Measuring the efficiency of customer satisfaction and loyalty for mobile phone brands with DEA

The concept of customer satisfaction and loyalty (CS&L) has attracted much attention in recent years. A key motivation for the fast growing emphasis on CS&L can be attributed to the fact that higher customer satisfaction and loyalty can lead to stronger competitive position resulting in larger market share and profitability. Using a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach, in this study we analyzed and compared CS&L efficiency for mobile phone brands in an emerging telecommunication market, Turkey. The constructs of European Customer Satisfaction Index (ECSI) model are treated and used as input and output indicators of our DEA model. Drawing on the perceptual responses of 251 mobile phone users, the DEA models reveal that from the top six mobile phone brands in Turkey, Nokia features as the most efficient brand followed by LG and Sonny Ericsson in terms of CS&L efficiency, while Motorola, Samsung and Panasonic rank as the least efficient brands.     

Analysis of a last come first served queueing system with customer abandonment

Motivated by manufacturing and service applications, we consider a single class multi-server queueing system working under the LCFS discipline of service. After entering the queue, a customer will wait a random length of time for service to begin. If service has not begun by this time she will abandon and be lost. For the GI/GI/s+M$\mathit{GI}/\mathit{GI}/s+M$ queue, we present some structural results to describe the relation between various performance measures and the scheduling policies. We next consider the LCFS M/M/s+M$M/M/s+M$ queue and focus on deriving new results for the virtual waiting time and the sojourn time in the queue (either before service or before abandonment). We provide an exact analysis using Laplace–Stieltjes transforms. We also conduct some numerical analysis to illustrate the impact of customer impatience and the discipline of service on performance.     

再多一次接触:顾客反馈机制对服务失败后顾客评价的影响

It is difficult to control service quality for any service firm and service failure is inevitable due to human or non-human factors. As a result, service recovery stirred the interest of researchers and practitioners. However, service failure may not be identified by firms because a majority of dissatisfied customers will not complain to the service provider. Thus, this research proposes a proactive customer feedback mechanism comprised of proactive solicitation of customer feedback, customers providing feedback and follow-up communication and examine their impact of customer evaluations in the context of service failure. This research tries to establish that through adding a continuous series of satisfied service encounters or \"moment of truth\" to service failure encounters, the customer evaluations (e.g. satisfaction, trust, purchase intent and positive WOM) toward the service will be significantly improved. Our research employed a 2×2×2 between subjects experimental design. Three independent variables were manipulated as presence and absence level, that is, firms either proactively solicitted customer feedback or employed no solicitation of feedback, Customers either provided feedback to the service firm or refused to provide feedback, and service firm either conducted follow-up communication or no follow-up communication. Our research adoptted a scenario in the context of patronizing a three-star hotel on a business trip. In total, 221 business administration graduates from a famous university in Shanghai participated in the experiment. MANOVA was used to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that proactive solicitation significantly influenced trust (p<0.01). Besides satisfaction, the other dependent variables such as trust, purchase intent and positive WOM significantly differred between with and without follow-up communication groups (p<0.05). Third, a significant difference was detected regarding satisfaction, trust, purchase intent and positive WOM between customer providing feedback groups and no customer feedback groups (p<0.05). Moreover, significant interactive effects were found of customers provided feedback and follow-up communication on trust and purchase intent. Trust and purchase intent reached highest when a follow-up communication occurred after customers provided feedback. However, no interactive effects were found of proactive solicitation of customer feedback and customer providing feedback. This research suggests that service providers should create new encounters with customers when they are confronted with service failure, and in this study, through proactive customer feedback mechanism. That is, first, the service provider should encourage customers to provide feedback, which can improve customer evaluations after service failure and after customers providing feedback. At the same time, the firm should employ follow-up communication with the customer and inform them about how the firm responded to their complaints, suggestions and comments. It is worth to note that companies just need to have follow-up communication with those customers who have provided feedback. More important, as information technology and internet prevails, it is very likely sending email and short messages after a service failure to maintain customer relationships could significantly enhance customer evaluations of the service provider. Of course, how consumers respond to such measures online is an promising research area and needs further investigation.     

A Study of Online Portal Users’ Loyalty From Core Service,Additional Value-added Service and Switching Barriers Perspectives

This study proposes a research model elucidating the effects of core service satisfaction, additional value-added service satisfaction, and switching barriers as determinants of portal loyalty and tests the model using empirical data collected from game portal users. The results suggest that different service satisfaction and switching barriers are strong antecedents of p-loyalty; the moderating effect of switching barriers on the relationship between satisfactions and p-loyalty is contingent on the portal users’ usage patterns.     

