating to each hotel: organizational culture, customer service–customer care and intercultural issues. The study utilized qualitative interviews with hotel management staff and non-management staff from different cultural backgrounds, public space observations between customers and staff during check-in and checkout in the reception area and during dining at the café-bar and restaurant. Thematic analysis was also applied to the official web page of each hotel and to job advertisements to enhance the findings from the interviews and the observations. For the process of analysis of the data interpretive (hermeneutic) phenomenology of Martin Heidegger has been applied. Generally, it was found that hotel staff quite often feel perplexed by how to deal with and how to overcome, for instance, language barriers and religious issues and how to interpret non verbal behaviors or matters on food culture relating to the intercultural aspect of customer service. In addition, it was interesting to find that attention to excellent customer service on the part of hotel staff is a top organizational value and customer care is a priority. Despite that, the participating hotel brands appear to have not yet, realized how intercultural barriers can affect the daily operation of the hotel, the job performance and the psychology of hotel staff. Employees indicated that they were keen to receive diversity training, provided by their organizations, so as to learn about different cultural needs and expand their intercultural skills. The notion of diversity training in global hotel brands is based on the sense that one of the multiple aims of diversity management as a practice and policy in the workplace of hotels is the better understanding of intercultural differences. Therefore global hotel brands can consider diversity training as a practice which will benefit their hotel staff and clientele base at the same time. This can have a distinctive organizational advantage for organizational affairs in the hotel industry, with potential to influence the effectiveness and performance of hotels.