EFFECTING FACTORS OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

To be successful in global competitive markets, many firms have responded to rapid technological change, heightened competition and shortened product life cycles by focusing customer satisfaction. It is very difficult to ensure customer satisfaction. In spite of the increasing offer, customers are more conscious, and they make purchasing decisions by evaluating multiple choices and selecting among these choices. In this paper, supplier performance was evaluated by their customers and then, effects of performance criteria factors on customer satisfaction were analyzed. To examine the role of supplier performance in customer satisfaction, a survey was conducted of 182 manufacturing companies in Turkey. Factor analysis yielded seven factors: technical capability, innovation, conformance quality, pricing, delivery, flexibility and service. Correlation analysis indicated that innovation, delivery, flexibility and service factors significantly correlated with customer satisfaction. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis suggested that delivery, flexibility, service and innovation significantly contributed to the customer satisfaction

An Evaluation Of Heating Technology In Anatolian Seljuk Period Hospitals (Darüşşifa)

The need for heating of the body and space is among the main requirements of human survival. Therefore, heating technologies are essential. However, in situ observation of heating systems in historical buildings - either for the purposes of diagnosis and monitoring purposes of old technologies or for their maintenance and preservation - is quite limited, and more thorough analyses are necessary. There are a few studies on the heating systems of Roman and Turkish baths in Anatolia, but not much research has been conducted on other building types. Hence, this manuscript examines thirteenth century Anatolian Seljuk period hospitals, (darussifas) - the primary places for the treatment of patients - in order to investigate the development and use of different heating systems in historic buildings. This manuscript consists of an in-depth study of historic hospitals, carried out through literature review, historical survey, archival research, field observations, and comparative analysis. Most heating systems and complementary elements observed in historic hospitals are not functioning at present due to inappropriate interventions, lack of maintenance, deterioration, and overall changes in living practices. Thus, the examination of heating systems in historic hospitals in this study could be useful not only for the assessment of such functional systems, but also for understanding their technological development in order to determine effective conservation measures

A comparison of the Delphi technique with the nominal group technique (NGT) in determining the criteria to be used for measuring the value-added effect of associate degree graduates of two Pennsylvania community colleges

There is a great deal of interest, and concern, today in the value-added effect of a college education. This concern has been expressed by legislators, legislatures, and taxpayers at the local, state, and federal levels. While everyone has focused their attention on the final criteria that will be used to measure--or assess--these outcomes, no one has looked at the process, that is, which method, or process, is best for a college to pursue when developing these criteria to measure the value-added effect of a college education. This dissertation focused on two processes, the Delphi Technique which was used at one community college in the Eastern region of the State, and the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) which was used at a community college in the Western part of the Commonwealth. The research method used was a case study approach. In both instances, the writer focused on the social-emotional satisfaction (SES) of the committee members and the quality of the criteria that was developed. The writer felt that the committee using the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) would be more satisfied, from a social-emotional satisfaction perspective, because they had the opportunity to meet, face-to-face, with each other and openly discuss these critical issues. The Delphi Technique group never met as a committee and, in fact, had no idea of who was on the committee. The writer\u27s hypothesis was correct, the study clearly indicated that the committee using the Nominal Group Technique was more satisfied, from the social-emotional satisfaction perspective, than was the committee using the Delphi Technique. In terms of the quality of the criteria developed, a group of community college professionals, not involved in either case study, reviewed the criteria and compared it with the philosophy and mission of each institution. They concluded that one technique was not superior to the other in terms of the quality of the criteria developed. The results of this particular study, then, were that the Nominal Group Technique was superior to the Delphi Technique from a social-emotional satisfaction of the committee members, but that there was no difference between the two processes with regard to the quality of the decisions reached