Development, Validity and Reliability of Perceived Service Quality in Retail Banking and its Relationship With Perceived Value and Customer Satisfaction

Microfinance is often hailed both as a tool for fighting poverty and as a tool for post-conflict reconciliation. This paper explores the use of microfinance in post-civil war Bosnia and Herzegovina, assessing its results in terms of both goals. As it combined high unemployment with a highly educated population in an institutionally open context, Bosnia and Herzegovina provides a crucial test of the effect of microfinance. If unambiguous signs of success cannot be found in a case with such favorable conditions, this would raise serious questions about the potential benefits of microfinance. The paper draws together evidence from a series of independent reviews of microfinance in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to assess its impact in terms of economic performance, the economic system, social welfare and post-conflict integration. Based on this case study, microfinance appears a better tool for dealing with poverty than with social integration or institution building.perceived quality, perceived value, satisfaction, retail banking services

The importance of organizational culture for the performance of service organizations

Nedvomno je organizacijska kultura kot notranja zavest determinanta vedenja zaposlenih in pomemben fenomen znanstvenega proučevanja, predvsem z vidika potencialnega dejavnika razvijana konkurenčne prednosti organizacij. V prispevku obravnavamo nekatere vidike kulture organizacije in ugotavljamo, ali ustrezna usmerjenost in moč organizacijske kulture pomembno prispevata k učinkovitemu uresničevanju ciljev v organizacijah ter doseganju večje poslovne uspešnosti. Posebej osvetljujemo pomen organizacijske kulture v storitvenih organizacijah, v katerih je človeški dejavnik zaradi narave storitev ključni tvorec t. i. "mehkih sestavin" ponudbe, ki dandanes vse bolj pomenijo neizčrpen vir konkurenčnega pozicioniranja na trgu.Organizational culture as an internal consciousness of organizations as well as crucial determinant of their employee behaviour serves undoubtedly as an important phenomenon of scientific research especially from the perspective of its contribution to the performance of organizations as potential factor of their comperatitive advantage. In the paper authors discuss some aspects of organizational culture and try to find out if the right orientation and the strenght of organizational culture contribute signifficantly to the efficient realization of organizational objectives and to overall effectiveness. Special attention is paid to the importance of culture in service organizations employees as the creators of so called soft elements of the offers play decisive role in customer perception of the offers value and at the time serve as the key generator of the competitive positioning of service organizations

Upravljanje markama slovenskih izvoznih poduzeća

This paper describes the characteristics of brand management in the context of the companies in Slovenia that are intensively engaged in the internationalization of their business operations. Using a sample of the 200 largest export companies in Slovenia, it explores the impact of internationalized business operations on the marketing mix component strategies to identify the most frequent internal and external hindrances to the internationalization that exert influence on the companies’ most important brands. The paper also analyzes the importance of long-term experience and knowledge of the market in the consolidation of brand effectiveness and the companies’ reputation and ascertains whether the companies with a higher level of internationalization employ a larger number of less tangible brand performance criteria than those with a lower level of internationalization.U radu se opisuju neke od karakteristika upravljanja markom na primjeru slovenskih poduzeća koja intenzivno internacionaliziraju svoje poslovanje. Na uzorku od 200 najvećih slovenskih izvoznih poduzeća autori istražuju utjecaj internacionalizacije poslovanja na strategije elemenata marketinškog miksa te pokušavaju otkriti najčešće unutarnje i vanjske prepreke internacionalizaciji koje utječu na najvažnije marke poduzeća. Autori također analiziraju važnost dugogodišnjeg iskustva i znanja o tržištu u jačanju učinkovitosti marke i ugleda poduzeća. Isto tako, žele utvrditi koriste li poduzeća s višim stupnjem internacionalizacije poslovanja veći broj manje opipljivih kriterija za procjenu uspješnosti marke u odnosu na ona s manjim stupnjem internacionalizacije

Ali marketinški viri prispevajo k uspešnosti podjetij?

This study investigates the relationships between market orientation, innovation resources, reputational resources, customer related capabilities and distribution-based assets, as well as their impact on both market and financial performance. The results indicate that market orientation is indirectly related to a company's market and financial performance through the four other marketing resources. Reputational resources have a positive impact on loyalty, market share and sales volume, while the impact of innovation resources on the market share and sales volume is more indirect and through customer loyalty. While customer-related capabilities significantly impact customer loyalty, their impact on the market share and sales volume can not be confirmed. On the other hand, the distribution-based assets are only weakly related to loyalty, the market share and the sales volume. The general findings indicate that selected marketing resources impact financial performance indirectly through the creation of customer loyalty and directly through the market share and sales volume.V raziskavi proučujemo povezavo med tržno naravnanostjo in inovacijskimi viri, viri ugleda, sposobnostmi povezanimi z odjemalci in premoženjem, ki temelji na dobaviteljih, kakor tudi njihov vpliv na tržno in finančno uspešnost. Rezultati razkrivajo, da je tržna naravnanost preko štirih obravnavanih marketinških virov posredno povezana s tržno in finančno uspešnostjo podjetij. Viri ugleda imajo pozitiven vpliv na zvestobo in tržne deleže ter obseg prodaje, medtem ko je vpliv inovacijskih virov na trž- ne deleže in obseg prodaje predvsem neposreden preko vpliva zvestobe odjemalcev. Sposobnosti povezane z odjemalci sicer pomembno vplivajo na zvestobo odjemalcev, vendar v raziskavi njihove povezave s tržnimi deleži in obsegi prodaje nismo potrdili. Premoženje, ki temelji na dobaviteljih je zgolj šibko povezano z obema kazalcema tržne uspešnosti (zvestobo, tržnimi deleži in obsegi prodaje). V splošnem ugotavljamo, da tržni deleži in obsegi prodaje na finančno uspešnost vplivajo neposredno, hkrati pa so tudi pomemben mediator pri posrednem vplivu zvestobe odjemalcev na finančno uspešnost

