Customer Attraction Research Articles

Financial Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility Under Mediating Effect of Operational Self-Sustainability.

Operational and financial sustainability have, over time, remained as issues in the microfinance industry. The microfinance industry is struggling to gain self-sufficiency in Pakistan due to non-performing loans and operating costs. Simultaneously, deliberation on corporate social responsibility (CSR) is also considered in academic literature and organizational practices. However, studies on CSR and financial performance in the microfinance sector are scarce, especially in Pakistan. CSR will develop customer attraction and loyalty, employee attraction, motivation and commitment, MFIs' reputation and access to capital, and eventually build financial performance. Interviews were conducted with branch managers of microfinance institutions to test previous questionnaires. A self-administered survey was conducted to collect data from the managers of the microfinance banks operating in Punjab. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed to answer research questions using Smart PLS. Most of the microfinance institutions believe in social responsibilities but lacks fund allocation and approval from higher management, and results are in line with prior studies. These empirical findings lead to the perception that CSR is not a barrier performance in microfinance banks as they have access to capital. The results indicated a strong positive correlation between CSR and the financial performance of the MFIs. CSR also positively correlates with customer retention, employees' motivation and attraction, and business reputation. CSR was associated with access to capital but was found to be weak. The research also narrated the limitation and practical implications of the study. The study also discusses further research directions.

An inclusive survey on machine learning for CRM: a paradigm shift

Customer relationship management (CRM) is the tool to enhance customer relationship in any business. Due to the exponential growth of data volume, in any field, it is significant to develop new techniques to discover the customer knowledge, automation of the system and moreover customer satisfaction to win customer lifetime value. CRM with machine learning could bring a catalytic change in business. Several supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques are utilized to improve the customer experience and profitability of business. This paper reviews the available literature on the CRM with machine learning techniques for customer identification, customer attraction, and customer retention and customer development. This study reveals that supervised learning techniques are 48.48% utilized, unsupervised learning techniques are utilized 15.15%, and 9.09% utilized other techniques in CRM. Paradigm is also shifted toward the deep learning from machine learning as 28.28% text has been reported to deep learning. Decision tree-based algorithm and support vector machine algorithms are most utilized algorithm of supervised learning. E-commerce and telecommunication sectors are the most important areas identified with the exponential growth of the users and hence need a suitable machine learning techniques for customer satisfaction and business profitability.

Intention to use bike-booking application: the case of students in Ho Chi Minh City

This study aims to determine the factors that influence the intention to use the bike-booking application and measure the influence of the elements on the behavior intention to use the bike-booking application for university students in Ho Chi Minh City. Based on the research results, the author gives some managerial implications to increase customers' choice of bike-booking applications to increase the attractiveness of customers to choose apps. With the number of surveyed questionnaires is 200, the author collected 177 valid respondents, and the study results showed that the scales used in the model meet the requirement about reliability and validity. Research has shown that factors such as trust, perceived ease of use, subjective norm, perceived usefulness, perceived price level positively influence the intention to use a bike-booking application for university students in Ho Chi Minh City. In which the perceived usefulness has the most substantial impact, the subjective norm has the lowest effect on behavior intention. The second most effective one is the perceived price level; the third most effective is the ease of use; the fourth most effect is trust.

WITHDRAWN: Reduction of drag in box-type and half streamlined automobile vehicles

Fuel efficiency, mileage, cost and comfortable of the car is the key factors for customer attraction, apart from above features; fuel efficiency plays a major role for the overall attractiveness of car. An Influencing factors for fuel efficiency of cars are based on the performance of internal combustion engines and also on the aerodynamic design of body of the car. In the total, 50% of fuel consumption is obtained by the aerodynamic drag force at highway speeds. The drag force is formed by relative motion between air and vehicle. The objective of this project is to trim down the drag coefficient in sedan and SUV cars by reducing the turbulence at exit of the car and reducing the skin friction drag. In SUV car model, tapered smooth edges are used for the analysis, in sedan car, diffuser is used for the analysis purpose. While designing an automotive, the aerodynamic drag plays a major role. Due to the aerodynamic design, the entire performance of the automotive will be changed. In recent years, the demand for the fuel has been increasing, so extensive research is undergoing for improvement of aerodynamically optimized vehicle designs by using PTC Creo Parametric software and Autodesk Flow Design software. The simulation results are taken under the concept of Computational Fluid Dynamics with necessary boundary conditions.

