An Examination of Consumers' Motives to Switch Energy Suppliers

In most European countries, the energy industry continues to undergo dramatic changes. Customer relationship management concepts and their central focus - customer retention - are playing an increasingly significant role in the marketing considerations of energy supply companies. However, little is known about the reasons why customers remain loyal to a particular energy supplier or why they switch suppliers. The purpose of this study was to identify customers' switching motives, to investigate the relationship between customer satisfaction and switching intentions as well as to identify switching segments. A total of 462 customers of a German energy supplier were surveyed regarding their perceptions and future intentions in relation to their energy provider. Results using regression analysis show that customer satisfaction had a significant effect on switching intentions. Cluster analysis identified three distinct switching clusters; dissatisfied customers, relative satisfied customers seeking change, and dissatisfied customers seeking change. Results of this study are discussed in light of its theoretical as well as practical implications.     

电子零售商顾客满意度模型的构建

随着信息技术的发展和顾客消费观念的快速转变,电子零售业得到了高速发展,而顾客满意度测评也成为电子零售业客户价值管理的重要手段。传统购物环境下的顾客满意度模型无法有效应用于电子零售业的管理,必须结合电子零售业的特点,构建出一个包含产品、服务与系统三大要素的新的顾客满意度测评模型和计量方法及指标,从而为电子零售商提供一个客观、科学的客户价值管理参考资料。     

Implementing the Marketing Concept One Employee at a Time: Pinpointing Beliefs about Customer Focus as a Lever for Organizational Renewal

This paper revisits the literature on organizational culture to motivate new theorizing about implementation of the marketing concept. We propose an individual-level construct, conceived as an alternative to the SBU-level conceptions featured in current theorizing about market orientation, and ground it in the organizational cognition perspective on culture. Our alternative construct—customer focus—is defined as an individual's beliefs about the value of direct customer contact for achieving desired performance outcomes in his or her own job. A measure for the construct is presented and its predictive validity is demonstrated with respect to individuals' interactions with customers. As a parsimonious and functionally-unbounded construct, customer focus can motivate theory development through identification of its unique antecedents and consequences. A preliminary nomological network is offered to suggest avenues for future research and indicate the potential role of customer focus in effecting organizational change and vitality.     

Integrating Customer Satisfaction into the Strategic Marketing Plan

Demanding ever-increasing quality and value, consumers are having major impact on organizations. Ideally, marketing should be at the forefront of organizational change because of this new orientation to customer satisfaction. Marketing can increase its contribution to the organization to the extent it is able to integrate customer satisfaction into the strategic marketing plan. Manufactured products and delivered services generally arise from a need. As long as that need exists and it is fulfilled, the life of the business that procedures that product or service continues. Many businesses have faltered or even disappeared because they did not consistently keep customer needs, expectations, perceptions and attitudes as their first priorities in decision-making and planning. In a changing marketplace, focusing on customer satisfaction ensures a solid foundation on which continued growth and success can be built. This article presents a summary of the key concepts gathered from a review of recent literature on the customer satisfaction process. Examples are offered to illustrate that companies are integrating customer satisfaction to increase their competitive advantage. Finally, the article provides a framework for integrating customer satisfaction into the strategic marketing plan.     

论商业银行的顾客获取战略——关系营销视角的思考

顾客获取与顾客保持对于商业银行的客户关系管理同样重要。在关系营销的框架下,从战略层面为商业银行寻求顾客获取的基本流程,突出顾客获取与顾客保持的衔接,并确定潜在目标范围,选择顾客获取战略,保持与客户的长期关系。     

顾客转换障碍的内涵及其在营销中的应用

随着竞争的日趋激烈,吸引新顾客的成本越来越高,企业为了保留顾客不仅要管理好顾客满意度,同时也要重视转换障碍。转换障碍是指顾客在转换产品或服务提供者时所遭遇到的这种困难和成本的支出,转换障碍可以分为正面转换障碍和负面转换障碍,正面转换障碍反映的是顾客主动保留在主顾关系中,而负面转换障碍反映的是顾客被动保留在主顾关系中。转换障碍在保留顾客计划中具有非常重要的意义。     

Are Variety-Seekers Bad Customers?

SUMMARY

Variety-seeking behavior occurs if customers derive utility from a change of service providers. It has negative consequences for the firm's profits, because it functions as a moderating factor in the relationship of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Even by offering high service quality variety-seekers cannot be retained. Therefore variety-seekers are often seen as “bad” customers, because they are not loyal to the firm. This article will show variety-seeking behavior in a more positive light. Variety-seekers are satisfied customers and therefore they are likely to engage in positive word-of-mouth communication. Recommendations will help to attract new customers and thus increase profits.     

