Customer-focused Service Research Articles

Customer Perception Towards Customer-Centric Strategies of Private Sector Banks

Introduction: In the Indian financial market, banking plays a very vital role. Banking is the biggest dealer of credit and most of the people invest in banks as savings. Global economic progress depends on banking. The reason for this is that a well-developed financial sector is seen as essential and acts as a gauge for a nation's overall economic health. The banking sector is the most robust and prosperous in our nation. In addition to fierce competition among banking firms for customers, the Indian banking industry is engaged in a profit war. Try to learn about the tactics used by private sector banks in this article to draw in and keep consumers. It also makes an effort to comprehend how clients view banks in the private sector. Objectives: This study aims to explore the strategies employed by private sector banks in India to attract and retain customers within a highly competitive financial market. It seeks to understand customer perceptions of private sector banks and evaluate the role of the banking sector in supporting economic growth and financial stability. Methods: The study examines various marketing and customer service strategies used by private sector banks to attract and engage clients. It includes a review of competitive tactics within the banking sector, with a focus on customer acquisition, loyalty programs, and personalized services. Additionally, the research assesses customer perceptions through surveys and analysis of customer satisfaction metrics in relation to private sector banks. Results: The findings reveal that private sector banks employ a variety of strategies, including personalized services, digital banking options, and loyalty programs, to attract and retain customers. Customer perception of private sector banks is generally positive, with clients valuing the convenience, technological advancements, and customer-focused services offered by these institutions. The competitive nature of the banking industry has led to innovation and improved customer experience, contributing to the sector's robust growth. Conclusion: The study highlights the essential role of private sector banks in supporting the Indian economy by promoting financial inclusion and innovation. Effective strategies for customer attraction and retention, coupled with a focus on customer satisfaction, have strengthened the position of private sector banks within the competitive banking landscape. These insights can guide future efforts to enhance customer engagement and sustain growth within India's financial sector.

Az ügyfél és a hatósági döntéshozatal a digitalizáció korában

The study examines the digital transformation of Hungarian administrative procedure and the advance of automation. Based on statistical data, the study highlights that in connection with digital public administration procedures, the importance of customer-focused services appears as the standard of digital public administration. Digitalization is dominated by electronic contact options, online information and submission of electronic requests, rather than complete automation of administrative procedures. The study focuses on digital authority procedures from the point of view of how this manifests itself primarily for the client: how to satisfy the need for information, how to contact the authorities and how to initiate the procedure. In addition to the legal bases, this part primarily focuses on the possibilities. After that, the consequences of digital solutions (automation) for making substantive decisions from the customer's point of view are discussed; this part of the study therefore concentrates more on the normative side of the processes and finally analyzes this. As a result, it states that automatic decision-making is mainly used in case of registrative acts based on official records and decisions embodied in decision-type documents, but there are already examples of the automation of the decision-making mechanism in connection with the production of facts. Although more complex automation is just spreading its wings, in connection with the rapid technical development and innovations of recent years, the legal system must keep up with digitalization and not give in to it.

The Application of Text Mining Technology in Business Management—Take Hotel Management as an Example

In recent years, the development of the information industry has led to the rapid rise of data mining, and in the face of the trend of data mining development, the field of data mining has become a focal point of concern for various industries. As a very customer-focused service industry, the hospitality industry is imperative to popularize and intelligently integrate text mining into management in the context of rising human resource costs and the general intelligence of all industries. In this paper, the application of text mining technology in business management is explored, using hotel management as an example. The Porter's Five Forces model, the SWOT model are used to analyze the importance of unstructured data such as customer reviews and the great role of text analytics in the internal and external management of hotels. The recommendations for the integration of text mining and hotel management are proposed, suggesting that text mining should be commonly used in hotel management and recommending that managers adopt A small amount of manpower and a large amount of text mining to overcome the drawbacks of text mining and improve hotel operations.

