Service Quality in ICBC

Service Quality in ICBC Abstract The development of computer technology and information network technology has brought massive challenges to financial services organizations. Online banking, which provides financial services to customers via Internet, plays an increasingly important role and still has tremendous potential for development. At the same time, the global and local competition between financial institutions has become more intense. Therefore, as the biggest commercial bank in China, it is very important for the managers of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to build a long-term customer relationship. This project has five objectives to achieve: The first objective is to test whether there is a difference between customer expected and perceived service quality in ICBC online banking services. Secondly, the study aims to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer satisfaction in ICBC online banking services. The third objective is to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer loyalty in ICBC online banking services. The fourth objective is to examine the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the online banking services of ICBC, investigate the current situation and give some evaluations. Finally, find out how the dealing with customer complaint in ICBC customer service department influences customer loyalty. Based on the objectives, after decides the type of investigation and research approach, five pairs of hypotheses are formulated to test the relationship between variables. The results of this study indicate that there are high positive relationship between customer perceived service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty. There is also a medium positive relationship between handle customer complaint and customer loyalty. According to these, the ICBC online banking must establish a long term strategy to improve the perceived service quality, satisfying their customer, handling customer complaint promptly in order to achieve more loyal customers. Declaration of Originality I declare that this thesis entitled â€Å"Examining the Service Quality, Customer satisfaction and Loyalty in Online Banking Services of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China† has been composed by myself and has not been presented or accepted in any previous application for a degree. The work, of which this is a record, has been carried out by myself unless otherwise stated and where the work is mine, it reflects personal views and values. All quotations have been distinguished by quotation marks and all sources of information have been acknowledged by means of references including those of the Internet. Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Overview In the past twenty years, the pace of change in financial services sector has been dramatic. The development of computer technology and information network technology has introduced a new virtual economy based on the Internet. As the Internet provides new communication channels to banking industry, the number of online banking websites increased rapidly (Aladwani, 2001). Online banking, an important part of the Internet economy, plays an increasingly important role and still has tremendous potential for development. Mols (2000) indicated that the introduction and customers’ adoption of online banking will bring a massive change in the relationship between retailing banks and customers. At the same time, the global and local competition between financial institutions has become more intense. As a result, building long-term customer relationships becomes ever more important as a part of financial institutions’ strategy. How to satisfy customers and gain customer loyalty has become one of the best means of obtaining competitive advantage. Since China’s accession to the WTO, many foreign banks have begun to do business in China. They not only brought advanced management methods and business philosophy, but also made the financial market in China more competitive. As a consequence of this competition, China’s commercial banks lost a large number of high-end customers in a short period of time. Faced with the loss of customers and the future trend of the growth of profit changing from deposits and loans to intermediary business, China’s commercial banks began to recognize the importance of improving customer satisfaction and loyalty and stepped up their efforts to compete with their foreign counterparts (www.financialnews.com.cn). Due to the increasingly competitive marketing environment, enterprises must be customer oriented (Kotler, 1997). With regarding to banking industry, the service quality is considered as the most important competitive weapon (Staford, 1996). Therefore, how to improve service quality and satisfy customer become a very important marketing strategy in banking industry. Service quality has been many researchers’ interest in recent years by the impellent of Parasuraman et al. (1985). There have been many researches identified the key factors impact on the service quality of traditional banks (Jun and Cai, 2001). However, there are few studies on the customer perceived service quality of online banking services (Broderick and Vachirapornpuk, 2002). Customer loyalty even received less attention than service quality and customer satisfaction (Caruana, 2000). The concepts of service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty are linked together (Caruana, 2000). As illustrated by Caruana (2000:611), â€Å"service quality as an antecedent construct and service loyalty as an outcome variable of customer satisfaction†. Therefore, it is important for banks to know the current performance of their services and understand the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty. In Fecikova’s (2004:57) words: â€Å"Customer satisfaction has become an important issue for commercial and public service organisations.† The standards to judge a company’s win or lose are based on how many customers they can keep. Thus, how to satisfy customers and maintain loyal customers have become important marketing strategies of Chinese online banking industry. However, no matter how well the services are designed and delivered, mistakes will happen. The majority of customers will participate in private word-of-mouth activities regarding their consumptive activities (Day and Landon, 1977). The valence of these word-of-mouth activities may be negative, neutral, or positive. When there is a difference between customer expectation and the actual performance of products or services, the negative feelings will result in complaint behaviour. Therefore, how to handle customer complaints, restore the confidence of customers and reduce the loss of customers has also been an important task to companies in the services process. 1.2 Research Objectives There are some marketing and financial literatures on the services and customer relationship of traditional banks, but few researches are done on the services quality and customer loyalty of online banking. This study presents an analysis of the service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), focuses on the relationship between services quality and customer satisfaction and loyalty, and how handle customer complaint influence customer loyalty. This project has five objectives to achieve: The first objective is to test whether there is a difference between customer expected and perceived service quality in ICBC online banking services. Secondly, the study aims to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer satisfaction in ICBC online banking services. The third objective is to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer loyalty in ICBC online banking services. The fourth objective is to examine the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the online banking services of ICBC, investigate the current situation and give some evaluations. Finally, this study aims to find out how the dealing with customer complaint in ICBC customer service department influences customer loyalty of ICBC online banking. 1.3 Structure of Project This project is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 is the overview and introduction of the research. In Chapter 2, the writer introduces the development and history of online banking services and its development in ICBC. After that, the writer reviews the relevant theories of service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty, and customer complaint, explains how they were measured and the relationship between them, which are mainly based on previous findings. Using these theories, Chapter 3 illustrates the research questions and methodology of this research, the structure of questionnaire was also introduced in this section. Chapter 4 explains the findings of this research, discussing the current situation of ICBC online banking services, examining the relationships between these variables and give some recommendations. In the final Chapter, the writer summarizes the research, discusses the findings and introduces a number of limitations of this study. This section also contains opinions and suggestions on developing the online banking in the future. Chapter 2 Review of the Literature 2.1 Introduction This chapter first introduces the overview of Chinese online banking services and the development of ICBC online banking. Secondly, the writer clarified what the service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer complaint have been covered in the previous study, indicates which factors would affect them and what kind of methods were used to measure them. In this part, the characteristics of online services and customer’s adoption of online banking services are also addressed. Finally, the relationships between these four concepts are reviewed. Bloemer et al. (1999) suggested that although the previous studies indicate that there are obvious relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, however, how strength the relationships are still not clear (Bloemer er al., 1999). Therefore, based on the literature review, the writer presents a research model for this study as well. 2.2 Background of Chinese Online Banking Services 2.2.1 Overview Online banking services are broadly defined as the ability to carry out bank transactions electronically, usually via the internet. It is an important part of the Internet economy. All business transactions are done via the banks’ websites (en.wikipedia.org). Online banking refers to several kinds of services through which bank customers can gain information and services such as money transfer, bill payment, short loan, investment, buy insurance and so on, via a page on Internet without leaving their homes or organizations (Sathye, 1999). There are several studies indicated that online banking services are the most profitable products to banks (Robinson, 2000). By eliminating the infrastructure costs associated with branch-based retail banking services. Online banking is able to offer instant service and lower service charges than their