Sexual Minority Adults at a Seasonal Home Campground: An Examination of Common,Unique, and Diverse Leisure Motivations

We examined the motivations of sexual minority adults to vacation at a sexual minority-focused campground and how sexual orientation identity management was associated with leisure motivations. Twenty-nine men and 12 women who owned seasonal homes participated. In responses to open-ended questions, participants expressed many of the motivations typically associated with seasonal home leisure (e.g., socializing, escape, relax). The most frequently mentioned motivation was the sexual minority focus of the campground. The more participants were “out” in everyday life, the less likely they were to mention the sexual minority focus of the campground as a motivation for being there.     

The impact of using kiosk on enterprise systems in service industry

The hospitality industry services many types of travellers. Each of them needs to be analysed differently in order to accurately determine their respective service quality attributes and customer delight. The effective and efficient enterprise information systems (EISs) play a significant role in traveller’s experience and in the competitive advantages that hotels can gain. For this study, self-service kiosks and guest service agents as part of hotel’s EISs are used to investigate the impact each has on the experience of business and leisure travellers. This study provides empirical results that further investigate how to improve the service quality for both types of travellers during the registration process. This process is the first physical interaction between the travellers and the hotel. Any problem in registering would generate a long-lasting negative first impression on the travellers, thus diminishing the customer delight. In the light of our findings, this study will contribute to the effective and efficient design of self-service kiosk systems, hotel’s EISs, and improved front office management to better accommodate the specific needs of both types of travellers.     

An Integrated Approach to Service Quality in Hotels

ABSTRACT

An examination of service quality in hotels goes beyond the measurement approach by incorporating, customer satisfaction, organizational culture and climate. Customer satisfaction is examined and the use of employee perceptions of customer satisfaction is proposed as an index for customer satisfaction. Organizational climate is discussed as being a fundamental element that needs to be understood and used by managers in order to promote service quality. A conceptual model that incorporates all the elements of an expanded service quality model is presented by utilizing organizational culture and climate as its base. It is argued that hotel managers need to address all aspects of the model simultaneously instead of the single element at a time approach.     

The influence of supermarket attributes on perceived customer satisfaction: an East Asian study

Despite the proliferation of theoretical developments in the area of western consumer behaviour, to date the likelihood of Asian variants to existing consumer behavioural models has not been explored in any detail. Based on prior research in the field of retail attribute testing this empirical study investigates the influence of supermarket store attributes on Chinese (Macau) customer satisfaction moderated by the biographical factors of age and income. The results indicate that the store attributes of distance and speed of check out were significant for age, and that delivery service and price reductions were significant by income. Total independent variable rankings indicated store location, price and product variety were perceived by Chinese respondents as being the most important store attributes influencing satisfaction.     

Do Retailers Benefit from Deploying Customer Analytics?

Prior research has documented a general positive relationship between the deployment of customer analytics and firm performance. In this research we focus on the retailing industry, an industry characterized by tight margins that lead to careful scrutiny of all business investments. Using survey data from 418 top managers based in the Americas, Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia, we show that of the eight industries in the study, firms in the retail industry have the most to gain from deploying customer analytics. However, we also find that not only do many retailers not perceive this potential gain, they do not invest in customer analytics at an economically appropriate level. Thus we identify a gap between perception and reality concerning the potential for customer analytics in the retail industry that has both theoretical and practical implications.     

Driving In-Role and Extra-Role Brand Performance among Retail Frontline Salespeople: Antecedents and the Moderating Role of Customer Orientation

The organizational frontline in retail represents the frontline for an entire supply chain. This channel structure distances the branded supplier from the end consumer and makes the supplier dependent on a retail frontline salesperson that (1) it does not control and (2) also represents competing brands. This study reveals mechanisms that the supplier may use to influence retail frontline salespeople. We demonstrate the importance of consumer marketing programs and supplier representatives in building brand identification between the manufacturer’s brand and the retail frontline employee that translates into increased brand sales, while also revealing the role of rewards programs in stimulating brand-specific extra-role behaviors. Interestingly, retail frontline customer orientation, built by the retailer, diminishes the effect of brand extra-role behaviors toward the focal brand on the focal brand’s sales, providing an informal control mechanism for retailers to protect its objectives. The results of this study have powerful ramifications for both retailers and suppliers in achieving both their mutual, and sometimes differing, objectives related to the retail frontline.     

Research on customer loyalty of B2C e-commerce

Customer loyalty of B2C e-commerce is studied by testing the hypotheses on five latent variables using the structural equation modeling method. After correcting model, online store image is obviously fundamental basis on expectations of shopping online, experience of shopping online, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty between which there are seven positive relationships accepted in the AMOS model. The results provide scientific evidence for B2C e-commerce.     

铁路货运大客户营销与流失预警对策

定义了铁路货运大客户的范畴与类别,提出具有针对性的铁路货运大客户营销方案,具体分析铁路货运大客户流失的原因,并探讨了大客户流失预警的具体对策,能够为铁路货运营销提供理论基础。     

Rejuvenating wood carving industry in Taiwan Sanyi： A perspective of strategic management

This research aimed at providing suggestions to rejuvenate the wood carving industry in Taiwan Sanyi. The authors conducted interviews with representative store keepers and sculptors to gain industrial insights, and applied the strategic matrix analysis developed by Dr. Seetoo to examine industrial conditions and formulate strategic suggestions for wood carving companies. The industry was found lack of market orientation, which was considered as the critical factor of the long term depression. However, a market of tourism for nostalgic and cultural experience started developing in the near area, providing opportunities for Sanyi wood carving industry to recover. The main suggestions the authors made are （1） restructuring the product scope to respond to the market, and （2） branding with resorts in near area.     

Relationship Strategy,Effectiveness, and Responsiveness in Services Marketing

Abstract

Relationship marketing has been recognized as a new paradigm in marketing. Although the practice of relationship marketing has expanded rapidly across the globe, most of the published researches in this area of study are based on data collected from North America or Europe. This research studies the relationship between relationship strategy, relationship effectiveness, and responsiveness to customer needs using data collected through the administration of the One-to-One Gap Tool (Peppers, Rogers, and Dorf 1999) in the Indian service sector. The results of statistical analysis using LISREL provide strong support for the positive relationship between relationship effectiveness and responsiveness to customer needs. The Organizational Activity of relationship strategy was also found to possess relationships consistent with theory. However, findings regarding the Informational Activity and the Operational Activity are less conclusive. Managerial implications and directions for future research in relationship marketing are discussed.