Maximize Customer Value Research Articles

Agile methodologies in digital banking: Theoretical underpinnings and implications for customer satisfaction

This paper delves into the theoretical underpinnings of agile methodologies and investigates their potential to enhance customer satisfaction in digital banking. Theoretical foundations of agile methodologies draw on several key theoretical frameworks complexity theory, complex systems, like digital banking ecosystems, exhibit emergent properties. Traditional linear approaches struggle to predict these. Agile embraces iterative development cycles and adaptability to changing requirements, acknowledging this complexity lean thinking, derived from manufacturing, lean thinking prioritizes eliminating waste and maximizing customer value. Agile translates this by focusing on short development sprints, prioritizing features with the highest customer impact, and minimizing unnecessary functionalities customer co-creation, traditional models often distance customers from the development process. Agile emphasizes customer co-creation, actively involving them in design and testing. This fosters a deeper understanding of customer needs and leads to more relevant and satisfying digital banking experiences. Agile practices in digital banking. Agile methodologies encompass diverse practices. This visual management system focuses on workflow optimization. Promoting a continuous flow of work from development to deployment user stories and acceptance criteria, User Acceptance criteria define the specific conditions a feature must meet for user approval. These practices ensure features align with customer needs and expectations. Agile methodologies hold significant promise for enhancing customer satisfaction in digit banking. Agile development allows banks to deliver new features and functionalities faster, keeping pace with evolving customer demands. Customers benefit from quicker access to innovative solutions that address their financial needs. This results in digital banking experiences that are intuitive, efficient, and cater to specific user needs. Increased Innovation, The iterative nature of agile fosters continuous learning and experimentation. Banks can test new features, gather customer feedback, and rapidly iterate upon them, leading to a more innovative and dynamic digital banking experience. Improved transparency and trust, agile practices promote open communication and collaboration between development teams and customers. Customers are kept informed of updates and have a voice in shaping the development process, fostering trust and a sense of ownership.

Attitudes of Landspitali`s managers toward Lean management

This research aimed to gain insights into the current state of Lean management at Landspitali, the National University Hospital of Iceland. The Lean management methodology is defined as maximizing customer value with minimal cost. Landspitali initiated the implementation of the Lean management methodology in 2011, with the consulting firm McKinsey & Company providing support and guidance. The implementation focused on training and educating staff to allow managers to apply the methodology in their daily work. After 4 years of experience with the implementation, a study was conducted to explore managers’ attitudes toward Lean management. The study revealed a need for additional training and development for staff, and a training school was subsequently established to teach the main Lean management methods. The following research questions were posed in this study: (1) Have the attitudes of Landspitali’s managers toward Lean management changed with increased implementation? (2) What is the experience of Landspitali’s management with Lean management? (3) Do Landspitali’s managers feel they received adequate training and support for applying Lean management in their work? The research objective was to assess the perspectives of Landspitali’s managers regarding Lean management. The main findings of the research revealed that most managers were familiar with the Lean management methodology; however, they needed more confidence in its effectiveness. These findings could be attributed to insufficient information about the benefits of using Lean management. The results incentivize Landspitali and others to increase in-house motivation through knowledge and support for people.

Development of a Novel Production Model for Labour Productivity: Modular Construction Toolkit Design

The building industry faces a number of prominent challenges in the coming period. In this article, we focus on productivity in construction, which lags behind other industries despite technological developments. There is an urgent need for more efficient production methods. In other words, the potential for increasing productivity in construction is enormous. As in other industries, the key to this lies in process orientation, process standardization, and digitization. Lean construction approaches offer innovative solutions here by aiming to maximize customer value while minimizing waste, applying the principles of lean production to construction processes. However, building products are distinct in nature. Efforts to standardize them have achieved partial success, but only within specific product categories and for certain customer needs. Most construction activities remain highly unique. An alternative solution lies in standardizing work processes and not the final product. By adopting this method, one can considerably decrease individuality in production without compromising the essential uniqueness of the building product. Consequently, it is crucial to gain a deeper understanding of the standardization of production processes and the dynamics within the construction sector. This article introduces a modular construction toolkit designed to standardize production processes at construction sites. This toolkit consists of a series of consistent process steps, each linked to a standard time metric. Using this classification, a production model is constructed from a select number of recurring processes, leading to an ontological representation of production. This modular approach allows diverse production processes to be compared based on productivity, as they are composed of consistent and comparable sub-processes. Such a comparison is crucial for continuous production optimization. This method also enables the pinpointing of the most wasteful processes across various construction sites. While the primary data generation use case is centred on special civil engineering (special foundation engineering), the core concepts can be applied to general building construction.