competitors. Online banking is the cheapest channel for banks to deliver services (Robinson, 2000; Giglio, 2002). Research shown that the cost of an average online banking transaction is only 10 percents of the cost of a similar average branch transaction (Kolodinsky et al., 2004). Through provide services online, banks can reduce their expenditure on hard ware and staff in branch (Karjaluoto et al., 2003). At the same time, online banking service delivery channel can also help banks to retain current customers who use online banking services from any location. As Internet has become such an efficient and world-wide used communication medium, it has also become a widely used retail channel (Cho, M. and Park, S., 2001). Furthermore, online banking provides banks opportunities to attract more customers from exiting Internet users (Rotchanakitumnuai and Speece, 2003). From the customers view, online banking services are convenient and can saving time compared with traditional retail banking services. Verma et al. (2004) suggested that customers are willing to pay more for online banking services to gain both offline value and online benefit. They can use online banking services when connect to Internet without the limitation of time and location. As illustrated by Bainbridge (2008), Traditional banking was impacted greatly by the commercialization of the Internet in the early 1990s. As the Internet became more generally accessible, traditional banks began to realize its potential to deliver services to their customers while reducing long-term operational costs. Upon realizing this, they began to offer limited services online. In 1995, the first pure online bank, the Security First Network bank was founded in the United States. It provided services such as direct access to account, bill payment and check viewing, which are quite common today (Christopher, 2008). In the following twenty years, online banking services have developed rapidly and have now become a significant part of the business for commercial banks. As in other countries, Chinese commercial banks are undergoing rapid change due to advances in information technology. Eight months after the first online bank founded in the United States, in June 1996, the Bank of China set up websites and started to provide Internet banking services to the community. One year later, China Merchant Bank launched the first fully online banking â€Å"All in one Net†. It became the first fully Internet bank in China (data.chinabyte.com). Subsequently, more and more Chinese domestic banks have set up online banking services to penetrate the market and gain competitive advantage (Li, 2002). In 2000, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China launched online banking business in 31 cities in China. As the nations largest commercial bank, the opening of its online banking business aroused widespread interest. In 2002, HSBC launched its online banking services in China (data.chinabyte.com). The number of costumers and the trading volume of online banking have increased rapidly. At the end of 2007, the trading volume of corporate online banking reached 245.8 trillion RMB, which increased 163.1% compared to 2006. In the total transaction volume, corporate online banking accounts for 93.6% which is 230 trillion RMB. However, the growth of Personal Online banking was even faster in recent years. The trading volume reached 15.8 trillion RMB at the end of 2007 which is almost four times of 2006’s 4.1 trillion RMB. The number of business customers reached 0.84 million and individual customers reached 65 million at the end of 2006 (iresearch.com.cn). At the same time, the range of services provided by online banking has also increased. Before 2000, some of the banks only provided information services. Now they provide services such as enquiry, investment advice, money transfers, buying and selling of securities, online payments and, in some banks, small loans, housing mortgage loans and other credit facilities. As the 21st century is a customer-oriented century, how to create and maintain customer has became an important part of marketing strategy of banking industry. As information technology advanced and communication channels diversified, customers can use a variety channels to acquire more complete information and choices, to achieve their own best interests. As illustrated by, customer’s role in consumer economy has changed from the recipient to products or services to the decision maker. Most banks also aware that customers are becoming a dominant position, however, how to use information technology and limited sources to achieve the best and most efficient service quality to satisfy customers, gain loyalty customers, ensure the source of profit, these have became the focus of the operation of Chinese banks. 2.2.2 Introduction of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China As the largest one of four big stated-owned commercial banks which dominate the financial markets in China. The ICBC is the leader in online banking services and is constantly introducing advanced online banking products and services to the public. The following figure illustrates its repaid growth in online banking. Figure 2.1 ICBC Online Banking Trading Volume We can see form the figure above, in 2000, ICBCs online banking trading volume amounted only RMB 2.03 trillion, in 2002 this number grew to RMB 8.77 trillion which is almost 4 times of 2000. In the following five years, the ICBC online banking trading volume kept a rapid growth rate. In 2005, it went beyond RMB 46 trillion, growing 23 times compared to that in 2000. By the end of 2007, ICBC online trading volume jumped to RMB 102.88 trillion, which is more than 50 times of 2000. At the same time, the customers of ICBC online banking grew rapidly. At the end of 2007, ICBC Online banking has had 980,000 business customers and 39.08 million individual customers (icbc.com.cn). As illustrated in figure 2, the individual customers of ICBC online banking kept an continued rapid growth from 0.2 million in 2000 to 48.5 million in June of 2008. Currently, ICBC online banking provides a variety of services; customers can transfer money, pay bills, buy stocks or bonds, change foreign currency and so on. It has been very successful and has won various awards in China. It is also widely recognized and respected in the international banking sector. In every year from 2003 to 2006, ICBC was granted the â€Å"Best Personal Internet Bank of China† award by Global Finance. All these have established ICBC as a leader in e-banking in China and have put it among the top financial players in the international arena (icbc.com.cn). 2.3 Introduction to Service 2.3.1 Definition of Service According to Kotler and Keller (2006:374), â€Å"services are intangible, inseparable, variable and perishable products†. Therefore, services require more quality control than products. Financial services are services directed specifically at people’s money or wealth, they are concern with organizations, individuals and their finances (Ennew and Waite, 2007). Nowadays there are a whole range of finance services, such as banking services, credit cards, insurance, foreign exchange, stock and bonds trading and so on. 2.3.2 Characteristics of Service In the earlier marketing literature, Gummesson (1987) suggested that â€Å"services are something that can be bought and sole but which you cannot drop on your foot.† Basically, services are process or experiences (Bateson, 1977; Bowen and Schneider, 1988; Parasuraman et al., 1985). We cannot own a bank account as we own a car, but we have the right to use the bank account doing various financial transactions on our behalf by banks. According to Kotler and Keller (2006), services have for distinctive characteristics which are intangibility, inseparability, variability and perishability. Most services are intangible (Beteson, 1977). They cannot be counted, measured and verified before sale to assure quality. Thus the company may find it difficult to understand the consumers’ evaluation of service quality (Zenthaml, 1981). Ennew and Waite (2007) suggested that services are heterogeneity because service performance different from customer to customer. The performance of services may be totally different from the customer’s perception. Those characters of services indicate that quality of services is more difficult to evaluate than products. Although these are widely used in services marketing, many researchers have different thoughts. Loverloch and Gummesson (2004) argue that this framework has weaknesses, such as intangibility which is ambiguous, they suggested that many services also involve some tangible elements and outcomes. Vargo and Lush (2004) also highlight the inability of this framework to distinguish between goods and services. 2.4 Introduction to Service Quality 2.4.1 Definition of Service Quality Marketing literature has provided many definitions of service quality. Before 1980’s, most research of quality focused on how to define and measure the quality of tangible products. As the service industry developed vigorously, more and more scholars did lots of exploration and study about service quality. However, due to the characteristics of intangible, heterogeneous, perishable and indivisibility, service is hard to define, measure and control (Crosby, 1979). According to the American Society for Quality (Miller, C., 1993), â€Å"quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs†. Levitt (1972) suggested that services quality refers to the results of services can meet the standards set by the customers. Sasser and Olsen (1978) defined services quality from materials, equipment and personnel. This classification suggests that service quality not only including the final results, but also including the provision of services. Gronoroos (1982) firstly proposed the concept of perceived service quality, he suggested that service quality generated from the comparison between expected service quality and the experienced service quality. According to Lewis and Boom (1983), service quality is the consistency of the transfer of service and expectations of service. Customer’s perceptions of quality usually come from their comparison between expected and perceived quality. The result of this comparison is, when the perceived quality is higher than expected quality, customer will get good quality of service or satisfaction with it (Parasuraman, et. al, 1985). Six years later, they pointed out that service quality is a psychological assessment that is measured by customers according to the gap between the expectation and actual service quality (Parasuraman, et. al, 1991). However, Stewart, Hope and Muhlemann (1998) suggested that service quality should be distanced by who provide the service and how they provide it. The former is evaluated after the service, while the latter is evaluated in the process of deliver service. Sarsser et al. (1998) argued that service quality should be defined through three factors which are materials, equipment and person. They suggested service quality not only include the results, but also include the provision of services. Service level and service quality are similar, service level can be divided into expected service level and perceived service level (Sarsser et al., 1998). In recent years, the definition of service quality improved towards customer factor. Harrison (2000) described that service quality is basically concerned with meeting customer’s need and requirements and how well the service level delivered meets customer expectations. Zeithaml and Bitner (2000) argue that there are two levels of customer expectations, desired service and adequate service. The former is defined as the â€Å"wish for† level of service performance, while the latter is defined as the basic service expectations. According to Kim et al. (1998), financial institutions always provide generally undifferentiated services to customer. Therefore, service quality becomes the most important factor. 