Effects of e-learning technologies on university librarians and libraries: a systematic literature review

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to identify the effects of emerging technologies in e-learning on university librarians and libraries. The study also intended to identify emerging technologies in e-learning and challenges being faced to implement e-learning technologies.Design/methodology/approachThe preferred reporting items for the systematic review and meta-analysis method was applied as the research methodology for conducting the study. A total of 25 core studies published in peer-reviewed journals were selected to conduct a systematic literature review. The data were analysed through a thematic approach.FindingsThe results of the study revealed that e-learning technologies assist library professionals to strengthen their expertise and support them in initiating smart library services to deliver customer-focused services. A shortage of skilled manpower, the unavailability of adequate IT infrastructure, a lack of technical support, copyright issues, poor planning and ineffective library leadership are major challenges to implementing emerging technologies in e-learning.Originality/valueThe study offers theoretical implications by adding valuable literature to the existing body of knowledge. It has a societal impact as it has offered recommendations and practical solutions for the successful adoption of emerging technologies in e-learning. The study also offers managerial implications to develop fruitful policies for implementing e-learning technologies for the innovative sustainable competence development of library manpower and implementation of smart library services.

Blockchain-enabled advances (BEAs): Implications for consumers and brands

Blockchain-enabled advances (BEAs) are state-of-the-art innovations based on blockchain technology. Recent years have witnessed the proliferation of the four BEAs: smart contracts, cryptocurrencies, play-to-earn games, and non-fungible tokens. These BEAs have implications for the marketing field as they affect consumers and brands. We propose a novel theoretical framework that articulates how the principles that underpin BEAs can impact consumers and then explains how brands can use BEAs to innovate their products and services. The core principles of blockchain technology, as well as enhanced digital connectivity, imply that consumers can become more in control of their data and privacy rights, responsible for their choices, and digitally connected. To cater to consumers, brands can use BEAs to roll out technology-focused service innovations, customer-focused service innovations, and product innovations. Based on this perspective, we then advance ten future research questions. This article aims to advance the nascent field of blockchain in marketing.

Customer Satisfaction Quality in Banking Sector

Service sector generally and the banking sector particularly is facing a high level of challenges, especially with the level of customer expectation. Therefore, banks have started to improve their service quality. Technology progress and growth contributed significantly to changing the way of banking services, so customer satisfaction. Due to immense competition, banking is a customer-focused service industry, and customer happiness has become the most vital pillar of any banking business. The study aims to determine the main factors are enhancing customer satisfaction quality in the banking sector. To address the study's questions and evaluate hypotheses, a quantitative technique was adopted to answer questions and test hypotheses. About (8) interviews were conducted with managerial levels and (250) questionnaires were distributed to the banking sector customers using the Simple Random Sample technique to achieve the research purposes in Jordan using the banking sector as a case study. (173) questionnaires were valid for analysis, based on the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS. V.26). The findings of the research revealed that there is a significantly positive impact of reliability, technology aspects, assurance, responsiveness, employee competence, security and privacy on customer satisfaction quality in the banking sector. The research results confirmed the importance of providing the services error-free to enhance customer satisfaction and increase loyalty. The website should contain information that serves customers and employees should be able to provide appropriate assistance to customers and maintain the confidentiality of customer information and data. Finally, use electronic protection software and constantly update the electronic applications banking sector.

The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction: a case study at Nh Beji Pharmacy

Customer satisfaction is a critical indicator of the quality of pharmaceutical services and products pharmacies provide. It holds strategic importance in the pharmacy sector, significantly influencing repeat patronage and referrals. Satisfied customers are more likely to recommend the pharmacy to others, which can substantially contribute to the business's long-term growth. This study identifies service variables at Nh Beji Pharmacy that enhance customer satisfaction and evaluates their impact on patients' loyalty and their propensity to refer new customers. By exploring the link between customer satisfaction, repeat business, and referrals, the study aims to highlight the value of customer-focused services in pharmacies. Through interviews with 55 patients randomly selected from service records and provided informed consent for the 2019-2020 period, the study identified seven service variables that significantly boost customer satisfaction at Nh Beji Pharmacy. The findings demonstrate a notable correlation between customer satisfaction and patients' willingness to return and recommend the pharmacy, underscoring the importance of prioritizing customer satisfaction in pharmaceutical service delivery.

