| Importance
of Service Quality to Retain Retail Customers
-- Madhurima
Deb and Gautam Sinha
The
purpose of this paper is to develop a model of service quality and demonstrate
its relevance to customer commitment—a promise to retain the relationship
with the marketer. In this paper, correlation analysis is employed to show the
relationship between the different variables. A series of studies are conducted
for the development and validation of multiple measures for the dimensions of
service quality. Once the dimensions are identified, data from the study were
used to select the items based on factor analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis
is then used on the data obtained from a retail chain to examine the factor structure,
and provide evidence of dimensionality, scale reliability and validity. A model
is developed to measure service quality which shows the relationship between the
service quality and customers commitment to retain relationship. The model also
shows the outcome of all these activities in the form of customers' trust, satisfaction
and commitment. The model finds its relevance with the marketers as a tool to
measure their performance. This is the first study to provide a comprehensive,
operationally valid measure of service quality. The paper also shows the outcome
of service quality. ©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Building
Customer Value through Franchising
-- Saju Eapen Thomas
There
are numerous examples to show how exponential growth has been achieved by companies
through franchising. Franchise chains are contractual networks that help in bringing
independent businesses together in a vertically integrated system. Conflicts are
bound to arise in such a system and in most cases, the franchisor is at the locus
of control. Speedy and effective resolution of such conflicts becomes an imperative
for the smooth operation of the system. This seems to be the area of impediment
in the case of Indian franchise systems. The franchisor, being the larger organized
player, should take the lead in conflict resolution. For this, the franchisor
should put in place a justifiable process or system, whereby the franchisee also
feels that his interests are well attended to. Together, the franchisor and the
franchisee, they should understand the possible avenues for creating value for
consumers and mutually agree on the roles that they should assume to provide such
high value to their consumers. This article probes into the possible areas for
creating values for customers and attempts to build a framework for establishing
clarity on the roles to be assumed by the franchisor and the franchisee. The methodology
is basically to look at the consumer in terms of the three crucial roles of buyer,
payer, and user; and the value sought by the consumer while performing these different
roles. The primary objective is to bring about clarity on how to create value
for customers and the roles to be carved for the franchisor and franchisee. The
focus on providing superior value to customers will definitely lead to development
of superior franchise networks. ©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Consumers'
Attitude towards Online Shopping for Clothing
-- Sita
Mishra
The
proliferation of online shopping and marketers craving for a large share of the
Internet market, necessitates an understanding of the impact of demographic characteristics
on purchasing behavior of the customer over the Internet. Such knowledge will
help managers understanding and segmenting their markets to implement appropriate
marketing strategies. This paper empirically studies a sample of 200 Internet
users in NCR Delhi. The study examines the consumers attitude toward online shopping
and investigates the factors influencing the online shopping behavior of the customer
for clothing. The findings indicate that income and age group influence online
shopping attitude. This paper provides an analysis of the data, a discussion of
the findings, and the managerial implications; and offers directions for future
research. ©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Consumer
Behavior towards Mobile Service Providers: An Empirical Study
--
L Shashikumar Sharma and D S Chaubey
Consumer
behavior has gained importance for managers of both the profit and non-profit
organizations, and of policymakers. In modern marketing, firm's success depends
upon customer satisfaction. Therefore, the knowledge of "what the customer
thinks" and "what consequently would contribute to his satisfaction",
is the requirement of the marketer. Information technology has changed the present
socioeconomic environment enormously. The expanded horizon of telecommunications
has led to the substantial increase in mobile services. The present study assesses
the consumers' awareness and attitude towards different mobile service providers
in Lucknow. The paper aims at studying the consumer satisfaction and its future
impact on socioeconomic changes. To achieve the objective of the study, a sample
of 200 randomly selected mobile users of Lucknow city was taken. From the analysis,
it is observed that the level of consumer satisfaction, the perception of consumers
of the prospects of mobile services in Lucknow city and the impact of mobile services
in bringing about the social change, depend on the demographic characteristics
of the respondents. ©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Brand
Positioning: The Case of Mitsubishi Lancer
-- S
Silas Sargunam
This
paper deals with the brand positioning and repositioning strategies of Mitsubishi
Lancer. The dynamics of the Indian car industry underwent a complete change with
the deregulation of the industry in 1993. However, the new entrants faced early
setbacks especially in the luxury segment. Hence, this segment was considered
to be unattractive. At that juncture, Hindustan Motors Ltd. entered the luxury
segment in 1998 with Mitsubishi Lancer; and the image-positioning strategy of
the company paid rich dividends. Apart from emerging as the market leader in the
luxury segment, Mitsubishi Lancer expanded the segment beyond expectations. Mitsubishi
Lancer remained the market leader till 2001. The attractiveness of the segment
motivated other companies to make a foray into the segment. With the launch of
cars having better features, Lancer's sales started to decline. At this juncture,
Hindustan Motors Ltd. decided to reposition Lancer. The company formulated a two-pronged
positioning strategy: It decided to launch low priced variants of Lancer, and
simultaneously prepared for the launch of Mitsubishi Cedia as the new Lancer in
the D segment. Hence in February 2005, Hindustan Motors launched the cheapest
variant of the Lancer, which was priced at Rs. 6.93 lakh. It was positioned as
an entry level car in the C segment, thus offering a `value for money' proposition.
On the other hand, Mitsubishi Cedia was identified as the new Lancer 2004. The
car, which comes under the D segment, was priced at about Rs. 12 lakh. Company
sources claimed that the new Lancer would give another option to the customers
to move up the value chain. The case attempts to highlight the appropriateness
of the two-pronged strategy where a brand has two diametrical positioning planks. ©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved. | 
