The phenomenology of customer delight: a case study of product evaluation

This thesis presents a phenomenological case study of customer delight during product evaluation. The literature presents two existing 'theories' of customer delight. The first, from the field of Consumer Research, presents a cognitive model of post-purchase customer delight as the affective result of expectation disconfirmation. The second, from the Manufacturing literature, proposes that customers are delighted when products contain unexpected features or levels of qualities that exceed expectations. This research was motivated by the fact that our current understanding of this commercially important phenomenon is confined by expectation-based thinking. Furthermore, both streams of research have neglected to study the naturalistic occurrence of delight from the customer's perspective. The aim of this research was to generate an integrated understanding of the affective, behavioural, and cognitive nature of customer delight and its product basis. A case study methodology, incorporating interview, self-report and observational methods, was adopted to generate a triangulated understanding of productbased customer delight. The naturalistic product evaluations of 918 customers were observed and self-reported delight reactions were collected from 66 research participants. In total 414 customer delight reactions were analysed in detail. This approach aimed to generate new theory, rather than test the existing models, and this new integrative understanding of customer delight is the primary contribution of this thesis. A new model of product-based customer delight is presented, and the existing Manufacturing model is extended to incorporate the empirical findings of the case study. Whilst the findings of this research support concepts contained within the existing theories of customer delight, they also demonstrate their limitations. The cognitive and affective diversity of customer delight reactions, previously unaccounted for in the literature, was uncovered and five product-based routes to delight were identified. The emergent theory successfully integrates the two previously separate concepts of delight and builds upon them by identifying the behaviours associated with customer delight resulting from both attribute-based and holistic product appraisals

Effect of Chinese Product Price, Quality, Innovativeness and Brand Awareness on Customers’ Loyalty: An Empirical Analysis of Local Industries in Northern Nigeria

The global economy is witnessing the massive influx of Chinese products across the global market. Nigeria in particular, is one of the countries that have a strong trade relationship with Chinese industries. Chinese products dominate most of the Nigerian market with very affordable price and compromised quality. Their pricing strategy, product design and ability to create brand awareness give their products an edge over the competitors. The study is the survey research that used regression analysis and examined the effect of Chinese product price, quality, innovativeness and brand awareness on customers’ loyalty. A sample of 1000 respondents was selected from three states of Northern Nigeria. The study discovered a significant negative effect of Chinese product price, innovativeness and Chinese brand awareness on customer loyalty; however, the effect of Chinese product quality on customers’ loyalty is positive and statistically insignificant. Therefore, the study concluded that Chinese product price, innovativeness and brand awareness negatively affect customers’ loyalty on the local products. The study recommended that the local entrepreneur needs to undergo training in areas of cost cutting, efficient use of resources while being encouraged to form clusters in order to benefit from economies of scale thereby driving down cost and by extension price of products. Local entrepreneurs must embrace new technology; pursue more creativity by perusing through imported brochures for inspiration and adapting designs to suit our own peculiarities. They should also create awareness using social media, publicity, advertisement, exhibition among other methods of creating awareness

Evolution of Electricity Metering Technologies in Nigeria

Advancement in technology has continuously driven the evolution of metering devices and infrastructure in the world and has resulted in more accurate and user-friendly devices equipped with customer interaction interfaces. The evolution of metering technology in Nigeria arose with the unbundling of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) but have not progressed smoothly and successfully despite the implementation of various reforms and policies in the Nigerian electricity industry. The persisting problems in the electricity distribution system such as energy theft, vandalism, energy wastage, high line losses can be overcome by the deployment of appropriate metering infrastructure. In the second quarter of 2020, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission revealed that the total registered customers and total metered customers are 10,516,090 and 4,234,759 respectively leaving a metering gap of 59.73%; after 124 years of commercial electricity availability in Nigeria. This paper discusses Nigeria's metering history and the challenges encountered in the transition of policies, technologies and government reforms. The paper also proposes the way forward to a successful transitioning into a smart distribution grid

The Vision for the Future of Mobility

The automotive industry is going through a transformation. Disruptive technologies and tools are shifting the business model from one of automobiles to one of mobility. To accomplish this shift, automotive companies are embracing acquisitions and partnerships. In a time when the consumer electronics industry is delivering new products to market at a rapid rate, automotive manufacturers must identify ways of getting new products and features to customers faster and with high quality to maintain or increase market share.  We provide an analysis of interviews with global automotive company professionals to understand the impact that quality requirements have on innovation and the advanced product design process.   The research contributes to the literature on innovation and quality, identifying organizational behaviors and practices that facilitate or obstruct the development of high quality fast-to-market innovations, particularly in the area of mobility

