Uses Of Laboratory Information Management Systems Essay Example for Free

Uses Of Laboratory Information Management Systems Essay An a scientific workplace many pieces of important data are being based around. The use of computers can now help by using specialist software called Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS). A LIMS system is like an electronic filing cabinet with advanced security. It can allow data in any form to be inputted and shared with company’s customisation. Depending on the LIMS it can be accessed via a personal or company handheld drive (smartphone/tablet). There are various types of software available for storing scientific data but the most commonly used ones in modern laboratories are the following: WinLIMS is Laboratory Information Management System. WinLims creates LIMS a realistic option for even the smallest of laboratories. The following screenshot below is of WinLIMS, where it is showing the implementation of the data. http://www. lims-software. com/images/1/16/WinLIMS. ASP-from-QSI. jpg Picture 1 * Labsoft LabSoft is well designed laboratory information management system (LIMS) that boasts built-in tools and the ability to collaborate with other digitised business systems (e. g. Order Processing, Data Historians). LabSoft is a comprehensive feature set empowers to build an integrated solution that fully exploits laboratory data yielding higher quality. The following screenshot below is of LabSoft, where it is showing the graphs after the implementation of the data. In a scientific workplace it is vital and necessary to be able to safely store (meaning people inside and out of company don’t get hold off information they shouldn’t know)and then retrieve scientific data generated by that workplace and also data from other sources (scientific literature, for example). Heads of department, deputies, and those working in the laboratories. Scientific apparatus Data such as date of purchase (for warranty and sell by dates), maintenance data (when a product was repaired of tested and the results of such test) and schedules for maintenance. Heads of department, deputies and those involved in the schedules. Waste disposal To show what and how much waste is produced and how it is disposed of. This can be used for health and safety reasons so that there aware were the staff are putting it making sure it can’t fall into the wrong hands or damaging the environment. Stores technicians and those involved in disposal; heads of department may need to authorise costs of disposal. Health safety checks To show that health and safety is being monitored and to hold accident reports if necessary. This protects the company so no false allegations can be made and if they are proof can be found to prove innocence. Heads of department, health and safety officers and possibly others who have special responsibility. Training records To know the level of training or qualification of members of staff, and to keep and maintain a record of training required and completed by staff. This allows outside members to check to see the level that employers are trained as well as allowing employees to check for them self’s. Training officer, heads of department, supervisors, human resource department and individual members of staff. Quality assurance To be able to show that quality procedures are being carried out (for audit purposes). This protects the company so no false allegations can be made and if they are proof can be found to prove it meet the standard. Head of department, quality officers and those with special responsibility. Report records Reports following tests for GPs or hospital records, or for use in developing new medicines, etc. This also allows you to search for past similar symptoms and treatment. Office support personnel will usually be responsible for recording results, with access needed by clinical staff (in a clinical environment); report records in this setting wouldn’t usually be subject to change by anyone.

Leadership and Management in Nursing Care Delivery Models

Leadership and Management in Nursing Care Delivery Models A care delivery model is an integral component for delivering patient care. Nursing care delivery model is a way of organizing at the unit level to facilitate the delivery of nursing care to the patients (Tiedeman Lookinland, 2004). Organization of care is a key factor that determines quality of nursing care (Tiedeman Lookinland, 2004). Various types of care delivery models have been designed to meet the goals of efficient and effective nursing care While many different care delivery models are practiced in the wards and departments of the acute care hospital that I work in, it is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss them all. In the 20 bedded medical oncology ward that I work in, nursing care delivery is organised into team and primary nursing. Six beds are allocated to transplant patients. One registered nurse is assigned to be the primary nurse of three transplant patients each. The other fourteen patients are split between two teams of nurses. Each team has a registered nurse, an enrolled nurse and a patient care assistant. Thus, this paper is concerned with these two modes of organization of care. An overview of primary and team nursing models of care will be presented. Thereafter, the experiences of nurses involved in the delivery of care using these models of care will be discussed with regards to job satisfaction and quality of care. Description of Care Delivery Model Primary Team Emerging in the United States in the1960s, the primary nursing model involves patients being allocated to individual nurses (Tiedman Lookinland, 2004). One registered nurse is allocated a number of patients for whose care this nurse is accountable during the patients hospital stay (OConnell, Duke, Bennett, Crawford, Korfiatis, 2006; Tiedman Lookinland, 2004).The nurse-patient relationship is the backbone of primary nursing. The primary nurse collaborates with other health team members, the patient and family to continually assess, plan, implement, and evaluate the patients nursing care (Reed, 1988; Sellick, Russell, Beckmann, 2003; Tiedman Lookinland, 2004). When the primary nurse is unavailable to provide care, associate nurses follow the plan of care developed by the primary nurse, unless a change in patients condition necessitates a modification of the care plan, so as to maintain the continuity of care for the patients (Tiedman Lookinland, 2004). Team Nursing Implemented in the 1940s as a response to the nursing shortage resulting from the World War II, team nursing is based on the premise of collaboration and division of responsibilities for the nursing care of patients (Tiedman Lookinland, 2004). In team nursing, nurses and ancillary staff with different levels of education, skills and licensure are assigned to teams and each team provides total nursing care to the patients assigned to that team (OConnell et at., 2006; Tiedman Lookinland, 2004). Leadership for each team is provided by a team leader, who is an experienced registered nurse responsible for planning and supervising the provision of nursing care for patients cared for by team members. The team leader has overall accountability for coordinating the nursing care provided, while the team members are accountable for completing their assigned tasks and for documenting the care delivered (OConnell et at., 2006). Nursing Staff Job Satisfaction Primary Team One of the most important gains of primary nursing for the nurses interviewed was more contact and enhanced relationships with patients. One nurse said, I know more about each of my patients and do not constantly have to get to know new ones. These views are consistent with Mccleod and Stellas (1992) study where nursing staff on medical and surgical wards were asked what they liked about primary nursing. Participants liked the enhanced relationships and collaboration with patients and other members of the healthcare team. To be able to take care of the same patients day after day was greatly appreciated by the nurses interviewed. This continuity of care led to the development of good relationships between the primary nurse and the patient as well as with relatives. This is an aspect that the nurses found increased their levels of job satisfaction (McCleod Stella, 1992). Primary nursing facilitated an in-depth knowledge of their patients and as a consequence, the nurses felt more able to act as a patients advocate. Nurses verbalised they had additional responsibility and accountability as all duties and responsibilities in taking care of a patient for his or her duration of stay is delegated entirely on a single nurse. The primary nurses interviewed perceived that they had the authority to make clinical judgments and decisions for the benefit of the patient. Their use of phrases such as freedom from control by others, ability to plan and organize the workday, using knowledge to make decisions and advocating for the patient described autonomy. Autonomy refers to the ability to act according to ones knowledge and judgment, providing nursing care within the full scope of practice as defined by existing professional, regulatory, and organizational rules (Gagnon, Bakker, Montgomery, Palkovits, 2010). The nurses noted that through practicing primary nursi ng, their autonomy was increased. There is a substantial body of evidence indicating that nurses perceived autonomy is linked to job satisfaction. A study by Melchior, Halfens, Abu-Saad, Philipsen, van den Berg Grassman (1999) investigated the effects of a primary nursing care delivery system on the work environment among nurses working in long-stay psychiatric care settings. Results showed that as a result of primary nursing, the nurses found more autonomy in their work and thus experienced increased job satisfaction. Similarly, Macguire and Botting (1990) analysed the perceptions of nursing staff, following the introduction of primary nursing into an acute medical ward for elderly people. Nurses reported better communication, improved relationships and increased responsibility after implementing primary nursing. It appeared that both increased autonomy of practice and increased knowledge of specific patients, coupled with a greater continuity of care, gave nurses a high level of satisfaction than did previous meth ods of care delivery (Macguire Botting, 1990). On the downside, some nurses commented that working in a primary care system tends to be isolating and this proved to be particularly difficult when they were looking after a critically ill patient. These experiences mirrored those reported by nurses in the study by Manley, Hamill, and Hanlon (1997). Team Nursing Nurses practicing team nursing commented that working as a team was a lot better, because then they can have somebody else backing them up. According to OConnell et at. (2006), working collaboratively with team members serves to enhance job satisfaction, as many find this to be a learning experience that utilizes the expertise of each team member. This was supported by Rafferty, Ball, and Aiken (2001) who demonstrated that nurses who report a higher level of teamwork are more satisfied with their jobs, plan to stay in them, and are likely to experience less stress. However, enrolled nurses and the patient care assistants interviewed added that they felt the staff nurses were spending too much time with medications and writing reports while they were left to do the heavy manual work. A similar finding was demonstrated by OConnell et al. (2006). In this study, both registered nurses and enrolled nurses felt that the team-nursing model sometimes involved an uneven and unfair division of tasks that overburdened some nurses. The medication responsibilities of registered nurses within the team-nursing model imposed excessive demands on enrolled nurses as they were left with meeting the hygiene needs for the patients in their group without assistance. These tensions led to a decrease in job satisfaction. Quality of Care Primary Team The nurses interviewed felt patients were more satisfied when primary nursing was in place because they received individualized care as a result of continuity and coordination of care. Primary nursing has led to the nurses having a better knowledge of the patient. Nurses pointed out that primary nursing enabled them to know each patient more closely. One nurse remarked, I know my patients like the back of my hand. Therefore, it was easier to find out what each patient needed and to meet those needs appropriately. Jenny and Logan (1992) suggest that greater knowledge of the patient is linked to the increased likelihood of picking up subtle changes in the patients condition. In addition, Perala and Hentinen (1989) found that through primary nursing, doctors received information about patients that was more exact and relevant because nurses knew their patients better. This enabled nurses to provide more applicable and effective patient centred nursing care. In response to this therapeut ic relationship, the patient feels more secure about and satisfied with nursing care (Jenny Logan, 2000). The nurses views were supported by the findings of Radwin (2000). In this study conducted over a 3-year period, oncology patients were asked to identify qualities of nursing care that were important to them. Professional knowledge, joint decision making between the patient and the nurse, individualized treatment plans, promptness to addressing individualized needs and continuity of care were some aspects of care delivery that were identified. Team Nursing Nurses interviewed said that since staff was supervised more closely, the likelihood of missing things out was low. This, they felt, resulted in patients receiving better care. This sentiment was echoed by the nurses in OConnell et al.s (2006) study. Moreover, nurses added that the patients benefitted from the combined skills of the team. According to the study by Cioffi and Ferguson (2009), team nursing made a difference to patient care as it was patient-oriented, all the nurses in the team were familiar with the patients receiving care, care was more complete as things were missed less often and staffs were supervised more closely. This resulted in patients receiving better care. In conclusion, providing care to a group of patients require nurses to be more efficient and use their time more effectively. Nursing care delivery models facilitate this. This paper has provided an overview of primary and team nursing care delivery models. The experiences of nurses were discussed with regards to job satisfaction and quality of care in the two models. Literature supporting the nurses experiences was then explored.