Customer satisfaction with co-created hospitality services: Regulatory focus orientation and positive disconfirmation

New enhancements that foster more customer-focused services, such as the co-creation of hotel service offerings with hotel guests, have changed the conventional thinking in the hospitality industry. In this regard, the current study contributes to the understanding of the effect of co-creation on customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry, focusing on customers’ idiosyncratic characteristics. Particularly, the study investigates the moderating role of customers’ regulatory focus orientation (promotion vs. prevention) and the mediating role of customers’ positive disconfirmation on the relationship between value co-creation (VCC) level of hotel services and customer satisfaction. The model is tested using an experimental design with 328 responses. The results show that a high level of VCC in hotel services leads promotion-focused (prevention-focused) customers to experience lower (higher) levels of positive disconfirmation compared to a low level of VCC, as promotion-focused (prevention-focused) customers have higher (lower) performance expectations from a high VCC service offering due to the regulatory fit (non-fit) they have with the service design. The findings also indicate that service failure generates less dissatisfaction in a high VCC level in hotel services than a low VCC level since customers take more responsibility for the unfavorable outcome when they participate more in the VCC process. These results indicate that when hotels design co-created services, they need to generate coherence between customers’ regulatory focus orientation and the service's VCC level.

Internal Branding: Exploring Market How to Sell Brand in the Internal Market?

" Internal branding is a vital component of internal marketing which improves organizational performance in the competitive era. Internal marketing creates employee orientation or internal customer orientation. This research paper focused on internal branding as a solution to improve the internal market, which has a positive impact on the external market, which leads to organizational success. This is a conceptual paper and data has been collected from various journals, books and online articles. In this globalization, liberalization and technological era, branding is the challenge facing the organization. Internal branding provides employees with information about the company's products and services, as well as an understanding of their value, which benefits customers. Customers respond positively to a customer-focused service culture. Internal marketing is concerned with employees; hence it develops employee orientation. Employees are aware of both tangible and intangible features of products and services that are provided to customers through internal branding. In this competitive era, attraction and retention are not the only ways to succeed. To sustain an organization in this competitive world, it is necessary to create a culture that fosters the best utilization of employees’ talent. Internal market orientation helps the development of employee brand knowledge."

The synergistic effects of LMX and procedural justice climate on employee motivation and customer loyalty in a retail service context

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to test how leader–member exchange (LMX) interacts with procedural justice climate to influence three types of employee motivation (i.e. achievement striving motivation, status striving motivation and communion striving motivation). Furthermore, this study empirically examines the indirect effects of LMX on customer loyalty through employee motivation and service orientation.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a matched sample of 188 retail service employees and 376 customers from a large shopping mall in South Korea to test the empirical model. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapping method were employed to test a series of proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that LMX significantly enhances customer loyalty through two motivational dimensions and service orientation. In particular, this study shows that achievement and status striving motivation are directly related to service orientation, but communion striving motivation does not affect customer-focused service attitude. In addition, procedural justice climate serves as a critical moderator and synergistically interacts with LMX to influence achievement and status striving motivation.Research limitations/implicationsThis study offers new insight regarding how managers' roles in both individual (leader–member exchange) and organizational (procedural justice climate) level affect different forms of retail service employee motivation and service orientation, which in turn, result in customer loyalty.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that when retail service employees perceive procedural fairness at retail stores, they are more motivated to work hard to complete their assignments and achieve their sales goals in conjunction with leader support. Therefore, managers must provide a clear guideline and procedure regarding salary raises and performance evaluations or engage in thorough discourse on such matters with employees prior to announcements of such decisions. Moreover, as retail service employees interact with customers in the frontline, and how they serve customers plays a key role in creating customer loyalty. Managers should encourage retail service employees to engage in service-oriented behaviors.Originality/valueThe results suggest that LMX facilitates more formal task-related motivation to achieve either tasks or status while it is less related to relationship-building motivation, which is a unique contribution of this study. The results offer better understating of how LMX differentially leads to specific types of employee motivation in the existing literature.