2.4.2 Dimensions of Service Quality Marketing literature provide many views of the measurement dimensions of services quality. Sasser et al. (1978) suggested that there are three different dimensions of service performance: levels of material, facilities, and personnel. Gronroos (1982) divided service quality into two types: technical quality and functional quality. The former refers to what customers are actually receiving from the service , the latter refers to the process in which the service is delivered. Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1982) argued that service quality has three dimensions physical quality, such as equipment; corporate quality, such as company’s image; interactive quality, which means the interaction 74bb1v8140customers. Parasuraman et al (1985) suggested there are ten dimensions of service quality, which are reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding the customer and tangibles. After further study, they improved these to five dimensions: reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurances, tangibles (Parasuraman et al., 1988). Figure 2.3 illustrates the structure of their finding. Source: Parasuraman et al., (1985,1988) Brady and Cronin (2001) presented a service quality model of three dimensions: interaction quality, physical environment quality and outcome quality. Interaction quality refers to the interaction between customer and employee in the process of service delivery. It is impacted by attitude, behavior and expertise. Physical environment refers to customer’s evaluation of physical facilities or building design. Outcome quality indicates the result of services (Brady and Cronin, 2001). 2.4.3 Importance of Service Quality With the development of world economy and the pace of globalisation, most markets have been very competitive, in order to survive, companies need to provide good quality services to satisfy and retain loyalty customers (Fecikova, 2004). According to Broderick and Vachirapornpuk (2002), not only the technology changes overtime, customer expectation and perception of online services also changes continuously. Therefore, service quality will become a very important issue to online banks. Nowadays, as the process of globalization has made the market competition in financial industry more and more intense. Customers have been considered as the most importance to service industry (MacDonald et al, 2000). At the same time, customers’ expectations of service quality are constantly increase, while their tolerance of poor services is constantly decline (Smith and Lewis, 1989). Therefore, it is increasingly difficult for the company to success in the competitive market. Only the company which provide better services than others can gain competitive advantage in the market and gain more customers (Gronroos, 1990). Easingwood and Storey (1993) suggested that service quality is the most important factor for the success of financial industry. Therefore, providing high quality services to customers is important for a bank to success and survival in today’s competitive market (Wang et al., 2003). 2.4.4 Measuring Service Quality As service quality directly relates with customer satisfaction, more and more company concern measuring service quality an important task. According to Baggs and Kleiner (1999:36), â€Å"The measurement of customer service is the most important variable that a company has to manage. Customer service includes the overall picture that an organisation presents to the public.† Due to the characteristics of intangible, heterogeneous, perishable and indivisibility, service is hard to measure and control (Crosby, 1979). Gronoroos (1984) suggested that service quality should be measured by compare the customer perception and expectation of services. However, most of service quality studies have been focused on the development of instruments to measure service quality directly. Cronin Taylor (1992) argue and change this method to a comparison of performance with ideal standards, or from performance perceptions only. Their performance is mostly based on employees. Customers’ evaluation of service quality is influenced by their interactions with the employees. Recently, most researchers agree that services comprise of an outcome, which is an achievement of some end by the customer, and a process, which is the interaction customer-service provider (Blanchard Galloway 1994). Recent research suggested that to measure service quality, not only the performance of service should be measured, the process of the service delivery should be considered as well. To check the influences for service process to their perceptions; Rust and Oliver (1994) presented the three component model to indicate the influence of service process to service quality. From the figure 2.4, it clearly be seen that there are three factors deciding the perceived service quality, they are service product, service delivery and service environment. This theory support the importance of service delivery, for actual outcome quality only one of the three factors. SERVQUAL Model SERVQUAL model is the most widely used method to measure service quality both in academic research and business analysis. Parasuraman et. al (1985) formulated a service quality model which highlighted the requirements for deliver high service quality. The model identifies five gaps that may cause unsuccessful services delivery. There are five gaps in this model. Gap 1 is the gap between consumer expectation and management perception. Gap 2 is the gap between management perception and service quality specification. Gap 3 is the gap between service quality specification and service delivery. Gap 4 is the gap between service delivery and external communication. Gap 5 is the gap between perceived service and expected service. Source: Parasuraman et al. (1985:44). Based on this research, Parasuraman et. al (1985) identify ten factors which determine the services quality. These determinants were: Tangibles Reliability Responsiveness Competency Courtesy Communication Credibility Security Access Understanding the customer Parasuraman et al. (1988) furthered the service delivery process and established a SERVOQUAL service quality analytical framework which includes five factors: Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, and Empathy(Zeithaml et al, 1990). Tangibles. All physical elements of the provision of service by banks. It includes the building, decoration, equipment, personnel, publications, visible materials, etc. Reliability. He extent to which repeated use of the product or service satisfies customers requirements of it. It creates a level of trust by the customer in the services and products provided by banks and it directly affects customer perceptions of brand, economic strength, the levels of professionalism of staff and the quality of products. Responsiveness. The speed the company responds to the requirements of customer. Typically, this is a function of the willingness of bank staff to provide the necessary services when requested by customers. It not only embodies the attitude of a bank’s service and work efficiency, but also demonstrates the difference in quality compared with the inter-bank service. Assurance. This is the customers feeling that bank staff are fully capable of dealing with problems in the course of their work. Empathy. This is a measure of the extent to which the supplier identifies the customers problems as also being their own problems and the willingness with which they take those problems on board for resolution. Typically it would include providing customers with personalized product portfolios in line with their personal needs and aspirations. Based on these five factors, they developed a 22 items scale to measure service quality. The following table illustrates the details. ries. Carman (1990) suggested adding certain dimensions which are differentially important in different industry. Cronin and Taylor (1992) argued that SERVQUAL model was not appropriate in their study of banking and fast food industries. Another criticism i Service Quality in ICBC Service Quality in ICBC Abstract The development of computer technology and information network technology has brought massive challenges to financial services organizations. Online banking, which provides financial services to customers via Internet, plays an increasingly important role and still has tremendous potential for development. At the same time, the global and local competition between financial institutions has become more intense. Therefore, as the biggest commercial bank in China, it is very important for the managers of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to build a long-term customer relationship. This project has five objectives to achieve: The first objective is to test whether there is a difference between customer expected and perceived service quality in ICBC online banking services. Secondly, the study aims to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer satisfaction in ICBC online banking services. The third objective is to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer loyalty in ICBC online banking services. The fourth objective is to examine the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the online banking services of ICBC, investigate the current situation and give some evaluations. Finally, find out how the dealing with customer complaint in ICBC customer service department influences customer loyalty. Based on the objectives, after decides the type of investigation and research approach, five pairs of hypotheses are formulated to test the relationship between variables. The results of this study indicate that there are high positive relationship between customer perceived service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty. There is also a medium positive relationship between handle customer complaint and customer loyalty. According to these, the ICBC online banking must establish a long term strategy to improve the perceived service quality, satisfying their customer, handling customer complaint promptly in order to achieve more loyal customers. Declaration of Originality I declare that this thesis entitled â€Å"Examining the Service Quality, Customer satisfaction and Loyalty in Online Banking Services of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China† has been composed by myself and has not been presented or accepted in any previous application for a degree. The work, of which this is a record, has been carried out by myself unless otherwise stated and where the work is mine, it reflects personal views and values. All quotations have been distinguished by quotation marks and all sources of information have been acknowledged by means of references including those of the Internet. Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Overview In the past twenty years, the pace of change in financial services sector has been dramatic. The development of computer technology and information network technology has introduced a new virtual economy based on the Internet. As the Internet provides new communication channels to banking industry, the number of online banking websites increased rapidly (Aladwani, 2001). Online banking, an important part of the Internet economy, plays an increasingly important role and still has tremendous potential for development. Mols (2000) indicated that the introduction and customers’ adoption of online banking will bring a massive change in the relationship between retailing banks and customers. At the same time, the global and local competition between financial institutions has become more intense. As a result, building long-term customer relationships becomes ever more important as a part of financial institutions’ strategy. How to satisfy customers and gain customer loyalty has become one of the best means of obtaining competitive advantage. Since China’s accession to the WTO, many foreign banks have begun to do business in China. They not only brought advanced management methods and business philosophy, but also made the financial market in China more competitive. As a consequence of this competition, China’s commercial banks lost a large number of high-end customers in a short period of time. Faced with the loss of customers and the future trend of the growth of profit changing from deposits and loans to intermediary business, China’s commercial banks began to recognize the importance of improving customer satisfaction and loyalty and stepped up their efforts to compete with their foreign counterparts (www.financialnews.com.cn). Due to the increasingly competitive marketing environment, enterprises must be customer oriented (Kotler, 1997). With regarding to banking industry, the service quality is considered as the most important competitive weapon (Staford, 1996). Therefore, how to improve service quality and satisfy customer become a very important marketing strategy in banking industry. Service quality has been many researchers’ interest in recent years by the impellent of Parasuraman et al. (1985). There have been many researches identified the key factors impact on the service quality of traditional banks (Jun and Cai, 2001). However, there are few studies on the customer perceived service quality of online banking services (Broderick and Vachirapornpuk, 2002). Customer loyalty even received less attention than service quality and customer satisfaction (Caruana, 2000). The concepts of service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty are linked together (Caruana, 2000). As illustrated by Caruana (2000:611), â€Å"service quality as an antecedent construct and service loyalty as an outcome variable of customer satisfaction†. Therefore, it is important for banks to know the current performance of their services and understand the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty. In Fecikova’s (2004:57) words: â€Å"Customer satisfaction has become an important issue for commercial and public service organisations.† The standards to judge a company’s win or lose are based on how many customers they can keep. Thus, how to satisfy customers and maintain loyal customers have become important marketing strategies of Chinese online banking industry. However, no matter how well the services are designed and delivered, mistakes will happen. The majority of customers will participate in private word-of-mouth activities regarding their consumptive activities (Day and Landon, 1977). The valence of these word-of-mouth activities may be negative, neutral, or positive. When there is a difference between customer expectation and the actual performance of products or services, the negative feelings will result in complaint behaviour. Therefore, how to handle customer complaints, restore the confidence of customers and reduce the loss of customers has also been an important task to companies in the services process. 1.2 Research Objectives There are some marketing and financial literatures on the services and customer relationship of traditional banks, but few researches are done on the services quality and customer loyalty of online banking. This study presents an analysis of the service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), focuses on the relationship between services quality and customer satisfaction and loyalty, and how handle customer complaint influence customer loyalty. This project has five objectives to achieve: The first objective is to test whether there is a difference between customer expected and perceived service quality in ICBC online banking services. Secondly, the study aims to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer satisfaction in ICBC online banking services. The third objective is to examine the relationship between customer perceived service quality and customer loyalty in ICBC online banking services. The fourth objective is to examine the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the online banking services of ICBC, investigate the current situation and give some evaluations. Finally, this study aims to find out how the dealing with customer complaint in ICBC customer service department influences customer loyalty of ICBC online banking. 1.3 Structure of Project This project is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 is the overview and introduction of the research. In Chapter 2, the writer introduces the development and history of online banking services and its development in ICBC. After that, the writer reviews the relevant theories of service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty, and customer complaint, explains how they were measured and the relationship between them, which are mainly based on previous findings. Using these theories, Chapter 3 illustrates the research questions and methodology of this research, the structure of questionnaire was also introduced in this section. Chapter 4 explains the findings of this research, discussing the current situation of ICBC online banking services, examining the relationships between these variables and give some recommendations. In the final Chapter, the writer summarizes the research, discusses the findings and introduces a number of limitations of this study. This section also contains opinions and suggestions on developing the online banking in the future. Chapter 2 Review of the Literature 2.1 Introduction This chapter first introduces the overview of Chinese online banking services and the development of ICBC online banking. Secondly, the writer clarified what the service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer complaint have been covered in the previous study, indicates which factors would affect them and what kind of methods were used to measure them. In this part, the characteristics of online services and customer’s adoption of online banking services are also addressed. Finally, the relationships between these four concepts are reviewed. Bloemer et al. (1999) suggested that although the previous studies indicate that there are obvious relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, however, how strength the relationships are still not clear (Bloemer er al., 1999). Therefore, based on the literature review, the writer presents a research model for this study as well. 2.2 Background of Chinese Online Banking Services 2.2.1 Overview Online banking services are broadly defined as the ability to carry out bank transactions electronically, usually via the internet. It is an important part of the Internet economy. All business transactions are done via the banks’ websites (en.wikipedia.org). Online banking refers to several kinds of services through which bank customers can gain information and services such as money transfer, bill payment, short loan, investment, buy insurance and so on, via a page on Internet without leaving their homes or organizations (Sathye, 1999). There are several studies indicated that online banking services are the most profitable products to banks (Robinson, 2000). By eliminating the infrastructure costs associated with branch-based retail banking services. Online banking is able to offer instant service and lower service charges than their competitors. Online banking is the cheapest channel for banks to deliver services (Robinson, 2000; Giglio, 2002). Research shown that the cost of an average online banking transaction is only 10 percents of the cost of a similar average branch transaction (Kolodinsky et al., 2004). Through provide services online, banks can reduce their expenditure on hard ware and staff in branch (Karjaluoto et al., 2003). At the same time, online banking service delivery channel can also help banks to retain current customers who use online banking services from any location. As Internet has become such an efficient and world-wide used communication medium, it has also become a widely used retail channel (Cho, M. and Park, S., 2001). Furthermore, online banking provides banks opportunities to attract more customers from exiting Internet users (Rotchanakitumnuai and Speece, 2003). From the customers view, online banking services are convenient and can saving time compared with traditional retail banking services. Verma et al. (2004) suggested that customers are willing to pay more for online banking services to gain both offline value and online benefit. They can use online banking services when connect to Internet without the limitation of time and location. As illustrated by Bainbridge (2008), Traditional banking was impacted greatly by the commercialization of the Internet in the early 1990s. As the Internet became more generally accessible, traditional banks began to realize its potential to deliver services to their customers while reducing long-term operational costs. Upon realizing this, they began to offer limited services online. In 1995, the first pure online bank, the Security First Network bank was founded in the United States. It provided services such as direct access to account, bill payment and check viewing, which are quite common today (Christopher, 2008). In the following twenty years, online banking services have developed rapidly and have now become a significant part of the business for commercial banks. As in other countries, Chinese