Customer Satisfaction And Loyalty In Mobile Phone Industry Marketing Essay

Customer Satisfaction And Loyalty In Mobile Phone Industry Marketing Essay A customer is the person who brings us his wants. He is not an interruption of our work, but the purpose of it. We are not doing a favor by serving him; he is doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so (Sara Gustafson, Erica Lundgren 2005). Customer satisfaction is the degree to which customer expectations of a product or service are met or exceeded (BNET Business Directory). The term customer loyalty is used to describe the behavior of repeat customers, as well as those that offer good ratings, reviews, or testimonials (WiseGeek). Consumer satisfaction and loyalty plays an important role in the success of any business. Therefore these are considered as priority task for many businesses (Kotler et al, 2002), as satisfied and loyal customers bring in profitability and competitive advantage to an organization (Bowen and Chen, 2001). As Gould (1995) proposes that no company can survive in business without satisfied and loyal customers. This is the reason, that organizations put efforts to develop and provide offerings to satisfy their customers and maintain their loyalty. Loyal and satisfied customers not only increase the value of the business, but also enable it to maintain the costs lower than those associated with attracting new customers (Beerli et al, 2004). 3. Industry Background The mobile phone service industry provides network services for communication of voice or data signals through wireless mode. There are more than 74 million mobile phone subscribers in U.K. in which 85% of the adults have a handset. UK represents the most competitive market in Europe and there is a huge war among the service providers to differentiate themselves from their competitors (Mintel 2008). Subscription levels are expected to continue to grow, however, it should be noted that while there were 73.5 million subscriptions in UK in 2007, it has been cited that nine million subscriptions are for SIM cards that are inactive and a further 7.7 million that are barely active. Mobile phone subscriptions are forecast to increase in 2008 to 76 million subscriptions. Currently the UK represents approximately 9% of the European market and by 2010 it is forecast to have 78 million subscriptions. (Mintel 2008) There are five mobile phone networks currently operating in the UK : O2, T-Mobile, Orange, Vodafone and most recently 3. Vodafone and O2 (formerly BT Cellnet) are the largest and oldest. These two networks were joined by T-Mobile (formerly One 2 One) swiftly followed by Orange. All of these companies now operate digital networks. In addition, there are many virtual networks operating on these major networks, packaged under a different name. e.g. Virgin, OneTel, Lycatalk etc. All the above mentioned facts shows that there is a huge market for Mobile service providers in U.K. Mobile phone is everyones need and there is a large customer base who uses the services of more than one network provider. 4. Justification for the choice of research Over the last decade organizations of all types and sizes have increasingly come to understand the importance of customer satisfaction. It is a renowned fact that it is far less costly to keep existing customers than to make new ones. It is becoming accepted that there is a strong link between customer retention, customer satisfaction and profitability. In a large area of public sector customer satisfaction itself is the measure of success (Nigel Hill, 2002). Mobile phone network industry is a giant industry in U.K. I chose this research topic because I personally observed there is a huge competition in this industry, and the industry is prone to face problems of customer decay. The average business loses between 10 and 30 percent of its customers each year; but they often dont know which customer they have lost, when they were lost, why they were lost or how much sales revenue and profit this customer decay has cost them (Nigel Hill and Jam Alaxender, 2002, p 3). A loyal customer fe els committed towards the organization and results in profit and growth to the organization. In this highly competitive era, every company tries to offer uniqueness and best value for money, an educated and smart customer has some determinants to choose which organization to stay committed with and which company to switch over. 5. Research objectives 5.1 To find out the right service gap Service gap is the difference between the present quality of service and ideal quality of service. It is very important for an organization to know the right service gap so as to focus on narrowing down that service gap and offer better services to the customer. Nigel Hill and Jim Alaxender have specified five types of service gaps (Nigel Hill and Jim Alaxender, 2002, p 5.): Promotional Gap -When what is said about the service differs from the standards actually delivered. Understanding Gap when managers perceptions of customers expectations are inaccurate Procedural Gap when customers expectations are not translated into appropriate operating procedures / system. Behavioural Gap When the service delivered is different from the specifications of the service. Perception Gap When the level of service perceived by customers differs from the service actually provided. 5.2 To find out the degree of customer loyalty There are different levels of customer loyalty referred as a ladder of pyramid in literature. These levels of loyalty vary from the customer perspective. These are defined as follows (Nigel Hill and Jim Alaxender, 2002, p 16.): Suspects When suspects are unaware of the product or have no inclination to purchase it. Prospects When customers have some attraction towards the organization, but they have not yet taken the step of doing business yet. Customers usually one-off purchaser or may be sometimes repeat buyers, but no real feelings towards organization. Clients Repeat customers having positive feeling towards organization, but their support is passive rather than active. Advocates Actively supporting clients who recommend organization to others. Partners Strongest form of loyalty, where both parties see mutual benefit in partnership. Predicting the right level of customer loyalty towards an organization helps in strategically planning the measures to enhance customer trust and shifting from bottom to top level of the loyalty pyramid. There is usually a homogenous segment of customers lying at each level. Identifying that segment and planning accordingly will help in increasing customer retention. 5.4 To analyse the factors that affects customer satisfaction and loyalty. A questionnaire will be designed with an aim to find out first two objectives and carrying out customer expectations from their mobile service provider. In-depth analysis of the data obtained will bring out the factors that affect customer satisfaction and loyalty. The organization can thus underpin those factors in their customer relationship process and try to retain customer commitment. A committed customer stay longer, buy more often, buy more range, spend more, recommend more, consider competitors less and feel committed. (Nigel Hill, Jim Alaxender, 2002) 6. Research Methods The research is clearly classified as exploratory study. This kind of study is a valuable mean of clarifying the understanding of a problem (Saunders et al. 2003, p.96). The above research objectives will be achieved using qualitative primary data in the form of unstructured questionnaire. The primary data will be collected from the below mentioned sample size in the form of unstructured questionnaires. The research strategy that will be carried out will be Survey in the form of unstructured questionnaire. The research will be exploratory study as the precise nature of the problem is not sure (Saunders et al. 2007, p.138). 7. Data collection and analysis Both primary as well as secondary data will be used for this research. Secondary data will be obtained from various sources to obtain theoretical background for carrying out the research. The secondary data collection source would be :- Research Methods for Business Students Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill, 2003. Handbook of customer satisfaction and loyalty measurement Nigel Hilla and Jim Alexander, 2002. Online library resources e.g. Mintel, Emerald etc. After getting the theoretical background for carrying out the research, Primary data would be collected from the sample size in the form of unstructured questionnaires. Unstructured questionnaire would be preferred as compared to other survey methods as it will be less complicated and deems fit for carrying our research like this. . 8. Time scale and resources I have sufficient resources to carry out this research. I have divided my research plan into activities with clear completion time frames and my tendency would be complete the research within the designed time frame. Month Day Activities March 1-15 Further reading on key theories and concepts involved in research and drawing relevant information for the literature review. Mid March to April 20-30 Commencement and finishing of critical literature review drafts May to June 5-30 Collection and compilation of research data July to mid August 1 17 Analyzing the data and writing the first research draft. Mid August to Mid September 17 30 Compiling the final research and carrying out conclusions and recommendations. References Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrain Thornhill (2003) Research methods for business students 3rd Edition. FT Prentice Hall Financial Times Pearson Education U.K) Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrain Thornhill (2007) Research methods for business students 4th Edition. FT Prentice Hall Financial Times Pearson Education U.K) Nigel Hill and Jim Alexander (2002) Handbook of Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Measurement. 2nd Ed. USA : Gower Publishing Company. Mintel (November 2008) UK Mobile Services and Network Providers.

