HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT OF CONSUMER VALUE OF PASSENGER RAILWAY TRANSPORTATION: PRACTICE OF IMPLEMENTING THE METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

Abstract

Purpose . The work is devoted to the substantiation of a new approach to the management of consumer value of services, the improvement of marketing research methods and the analysis of their results. Target tasks of work: determination of the size and content of consumer value of services for the transportation of passengers by the railway of Ukraine in long-distance traffic; comparison of the results of two approaches to the study of customer attitudes towards services (traditional and proposed - holistic); determination of the directions of management impact on the consumer value of long-distance passenger transportation by the railway of Ukraine. Research methodology : in three focus groups, discussions were hold regarding travel by day and night trains, the results of which resulted in a list of disadvantages and advantages that create the use value of such a transport service. The list of 19 positive and negative statements reflected all stages of the trip by the railway, the Likert scale was applied to it and an appropriate form was developed for conducting interviews, on this basis a survey was conducted within a random sample of respondents. Two approaches have been used to measure the consumer value of the transport service, which correspond to the traditional and holistic management of it. The results showed that the prejudicial attitude of passengers to daytime high-speed traffic in the seven years of their existence was overcame, and the levels of advantages and disadvantages fully satisfy only one-fifth of those traveling by day and night. At the same time, the vectors of search for ways to increase the consumer value of the service for representatives of different segments of passengers are multidirectional. Scientific novelty : it is proved that the traditional approach to the disordered point impact on the elements of consumer value does not give the expected results, does not increase customer satisfaction and does not allow attaching them reliably to the railway transport; if several customer segments with different preferences, requests and expectations are served simultaneously in the common space, only holistic management of the consumer value of services that is bases on appropriate marketing research methods can be effective. The development of the marketing research methodology is gives in terms of the fundamental principles - general and specific, which are necessary for the implementation of the new concept of holistic management of the consumer value of services. Practical significance: during the marketing research, a new approach was proposed and tested, and a sequence of analysis of the segment aspirations was developed, which made it possible to determine the direction and parameters of the managerial impact on the creation of prerequisites of consumer value of the service of a certain level and content; presenting the structure of customer attitudes towards infringements and advantages in the form of petal diagrams makes it possible to determine consumer value vectors of services competing with each other, which is the basis for developing management solutions for constructing the consumer value of railway services.