Service Quality in ICBC

Service Quality in ICBC Abstract The development of computer technology and information network technology has brought massive challenges to financial services organizations. Online banking, which provides financial services to customers via Internet, plays an increasingly important role and still has tremendous potential for development. At the same time, the global and local competition between financial institutions has become more intense. Therefore, as the biggest commercial bank in China, it is very important for the managers of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to build a long-term customer relationship. This project has five objectives to achieve: The first objective is to test whether there is a difference between customer expected and perceived service quality in ICBC online banking services. Secondly, the study aims to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer satisfaction in ICBC online banking services. The third objective is to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer loyalty in ICBC online banking services. The fourth objective is to examine the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the online banking services of ICBC, investigate the current situation and give some evaluations. Finally, find out how the dealing with customer complaint in ICBC customer service department influences customer loyalty. Based on the objectives, after decides the type of investigation and research approach, five pairs of hypotheses are formulated to test the relationship between variables. The results of this study indicate that there are high positive relationship between customer perceived service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty. There is also a medium positive relationship between handle customer complaint and customer loyalty. According to these, the ICBC online banking must establish a long term strategy to improve the perceived service quality, satisfying their customer, handling customer complaint promptly in order to achieve more loyal customers. Declaration of Originality I declare that this thesis entitled â€Å"Examining the Service Quality, Customer satisfaction and Loyalty in Online Banking Services of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China† has been composed by myself and has not been presented or accepted in any previous application for a degree. The work, of which this is a record, has been carried out by myself unless otherwise stated and where the work is mine, it reflects personal views and values. All quotations have been distinguished by quotation marks and all sources of information have been acknowledged by means of references including those of the Internet. Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Overview In the past twenty years, the pace of change in financial services sector has been dramatic. The development of computer technology and information network technology has introduced a new virtual economy based on the Internet. As the Internet provides new communication channels to banking industry, the number of online banking websites increased rapidly (Aladwani, 2001). Online banking, an important part of the Internet economy, plays an increasingly important role and still has tremendous potential for development. Mols (2000) indicated that the introduction and customers’ adoption of online banking will bring a massive change in the relationship between retailing banks and customers. At the same time, the global and local competition between financial institutions has become more intense. As a result, building long-term customer relationships becomes ever more important as a part of financial institutions’ strategy. How to satisfy customers and gain customer loyalty has become one of the best means of obtaining competitive advantage. Since China’s accession to the WTO, many foreign banks have begun to do business in China. They not only brought advanced management methods and business philosophy, but also made the financial market in China more competitive. As a consequence of this competition, China’s commercial banks lost a large number of high-end customers in a short period of time. Faced with the loss of customers and the future trend of the growth of profit changing from deposits and loans to intermediary business, China’s commercial banks began to recognize the importance of improving customer satisfaction and loyalty and stepped up their efforts to compete with their foreign counterparts (www.financialnews.com.cn). Due to the increasingly competitive marketing environment, enterprises must be customer oriented (Kotler, 1997). With regarding to banking industry, the service quality is considered as the most important competitive weapon (Staford, 1996). Therefore, how to improve service quality and satisfy customer become a very important marketing strategy in banking industry. Service quality has been many researchers’ interest in recent years by the impellent of Parasuraman et al. (1985). There have been many researches identified the key factors impact on the service quality of traditional banks (Jun and Cai, 2001). However, there are few studies on the customer perceived service quality of online banking services (Broderick and Vachirapornpuk, 2002). Customer loyalty even received less attention than service quality and customer satisfaction (Caruana, 2000). The concepts of service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty are linked together (Caruana, 2000). As illustrated by Caruana (2000:611), â€Å"service quality as an antecedent construct and service loyalty as an outcome variable of customer satisfaction†. Therefore, it is important for banks to know the current performance of their services and understand the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty. In Fecikova’s (2004:57) words: â€Å"Customer satisfaction has become an important issue for commercial and public service organisations.† The standards to judge a company’s win or lose are based on how many customers they can keep. Thus, how to satisfy customers and maintain loyal customers have become important marketing strategies of Chinese online banking industry. However, no matter how well the services are designed and delivered, mistakes will happen. The majority of customers will participate in private word-of-mouth activities regarding their consumptive activities (Day and Landon, 1977). The valence of these word-of-mouth activities may be negative, neutral, or positive. When there is a difference between customer expectation and the actual performance of products or services, the negative feelings will result in complaint behaviour. Therefore, how to handle customer complaints, restore the confidence of customers and reduce the loss of customers has also been an important task to companies in the services process. 1.2 Research Objectives There are some marketing and financial literatures on the services and customer relationship of traditional banks, but few researches are done on the services quality and customer loyalty of online banking. This study presents an analysis of the service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), focuses on the relationship between services quality and customer satisfaction and loyalty, and how handle customer complaint influence customer loyalty. This project has five objectives to achieve: The first objective is to test whether there is a difference between customer expected and perceived service quality in ICBC online banking services. Secondly, the study aims to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer satisfaction in ICBC online banking services. The third objective is to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer loyalty in ICBC online banking services. The fourth objective is to examine the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the online banking services of ICBC, investigate the current situation and give some evaluations. Finally, this study aims to find out how the dealing with customer complaint in ICBC customer service department influences customer loyalty of ICBC online banking. 1.3 Structure of Project This project is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 is the overview and introduction of the research. In Chapter 2, the writer introduces the development and history of online banking services and its development in ICBC. After that, the writer reviews the relevant theories of service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty, and customer complaint, explains how they were measured and the relationship between them, which are mainly based on previous findings. Using these theories, Chapter 3 illustrates the research questions and methodology of this research, the structure of questionnaire was also introduced in this section. Chapter 4 explains the findings of this research, discussing the current situation of ICBC online banking services, examining the relationships between these variables and give some recommendations. In the final Chapter, the writer summarizes the research, discusses the findings and introduces a number of limitations of this study. This section also contains opinions and suggestions on developing the online banking in the future. Chapter 2 Review of the Literature 2.1 Introduction This chapter first introduces the overview of Chinese online banking services and the development of ICBC online banking. Secondly, the writer clarified what the service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer complaint have been covered in the previous study, indicates which factors would affect them and what kind of methods were used to measure them. In this part, the characteristics of online services and customer’s adoption of online banking services are also addressed. Finally, the relationships between these four concepts are reviewed. Bloemer et al. (1999) suggested that although the previous studies indicate that there are obvious relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, however, how strength the relationships are still not clear (Bloemer er al., 1999). Therefore, based on the literature review, the writer presents a research model for this study as well. 2.2 Background of Chinese Online Banking Services 2.2.1 Overview Online banking services are broadly defined as the ability to carry out bank transactions electronically, usually via the internet. It is an important part of the Internet economy. All business transactions are done via the banks’ websites (en.wikipedia.org). Online banking refers to several kinds of services through which bank customers can gain information and services such as money transfer, bill payment, short loan, investment, buy insurance and so on, via a page on Internet without leaving their homes or organizations (Sathye, 1999). There are several studies indicated that online banking services are the most profitable products to banks (Robinson, 2000). By eliminating the infrastructure costs associated with branch-based retail banking services. Online banking is able to offer instant service and lower service charges than their competitors. Online banking is the cheapest channel for banks to deliver services (Robinson, 2000; Giglio, 2002). Research shown that the cost of an average online banking transaction is only 10 percents of the cost of a similar average branch transaction (Kolodinsky et al., 2004). Through provide services online, banks can reduce their expenditure on hard ware and staff in branch (Karjaluoto et al., 2003). At the same time, online banking service delivery channel can also help banks to retain current customers who use online banking services from any location. As Internet has become such an efficient and world-wide used communication medium, it has also become a widely used retail channel (Cho, M. and Park, S., 2001). Furthermore, online banking provides banks opportunities to attract more customers from exiting Internet users (Rotchanakitumnuai and Speece, 2003). From the customers view, online banking services are convenient