The Influence of Social and Psychological Factors in the Success of Customer Relationship Management Strategies

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an important business approach in maintaining a strong relationship between a company and its customers. CRM strategies aim to increase customer satisfaction, build loyalty, and maximise customer value. This study aims to analyse the influence of social and psychological factors in the success of CRM strategies. This research is a literature review that adopts a qualitative method approach, which means that this research will analyse and interpret data by relying on information and text from various sources. The study results show that in a competitive business world, CRM plays an important role in building strong relationships with customers. Social and psychological factors have a crucial influence on the success of CRM strategies. Strong interpersonal relationships with customers are key, and companies should pay special attention to training employees to interact well and empathetically.

Реверсивна логістика в системі логістичного менеджменту: вплив на формування конкурентоспроможності підприємства

In the context of the evolutionary development of the concept of logistics in the enterprise management system, the problem is the incompleteness of the theoretical foundations of logistics activities of enterprises. The terminology of logistics management, description of synergistic relationships between logistics and other activities at an enterprise, assessment of the impact of such relationships on the competitiveness of an enterprise, and study of logistics reserves for increasing the competitiveness of an enterprise (which also include reverse logistics) need to be clarified. In this article, the authors, using a value-based approach, aim to clarify the role of logistics management in the process of forming the competitiveness of an enterprise, and, consequently, in the process of managing the latter. Again, based on the value-oriented approach, the article describes the place of reverse logistics in the structure of logistics management; the principles and advantages of using reverse logistics are summarized. The article considers the relationship between the competitiveness of enterprises, the value chain and consumer value. The structure of benefits that the value chain generates for the end consumer (benefits from ownership of goods, benefits of exchange, benefits of place and time, reputational benefits) is determined, and the role of logistics activities in creating such benefits is shown. In the context of focusing on maximizing consumer value, the necessity of integrating the work of various departments of the enterprise and partner enterprises in the implementation of logistics activities is substantiated. The essence of logistics management as a type of management that focuses on the management of logistics operations based on the formation of cross-functional and inter-organizational integration in order to optimize the functioning of the supply chain, maximize customer value for end users and increase the competitiveness of supply chain participants is disclosed. In the structure of logistics management, the author defines the place of reverse logistics, which is a type of phase logistics activity that creates competitive advantages for partner enterprises by strengthening integration in logistics chains, saving costs through the use of secondary resources in production processes, optimizing inventories, production and trade assortment in relation to current and future demand, and, as a result, maximizing consumer value for end consumers.

Achieving Customer Retention: Emphasizing Strategic Operations on Quality Service and Maximizing Value

In today's competitive business landscape, organizations recognize the importance of service quality, value maximization, and customer retention. Strategic operations play a vital role in achieving these goals. By aligning operational strategies with customer-centric objectives, organizations can enhance service quality and maximize customer value, thereby fostering strong customer relationships and increasing customer retention rates. For the purpose to investigate these concepts a qualitative study was conducted in order to explore the relationship of each construct defined in prior literature, journals, articles, books and academic publications. There are sufficient resources available to determine how strategic operations affect service quality, and by maximizing value, there is increased capacity for customer retention. Further, this study examines the impact of strategic operations on service quality and value maximization. It explores theoretical frameworks that shed light on how operational strategies influence service quality outcomes. The study emphasizes the significance of factors such as process design, technology adoption, quality management systems, employee training, and customer-centricity in improving service quality and creating value for customers.