commercial banks are undergoing rapid change due to advances in information technology. Eight months after the first online bank founded in the United States, in June 1996, the Bank of China set up websites and started to provide Internet banking services to the community. One year later, China Merchant Bank launched the first fully online banking â€Å"All in one Net†. It became the first fully Internet bank in China (data.chinabyte.com). Subsequently, more and more Chinese domestic banks have set up online banking services to penetrate the market and gain competitive advantage (Li, 2002). In 2000, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China launched online banking business in 31 cities in China. As the nations largest commercial bank, the opening of its online banking business aroused widespread interest. In 2002, HSBC launched its online banking services in China (data.chinabyte.com). The number of costumers and the trading volume of online banking have increased rapidly. At the end of 2007, the trading volume of corporate online banking reached 245.8 trillion RMB, which increased 163.1% compared to 2006. In the total transaction volume, corporate online banking accounts for 93.6% which is 230 trillion RMB. However, the growth of Personal Online banking was even faster in recent years. The trading volume reached 15.8 trillion RMB at the end of 2007 which is almost four times of 2006’s 4.1 trillion RMB. The number of business customers reached 0.84 million and individual customers reached 65 million at the end of 2006 (iresearch.com.cn). At the same time, the range of services provided by online banking has also increased. Before 2000, some of the banks only provided information services. Now they provide services such as enquiry, investment advice, money transfers, buying and selling of securities, online payments and, in some banks, small loans, housing mortgage loans and other credit facilities. As the 21st century is a customer-oriented century, how to create and maintain customer has became an important part of marketing strategy of banking industry. As information technology advanced and communication channels diversified, customers can use a variety channels to acquire more complete information and choices, to achieve their own best interests. As illustrated by, customer’s role in consumer economy has changed from the recipient to products or services to the decision maker. Most banks also aware that customers are becoming a dominant position, however, how to use information technology and limited sources to achieve the best and most efficient service quality to satisfy customers, gain loyalty customers, ensure the source of profit, these have became the focus of the operation of Chinese banks. 2.2.2 Introduction of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China As the largest one of four big stated-owned commercial banks which dominate the financial markets in China. The ICBC is the leader in online banking services and is constantly introducing advanced online banking products and services to the public. The following figure illustrates its repaid growth in online banking. Figure 2.1 ICBC Online Banking Trading Volume We can see form the figure above, in 2000, ICBCs online banking trading volume amounted only RMB 2.03 trillion, in 2002 this number grew to RMB 8.77 trillion which is almost 4 times of 2000. In the following five years, the ICBC online banking trading volume kept a rapid growth rate. In 2005, it went beyond RMB 46 trillion, growing 23 times compared to that in 2000. By the end of 2007, ICBC online trading volume jumped to RMB 102.88 trillion, which is more than 50 times of 2000. At the same time, the customers of ICBC online banking grew rapidly. At the end of 2007, ICBC Online banking has had 980,000 business customers and 39.08 million individual customers (icbc.com.cn). As illustrated in figure 2, the individual customers of ICBC online banking kept an continued rapid growth from 0.2 million in 2000 to 48.5 million in June of 2008. Currently, ICBC online banking provides a variety of services; customers can transfer money, pay bills, buy stocks or bonds, change foreign currency and so on. It has been very successful and has won various awards in China. It is also widely recognized and respected in the international banking sector. In every year from 2003 to 2006, ICBC was granted the â€Å"Best Personal Internet Bank of China† award by Global Finance. All these have established ICBC as a leader in e-banking in China and have put it among the top financial players in the international arena (icbc.com.cn). 2.3 Introduction to Service 2.3.1 Definition of Service According to Kotler and Keller (2006:374), â€Å"services are intangible, inseparable, variable and perishable products†. Therefore, services require more quality control than products. Financial services are services directed specifically at people’s money or wealth, they are concern with organizations, individuals and their finances (Ennew and Waite, 2007). Nowadays there are a whole range of finance services, such as banking services, credit cards, insurance, foreign exchange, stock and bonds trading and so on. 2.3.2 Characteristics of Service In the earlier marketing literature, Gummesson (1987) suggested that â€Å"services are something that can be bought and sole but which you cannot drop on your foot.† Basically, services are process or experiences (Bateson, 1977; Bowen and Schneider, 1988; Parasuraman et al., 1985). We cannot own a bank account as we own a car, but we have the right to use the bank account doing various financial transactions on our behalf by banks. According to Kotler and Keller (2006), services have for distinctive characteristics which are intangibility, inseparability, variability and perishability. Most services are intangible (Beteson, 1977). They cannot be counted, measured and verified before sale to assure quality. Thus the company may find it difficult to understand the consumers’ evaluation of service quality (Zenthaml, 1981). Ennew and Waite (2007) suggested that services are heterogeneity because service performance different from customer to customer. The performance of services may be totally different from the customer’s perception. Those characters of services indicate that quality of services is more difficult to evaluate than products. Although these are widely used in services marketing, many researchers have different thoughts. Loverloch and Gummesson (2004) argue that this framework has weaknesses, such as intangibility which is ambiguous, they suggested that many services also involve some tangible elements and outcomes. Vargo and Lush (2004) also highlight the inability of this framework to distinguish between goods and services. 2.4 Introduction to Service Quality 2.4.1 Definition of Service Quality Marketing literature has provided many definitions of service quality. Before 1980’s, most research of quality focused on how to define and measure the quality of tangible products. As the service industry developed vigorously, more and more scholars did lots of exploration and study about service quality. However, due to the characteristics of intangible, heterogeneous, perishable and indivisibility, service is hard to define, measure and control (Crosby, 1979). According to the American Society for Quality (Miller, C., 1993), â€Å"quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs†. Levitt (1972) suggested that services quality refers to the results of services can meet the standards set by the customers. Sasser and Olsen (1978) defined services quality from materials, equipment and personnel. This classification suggests that service quality not only including the final results, but also including the provision of services. Gronoroos (1982) firstly proposed the concept of perceived service quality, he suggested that service quality generated from the comparison between expected service quality and the experienced service quality. According to Lewis and Boom (1983), service quality is the consistency of the transfer of service and expectations of service. Customer’s perceptions of quality usually come from their comparison between expected and perceived quality. The result of this comparison is, when the perceived quality is higher than expected quality, customer will get good quality of service or satisfaction with it (Parasuraman, et. al, 1985). Six years later, they pointed out that service quality is a psychological assessment that is measured by customers according to the gap between the expectation and actual service quality (Parasuraman, et. al, 1991). However, Stewart, Hope and Muhlemann (1998) suggested that service quality should be distanced by who provide the service and how they provide it. The former is evaluated after the service, while the latter is evaluated in the process of deliver service. Sarsser et al. (1998) argued that service quality should be defined through three factors which are materials, equipment and person. They suggested service quality not only include the results, but also include the provision of services. Service level and service quality are similar, service level can be divided into expected service level and perceived service level (Sarsser et al., 1998). In recent years, the definition of service quality improved towards customer factor. Harrison (2000) described that service quality is basically concerned with meeting customer’s need and requirements and how well the service level delivered meets customer expectations. Zeithaml and Bitner (2000) argue that there are two levels of customer expectations, desired service and adequate service. The former is defined as the â€Å"wish for† level of service performance, while the latter is defined as the basic service expectations. According to Kim et al. (1998), financial institutions always provide generally undifferentiated services to customer. Therefore, service quality becomes the most important factor. 2.4.2 Dimensions of Service Quality Marketing literature provide many views of the measurement dimensions of services quality. Sasser et al. (1978) suggested that there are three different dimensions of service performance: levels of material, facilities, and personnel. Gronroos (1982) divided service quality into two types: technical quality and functional quality. The former refers to what customers are actually receiving from the service , the latter refers to the process in which the service is delivered. Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1982) argued that service quality has three dimensions physical quality, such as equipment; corporate quality, such as company’s image; interactive quality, which means the interaction 74bb1v8140customers. Parasuraman et al (1985) suggested there are ten dimensions of service quality, which are reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding the customer and tangibles. After further study, they improved these to five dimensions: reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurances, tangibles (Parasuraman et al., 1988). Figure 2.3 illustrates the structure of their finding. Source: Parasuraman et al., (1985,1988) Brady and Cronin (2001) presented a service quality model of three dimensions: interaction quality, physical environment quality and outcome quality. Interaction quality refers to the interaction between customer and employee in the process of service delivery. It is impacted by attitude, behavior and expertise. Physical environment refers to customer’s evaluation of physical facilities or building design. Outcome quality indicates the result of services (Brady and Cronin, 2001). 