Investigate the nature and sources of power

Primary power is a resolution conventionality found in nature that has not been subjected to any conversion or translation narrative. It is resolution contained in inexperienced fuels, and other forms of power contain as input to a system (Pearce and Robinson, 2005). Primary power can be non-renewable or renewable. The concept of primitive power is used in Life statistics in the compilation of energy estimate, as well as in the field of energetic. In energetic, a primitive vigour origin refers to the power forms demand by the power sector to produce the supply of power carriers used by human companionship. Primary strength sources are transformed in action transmutation narrative to more adapted forms of energy such as electrical energy, refined fuels, or synthetic fuels such as E949 breeze. (Robinson et al., 2005) Many of the environmental groups require a justifiably vigorous suit against our steadily increasing claim for electricity to run such gimcracks as powered toothbrushes. Still and all, it will likely be some period before we united limit our waste of electrical power to essentials only which cause us right back in the great central of the problem. Because natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and overflowing commonly cause utility grid failures, respective attention is paid in this booklet to power spring combined with this disaster example (Thompson, 2002). It’s important to acknowledge, however, that natural disasters are by no import the only mainspring of power outages. Reliance on sophisticated mega engender and high-skill transmission lines disgraceful that when outages occur, they often operate a correspondingly ample geographical extent. Fossil-fuel-powered generators are, however, unavoidable portion of furnishing for junction large-scatter emergency power necessarily in such places as sewer and weaken facilities, hospitals, and emergency operations pivot (Tsiakkiros, 2002).

Advertisement

Concept of Entrepreneurship

An entrepreneur is one who organizes a novel transaction venture in the hopes of from a profit. Entrepreneurship is the outgrowth of being an entrepreneur, of collection and allocating the resources financial, creative, managerial, or technological inevitable for a new venture’s succession. One engages in entrepreneurship when one enters to design an organization that uses different contrivance in a struggle to take mastery of the afresh found convenience (Capron and Glazer, 2001). It usually involves hard fabric, long hours, and, usually, the feeling of significant financial recompense. More importantly, entrepreneurship is characterized by creative solutions to old or overlooked problems; inventiveness and innovation are the entrepreneur’s supply in trade. By taking a new look at difficult situations the entrepreneur discerns an occasion where others might have seen an inactive conclusion.
Successful entrepreneurship depends on many factors (Kotler, 2008). Of primary importance is a devoted, talented, creative entrepreneur. The one who has the ideas, the energy, and the vision to cause a new business is the cornerstone to any start-up. But the individual must have free access to a sort of important resort in order to make the unworn venture more than just a useful idea. In most instances, the entrepreneur also needs to put together a swarm of talented, veteran individuals to serve control the new venture’s operations. Entrepreneurship also rest on paroxysm to capital, whether it be human, technological. Many business people suppose that entrepreneurs have a personality that is separate than those of normal companions (Cooper, 2000).

How to Find a Postgraduate Course That Suits You

Starting a postgraduate course is a big step in your career – it’s where you start to specialise and find your niche, so it’s a decision that you don’t want to rush into. 

It can also be very daunting, so here are some tips to ensure you pick the right course…

Stick to What You Enjoy

The best place to start is simply to think about which aspects of your undergraduate course you enjoyed the most – whether it was a lecture that really captured your imagination or a piece of coursework that you excelled at.

If you can, send an email to the lecturer or head of the course unit and try to arrange a meeting with them to talk about it, and maybe even see if there are any work experience opportunities they know about. Remember, your professors can be your reference for your postgraduate application too!

“…But I Don’t Know What I Enjoy!”

Does this sound familiar? If you don’t know which particular area you want to go into, don’t panic! This is a more common predicament than you may think, and you are not alone.

First and foremost, if you didn’t enjoy your undergraduate degree, then you should seriously consider a switch. Think about your reasons for wanting to do a postgrad course and where you want to be.

If you want to continue on in your field but you’re just unsure what step to make, you should arrange a meeting with an academic advisor (or equivalent) to discuss your options. They will be able to give you some valuable insight into what courses your university is offering. T

hey will also hopefully have some knowledge of your academic track record and will therefore be able to point you in the right direction, finding a course or even a career path that suits your strengths.

It can also be useful to book a meeting with a careers advisor. Although they’re unlikely to have specialist knowledge your field, they’ll be able to point you in the right direction and give you information about grants, scholarships, and stipends that your university may offer.

For example, it is quite common that a university will take £1000 off the price of master’s tuition if you graduated with a 1st class bachelor’s.

Start Early

You need to get ahead of the game – sometimes securing a place on a postgrad course can be a bit of a rat race. You want to apply or be very close to applying several months before the start date of your course. Remember, a lot of courses offer start dates in both September and January.

This is a very stressful period and you won’t find yourself with much spare time but it will all be worth it in the end!

Be Reflective

This is often overlooked, but is arguably the most important advice here. Take some time to think about your strengths and weaknesses before applying to anything.

Weigh up the pros and cons of your current situation – which aspects of your course will you enjoy or be good at? Do you get better results in exams or on coursework? What type of exam (e.g. multiple choice, short-answer questions, or essays) do you typically perform better in?

Be honest with yourself. Are you hard-working or naturally good at your subject? Do you put the hours in or do you cram last minute? Are you good at managing your time? All of these traits will be tested and exposed in the postgraduate world, you have been warned!

Use Your Connections

Knowing someone who is currently on a master’s or PhD program is incredibly useful – get as much info out of them as you can! This may be frustrating if you don’t know many people in your subject area, and I am speaking from experience, but make the most of what you’ve got – even if you think the link between you is tenuous.

This is where starting early becomes very helpful: if you’ve undertaken work experience in a related area then you already have a mini network who you can talk to. Also you may find that they themselves will have useful connections, or they may be able to show you what postgraduate life is like first-hand.

The academic world can seem like a daunting place, but don’t be disheartened! Just be persistent and you’ll find your niche eventually.

The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility

1.          Introduction

The essay is important for its early analysis of photography, and the influence photography and technological reproducibility have had on art and our perception of it. I summarized the essay below, dedicating a short paragraph to each of the chapters of Walter Benjamin’s essay. I have commented briefly after each paragraph to indicate strong and weak points in the essay. First of all, Benjamin observes that the reproducibility of art is a consequence of the advances of productive capitalist society, and that the political interest of its consequences should not be underestimated. Benjamin’s main observation is correct and extremely important. One may quarrel with the Marxist style of his preliminary observations (Samuel, 1996). However, they are explicit, not hidden and do not influence his main analysis of the consequences of the reproducibility of art, and should rather be seen as hallmarks of intellectual integrity and openness (Taylor, 1997).

2.          First Paragraph

 Next, he observes that though reproducibility of artworks has been known for a long time (casting, stamping, woodcuts, movable type, engraving, etching, lithography), with the advent of photography, reproduction in detail was vastly accelerated, with minimal effort. He sets out to analyze the effects of the reproduction of artworks and the art of film, on art in its traditional form. Again, Benjamin’s main observation is acute, and acknowledges the strong influence that reproductive society has on our perception. He rightly considers the influence of photography on art as dominant compared to the influence of art on photography although the latter is also important. In fact, he stops short of analysing the wider influence of photography on culture in society, although he alludes to it often in the sequel of the essay. He could have allowed his observations a wider applicability (Walter, 1988). Benjamin is clearly aware of that but chooses nevertheless to concentrate on the influence on art. The choice of domain is artificially small, and is presumably the cause for a much less refined treatment of much broader subjects in the introduction and epilogue (Theodor, 1997).

3.          Second Paragraph

Benjamin argues that the work of art is distinguished from a reproduction by the here and now of the artwork. He argues that photographic reproduction is not forgery, since it can reveal details unobservable to the human eye, and can place the artwork in otherwise unreachable contexts. Reproducibility endangers the original’s aura. Mass existence detaches the authentic object from the sphere of tradition. Once more, Benjamin makes an important observation. The reproduction of an artwork is not like the original, however, note that Benjamin chooses here to think of photography of art, and not of photography by itself. He considers the artwork as reproducible via photography, and concentrates on the difference between the reproduction and the original, identifying authenticity and aura of the artwork as qualities that are lost in the process of reproduction (Samuel, 1996). Aura and authenticity are vague concepts, in my view, and I associate them with an old view on art in which a Master realizes a singular work of art, and distils magic on a canvas. However, it is true that the concepts of aura and authenticity can, in many particular instances be filled in concretely, and they are therefore useful. More examples would have been appropriate. To me the most important point at this junction is that photographs are reproducible independent of their application (Taylor, 1997). It is one of their most important characteristics, here applied only to the reproducible reproduction of a work of art. In fact the paragraph show that Benjamin is only concerned with a particular application of photography, namely in art. His essay cannot be read as an analysis of photography proper, although it contains important elements for such an undertaking. In particular, anything photographed becomes a mechanically reproducible image. That is an important characteristic of the act of photographing (Walter, 1988).