How competent are consumers? The case of the energy sector in France

This paper discussed the notion of value co‐creation and the concept of customer competence as suggested by this notion. This led us to consider the competent customer as a social construction related to managerial representations. In order to examine this issue, a longitudinal exploratory research based on participant observation and in‐depth interviews with employees of a French energy supplier was conducted to explore whether customers are perceived as competent or incompetent market actors. The data analysis revealed four categories illustrating customers' profiles coping with the new situation of the ‘Utility X’ group in the energy sector. ‘Utility X’ employees define their customers according to four profiles: myopic, ignorant, uncreative and organizer of company resources. Even if the marketing studies that share the Service‐Dominant Logic point‐of‐view suggest that the customer would be competent at all times, our findings showed that customer competencies are in fact socially constructed and emerge partially from managerial representations. Therefore, the adoption by companies of a marketing philosophy (‘market with’ philosophy), in which the customer and supply chain partners are collaborators in the entire marketing process, seems only possible if they recognize customers' competencies and identify situations when customers do not activate their competencies or do not have the resources that enable them to develop their competencies.     

“三因素”理论在客户满意度研究中的探析

随着市场竞争日益加剧,企业获得和保有客户的能力经受着不断的市场冲击,企业获得一个新客户所需的费用大大超过保持一个老客户所需费用,这使得企业界越来越重视客户满意、以及产品和服务的客户满意研究。利用著名的双因素理论提出三因素满意研究模型,并以电信ISP提供的上网账号服务为例进行分析,为企业和市场研究人员提供了更新的客户满意度研究的视角。     

The impact of new technologies on customer satisfaction and business to business customer relationships: Evidence from the soft drinks industry

Sales technology has been touted as a primary tool for enhancing customer relationship management (CRM) and thus improving overall customer satisfaction. The marketing, IT, and practitioner literatures make numerous references to the impact of CRM on business orientation and performance. However, according to Richard et al. (2007), not many studies have investigated customer relationship technology adopted by a firm and the impact on relationship development. The aim of this paper is to examine the relative impact of new technologies on improving customer relations and overall customer satisfaction within the sales industry. New technologies have revolutionised the workplace and have become an integral part of organisations throughout the world (Forster, 2000). Driving this revolution are two powerful new forces, cyberspace and computing power. This article defines three key terms which include CRM, customer satisfaction and new technologies and evaluates the impact of these emerging technological developments on relationships and customer satisfaction in a sales force/customer context. Primary research was conducted using two focus groups consisting of nine participants from Britvic. The analysis reveals that technology is both beneficial and essential within the sales force industry for both the sales representative and their customers and provides an insight into the impact of technology on the sales force/customer relationship. The paper concludes with reference to new technologies and the future.     

The effect of perceived economic mobility on customer aggression toward service employees: A darker aspect of customer behavior

The current research illuminates perceived economic mobility (PEM) as a causal antecedent of customer aggression. Study 1 with large‐scale panel data shows that PEM is positively related to attribution of poverty to personal characteristics and self‐centered intention to change jobs. Study 2 based on an experimental design shows that PEM causally induces customer aggression. Study 3 reveals that the effect of PEM on customer aggression varies depending on income; PEM increases customer aggression among low‐income earners, but the effect disappears among high‐income earners. Study 4 examines control over service employees to get self‐beneficial outcomes as a mechanism for the interaction effect of PEM and income on customer aggression. A moderated mediation analysis shows that the indirect effect of PEM on customer aggression through the proposed mechanism is significant among low‐income earners but not among high‐income earners. In sum, main findings of the present article are threefold: (a) PEM induces customer aggression, (b) income moderates the causal relationship, and (c) control to get benefits explains the joint effect of PEM and income on customer aggression. By delineating the dark side of PEM in consumer behavior, this study provides useful marketing implications for lessening side effects.     

新零售企业多渠道整合服务质量对重购意愿的影响--顾客涉入度的调节作用

采取线上线下多渠道整合的零售模式已成为新零售企业主流模式,顾客重购意愿是新零售企业重要竞争力之一,也是衡量多渠道整合服务实施效果的重要标准。通过构建以顾客体验为中介的多渠道整合服务质量对重购意愿影响概念模型,引入顾客涉入度作为调节变量,经过调查分析384名在同一新零售企业线上线下渠道有购物经历的消费者,研究结论如下:多渠道整合服务质量对重购意愿有显著积极影响;多渠道整合服务质量对顾客体验有显著积极影响;顾客体验对顾客重购意愿有显著积极影响;顾客体验在多渠道整合服务质量与重购意愿之间起部分中介作用;顾客涉入度在多渠道整合服务质量与顾客体验关系中起正向调节作用。研究结论拓展了多渠道整合服务质量对重购意愿影响的内在机理,明确了顾客体验在其中的重要中介作用,探明了顾客涉入度在多渠道整合服务质量影响顾客体验过程中的重要调节作用。新零售企业既可以通过多渠道整合服务质量提升顾客重购意愿,也可以通过极致的顾客体验提升重购意愿,而且通过加强顾客涉入度管理可有效提升顾客体验与重购意愿。     

The Magnitude of Change Effect in Store Remodeling

While store remodeling can increase customer sales, not all remodeling efforts are successful. In this study, two treatment stores from a large national retailer are matched with control stores in a field experiment. Even though the cost of remodeling the treatment stores was the same, and the remodeled stores had identical layout, color, furnishing and interior design, one store had a 12% lift in sales while the other had only 1%. We show that a key determinant of remodeling success is the perceived magnitude of change between the initial and final condition of the store. Indeed, customer psychological and sales responses are greater when the perceived magnitude of change between the condition of the store prior to remodeling and the store after remodeling is larger. Importantly, these positive effects continue for as long as 12 months after remodeling. We further find that the profile of customers drawn to the remodeled stores differs based on the perceived magnitude of change, as do the environmental attributes that contribute to customer perceptions of the remodel.     

