Outsourcing customer support: The role of provider customer focus

An increasing number of firms are outsourcing customer support to external service providers. This creates a triadic setting in which an outsourcing provider serves end customers on behalf of its clients. While outsourcing presents an opportunity to serve customers, service providers differ in their motivation and ability to fulfill customer needs. Prior research suggests that firms with a strong customer focus have an intrinsic motivation to address customer needs. We suggest that in an outsourcing context, this intrinsic motivation does not suffice. Using a Motivation–Opportunity–Ability framework, we posit that the effect of a provider's customer focus will be moderated by a set of relational, firm, and customer characteristics that affect its ability to serve end customers. We test our conceptualization among 171 outsourcing clients from the Netherlands and then validate these results among 135 Indian outsourcing providers. The findings reveal that customer-focused providers achieve higher levels of customer need fulfillment but this effect is contingent on their ability to serve end customers. In particular, customer-focused providers more effectively fulfill customer needs when clients and providers share close relational ties, when clients also have a high level of customer focus, and when end customer needs exhibit a low degree of turbulence. In addition, we find that, in turbulent markets, equipment-related services offer greater opportunity for effective customer need fulfillment than other outsourced services.     

The relationship between the firm's social media strategy and the consumers' engagement behavior in aviation

Social media platforms constitute a new frontline for brands to build relationships with their customers. Nevertheless, the literature on social media engagement behavior is unidimensional, as it focuses on customer engagement while neglecting the customer's influence on managerial decisions. The current paper goes a step further by applying the theory of the marketing firm (TMF). We investigated consumer-firm bilateral contingencies through three studies. The first study captures up to 60% of the variance in consumer responses given on Icelandair's Facebook page. The second study shows how customers engage with Icelandair's social media platforms. The third study illustrates the firm's social media strategy from a managerial perspective.     

商业银行客户——利润双导向营销模式研究

客户—利润双导向营销模式需要商业银行根据顾客的需求不断开发新的产品和新的服务,发掘新的利润空间。本文以国内A银行采取的客户—利润双导向营销模式为例进行研究,分析结果表明,这种营销模式能够提高客户满意度和竞争力。同时,商业银行还需要以客户为中心实现全行营销,加强现代科技手段的营销,有针对性地对客户提供个性化服务。     

顾客营销策略探讨

顾客营销是以全方位满足顾客个性化需求为内容的顾客导向营销理念。文章以顾客营销为研究主题,从顾客营销的内涵、顾客营销过程分析入手,着重对顾客营销策略进行论述和探讨。     

Customers of performing arts organisations: are subscribers different from nonsubscribers?

The subscribing customers of performing arts organisations are an indispensable, but frequently maligned source of patronage for the arts. This paper reviews some of these criticisms in the arts literature and assesses previous research on subscribers. Audience studies of the customers of cultural organisations have generally focused on usage differences (eg nonusers, frequent users) rather than subscriber/nonsubscriber differences. Based on theories of relationship marketing, the paper describes how relational subscribers may differ from nonsubscribing customers who frequent the arts but are more transactional in their exchanges with the cultural organisation. The results of a survey of subscribing and nonsubscribing customers of a repertory theatre company are presented to show differences between these two types of customer. Subscribers have higher levels of satisfaction, trust and commitment, and have more positive intentions of supporting and donating to the organisation. The arts patronage goals of subscribers are more congruent with the goals of the cultural organisation. Subscribers are more satisfied with familiar than with famous performers, and are comfortable with diversity in the choice of repertoire. Other factors examined include differences in overall involvement with the category of theatre, perceptions of risk and value, use of information sources, and reasons why some customers choose not to subscribe. The paper concludes with discussion of the importance of relationship marketing and subscribing customers for the performing arts organisation. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

基于客户细分的客户获取与保持的最优化投入模型研究

在传统的市场营销活动中,企业往往没有什么客户细分的观念,对市场"一刀切",造成了不理想的效果。近年来,出现了"一对一"营销的新概念,特别强调对不同的客户采用不同的市场营销手段,但是企业当面对着成千上万甚至千万的客户时,这样操作无疑会使营销成本大幅上升,适当的客户细分对企业才是有实际操作意义的。本文就是在客户细分的基础上,针对细分后的客户群进行客户获取与保持的最优化投入模型的研究。最优化投入模型主要用以辅助企业以最优化的投入来获取最大的客户盈利。     