考虑特殊时间约束的混合流水车间调度

针对等待时间受限的准时制混合流水车间调度问题,建立其约束满足优化模型。考虑到模型具有二元变量的复杂性特点,将原问题分解为多能力流水车间调度和机器指派两个子问题。在对多能力流水车间调度问题的约束满足优化求解过程中嵌入邻域搜索,从而提高算法的收敛性。数据实验表明模型和算法是可行和有效的。     

Effects of outcome, process and shopping enjoyment on online consumer behaviour

Customer value is one of the most powerful forces in today’s marketplace and emerging as the strategic imperative for the 1990s. In this study, we proposed a three-component customer value model for e-commerce. Drawing upon the literature in marketing and information systems, our research model decomposed customer value into process value, outcome value, and shopping enjoyment. The results from this study showed that outcome value and process value contributed significantly to customer satisfaction and loyalty. Also, evidences confirmed that customer satisfaction affect customer loyalty. Enjoyment, however, had no significant positive impact on customer satisfaction.     

考虑客户满意度的网络零售配送时隙定价策略

为研究网络零售配送时隙的定价问题,结合客户满意度和收益双重目标,根据预期不确认理论和层次分析法给出了基于价格、交付期长度和宽度的客户满意度模型。基于收益管理理论,引入0-1变量,给出了考虑机会成本及额外成本的收益模型。根据零售商不同的收益偏好给出了双目标条件下的时隙定价模型。通过算例模拟分析了不同的零售商收益偏好对于时隙定价以及收益的影响;根据客户在线时隙选择随机性的特点,分析了在不同交付期长度及敏感度下的时隙定价策略,以及不同的客户到达率对于收益、客户满意度的影响。分析结果得出了考虑客户满意度和不同影响因素下的时隙定价策略,以及一系列比较有指导意义的性质和方法。     

SQL Server 2005数据挖掘技术在证券客户忠诚度的应用

文中主要研究了我国证券业客户忠诚度分类和表现形式,提出了一种证券业客户忠诚度评估的有效方法。依据RFM客户评价方法,结合数据挖掘的一般流程将SOLServer2005中的数据挖掘技术应用于证券业客户忠诚度模型系统中,并结合某证券公司客户交易数据,对其客户忠诚度进行了准确合理的分类,对其不同忠诚度类型的客户提出相应个性化营销建议,最后通过使用DMX语言在客户端运用数据挖掘产生的分类规则对其客户进行了准确预测。     

An Integrated Framework for Service Quality, Customer Value, Satisfaction: Evidence from China's Telecommunication Industry

Service quality, customer satisfaction and customer value have become the priority of both manufacturers and service provider in the increasingly intensified competition for customers in today's customer-centered era. However, findings regarding service quality, customer satisfaction and customer value are rather divergent and related studies are fragmented, especially for the complicated interrelationships among them. Thus, less is known about the relative impacts of quality-related factors on customer value and customer satisfaction up to now and the moderating role of customer value in the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction has been neglected. Further, it is very difficult to find related studies, supported by evidence, that focus on service quality, customer satisfaction and customer value, and their influences on customer behavior intentions in the telecommunication industry. In this paper, much attention is paid to the measurement model of service quality in China's mobile communication market based on the well-known SERVQUAL model, but with reasonable modification on the basis of focus group discussions and expert opinions to reflect the specific industry attributes and the special culture of China. By taking a disaggregated approach, the key drivers of service quality, customer value and customer satisfaction are first identified and the impact of customer perceived sacrifice on customer value is emphasized. Then attention is given to the systematic study of the dynamic relationships among them, especially the moderating effect of customer value on the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction, which is followed by the examination of their influences on behavior intentions of customers. Results are based on the development of structural equation models using Partial Least Square technique.     

基于数据挖掘技术的CRM应用仿真研究

客户资源现已成为企业最重要的战略资源之一,企业为此也花费大量资金构筑客户关系管理(CRM)系统。该文就关于CRM系统结构和与数据挖掘技术相结合的优势,通过实例论证数据挖掘技术在CRM中的实际运用,可以通过对企业销售数据的关联分析把企业的大量客户分成不同的类型,并发现不同类客户的需求特征,从而提供不同的营销策略和服务,维系老客户,发现新客户,不断提升客户价值,增加客户满意度。     

Improving Customer Retention in E-Commerce through a Secure and Privacy-Enhanced Loyalty System