MODELING TECHNOLOGY AND KNOWLEDGE IMPACTS ON UNCERTAINTY OF INVESTMENTS DECISIONS

This thesis aims at modeling the impacts of technology and knowledge on uncertainty in the investment decision making of a case company operating as a part of the Finnish energy industry. The uncertainty is modeled with the help of three methods: The Analytic Hierarchy Process, the sand cone model and the knowledge and technology (K/T) rankings. AHP was used to weight the investment criteria, K/T rankings to calculate variability coefficients depicting the uncertainty and sand cone model to illustrate the weighted criteria and collapse risks caused by the uncertainty. The used methods detected some uncertainty in the investment decision making of the case company. This uncertainty could be seen in the sand cone layers as collapses which question the decision making and the comparison of the departments. From the K/T questionnaire results could be analyzed that spearhead technology was the main source of uncertainty. Therefore, interviews were organized in order to find the reasons behind the uncertainties and also to validate the results with the weak and semi-strong market tests of the market-based validation. The interviewees accepted the uncertainty showed by the models and thus the weak market test was passed. Also the analysis of few past projects confirmed the uncertainty related to spearhead technology. This led to accepting the semi-strong market test as well. Interpretation of spearhead technologies, state authority decisions and the real costs of backup power were seen as reasons for uncertainty in spearhead projects. To the high uncertainty an internal strategy round, TOM training and a more democratic decision making were proposed as solutions.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Integrating Six Sigma into a Quality Management System in the Medical Device Industry

Six Sigma is a valuable management strategy to improve business processes, reduce development and production costs, increase profit margin and improve customer satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to describe how applicable Six Sigma concepts may complement and support formal quality management systems (QMS) in the medical device industry. A significant number of issues, which increase the development costs and times, is often found during different phases of a medical device life cycle. Some defects with high patient safety risk may result in dangerous and very costly product recalls. The basic idea of this paper is to explore the possibilities of integrating Six Sigma techniques with an existing QMS throughout the entire life cycle of a medical device. This paper addresses how Six Sigma techniques, when appropriately integrated into the QMS at medical device companies, can eliminate defects earlier in the medical device life cycle, identify major opportunities for cost savings, focus on customer needs and expectations, and improve the overall business processes

Three dimensional modelling of customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty for measuring quality of service

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The aim of this thesis is to propose a model that explains the relationship between customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty based on service quality attributes. The three elements of satisfaction, retention and loyalty towards products represent ongoing challenges for the corporate financial performance. Customer behaviour analysis (known as business intelligence or customer relationship management or customer experience management) has become a major factor in the corporate decision making and strategic planning processes. Prevailing logic dictates that by improving service attributes one should expect better customer satisfaction levels. Consequently, improved satisfaction levels should increase the probability of customer retention and degree of loyalty. Substantial research work has been dedicated to explain the importance of customer behaviour measurement for industry. However, there is little evidence that there has been an overall integrating empirical research that relates the three elements of satisfaction, retention and loyalty with respect to service quality attributes. Empirical data collected from the UK mobile telecommunication for this research shows that such an objective model that is capable of capturing this three dimensional relationship will contribute towards more robust decision making and better strategic planning. The proposed thesis extracts the data about key service attributes from a combination of literature review, surveys, and interviews from the UK mobile telecommunication industry. Responses were analysed using multiple regression, regression analysis with dummy variables, logistic regression, logistic regression with dummy variables and structural equation modelling (SEM) to test variables and their interrelationships. This study makes a step forward and contributes to the body of knowledge as it: (a) highlights the role of service attribute performance towards customer satisfaction, consequently identifies attributes that affect satisfaction and dissatisfaction of customers, (b) maps the relationship between attribute importance and attribute performance, (c) optimise resource allocation process using importance-performance analysis (IPA), (d) classifies customers with respect to the role and length of relationship they have with the company (switching probability), and (e) describes the interrelationship between customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty. The novelty of the research lies in: (a) establishment of a framework that links service attribute performance to customer satisfaction and then to customer future intentions (customer retention and customer loyalty), and (b) provision of a model that could assist key decision makers in prudent usage of resources for maximum profitability. This dissertation presents a novel approach methodology and modelling construct for customer behaviour analysis. For proof of concept it presents a case study in the mobile telecommunication industry. It is worth noting that in this research work Customer Retention is interpreted as probability of switching between service providers. Customer Loyalty is interpreted as referral (word-of-mouth) activity by existing customers