The service elimination process : an empirical investigation into the British financial services sector

The present study represents an in-depth empirical investigation into the service elimination process in the British financial services sector. It aims to make a contribution towards the concise development of the literature on service elimination and to provide empirically based recommendations, which can improve the way financial service elimination is practised. The theoretical part of the study focused first on a review of the characteristics of services in general and of financial services in particular and of the service range management activities of financial institutions. Second, the literature on product and service elimination was reviewed. The bulk of this material refers to conceptual propositions and empirical evidence on elimination from manufacturing settings, while conceptual and empirical material from service and financial service settings is alarmingly sparse. The presents tudy conceptualisedth e service elimination process as consisting of three broad stages, a) the pre-elimination stage, b) the actual service elimination decision-making process and c) the post-elimination stage. The study adopted a research approach based on the broad hypothesis that service elimination decisions are not made in a vacuum (as the limited literature on service and financial service elimination assumes explicitly or implicitly) but that they are influenced by contextual organisational and environmental characteristics of companies. Based on the above conceptualisations, the research objectives were to a) identify the content of the service elimination process (i. e., the decision variables involved in the various steps of the process) b) measure the relative importance/frequency of use of the above content and c) measure the influence of a set of contextual independent variables on the relative importance/frequency of use of the content of the service elimination process. To meet the above research objectives, a pluralistic research method was adopted. For the identification component of the research objectives qualitative research (in-depth interviews) was conducted, while for the measurement component quantitative research was conducted(mail survey). The findings indicated that service elimination decisions were the outcome of a multi-step process, which with very few exceptions (i. e., the way in which British financial institutions identified financial services as candidates for elimination) was found to be largely informal and unsophisticated. Moreover service elimination was rated as the least important service range management activity and was allocated the least amount of resources (temporal, monetary and human). The findings also suggested that the content of the service elimination process was both similar and different to elimination practice in manufacturing settings. Among the most obvious similarities was the paramount importance of sales and profitability considerations in making products and financial services candidates for elimination. Among the most striking differences was that while a product is fully eliminated, partial elimination was the predominant outcome of the service elimination process in the studied setting. With regards to the contextual influence, it was found that the relative importance/frequency of the decision variables involved in the service elimination process varied in relation to the type and the size of individual financial institutions, the pursued overall business strategy, and degree of market orientation, the degree of formalisation of the service elimination process, the number of services in the range (service diversity), the type of financial service which is considered for elimination, the method of its delivery process, the intensity of competition and of the legislative environment and the volatility of the technological environment. As such, the findings confirmed the hypothesised dynamism of the service elimination decisions and suggested that any attempt to describe the service elimination process in a golden rule way that fits all companies, all financial services and all environmental circumstances would be misleading

The client, counsellor and organisational components of an external workplace counselling service : an evaluation

This is a study of work place counselling. It responded to four key stimulants: (1) the paucity of workplace counselling evaluations; (2) the need to more fully incorporate the client and organisation into evaluations; (3) the call for an increased qualitative focus in counselling research; (4) the need for practitioners to become research-minded.The site was the Northern Ireland Fire Brigade's (NIFB) external counselling service. The study was inspired by the concept of the workplace counselling triangle - of client, counsellor and organisation. It explores the degree of congruence across the aims, needs, expectations and evaluations of each of the three facets; the aim being to ascertain whether the NIFB 's counselling provision meets the needs of its three primary stakeholders?A qualitative methodology was adopted, with stakeholder perspectives captured by semi-structured interviews. Counselling process assessments, sick absence analysis and a workforce awareness survey were also conducted.The counselling service was dramatically effective from the client perspective. Counsellors, while satisfied with their client work had reservations about organisational links. Their wish for greater primary intervention was matched by the NIFB being surprised that they were not more proactive at this level! A need for effective organisational induction and terms of engagement were identified, so as to allow counsellors to move beyond the personal counselling role. The observed reduction in absenteeism post-counselling was a dividend for the organisation.Although the NIFB counselling service does not currently meet all stakeholder needs, it has been shown to be significantly effective in both human and financial terms. The service is needed, period

Probing probation : issues of gender and organisation within the probation service

Metadata merged with duplicate record (http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/671) on 20.12.2016 by CS (TIS).This is a digitised version of a thesis that was deposited in the University Library. If you are the author please contact PEARL Admin ([email protected]) to discuss options.This study focuses on the probation service and the changes that are impacting on this part of the criminal justice system. It develops a theoretically distinctive approach, drawing on the literature of gender and organisations, in order to investigate issues relating to the organisational structures and processes experienced by male and female probation officers in three disparate probation areas in England. The opening two chapters examine the development of the organisation in terms of the hierarchical roles within the service and the gendered distribution of probation officer staff across the various grades. This review provides a unique understanding of the changing composition of the probation service and enables a gendered perspective to be applied to its history. Within this context issues of professional identity and autonomy, the value base and working practices of probation officers, and the shift from local to centralised control are scrutinised from an analytic position which identifies the embeddedness of gender within this organisational setting. The framework of a reflexive approach interweaves gendered issues from the quantitative findings with qualitative responses from interviews with male and female probation officers and participant observation within different working environments. New perspectives are gained on the shift from local to Home Office direction of the service, and into the abandonment of the social work qualification and ethos. Moreover, the complexities of working relationships and professional identities are opened up from a gendered viewpoint. In this respect the study addresses the absence of gender within other research in this area and concludes that a gendered analysis is of critical importance in understanding the extent of organisational change within the probation service

