Browsing by Subject "customer satisfaction"
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(2016)This research considers factors affecting customer satisfaction and value perception of ERP maintenance and support service. The research strategy is qualitative and it is carried out as a semi-structured interview study. In the study 12 experts working with maintenance and support services for ERP systems are interviewed. The interviewees represent IT vendor sales organization and service managers and the customer-side IT management, service managers and application experts. The theoretical framework of the research is primarily based on DeLone and McLean (2003) IS Success theory and framework of Critical Success Factors for ERP Maintenance Support by Law, Chen and Wu (2009). The theoretical framework is subsequently converted to ten themes which comprise the core of this research. The purpose of the research is to find out what factors affect the satisfaction and value perception of companies using ERP maintenance and support services and what is the effect of the research themes. The research sample is limited; however it provides in-depth insights into similarities and differences between viewpoints of people working in different roles related maintenance and support service. The study also considers how the viewpoints differ when the interviewee is working for an IT vendor or for a customer company IT organization. The conclusion of the research is that the interviewee viewpoints match with that of their counterpart at the customer or the vendor. To improve customer satisfaction, IT vendors should better involve parties representing customer business and end users in management of the service and in definition of service requirements, and not satisfied to collaborate between IT organizations only. Fulfilling contractual and written obligations is critical for realizing service value. IT vendors should be able to be flexible and adjust their service delivery according to customer requirements, regardless of if these requirements are captured in contracts or service level documents. Customers consider the vendor technical competence to be critical for service quality, in addition to which competence in customer business and processes is essential for realizing added value in the service. The physical location of service delivery does not increase the customer’s willingness to pay. The vendor should use efficient processes to minimize the effect of service delivery location and personnel turnover for service quality.
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(2011)The operation environment in the roundwood trade in Finland in the 1990’s include several changes. They are changes in the structure of non-industrial private forest (NIPF) ownership, forest taxation, in forest legislation, in price recommendation agreement, diminishing resources of forestry extension services, etc. At the same time, the roundwood demand has been rising. All these developments cause uncertainty in wood procurement organisations, and call for research to find out how to adapt into the changing environment. The objective of this study is to produce information for roundwood purchasing planning and cus-tomer satisfaction management to be used by Stora Enso Metsä Customer Service, Helsinki. For this pur-pose, data needs to be gathered about the urban NIPFs and their forest estates, behaviour related to forestry and timber-selling, customer satisfaction in their latest timber selling transaction, and their opinions about Enso’s new customer service office and its service concept. To fulfil the objective of the study, a NIPF -owner -survey (N=1064, response rate 39,7%) was con-ducted in October 1998-January 1999. The sample was made on the basis of the marketing database of Stora Enso Oyj Forest Customer Service in Helsinki. In planning the frame of reference of the empirical study, the model of service quality by Grönroos was applied. The following aspects were included in the 7-page questionnaire: demographic, sosio-economic and forest estate background, relation to the forest service supply, behaviour related to forestry, timber-selling motives and behaviour, last contact organisation and its image in forestry business, expectations and percep-tions in the latest timber-selling transactions, and behavioural intentions. The results revealed that the share of women, pensioners and academically educated people among forest owners was quite high. The majority of the forest estates of the metropolitan forest owners were situ-ated in the provinces of South Finland and East Finland. The average forest estate area was considerably smaller than in a previous study. Economic and recreational objectives were most important in the use of forests. Forest Associations were involved in half of the roundwood sales transactions of the respondents in the metropolitan area. The wood quantity of transactions was considerably higher than the average in the whole country. Bank-organised forest-related activities, taxation infos and trips to the forest were the most popular activities. Among the services, silvicultural advices were needed mostly and stub treatment least. Brochure material related to stumpage timber sales and taxation were considered most important compared to material related to delivery sales. The service expectations were at highest for women and they were less satisfied with the service than men. 2nd and 3rd generation residents of the metropolitan area thought about the new customer service concept more positively than the 1st generation residents. Internet users under 60 years thought more positively about new satellite picture-based woodlot search concept. Cross-tabulation of factor scores against background variables indicated that women with relatively low education level a greater need to sell roundwood than entrepreneurs, white-collar workers and directors, and Internet users. Suspiciousness towards timber procurement organisations was relatively strong among women and those whose forest income share of the total income was either null or over 20 %. The average customer satisfaction score was negative in all nine questions. Statistical differences be-tween different companies did not exist in the average satisfaction scores. Stora Enso’s Helsinki forest cus-tomer service could choose the ability to purchase all timber grades as its competitive advantage. Out of nine service dimension included in the questionnaire, in this particular service dimension, Enso’s Helsinki forest customer service’s score exceeded most all organisations’ average customer satisfaction score. On the basis of importance – performance matrix, advice and quidance could have been provided more to the forest owners in their latest timber–selling transaction.
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The role of employee and customer satisfaction in explaining profitability in Finnish grocery retail (2020)The relationship between employee job satisfaction and customer satisfaction and the impact of these measures on the profitability of a company has been studied extensively. It has been shown that for companies with high levels of job satisfaction, customer satisfaction can be higher compared to companies with lower levels of employee job satisfaction. Similarly, previous works have documented that customer satisfaction can improve the profitability of a company. Furthermore, some scholars have found that job satisfaction enhances customer satisfaction while some have found an impact with opposite direction. This Master’s thesis was conducted with the aim to find out how job satisfaction, customer satisfaction and profitability are related in the Finnish grocery retail industry. The empirical part of the study consists of analyses of employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction surveys that were conducted by third parties before this master thesis was started. These surveys were combined and matched with profitability data, where operating margin was used as a proxy for profitability. This combined data is based on 374 Finnish supermarket grocery stores which means approximately one third of all stores in this category. As the sales of supermarkets is together nearly one half of the Finnish grocery sales, is this study representing about one sixth of all grocery purchases of Finns. The study applied the service-profit chain model (Heskett et al., 2008) as a conceptual framework. The model considers the interrelationships between internal service quality of the company, job satisfaction, retention of employees, productivity of employees, external service value, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, revenue growth and profitability. The main research method applied was qualitative comparative analysis (Fs/QCA). The results suggest that the internal service quality of the company under investigation has an impact on the job satisfaction of employees. Job satisfaction improved when the employees experienced their job interesting and felt that the work they do is important. In addition, especially the work atmosphere but also leadership and good work conditions positively influence job satisfaction. According to this study, job satisfaction did not, however, have a direct impact on customer satisfaction, efficiency or profitability of the company. Customer satisfaction increased customer loyalty as expected. In light of this study, and for the specific context investigated, it seems possible by the focal company to positively affect employee job satisfaction by supporting a good work atmosphere. Although this research found no robust evidence on the relationships between job satisfaction and customer satisfaction, job satisfaction and efficiency of the company nor job satisfaction and company profitability, it is notable that the analyses gave some indication that work atmosphere, leadership and good work conditions might have a positive impact on financial performance of the focal company. These are the same factors that were highlighted as drivers of job satisfaction. Thus, the inter-relationship between these concepts should be further explored in the future.
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