Loyalty systems provide an interesting possibility for vendors in customer relationship management. This holds for both real world and online vendors. Many vendors apply loyalty systems to collect customer-specific data that may be exploited for many reasons, e.g., price discrimination and direct marketing. As a consequence, beside some potential benefits of a loyalty system, customers may also fear an invasion of privacy, and thus often refuse to participate in such programs. Thus, a vendor may have problems to turn privacy sensitive people into loyal customers using a typical loyalty system. In this paper, we present two variants of a privacy-friendly loyalty system to be used by online vendors for issuing loyalty points. The systems prevent vendors from exploiting data for the creation of customer profiles by providing unconditional unlinkability of loyalty points with regard to purchases. We propose a simple token-based approach and a counter-based approach which is much more efficient while preserving the privacy and security properties. Furthermore, the counter-based loyalty system prevents pooling of loyalty points which were issued to distinct customers. Matthias Enzmann received his diploma in computer science from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, in 1999. In 1996, he started working with the TKT institute of GMD - German National Research Centre for Information Technology GmbH which in 2001 became Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Telecooperation due to the merger of GMD and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. Since 1999 he holds the position of a regular researcher at Fraunhofer SIT. Currently, his research interests focus on privacy protection in electronic business processes, agent based mediation, and pseudonym systems. Markus Schneider received his diploma in electrical engineering with specialization on communications engineering. Afterwards, he started to work in the area of information and communication security and received his Doctor degree in electrical engineering. Currently, he is with the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Telecooperation (SIT) in Darmstadt, Germany. His research interests include the development and application of security technologies in communications, and security and privacy issues in electronic business processes.     

基于LTE下行多业务传输QoS保证的跨层调度算法

众多资源分配的调度算法中, 有区别地实现不同业务QoS要求的调度策略研究不多。针对此问题, 通过将不同QoS等级和要求加入到调度策略的影响因素中, 提出了一种适用于LTE下行多业务传输的多目标跨层分组调度算法, 并设计了一个用户满意度函数, 用来评价分组调度算法的综合性能。对该算法性能进行了仿真验证, 并同PF算法仿真结果进行比较与分析, 表明该算法能够满足不同业务的QoS要求, 综合性能优于PF算法。     

网格环境下任务的执行时间预测技术研究

提出与描述了一种网格环境下任务的执行时间预测的新方法,该方法不需要参考历史数据,可以让用户在提交网格作业之前进行任务执行时间的精确预测.该预测模块使用了R脚本作为基本工具,结合了静态分析、BenchMark数据库解析和基于编译器的方法等3种技术,其中R软件以命令行的方式很容易编写各种类型的任务代码,使其具有自适应性、灵...     

Motivational beliefs and perceptions of instructional quality: predicting satisfaction with online training*

Abstract Many would agree that learning on the Web – a highly autonomous learning environment – may be difficult for individuals who lack motivation and self‐regulated learning skills. Using a social cognitive view of academic motivation and self‐regulation, the objective of the present study was to investigate the relations between students' motivational beliefs, their perceptions of the learning environment and their satisfaction with a self‐paced, online course. Service academy undergraduates (n = 646) completed a questionnaire following online training. Pearson correlations indicate that task value, self‐efficacy and perceived instructional quality were significantly positively related to each other and to students' overall satisfaction with the self‐paced, online course. Additionally, results from a three‐step hierarchical regression reveal that task value, self‐efficacy and instructional quality were significant positive predictors of students' satisfaction; the final regression model accounted for approximately 54% of the variance in the outcome measure. These findings support and extend prior research in traditional classrooms and online education in university settings, indicating that military students' motivational beliefs about a learning task and their perceptions of instructional quality are related, in important ways, to their overall satisfaction with online instruction. Educational implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

浅谈以人为本的消毒柜客户需求调研方法

在开发新的消毒柜和改进一款消毒柜之前,了解客户需求能够拉动产品向好的方向发展并且达到事半功倍的效果,消毒柜调研也要做到以人为本,因此调研的方法显得十分重要。本文以统计学理论表述客户需求和客户愿望,将从了解客户需求的整个过程来研究阐述调研方法。     

Customer participation,value co-creation and customer loyalty – A case of airline online check-in system

Information communication technologies and self-service technologies, such as self-check-in kiosks or online check-in systems, are widely used in the air transport industry. This study proposes a conceptual model to investigate the relationships among customer participation, co-created values and customer loyalty in an air transport context, and empirically tests the model by using questionnaire survey data collected from Taiwanese airline passengers. In particular, three perceived values (i.e. enjoyment value, economic value and relational value) are specified to represent the passengers' co-created values. The empirical results support the following hypotheses. Customer participation in using an online check-in system is positively related to all three values, which further lead to satisfaction with respect to the system. System satisfaction is also related to satisfaction with respect to the company, and both system satisfaction and company satisfaction have positive effects on customer loyalty.