Enhancing Digital Presence for Maximizing Customer Value in Fast-Food Restaurants

Digital transformation has altered the way customers interact with restaurants. As a result, digital transformation has had an enormous impact, changing restaurant customer value. Therefore, this research aims to develop a dynamic and sustainable method for creating customer value in digital transformation. This study suggested digital dynamic capabilities and digital customer orientation as a process model (i.e., sensing, seizing, transforming, and refining) to develop digital transformation and create a dynamic customer value. We chose fast-food restaurants in Egypt to examine the proposed model using a qualitative approach of semi-structured interviews with fast-food managers and hospitality experts. The findings indicated that fast-food restaurants’ different digital transformation capabilities and tools (e.g., value innovation, SWOT analysis, artificial intelligence, new technology selection criteria, digital maturity, building several digital platforms, and gathering and analyzing customers’ online reviews) help them create customer value. However, interviewees highlighted how well-suited the suggested digital dynamic capabilities are to serve as drivers of digital transformation in fast-food restaurants and create a dynamic customer value. This research expands the dynamic capabilities theory by adding digital customer orientation (i.e., proactive and reactive to customer feedback) to develop digital transformation and create customer value in fast-food restaurants. This research provides fast-food restaurant managers with an in-depth explanation of how to implement the digital dynamic capabilities model for executing digital transformation and developing a new dynamic customer value.

Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Machine Learning, and Customer Relationship Management

This article discusses the utilization of technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, in customer relationship management (CRM). The use of technology in CRM helps companies improve customer experience, maximize customer value, and make better business decisions. AI plays a crucial role in managing CRM by collecting, analyzing and personalizing customer data, predicting customer decisions, and creating chatbots. Blockchain improves the transparency, security and accuracy of customer information stored in CRM. Research data shows that the combination of AI and blockchain in CRM can lead to increased business efficiency, improved customer experience, revenue increase, improved data security and increased transparency of customer information.

Executive Attitudes toward Lean Management: 2015 versus 2023

This research aims to gain insights into the current state of Lean management at Landspitali, the National University Hospital of Iceland. Lean management methodology is defined as maximizing customer value with minimal cost. Landspitali initiated the implementation of Lean management methodology in 2011, with the consulting firm McKinsey & Company providing support and guidance during the process. The implementation focused on training and educating staff to allow managers to apply the methodology in their daily work. After four years of experience with the implementation, a study was conducted to explore managers\' attitudes towards Lean management. The study revealed a need for additional training and development for staff, and a training school was subsequently established to teach the main Lean management methods. The following research questions were posed in this study: firstly, have the attitudes of Landspitali\'s managers toward Lean management changed with increased implementation?; and secondly, do Landspitali\'s managers feel that they receive adequate training and support on how to apply Lean management in their work? The research objective was to assess the perspectives of Landspitali\'s managers regarding Lean management and provide a comparative analysis. with the aforementioned study conducted in 2015, which also explored the attitudes of Landspitali\'s managers towards Lean management. The previous study conducted in 2015 employed a quantitative methodology, using a questionnaire with 18 questions presented to all 169 active managers at Landspitali, with a response rate of 49.1%. This current study similarly used quantitative methods, distributing a questionnaire with 18 questions to 115 hospital managers, resulting in a response rate of 54.7%. The main findings of the research revealed that most managers are familiar with Lean management methodology; however, the results also suggest that they need more confidence in the Lean methodology\'s effectiveness. The finding could be attributed to insufficient information about the benefits of using Lean management. The result is an incentive for Landspitali and others to continue to increase motivation in-house through knowledge and support for the people.

Critical Success Factors for Adopting Supply Chain Management in Tanzanian Construction Projects

Supply chain management (SCM) has been effective in several industries, such as the manufacturing industry and agriculture. SCM is the active management of supply chain activities to maximise customer value and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Therefore, the adoption of SCM by construction businesses can help reduce delays, thereby improving their competitive advantage. The purpose of this study is to discover which critical success factors (CSFs) determine the successful adoption of SCM in the construction projects, with the aim of filling the knowledge gap in the context of a developing country by using a questionnaire. To achieve this, respondents were purposely selected from construction firms registered in Class 1 and 2 by the Contractors Registration Board of Tanzania. Out of 100 questionnaires distributed, 60 were returned filled in fairly well for analysis. The data was analysed using two features of IBM SPSS version 20, which are descriptive statistics-frequencies and compare means-one-sample t-test. The findings revealed that the CSFs for adopting SCM by construction projects were providing logistics at a lower cost and on-time delivery to clients, having a centrally coordinated logistics function and top management’s commitment and support. It means that clients, contractors, subcontractors, consultants and suppliers/manufacturers will need to rethink what CSFs determine the performance of the construction projects using SCM, as knowing which ones are critical would lead to improved project delivery. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing insights into the CSFs that can be adopted by firms to successfully implement SCM in construction projects for sustainable construction businesses in Tanzania, which has not been explored.