ANALIZA NATJECATELJSKIH SNAGA: PRIMJER HOTELSKIH PODUZEĆA

Companies are faced with a multitude of environmental influences. The dynamism of these influences is more and more turbulent. Also the interactions of the companies with their relevant environment are dynamic and complex. Porter has identified five forces that are widely used to assess the structure of any industry. This paper discusses the situation in the field of competitive forces: customers, competitors, technology, and suppliers. The research compares all the Slovene companies with companies in the hotel industry. The researched population includes the companies with more than 20 employees. According to the results of the ANOVA tests, the basic hypothesis that there are no statistically significant differences in the perception of trends in competitive environment between all surveyed companies and hotel companies is generally confinned, with the exception of only two of the eleven statements.Hotelska poduzeća se suočavaju s višestrukim razvojnim utjecajima. Interakcija utjecaja hotelskih poduzeća s njihovim okruženjem sve je dinamičnija i kompleksnija. U ovom radu obrađeni su odnosi sudionika “tržišne utakmice”: kupci, natjecatelji (proizvođači), tehnologije i dobavljači. U istraživanju natjecateljskih snaga u poduzećima s više od 20 zaposlenih uspoređena su sva slovenska poduzeća s poduzećima u hotelskoj industriji. Rezultati istraživanja potvrđuju hipotezu da nema bitnih razlika između poduzeća u drugim djelatnostima i poduzeća koja nude hotelske proizvode. Za hotelska poduzeća znakovito je da u svom poslovanju više rabe informacijske tehnologije nego u drugim poduzećima

How Marketing Communications Correlates With Business Performance

Companies use different marketing activities to communicate with the environment. These decisions are often a result of past experiences, habits or a certain influences. Measuring the efficiency of a communication mix as well as analyzing the effect of using a specific marketing communication activity on different business performance determinants are usually neglected. This paper might contribute to this problem as it focuses on the correlation between marketing communication activities and the business performance of a company through two aspects: a) the frequency of using a specific marketing communication activity and its correlation to business performance determinants; b) the correlation between the number of marketing communication activities that a company uses and its business performance determinants. We found statistically significant relationships (positive and negative) among some variables. The results helped us interpret which activity a company should use in order to increase customer loyalty, which activity helps raise net profit, and how many marketing communication activities should a company employ to optimise business performance. With this, managers have obtained basic guidelines when building their marketing communication mix

Cluster analysis as a tool of guests segmentation by the degree of their demand

Authors demonstrate the use of cluster analysis in finding out (ascertaining) the homogenity/heterogenity of guests as to the degree of their demand. The degree of guests’ demand is defined according to the importance of perceived service quality components measured by SERVQUAL, which was adopted and adapted, according to the specifics of health spa industry in Slovenia. Goals of the article are: (a) the identification of the profile of importance of general health spa service quality components, and (b) the identification of groups of guests (segments) according to the degree of their demand in the research in 1991 compared with 1999. Cluster analysis serves as useful tool for guest segmentation since it reveals the existence of important differences in the structure of guests in the year 1991 compared with the year 1999. The results serve as a useful database for management in health spas

Interna i eksterna tržišna orijentacija kao organizacijski resursi – posljedice za tržišnu i financijsku uspješnost

The concept of internal marketing has been discussed in marketing literature for over 30 years. Despite this fact there is little theoretical and empirical evidence of the way in which the internal market orientation impacts market and financial performance. On the other hand, there is considerable empirical evidence concerning the impact of the external market orientation on market and financial performance. Consequently, very few research projects have dealt with the impact of both market orientations on the performance of companies. In this paper a structural model was constructed, consisting of the internal market orientation, external market orientation, market performance and financial performance. With the help of the structural equation model the hypothesis that the internal market orientation is a significant predecessor of the external market orientation was confirmed. The external market orientation was found to significantly influence market as well as financial performanceO pojmu internoga marketinga u marketinškoj se literaturi raspravlja više od 30 godina. Unatoč tome, malo je teorijskih i empirijskih dokaza o učinku koji interna tržišna orijentacija ima na tržišnu i financijsku uspješnost. S druge strane, postoji mnogo empirijskih dokaza o učinku eksterne tržišne orijentacije na tržišnu i financijsku uspješnost. Stoga se vrlo malen broj istraživačkih projekata pozabavio utjecajem obiju ovih tržišnih orijentacija na uspješnost poduzeća. Za potrebe ovog rada izrađen je strukturni model, koji se sastoji od interne tržišne orijentacije, eksterne tržišne orijentacije, tržišne uspješnosti i financijske uspješnosti. Njime je dokazana hipoteza da je interna tržišna orijentacija značajna prethodnica eksterne tržišne orijentacije. Utvrđeno je da eksterna tržišna orijentacija ima značajan utjecaj na tržišnu, kao i na financijsku uspješnost