2.4.3 Importance of Service Quality With the development of world economy and the pace of globalisation, most markets have been very competitive, in order to survive, companies need to provide good quality services to satisfy and retain loyalty customers (Fecikova, 2004). According to Broderick and Vachirapornpuk (2002), not only the technology changes overtime, customer expectation and perception of online services also changes continuously. Therefore, service quality will become a very important issue to online banks. Nowadays, as the process of globalization has made the market competition in financial industry more and more intense. Customers have been considered as the most importance to service industry (MacDonald et al, 2000). At the same time, customers’ expectations of service quality are constantly increase, while their tolerance of poor services is constantly decline (Smith and Lewis, 1989). Therefore, it is increasingly difficult for the company to success in the competitive market. Only the company which provide better services than others can gain competitive advantage in the market and gain more customers (Gronroos, 1990). Easingwood and Storey (1993) suggested that service quality is the most important factor for the success of financial industry. Therefore, providing high quality services to customers is important for a bank to success and survival in today’s competitive market (Wang et al., 2003). 2.4.4 Measuring Service Quality As service quality directly relates with customer satisfaction, more and more company concern measuring service quality an important task. According to Baggs and Kleiner (1999:36), â€Å"The measurement of customer service is the most important variable that a company has to manage. Customer service includes the overall picture that an organisation presents to the public.† Due to the characteristics of intangible, heterogeneous, perishable and indivisibility, service is hard to measure and control (Crosby, 1979). Gronoroos (1984) suggested that service quality should be measured by compare the customer perception and expectation of services. However, most of service quality studies have been focused on the development of instruments to measure service quality directly. Cronin Taylor (1992) argue and change this method to a comparison of performance with ideal standards, or from performance perceptions only. Their performance is mostly based on employees. Customers’ evaluation of service quality is influenced by their interactions with the employees. Recently, most researchers agree that services comprise of an outcome, which is an achievement of some end by the customer, and a process, which is the interaction customer-service provider (Blanchard Galloway 1994). Recent research suggested that to measure service quality, not only the performance of service should be measured, the process of the service delivery should be considered as well. To check the influences for service process to their perceptions; Rust and Oliver (1994) presented the three component model to indicate the influence of service process to service quality. From the figure 2.4, it clearly be seen that there are three factors deciding the perceived service quality, they are service product, service delivery and service environment. This theory support the importance of service delivery, for actual outcome quality only one of the three factors. SERVQUAL Model SERVQUAL model is the most widely used method to measure service quality both in academic research and business analysis. Parasuraman et. al (1985) formulated a service quality model which highlighted the requirements for deliver high service quality. The model identifies five gaps that may cause unsuccessful services delivery. There are five gaps in this model. Gap 1 is the gap between consumer expectation and management perception. Gap 2 is the gap between management perception and service quality specification. Gap 3 is the gap between service quality specification and service delivery. Gap 4 is the gap between service delivery and external communication. Gap 5 is the gap between perceived service and expected service. Source: Parasuraman et al. (1985:44). Based on this research, Parasuraman et. al (1985) identify ten factors which determine the services quality. These determinants were: Tangibles Reliability Responsiveness Competency Courtesy Communication Credibility Security Access Understanding the customer Parasuraman et al. (1988) furthered the service delivery process and established a SERVOQUAL service quality analytical framework which includes five factors: Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, and Empathy(Zeithaml et al, 1990). Tangibles. All physical elements of the provision of service by banks. It includes the building, decoration, equipment, personnel, publications, visible materials, etc. Reliability. He extent to which repeated use of the product or service satisfies customers requirements of it. It creates a level of trust by the customer in the services and products provided by banks and it directly affects customer perceptions of brand, economic strength, the levels of professionalism of staff and the quality of products. Responsiveness. The speed the company responds to the requirements of customer. Typically, this is a function of the willingness of bank staff to provide the necessary services when requested by customers. It not only embodies the attitude of a bank’s service and work efficiency, but also demonstrates the difference in quality compared with the inter-bank service. Assurance. This is the customers feeling that bank staff are fully capable of dealing with problems in the course of their work. Empathy. This is a measure of the extent to which the supplier identifies the customers problems as also being their own problems and the willingness with which they take those problems on board for resolution. Typically it would include providing customers with personalized product portfolios in line with their personal needs and aspirations. Based on these five factors, they developed a 22 items scale to measure service quality. The following table illustrates the details. ries. Carman (1990) suggested adding certain dimensions which are differentially important in different industry. Cronin and Taylor (1992) argued that SERVQUAL model was not appropriate in their study of banking and fast food industries. Another criticism i

Human Failure Essay

â€Å"4 1/2 minutes† is a story full of the darkest human emotions and human interaction at its worst. The main character, Miles, will take the reader through a journey and one will wonder why it ends so abruptly. Miles has already begun his torrential downfall eventually leading to his absence of mind and life. Kate Sheofsky wrote this story to show the realness of humans and not to put a sugar coating on it. The author told a weaving, intricate, and beguiling story of human failure in its worst form. Miles gets the full body tattoo to show that he is strong and that he will find acceptance   whatever the cause. Many colors are used in â€Å"4 1/2 minutes† that showcase the point of being strong and having courage. The author chose to use the color purple when she describes the tattoo Miles is receiving on his back. (Sheofsky) In army operations the color purple is used when naming operations that have multiple types of units involved. Whenever more than one type of unit is involved that means it is a joint effort. When Miles received the purple tattoo it was foreshadowing his oneness with the fish. Blue is most often associated with water and re-birth. Sheofsky writes â€Å"patches of blue as his skin is revealed† and this shows Miles is ready for his acceptance (Shoefsky). These colors foreshadow Miles and his strength; furthermore the main character and his name of Miles also have a hidden sense of power behind it. The name Miles has a hidden meaning behind it to show the strength of the character. Miles has an ancient meaning of soldier. In â€Å"4 1/2 minutes† the author states â€Å"His skin is young, but his expression is worn and battered. â€Å"Dark circles haunt his vacant eyes.† (Sheofsky) These words portray the average soldier through history. Soldiers are often young and overstressed beyond what the common person can even comprehend. After years of bloodshed and torment they often will have the vacant stare. This 1,000 yard stare is common with soldiers that have been pushed too far or have seen too many atrocities. Miles is one of these unlucky few that have been pushed past the point of rational thinking. He is tired of trying to deal with the emotional  range of depression. The strength of Miles unfortunately leads to his demise, consequently he does find the acceptance he was looking for. Acceptance is a natural feeling that humans strive towards. Acceptance means â€Å"Favorable reception; approval† (Dictionary) and the average human can only stand a certain amount of rejection before psychological issues develop. They may learn to accept rejection in its many forms, but no one strives for it. Miles was stabbed in high school with a buck knife by a group of men (Sheofsky). This shows that he was not accepted through his high schools days. This would have an impact and lasting repercussions on anyone. Constant rejection by peers will bring on a state of depression. Miles was obviously past the point of a normal depression and at the point of insanity. Miles believed the tattoos of aquatic life would help the fish accept him as an equal. It would take an inordinate amount of strength and passion to receive a fully body tattoo just to have a small moment of acceptance. Miles was so far gone that he chose to end his life just to have 4  ½ minutes of acceptance. The strength of Miles led him to insanity and his drive for acceptance. He decided paying the ultimate sacrifice was worth a small time of bliss. As he sunk to the bottom to meet his demise â€Å"a wide smile stiffened on his face† (Sheofsky) and this truly shows that he finally had acceptance in his life. The strength to take the ultimate sacrifice for this acceptance is the highest possible amount of mental breakdown a man can achieve. The use of imagery and metaphors helped show who the main character was and the effects society had on him. Even though he may have been insane he still had the mental and physical strength for a non-stop, full body tattoo and to allow himself to slowly drown and die. Sheofsky, Kate . â€Å"4 1/2 Minutes.† Short Stories. 01 2002. 11 Oct. 2005 . â€Å"Acceptance.† Dictionary.com. 4th ed. 2000.

