Phone Selection Through Data Envelopment Analysis

Today’s digital era has increased the competition for smart devices tremendously, especially in the mobile phone industry. Each manufacturer is trying to out perform its competitors; therefore these phones are being created with a large amount of attractive features. It is important for consumers to understand these different features while comparing phones to choose the one the best suits his or her own needs. In this paper, we present the findings that compared eight different phones using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Features such as weight, battery power, standby time, and megapixels were considered as outputs, where as the retail price was the input. These input-output data were gathered by researching other similar studies, and then modified according to this specific analysis. As a result we will determine efficiency scores for each mobile device

Conceptualizations and Measurement Issues in Customer Loyalty: A Systematic Literature Review

Customer loyalty is amongst the main phenomenon of concern for marketing practitioners and academicians because of its link to organizational survival, development and growth. Loyalty reflects the customer’s sense of belongings or affections with the firm’s employee, product or service. These intentions directly affect the customer-rephrased behaviors, which is resulted into positive word of mouth. This study is based on systematic review of the current body of literature and issues that impede the current research related to customer loyalty domain in the telecom sector. This study also addresses the issues related to the robustness of measurements and conceptualizations in the past and contemporary research findings. For systematic review, Studies has been abstracted from the reputable search engines like Google scholar, Ebscohost, Research Gate and well reputable publishing groups like, Emerald, Elsevier, Science direct, Taylor & Francis. Systematic process was adopted for reviewing the literature of the selected studies. Moreover, Data for review is abstracted from the literature review and results revealed from the past and contemporary studies. Keywords: Customer Loyalty, Systematic review, Telecom sector

To share or not? Factors influencing word of mouth communication

The objective of this study is to determine the factors that will influence on word of mouth communication among mobile phone users. In this study, five factors which are perceived value, perceived quality, customers’ satisfaction, brand love and brand trust are examined to determine whether these factors influenced word of mouth communication. Hypothesized relationships are tested using survey responses from a sample of 393 respondents. This study was conducted among young adults from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Sintok Kedah. The data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19.0. The methods used in analysing the data are Normality test, Reliability test, Descriptive Analysis, ANOVA, Independent Sample T-Test, Pearson Correlation Analysis and Multiple Regression Analysis. The findings indicated that all the five independent variables have a strong positive relationship with word of mouth. In addition, the results showed that brand love had the strongest significant positive relationship with word of mouth communication with correlation value of 0.802, followed by brand trust with correlation value of 0.793. Pearson correlation analysis that was conducted showed that brand trust and brand love are the strongest factors influencing word of mouth communication

Making Brand Management Accountable : The Influence of Brand Relevance, Globalness and Architecture on Brand Efficiency

Brand managers are under increased pressure to illustrate the performance of their multimillion dollar expenditures. Many marketers believe brands are important because they influence customer decisions and ultimately create financial value. However, few brand managers are able to back up their beliefs with facts and figures. Thus, researchers and practitioners are increasingly advocating the need to link branding activities to customer-based brand equity and firm value. This paper provides four contributions: First, we introduce a two-stage concept of brand efficiency as a comprehensive and theoretically sound measure for the performance of the brand management process. Second, we examine internal (globaleness and brand architecture) and external (category-related brand relevance) variables that moderate brand management efficiency. Third, we provide a multi-item measure for brand relevance and validate this measure in 36 B2C product categories. Fourth, we assess brand efficiency and the influence of the moderating variables for 220 brands for 12 of these product categories

Chinese consumers’ conspicuous perspectives: the context of smartphone purchase behavior

This study investigated the key antecedent factors of Chinese consumers attitudes towards smartphones, focusing on the conspicuous value. An analytical framework with three key themes in the smartphone purchasing attributes in relation to the conspicuous attitudes was validated based on Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using 426 survey data collected in China. It has been found that ‘conspicuous value’ was the basic perception which has a relation with three key factors, ‘fashionableness’ and ‘innovativeness’, and ‘instore shopping atmosphere’ in smartphone purchasing attributes. This implies that the analytical framework developed from this study is applicable to the research topic as a useful analytical tool kit. From the empirical study based on this framework, it has been found that only ‘fashionableness’ has the significant impact on their purchase intention, whereas, ‘innovativeness’ and ‘instore shopping atmosphere' did not have a significant impact on their purchase intention of smartphones. Chinese consumer behavior from the cultural context has attracted researchers so far, however, the practical and feasible analytical framework covering the cultural aspect and smartphone attributes has been lacked. This study proposed a practical analytical framework with the Chinese cultural value ‘conspicuousness’ and focus on the smartphone shopping attributes. Moreover, the empirical research outcome with the survey data based on the proposed framework can provide actionable implications for the relevant marketers and researchers

A paradigm shift for a successful launch of a locally-based start-up in the food supply chain

The aim of this paper is to design a friendly-user framework for a successful launch of a locally-based start-up in the food supply chain.  Specifically, the study is focused on a Small Medium Enterprises (SME’s) cooperative store in a farm school.  The store is operated by the students in the context of their entrepreneurship, business and marketing classes.  Authors made a number of interviews with the managers and employees of the locally-based store so as to identify its potentials and challenges.  The outcome of the study is a framework dealing with managerial, as well as, technological aspects and even if refers to a specific SME it will act as a road map for an effective start-up development.   Keywords: customer loyalty, American farm school, SME co-operatives, agri-busines

Faktor-faktor Yang Mempengaruhi Pengguna Untuk Bertahan Pada Blackberry Smartphones

Research about customer loyalty on Blackberry users is interesting, because competition in market of smartphones is powerfull. The purpose of this study was analyzed the effect of trust, customer satisfaction and switching cost on customer loyalty of Blackberry Smartphones users in Purwokerto. The sample of this study was 133 respondents. The analytical tool used in this study is Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with Amos 16.0 program. The results of this study indicate that trust, customer satisfaction and switching cost effect on customer loyalty. Thus, Blackberry Smartphones needs to provide the highest priority on switching cost, because it would strengthen customer loyalty

Building best practice automotive after sales network:The Volkswagen case

This thesis aims to analyze the service operations and networks in the automotive industry as research into the automotive After Sales service network lacks the necessary fine details and industrial feedback. Its purpose is to present the insights and lessons learned from studying the After Sales service network of Volkswagen, thereby defining a roadmap for further research, and to discuss the needs of the sector. The foremost idea in defining the research question was based on the observation that the automotive After Sales business could be improved by applying and adapting principles and methods used in other industries and in the field of Business Operations research. The initial step thereafter was an extensive external and internal literature research. The key characteristics of the automotive industry in Germany, at the VW Group, at OEMs and at the wholesale level were identified and are described in chapter two. In chapter three the primary After Sales processes are described and analyzed, from the interaction with the customer to the necessary activities at wholesale and OEM level. The proposed research methodology relied on extensive external and internal research and a qualitative and quantitative approach based on structured, in-depth interviews and direct observation. The objective of the interviews was to highlight the most important activities in the service delivery operations within the network and identify the major key factors for success or failure. The best practice dealer model is described in chapter five and was subsequently abstracted and generalized so that it can be applied to other industries too. A Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), described in chapter six, was undertaken to determine the “efficient frontier” of service operations. Key performance indicators were identified from the important elements discussed and the best practices. In order to achieve an in-depth understanding of their general business models a benchmark analysis of six companies from industrial sectors complementary to the automotive business was then carried out and is described in chapter seven. The thesis highlights the development of a “best practice” network in chapter eight. This network grasps the dynamics of After Sales activities in the light of new technological developments and the experience gained from the benchmark with other industries. The thesis closes with an evaluation of the research work