Relationships among Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty in Chain Restaurant

Chain restaurant is one of the fastest growing restaurants in the food service industry. In America, Service industry contributes about 60% of the annual GDP and 70% of new jobs. According to the statistics of Executive Yuan of Taiwan, the service industry contributes over 70% of the annual GDP in 2008. The ultimate goal for companies is to build customer loyalty. With loyal customers, companies can reduce the operating cost and acquisition expenses. An improvement of 5 percent in customer retention leads to an increase of 25 percent to 75 percent in profit. It costs more than five times as much to obtain a new customer than to keep an existing one. This initial study was from relevant literature, then set up research structure and hypotheses. Survey was employed, and respondents were from the customers of Taoban in Taiwan. There were 182 usable questionnaires to analyze descriptive statistics, reliability, validity, and SEM model. The research found that service quality significantly affects customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction has strong impact on customer loyalty for the sample. Therefore, firms have to specifically focus on these factors in order to build a long-term and mutually profitability relationship with a customer and create loyalty as competitive advantages in the market

Customer Commitment as a Mediating Variable between Corporate Brand Image and Customer Loyalty

Research has shown that corporate image is an important determinant of customer loyalty. Having a positive corporate brand image helps companies achieve performance goals, such as higher sales, whereas having a poor brand image can be disastrous because it can cause companies to lose customers. A strong brand with high equity will have a large number of committed customers, many of whom will have frequent and ongoing interaction and communication with the company owning the brand. Customer commitment to a brand stems from trust in the brand, shared values with the company owning the brand, and a belief that it would be difficult to find other brands that could provide same value. Customer loyalty also encourages companies to cooperate with their business partners to preserve their investment in the business relationship. Committed customers have a more positive impression of their relationship with the company and indicate strong intentions to remain in the relationship. The researchers conducted a survey among respondents from the automobile sector in Taiwan, and obtained 170 usable responses. The researchers designed the questionnaires to analyze normality, convergent, and discriminant validities by using the structural equation model of PASW 18 and AMOS 18.0. The research found that commitment is a partial mediator between corporate brand image and customer loyalty. Future studies might measure other dimensions to test their mediating effect on customer loyalty, and these studies might use different designs to examine the mediator effect posited by various theories, such as trust added, to explore other determinants of loyalty. Such research can inform decisions made to increase and maintain long-term customer satisfaction

EFFECT OF SHORT MEDIALSIDE STUDS OM FOOT BIOMECHANICS IN COLLEGIATE SOCCER PLAYERS

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of modified stud on ankle and foot kinematics, ground reaction force and forefoot force and pressure during sidestep cut (SC) and change direction (CD) movement 6 male collegiate soccer players wore original and medial-side 2mm cut stud shoes and performed SC and CD on the artificial grass. Non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare difference between the original and modified studs. The modified stud of non-dominant leg show less inversion than the original stud in SC and CD. The modified stud of non-dominant leg show more force peak form and pressure and that of nondominant legs show more pressure an the original stud during SC and CD. The short medial-side studs with 2mm length can decrease the force inversion of the nondmiiant leg during SC and CD movement and increase the force production of the lower extremities in recreational soccer players

Estimating Probable Maximum Precipitation and Probable Maximum Flood by Considering the Combined Effect of Typhoon and Monsoon Weather System under Climate Change

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchive

Use and effectiveness of dapagliflozin in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a multicenter retrospective study in Taiwan

Aims/Introduction To investigate the clinical outcomes of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who initiated dapagliflozin in real-world practice in Taiwan. Materials and Methods In this multicenter retrospective study, adult patients with T2DM who initiated dapagliflozin after May 1st 2016 either as add-on or switch therapy were included. Changes in clinical and laboratory parameters were evaluated at 3 and 6 months. Baseline factors associated with dapagliflozin response in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results A total of 1,960 patients were eligible. At 6 months, significant changes were observed: HbA1c by −0.73% (95% confidence interval [CI] −0.80, −0.67), body weight was -1.61 kg (95% CI −1.79, −1.42), and systolic/diastolic blood pressure by −3.6/−1.4 mmHg. Add-on dapagliflozin showed significantly greater HbA1c reduction (−0.82%) than switched therapy (−0.66%) (p = 0.002). The proportion of patients achieving HbA1c <7% target increased from 6% at baseline to 19% at Month 6. Almost 80% of patients experienced at least 1% reduction in HbA1c, and 65% of patients showed both weight loss and reduction in HbA1c. Around 37% of patients had at least 3% weight loss. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated patients with higher baseline HbA1c and those who initiated dapagliflozin as add-on therapy were associated with a greater reduction in HbA1c. Conclusions In this real-world study with the highest patient number of Chinese population to date, the use of dapagliflozin was associated with significant improvement in glycemic control, body weight, and blood pressure in patients with T2DM. Initiating dapagliflozin as add-on therapy showed better glycemic control than as switch therapy