and can saving time compared with traditional retail banking services. Verma et al. (2004) suggested that customers are willing to pay more for online banking services to gain both offline value and online benefit. They can use online banking services when connect to Internet without the limitation of time and location. As illustrated by Bainbridge (2008), Traditional banking was impacted greatly by the commercialization of the Internet in the early 1990s. As the Internet became more generally accessible, traditional banks began to realize its potential to deliver services to their customers while reducing long-term operational costs. Upon realizing this, they began to offer limited services online. In 1995, the first pure online bank, the Security First Network bank was founded in the United States. It provided services such as direct access to account, bill payment and check viewing, which are quite common today (Christopher, 2008). In the following twenty years, online banking services have developed rapidly and have now become a significant part of the business for commercial banks. As in other countries, Chinese commercial banks are undergoing rapid change due to advances in information technology. Eight months after the first online bank founded in the United States, in June 1996, the Bank of China set up websites and started to provide Internet banking services to the community. One year later, China Merchant Bank launched the first fully online banking â€Å"All in one Net†. It became the first fully Internet bank in China (data.chinabyte.com). Subsequently, more and more Chinese domestic banks have set up online banking services to penetrate the market and gain competitive advantage (Li, 2002). In 2000, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China launched online banking business in 31 cities in China. As the nations largest commercial bank, the opening of its online banking business aroused widespread interest. In 2002, HSBC launched its online banking services in China (data.chinabyte.com). The number of costumers and the trading volume of online banking have increased rapidly. At the end of 2007, the trading volume of corporate online banking reached 245.8 trillion RMB, which increased 163.1% compared to 2006. In the total transaction volume, corporate online banking accounts for 93.6% which is 230 trillion RMB. However, the growth of Personal Online banking was even faster in recent years. The trading volume reached 15.8 trillion RMB at the end of 2007 which is almost four times of 2006’s 4.1 trillion RMB. The number of business customers reached 0.84 million and individual customers reached 65 million at the end of 2006 (iresearch.com.cn). At the same time, the range of services provided by online banking has also increased. Before 2000, some of the banks only provided information services. Now they provide services such as enquiry, investment advice, money transfers, buying and selling of securities, online payments and, in some banks, small loans, housing mortgage loans and other credit facilities. As the 21st century is a customer-oriented century, how to create and maintain customer has became an important part of marketing strategy of banking industry. As information technology advanced and communication channels diversified, customers can use a variety channels to acquire more complete information and choices, to achieve their own best interests. As illustrated by, customer’s role in consumer economy has changed from the recipient to products or services to the decision maker. Most banks also aware that customers are becoming a dominant position, however, how to use information technology and limited sources to achieve the best and most efficient service quality to satisfy customers, gain loyalty customers, ensure the source of profit, these have became the focus of the operation of Chinese banks. 2.2.2 Introduction of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China As the largest one of four big stated-owned commercial banks which dominate the financial markets in China. The ICBC is the leader in online banking services and is constantly introducing advanced online banking products and services to the public. The following figure illustrates its repaid growth in online banking. Figure 2.1 ICBC Online Banking Trading Volume We can see form the figure above, in 2000, ICBCs online banking trading volume amounted only RMB 2.03 trillion, in 2002 this number grew to RMB 8.77 trillion which is almost 4 times of 2000. In the following five years, the ICBC online banking trading volume kept a rapid growth rate. In 2005, it went beyond RMB 46 trillion, growing 23 times compared to that in 2000. By the end of 2007, ICBC online trading volume jumped to RMB 102.88 trillion, which is more than 50 times of 2000. At the same time, the customers of ICBC online banking grew rapidly. At the end of 2007, ICBC Online banking has had 980,000 business customers and 39.08 million individual customers (icbc.com.cn). As illustrated in figure 2, the individual customers of ICBC online banking kept an continued rapid growth from 0.2 million in 2000 to 48.5 million in June of 2008. Currently, ICBC online banking provides a variety of services; customers can transfer money, pay bills, buy stocks or bonds, change foreign currency and so on. It has been very successful and has won various awards in China. It is also widely recognized and respected in the international banking sector. In every year from 2003 to 2006, ICBC was granted the â€Å"Best Personal Internet Bank of China† award by Global Finance. All these have established ICBC as a leader in e-banking in China and have put it among the top financial players in the international arena (icbc.com.cn). 2.3 Introduction to Service 2.3.1 Definition of Service According to Kotler and Keller (2006:374), â€Å"services are intangible, inseparable, variable and perishable products†. Therefore, services require more quality control than products. Financial services are services directed specifically at people’s money or wealth, they are concern with organizations, individuals and their finances (Ennew and Waite, 2007). Nowadays there are a whole range of finance services, such as banking services, credit cards, insurance, foreign exchange, stock and bonds trading and so on. 2.3.2 Characteristics of Service In the earlier marketing literature, Gummesson (1987) suggested that â€Å"services are something that can be bought and sole but which you cannot drop on your foot.† Basically, services are process or experiences (Bateson, 1977; Bowen and Schneider, 1988; Parasuraman et al., 1985). We cannot own a bank account as we own a car, but we have the right to use the bank account doing various financial transactions on our behalf by banks. According to Kotler and Keller (2006), services have for distinctive characteristics which are intangibility, inseparability, variability and perishability. Most services are intangible (Beteson, 1977). They cannot be counted, measured and verified before sale to assure quality. Thus the company may find it difficult to understand the consumers’ evaluation of service quality (Zenthaml, 1981). Ennew and Waite (2007) suggested that services are heterogeneity because service performance different from customer to customer. The performance of services may be totally different from the customer’s perception. Those characters of services indicate that quality of services is more difficult to evaluate than products. Although these are widely used in services marketing, many researchers have different thoughts. Loverloch and Gummesson (2004) argue that this framework has weaknesses, such as intangibility which is ambiguous, they suggested that many services also involve some tangible elements and outcomes. Vargo and Lush (2004) also highlight the inability of this framework to distinguish between goods and services. 2.4 Introduction to Service Quality 2.4.1 Definition of Service Quality Marketing literature has provided many definitions of service quality. Before 1980’s, most research of quality focused on how to define and measure the quality of tangible products. As the service industry developed vigorously, more and more scholars did lots of exploration and study about service quality. However, due to the characteristics of intangible, heterogeneous, perishable and indivisibility, service is hard to define, measure and control (Crosby, 1979). According to the American Society for Quality (Miller, C., 1993), â€Å"quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs†. Levitt (1972) suggested that services quality refers to the results of services can meet the standards set by the customers. Sasser and Olsen (1978) defined services quality from materials, equipment and personnel. This classification suggests that service quality not only including the final results, but also including the provision of services. Gronoroos (1982) firstly proposed the concept of perceived service quality, he suggested that service quality generated from the comparison between expected service quality and the experienced service quality. According to Lewis and Boom (1983), service quality is the consistency of the transfer of service and expectations of service. Customer’s perceptions of quality usually come from their comparison between expected and perceived quality. The result of this comparison is, when the perceived quality is higher than expected quality, customer will get good quality of service or satisfaction with it (Parasuraman, et. al, 1985). Six years later, they pointed out that service quality is a psychological assessment that is measured by customers according to the gap between the expectation and actual service quality (Parasuraman, et. al, 1991). However, Stewart, Hope and Muhlemann (1998) suggested that service quality should be distanced by who provide the service and how they provide it. The former is evaluated after the service, while the latter is evaluated in the process of deliver service. Sarsser et al. (1998) argued that service quality should be defined through three factors which are materials, equipment and person. They suggested service quality not only include the results, but also include the provision of services. Service level and service quality are similar, service level can be divided into expected service level and perceived service level (Sarsser et al., 1998). In recent years, the definition of service quality improved towards customer factor. Harrison (2000) described that service quality is basically concerned with meeting customer’s need and requirements and how well the service level delivered meets customer expectations. Zeithaml and Bitner (2000) argue that there are two levels of customer expectations, desired service and adequate service. The former is defined as the â€Å"wish for† level of service performance, while the latter is defined as the basic service expectations. According to Kim et al. (1998), financial institutions always provide generally undifferentiated services to customer. Therefore, service quality becomes the most important factor. 2.4.2 Dimensions of Service Quality Marketing literature provide many views of the measurement dimensions of services quality. Sasser et al. (1978) suggested that there are three different dimensions of service performance: levels of material, facilities, and personnel. Gronroos (1982) divided service quality into two types: technical quality and functional quality. The former refers to what customers are actually receiving from the service , the latter refers to the process in which the service is delivered. Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1982) argued that service quality has three dimensions physical quality, such as equipment; corporate quality, such as company’s image; interactive quality, which means the interaction 74bb1v8140customers. Parasuraman et al (1985) suggested there are ten dimensions of service quality, which are reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding the customer and tangibles. After further study, they improved these to five dimensions: reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurances, tangibles (Parasuraman et al., 1988). Figure 2.3 illustrates the structure of their finding. Source: Parasuraman et al., (1985,1988) Brady and Cronin (2001) presented a service quality model of three dimensions: interaction quality, physical environment quality and outcome quality. Interaction quality refers to the interaction between customer and employee in the process of service delivery. It is impacted by attitude, behavior and expertise. Physical environment refers to customer’s evaluation of physical facilities or building design. Outcome quality indicates the result of services (Brady and Cronin, 2001). 2.4.3 Importance of Service Quality With the development of world economy and the pace of globalisation, most markets have been very competitive, in order to survive, companies need to provide good quality services to satisfy and retain loyalty customers (Fecikova, 2004). According to Broderick and Vachirapornpuk (2002), not only the technology changes overtime, customer expectation and perception of online services also changes continuously. Therefore, service quality will become a very important issue to online banks. Nowadays, as the process of globalization has made the market competition in financial industry more and more intense. Customers have been considered as the most importance to service industry (MacDonald et al, 2000). At the same time, customers’ expectations of service quality are constantly increase, while their tolerance of poor services is constantly decline (Smith and Lewis, 1989). Therefore, it is increasingly difficult for the company to success in the competitive market. Only the company which provide better services than others can gain competitive advantage in the market and gain more customers (Gronroos, 1990). Easingwood and Storey (1993) suggested that service quality is the most important factor for the success of financial industry. Therefore, providing high quality services to customers is important for a bank to success and survival in today’s competitive market (Wang et al., 2003). 2.4.4 Measuring Service Quality As service quality directly relates with customer satisfaction, more and more company concern measuring service quality an important task. According to Baggs and Kleiner (1999:36), â€Å"The measurement of customer service is the most important variable that a company has to manage. Customer service includes the overall picture that an organisation presents to the public.† Due to the characteristics of intangible, heterogeneous, perishable and indivisibility, service is hard to measure and control (Crosby, 1979). Gronoroos (1984) suggested that service quality should be measured by compare the customer perception and expectation of services. However, most of service quality studies have been focused on the development of instruments to measure service quality directly. Cronin Taylor (1992) argue and change this method to a comparison of performance with ideal standards, or from performance perceptions only. Their performance is mostly based on employees. Customers’ evaluation of service quality is influenced by their interactions with the employees. Recently, most researchers agree that services comprise of an outcome, which is an achievement of some end by the customer, and a process, which is the interaction customer-service provider (Blanchard Galloway 1994). Recent research suggested that to measure service quality, not only the performance of service should be measured, the process of the service delivery should be considered as well. To check the influences for service process to their perceptions; Rust and Oliver (1994) presented the three component model to indicate the influence of service process to service quality. From the figure 2.4, it clearly be seen that there are three factors deciding the perceived service quality, they are service product, service delivery and service environment. This theory support the importance of service delivery, for actual outcome quality only one of the three factors. SERVQUAL Model SERVQUAL model is the most widely used method to measure service quality both in academic research and business analysis. Parasuraman et. al (1985) formulated a service quality model which highlighted the requirements for deliver high service quality. The model identifies five gaps that may cause unsuccessful services delivery. There are five gaps in this model. Gap 1 is the gap between consumer expectation and management perception. Gap 2 is the gap between management perception and service quality specification. Gap 3 is the gap between service quality specification and service delivery. Gap 4 is the gap between service delivery and external communication. Gap 5 is the gap between perceived service and expected service. Source: Parasuraman et al. (1985:44). Based on this research, Parasuraman et. al (1985) identify ten factors which determine the services quality. These determinants were: Tangibles Reliability Responsiveness Competency Courtesy Communication Credibility Security Access Understanding the customer Parasuraman et al. (1988) furthered the service delivery process and established a SERVOQUAL service quality analytical framework which includes five factors: Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, and Empathy(Zeithaml et al, 1990). Tangibles. All physical elements of the provision of service by banks. It includes the building, decoration, equipment, personnel, publications, visible materials, etc. Reliability. He extent to which repeated use of the product or service satisfies customers requirements of it. It creates a level of trust by the customer in the services and products provided by banks and it directly affects customer perceptions of brand, economic strength, the levels of professionalism of staff and the quality of products. Responsiveness. The speed the company responds to the requirements of customer. Typically, this is a function of the willingness of bank staff to provide the necessary services when requested by customers. It not only embodies the attitude of a bank’s service and work efficiency, but also demonstrates the difference in quality compared with the inter-bank service. Assurance. This is the customers feeling that bank staff are fully capable of dealing with problems in the course of their work. Empathy. This is a measure of the extent to which the supplier identifies the customers problems as also being their own problems and the willingness with which they take those problems on board for resolution. Typically it would include providing customers with personalized product portfolios in line with their personal needs and aspirations. Based on these five factors, they developed a 22 items scale to measure service quality. The following table illustrates the details. ries. Carman (1990) suggested adding certain dimensions which are differentially important in different industry. Cronin and Taylor (1992) argued that SERVQUAL model was not appropriate in their study of banking and fast food industries. Another criticism i Service Quality in ICBC Service Quality in ICBC Abstract The development of computer technology and information network technology has brought massive challenges to financial services organizations. Online banking, which provides financial services to customers via Internet, plays an increasingly important role and still has tremendous potential for development. At the same time, the global and local competition between financial institutions has become more intense. Therefore, as the biggest commercial bank in China, it is very important for the managers of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to build a long-term customer relationship. This project has five objectives to achieve: The first objective is to test whether there is a difference between customer expected and perceived service quality in ICBC online banking services. Secondly, the study aims to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer satisfaction in ICBC online banking services. The third objective is to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer loyalty in ICBC online banking services. The fourth objective is to examine the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the online banking services of ICBC, investigate the current situation and give some evaluations. Finally, find out how the dealing with customer complaint in ICBC customer service department influences customer loyalty. Based on the objectives, after decides the type of investigation and research approach, five pairs of hypotheses are formulated to test the relationship between variables. The results of this study indicate that there are high positive relationship between customer perceived service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty. There is also a medium positive relationship between handle customer complaint and customer loyalty. According to these, the ICBC online banking must establish a long term strategy to improve the perceived service quality, satisfying their customer, handling customer complaint promptly in order to achieve more loyal customers. Declaration of Originality I declare that this thesis entitled â€Å"Examining the Service Quality, Customer satisfaction and Loyalty in Online Banking Services of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China† has been composed by myself and has not been presented or accepted in any previous application for a degree. The work, of which this is a record, has been carried out by myself unless otherwise stated and where the work is mine, it reflects personal views and values. All quotations have been distinguished by quotation marks and all sources of information have been acknowledged by means of references including those of the Internet. Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Overview In the past twenty years, the pace of change in financial services sector has been dramatic. The development of computer technology and information network technology has introduced a new virtual economy based on the Internet. As the Internet provides new communication channels to banking industry, the number of online banking websites increased rapidly (Aladwani, 2001). Online banking, an important part of the Internet economy, plays an increasingly important role and still has tremendous potential for development. Mols (2000) indicated that the introduction and customers’ adoption of online banking will bring a massive change in the relationship between retailing banks and customers. At the same time, the global and local competition between financial institutions has become more intense. As a result, building long-term customer relationships becomes ever more important as a part of financial institutions’ strategy. How to satisfy customers and gain customer loyalty has become one of the best means of obtaining competitive advantage. Since China’s accession to the WTO, many foreign banks have begun to do business in China. They not only brought advanced management methods and business philosophy, but also made the financial market in China more competitive. As a consequence of this competition, China’s commercial banks lost a large number of high-end customers in a short period of time. Faced with the loss of customers and the future trend of the growth of profit changing from deposits and loans to intermediary business, China’s commercial banks began to recognize the importance of improving customer satisfaction and loyalty and stepped up their efforts to compete with their foreign counterparts (www.financialnews.com.cn). Due to the increasingly competitive marketing environment, enterprises must be customer oriented (Kotler, 1997). With regarding to banking industry, the service quality is considered as the most important competitive weapon (Staford, 1996). Therefore, how to improve service quality and satisfy customer become a very important marketing strategy in banking industry. Service quality has been many researchers’ interest in recent years by the impellent of Parasuraman et al. (1985). There have been many researches identified the key factors impact on the service quality of traditional banks (Jun and Cai, 2001). However, there are few studies on the customer perceived service quality of online banking services (Broderick and Vachirapornpuk, 2002). Customer loyalty even received less attention than service quality and customer satisfaction (Caruana, 2000). The concepts of service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty are linked together (Caruana, 2000). As illustrated by Caruana (2000:611), â€Å"service quality as an antecedent construct and service loyalty as an outcome variable of customer satisfaction†. Therefore, it is important for banks to know the current performance of their services and understand the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty. In Fecikova’s (2004:57) words: â€Å"Customer satisfaction has become an important issue for commercial and public service organisations.