A Case Study of Risk Management of Automotive Industry Projects Using RFMEA Method

Considering the market need and customer attraction, automakers are always trying to define new projects and present products with new capabilities in the market. That is why a significant part of car companies’ development research is focused on the definition of new projects. Principally, project risk management in car companies is essential and thus given special attention. There are different theories and methods of project risk control. However, since there is complete awareness of FMEA-related issues (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) in automotive companies due to the establishment of the quality management system, the project's risk analysis using FMEA method to control the risk of automotive industry projects is presented in this paper by a real example. For this purpose, FMEA indicators tables are designed and presented proportionally to project risk management. Results of this research show that using failure mode and effects analysis for project risk management ensures the detection of project's weaknesses and provides a practical model for identification and reduction of project risks.

Modeling Industrial Sociology in the Discourse of Entrepreneurship Development

Entrepreneurship is mainstreamed in development literature especially employment creation and poverty reduction. This paper models industrial sociology to show evidence from utilization of mobile telecommunication and small scale business. Theoretically, Rational Choice Theory is adopted. Sample, 1600 was drawn from the study on GSM services in Ibadan and sample, 100 was drawn from the study on small scale business in Sabo-Gari Kano. Random ballot and accidental sampling techniques were applied. Both studies were descriptive designed. Data were collected and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. In Ibadan, 78.9% identified source of income for livelihood, 75.7% engaged wholesale and retail airtime sales, phone repairs (45.3%), and internet business (62.3%). In Kano, respondents identified income status (89.1%), increased sales (87.8%), expansion in size of business (67.5%) and poverty reduction (81.9%). GSM gains in Ibadan triggered ancillary economic activities, recharge card sales, phone accessories stores and repairs. Traders in Kano thrived because social interaction was attraction for customers. In both studies, respondents maintained social relationship with customers, were humble and patient in speech, dressed neatly to attract customers. The conjunct of social and economic action of respondents is model of analysis in economic sociology which overlaps sociology and economics. Industrial sociology therefore, is window of socio economic base of entrepreneurship which sustains the economic base.

Electronic loyalty and recommendatory electronic advertisements in news pages and channels of social networks

Today, because of existing competitive markets, directors and managers seek for the method to make people aware of their own products and to improve their trade names. To achieve this objective, they employ various marketing techniques for further attraction and retention of customers and utilization from promotional tools is increasingly going to spread to improve and influence in perceived mother trade name among audiences. Trade name and brand of any organization directly affect main elements of community, value-creating methods in societies as well as trust in and loyalty to the brand. Electronic loyalty and recommendatory electronic advertisements on news pages and channels of social networks are assumed as one of the effective factors in survival of organizations in today competitive environment that has been examined in this study. The present study is of applied type in terms of goal and nature of research is descriptive-surveying and of correlational type. The statistical population of this study includes users who have background of visiting from social news networks once and it comprises of 306 visitors of social networks. Questionnaire has been used as data collection tool and R-software was utilized for data analysis. Path coefficients and T-value analysis have been employed for determining reliability and research hypotheses. The results of study showed that all hypotheses were significant accepted.

Investigating the Impact of Strategic Planning on Targeting Production-oriented Organizations Using BSC

Targeting in organizations is one of the main pillars of determining organizational fate. The extent of transparency of objectives has a great impact on the design and formulation of main key words of strategic planning. Regarding the attractiveness of the BSC method and its application in production-oriented organizations, it can increasingly achieve the macro goals, if it is focused on BSC components which are the four perspectives of finance, customer, internal processes, and development and learning, it becomes more dominant in the design of key organizational factors. Many of the techniques used in organizations have achieved acceptable results that have been very effective. Including these approaches and techniques, it can refer to the comprehensive management, customer-oriented and customer attraction based on BSC components to achieve excellent goals on thought and planning of manager of a product-oriented organization. A balanced scorecard can be considered a common goal among managers that are based on common goals based on BSC principles and corporate financial approaches and the process of attracting customer and attracting capital.