How to Find Essay Topics for Business Studies

How to Find Essay Topics for Business Studies Essay Topics for Business Studies: the Ultimate Convenience! Keep on reading to discover ideas for a few of the most common worldwide small business research topic tips that you can use and make your very own, distinctive and productive research paper. There are scores of interesting small business topics for research paper writing. As you have observed, different forms of essay topics have various techniques to approach them, and in addition, they have their own benefits. Qualities of a great persuasive essay topic The topic needs to be specific. Possessing fantastic research abilities and selecting an excellent topic is important. It is preferable to use templates since they include all necessary formatting elements. Examples might also be included in each one of the body paragraphs to more support and clarify your primary points. Other critical elements include layout, presentation and application of appropriate language. Writing business studies essay requires you to experience almost the exact stages as with writing different essays. Superior research is crucial in composing a great essay paper. Students experience a good deal of challenges that may keep them from writing excellent papers. They often find that most of their work on these essays is done before they even start writing. What You Should Do to Find Out About Essay Topics for Business Studies Before You're Left Behind At any time you catch yourself feeling captivated by an individu essay or article, take a better look at it. Bear in mind, the readers are accustomed to the book you may be speaking about. Clearly, you shouldn't purposely choose a topic that will bore your audience. You'll have to back up your viewpoint with well-researched facts and data too. Weave in your perspective to turn your essay unique. To make certain that your paper doesn't discriminate anyone, attempt to imagine that you're reading it to the mixed audience of distinct genders. It will be simpler that you compose a superior persuasive essay if it's a subject in which you have knowledge. To compose an outstanding essay, it's important to use specific academic language. What's the Iron Lady's role on earth history. Parting thoughts, suggestions and arguments which will remain in the reader's mind long once they set down the essay can be conveyed inside this part of the paper. Please remember that personal experience is extremely significant in gender studies, it can provide you a few insights and steer you through the manner of your research, but nevertheless, it can't be the universally relevant data. There are varying views on whether or not a college education is necessary in order to have a thriving life. How to Choose Essay Topics for Business Studies You're probably wondering why you ought to choose our company including all the options out there. Additionally, writing about the franchise purchasing process may also be profitable. Therefore your choice may be limited to what you will probably finish. For you to compose an excellent and intriguing small business research paper, your choice of topic has to be in your field of interest. Independent analysis has become the most reliable one, particularly if it was done by the distinct analytic companies several times. Young writers may try simple on-line citation generators which are ordinarily at no charge. To make a huge small business research paper you should know a few important things that distinguish business papers from the remainder of similar works. Choose from one or more of these essay topics on company and management. Business growth cannot be possible without the growing the on-line overall look of your organization website on the search engine. Equity finance is thought of as best choice to begin a new business as opposed to starting it with your personal accumulated wealth. Purchasing a franchise can be quite profitable.

Freedom Is Never More Than One Generation Away From...

â€Å"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free† (Ronald Reagan). â€Å"America is a Nation with a mission and that mission comes from our most basic beliefs. We have no desire to dominate, no ambitions of empire. Our aim is a democratic peace – a peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and woman† (George W. Bush). â€Å"Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits† (Thomas Jefferson). What all these quotes have in colloquial is that they all want freedom. What everyone is that â€Å"American Dream.† Whatever that may be. This is what an American Dream is to me. An American where we are all can be free. A place where people can live and learn. A place where we can be who are and be accepted for that. A place where we can work and earn what we worked for, The American Dream is that dream of a nation in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with accomplishments. It is a dream of social stability in which each man and each woman shall be able to achieve to the fullest distinction of whichShow MoreRelatedFreedom Is Never More Than One Generation Away From Extinction1831 Words   |  8 PagesFreedom Ronald Reagan once said, â€Å" Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.† Many other nations see America as the home for freedom and the best country to be in for freedom purposes, but do they really understand how America gained its freedom? 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Where to Build a Wind Farm †Geography Assessment

In my opinion, the best place to build a wind farm in Cumbria is off the shore of Allonby. This is because; it has a lot of advantages which suit it, for being the best place to build a wind farm; as of its location and ingenious ideology behind it. Moreover, it is an offshore wind farm, which means that it will benefit a lot of homes, as at the sea it is extremely windy. Thus, a lot of electricity is generated, providing a lot of electricity than usual. However, some people would say that, because it is near a town, it’ll be very noisy and distracting to tourists and residents, and will even be an ‘eyesore.’ On the contrary, the wind farm will be 3 metres away from the land, so there is the least possibility of noise pollution and†¦show more content†¦However, it has marshland, and a wind farm cannot be built as of its instability and it is close to a city (Carlisle) which means that, it can possibly disturb tourism activity or increase it, and create noise problems. Also, it would obstruct birds, ecosystems and plants. Besides, Anthorn was on the coast and had some roads, so cars can get through for maintenance, however it had some radio masts and it would interfere with radio signals and be an additional ‘eyesore.’ Moreover, Skiddaw could’ve had the winning chance, but some factors limited it. It had high ground and plenty of spaces, as there were essentially no buildings and it would not affect anyone in terms of noise, as it was on a high mountain. However, it is part of the Lake District and the famous town Bassenthwaite is next to it; and it can be very unattractive. However, as it being closer to a town, it can provide jobs. Albeit, it cannot be accessible to any transport, as it will be high on a mountain; but a helicopter can be the solution. However, the problem cannot be sorted out as thorough. Wind energy is an excellent alternative energy source, as it doesn’t harm the environment – it just uses wind to drive the turbines, which spin around to drive the generator to generate electricity. As for crude oil and fossil fuels, they are running out and also harm the environment. However, this clean energy can very easily be generated. UK has a lot of wind energy up in its highlands, so is ideal forShow MoreRelatedGlobal Consumption Of Primary Energy5456 Words   |  22 Pagesleading role in energy transition. Over the past ten years almost all European countries have significantly increased their share of renewable energy sources. Progress has been made especially in the field of wind power. Denmark for instance generates more than 50% of its electricity from wind and biomass (EIA 2014). 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Leadership In Action Free Essays

string(73) " naturally on the track of whether to consider a call successful or not\." A.   Introduction The paper to be shown herein particularly highlights the leadership skills of an IT Operation’s Team Chief in a Call Center Agency.   Call Centers are primarily known for assisting clients in facing troubleshooting issues with the client’s computer-operating procedures. We will write a custom essay sample on Leadership In Action or any similar topic only for you Order Now Through a phone call from the client, the agents are able to connect themselves with the problem and thus be able to solve the issue though instructional details given over the phone towards the clients. The work of Call Center agents is most likely ranging from 24/7. This means that the shifting of schedules are reshuffled every now and then for the agents to be able to meet the 24-hour operation of the company. Indeed, seeing this situation, it could not be denied that this type of organization certainly needs an enthusiastic set of managers who are supposed to lead the tea, in getting the best results of the company while giving the clients the best service that they ought to receive.   In this particular manner, the author of this interview report decided to talk to one of the managers of the said Call Center Agency so as to be able to look deeper on how managers of the said type of organizations keep up with the challenges of meeting the different responsibilities left in their care which includes keeping up with business competition and empowering the workers in giving a quality performance for the entire organization. B.    Manager’s Basic Informations For the sake of privacy purposes, the manager noted here in would be referred to as â€Å"Mr. Team Chief†. The said individual agreed with the said title to be used in behalf of his identity to be able to cover his true name. He is among the ten other team chief managers of the IT operations management team. Like the others, he is assigned to a certain pool of agents whom he has to work with everyday. For at least two months, they are given the chance to empower a certain group, then after which they are transferred to other groups for the sake of establishing camaraderie among all the workers and inciting better motivational procedures to all the employees. (Goleman, 2000) Each pool of agents consists of at least 15 members each. The organization gives incentive to the agents who are able to reach an 80% performance level with the calls that he or she assists each wee. It is then the responsibility of the Operational Management’s Team Chief to help the employees reach this particular goal. Through assisting them with the difficulties of answering some of the most technical questions, the manager is able to give them the support that they need at work. However, the responsibility of a Team Chief does not end there. Aside from particularly supporting the team, he is also responsible for motivating them in a way that although the work id quite tiring, the agents would feel that what they are working for is all worth the efforts. Facing the different conflicts that the employees engage with every now and then is also left in the care of the team chief to resolve. C.   