Impact of ICT on Supply Chain Management in Flextronics Limited, Singapore

Supply chain management is the regulation of a channel of interconnected businesses engaged in the ultimate provision of goods or service needed by consumers. It manages the flow of goods and services and includes all processes that transform raw materials into final products. Precisely, supply chain management aims to maximize customer value. Hence, the study sought to examine the impact of ICT on supply chain management in the case study of Flextronics Limited in Singapore. The study adopted the descriptive research design. The target population was 593 employees. The study managed to get a sample size of 239 from the targeted population. The collection of the data was done using questionnaires. The basis for choosing the questionnaires to collect the data was because they were considered more reliable and less costly. The analysis of the data was done using descriptive and inferential statistics.  The study findings showed that ICT adoption positively and significantly impacts supply chain management in Flextronics Limited, Singapore. The utilization of ICT in supply chain management has resulted in high efficiency, quality and timely sharing of needed business information. Besides, ICT adoption increases collaboration between suppliers and customers. The study concluded that adoption of the ICT has a significant impact on supply chain management. ICT increases communication and partnerships between suppliers and customers. The study recommended that modernized ICT tools should be adopted and implemented by Flextronics Limited, especially stores and production departments. The organization needs to keep advancing based on the changes in technology, given that technology keeps on changing on a daily basis. The organization's departments should be sensitized to the essence of ICT in improving the organization's supply chain management. Keywords:  ICT, Supply Chain Management, Flextronics Limited, Singapore

Effect of introducing virtual community and community group buying on customer's perceived value and loyalty behavior: A convenience store-based perspective.

Customers’ declining receptivity to conventional marketing tools has been a challenge for convenience stores. To overcome this, retailers are turning to social media as a new, potent marketing tool for creating business prospects and encouraging direct customer interaction. However, it is still unknown how social media marketing affects the shifts in customer behavior. This paper expands on the relationship of “loyalty program (LP) + virtual community experience → perceived value → customer loyalty” in the traditional convenience store scenario, refining the variables of virtual community experience, perceived value, and customer loyalty. It also compares the effectiveness of different LP design structures (reward amounts × reward time limits) and explores the mediation impact of program loyalty and the moderation effect of alternative attractiveness. The results demonstrate the superior performance of LPs with an expiry policy and differential returns and highlight the importance of enhancing members’ virtual community experiences in fostering customer perceived value and loyalty. The results also show the minor negative moderation impact of community group buying and prove that emotional value significantly impacts customer loyalty. Still, the social value does not affect program loyalty. The recommendations are offered, such as designing growing-oriented and periodical zeroing LPs, as well as using new social media marketing tools (virtual community-based marketing) to empower traditional marketing techniques (LP-based relationship marketing) and constructing a “convenience store + community group buying” model. The findings have substantial theoretical and practical implications for traditional convenience stores in properly implementing loyalty and social media marketing tactics to maximize customer value and loyalty with a limited budget.

Reducing Changeover Time Between Surgeries Through Lean Thinking: An Action Research Project.