4.          Third Paragraph

Modes of perception change. Aura is associated to distance. By reproduction, distances gets smaller, sameness is extracted from uniqueness, the work of art becomes repeatable and transitory. The reverence for true art is again manifest in the description of what photographical reproduction does to the artwork, perhaps, to make the transition clearer, Benjamin consciously exaggerates the starting point (Samuel, 1996). However, that is unnecessary and refers to a very classic view on art. I often want to be close, feel close is taken in by the artwork, are emotionally touched by its mastery. Moreover, associating repeatability to transistorize does not make little sense, nor does associating art to eternity make sense, although again, it is a classic mistake. Eternity is a concept that I won’t easily fit into my lifetime. It is a negation of the finitude that we are familiar with in our lives, and that I should cherish. Benjamin makes the very important point that our perception of art changed through its reproducibility. That is certainly true, and needs to be analyzed in more detail (Taylor, 1997).

5.          Fourth Paragraph

The uniqueness of the work of art is determined by its basis in ritual. Art in the age of reproducibility is revolutionized. It is based not anymore on ritual, but politics. Ritual is advanced as a prerequisite for art. Without ritual, art becomes a goal in and of itself. However, there is nothing wrong with that, and I believe that art has gained its independency of ritual, and that it deserved to do so (Walter, 1988).

6.          Fifth Paragraph

The stress on the cult value of works of art has shifted to their exhibition value. Photography and film are ideally suited for realizing that shift. Again an acute and visionary observation, a further analysis of the consequences of this fact, both negative and positive, is necessary (Theodor, 1997).

7.          Sixth paragraph

From some cult value in early photography portraits, fleeting human presence via at get photography has become evidence for a historical process. Perhaps, when photographs were less widely spread, they kept cult value. However, they were always ideally suited for exhibition, and they still are, even the eldest ones.

8.          Seventh Paragraph

Certainly, it is true that we must not ask whether photography is an art, for various reasons. The technological innovation underlying photography and film revolutionized our vision, and we must undertake the definition of new categories to cope with its advent, instead of trying to fit them into an old dictionary. However, it is also insufficient to ask how photography as a technique of reproduction has changed art. It has changed art in more drastic ways than as a means of reproduction. It seems that Benjamin underestimates still the importance of photography (Taylor, 1997).

9.          Eight Paragraph

The actor is tested optically by cinematography. The audience is not in personal contact, but takes the position of the camera, the optical tester. The approach contradicts the cult value.

10.      Ninth Paragraph

In film, the actor loses his person, his here and now. The best acting is where the actor acts as little as possible losing his aura entirely, the actor need not identify with a role. Indeed, the best acting is often minimal and I believe this is partly due to the viewer’s capability for empathy and her imagination (Samuel, 1996).

11.      Tenth Paragraph

The screen actor confronts the consumer. Capital sets the fashion. Film is only revolutionary in its criticism of the traditional concepts of art. Everybody can be filmed, everybody writes. The masses are involved. The revolt of the masses is a fact and I associate it to a rise of the overall standard of living rather than to one particular facet of technological revolution and the breadth of its manifestation is, by nature, large (Theodor, 1997).

12.      Eleventh Paragraph

Vision of reality is one via apparatuses, diminishing distance and increasing detail. Our daily perception of reality has remained more or less constant, from our ape days until now, and the influence of apparatuses on our daily lives should not be exaggerated. Their technological importance, and their importance in scientific discovery, of course, can hardly be overestimated and it is true that to some degree, the associated sense of possibility has influenced popular culture (Walter, 1988).

13.      Twelfths Paragraph

Pleasure becomes fused with expert appraisal, in the relation of the masses with art. Simultaneous mass reception of painting is unthinkable, and does not naturally confront masses directly. Art is again associated to an elite, individual activity, while it is essential that culture is public, and only in its publicity and public value, it can be culture. However, it is clear that a reaction of the masses cannot replace an expert opinion, when better informed, based on a broader interpretation, a finer analysis of distinguishing characteristics, etcetera, the larger public should take time to listen to experts, but should by no means be excused from an attempt to shape an informed opinion (Taylor, 1997). Any suggestion to that effect is tantamount to cultural suicide.

14.      Thirteenth Paragraph

Film sharpens and deepens our optical and auditory impressions. Artistic uses and scientific uses of photography are identical, as will be demonstrated by film. My field of vision is enlarged, our eye is sharpened. We see things we could not see before, discovering the optical unconscious. Benjamin rightly estimates that photography and film have influenced and enlarged our visual perception. This society has developed a far more subtle visual language, due to the omnipresence of imagery and a linguistic analysis of visual language in contemporary imagery is called for (Walter, 1988).

15.      Fourteenth Paragraph

Dadaists destroyed the aura of art and outraged the public. Film is shock replaced by shock. The analysis of cinema is certainly not simplified by the continuous visual attack on our brain during viewing. The analysis of film should be approached with caution, time delay, and a stop button.

16.      Last Paragraph

The artist enters the painting the masses absorb the work of art. Concentration is contrasted with distraction. The public is a distracted examiner. Benjamin again uses a classic image of art in which the artist loses himself in the painting, contrasted with the masses devouring art. The latter is a more optimistic view on art than we are used to from Benjamin. Fascism allows masses to express themselves, not changing the property relations and war delivers the artistic gratification of a sense of perception altered by technology (Samuel, 1996).

Conclusion

The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility points towards very important consequences of the invention and pervasiveness of photography. Benjamin wrote an essay about art and about the influence of photography on art. He identifies technological reproducibility as a paramount feature of photography. His concept of art is classical, and his essay seems to have a pessimist undertone about the influence of modern media on the experience and social consequences of art. He rightly identifies the strong influence of photography and film on our modes of perception. By contrast I would like to argue that photography and its reproducibility are still underestimated in this essay, where its function is too often narrowed down to the reproduction of art. I wish to stress the necessity of a linguistic analysis of visual imagery and a more thorough study of the special relationship between art and politics, from the perspective of quieter times. It is necessary to understand photography and film better, to better control its potentially destructive use. Clearly, photography has made fine art more democratically accessible to a much wider public and the influence of this fact on art should not be overestimated, whereas art is bought by a small fraction of the people that have been reached by photography and it is true that expert critics and potential buyers have gained easier access to art works through photography, but it would be fair to conclude from this that better art has gotten a better chance of getting the upper hand, not only in the market, but everywhere worldwide (Theodor, 1997). The influence of the public at large on the expert critics and buyers exists but should not be exaggerated. We should not confuse products of distraction and entertainment with the production of works of art. Though it is extremely interesting to analyze precisely the way in which Benjamin identifies, like a visionary, salient features of technological and cultural streams during his lifetime, more than half a decade later it should strongly be recognized that his analysis is dated (Samuel, 1996).

Do the mangers in supermarkets in United Kingdom believe in CRM role increasing sales volume?