情感营销对顾客感知服务质量的影响研究

情感需求是消费者购买产品和服务时非常关注的一类需求,企业应在营销过程中利用情感要素增强营销效果。情感营销是企业从情感角度来满足顾客的需求,提高顾客感知服务质量。酒店分析情感营销对顾客感知服务质量的各个维度的影响,能为提升酒店服务质量提供有效情感营销策略。     

用服务实现产品差异化

在进行市场定位过程中,需要有差异化的产品作为保证,提供合适的产品给目标顾客。实现产品差异化的方法有很多,本文结合中国企业实际情况,试图从其他方法的不足之处入手,以顾客需求为准绳,变革营销组合,用服务实现产品差异化。     

提高服务质量 促进企业发展

以石大科技为例,简要阐述客户在企业营销中的重要作用,通过对客户价值及客户忠诚度的分析,并针对目前中小企业客户服务方面存在的问题,提出通过改善营销环境、提高员工素质和做好客户跟踪服务等措施,赢得客户,使企业产品更加适应市场变化,从而提高企业的竞争能力,使企业能够长期健康稳定发展。     

Effectiveness of cause‐related marketing for differential positioning of market entrant in developing market: An exploratory study in Indian context

Cause‐related marketing is being increasingly used for forging strong relation between the brand and the customer. It is primarily being used by the well‐established brands to further strengthen their position in the market as it leads to a positive image of the brand, and customers are more receptive towards such brands because they tend to provide them with tangible as well as intangible benefits. This study tends to identify the effectiveness of cause‐related marketing as a marketing tool for newly launched products in developing market of India, which has so far remained a less explored area. A sample of 150 consumers was taken, and case studies were undertaken for validating these findings. The findings suggest that cause‐related marketing campaigns, even at early stages of brand development, can lead to customer trial and differential positioning thus providing these new entrants with an opportunity to interact with the customers. The proposed framework can provide useful insights to brand managers to design cause‐related marketing campaigns for newly launched brands. The results and findings have been deduced from real‐time market research, and it can help in furthering research in the field of cause‐related marketing in India and other developing economies with similar market conditions.     

Personalized Pricing and Quality Customization

We embed the principal–agent model in a model of spatial differentiation with correlated consumer preferences to investigate the competitive implications of personalized pricing and quality allocation (PPQ), whereby duopoly firms charge different prices and offer different qualities to different consumers, based on their willingness to pay. Our model sheds light on the equilibrium product-line pricing and quality schedules offered by firms, given that none, one, or both firms implement PPQ. The adoption of PPQ has three effects in our model: it enables firms to extract higher rents from loyal customers, intensifies price competition for nonloyal customers, and eliminates cannibalization from customer self-selection. Contrary to prior literature on one-to-one marketing and price discrimination, we show that even symmetric firms can avoid the well-known Prisoner's Dilemma problem when they engage in personalized pricing and quality customization. When both firms have PPQ, consumer surplus is nonmonotonic in valuations such that some low-valuation consumers get higher surplus than high-valuation consumers. The adoption of PPQ can reduce information asymmetry, and therefore sellers offer higher-quality products after the adoption of PPQ. Overall, we find that while the simultaneous adoption of PPQ generally improves total social welfare and firm profits, it decreases total consumer surplus.     

基于盈利能力的智能化客户细分

在竞争激烈的商务环境下,企业保持竞争优势的关键因素是识别最有盈利能力的顾客。文章构建了一个多智能代理的系统,以满意度调查为基础的盈利能力顾客细分,应用商业智能工具DEA数据包络分析方法,SOM自组织映射神经网络和C4.5判定树来按顾客的盈利能力进行细分,并且给出了应用实例的分析以及相应的营销战略。     

客户行为干预在网络游戏公司的应用研究

客户行为干预是建立在市场营销学理论基础上,通过对企业的客户进行细分,然后针对企业成熟或者目标客户,开展各种客户行为干预,改变客户的既定行为模式,以达到企业预定目标的一种市场营销方式。网络游戏公司可以客户应用行为干预技术来维系企业的老客户,当客户发生流失行为时,及时地对客户行为进行干预,能够为企业留住大批优质客户,并从他们身上继续获取价值。     

The service climate‐firm performance chain: The role of customer retention

This study examines the role of customer retention as a mediator in the service climate–firm performance chain. Using a predictive design that involves data collected from 1,500 automotive service stores from 12,518 employees and approximately 30,000 customers, a model linking service climate (a concern for employees and customers), customer satisfaction, customer retention, and firm performance was tested. Notably, the results support the overall model and the hypothesized mediating effect of customer retention regarding the relationship between customer satisfaction and firm performance. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