A Competitiveness Analysis of the Beauty Service Industry in Korea, USA, Japan, Germany, UK and China

Purpose The purpose of this study is to compare the competitiveness of the beauty service industry among six major countries (Korea, USA, Japan, Germany, UK and China), in order to suggest the strategic growth direction of the Korea beauty service industry and the implications for entering the overseas markets. Design/Methodology/Approach This study analyzes the competitiveness of the beauty service industry in the aforementioned six countries using Michael Porter’s Diamond Model. In addition, the statistical data and the survey results from World Economic Forum (WEF), International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Industrial Statistics Analysis System (ISTANS) and Euromonitor are used to measure the competitiveness. Findings The major results show each of the six countries’ competitiveness characteristics in the beauty service industry. The USA has subdivided the qualifications system and implemented a qualification renewal system for voluntary education of experts. The UK offers different customer-focused services. Germany is improving its expertise based on labor-management culture. China is taking the lead in digitalization, and Japan is trying to enter overseas markets. In Korea, there is a weak qualification system and an imbalance in manpower supply. In order to overcome these weakness, it is urgent to prepare a strategic plan to apply the information and communication technology to the beauty service industry in Korea. Research Implications There have been few previous studies on the beauty service industry, even though the international interests of K-beauty and the growth potential for the beauty service are increasing. There is a need to enforce strategically the factor conditions in the Korea beauty service industry, which is currently labor-intensive. In addition, there is a need to create new business models for smart beauty service, recognizing the importance of digitalization of the service industry.

Customer-focused service management as an approach of enhancing service culture among fast-food chains

Customer-focused service management as an approach of enhancing service culture among fast-food chains

Redesigning In-Flight Service with Service Blueprint Based on Text Analysis

Airline services should be passenger-focused to be sustainable. In this study, we redesign an in-flight service process using a service blueprint while incorporating direct customer perceptions of service experiences. To incorporate these, we apply topic modeling to 64,706 passenger-written online reviews of airline services. Passenger experiences of in-flight services are the sum of experiences from service encounters in all the subsequent steps and we assume that their direct perceptions of their experiences are faithfully contained in the online reviews. Topics extracted from the reviews can be regarded as service encounters based strongly on passenger experiences. Then, the service encounters are reorganized within the framework of a service blueprint. The results show that the complexity, a number of service steps, decreases by 38% compared to the benchmark service blueprint. However, the divergence, a latitude of service steps, should increase for a couple of service encounters. Moreover, we quantitatively analyze the divergence using the probability of word frequency statistically distributed across topics. The in-flight service using the proposed design could be sustainable with respect to customer-focused service while considering direct customer experiences in real-time.

Customer Focused Collection Services in the Age of Big Data

As part of library core functions, collection services had always focused on resources and processes in the print age. With the advent of big data with prevailing digital technologies in the recent decades, academic libraries in the U.S. have increasingly brought customer into the center of collection services. Big data empower these customer-focused services in various formats and scopes. What are some common practices? How effective are they in addressing the customer needs while fulfilling the conventional goals of collection services? This article starts with a historical overview on the evolutions of collection activities from the perspectives of academic libraries in the U.S. It then shares several key trends and common practices enabled by big data to build collection services centering on customers, including demand driven acquisitions models, digital collections development, collection access and discovery enhancements and systematic collection assessments. The article also discusses the multitudes of implications and impacts brought by these new customer-focused collection services on the library and information science (LIS) profession, in technologies, in philosophies, in personnel, in budgets and certainly in user experience.