Chapter #1:           Introduction

1.1      Introduction

Either the organization is profit oriented or non profit organization, each has to achieve its goals and objectives, and to achieve these goals and objectives the organizations have their strategies and resources and the management design, plan, monitor and lead the employees to achieve their goals and objectives in effective way (Gundersen et al., 2010). So many organizations now a days are offering their products and services in the same organizational business sector and all of them are trying their best to achieve organizational objectives and trying to make customers and putting their best efforts and effective strategies for the customers attraction so that the customers buy their products and services. There are many different factors and key successive factors those can play their role for the success of an organization and organizations taken into their consideration those all factors while making their strategies and policies so that organizations can achieve organizational objectives by reducing the resource wastages and by saving cost. CRM department has the employees those have the special skills and necessary knowledge and ways to deal with the customers to convince then offer them the best solution by identifying their needs and wants and then offer them the best option to retain that client with the organization loyal (Helgesen, 2011). The CRM department also play effective role because the CRM department employees have such communication skills to convince the clients and handle the angry clients in tough situation to handle them politely and offer them the best option to cool down them and those angry customers become loyal again these tricks are always played by the CRM department (Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2012).  Now a days the profit oriented organizations have the CRM department in the organizations to support the customers and to create loyalty and satisfaction among the customers to retain them and to bring more clients from the market because it is CRM department responsibility to support the clients in effective way and to solve their problems in effective way and in this way the clients are also very happy if they found that there is someone there in the organization to support them, to listen their complaints and to compensate them regarding their problems and offer them the best solution and in this way the customers become happy and they come again to buy the products and services from the organization and in this way the volume of sales become high and as the profit is directly related with the sales volume so when the sales volume is high then the profit will be high and then the organization will grow ultimately. CRM department has so many features and one main feature of this department is to create loyalty and satisfaction among the clients at maximum level through different ways which includes the complaint handling, by offering them the best option of solution as per their problem nature and one main important factor is that the CRM department can also identify and recognize the clients and customer’s requirement which we called expectations and when the CRM department come to know about the requirement of the customers (Kim, 2010). CRM now a day playing its effective role in the business organizations and the organizations are availing the opportunity of competitive advantages and making money and making the growth and sustaining the growth as well. The CRM workers are putting their efforts for the well being of organization and the organizations are doing at their best efforts to facilitate the clients regarding the low price products and services at reasonable amount and with high quality (Oliver, 2009). The main purpose of the CRM department is to facilitate the business operations in such a way that the client become happy and the resource wastage stop or reduced at a significant level and the employee’s attitude and productive level always become high and ultimately the customer become happy and the organization can increase the sales volume up to a certain level (Looy, 2010). CRM department basically play its multidimensional role for the development of business strategies just to remain happy the clients with the organizations and the CRM department bring the happiness for the stakeholders and ultimately when the customers are happy means the organization is making growth because with the increase in the sales volume will automatically increase in the profit margins (Parasuraman et al., 2010). CRM department coordinate with all other departments like with finance department, marketing and research and development department, human resource department to achieve the organizational objectives for the growth and for achieving long term and short term objectives of the organizations (Reichheld and Kenny, 2007). CRM department is responsible and this is the main objective of this department is to manage the customers for the betterment of customers while keeping in mind the main objective or the organizations and then by achieving those aims and objectives the organization play its role for the both of them, the main objective of the organization always remain to earn the profit at maximum level by reducing the risk factors and by making maximum market share from the market by advertisement and by offering the best products and services to the organization and then creating happiness and loyalty among them for long term relationships with them, so that they come again and again and buy the products from the market and the organizations can earn more and more profit.

1.2      Problem

Changes every day in the lives specially change in the client’s behaviour and in the attitude of the employees have impact on the buying decisions and these all factors have their impact on the sales of organizations. So this is the main problem for the organizations to identify the customer’s needs and wants because the identification of the client’s problems, their complaints and offering them the suitable solutions and offer them the solutions on time and on the best price as per their buying power are the main issues and by considering these factors the organizations can create the loyalty among them for achieving its goals and objectives and on the basis of these goals and objectives the organizations can increase the sales volume by increasing the frequency of the client’s buying and by retaining them and in this way the organizations can enhance the sales volume (Reichheld and Sasser, 2006). Every day new organizations are entering in the market and those are offering the same quality and cheap prices for the same products in the market and all the organizations have the same objectives and goals to become market leader by offering the best solution for the customer’s problems and caring them in all ways and supporting them (Su, 2010). There are so many factors those can increase the sales volume in an organization which includes the quality of the products, price of the products, warranty and guarantee of the products and services and some time the offers and the value added services also enhance the sales volume and one more important thing is the promises or commitments of the organizations made by the management at the time of promotion or marketing must be fulfilled by the management to retain the people and to bring loyalty among the employees and among the clients as well, similarly the contribution of employees is also have its own importance (Schlesinger & Heskett, 2007). Through effective CRM department strategies and policies in time the customers can be retained with little extra care and by keeping them inform and by providing them the best services and by keeping them aware about the changes and by keeping in touch with them, the CRM department can also play its role in the increasing sales volume and can build the long relationships with the clients by their efforts. When all the organizations in the same sector are offering the same products and services with high quality and lower prices then there is a difference of business strategies and the procedures and handling the clients and taking care of them, the organizations those have been adopted the CRM department with all of its functionalities and are fulfilling the main demands of the CRM department, those organizations are achieving their targets because when the CRM department is completely in function then the CRM department is in fully working and fully functioning then the organization can achieve the goals and objectives positively. And if the CRM department is existing in the organization but is not functioning fully then it is very hard for the organizations to achieve the expectations from the CRM department (Wang et al., 2011). The CRM department has the responsibilities of marketing, identification of client’s requirement, manufacturing of the products as per client’s needs and wants, handling the angry clients efficiently and remain in touch with the clients for asking them about the feedback and review the whole process of keeping customers always with the organization loyal and creating loyalty and happiness among them. Now a day it is not easy to find out the client’s problems and to handle them regarding their problems but only the CRM department can play it role in creating happiness and loyalty among the clients if the CRM is functioning fully and have the skilled and necessary equipments and all other technologies and they are well trained, in this way the solution is available (Yeung et al., 2011). The research and development department works very closely with the CRM department and the CRM department basically initiate the policy and design the strategy for the research and development department, the CRM department keep the records of the clients and take their views and opinions for making the products as per their needs and requirements so that they always remain happy and happiness leads to the loyalty ultimately and the organizations can achieve their goals and objectives positively. The market share has been divided among the customers because there are so many organizations in the same sectors and they all are offering their products and services in the same sector and the competition among the organizations become so high and due to this tough situation of high competition among the organizations it is not easy for the organizations to enhance their sales volume effectively (Zeithaml et al., 2010). CRM department in the ASDA superstore is doing its work very efficiently and effectively and by keeping all the necessary elements (factors) into its considerations and then designing the customer handling, treating, and offering them and facilitating them all the strategies which are related with all these outcomes effectively. CRM department can play its role in solving the problem of the organizations and can play its role in increasing the sales volume so that the business organizations can earn more money from the customers and can achieve more market share and can build long and strong relationships with the customers (Williams Fine, 2010). All the organizations knows that the to increase the sales volume it is necessary for the organizations to capture market share at high level number and then attracting the clients at maximum number and then offer them the best option of the solutions then the organizations can also earn more money. And in the era of high competition and due to advance technology and dye to latest and high technology the procedures have been reduced the cost of manufacturing and these procedures have also impact on the client’s buying process and their behaviour as well. So it is very complicated now a day to understand the actual problem of the customers and to handle them because they have already the solution offered by other organizations and to increase the market share it is very hard now a day for the business organizations (Wilson, 2010). The sales is directly proportional to the loyalty of the clients and whereas the loyalty is directly linked with the services and products quality and availability and with the satisfaction of the clients, the satisfaction come only in one way that after consuming the products and services the clients become happy then in this way the client become happy and this happiness leads them to the loyalty and they come again towards the organization to buy it again and they also told other people about their experience.

1.3      Research Question

Do the mangers in supermarkets in United Kingdom believe in CRM role increasing sales volume?

1.4      Aims and Objectives

Basically the main objective of this research is to find out the influence of the customer relationship management role in increasing the sales volume in super markets. All the supermarkets have their goals and objectives to earn more profit by maximizing their sales volume and the sales volume can be enhanced only in one way if the market share from the target market can be maximized and this depends on the CRM departmental activities and their strategies to earn more money from the market.

In order to achieve the main objective of this research the researcher has been divided the main aims of the research into small objectives and in this way it will be more convenient for the research to conduct the research and to achieve the aim of the research. All the objectives are given below here.

1.5      Objectives

The researcher has been divided the main aim of this research into different related small targets called them as objectives and all those have been designed by keeping in mind the main purpose of the research. Basically the researcher wants to know the role of customer relationship management in increasing the sales volume in the supermarkets in United Kingdom.

The researcher will find out the relationship between the CRM department and its effectiveness in the super markets in United Kingdom.

The importance of this department along with all other important factors with the point view of customers and the management will also be find out and the customers feedback importance and all other related factors will also be find out in this research.

Advantages and disadvantages of the customer relationship management will also be discussed and will find out to know the exact role of this department in achieving organizational objectives.

