6 research outputs found

    Customer Service Retention – A Behavioural Perspective of the UK Mobile Market

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    Abstract Customer retention is essential for firms in the service sector and will subsequently receive a great deal of attention in the coming years. A large majority of firms are losing their current customers at a significant rate. UK operators lose over a third of their subscribers every year in spite of incurring large customer acquisition and retention expenditures. A study of customer retention from a variety of angles, including economic, behavioural and psychological perspectives, was rigorously carried out. It has been found that a majority of scholars explain customer retention from a behavioural perspective by using unrelated or indirect factors such as trust and commitment, price terms, and loyalty terms. It has also been noted that previous studies lack a clear theoretical background and a solid empirical proof to support their findings of customer operant retention behaviour. This study approaches the customer retention problem in the mobile phone sector from a behavioural perspective, applying the Behavioural Perspective Model as the main analytical framework. The model includes a set of pre-behaviour and post-behaviour factors to study consumer choice and explains its relevant drivers in a viable and comprehensive way, grounded in radical behaviourism. Many data collection methods were used to collect data from the study sample, including mobile contracts content analysis techniques, customer focus groups, and, principally, a customer survey supported by interviews with a number of managers. The data were analysed using different regression measurements to test the study model, and the propositions were constructed and tested quantitatively and discussed qualitatively. Analysis revealed that a customer will buy a mobile telecommunication package and engage in a long-term relationship with a supplier whom he or she believes will honour the relationship’s functional and emotional benefits; the consumer will be expecting to obtain such benefits when he/she buys, consumes, and has a positive experience of both the purchased object and the seller

    Multivessel coronary revascularization in patients with and without diabetes mellitus: 3-year follow-up of the ARTS-II (Arterial Revascularization Therapies Study-Part II) trial.

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    OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the 3-year outcome of coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) in patients who had multivessel coronary artery disease with and without diabetes mellitus. BACKGROUND: The optimal method of revascularization in diabetic patients remains in dispute. METHODS: The ARTS-II (Arterial Revascularization Therapies Study-Part II) trial is a single-arm study (n = 607) that included 159 diabetic patients treated with SES whose 3-year clinical outcome was compared with that of the historical diabetic and nondiabetic arms of the randomized ARTS-I trial (n = 1,205, including 96 diabetic patients in the CABG arm and 112 in the PCI arm). RESULTS: At 3 years, among nondiabetic patients, the incidence of the primary composite of death, CVA, myocardial infarction (MI), and repeat revascularization (major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events [MACCE]), was significantly lower in ARTS-II than in ARTS-I PCI (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 0.41; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.26 to 0.64) and similar to ARTS-I CABG. The ARTS-II patients were at significantly lower risk for death, CVA, and MI as compared with both the ARTS-I PCI (adjusted OR: 0.55; 95% CI: 0.34 to 0.91) and ARTS-I CABG patients (adjusted OR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.35 to 0.92). Among diabetic patients, the incidence of MACCE in ARTS-II was similar to that of both PCI and CABG in ARTS-I. Conversely, the incidence of death, CVA, and MI was significantly lower in ARTS-II than in ARTS-I PCI (adjusted OR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.27 to 1.65) and was similar to that of ARTS-I CABG. CONCLUSIONS: At 3 years, PCI using SES for patients with multivessel coronary artery disease seems to be safer and more efficacious than PCI using bare-metal stents, irrespective of the diabetic status of the patient. Hence, PCI using SES appears to be a valuable alternative to CABG for both diabetic and nondiabetic patients
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