Forrest Gump Essay

Forrest Gump is one of my favorite movie of all times. It stars Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump, very innocent minded man going through many difficult situations and overcoming them. The story isn’t about a hero, a ticking clock or a villain. It is just a remarkable story of a young man going through his amazing life. Metacritic.com says that it is one of the movies you must see before you die and I must agree! It has won six Academy Awards which includes best picture. The cinematography and mise en scene play major roles in grasping the viewer, making the main character feel relatable and helped the viewers understand the time and place Forrest is in. The first shot the cinematographer uses, which is my favorite scene, is the long shots used when following the feather in the open scenes of the movie. The feather flows from way up high in the sky to and lands on the bench Forrest sits on. An example of very long shots in the film are when Forrest is running (all throughout the movie) and also during the war scenes. Cinematographer Don Burgess recalls, â€Å"With Forrest Gump, I felt very strongly about shooting anamorphic: it depicted the character’s relationship to the world and how he saw the world. I thought anamorphic lens worked so well, compositionally. With the character of Forrest Gump, I short-sighted him a lot to put him out of context, so he always felt odd with things around him. The anamorphic format has a tendency to short-sight better anyway, and we used really wide lenses focused on him; I think it creates that feeling of his relationship to everything else.† I believe that the making Forrest stand out and not really fit in to his surroundings, yet effortlessly moving through the motions is captured by the use of anamorphic shooting. It also helps the viewer understand the time and place in which the story takes place and how the character relates to that period of time. However, the cinematography isn’t the only aspect of the filmmaking process that helps the viewer know the time and place; mise en scene also has plays an important role. Mise en scene is French for â€Å"place on set.† It is the way props or objects are placed on the set in order to bring out the theme of a movie and make it  more realistic for the time and place. Mise en scene can be like entering a time machine when done correctly and that’s exactly how I felt while watching Forrest Gump. From the beginning of the film, at the center of attention is the bench. The placement of the bench lets us know that it is at a bus stop as opposed to a park because a bus stops in front of it, people walk behind and in front of the bench, and also the bus stop sign placed near it. Mise en scene can also be symbolic. There are many examples throughout the film but my favorite is the signed Marilyn Monroe picture behind the picture of the Kennedy Brothers at the Watergate Hotel. Its a bit scandalous and fun since Marilyn was rumored to having affairs with both brother and it also brings out a little bit of history, which I love. Also, in one of the scenes where Forrest is running, there’s a confederate flag on the car. Since they’re in the south and many people believe Forrest symbolizes America, it can be presumed that America is running or moving past its racists history. That’s just one theory. There are so many more examples of mise en scene but that would turn this journal into a ten page paper. Forrest Gump has won an Oscar for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Director, Best Writing, Best Film Editing and Best Editing and nominated for six more Oscars, Best Cinematography among them. I believe that all the elements that go into making a film made this movie great but the cinematography and use of mise en scene really made it outstanding.

Warren Buffet Essay - 566 Words

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Effectiveness Of Cognitive- Behavioral Therapy On Treating...

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