Marketing Performance Measurement in FMCG Share of Wallet in Italian Retail Industry

Recent years, the Marketing Science Institute considered marketing performance measurement (MPM) a priority in marketing research and managerial practice. Several contributions on the same topic have been proposed in literature. The ability to measure the marketing performance is considered, a cognitive gap that determined a decrease of marketing relevance within firm and organizations. On the basis of relevant literature on retailing and an explorative case study, it will be proposed a conceptual and pragmatic model to investigate MPM for a consumer goods retailer. The model is aimed to identify antecedents of “share of purchase”, “share of wallet” and “share of visit”. An early test of the model has been carried out on two Italian leading chains: Superò, a master franchisee of SMA Spa (owned of 27 small supermarkets under control of the French Auchan Group) and Decò-Multicedi (the Group is a multi-channel company based on network of 5 Ad Hoc cash & carry centers, 253 Decò outlets and 3 Ayoka pet shops) located in Campania Region

Dynamic Pricing Strategy, Impacts of Fair Pricing Perception on Consumer Reaction [védés előtt]

This research examines the relationship between dynamic pricing, fair pricing perception, and willingness to buy. The theoretical contribution of this research is to provide a conceptual framework and empirical evidence for understanding the complex relationships between constructs. The study also examines the moderating effect of price position, internal reference price, price sensitivity, industrial norm, brand image on the relationship between dynamic pricing and fair pricing perception. In frame of the research, 387 undergraduate students have been surveyed about their airline ticket buying behaviour. Dynamic pricing strategies and price positions were applied as stimuli in a quasi-experimental setting. Results show that the effect of dynamic pricing strategies has a significant effect on perceived fair pricing and, through this, on the willingness to buy. It was investigated that price position moderates the association between dynamic pricing strategy with decreasing trend and fair pricing perception. In the case of a relative higher market price, this effect is stronger. The brand image is also a key concept in marketing. It has an influence on consumers attitude towards the brand and therefore effects the information the consumers select and let it or, on the other hand, filter out during the process of perception. The current study supported that the negative effects of dynamic pricing are weaker when the brand image is positive in the mind of consumers. Norms could heavily effect consumer behavior and its influence has been revealed in several studies. However, studies investigating the moderation role of industry norm in dynamic pricing context are rare. As this moderation effect was examined between the subdimensions of dynamic pricing and fair pricing perception, the outcome of the research is also novel to the literature. Limited research has been conducted on consumer perceptions of price fairness in the context of dynamic pricing. Examining the relationship between perceived price fairness and consumer purchasing propensity in the context of dynamic pricing is the purpose of the present study. The results of the study build upon prior research while also presenting contradictory findings. The findings cast light on the formation of price fairness perceptions in dynamic pricing and the influence of these perceptions on consumer purchase intent. This study contributes in two ways to the literature on price fairness. First, it combines two significant antecedents - price volatility and price change trends - with an outcome dimension, namely purchasing propensity, into a single conceptual model. Second, the research identifies potential moderator variables, including price position, consumer price sensitivity, industry norm, and brand image

Evaluation of E-Government Services Quality: A Business Perspective

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonGiven the vast and rapid developments in using e-government services, many countries all over the world commenced to improve the quality of their e-government services especially the ones concerning the business sector. Accordingly, the issue of evaluating the quality of e-government services from the perspectives of business firms became a crucial aim. This study addressed the topic of evaluating e-government service quality in Jordan from a business perspective. The study problem stemmed from the paucity of research that addressed evaluating e-government service quality form a business perspective at the local and global levels. Moreover, the literature review showed the lack of effective model for assessing the quality of e-government services based on the business perspective. Furthermore, frequent international reports showed that Jordan occupy low rank in E-government readiness at the global and regional levels. The current study aimed to fill the existed gap in literature related to evaluating the quality of e-government services from the business perspective by adding to the present literature body. In order to fulfill the study's goals, a conceptual framework was developed and proposed. The framework included two scales: a SERVQUAL questionnaire and Barrier-Enablers questionnaire. The proposed model was verified according to the validity and reliability indicators. The study methodology adopted an explanatory mixed approach of quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative method involved questionnaires that were applied on 300 employees who were working in the business sector and in direct contact with e-government services. However, the qualitative method involved 11 stakeholders who are in charge for E-government services within two major governmental departments were interviewed. In order to verify the model's measures and gather data; means, standard deviations, internal consistency, t-test, ANOVA, simple linear regression and Factor analysis were used. Based on the proposed model, the study results revealed various gaps between the actual and expected e-services from the business firms' perspective. All the expected e-services scored higher than the real ones. All the gaps in the proposed SERVQUAL questionnaire indicated statistical significant differences in the overall dimensions except the Security and Privacy dimension that revealed no statistically significant difference. Moreover, the results revealed various gaps between the actual and expected barriers/enablers from the business firms' perspective. Similar to the expected e-services, all the expected barriers/enablers scored higher than the actual ones. Furthermore, the qualitative results indicated a number of barriers and enablers that influence using e-government services from E-government perspective in Jordan. Furthermore, based on the results of the analysis, the proposed model was revised and modified. The results introduced a number of implications for the public agencies that provide E-government services. Moreover, the results lend themselves to researchers who are interested in furthering the current study by revising the resulting model and addressing more perspectives or variables