The factors those can play their important and vital role in maximizing the market share from the targeted market will also be disclosed, because eth customer relationship management will include them for achieving organizational objectives.

The importance of the customers and customer care and employees and their skills and importance of customer relationship management department will also be discussed and will find out the positive role and the expected impact of the CRM department in retaining the clients and capturing new clients from the target market will be find out.

All the challenges and main issues in the selected organizations while implementation CRM policies will be find out and for their effectiveness the recommendations will be made by the researcher.

1.6      Research Questions

The researcher has been designed the following research questions to find out the above stated all the objectives to find out the main aim of this research and the researcher has been used all the skills and competencies while designing these questions. The researcher has been divided the questions in two main categories, one for the management and second for the customers.

What is meant by the CRM department in the super markets and what is its role and duties?

What are the main features of customer relationship management department and what is its contribution in achieving organizational objectives?

What are the main objectives of ASDA super stores?

Why ASDA has situated the customer relationship management department and what are the expectations of management from the customer relationship management department?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the customer relationship management in this supermarket?

How the CRM department can play its role in achieving organizational goals?

In which way the CRM department can be useful for the management and for the clients as well?

How the CRM department can play its role in bringing loyalty among the employees and the customers at ASDA?

What are the main problems with the policies and strategies of the CRM department in the selected supermarket and how to minimize them effectively?

Which factors are necessary for the management to taken into their considerations for achieving the CRM departmental objectives which is ultimately to create satisfaction for increasing the sales volume?

1.7      Ethical considerations, Reliability and Validity

First of all the researcher will take the permission from the ASDA management to conduct the research in the CRM department and to conduct the interview from the CRM management and supervisors and will observe the shopping and while the CRM employee will help the customers and will also distribute the questionnaires among the customers to find out the facts and to gather primary data. Secondly the researcher will not share the primary or secondary data with any colleagues, class fellow and will not disclose the personal information of any employee or customer to anyone and will keep the strategies and policies secret as well. The researcher will not steal the data from anyone and will not include his own perception or opinion in the data, and will conduct the research as by following the ethical procedures and rules. The researcher will not use the old (10 years old) data as secondary data in this research and will not use this research for another academic achievement.

1.8      Limitation

The researcher has the following limitations associated with this research.

Shortage of time

Limited resources (finance)

No past research conducting experience

Only one case study has been selected to conduct the research.

All the limitations have been discussed above the researcher has no background of conducting research and has no such skills and competencies to conduct this research, all the expenditures the researcher will pay from his personal budget.

1.9      Scope of Research

In the supermarkets the customer relationship management department is playing its role for the success of these organizations where this department has been implemented with full functions. The organizations can also take advantage of this research and those can also increase their sales volume by using the recommendations and by establishing the customer relationship management effectively in their organizations. After this research the selected organization will also come to know its challenges and problem faced by them and in the light of the positive recommendations the organization will act upon them and will modify the strategies and policies and will also make the alignments and will also watch the recommendations for more advantages of the customer relationship management positively for increasing the sales volume. The supermarkets in the United Kingdom can also be benefited from this research because the researcher will find out all other factors those can have their influence in creating the positive and productive attitude among the employees and among the customers for creating loyalty and satisfaction for achieving organizational goals and objectives. This research will lead other researchers to find out the other hidden truth and other factors those can participate in increasing volume of sales and the profitability for the supermarkets in United Kingdom.

Chapter # 2:          Literature Review

2.1      Introduction

In this chapter the researcher has been explain the secondary data against and in the favour of the CRM that CRM can increase the sales volume in an organization, and has been discussed the different features of the CRM department those can collectively increase the sales volume in an organization. The researcher has been explained the review of literature and in the end with the help of conceptual frame of reference it has been proved that the CRM activities are helpful for an organization in the United kingdom to increase the sales volume because the CRM department has the features and if the organizations adopt this department with full fledge way then those organizations can be benefited from this opportunity in best way. The researcher has been discussed all the features in detail and all the links in detail and very clearly, the researcher has been discussed in detail all the features, relationships among different variables those support the CRM activities and play role in creating loyalty among the employees, better environment at work placement, better services and offer expected services and products to the customers as well for increasing the frequency of sales and their visits as well.

2.2      Customer Relationship Management Department and its responsibilities

Due to poor quality of services and due to poor services and unexpected results of products and services the business organization lose about 30% of the customers which is a big lose for them and the competitors can achieve this advantage only by having CRM department in the operation  (Looy, 2010). The business organizations can create loyalty and happiness among the clients to retain them loyal with the organization and to maximize the market share just by paying their attentions directly for the betterment and for the welfare of its employees and clients rather than to pay focus on the CRM department, this budget amount can be spent by these organizations on the product designing and on offering low price in the market for attaining maximum market share from the target market (Oliver, 2009). Buttle, (2011) stated that the organizations can also reduce the price and increase the quality of services and quality of products and offer the customers at reasonable price rather than to pay attention towards customer relationship management. All the organizations in a sectors have their mission and vision statement and these organizations have their objectives and strive to achieve them effectively, the main objective of all organizations is to achieve the financial objectives means to earn more money and money can be earned in a way that if the number of employees are maximum means the market share is maximum and secondly if the employees are loyal to achieve the organizational objectives and third factors is that if the clients are happy and loyal with the organizations then in such a way the client will come again to buy the products and services and the organizations can increase the sales volume and can make more profit (Gundersen et al., 2010). In the United Kingdom at the ASDA supermarkets the CRM department is in operation and doing its work effectively and this department is playing its role for the success of this organizations. According to the Antony & Antony, (2007) that CRM department is very essential for any organization because in these days it is very important to create strong and long term relationships with the clients for achieving both kind of objectives and without this department no one organization can achieve the main objectives. To build strong and profitable relationship with the clients the organizations need to establish CRM department which is the key success in an organization (Bhote, 2011). According to the Bowen and Lawler, (2010) that the organizations can only achieve organizational objectives if they have strong relationship with their clients and paying their full attention on their clients, the angry client never come again to buy and happy clients always create the opportunities for the organizations.

Source: Author

It is very clear from the above picture that the customer relationship management is responsible for the following task. It is the only department that can leads the organizations towards the success and this department can only retain and can capture more clients from the market and this department have the features to attract the clients, so obviously this department is very essential for success (Choi and Chu, 2010). Sales workflow management and sales measurement (targets achievement), and client’s database management (feedback, taking their views and opinions), product database management, keeping product knowledge, customer tracking, client’s history, call centre support 24/7. Marketing campaigns, advertisement, marketing management, event handling and leading marketing force these functions have been done by the CRM department (Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2012). It is very important for the business organizations specially in the retail sector the organizations must have to full fill the clients need and offer them the best opportunity to buy and this is only possible when these organizations have CRM department and effective CRM strategies in operations  (Dimitriades, 2012). There is a strong relationship between the CRM policies and procedures and in its strategies and the organizational sales, if the strategies are effective then the organizations can lead the market and it is CRM departmental responsibilities to create loyalty among the clients as well as among the employees so that employee can understand the client’s expectations and then gave them the best option or range of solution (Everett, 2007). But some scholars are not agree with the effectiveness of customer relationship management department and its features they have stated that instead of spending a huge amount for the establishment of CRM department the organizations can pay their attention for the employees and for the client’s welfare and in this way the organizations can achieve their goals and objectives successfully (Farber and Wycoff, 2011). It is not only the customer relationship management department that can consider the key successive factors into the consideration but the other department in the organizations can also perform the same duties to oblige their clients and can create the loyalty among the employees and among all the employees and in this way the organizations can save the money as well and this money can be used to offer the clients best prices as compared to its competitors and by using the competitive advantages the client will attracted by the low price offers and the organizations can achieve the organizational objectives in easy way  (Flyvbjerg, 2011). Client’s retaining is not an easy job and this job can only be done by the skilled and well trained people and except the customer relationship management representative it is not possible, because there are so many reasons, first of all the CRM department first of all develop and design the customer oriented policies and other departments cannot do this job then as per the requirement and opportunity available in the market the CRM department make analysis on the gather data and pass to the other departments and after approval budget the organizations redesign, or manufacture new products for sale and make it sure that the products and services are easily available to the potential clients  (Getty & Thompson, 2011). So this is not an easy job to attract new or to retain the old clients this is not a psychological process there are so many factors involve in this theory to retain the old clients (Gonzalez et al., 2009). According to the Williams, (2010) that the 80% of the clients do not bother to register their complaints against the poor services and the remaining 20% of the customers take care about the complaints and they only go through the long procedures and only 5% among them become satisfy because it is not easy for the organizations to pay attention on the complaints because the employees do not have skills and competencies and effective communication system to handle client’s complaints so instead of handling their complaints the organizations must offer them the price discounts and value added services for creating loyalty among them.