Do Acquirers Retain or Attract Customers Following Mergers and Acquisitions? Evidence from the Audit Industry

We use a unique setting of an auditor’s acquisition of another auditor to provide new insight into customer responses to mergers broadly, and to study several audit market dynamics. Unlike most merger settings that primarily allow examination of the merging firms and their rivals, this setting also provides data on these firms’ customers (“clients”). We find that the number of clients switching to the acquiring auditor increases following the merger, however we find that this is more than offset by an increase in the number of clients switching from the acquiring auditor. We find that a poor fit between the acquiring (large) auditor and the acquired clients leads to the loss of many (small) acquired clients. We also find evidence of unintended consequences to the acquiring firm in the form of the loss of existing clients. We find little evidence that the merger generates a sustained gain in market share or significant increase in aggregate fees. Our study is among the first to document the client attributes that lead to exit from a merged firm. Specific to the audit market, our study casts doubt on the likelihood that auditors intentionally develop or obtain industry specialization which then attracts clients, consistent with recent research suggesting that auditors instead fall backwards into specialization after serving large industry clients over time.

PLS–SEM in business promotion strategies. A multigroup analysis of mobile coupon users using MICOM

PurposeThe development of Information Systems (IS) and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is offering new opportunities for businesses to implement promotion strategies focused on customer attraction and retention. In this sense, mobile coupon usage has increased as a promotion tool, especially in the fast-food sector. However, the use by consumers of these coupons is not homogeneous and it is conditioned by prior experience. Thus, this study aimed to examine variations between Fast Food Restaurant (FFR) customers based on their prior experiences with the use of mobile coupon (expert vs novice users).Design/methodology/approachA sample of 400 fast-food customers was collected using a structured questionnaire. In order to compare the proposed relationships between expert and novice users, a multigroup approach was applied through new, recently proposed evaluation procedures designed for PLS–SEM.FindingsThe results show that the two groups of consumers (expert vs novice users) have notable differences regarding the relationship between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. This relationship was the strongest in both groups. However, there are no differences found in other aspects considered as antecedents to mobile coupons usage, for instance, usage intention and attitude.Practical implicationsThis work emphasises the importance of considering differences based on experience between mobile coupon users. Ease of use, perceived consumer utility and increased mobile coupons in apps can be the key to driving effective business strategies based on promotional tactics by FFRs. Likewise, this study can help other researchers in their empirical applications of PLS–SEM analysis.Originality/valueThis study is the first to provide an in-depth analysis of differences based on users' experience with mobile coupons at FFRs. It is innovative in its introduction of the consumer's coupon proneness variable.

A Schedulable Energy Scheduling Algorithm With Fair Delay for Smart Grid Distributions

Fairness is now a significant issue in demand response because of its importance in customer attraction. Studies have shown that current demand response programs are lacking fairness considerations so that this may prevent demand response program penetration. In this article, fairness will be discussed and explored in terms of fair delay of energy usage instead of the existing fair bill approach. A mathematical formation of the system is provided and an algorithm is proposed, including back-off, carry-on, and optimization procedures. In order to find the best policy for using this algorithm, simulations are conducted to find the best policy in order to lower all the customers’ total cost while bounding the customers’ delays within a fairness range. The simulation results show the best policy under two different simulation setups. Moreover, the energy consumption scheduling algorithm with the fair delay control has much better fair delay index performance than the energy consumption scheduling algorithm without fair delay control, with 20%–65% improvement, depending on the environments.

Green Cities and Waste Management: The Restaurant Industry

“Green Cities” are cities with the ultimate goal of achieving a net zero-carbon footprint in energy, transportation, architecture, and the activity cost chain of businesses. These cities define the future of our planet by emphasizing the efficient use of resources and the well-being of communities. This study focuses on “Green Cities” and the restaurant industry. It examines the beliefs of restaurant owners/managers on the positive impact of sustainability practices on financial situation, reputation, and attraction of customers, and the relationship between such beliefs and the extent of engagement in sustainability practices. The research also explores whether declaring a city “Green” enhances the sustainability practices in that city. The results indicate that the restaurant owners/managers in all three studied cities strongly believe that sustainability practices enhance the financial performance, reputation of the restaurant, and attraction of customers, yet a significant percentage of the wastes and by-products of the operations of the studied restaurants are discarded. In addition, the results of the study show no significant impact on sustainability practices in the studied restaurants for the declared “Green” cities of Providence (U.S.) and Nancy (France) versus the city of Springfield (U.S.). The study concludes by highlighting the potential reasons underlying the lack of sustainability practices in the restaurant industry and proposes recommendations that can enhance such practices in this industry.