† The standards to judge a company’s win or lose are based on how many customers they can keep. Thus, how to satisfy customers and maintain loyal customers have become important marketing strategies of Chinese online banking industry. However, no matter how well the services are designed and delivered, mistakes will happen. The majority of customers will participate in private word-of-mouth activities regarding their consumptive activities (Day and Landon, 1977). The valence of these word-of-mouth activities may be negative, neutral, or positive. When there is a difference between customer expectation and the actual performance of products or services, the negative feelings will result in complaint behaviour. Therefore, how to handle customer complaints, restore the confidence of customers and reduce the loss of customers has also been an important task to companies in the services process. 1.2 Research Objectives There are some marketing and financial literatures on the services and customer relationship of traditional banks, but few researches are done on the services quality and customer loyalty of online banking. This study presents an analysis of the service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), focuses on the relationship between services quality and customer satisfaction and loyalty, and how handle customer complaint influence customer loyalty. This project has five objectives to achieve: The first objective is to test whether there is a difference between customer expected and perceived service quality in ICBC online banking services. Secondly, the study aims to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer satisfaction in ICBC online banking services. The third objective is to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer loyalty in ICBC online banking services. The fourth objective is to examine the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the online banking services of ICBC, investigate the current situation and give some evaluations. Finally, this study aims to find out how the dealing with customer complaint in ICBC customer service department influences customer loyalty of ICBC online banking. 1.3 Structure of Project This project is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 is the overview and introduction of the research. In Chapter 2, the writer introduces the development and history of online banking services and its development in ICBC. After that, the writer reviews the relevant theories of service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty, and customer complaint, explains how they were measured and the relationship between them, which are mainly based on previous findings. Using these theories, Chapter 3 illustrates the research questions and methodology of this research, the structure of questionnaire was also introduced in this section. Chapter 4 explains the findings of this research, discussing the current situation of ICBC online banking services, examining the relationships between these variables and give some recommendations. In the final Chapter, the writer summarizes the research, discusses the findings and introduces a number of limitations of this study. This section also contains opinions and suggestions on developing the online banking in the future. Chapter 2 Review of the Literature 2.1 Introduction This chapter first introduces the overview of Chinese online banking services and the development of ICBC online banking. Secondly, the writer clarified what the service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer complaint have been covered in the previous study, indicates which factors would affect them and what kind of methods were used to measure them. In this part, the characteristics of online services and customer’s adoption of online banking services are also addressed. Finally, the relationships between these four concepts are reviewed. Bloemer et al. (1999) suggested that although the previous studies indicate that there are obvious relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, however, how strength the relationships are still not clear (Bloemer er al., 1999). Therefore, based on the literature review, the writer presents a research model for this study as well. 2.2 Background of Chinese Online Banking Services 2.2.1 Overview Online banking services are broadly defined as the ability to carry out bank transactions electronically, usually via the internet. It is an important part of the Internet economy. All business transactions are done via the banks’ websites (en.wikipedia.org). Online banking refers to several kinds of services through which bank customers can gain information and services such as money transfer, bill payment, short loan, investment, buy insurance and so on, via a page on Internet without leaving their homes or organizations (Sathye, 1999). There are several studies indicated that online banking services are the most profitable products to banks (Robinson, 2000). By eliminating the infrastructure costs associated with branch-based retail banking services. Online banking is able to offer instant service and lower service charges than their competitors. Online banking is the cheapest channel for banks to deliver services (Robinson, 2000; Giglio, 2002). Research shown that the cost of an average online banking transaction is only 10 percents of the cost of a similar average branch transaction (Kolodinsky et al., 2004). Through provide services online, banks can reduce their expenditure on hard ware and staff in branch (Karjaluoto et al., 2003). At the same time, online banking service delivery channel can also help banks to retain current customers who use online banking services from any location. As Internet has become such an efficient and world-wide used communication medium, it has also become a widely used retail channel (Cho, M. and Park, S., 2001). Furthermore, online banking provides banks opportunities to attract more customers from exiting Internet users (Rotchanakitumnuai and Speece, 2003). From the customers view, online banking services are convenient and can saving time compared with traditional retail banking services. Verma et al. (2004) suggested that customers are willing to pay more for online banking services to gain both offline value and online benefit. They can use online banking services when connect to Internet without the limitation of time and location. As illustrated by Bainbridge (2008), Traditional banking was impacted greatly by the commercialization of the Internet in the early 1990s. As the Internet became more generally accessible, traditional banks began to realize its potential to deliver services to their customers while reducing long-term operational costs. Upon realizing this, they began to offer limited services online. In 1995, the first pure online bank, the Security First Network bank was founded in the United States. It provided services such as direct access to account, bill payment and check viewing, which are quite common today (Christopher, 2008). In the following twenty years, online banking services have developed rapidly and have now become a significant part of the business for commercial banks. As in other countries, Chinese commercial banks are undergoing rapid change due to advances in information technology. Eight months after the first online bank founded in the United States, in June 1996, the Bank of China set up websites and started to provide Internet banking services to the community. One year later, China Merchant Bank launched the first fully online banking â€Å"All in one Net†. It became the first fully Internet bank in China (data.chinabyte.com). Subsequently, more and more Chinese domestic banks have set up online banking services to penetrate the market and gain competitive advantage (Li, 2002). In 2000, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China launched online banking business in 31 cities in China. As the nations largest commercial bank, the opening of its online banking business aroused widespread interest. In 2002, HSBC launched its online banking services in China (data.chinabyte.com). The number of costumers and the trading volume of online banking have increased rapidly. At the end of 2007, the trading volume of corporate online banking reached 245.8 trillion RMB, which increased 163.1% compared to 2006. In the total transaction volume, corporate online banking accounts for 93.6% which is 230 trillion RMB. However, the growth of Personal Online banking was even faster in recent years. The trading volume reached 15.8 trillion RMB at the end of 2007 which is almost four times of 2006’s 4.1 trillion RMB. The number of business customers reached 0.84 million and individual customers reached 65 million at the end of 2006 (iresearch.com.cn). At the same time, the range of services provided by online banking has also increased. Before 2000, some of the banks only provided information services. Now they provide services such as enquiry, investment advice, money transfers, buying and selling of securities, online payments and, in some banks, small loans, housing mortgage loans and other credit facilities. As the 21st century is a customer-oriented century, how to create and maintain customer has became an important part of marketing strategy of banking industry. As information technology advanced and communication channels diversified, customers can use a variety channels to acquire more complete information and choices, to achieve their own best interests. As illustrated by, customer’s role in consumer economy has changed from the recipient to products or services to the decision maker. Most banks also aware that customers are becoming a dominant position, however, how to use information technology and limited sources to achieve the best and most efficient service quality to satisfy customers, gain loyalty customers, ensure the source of profit, these have became the focus of the operation of Chinese banks. 2.2.2 Introduction of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China As the largest one of four big stated-owned commercial banks which dominate the financial markets in China. The ICBC is the leader in online banking services and is constantly introducing advanced online banking products and services to the public. The following figure illustrates its repaid growth in online banking. Figure 2.1 ICBC Online Banking Trading Volume We can see form the figure above, in 2000, ICBCs online banking trading volume amounted only RMB 2.03 trillion, in 2002 this number grew to RMB 8.77 trillion which is almost 4 times of 2000. In the following five years, the ICBC online banking trading volume kept a rapid growth rate. In 2005, it went beyond RMB 46 trillion, growing 23 times compared to that in 2000. By the end of 2007, ICBC online trading volume jumped to RMB 102.88 trillion, which is more than 50 times of 2000. At the same time, the customers of ICBC online banking grew rapidly. At the end of 2007, ICBC Online banking has had 980,000 business customers and 39.08 million individual customers (icbc.com.cn). As illustrated in figure 2, the individual customers of ICBC online banking kept an continued rapid growth from 0.2 million in 2000 to 48.5 million in June of 2008. Currently, ICBC online banking provides a variety of services; customers can transfer money, pay bills, buy stocks or bonds, change foreign currency and so on. It has been very successful and has won various awards in China. It is also widely recognized and respected in the international banking sector. In every year from 2003 to 2006, ICBC was granted the â€Å"Best Personal Internet Bank of China† award by Global Finance. All these have established ICBC as a leader in e-banking in China and have put it among the top financial players in the international arena (icbc.com.cn). 