BackgroundMaximizing the utilization of the operating room suite by safely and efficiently changing over patients is an opportunity to deliver more value to patients and be more efficient in the operating suite. Lean Thinking is a concept that focuses on the waste inadvertently generated during organization and development of an activity, which should maximize customer value while minimizing waste. It has been widely applied to increase process efficiency and foster continuous improvement in healthcare and in the operating room environment. The objective of this paper is to provide insight on how healthcare professionals can be engaged in continuous improvement by embracing Lean Thinking and ultimately reducing changeover time between surgeries.MethodsUsing an action research approach, Lean methodology such as Gemba walks, Process Mapping, Root-Cause-Analysis, and the Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) system was applied to understand the causes of variability and wastes concerning changeovers and improve processes in the context of gynecological- and general surgery. Data were collected and analyzed through observations and video recordings. Problem and issue have been raised to management team attention and included in the annual balanced scorecard of the hospital. This initiative has been also made relevant to the team working in the operating suite and related processes before and after the entry of the patient in the operating suite.ResultsImproved patient flow and inter-professional collaboration through standardized and safer work enabled effective parallel processing and allowed the hospital to reduce changeover time between operations by 25% on average, without changes in terms of infrastructure, technology or resources.ConclusionLean thinking allowed the team to re-evaluate how the whole operating suite performs as a system, by starting from a sub-process as changeover. It is fundamental in order to improve further and obtain sustainable results over time, to act on a system level by defining a common goal between all stakeholders supported by a management and leading system such as visual/weekly management, optimizing planning, implementing standard-works to be followed by every associate and guaranteeing the role of the surgeon as process driver who pull performances.

A Framework on the Use of Agile Methods in Logistics Startups

Background: The logistics industry has seen the emergence of many startups in recent years. Many of these logistics startups use new technologies to develop disruptive products, services or platforms that are based on software. This paper presents the results of a Delphi study and a survey that were consolidated in a framework. The purpose is to understand the benefits that logistics startups derive from using agile methods, the difficulties they face in using these methods and the evolution of logistics startups in terms of using agile methods. Methods: A Delphi study with 29 experts and a global survey with 95 participants was conducted to look at the implementation of agile methods. The largest group of participants were members of (top) management, agile coaches and team leaders. Results: The framework consolidates gathered data to demonstrate how logistics startups apply agile methods and practices based on the results of the Delphi study and the survey, and how the usage of agile methods changes over the age of logistics startups. The results indicate that younger logistics startups use agile methods predominantly to design product features and maximise customer value, whereas logistics startups older than five years focus more on the optimisation of internal processes. Conclusions: The value of the present study lies in its contribution to the hitherto hardly examined research field of agility in logistics startups and the notable views of the experienced participants.

Service outsourcing strategy decision for value creation in manufacturing firms

This study aims to resolve the difficult problem of manufacturers’ service outsourcing strategy decision-making, with services divided into two types: hygienic and motivational. We build a value creation model for the manufacturer, service contractor, and customer under different outsourcing strategies, and we examine optimal outsourcing decision-making in various scenarios and its effect on the value creation of related entities. The results indicate that motivational services have a lower bound characterized by service utility. When the manufacturer derives services higher than this lower bound, it should operate its own motivational service and outsource the hygienic service to create greater value. When the manufacturer is limited by resources or capabilities and is required to outsource the motivational service, it can maintain value creation by setting an appropriate contract coefficient. The service contractor should undertake motivational services within the contract boundary negotiated by the manufacturer and conduct hygienic services outside the boundary. Theoretically, outsourcing both service types can maximize customer value, but this may not achieve the manufacturers’ optimal value creation.

Business Intelligence + Lean Manufacturing: uma revisão sistemática da literatura (2008-2018)

Lean Manufacturing (LM) é uma filosofia de gestão apoiada por um grupo de técnicas que, quando combinadas e amadurecidas, reduzem o tempo e o custo de produção, maximizam o valor ao cliente e minimiza desperdícios. Para isto a tomada de decisão desempenha um papel fundamental e se torna um ponto crítico para esta filosofia de gestão. A ferramenta Business Intelligence (BI) fornece uma abordagem baseada em dados para vincular as metas estratégicas das empresas às políticas gerenciais e ações operacionais, podendo ser de ajuda para as empresas enxutas. Assim, o presente estudo pretende analisar as principais aplicações das ferramentas de BI para dar suporte à tomada de decisão às empresas que aplicam LM. Com apoio do software de revisão sistemática StArt, foi feita uma análise da literatura atual relacionada ao tema de pesquisa. A análise permitiu definir oportunidades de aplicação de BI nas empresas que, de alguma forma, utilizam o LM.