Customer relationship management is the responsible for creating the effective and best relation among the organization and the clients, because it is very clear and CRM managers have believe in that only loyal customers and the loyal employees can lead the organizations to achieve their goals and objectives and there are so many other responsibilities of CRM department which is the handling of angry clients in proper way and to compensate them as per their requirement and creating happiness among angry clients and providing them quick services and also creating loyalty among the skill people and providing them the latest skills and technologies and equipping them with the latest tools so that they can perform their duties in attracting new clients from the market and retaining old clients by knowing their priorities in effective way for achieving organizational objectives (Helgesen, 2011). Whereas Kim, (2010) has been stated that the spinal cord of any business is the customer relationship management department and now a day without CRM departmental support the organizations could not meet the client’s requirements and when there is no clients then there is no any business. According to the Zeithaml et al., (2010) that the functionality of the CRM department is not an easy task and the organizations while allocating the proper trainings, equipping customers with latest technology and with competitor’s product knowledge are not easy tasks so the organizations can achieve the targets of the organizations just by putting their efforts on the employee’s welfare and in this way the employees will devote their attention in achieving organizational objectives. But some other scholars Wang et al., (2011) have been stated that CRM can play its role positively for achieving organizational objectives by paying its attention on the product designing, its packing and on the quality of services and quality of product as well.

2.3      Loyalty and Satisfaction among the Customers and its effects

There is a deep and direct link between the activities of skilled and professional employees and the satisfaction, loyalty of the clients and similarly there is direct and deep link between the loyal and satisfied clients and organizational sales volume and there is a direct relationship between sales volume and the growth of an organization and sustain growth of an organization. According to the Wang et al., (2011) that it is very important for the organizations specially in the retail sector to create loyalty among the customers for achieving organizational objectives and the loyalty can only be created if the organizations can successfully create the satisfaction among the clients and this satisfaction only can be created when the loyal employee from customer services management handle the clients and provide him the necessary information and suitable product that can be according to his or her expectations.

Source:            Author

In the above figure it has been shown that how the customer relationship management can play its effective role in increasing the profitability in the organizations by creating the loyalty among the customers with the important role of customer relationship management. According to the Reichheld and Sasser, (2006) that there are so many factors which involve the value added services and features like guarantee, competitor’s advantages like low price, better quality of products and services, prompt response, after sales free services, money back guarantee, size and volume can play their important role in creating satisfaction among the clients and the loyalty has direct impact in increasing the profitability of the organization. Similarly the Flyvbjerg, (2011) has been stated that Loyal customers always bring new business for the organizations by telling and sharing their bad and good past experiences with their friends and family members so in this case the organizations can also attract the market share by creating loyalty among the clients and this is only possible when the customer relationship management has the skilled and highly trained officers equip with the necessary authority and other resources. According to the Gundersen et al., (2010) that the customer relationship management department can play its role in creating the loyalty among the clients by its skilled workers, the CRM department has the competencies and necessary resources to create the loyalty among its supervisors and those skilled supervisors can create among the clients by using their productive attitude, good and suitable behaviour with patience and by offering quick services and suitable products to them. But according to the Choi and Chu, (2010) that the loyalty and the satisfaction among the clients can be created through marketing force, without having the customer relationship management department in the organizations the satisfaction and loyalty can be created and the cost can be saved as well and that cost can be used to create more happiness among the employees and clients for their benefits and welfare. According to the  Oliver, (2009) that it is the main responsibility and duty of the employees of customer relationship management department in an organization to provide and treat the clients in such a way that the clients become happy and they feel proud of them by serving the client and by helping them with smiles whereas  Parasuraman et al., (2010) supported this statement by saying that positive and good attitude, and this loyalty has a direct relationship with the company success, because the satisfaction always come after utilizing the services or products and if the product has full fill the client’s needs that means there was no any difference between their expectations then the client will become so happy and when they will become happy then they will again and again come to buy the product from the same organizations, and if the organizations treat them as a loyal customers and offer them discounts, gifts and free of cost services and always welcome them and remain in touch with them and provide them money back guarantees and other discounts like buy one get one as free then the customers will come again and again to buy from the same organization and in this way the sales volume of the organization will be raised and the organizations will be able to earn more profits (Looy, 2010). According to the Antony & Antony, (2007) that price and quality are both key successive factors for the success of an organization and without the SRM department, this statement was supported by the  Bhote, (2011) by saying that through research and development department price and quality can be set as according to the target market needs and  according to the Bowen and Lawler, (2010) that supported the above statement by saying that the business organizations must focus on the welfare of employees and on the quality and price of the products and services rather than to create loyalty among the clients the organizations must focus on the quality and price. According to the Looy, (2010) that the main issue with the business organizations is to find out the exact way to understand the needs and wants of the clients in the target market to offer them the best alternatives as solution, and the Oliver, (2009) has been stated that there is only one department that can reduced this tough situation and take all the responsibility of understanding client’s expectations in cheap and effective way, and Reichheld and Kenny, (2007) have been stated that this department can also create happiness among them as well that ultimately will increase the number of clients in market.

Source: Author

As the Reichheld and Sasser, (2006) have been stated that the organizations can create satisfaction and loyalty among the employees by considering their welfare, attractive salaries, bonuses, increments and promotions and intrinsic and extrinsic rewards as per their performance for creating loyalty and satisfaction among the clients through their attitude and high level of quality of services to them and the Schlesinger & Heskett, (2007) have been stated that it is very necessary for the CRM department to create the loyalty and satisfaction among the clients for achieving organizational objectives and through many factors the department can play its role in creating and enhancing the satisfaction and happiness among them because the Wang et al., (2011) have been stated that as a result of all this effort the loyalty will be created among all of them similarly through the lowest price but high quality can also bring new clients and angry clients can also be attracted by this way, but the Yeung et al., (2011) have been stated that maximizing the market share effectively can be possible in one way that is customer care.

2.4      Complaints Handling and CRM

According to the Kandampully & Suhartanto, (2012) when the client buy the product then on the behalf of the experience after utilizing that one the clients either become so happy or become so angry, whereas the Kim, (2010) has been stated that he or she become angry if they did not get the value against their money which they have been paid to the company for buying that product or services and they become sad and become angry and tell the people around them about their bad experience and the other people will also not come to buy and in this way when no client then no business, but on the other hand Looy, (2010) has been stated that if the client become happy after using that product and product features proved the values for which the client paid the money then in this way the client will become so happy and the client will let other people about the successful experience and in this way more people will be attracted and will become cause in increment of sales and profitability for the organization (Oliver, 2009). One major portion of angry clients about 90% can become happy and they can be loyal with the company if the appropriate person deal them and compensate them and bear their attitude just for good future and these people become strong loyal if the person handle them with positive and lovely attitude (Oliver, 2009). In order to create the loyalty and happiness for increasing market share and for achieving financial objectives it is necessary to remove the problems and complaints of clients and the CRM supervisors and other staff can handle them in positive way by using their communication skills and their attitude and they compensate them as well just to make them happy (Looy, 2010). With the help of the CRM department skilled and competent workers those can play their important role for the betterment and for the growth of organization at their best level the business organizations can increase the sales volume by just paying their attention and with lovely attitude and behaviour they can handle the angry clients and with special authorities they can convert the angriness in the happiness and in this way the organizations can be benefited and this on only can be done by the attention of customer relationship management department successfully (Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2012). According to the Kim, (2010) that the angry clients can be handled by the only skilled and well communication skills person and the only customer relationship management department has the same skilled worker which main aim is to increase the market share at any cost and which this department strive. According to the Parasuraman et al., (2010) that the organizations can handle the client’s complaints and in this way the satisfaction and the loyalty of the clients can be increased and this would become the cause of achieving organizational objectives in efficient and effective way the Reichheld and Sasser, (2006) have been stated that there are so many benefits are linked with the customer’s satisfaction as well the first one is that the happy customers always brings new clients into the market for buying products and they share their participation in achieving organizational objectives in positive way secondly the satisfied clients always increase the business and it affect the brand image as well. According to the Reichheld and Kenny, (2007) that the customer relationship management is the most effective department that can handle the angry clients and can perform its obligations in achieving organization’s objectives by increasing market share and by bringing new clients as well, whereas this statement has been supported by the Zeithaml et al., (2010) by saying that it is the customer relationship management duty to handle the clients and their problems to create loyalty and satisfaction among them similarly the Kandampully & Suhartanto, (2012) have been stated that customer relationship management is the responsible to give training to its employees about the customer handling and provide them the knowledge about the products and the services and all information about the competitors knowledge so that they can easily solve the client’s problems by making comparisons and the CRM can play it role positively for the betterment. Kim, (2010) has been stated that to handle the complaint the employees need authorities and special skills to understand the client’s requirement and CRM department cannot afford such amount to spend on one employee and this is not been possible for the higher management to delegate maximum authorities to the employees because some time to create happiness among clients the employees may need to pay them the amount and give them free of cost the services that’s why the higher management always afraid to delegate the authorities to the employees and for such kind of decisions the employees need to take permissions and first they need to brought the matter into higher management and it take to much longer and the customers become unhappy (Looy, 2010). Handling angry customers are not an easy task for the customer relationship management department because it is not easy to read out client’ face (Oliver, 2009). But some scholars have been stated that with the suitable skills and latest technology usage and help and with the effective systems now a day the employees at the CRM department can also solve the client’s problems in efficient way (Parasuraman et al., 2010).  