2.3 Introduction to Service 2.3.1 Definition of Service According to Kotler and Keller (2006:374), â€Å"services are intangible, inseparable, variable and perishable products†. Therefore, services require more quality control than products. Financial services are services directed specifically at people’s money or wealth, they are concern with organizations, individuals and their finances (Ennew and Waite, 2007). Nowadays there are a whole range of finance services, such as banking services, credit cards, insurance, foreign exchange, stock and bonds trading and so on. 2.3.2 Characteristics of Service In the earlier marketing literature, Gummesson (1987) suggested that â€Å"services are something that can be bought and sole but which you cannot drop on your foot.† Basically, services are process or experiences (Bateson, 1977; Bowen and Schneider, 1988; Parasuraman et al., 1985). We cannot own a bank account as we own a car, but we have the right to use the bank account doing various financial transactions on our behalf by banks. According to Kotler and Keller (2006), services have for distinctive characteristics which are intangibility, inseparability, variability and perishability. Most services are intangible (Beteson, 1977). They cannot be counted, measured and verified before sale to assure quality. Thus the company may find it difficult to understand the consumers’ evaluation of service quality (Zenthaml, 1981). Ennew and Waite (2007) suggested that services are heterogeneity because service performance different from customer to customer. The performance of services may be totally different from the customer’s perception. Those characters of services indicate that quality of services is more difficult to evaluate than products. Although these are widely used in services marketing, many researchers have different thoughts. Loverloch and Gummesson (2004) argue that this framework has weaknesses, such as intangibility which is ambiguous, they suggested that many services also involve some tangible elements and outcomes. Vargo and Lush (2004) also highlight the inability of this framework to distinguish between goods and services. 2.4 Introduction to Service Quality 2.4.1 Definition of Service Quality Marketing literature has provided many definitions of service quality. Before 1980’s, most research of quality focused on how to define and measure the quality of tangible products. As the service industry developed vigorously, more and more scholars did lots of exploration and study about service quality. However, due to the characteristics of intangible, heterogeneous, perishable and indivisibility, service is hard to define, measure and control (Crosby, 1979). According to the American Society for Quality (Miller, C., 1993), â€Å"quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs†. Levitt (1972) suggested that services quality refers to the results of services can meet the standards set by the customers. Sasser and Olsen (1978) defined services quality from materials, equipment and personnel. This classification suggests that service quality not only including the final results, but also including the provision of services. Gronoroos (1982) firstly proposed the concept of perceived service quality, he suggested that service quality generated from the comparison between expected service quality and the experienced service quality. According to Lewis and Boom (1983), service quality is the consistency of the transfer of service and expectations of service. Customer’s perceptions of quality usually come from their comparison between expected and perceived quality. The result of this comparison is, when the perceived quality is higher than expected quality, customer will get good quality of service or satisfaction with it (Parasuraman, et. al, 1985). Six years later, they pointed out that service quality is a psychological assessment that is measured by customers according to the gap between the expectation and actual service quality (Parasuraman, et. al, 1991). However, Stewart, Hope and Muhlemann (1998) suggested that service quality should be distanced by who provide the service and how they provide it. The former is evaluated after the service, while the latter is evaluated in the process of deliver service. Sarsser et al. (1998) argued that service quality should be defined through three factors which are materials, equipment and person. They suggested service quality not only include the results, but also include the provision of services. Service level and service quality are similar, service level can be divided into expected service level and perceived service level (Sarsser et al., 1998). In recent years, the definition of service quality improved towards customer factor. Harrison (2000) described that service quality is basically concerned with meeting customer’s need and requirements and how well the service level delivered meets customer expectations. Zeithaml and Bitner (2000) argue that there are two levels of customer expectations, desired service and adequate service. The former is defined as the â€Å"wish for† level of service performance, while the latter is defined as the basic service expectations. According to Kim et al. (1998), financial institutions always provide generally undifferentiated services to customer. Therefore, service quality becomes the most important factor. 2.4.2 Dimensions of Service Quality Marketing literature provide many views of the measurement dimensions of services quality. Sasser et al. (1978) suggested that there are three different dimensions of service performance: levels of material, facilities, and personnel. Gronroos (1982) divided service quality into two types: technical quality and functional quality. The former refers to what customers are actually receiving from the service , the latter refers to the process in which the service is delivered. Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1982) argued that service quality has three dimensions physical quality, such as equipment; corporate quality, such as company’s image; interactive quality, which means the interaction 74bb1v8140customers. Parasuraman et al (1985) suggested there are ten dimensions of service quality, which are reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding the customer and tangibles. After further study, they improved these to five dimensions: reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurances, tangibles (Parasuraman et al., 1988). Figure 2.3 illustrates the structure of their finding. Source: Parasuraman et al., (1985,1988) Brady and Cronin (2001) presented a service quality model of three dimensions: interaction quality, physical environment quality and outcome quality. Interaction quality refers to the interaction between customer and employee in the process of service delivery. It is impacted by attitude, behavior and expertise. Physical environment refers to customer’s evaluation of physical facilities or building design. Outcome quality indicates the result of services (Brady and Cronin, 2001). 2.4.3 Importance of Service Quality With the development of world economy and the pace of globalisation, most markets have been very competitive, in order to survive, companies need to provide good quality services to satisfy and retain loyalty customers (Fecikova, 2004). According to Broderick and Vachirapornpuk (2002), not only the technology changes overtime, customer expectation and perception of online services also changes continuously. Therefore, service quality will become a very important issue to online banks. Nowadays, as the process of globalization has made the market competition in financial industry more and more intense. Customers have been considered as the most importance to service industry (MacDonald et al, 2000). At the same time, customers’ expectations of service quality are constantly increase, while their tolerance of poor services is constantly decline (Smith and Lewis, 1989). Therefore, it is increasingly difficult for the company to success in the competitive market. Only the company which provide better services than others can gain competitive advantage in the market and gain more customers (Gronroos, 1990). Easingwood and Storey (1993) suggested that service quality is the most important factor for the success of financial industry. Therefore, providing high quality services to customers is important for a bank to success and survival in today’s competitive market (Wang et al., 2003). 2.4.4 Measuring Service Quality As service quality directly relates with customer satisfaction, more and more company concern measuring service quality an important task. According to Baggs and Kleiner (1999:36), â€Å"The measurement of customer service is the most important variable that a company has to manage. Customer service includes the overall picture that an organisation presents to the public.† Due to the characteristics of intangible, heterogeneous, perishable and indivisibility, service is hard to measure and control (Crosby, 1979). Gronoroos (1984) suggested that service quality should be measured by compare the customer perception and expectation of services. However, most of service quality studies have been focused on the development of instruments to measure service quality directly. Cronin Taylor (1992) argue and change this method to a comparison of performance with ideal standards, or from performance perceptions only. Their performance is mostly based on employees. Customers’ evaluation of service quality is influenced by their interactions with the employees. Recently, most researchers agree that services comprise of an outcome, which is an achievement of some end by the customer, and a process, which is the interaction customer-service provider (Blanchard Galloway 1994). Recent research suggested that to measure service quality, not only the performance of service should be measured, the process of the service delivery should be considered as well. To check the influences for service process to their perceptions; Rust and Oliver (1994) presented the three component model to indicate the influence of service process to service quality. From the figure 2.4, it clearly be seen that there are three factors deciding the perceived service quality, they are service product, service delivery and service environment. This theory support the importance of service delivery, for actual outcome quality only one of the three factors. SERVQUAL Model SERVQUAL model is the most widely used method to measure service quality both in academic research and business analysis. Parasuraman et. al (1985) formulated a service quality model which highlighted the requirements for deliver high service quality. The model identifies five gaps that may cause unsuccessful services delivery. There are five gaps in this model. Gap 1 is the gap between consumer expectation and management perception. Gap 2 is the gap between management perception and service quality specification. Gap 3 is the gap between service quality specification and service delivery. Gap 4 is the gap between service delivery and external communication. Gap 5 is the gap between perceived service and expected service. Source: Parasuraman et al. (1985:44). Based on this research, Parasuraman et. al (1985) identify ten factors which determine the services quality. These determinants were: Tangibles Reliability Responsiveness Competency Courtesy Communication Credibility Security Access Understanding the customer Parasuraman et al. (1988) furthered the service delivery process and established a SERVOQUAL service quality analytical framework which includes five factors: Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, and Empathy(Zeithaml et al, 1990). Tangibles. All physical elements of the provision of service by banks. It includes the building, decoration, equipment, personnel, publications, visible materials, etc. Reliability. He extent to which repeated use of the product or service satisfies customers requirements of it. It creates a level of trust by the customer in the services and products provided by banks and it directly affects customer perceptions of brand, economic strength, the levels of professionalism of staff and the quality of products. Responsiveness. The speed the company responds to the requirements of customer. Typically, this is a function of the willingness of bank staff to provide the necessary services when requested by customers. It not only embodies the attitude of a bank’s service and work efficiency, but also demonstrates the difference in quality compared with the inter-bank service. Assurance. This is the customers feeling that bank staff are fully capable of dealing with problems in the course of their work. Empathy. This is a measure of the extent to which the supplier identifies the customers problems as also being their own problems and the willingness with which they take those problems on board for resolution. Typically it would include providing customers with personalized product portfolios in line with their personal needs and aspirations. Based on these five factors, they developed a 22 items scale to measure service quality. The following table illustrates the details. ries. Carman (1990) suggested adding certain dimensions which are differentially important in different industry. Cronin and Taylor (1992) argued that SERVQUAL model was not appropriate in their study of banking and fast food industries. Another criticism i

Passive Resistance as a Powerful Tool for Social and Political Change E

Passive Resistance as a Powerful Tool for Social and Political Change Passive resistance, simply defined as â€Å"peaceful resistance by fasting or refusing to cooperate,† (hyper-dictionary) is a complex issue, and potent tool to attain a means through absolutely zero violence. As Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi, have argued, passive resistance is a noble means to a peaceful end, in which only the followers of a movement risk themselves and bring no harm to those whom they oppose. â€Å"Passive resistance,† according to Mahatma Gandhi, â€Å"is an all sided sword; it can be used anyhow; it blesses him who uses it and him against whom it is used. Without drawing a drop of blood it produces far-reaching results. It never rusts and cannot be stolen.† Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi both knew that police forces could not stifle those who would not fight against them. Likewise, no matter how powerful a government, the hearts of those fighting for a just cause could not be quelled. Others are also moved by those who fight passionat ely for their cause without using violence, and that independence from those who oppress is a key to developing a change in social and political structure. While soldiers are easily rallied to fight an enemy who will kill one of their own, they cannot be so easily pressured to kill innocents who merely oppose them without ever resorting to violence. It is a basic human instinct to react to a physical threat, (usually by eliminating it) but if no physical threat exists, it is impossible to justify the elimination of a life. Police forces are faced with this dilemma when encountering passive resisters. Although passive resisters may be in the way of a regime, government, or society, it is hardly justifiable to us... ...fully. Martin Luther King Jr. helped bring peace and equal right to the most powerful nation in the world. Mahatma Gandhi helped India gain independence from Great Britain and thus helped in the molding of the largest democracy in the world. Mahatma Gandhi held no truth to be stronger than the fact that passive resistance, is the only just battle to be fought. Because people feel for others, â€Å"Self sacrifice of one innocent man is a million times more potent than the sacrifice of a million men who die in the act of killing others. The willing sacrifice of the innocent is the most powerful retort to insolent tyranny that has yet been conceived by God or man.† Works Cited - Mahatma Gandhi, â€Å"The gospel of Satyagraha† - Martin Luther King Jr. â€Å"I’ve been to the Mountaintop† - Henry David Thoreau, â€Å"Civil Disobedience† - Hyper dictionary, www.dictionary.com

The Red Room :: English Literature

The Red Room I am writing an essay, based on the story ‘The Red Room’, and will try to explain what makes it such a good mystery story. Some of the main reasons for why it’s a great story include the vocabulary and words the author has used and the setting that the story is created in. The author uses gothic language, giving the story more suspense; he also sets the story in a haunted setting which builds up tension. The story was written by HG Wells, between the turn of the 20th century. HG Wells was an English author and a political philosopher; he was most famous for his science fiction romances. Wells gets across his ideas of the red room in many ways throughout the story. ‘The Red room’ belongs to the gothic genre. A gothic novel emphasises mystery and horror and it is filled with ghost haunted rooms, just as ‘The Red Room’ does. They also have underground passages, secret stair ways and so on. The genre builds up a mount of tension in the story where the description of the house gives the impression that it is old and abandoned. The old woman says, ‘eight and twenty years you have lived and never seen the likes of this house’. This illustrates that the house must be historic and it could also be decaying. The story of ‘The Red Room’ is written in first person, this suggests that the reader believes it’s from personal experience and knows what they’re feeling. At the beginning of the story, the main character (also the narrator) is open minded and sure of himself. He believes that there are no ghosts. He is very cynical, which is shown when he refuses to believe what the three old pensioners tell him. The anonymous character is referred to as `I’ as we don’t know how these pensioners know him or who he is. This leaves him with no identity, making readers think he’s mysterious. The character says ‘I can assure you said I, that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me.’ The author uses very expressive words in his writing and uses the adjective `tangible’; this means you can touch the ghost. You cannot touch ghosts genuinely and this is why the author uses this adjective, because the character believes ghosts are not real. The character feels unsure when the three old pensioners make him feel uncomfortable. He says `the three old pensioners made me feel uncomfortable.' This explains that the character is not made to feel at ease. It also brings out that the old pensioners are quite

Can Culture Be Caught or Taught Essay

A culture of an organization includes the norms, feelings, beliefs, attitudes, collective experiences, history, assumptions and values of an organization. Culture is something a new executive senses even before his first day on the job. That is, new employees are told ‘how things are around here’ by their colleagues and their team-leaders. â€Å"Caught and not taught† means you learn values or behaviors from the people that practice them, instead of by being told. You â€Å"catch† such values by seeing them lived. For example, if you were told (or â€Å"taught†) by someone, â€Å"You ought to live a certain way† (but you saw them not being a very good example of their teaching), chances are you won’t â€Å"catch† or consistently practice that value. On the other hand, if you see someone consistently living out what they believe, you might â€Å"catch† it. If their modeling of those values is powerful enough, their values c an be caught. The amount of catching and the amount of teaching is a balancing act that depends on any organizations existing culture (how entrenched it is, how far removed from the culture you need etc.), the degree of change that is required to make it happen and then the stage that you are going through. E.g. you will do more teaching in the early stages of rolling out a culture, but less when it is clear that influential people (top managers, team leaders etc.) have caught the gist of it and are out there passing it around. There is a well-known saying â€Å"You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink† Building a company culture is the aspect of strategic business planning that most employers feel is most important to their business. Companies that truly live their corporate cultures are higher performing and better places to work than companies that lack them. The 10 reasons why it’s important for a company to pay close attention to its solid corporate cult ure: 1.Generates positive public relations. Free PR creates visibility for a company. 2.Attracts ideal candidates. If the company’s corporate culture permeates everything from the way meetings are conducted to the format for the bios on the company’s Web site, candidates will know if they are a good fit. 3.Repels undesirable candidates. Without a clear corporate culture, undesirable candidates might join the company only to find months later that they do not fit in. 4.Rejects poor hires. Firing an employee is painful both financially and emotionally. Employees who are out of sync are often unproductive underperformers; they also disturb the established culture. 5.Fosters company loyalty. Employees who are a fit with the corporate culture will quickly integrate with the team and find their stride. This combination of ease and teamwork fosters employee loyalty. Loyal employees perform better, are more productive, are willing to exert extra efforts and are likely to influence others in a positive way, will spread po sitive energy throughout the office and attract top talent through word-of-mouth advertising. 6.Encourages dialogue between employees and management. A clear corporate culture opens the lines of communication for employees and employers to discuss what employees really want and what management expects of them, utilizing the right combination of coaching, knowledge and skills that focus on high performance. It communicates to employees what they need to do if they want to fit in, survive and become successful within the organization. 7.Facilitates creation of relevant benefits packages. When employers know what their employees really want, they can offer benefits that are customized to suit their employees’ needs. The benefits a company offers should be tied directly to what the employees want, making them a great recruiting and retention tool. 8.De-emphasizes the importance of cash compensation. A thriving corporate culture that fosters loyalty and provides intangible benefits to employees, such as work that is fulfilling and leaders they respect and trust, can actually reduce employee demands for higher compensation. 9.Encourages utilization of technology for productivity improvement. Leverage personalized, interoffice technologies that are customized to suit the company’s specific needs to save time, improve communication and enhance productivity. 10.Increases the efficacy of outsourcing. A solid corporate culture allows focus on the firm’s core capabilities. Hence, from the above discussion we can clearly state that solid, clear corporate culture has to be caught — not taught.