Perception Gaps in Customer Expectations: Managers Versus Service Providers and Customers

Two new gaps are added to the 5-gap model proposed by PZB. These new gaps reflect the differences in the understanding of customer expectations by manager and front-line service providers and in customer expectations and service providers' perception of such expectations. Using room service as the object for investigation, the present study provides empirical evidence indicating the existence of these gaps which have negative impact on overall service quality. The findings also disclose that the gap between customer expectations and managers' perception of such expectations is much larger than the gap between customer expectations and service providers' understanding of such expectations.     

Electronic Logistics Service Quality (e‐LSQ): Its Impact on the Customer’s Purchase Satisfaction and Retention

The Internet retailing industry continues to grow rapidly. Several Internet retailers are, however, struggling to retain customers due to the high level of competition among incumbents. We propose that customer satisfaction with the order fulfillment process is an important determinant of overall customer satisfaction with the retailer, as well as with the extent of customer retention enjoyed by the retailer. This paper offers a new concept for electronic logistics service quality and investigates the relationship between the quality of online fulfillment and the ensuing retention of customers, using archival data on 260 online retailers. The structural equation model results indicate that satisfaction with the physical distribution quality and cost are positively related with customer’s purchase satisfaction and customer retention. Additionally, the results indicate that while purchase satisfaction is a strong indicator of customer retention, underlying drivers of purchase satisfaction do not have nearly the same impact on customer retention directly as they have on purchase satisfaction.     

顾客心理受权与服务质量和满意感的实证研究

目前，大学生旅游已成为旅游业新的利润增长点，是旅游企业不可忽视的一个市场群体。通过在广州市的三所大学进行了一次实证研究，探讨了顾客心理受权的组成成分及其与服务质量和顾客满意感之间的关系。数据分析结果表明，顾客的消费能力、消费自主权、影响力是顾客心理受权的组成成分。顾客心理受权对服务质量和顾客满意感存在显著影响。     

Making customer relationship management work: evidence from the banking industry in Taiwan

Soon after becoming a WTO member, Taiwan found the internationalisation and liberalisation in the financial industry ushered its domestic banks into a new era. In response to this global trend, all its banks strove to rely on customer relationship management (CRM) to enhance customer value (CV). This study aims to probe further into the connection between CV and CRM. A series of examinations revealed that (1) both functional and social value impact customer behaviour directly and positively; (2) customer satisfaction positively and directly affects customer loyalty; (3) a positive and direct relationship exists between customer loyalty and customer behaviour; and (4) the positive and significant relationship between CV and customer behaviour can be developed through mediators such as customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Consequently, banks should offer their customers different services, products, and marketing channels to meet their diversified needs to cultivate a win-win environment of CRM for both parties.     

CRM创造企业营销新理念

CRM源于市场营销,是在关系营销、业务流程重组等基础上进一步发展起来的,是企业运用网络技术进行营销管理的创新。从CRM的本质出发,以新浪的CRM为例,可以了解它对核心营销理念的创新,由以产品为中心变为以客户为中心。从CRM对营销管理的创新、对营销策略创新和对营销手段的创新中,可以看出企业发展CRM,将会创造企业营销的新理念。     

A Learning Framework for Customer Integration: Know-How Acquisition, Dissemination and Utilization

Successful product innovation has increasingly been recognized as an outcome of integrating customers in the new product development process. Despite the attention of this research subject, the comprehension of how to learn from customers is still limited in scope and in depth. This research investigates ‘learning’ in the customer integration context and discusses a conceptual framework from learning theory with customer know-how acquisition, dissemination and utilization as critical steps. The paper reports a comparative case study of new product development projects in a business-to-business context. The findings show empirical support for the developed framework and demonstrate the importance of a differentiated consideration of the three steps. They lead to determinants for successful customer know-how integration in new product development projects.     

改革与完善黑龙江省农村金融服务体系研究

面对社会主义新农村建设的重大任务,黑龙江省当前的农村金融服务体系在很大程度上已不能满足日益增长的农村金融需求,需要积极地进行变革、创新。通过实施有效的货币政策,建立与完善农村客户征信体系等措施,改革与完善黑龙江省农村金融服务体系,可以助推黑龙江农村经济的快速发展。