The optimal order quantity, quality investment, and specification limits settings for the production and supply model

ABSTRACT Supply chain is the operation of the flow of goods and services, and includes all processes that transform raw materials into final products. It involves the active streamlining of a business's supply-side activities to maximize customer value and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. In recent years, many researchers have proposed the integrated supply chain models with production, inspection, maintenance and quality. Chuang and Wu (2019) developed an integrated model to determine the optimum supplier’s process mean and quality investment settings and retailer’s number of shipment, order quantity and maximum backorder quantity with maximization of total profit of supply chain system. In the present paper, Chuang and Wu’s model is modified with the constraint of the specified process capability index Cpm value, where the mean and standard deviation of process characteristic are assumed to be the declining exponential reduction function. The decision variables in this modified model include supplier’s parameters (i.e., quality investment and specification limits) and retailer’s parameters (i.e., order quantity, number of shipments and maximum backorder quantity). A numerical example is provided for illustration. Based on the sensitivity analysis, it may be seen that the supply chain’s total profit is positively influenced by the production rate, the demand rate, the purchasing cost, the selling price and the quality investment, and is negatively affected by the production cost, the specified process capability index, the target value, the maximum mean and both the minimum and the maximum standard deviations of process characteristic.

Lean bundles within Jordanian manufacturing SMEs and their effect on business performance

Maximizing customer value and minimizing waste have become the heart of the formulation of SMEs in the manufacturing sector of Jordan to survive in the new global marketplace. Therefore, lean manufacturing philosophy is used in SMEs to improve performance regarding quality, delivery, and costs to become efficiently competitive, thus accomplishing sustainable economic growth. The current study was designed to analyze the extent to which lean management bundles are adopted by SMEs manufacturing organizations in Jordan and the effect on their performance. Data were collected from 278 manufacturing SMEs in Jordan based on a structured questionnaire. The theoretical relationships were examined using structural equation modeling. The results show that Total Quality Management (TQM) and Human Resources Management (HRM) lean bundles are positively associated with manufacturing SMEs’ performance. The outcomes of this study may be considered as incentives for other practitioners and entrepreneurs of SMEs when implementing lean bundles by acknowledging the positive effect on their performance. Moreover, the findings of this study could be used in an internal checklist before and during the implementation of Lean Manufacturing (LM).

The role of customer behavior in forming perceived value at restaurants: A multidimensional approach

Abstract With the increasing involvement of customers at restaurants, their behaviors have become an indispensable part in formation of perceptions of value. To examine such a subtle and complicated process, this study applies a multi-layer/multi-dimension approach to examine how customer behavior predicts perceived value, which in turn leads to satisfaction. Particularly, customer behavior, assessed with a hierarchical framework, includes two dimensions: participation behavior (with four sub-dimensions: information seeking, information sharing, responsible behavior, personal interaction) and citizenship behavior (with four sub-dimensions: feedback, advocacy, helping, and tolerance). Customer perceived value consists of three dimensions: economic, individual, and relational values. Data collected from 514 respondents reflect those with dining experience at restaurants. The results show that a customer’s perception of value gains greater impact from citizenship behavior than participation behavior. The findings of the study contribute to the evolving knowledge of customer behavior and offer industry practitioners’ effective marketing strategies to maximize customer value.

Value Driven Design Revisited: Emerging Modelling Concepts and Applications

AbstractExtended product warranties, leasing, and pay-per-use schemes are few examples of how manufacturing companies are shifting their focus from selling products to offering “solutions”, combining products and services to maximise customer value. The idea of optimising a system towards the best ‘value’ is both “intuitive and sensible”, and processes such as Value Driven Design (VDD), have been proposed to supplement traditional engineering design methodologies. Yet, value-driven initiatives struggle to communicate their benefits and to demonstrate how value models can solve actual problems. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the evolution of the VDD toolbox, mapping research clusters, applications and case studies from the perspective of how much (and how well) recent contributions have answered the five top-level questions of the VDD research agenda published in 2012. The results of the systematic literature review reveal the emergence of innovative modelling constructs, methods, and tools that help VDD in taking a leap forward in supporting organizations and teams in achieving the long-sought objective of designing for 'value'.