2.5      Quality and Price of Products and Services and CRM

Low price and high quality are the very common sense that these both are the competitive advantages and as well as these both factors are the main key successive factors for making sales and for making market share at maximum level  (Bhote, 2011). According to the Antony & Antony, (2007) that there are so many features of the products and the departments are common those can trigger the sales of the organization at the peak and quality of the product and services is one of them. According to the Gonzalez et al., (2009) have been stated that quality always refers to the quick response that means the efficiency of the staff members and quickness of the staff members to response a job or to accomplish a task quickly is called the quality and quality also means the accuracy and the honour of the promises made by the management during the campaign period or made at the time of selling the products or services, here the Bowen and Lawler, (2010) have been supported this statement by saying that the only customer relationship management department has the capacity and policies to first of all find out the expectations of the clients this statement was supported by the Antony & Antony, (2007) by saying that the customer relationship officers in the organizations do their effective jobs as accord to their perception offer them the best quality of the services and offer them the good quality of both services and products and some of the customers always asking about the good quality, because Bowen and Lawler, (2010) have been stated that these people are called quality conscious and they do not care about the money and if the money is taken as competitive advantages in the market then the more customer will come to buy the products from the organization.  People do not bother the quality due to world economic recession now a day people are striving for hand to mouth and they do not take care about the quality and they just want to overcome their problems and looking for the cheap price items for themselves and they prefer to choose the products available in the market at cheap price (Bowen and Lawler, 2010). Quality of the products and the services basically depends on the training, skills and knowledge of the employees those are dealing with the customers and those are providing solutions to the customers those can also provide the better quality of services whereas the research and development department can play effectively in bringing the quality among the products and services the Buttle, (2010) has been stated that department is responsible for making research in the target market to find out the potential clients and ask them about their needs and wants and then this department pass this information after making necessary analysis to produce or to design and develop the product in that particular shape and after designing and manufacturing the other departments sale that one in the market, the Choi and Chu, (2010) have been stated that after using that one people come to know that if there is not any difference between the offered values and quality of the product and services then the people rely on the organization otherwise people do not come to buy again and will not make trust on the organization, so it is recommended that quality always bring trust among the clients (Bitran and Hoech, 2005). According to the Antony & Antony, (2007) that the quality can be created by the CRM department because the CRM department has the employees those have the better attitude, verbal and non verbal and good gestures and communication skills and these skills and competencies are very necessary for identifying and for problem solving techniques for the clients when they are not happy and to bring happiness among them and they become the success at testimonials for the organizations (Bhote, 2011). But according to the Bowen and Lawler, (2010) that it is true that the clients can be attracted through the quality of products and services and can be retained through lower price offering but the marketing and sales force department can achieve these tasks and the organizations can identify the client’s requirements in better way by creating loyalty among the workers rather than in the clients, but  Bitran and Hoech, (2005) are not satisfied with this statement and they have stated that the clients can leave the organizations at a minimal mistake whereas the employees need the job security so the organizations must play their role for the betterment of their employees and provide them the facilities and take care of them in all ways in this way the loyalty among the employees will be increases and the employees will achieve the objectives at every cost. Whereas Choi and Chu, (2010) have been stated that the product or services quality can be created and can be delivered to the clients in better way by the customer relationship officer and other staff could not treat the client as the customer relationship officer can treat them, because Dimitriades, (2012) have been stated that the customer relationship management is responsible to create the skills and competencies among the workers to handle the clients and it started from the identification of their expectations and their priorities and then offer them products and services as per their needs. According to the Farber and Wycoff, (2011) that customer relationship department has the ability to deliver the quality of services and products to the clients as per the values of the products because values are such kind of characteristics of the unique product those can attract the clients to buy them. Getty & Thompson, (2011) both have been stated that the quality and the price are the such factors those can play their role for retaining the clients and for attracting new clients form the target markets so as Gonzalez et al., (2009) have been stated that the organizations must keep in their mind that quality and the lower prices can play important role in increasing sales volume.

2.6      Skilled Employees of CRM and Sales

According to the Helgesen, (2011) that to achieve the organizational objectives the customer relationship management is responsible to design the policy in a systematic way that is start from the identifying of customer’s problems and in order to find out their main issues and best solution of their problems and issues. This statement has been supports by the Looy, (2010) he stated that it is customer relationship management responsibility to equip the workers in such a way that they can identify the client’s needs and provide them necessary solutions. Oliver, (2009) has been stated that the skilled workers have the necessary abilities and knowledge to handle clients and can create the loyalty among them, and this only can be done by the customer relationship management team because this department has the necessary requirements and update knowledge to train the people and equip them with necessary tools and authorities for creating loyalty and satisfaction among the clients (Parasuraman et al., 2010). Some scholars are not in the favour of customers relationship management and they believe in that CR department is not useful for the business organizations and the organizations can be benefited from the employees loyalty and that loyalty can be created by the business organizations if the organizations reward them with handsome payments and other facilities for which they strive and in this way the goals will be achieved by their efforts and they will create the loyalty among people and sales volume can be raised (Reichheld and Kenny, 2007). This statement was supported by the Reichheld and Sasser, (2006) by saying that the CRM departmental workers can create satisfaction among the clients and the workers can perform in better way if the organizations consider for their welfare and offer them handsome and attractive salary packages and consider their efforts and recognize them as well (Schlesinger & Heskett, 2007). According to the Su, (2010) that it is the manager’s duty to understand the requirement of the workers and then provide them necessary feedback, resources and trainings as per requirement of the market by keeping the all other factors and current situation of the market, then in this way the employees can perform in better situation, similarly the Wang et al., (2011) have been stated that now a day with the change in the environment and in the culture and in trends the people requirement is also changing day by day with speed and this is not been possible for the worker or marketing or sales department to modify the products or to handle the clients for creating loyalty and satisfaction among them this statement was supported by the Su, (2010) by saying that this is only the CRM department responsibility to watch and keep an eye on more than one angles.  

2.7      Conceptual Framework of Literature Review

ASDA Long term and Short term financial objectives (Based on the Sales Volume and growth)

Skilled workers identification needs and wants of clients, offering them quality of products and Services, communication with clients to solve their problems and taking their feedback and opinion, to identify their priorities and review the design, product, placement and promotion as per needs and wants.

Source:            Author

In the above frame of reference the researcher came to know that the customer relationship management is more concerned about the client’s satisfaction and creating the long term relationship between the clients and the organization, this department is responsible for creating the happiness by identifying their needs and communicating their desires with the manufacturing department and then offering them the expected items of high quality and after that conducting the surveys to get the client’s opinion and feedback for more improvements in the quality and in the products features and attracting new clients from the targeted market and increasing the sales volume and in this way achieving organizational objectives.