Samsung Corpotate Strategy

Samsung Company Overview Samsung Company is a world leader in digital technology innovation. Samsung believes in innovation and continue to look after the new technology to grow their business. I believed that company wanted to build a market in which customers are more loyal to the Samsung brand and trust in the name of Samsung. â€Å"SAMSUNG is dedicated to devel-oping innovative technologies and efficient processes that create new markets, enrich people's lives, and continue to make Samsung a digital leader† http://www. samsung. com/hk_en/images/aboutnew/corporateprofile/title_txt. if Samsung accomplished its success through the strategy of how to manage creativity, partnership with venders, and talent. Samsung is not only expanding in electronics but also expanding into other industries such as health care, medicine, and biotechnology. Samsung’s mission and vision will make Samsung a cutting edge company. I would say Samsung is the creator of the future of electroni cs. Samsung is among the world’s top five electronics brand and has $400 billion in revenue. The mission of the company explain everything â€Å"As stated in its new motto, Samsung Electronics' vision for the new decade is, â€Å"Inspire the World, Create the Future. This new vision reflects Samsung Electronics’ commitment to inspiring its communities by leveraging Samsung's three key strengths: â€Å"New Technology,† â€Å"Innovative Products,† and â€Å"Creative Solutions. † — and to promoting new value for Samsung's core networks — Industry, Partners, and Employees. Through these efforts, Samsung hopes to contribute to a better world and a richer experience for all† (http://www. samsung. com/us/aboutsamsung/corporateprofile/vision. html) Micro and macro environment for Samsung globally Porter’s five forces: The Threats of new entrantsThere is always a potential threat for Samsung that a new company will enter into th e market. Most of the companies find outsourcing company in China and label its brand. Only thing they have to do is to formulate a marketing strategy and distribution channel. Today’s global economy is depended on China. China is called world’s factory. Most of the products are manufactured at very low cost in China. Electronic companies like HP, SONY, DeLL, Gateway, Apple, and many others used China’s manufacturing industry. So there is always a threat of new entrants into the electronics market. MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine electronics industry attracted $2. 477 billion in fresh investments in 2011, the highest ever, and the new projects are expected to generate an estimated $5 billion in additional export revenues annually once they go into full commercial operation† (http://www. abs-cbnnews. com/business/02/21/12/electronics-industry-attracts-24b-investment). The Bargaining Power of Buyers Electronic world is changing everyday and in th e market there are many types and many verities to pick one from. Even it’s very difficult for a customer to find the best one with very competing prices to each others.Most of the individuals are price sensitive they can check the prices on line and fine the cheapest price before making any decision. Institutional buyers are more quality sensitive than price. Most of the companies focus on corporate customers. There is a completion in the market. The Bargaining Power of Suppliers Intel is leading in microprocessors it provided 85% of CPU so the power of suppliers is high because of low number of competitors in the market. Different companies produce different kind of products. Hard disk producers are many in the market. The power of suppliers is quite low because of many competitors in the market.Threats of Substitutes In the changing technology world, there are many substitutes available to the customers to choose one. Companies like Samsung have to keep the quality and pri ce up to the customer expectation. Samsung should understand the need and demand and desire of each group of customer. Samsung interviewed customers to check the water. The Intensity of Rivalry among Competitors Samsung group has many competitors in the global electronic world. The brand name competitors of the Samsung are LG, SK, Matsushitsa, Micron, Sony, Apple, Kyobo Life Insurance, Meiji Life Insurance, Sumitomo Life Insurance, Hp, Dell.SWOT analysis of Samsung Strengths †¢Electronics Product line and investment in other industries such as life insurance and biotech etc. †¢Heavy investment into R and marketing strategies. Company has more than one dozen R centers around the world and its 138000 R team members are working hard for the company’s success. †¢Leader in electronics especially in cell phone and more or less 60 other products. For example DVD, Ac, LCD, and Refrigerators etc. †¢Supplier of HD, DRAM, SDRAM, Memory Sticks, and semiconductors. â⠂¬ ¢Decision making process of the company. †¢Samsung provide better guarantee and service than its competitors.Weakness †¢Some of the Samsung products are not user friendly. This factor is keeping Samsung behind in the Global electronics market. For instance there are many draw back in digital camera Samsung S860. First of all the lens of this camera turn off automatically after 30 seconds. †¢Company invested too much into the R but need to spend on marketing. †¢Competitors spent on advertisement heavily but Samsung can’t explain introduce its products via advertisements. †¢Need to improve the battery life of many of its products. Opportunities †¢Globally the demands for electronics are increasing quickly.In the digital world everyone like to have his or her own cell phone and a laptop. †¢Need more production according to the market. †¢Market share can be increased in ASEAN regions, it is increased by 32. 7% during the year 2006. †¢Cell phone market is very big and expanding by the time, this is the industry where Samsung should invest more. †¢Samsung has the competitive prices. The growing markets like India, China and Brazil are very price sensitive. Threats †¢Prices of the electronics are decreasing 10% annually that is a threat to most of the electronic manufacturer in the industry. †¢Entry of new products every day. Green products and environmentalists organizations. †¢Restrictions on usage of lead, cadmium, mercury and flame retardants products. †¢R need to pay attention while developing a new product previously Samsung paid $134 million Inter Digital because Samsung lost a patent dispute. Similarly Ericson filed a lawsuit against Samsung. †¢Counterfeiting products are the major problem for any company in the world. Duplicate product’s annually revenue is more or less U$500. †¢It’s always a threat when outsourcing any product to a country like China wher e law is not well implemented to protect the patent rights.Samsung and Business Environment of Canada Study shows that Canadian customers prefer a better quality than price. Customer demands better guarantees and return policies. Canadian population is considered one of the educated nations in the world. Canadians welcome new technologies and love to learn. Sony is the first one who invented color television, and played a leading role in the world of electronics. Most of the Canadians like Sony brand and pay the high price. Sony is very much dominated the Canadian market, the price is high and products have conventional design.Samsung can penetrate the market with better advance stylish designs and lower price and better guarantees. I believed that will take time to take over the Canadian market. â€Å"We’ve been No. 1 in TVs since 2006 in Canada,† Politeski says. â€Å"In Canadian living rooms, there are an awful lot of Samsung TVs. So the brand name — whether it’s on TVs or appliances or mobile phones, any of our product categories — continues to grow momentum, and consumers become more and more interested in it. How do you become No. 1 in any category? Attention to what the customer thinks is most important† (http://business. financialpost. om/2012/05/01/samsung-aims-to-dethrone-apple-in-smartphone-market/). With Sony Canadians have no other choice if SECA use a right marketing strategy it’s possible that Samsung can win people opinion and market share. SECA should carefully formulate strategy on the target market, segmentation and repositioning the product. SECA can use demographic segmentation and divide market into four groups. Low income families, group of people who are price sensitive. High income families, group of people who prefer quality over the price. Young generation group, who prefer new innovations and technology advancements.They buy products when it comes first in market and pay the full pric e. The old generation group those people buy when they need and are very price sensitive. Business user group those people are less price sensitive than quality, customized products and guarantees. Hobbyists is a group who like to buy new innovations which can satisfy their hobby quest. SECA can differentiate its products from others buy innovating user friendly and cost effective products for everyone. SECA should listen their corporate customers and customize their product according to their needs. â€Å"Canadian expansion strategy will be on full display.Following in the footsteps of rivals Sony and Apple, Samsung plans to open several stand-alone retail locations across the country, as the company attempts to strengthen its direct relationship with consumers† (http://business. financialpost. com). SECA should use 4P’s of marketing to achieve success in Canadian market. Product; brand strength could be achieved by producing better products and user friendly products . It could be done by producing stylish and durable cell phones, brighter and bigger flat screen TV’s, cost effective, energy efficient, durable AC, refrigerators, and other electrical home appliances.Place; Samsung should open its own retail stores across the country. Currently Samsung use distribution channels those are Best Buy, etc. Samsung should use online and on site distribution channels. Price; There are variance in the Samsung’s prices and discounts which creates confusion in the market. Samsung have to pay attention on the pricing strategy of its products. Promotion; Samsung should invest more in advertisement and promotion in Canada. With the help of advertisements a company conveys its message to the customers.A right advertisement and promotion would be a key to success in the Canadian market. Canada could be a tough market for Samsung if the company will not redesign its marketing strategy. Canadians are more loyal to SONY brand. To compete the electroni c giant like SONY, Samsung should adopt a better strategy that produce a better product, price, placement and promotion. Samsung Corporate and Global Strategy I agreed more or less with the Samsung’s corporate strategy and global strategy. There are few steps need to take in Samsung’s corporate and global strategy.I will discuss about why I like Samsung’s corporate and global strategy. Business Wire of Boston writes about Samsung that it took the 25% of the market share and was star performing during the first quarter of the year 2012. I believe that Samsung is doing something right at the corporate and global level the reason why company became the world’s number one had set vendor. â€Å"BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global handset shipments grew a modest 3 percent annually to reach 368 million units in the first quarter of 2012.Samsung was the star performer during the quarter, capturing a record 25 percent market share to become the world’s number one handset vendor for the first time ever† (http://www. businesswire. com). At first Samsung’s business model was to produce more mobile phone in number, they pay less attention to the quality. By the time Samsung decided that company should produce not only quantity but also better quality to compete in the global market. They accomplished this dream with their vision â€Å"Leading the Digital Convergence Revolution†(www. samsung. com).Chairman of the company Mr. Lee played a dynamic role in the success of Samsung. During the revolutionary strategic change in the company he said that we have to change everything only we will keep our children and wives. It sounds funny but the Chairman Lee changed everything in the company. The new strategy strived more on better look and quality than quantity. The design advisor Tom Hardy helped Mr. Lee’s vision to accomplish. Company’s designe rs had been sent to different fashion and design companies around the world to have a better perspective about the global design.Samsung took advantage from its design centers around the world and become a global electronics name that consumer trust and like. â€Å"If money was the answer to innovation then Samsung Electronics would certainly rank among the best in the world. Samsung spent 10 trillion won ($9 US billion) on research and development in 2011† (http://www. vancouversun. com) Samsung can produce in house semiconductors, LCD screens, and memory plant. This is the reason why company can independently, cost effectively, and