The Impact of Enhancing Social Media Marketing Knowledge on Customer Attraction and Engagement for University Organizational Growth and Development from the TRACK Theory

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of integrating social media in the marketing strategy for customer attraction and engagement in universities in order to solve challenges associated with marketing strategies for student attraction and community engagement in the context of the University of Mpumalanga in South Africa. A descriptive correlational research design was used in the study. Fifty sales and marketing employees, 50 departmental lecturers, and 100 students randomly selected within the Mpumalanga University responded to the questionnaires. The results indicated that there is a positive impact of applying technological social media-based marketing content knowledge (TSMBCMCK) framework on student attraction and recruitment and community engagement. It is therefore recommended to adopt and apply the technological social media-based marketing content knowledge framework to enhance marketing strategies within universities.

Management of Financial Technology and Its Impact on the Banking Services: Palestine

This paper seeks to investigate the impact Financial Technology would have on the financial service banking industry in Palestine, The results show that the financial institutions need to adapt to the digital trends as early as possible, understanding the unmet needs of a digital customer in a better way. The growing expectation from financial institutions is to shift from product-based models to customer-based models, equipping themselves to offer real-time, easy to use, personalized products and services to the digital customers through customer’s preferred channel, Financial Technology is greatly innovating and enhancing the efficiency of the financial service industry thereby contributing to economic development. In Palestine, The researcher recommend the use of specialists in the field of electronic sites design in particular, because the site attractiveness needs experience sufficient experience in this area to support its attractiveness for customers, and to benefit from the experiences of the developed countries in the field of software technology control and protection of customer information, in order to strengthen current Software applied to those banks.

Shipping surcharges and LSQ: pricing the last mile

PurposePricing the shipping surcharge is a major strategic decision for online retailers, and free shipping promotions are becoming more common among online retailers. The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of last mile pricing strategies on customer attraction and retention in the hypercompetitive online retailing industry. Specifically, this paper investigates the effect of partitioning the shipping surcharge on consumer logistics service quality (LSQ) perceptions and, in turn, purchase behavior.Design/methodology/approachEmploying signaling theory and expectation–disconfirmation theory, hypotheses are derived for two specific points in an online purchase scenario: prepurchase and following a logistics disruption. The hypotheses are tested using a scenario-based experiment with manipulations for the level of shipping surcharge partitioning and the presence of a logistics disruption.FindingsThe results suggest that partitioned shipping surcharges influence prepurchase expectations of LSQ satisfaction and amplify the negative effects of logistics disruptions. This, in turn, drives the purchase and repurchase intentions.Practical implicationsThe findings inform online retailers of the perceptual and behavioral effects of last mile pricing strategies. Specifically, this research demonstrates how and under what conditioning partitioning the shipping surcharge can influence the attraction and retention of online customers.Originality/valueThis study integrates pricing and LSQ research to assess the black box of consumer purchase behavior. This is one of the first studies to empirically contrast the effects of last mile pricing strategies on consumer expectations and perceptions of LSQ.

Comunicación corporativa para la fidelización del cliente

La propuesta del modelo estratégico para diagnosticar la comunicación corporativa orientada a mejorar la fidelización del cliente fue desarrollada a partir de tres genealogías: la comprensión de la complejidad del contexto organizacionalde Scheinsohn (2009), el Branding Corporativo de Capriotti (2009) y el Proceso Comercial Relacional de Chiesa (2005). Con base en estas propuestas teóricas, se propone un Modelo estratégico de diagnóstico de la comunicacióncorporativa, con un paquete metodológico que permita identificar la carga informativa, relacional y simbólica, para orientar estratégicamente los activos intangibles como la identidad, la imagen y la reputación de la organización hacia los programas de atracción, satisfacción y fidelización del cliente.

Millennial Reaction towards Customer Attraction and Retention Strategies Adopted by Digital Payment/UPI Apps.