Chapter # 3: Research Methodology

3.1      Introduction

The researcher has been explained the research methods that has been used by him to conduct this research and all other tools and procedures that were adopted by the researcher to conduct this research in details, more the researcher has been explained the sample size and their ages and their ganders as well and also describe the questions and the respondents have been also described. All the methods and techniques which have been adopted by the researcher have been discussed here in this section.

3.2      Research Objectives

Main objectives of this research was to identify the role of CRM department in increasing the sales in retail sector in United Kingdom and the researcher has chose the ASDA supermarket as case study due to some causes which have been discussed in detail in the below in the sub section, the researcher has been divided the objectives into small chunks to carried out the research. Main objectives are given below for which the researcher has conducted this research.

To find out the importance and characteristics or attributes of the customer relationship management department and its benefits to the selected organization and its role in increasing the sales volume in the selected superstore in United Kingdom

To know exactly the policies and procedures and believes of the organizational management in the policies and practices `of customer relationship management at the selected organization and its expected benefits to the organization and flow of work (procedure)

To disclose the believe of customers about the customer relationship management while dealing with the clients and while handling their complaints and while giving them feedback and recording and maintaining their personal records to understand their priorities and keep in touch with them for future purpose and keep them in inform about promotions or sales to attract them or to retain them with the supermarket

To know about the issues and problems or challenges to this department while setting its objectives and while implementing those practices in exercise at the selected organization for achieving organizational objective

To know about the key successive factors those can be considered while designing the customer relationship management strategies those are very helpful in creating the loyalty, satisfaction and happiness among the clients because these factors must be known to the researcher for making positive suggestions and recommendations for the organization.

In order to understand the relationships between different factors with the customer relationship management department and its practices and collectively their link with the organizational growth and increase in the sales volume and market share.

According to the Reichheld and Sasser, (2006) that organizational expansion, increase in sales volume, increase in market share always are the result of the CRM departmental strategies.

3.3      Research Method

In order to conduct the research in a fruitful way while as according to the research limitations and for valid and reliable outcomes of the research, the researcher always adopt or use effective and efficient research method that composed of different steps in sequence and leads them towards success (Bhote, 2011). According to the Getty & Thompson, (2011) that there are so qualitative and quantitative  research methods and it depends on the research nature and the objectives of the research and limitations of the research that which one is most appropriate and useful for the researcher to adopt to conduct the research and to find out the objectives of the research. A research method is basically the set of rules and step wise systematically way to lead to conduct the research adopted by the researcher to find out the research objectives and goals by remaining in limits and by following code of conduct as well (Antony & Antony, 2007). The researcher will use both of the methods to find out the research objectives.

3.3.1   Qualitative Research Method

Qualitative research methods are adopted by the researchers to find out the causes and to find out the motivation similarly in order to look deeply inside the quantitative research the qualitative methods are most important because in this method the researcher first of all set the objectives as per the concerned problem and then design the hypothesis and then conduct the quantitative research to find out the reality (Helgesen, 2011). The researcher in this way select few cases and different questions are asked by the group of people and structured or semi structured interviews is also arranged by the researchers (Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2012). No any statistical data is involved in this research method the problem and the reasons and motivations are investigated and in the end the outcomes are called as understandings those can be used while making some kind of decisions because in this way conclusion could not be made by the researchers (Kim, 2010).

3.3.2   Quantitative Research Method

In this way of research the researchers play with data and measure the data and gather the data from the range of samples, first of all the researcher select the population and then select the sample size on the basis of the different characteristics of the individuals (Looy, 2010). Different techniques are used by the researchers to find out the views and opinions of the samples and then the gathered data is always used by the researchers to make statistical analysis and in different forms the statistical data is presented by the researchers to make some kind of conclusions and recommendations (Oliver, 2009). The researcher used the secondary data as backbone and as reference to support their conclusions and then made recommendations. Te outcome of the quantitative data is used by the companies and businessmen to take advantages. Surveys, questionnaires and interviews are used called structured methods to find out the primary data (Parasuraman et al., 2010).

3.4      Case Study

In order to achieve rich data from the research and valid data the researcher must chose case study tool to conduct the research (Bowen and Lawler, 2010). In order to save the time and the other resources the best method to conduct the valid and reliable research is the selection of a case study and the researcher when they have limitations with reference to the time and financial then the best way is to conduct the research by using case study (Antony & Antony, 2007). In order to achieve the valid results from the research especially when the researcher has no research conducting experience and in order to save the time and money the researchers must use case study as tool to conduct the research which is effective and efficient way (Bhote, 2011). In this way the data gathered is of high validity because a large number of participants take part in research and different people gave their views and opinions that make it sure the validity and reliability of the data (Farber and Wycoff, 2011). The researcher has been selected the ASDA supermarket as case study tool to conduct this research and to find out the facts and figures and the main reason is that the customer relationship management at the selected organization is working effectively and the organization has established this department as a spinal cord of the organization.

3.5      Data Source

The researcher will collect the secondary and primary data by valid and reliable means, and in this way the researcher will use secondary data as a background to support the theories and to find out the conclusions. The researcher will collect primary and secondary data in this way that the validity and reliability of data remains good, the organizations rely on validity of data. The researcher will collect the data by using following sources.

3.5.1   Primary Data Source

In this research the researcher will choose the samples by using a random technique and will chose the key person in the selected superstore and will conduct interviews and then questionnaires will be distributed among the samples to find out the real facts and figures. The researcher will design the questionnaire by using special skills and techniques and by considering the main aims and objectives of this research and will include close ended, open ended, bipolar and rating questions in the questionnaires and simple questions will be asked from the management to find out the importance and the duties and responsibilities of the customer relationship management department in the selected organization.

3.5.1.1          Questionnaires

To gather the primary data from the samples or respondents the researcher will distribute the questionnaires among the selected clients and will select the people on random basis. According to the Antony & Antony, (2007) that according to the nature and the main objectives of the research the researcher must use the close ended and rating questions in the questionnaires and the questionnaires must be designed as per the research objectives and the researcher must keep in mind the 7 c’s of communication because the questions must be easy and understandable for the respondents. Similarly the Bowen and Lawler, (2010) has been stated that questionnaires is a valid and reliable technique to get valid and to the point information from the respondents and in this way the researchers can obtained their main aims and objectives in easy and systematic way. According to the Gonzalez et al., (2009) that the questionnaires are the best techniques to gather primary valid and reliable data from the samples and in this way the researchers can get maximum advantage of validity and reliability of the data because large number of people respond to the questionnaires and their biasness chances are low and opinions and views make the data validity and reliability. Gundersen et al., (2010) have been stated that the researchers must include 20 questions of different kinds like close ended and open ended questions rating questions and other questions to get the appropriate results. In order to achieve valid results and to conduct the research in well manners and to save the cost and other resources the researchers must use the questionnaires to conduct the research (Helgesen, 2011).

3.5.1.2          Interviews

The researchers must conduct the structured and unstructured interviews with the key person like managers, other staff members and supervisors to find out the actual nature of the problem and to get the primary data (Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2012). It is very important for the researchers to conduct the interviews to gather the primary data with the staff members because in this way the researchers will gather valid data (Kim, 2010). According to the Looy, (2010) that the effective interviews are not easy because it is very difficult to collect primary data from the interviews because everyone has its own views and opinions and the researchers needs more professional skills and competencies to design the interviews and to design the questions to find out the real fact and figures from the respondents. For conducting an interview the researchers have to follow the rules to get valid and appropriate results, according to the Reichheld and Sasser, (2006) that the researchers must start the interviews by taking permission from the organizational management and then inform the key person and then negotiate the purpose of the interview and set the time of interview, before conducting the interview the researchers must have the questionnaires and note the answers on the paper in written form (Oliver, 2009). First of all the researchers must designed the questions and then after recording the answers they must make analysis and for making conclusions the researcher must use those answers answers by using statistical techniques and procedures. Some scholars are not in the favour of interviews like Parasuraman et al., (2010) have been stated that it is not an easy task to gather information from the interview because it is also very hard to assess the responsible person in an organization to conduct interview from that particular person and to get proper answers. But some scholars are in the favour of interview techniques like Reichheld and Kenny, (2007) they have been stated that interviews are the best technique to gather valid primary data from the management and the researchers must include more than five members because in this way a variety of answers will be collected and the researcher can select the most appropriate and they have chance to get real facts and figures. There are less chances of gathering wrong information from the team members of customer relationship management because these people have all kind of information related with their roles and responsibilities (Schlesinger & Heskett, 2007).