感知服务质量与顾客满意和顾客忠诚关系的实证研究

在实践中,中国服务业发展迅速,但营销水平有待提高,很多管理人员对营销以及服务管理的理解有限。在理论中,对感知服务质量各个维度、顾客满意和顾客忠诚之间的关系讨论很多,尚无定论。实证研究发现,是顾客满意正向影响感知服务质量各个因子,而不是相反,说明基于交易的顾客满意会影响对服务进行长期综合评价的感知服务质量。只有忠诚度一个因子影响顾客忠诚,因此企业在培养忠诚顾客上应该有所侧重。顾客满意和顾客忠诚的关系被验证并非线性关系,在线性方程模型中未能验证成功。     

商业银行基于客户价值的客户识别模型研究

现代商业银行已经认识到客户是企业的重要资源,成功地获得有价值的新客户和维系高价值客户是至关重要的。但目前,空前巨大的客户数据量使得准确识别有价值的个体客户变得复杂和难以有效实施。文中利用数据挖掘技术,抽取建立商业银行基于客户价值的客户识别模型所需要的知识,建立了一个考察客户目前价值、潜在价值和忠诚度的客户价值模型;并以此模型为基础进行客户识别与分割。此外,根据某商业银行的客户样本进行实例研究,划分出8个客户细分市场,根据每一细分市场的特点设计了简单的营销策略。     

A replication and extension of quality management into the supply chain

As competition moves beyond a single firm into the supply chain, researchers are beginning to explore quality management (QM) in a supply chain context. The literature suggests that supply chain management (SCM) consists of internal practices, which are contained within a firm, and external practices, which cross organizational boundaries integrating a firm with its customers and suppliers. Supplier quality management and customer focus are two QM practices that are also clearly in the domain of SCM. In this study we investigate how these two supply chain management-related quality practices lead to improved performance and examine the practices that precede and mediate those relationships. In doing so, we replicate and extend the relationships among the QM practices and their effects on firm performance suggested in Kaynak [Kaynak, H., 2003. The relationship between total quality management practices and their effects on firm performance. Journal of Operations Management 21, 405–435] using survey data gathered from firms operating in the U.S. The inclusion of customer focus and supplier quality management in the QM model supports the importance of internal and external integration for quality performance. Implications of the results for researchers and practitioners are discussed, and further research implications are suggested.     

Service Guarantee Strength: The key to service quality

While most authors describe a service guarantee as a “zero-one variable” indicating the presence or absence of an explicit written service guarantee, this paper develops a construct called “Service Guarantee Strength” (SGS) that is a continuous variable. This construct measures the degree to which a firm sets clear service quality standards for itself on dimensions that customers care about, and has an formal policy for quickly giving meaningful compensation to customers when these standards are not met.The paper builds upon established micro-level behavioral theory to develop the “Service Guarantee Strength Framework”. This framework posits that high Service Guarantee Strength leads to improved service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty through three intervening variables—marketing communications impact, employee motivation and vision, and learning through service failure.An empirical investigation was conducted to test the SGS Framework using both employee and customer data from three pairs of firms, with each pair in a different industry. None of these firms had an explicit service guarantee. Unlike many behavioral research studies, this study measured both employee and customer perceptual data and compared the two. The research finds that Service Guarantee Strength is positively related to customer perceptions of service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty.     

The theory of the marketing firm

The theory of the marketing firm locates the rationale of the modern business enterprise that lies in its responding profitably to the imperatives of marketing orientation. Economic theories of the firm generally fail to recognize these imperatives, enhanced consumer choice and sophistication, which entail marketing orientation as the rationale of the firm. The paper propose a competence theory of the firm as a metacontingency and examines the bilateral contingencies by which firms link to their consumerates, which indicate their capacities for customer orientation. The marketing firm emerges as a means of encapsulating entrepreneurship, economizing on transaction costs, and enabling the management of marketing specialization.     

Improving Customer Service In Public Sector Organizations

The purpose of this paper is to formulate a customer orientation framework, which may assist in providing service organizations with strategies for a competitive advantage. The proposed markét-led approach towards excellent service for Shanghai Telecom customers includes upgrading staff awareness of external competition, changing culture, leadership, information channels, and staff training. It involves customers and employees in the design of service strategies. It is suggested that the remuneration should be linked to customer satisfaction. A new marketing division would consider competitive advantage issues. The findings and recommendations on the bridging gaps between customer expectations and the provision of service are of interest in over eighty countries that are currently restructuring their state-owned enterprises.