Key State Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plan: A Strategy for Winning in the Market through Customer-Focused Service

Key State Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plan (a disguised case of an actual BCBS Plan) is the merged product of three state plans. Initially burdened with a reputation of poor customer service, Key State's executives decided to invest heavily in service improvement, eventually achieving superior levels. Key State's high-quality customer service emerged as a true competitive advantage for its customers, who were primarily businesses and health benefits consultants who influenced corporate purchasers of health insurance. The Key State brand came to be synonymous with personal service, security, choice, and dependability. But the health care insurance market was changing under Key State's feet. Spiraling costs meant that high-quality service became less of a competitive advantage as employers were lured by low-cost, low-service providers. Many employers cut or dropped health care benefits entirely, swelling the ranks of the under- and uninsured, who in turn were extremely price-sensitive when shopping for health insurance on their own. Finally, the health care insurance market was being revolutionized by financial institutions willing to hold health benefit accounts and pay providers directly, thereby eliminating the need for Key State as a mediator. Key State executives were aware of these changes but were challenged by the mindset, culture, and organizational design custom-fit to their business accounts. The case asks the reader to consider whether Key State has the right number of target markets, whether it should have one brand or several for its different target markets, what it should do for the uninsured, and how it should improve its brand experience in light of the industry's changing landscape. All of these decisions will have significant implications for the organizational design of Key State.To better understand the challenges involved in a successful health insurance company to cope with a rapidly changing and unpredictable environment; to formulate a new strategy and a new organizational design to accomplish this adaptation.

Demonstrating value in research libraries: the shared service standards initiative

Purpose – In 2014, the Research Libraries UK (RLUK) consortium developed a shared set of customer-focused service standards to be adopted and used by all University Library members. This was the first time that such an approach had been taken across research libraries in the UK. The driver for this initiative was to enable the libraries to develop more comprehensive, shared quality indicators which would enable them to demonstrate their value, especially in times of austerity when budgets might be under threat. The purpose of this paper is to set out the approach taken to the development of shared service standards and ensuring the engagement and buy-in of the RLUK membership. Design/methodology/approach – The service standards initiative was conceived and developed as a strategic RLUK project, as part of the strategy on “collaboration to reduce costs and improve quality”. Initially it was considered that a collaborative approach to developing quality and performance indicators and service standards would reduce duplication of effort across members and save staff time in establishing mechanisms for collection of performance data. In addition it was agreed that there would be potential for a shared set of measures or standards to be used for benchmarking purposes and to enable libraries to demonstrate their value to their institutions. Findings – The initiative established eight customer-facing service standards which were agreed as being applicable to all of the University Library members of RLUK. These include a range of quality indicators focused on services rated as important to the largest customer group – undergraduate students. The service standards include measures on areas such as shelving turn-around, time taken to obtain materials on reading lists, opening hours, information literacy teaching and inter-library loans. In addition, the UK National Student Survey data are included on satisfaction rates for library services, with a benchmark target set at 90 per cent. Originality/value – Notwithstanding the SCONUL Annual Statistics exercise, this is the first time in the UK that a collaborative approach to the development of service standards has been attempted for a group of research libraries. The initiative also demonstrates the increased commitment amongst research libraries to the fundamental principles surrounding excellent customer service – in particular the need to demonstrate service quality and proactively identify gaps in services so that these can be addressed, and services can be improved on a continual basis.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Book Review)


 
 
 
 
 DR STEPHEN R COVEY was born in 1932. He spent most of his life in Utah with his family. Sadly, he died in a bicycle accident as he was seriously injured in that accident and lost his precious life, at the age of 79 years on July 16, 2012.
 Dr. Covey has graduated from Harvard University in MBA and has served mostly at Brigham Young University as a professor of business management and organizational behavior. In addition to it he has also completed his doctorate from Brigham Young University.
 Covey is a co-founder of Franklin-Covey organization specializes in the application of Covey’s principal-centered approach to leadership and management. Across the world Thousands of other organizations, including many of the Fortune 500 companies, have adopted his innovative techniques on leadership, teamwork, and customer-focused service.
 