Organizational Behavior Management Section It has been mentioned earlier that the manager interviewed herein is held responsible for motivating, assisting and disciplining at least 15 call canter agents left in his care every time he goes to work. Not to mention that his job also requires him to possess a certain amount of considerable knowledge about IT operations, he also is accountable for having and applying sound judgment when several difficult situations arise. TO breakdown the topics on management that have been discussed by the author of this report with the manager, the following subtitles shall separate the issues basing from their impact on human behavior management procedures: People Motivation It is the company’s protocol to reward a call center agent who was able to reach at least 80% satisfaction on the calls that he or she received in a week. It is then the responsibility of the team chief to assist others in reaching that particular goal. To be able to do so, â€Å"Mr. Team Chief† said that he opt to have empowering meetings 15 minutes before each shift. Once he is on the floor, he makes it a point that he is not just staying in his sit but instead he roams around the work areas of his team and sees to it that they are simply doing the right thing, Once a successful call has been delivered by an agent, he never forgets to acknowledge them and give them commendation. He added that in this job, he learned that making the people feel that they are of great worth to the company and the hard work that they put forward for the organization is given high regard is much better than motivating them in terms of monetary allowances. Punishment and Policies Since the shift of the agents is reshuffled every now and then, the organization allows at least a lee-way of three minute on floor preparation before the actual job. This means that the time listed on the schedule sheet given to the agents are at least three minutes earlier than the actual hour of operation. Hence, there is no excuse for being late. However, there are at times those agents who simply cannot arrive early because of some circumstances. Hence, what he does is to allow them three times of being late then on the fourth, they are held form work for at least an hour away from their schedule, this way they would not be paid for the first hour of their job even though they would work. This is just among the policies that â€Å"Mr. Team Chief† deals with. He usually deals with this particular problem making it one of the most overused policies in his team. Decision Making The usual; decision made by Mr. Team Chief is naturally on the track of whether to consider a call successful or not. You read "Leadership In Action" in category "Essay examples" The 80% satisfaction in the customer service given by the agents to their clients is scaled by the managers themselves. There is not a machine-based program that determines this particular progressive report. Hence, it is in their discretion if they are to flag a certain call successful or a failure. This then subjects them to being highly objective, not being influenced by favoritism and is completely guided by the essence of professionalism in their job. (Collins, 2001). Facing Conflicts At some point, the employees get stuck with conflicts with each other, particularly because of their individual dispositions at work. Form this particular perspective, Mr. Team Chief tries it so hard to become much objective in listening to the disputes of the employees while trying to assess the roots of the problem. Once the root of the dispute has been resolved, the manager tries to fix the issue through helping the employees see the situation in each other’s perspectives, putting each other in other’s shoe on the aim of helping them see the situation in the implication of values depending on the personality of each employee. (Gottee, 2000) Pursuing the Breaking Ground for Teamwork It is very important to work as one towards one [particular goal for this type of organization. This is the reason why for the manager, it is important to understand what is it that actually empowers his people to work on their performance in giving their job the best shot that they could provide the clients and the organization as well.   (Brown, 2002) The Implication of Leadership Principles In the book Spiritual Dimension of Leadership, the authors of the said reading material deliver their points of views on how to develop the intellectual insight regarding and spiritual beliefs. Based on the achievements of the authors Dr Paul D Houston and Dr Stephen L Sokolow, their main points are to express by public education the true meaning of faith in leadership and how to become a more enlightened leader, by having a common purpose and common vision. Through the said book, they discussed their hopes and dreams for themselves as well as for the public education, for the different leaders and for the world. Their major goal is to build a strong public education that will help the children to easily enhance their skills, and to support the needs of the students primarily with regards the moral and spiritual values. Thru public education, the different kinds of beliefs can easily be discussed in formal and legal ways, and public education is the best opportunity to build different essential concepts that will connect the people within the human society. Another goal that these two authors frequently develop is the â€Å"Dimension of Leadership†, though leadership is a great privilege to a person who has the chance in having the skills needed for it, the authors define the exact value of what are the valuable insights that a perfect leader should have. Also the responsibilities of the leader, which should always be his major priority for the benefits of his community; this will lead to a wellness and successful organization in the society that he serves. Wise leadership in spiritual , moral, and educational program is one of the major keys in a certain country’s future success; it is the best way to create a fruitful result that can give hope to the citizens of a particular society. Moreover, in order to build and have better leadership status in the future, the authors of book entitled â€Å"Spiritual Dimension of Leadership† provide some important guidelines that will fit to the prospective leaders. They offer the eight key principles that can lead to a prospective leader to become a valuable and enlightened leader, it is important to discussed this eight key principle in order to understand and enlightened the important point of views on how to become a better leader and spiritual adviser to the societies and communities. These are the following guidelines that a prospective leader should have to seriously apply and understand carefully in order to empower his leadership. Intention- In leadership it is important to know what is the real intention of the leader in his activities and programs, because all the related activities that are usually directed by the leader and provided by the members will always reflect his physical and moral values. Attention- A true leader must always visualize the needs and benefits of his team; in order to develop a progressive idea the leader should always give his full attention to the programs and activities that are very beneficial to the community. Unique Gifts and Talents- Special skills and talents are God given gifts to every individual; it is also temporarily stored to human body, by building and developing a set of better programs and activities, leaders are extending their best to use their skills and intellectual thinking to provide a humanistic and unbiased leadership to his community. Gratitude- Leadership is not all about the giving of commands and duties, in order to achieve the main goal; an acting leader should have an interpersonal emotion, greater acceptance, and dipper appreciation for handling a serious obligation, also by receiving a lively sense of favors grateful acceptance is also required in order to have a better leadership practice application. Unique life lessons- Though leadership is always creating some comparisons, developing uniqueness is a big factor to create a better relationship towards other members, by using personal experience to provide a useful knowledge, â€Å"Unique life lessons† is a big contribution in having an enlightened leader. Holistic Perspective- This kind of principle is also required to inspire the members to also achieve their goals. By emphasizing the importance of the members in the society, through the implementations of the holistic perspective true leadership will be more effective. Openness- To achieve a wise leadership especially in education, openness is a big impact to create a better leadership. Leaders should always be open-minded in terms of the ideas and theories that are represented by the members of the public constituents. Any problems should seriously be discussed properly. Trust- The most important things that the leaders in spiritual and educational area should apply is trust, leaders should always create their different perspectives as well as the progressive idea on how to lead a certain group; however, trust is the major factor in continuously aiming and becoming a leader. However, trust remains to be the core reason needed for the leadership skill applications to be successful enough for the organizations being served. If the insights written within the pages of the book being discussed in here will always prevail within the society’s leaders, it could be easily expected that better days are ready to come ahead as the future generation of human civilization sprouts out to serve the different countries around the globe. The book indeed provides the most necessary inspiration that leaders need to posses in leading the nation or any other social organization, trust and knowledge that would lead to a more successful future and a more effective leading procedure. Conclusion From this particular presentation, it could be noted that managers are expected to deal with different arenas considering human resource empowerment as well as improving their performance level for the sake of establishing a fine reputation for the organization through the works of the agents. It is very much appealing how Mr. Team Chief insisted on the fact that what managers usually forget is that the motivation needed to fire up the interest of the workers in performing at their best is not at all times based on monetary measures. Sometimes, simply acknowledging them for a job well done already does the trick of motivating them to work well. The sincerity of the manager to help the employees bring out their best makes the essence of management a real gift to any business organization. Interviewee: Patrick Mendoza. (2007) Clientlogic Philippines. (Online Interview Through Chat Permission from the Clientlogic Administration). Loakan, Baguio City, Philippines. Further Readings: Collins, J. (2001). Level 5 leadership: the triumph of humility and fierce resolve. Harvard Business Review, 79(1), 67-76. Goffee, R. Jones, G. (2000). Why should anyone be led by you? Harvard Business Review, 78(5), 62-70. Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership that gets results. Harvard Business Review, 78(2), 79-90. Brown, L. M. (2002). Click here  to access a review of Kouzes and Posner’s book, The Leadership Challenge. Paul D. Houston , Stephen L. Sokolow. (2006). The Spiritual Dimension of Leadership: 8 Key Principles to Leading More Effectively. Corwin Press. How to cite Leadership In Action, Essay examples