Towards similar standards of judicial protection against administrative action in England and Germany? : a comparison of judicial review of administrative action and the liability of public authorities under the influence of European laws

This comparison has shown that the traditionally divergent positions, which are taken in the control of administrative action in England and Germany, display some common ground in very general terms on which decisions are being taken. The formulation of these general observations is valuable in the preparation of a transnational approximation of judicial review mechanism for the establishment of comparable levels of judicial protection in Europe. These results may be useful for future developments of a common system of judicial review across Europe, even though these results may only represent two pieces in the jigsaw. The comparison has also identified major differences and assessed the reasons for the diverging developments in a historical perspective. The identification of these differences is equally important because of the need to find compromises between divergent systems.Secondly, the thesis was concerned with an analysis of the degree of Europeanisation of the national judicial review systems and the concept of public liability as it is currently emerging. Here, some changes can be noted in both legal systems, which have led to a slow convergence of the systems. The changes in England are marked by an increasing openness for more transparency in the decision-making and the development of a more rights based culture. The substantive review of administrative decision through the application of sharper tools such as proportionality and substantive legitimate expectation mark a new era. Germany, on the other hand displays very high standards of review. The changes in Germany which were provoked mainly by case law of the European Court of Justice indicate the need to reduce the standard of review in some areas, such as the protection of substantive legitimate expectation in the context of the recovery of, state aid. The neglect of procedural protection which is illustrated by generous provisions which allow the in-trial curing of procedural effects displays an approach in Germany which is very focused on the substantive correctness of decisions. This attitude might, in the future lead to controversies in the context of European laws. Nevertheless, limitations to a convergence are inherently set by each national systems constitutional framework. The reasons for the different developments of both legal systems in the nineteenth and early twentieth century can not be ignored and will remain to an extent to preserve the national character of both systems.The variety of results, which have been identified in the four main chapters of this thesis were concerned with issues dealing with the institutional aspects as well as systematic aspects of judicial review and public liability in England and Germany. However, the nature of this comparison required the analysis of institutional contexts as well of the substantive and procedural judicial review mechanisms. The questions asked were concerned with identification of common principles and differences in a historical context, the degree of Europeanisation, which has led to an approximation of nationally divergent positions and the limitations, which are provided by each system's constitutional framework in which judicial review operates. The comparison focused on the development of a system of judicial review of administrative action in a historical perspective, the judicial control of the exercise of discretionary powers, fair procedures and their judicial review and the liability of public authorities in tort

The role of intellectual capital in organisational value creation: An application of a theoretical model to two case studies

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University, 17/06/2004.The research in this thesis focuses on the intangible resources of organisations. Intangible resources include an organisation's collective knowledge and learning, leadership talent, the values that shape its culture, routines and processes and the collaborative relationships. These intangible resources are known as intellectual capital (IC) because they support organisational activity along with financial and physical capital. Previous research has classified IC into three principle components of human, organisational and relationship capital and has established a link between IC and organisational value. Recent studies have also emphasised the notion of interrelationships between the three components of intellectual capital in developing capabilities that drive value creation. Yet it is often unclear how the various elements interrelate to one another to generate organisational value. This thesis investigates how IC contributes to organisational value creation. Central to this research is the examination of the mechanisms through which IC factors are integrated within organisations in order to develop capabilities. As innovation is widely agreed to be a determinant of organisational value creation, this research adapted and extended the model of intelligence and innovation proposed by Glynn (1996) to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework for empirically examining the synergistic effects of IC. Building upon four major theoretical streams: resource-based view of the firm, innovation theory, intellectual capital theory and organisational capabilities, this research has elaborated the ideas and constructs presented in the original model and de-contextualised them to an intellectual capital perspective. A qualitative, interpretive approach was applied to two in-depth case studies for investigating the intangible resource-base of two knowledge intensive companies. The results were then expanded to a cross-case context in order to compare and contrast the value creating potential of the IC factors. The findings of this research are presented in the form of a descriptive framework that classifies the characteristics of a value creating process. The purpose of the framework is to provide pointers for identifying IC resources and developing capabilities in a way that provides an organisation with sustainable competitive advantage, and thereby, value