 
 
 

Implementing the citizen focus agenda: a case study in police leadership

Purpose– Although the private sector has long understood that a customer-focused service is synonymous with success, the concept is less embedded in public agencies such as the Police. Cultural studies consistently argue that police practitioners perceive “citizen focused” or “quality of service” approaches as distant to “real policing”, making the concept difficult to implement. The purpose of this paper is to explore the complex infrastructure required for the implementation of this approach, specifically focusing on senior police leadership.Design/methodology/approach– Using semi-structured interviews across a diversity of police officers and staff it provides a case study of a city Police Force in England, who attempted to introduce a citizen focused approach between 2006-2010.Findings– Senior police leaders were reported to exhibit distinct and consistent leadership styles with a “transformational” style more positively associated with the implementation of this agenda.Practical implications– The study argues specific leadership styles are critical to the delivery of “quality” approaches.Originality/value– No other case studies currently exist that have explored the role of police leadership in the field of quality service/citizen focused approaches.

Customer orientation in ambulant medicine

Due to developments of the health market, economic aspects of the health system are more relevant. In this upcoming market the patient is regarded as customer and the doctor as provider of medical services. Studies on customer orientation in the ambulant medicine lag behind this dynamic. An aim of the study is to comprehend the attitudes of the doctors referring to the customer orientation. In a second step the findings are discussed according to statements of health-care paticipants. Developments in role comprehension of doctor and patient are focused to gain results in scientific and practical applications. Guideline-supported, partly narrative interviews with n=9 gynaecologists and n=11 general practitioners in Freiburg/Germany are recorded, transcribed and reviewed in a qualitative analysis. The statements of the doctors show patient satisfaction has an incremental meaning sspecially regarding the sequence of patient relationship and economic management of the doctor's workplace. The doctor's role comprehension meets with a refusal of the role of salesman and the patient as customer. The method of interviews is suitable to gather empirical impressions of the doctors. The control sample is adequate, however a bias due to inhomogeneous thematic affinitiy and local social-demographics might be possible. The customer orientation has become an important factor in doctor-patient relationtships. The relevance of the doctor-patient conversation and the risk of misuse of the patient confidence are mentioned by the doctors. The doctor as paternalistic care provider gives way to the customer-focused service provider. The doctor's necessity of autonomyssss and dependency on patient satisfaction have potential for conflict. Intensive mention of customer orientation in medicine in the media emphasises its importance. Rational handling with the possibilities of individual health markets is a prospective challange. Further research could be established in all aspects of customer orientation, especially the changing relevance of ethical responsibility. An enlargement or comparison with other control samples (n>20, other medical subfields, structurally weak areas) could be illuminating. The results of this qualitative study can be used to develop quantitative inquiries.

Monitoring Customer-focused Quality Service Delivery in Local Government: Conceptual Issues and Perspectives for Consideration

Local government in South Africa is no longer exclusively a function of national or provincial government; it is now regarded as a sphere rather than a tier of government. Section 152 of the Constitution of South Africa, 1996 stipulates the objectives of the local sphere of government, among which is ensuring the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner. Poor or lack of service delivery by local authorities has received much media attention of late. Monitoring customer-focused service delivery could therefore be a critically important means to effect quality service delivery in local government. At its core this approach emphasises the treatment of municipal service users and the citizenry as customers. This article contends that conceptually customer-focused quality service delivery may potentially lever local government authorities out of the poor service delivery rut that has come to render some municipal authorities ineffective and inefficient and hence dysfunctional. At a conceptual level the article grapples with the elusive concept of service quality and the often contested concept of customer and proxy measures for monitoring service quality in the public sector. Citing British and South African customer-focused quality service delivery tools and initiatives, the article interrogates the efficacy of such initiatives and perspectives for monitoring customer-focused quality service delivery in the local sphere of government.