Effectiveness of Innovative Customers Service as Aid to Increasing Customer Satisfaction in Telecommunications Industry
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the Study
The study strives to achieve the following objectives;
- To define innovative customer service and how it can effectively satisfy customers in telecommunication industry.
- To dramatically improve customer satisfaction in telecommunication industries.
- To identify the loop holes associated with customer service as an aid to effective customer satisfaction.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
For any country to achieve national development, several aspects of the economy are expected to change positively. A strategic aspect of these expectations is the quality of services of the telecommunications industry (Bello-Iman and Obadan, 2004). The introduction of the Global System of Mobile communications (GSM) into the Nigerian market in August, 2001 brought amazing transformation to the telecommunications industry. It made telephone lines available to most Nigerians. Telephone lines increased from 656,461 in 2001 when GSM was introduced to 81,195,684 in 2010 (Onwuegbuchi, 2010). It has also enhanced the revenue base of government as well as generated employment opportunities in the country. The rationale and motivation for this study lies on the fact that despite these benefits, Magbagbeola (2004); CPC (2010) noted that the operations of GSM have been shrouded in controversy notwithstanding the fact that it has been of utmost benefit to consumers and the economy generally. GSM services have been criticized overtime for high tariffs, drop calls, acute network congestion, wrong billings, poor signals, call jamming, speech breakages, echoing of speech, delay or non-delivery of text messages after necessary charges have been deducted, inability to load recharge cards and general poor services (CPC, 2010).
In July, 2007, the National Assembly summoned all GSM operators to give explanations for their inefficiency. A committee was also set up to investigate the inefficiency of GSM operators. They maintained that this became necessary due to public outcry on the epileptic services as well as its economic and social implications (Adegoke, Babolola and Balogun, 2008). NCC (2006) reported that the Nigerian GSM market is the fastest growing market in the world but at the same time, the industry has been lagging behind most other sectors in terms of customer satisfaction and loyalty. Aminu and Hartini (2008) observed that rapid diffusion of GSM services is accompanied by low satisfaction and high switching behaviour. Customer satisfaction is a fundamental goal of marketing as the purpose of marketing is to satisfy customers. According to Bloemer and Odekerken-Schroder (2002) customer satisfaction is the result of successful marketing that creates competitive value for consumers. Contemporary marketing efforts are geared towards meeting consumers’ needs and ensuring customer satisfaction and strategizing on how to retain such customers. Unfortunately, most marketing efforts focus on attracting new customers rather than retaining the existing ones (Hassan, 2008). A comprehensive definition of marketing was given by Bearden, Ingram and LaForge (2007). They defined marketing “as an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, pricing, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders”. This indicates that the objective of marketing is to deliver value (satisfaction) to customers as well as build a long-term and mutually profitable relationship with the customers. This can be achieved by a right combination of marketing variables that are under the control of the company. In today’s competitive market, customer loyalty has become a major concern of firms. Loyal customers not only increase the value of the firm but they also enable it to maintain costs lower than those associated with attracting new customers (Boora and Singh, 2011). The telecoms industry in Nigeria is highly competitive with several operators (MTN, Airtel, M-Tel, Glo Mobile, Etisalat, Visafone, Starcomms and Multi-links). In order to offer better services and gain competitive advantage, operators have to understand the antecedents of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty so as to provide better services to customers. Some studies (Cronin, Brady and Hult, 2000; Aminu and Hartini, 2008; Chang, Wang and Yang, 2009) have indicated that customer satisfaction determines customer loyalty while others (Jones and Farquhar, 2003; Irit and Barak, 2011) have shown that customer satisfaction is not sufficient for customer loyalty in some industries. On the basis of this argument, Boora and Singh (2011) called for further empirical research in different service settings on the relationship between customer loyalty and its antecedents.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
This chapter describes the various methods and techniques used to collect and analyze the data gathered for the study to gain a deeper understanding of the topic under study.
The data collection stage is important since the result of the analysis is dependent on the quality of the data obtained. Therefore, the method selected for data collection must be the most appropriate to assist in achieving the objectives of the study
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
INTRODUCTION
This chapter is devoted to the presentation, analysis and interpretation of the data gathered in the course of this study. The data are based on the number of copies of the questionnaire completed and returned by the respondents. The data are presented in tables and the analysis is done using the chi-square test.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
The objectives of this study were;
- To define innovative customer service and how it can effectively satisfy customers in telecommunication industry.
- To dramatically improve customer satisfaction in telecommunication industries.
- To identify the loop holes associated with customer service as an aid to effective customer satisfaction.
Findings from the study revealed that majority of the respondents are of the opinion that innovative customer service is an effective tool for customer satisfaction in the telecomm industry and that customer service is needed for customer retention in any organisation.
CONCLUSION
The ability to launch competitive new services faster and more cost effectively is a critical success factor for every telecommunications industry. Customer expectations are rising. So are their options. Competition is coming from all directions to capture their attention and their business. Service providers are evolving their end-to-end service delivery infrastructures for greater market agility and to help differentiate their brands by offering a richer, more satisfying customer experience. Service innovation for telecommunications cancompete in an increasingly converged industry and help prepare your operations for emerging technologies.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Considering the competitive and heterogeneous nature of customers’ needs, innovative customer service has been identified as imperative. Hence, effort should be directed towards proper management of existing clients, while still prospecting for new ones through innovative customer service with customer satisfaction in mind.
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