The digital payment/UPI transactions have seen tremendous growth in the last five years in India. Mobile penetration, data offers by telecoms and government initiatives such as Digital India are playing a catalyst role that leads to an exponential growth of digital/UPI payments. Millennial customers are generally known to be tech-savvy generation and sometimes categorize as innovators or early adopters generation, making the most use of digital/UPI payments at the point of sale (POS) for services and products. The structured questionnaire was used to collect data to understand the reasons for preferring digital payment/UPI apps over cash/card and to examine the reactions from millennial towards marketing strategies. Primary data was collected from 100 respondents in Hyderabad, India. The study found that millennial customers are very positive towards preferring digital payment/UPI apps over cash/card. ANOVA was used to analyze the responses, which indicate that there is no significant variance in consumer preference and reactions towards marketing strategies based on demographic factors.

Disentangling the Differential Roles of Warmth and Competence Judgments in Customer-Service Provider Relationships

Despite increasing interest in warmth and competence as fundamental dimensions in consumers’ evaluation of service providers, prior research remains ambiguous about which dimension is more important. The current study develops a nomological framework that clarifies this ambiguity and explains whether, when, and why warmth or competence takes precedence for different outcomes in customer-service provider relationships. Combined evidence from field and laboratory studies support the notion of an asymmetric dominance, which suggests that warmth is dominant in driving outcomes that capture relational aspects (e.g., customer-company identification), whereas competence is dominant in driving outcomes that capture transactional aspects of the customer-service provider relationship (e.g., share of wallet). The findings provide first insights into the underlying mechanisms that drive this asymmetric dominance by demonstrating that relational and capability concerns mediate this process. Moreover, the current investigation identifies novel moderators that offer managers help in identifying service contexts (people vs. object care) and customer segments (differing in process and outcome service goals) for which investing in warmth or competence is more promising. Overall, displaying competence is particular effective in driving customer attraction and current operating performance, whereas displaying warmth is better suited to establish strong emotional bonds and drive customer retention.

Bi-objective optimization of basic and extended warranty policies regarding preventive maintenance and burn-in policies: Weibull bathtub-shaped failure rate

Today's after-sales services play an important role in the competitive market for product manufacturing and supply. The manufacturer, as the provider of basic warranty and third-party companies specializing in maintenance as extended warranty provider, seeks to minimize their costs, as well as improve product quality and customer attraction. In this regard, the application of burn-in policies can help the producer and the third-parties to achieve this. In this paper a nonlinear programming model is developed to (1) minimizing the total maintenance costs during the basic warranty and burn-in periods and (2) minimizing the total maintenance costs during the extended warranty period. Due to the complexity of the model, the multi-objective meta-heuristic solution approach is proposed based on a scatter search algorithm and variable neighborhood search algorithm. The optimization results showed that the application of burn-in policies by the manufacturer reduces the cost of preventive and corrective maintenance for the manufacturer and the third party. Also, the lack of a computational gap between the proposed solution approach and the exact solution method indicates the high efficiency of the proposed solution procedure through optimization of the research problem.

The role of risk management in buyer-supplier relationships with a preferred customer status for total quality management

PurposeThis paper provides a comprehensive risk management framework for buyer-supplier relationships where the buyer has the status of a preferred customer with the supplier.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical evidence is offered with a case study on a large multinational organization in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry, with some real-life perspectives on the main risks, mitigation strategies, and issues faced when applying the risk management framework.FindingsThe results show that several risks may affect buyer-supplier relationships: not only traditional supply risks but also risks linked to specific initiatives and/or relationships, as well as risks specific to buyer-supplier relationships with a preferred customer status. Customer attractiveness and supplier satisfaction are found as core drivers for the mitigation strategies, which are built to protect the relationship with the supplier, rather than the buying firm alone, knowing that being a preferred customer with preferential resources allocation may increase a firm’s competitive advantage.Originality/valueThe research brings important contributions to the academic literature and interesting insights to strategic purchasing practitioners, by enhancing the existing knowledge on supply risk management in buyer-supplier relationships with a preferred customer status, as well as providing strategic purchasing practitioners a comprehensive view of the risks, which may affect the relationships with a preferred customer status, as well as possible ways to mitigate them.