3.5.2   Secondary Data Source

The researcher can gather the secondary data and valid and reliable secondary data by using electronic sources because there are some advantages of using electronic sources first of all easily available and secondly the cheaper as compared to other sources (Gundersen et al., 2010). The researchers must collect the secondary data maximum 10 years old because in this way they can gather fresh researches and valid data can be obtained in this way  (Helgesen, 2011). The researcher has used the ASDA website, electronic source like books, journals and articles and magazines and also read out the books, journals and magazines related with the importance of customer relationship management and on the sales volume and on the topic of role of CRM department in enhancing the sales and growth of an organization.

3.6      Sample Size

It is very important for the researchers to identify the samples before to start the research for gathering primary data (Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2012). While choosing the sample size and the respondents the researchers must use both techniques like qualitative and quantitative and similarly for valid and reliable results they must include males and females as respondents because both come to supermarkets for shopping and both are social responsible (Kim, 2010). Some researchers Reichheld and Kenny, (2007) have been stated that the maximum age should not be more than 60 years and minimum must not be less than 19 years old to gat valid and reliable primary data from the respondents. According to the Parasuraman et al., (2010) that there are three main different methods to select the sample size firs of all is the random technique, because in this way all the population members have the same chance to include in the sample and secondly there are so many ways to get the random numbers and this is easy and simple way to select the samples. There is no bias in the result when the researchers use this technique and this is most favourite technique when there is large number of population. So the researcher has decided to select the samples by using random method. The researcher will select 100 clients as sample and will distribute the questionnaires among them.

Sr. #	Male	Female	Total
1	50	–	50
2	–	50	50
Total	50	50	100

Some scholars like Gundersen et al., (2010) have been stated that the researchers must distribute the questionnaires among the respondents and their age must be in between 19 to 60 and both men and women must be included in order to get valid primary data.

Chapter # 4:          Findings and Analysis

4.1      Introduction

ASDA is the basically British supermarket chain in United Kingdom, which is owned by the American people. ASDA supermarket is the chain that is providing and offering its services in retail food, merchandising of cloths, stationary, kitchen stuff, backer stuff, toys, and toiletry stuff, in mobile network and in the financial sector as well. ASDA has the basically subsidiary of the Wal-Mart company, and the Wall-Mart is the largest organization in the World. Customer relationship management department is working from the very first day at the ASDA and this department is playing its effective role in the success of organization. At the ASDA the customer relationship management department is responsible for creating loyalty and happiness among the clients at its best level and all the CRM departmental employees are highly qualifies and they have devoted themselves for the ASDA team and they have agreed to achieve organizational aims and objectives in efficient way and the departmental management has been delegated necessary authorities to them to solve client’s problem at their first priority, this department has the client’s data base as well and through internet the CRM department team remains always in contact with the clients and get their feedback and their opinion through different and time to time online surveys and by asking them trough telephone calls and through postages as well. The researcher has been selected the samples by using random technique and all their attributes and age range and number of respondents are given below in the following table.

Serial #	Respondent’s age groups	Gender	Total Number of Respondents
0	Minimum-Maximum	Male	Female
1	19-26	8	8	16
2	27-34	7	7	14
3	35-42	13	13	26
4	43-50	13	13	26
5	51-60	9	9	18
		50	50	100

4.2      Interviews

As the researcher has been designed the questions for the management of the selected superstore to disclose the real facts and figures and the researcher has designed all the questions by keeping the aims and objectives of the research and semi structure interviews were conducted by the researcher and all those questions with their answers are given below.

Q1:      What are the main responsibilities of customer relationship management at ASDA?

Answer:

The customer relationship management is responsible for the following tasks.

Attract new clients from the target market

Building strong and profitable relations with the potential clients

Offering them the best solution of their problems in efficient way

To retain the old client by creating happiness, satisfaction and loyalty among them and by offering the values in the products and offering them high quality of products and services

To equip the skilled workers with latest technology and procedures

To develop the effective strategies and policies for the business operations effectively implementing them in the business operations

To recognize the client’s priorities and requirements and then to pass that information to the manufacturing department for delivering them to the clients and then taking feedback from them to review and amending them for good feedback and for creating loyalty among clients.

Customer relationship management department is responsible for finding out the challenges to this department and finding out their best solution.

Q2:      What are the main problems and challenges to the customer relationship management department?

Answer:

The respondents have been responded that following are the problems faced by the CRM department at ASDA supermarket.

As due to rapid change in the technology and advancement in the procedures and technologies that change the client’s needs and requirement, it is a big problem for the CRM representative to understand the client’s needs and wants.

As there is high competition in the market so it needs more intelligence to find out competitor’s strategies and policies to compete with them.

In order t increase the sales volume/ revenue generation is not easy

To communicate with the other department while remaining in the allocated resources it is not easy to get their requirement and to respond them in time.

To create the satisfaction and loyalty among the workers and to assess their requirements is not an easy task.

Allocation of the resources to the workers at the right time and to create effective strategies linked with the strategies is not an easy task for the CRM department and due to ineffective strategies of online purchasing and handling client’s complaints it is not possible to reduce the time to make compensations and to offer them best solution.

Q3:      Is there any relationship exist between sales volume and the customer relationship management strategies and policies?

Answer:

Yes there is a deep and direct and indirect relationship between the sales volume and the customer relationship management policies and its practices because the customers are always deal by the CRM representatives and the customer relationship management interact with them just to find out their expectations and their expectations can be judged by having the very good and effective skills and competencies and after that if the products are available then delivering them and taking their feedback for more improvements and after that if the required items are not available then passing those information to the concerned department for review and amending those products. In this way when the client’s will receive the products and services as per their expectations then it will create happiness among them, in this way there are two benefits, first of all the happy clients or satisfied clients will tell the others that they are happy and then after that it will increase the frequency of the visits of the clients and in this way the sales volume will be increased. So it is very clear that the customer relationship management department has impact on the sales volume due to its efforts and its responsibilities and in this way the organization will be benefited. The customer relationship management is playing its effective and efficient role in managing contacts the clients, and updating their feedback and maintaining their contacts and their views and opinion. There is a close relationship between the sales and the customer relationship management department. The customer relationship management find out the competitive advantages for the organization and set the strategies and policies as per their circumstances to achieve the competitive advantages for increasing the sales and for earning maximum profitability.

Q4:      What is flow work of Customer relationship management department at ASDA

Answer:

The respondents have been responded and the researcher have been discussed the work flow of CRM department at the ASDA and the researcher has been represent that work flow in the pictorial form which is given below.

Source:            Author

In the above diagram the researcher has been tried to show the flow of the work as showed in the above diagram that at the ASDA the main responsibility of the customer relationship management is research and development and then as per gathered data pass that specific information to the relevant department and then after that it is the manufacturing and design department to manufacture that product and services as per client’s requirements. In order to assess their requirement the customer relationship management department needs high skills and competencies to find out their requirements and in order to create loyalty to increase the volume of sales and to build the strong relationship with clients for earning more profit that is the main and final objectives of the organization. The customer relationship management department also remained the responsible for the happiness of the clients by offering them the suitable services and product with the expected quality and price, and the customer relationship management must gather and record the client’s information and create data base for them and with the passage of time assess their priorities and design the effective marketing strategies and policies to achieve organizational objectives.

Q5:      Do you believe in the effective and important role of customer relationship management for the growth and in achieving organizational objectives?

Answer:

All the respondents have been replied that they have believe in the customer relationship management department’s strategies and policies because they have believe in the operations and effectiveness of customer relationship management department’s role for achieving organizational objectives in efficiently and effectively. There are so many reasons that the customer relationship management is the most effective department and is playing its role for the growth of the organization and those reasons are as follows.

The customer relationship management department supervisors are responsible for creating and making interactions with the clients directly and when the client’s needs their attention or they need their help they need their attention to solve their problem and help them the clients can contact with them directly without any hesitation and as the customer relationship management employees have skills and competencies to understand the client’s problems and their requirements they help them and respond them quickly just to create loyalty, happiness and satisfaction among them. The customer relationship management is responsible for the handling of problems and complaints efficiently by offering them the best solution at priority because if the clients are happy then they will bring new clients from the target market. The customer relationship management is also responsible to create loyalty among the employees because the CRM manager and higher management has the believe in that the loyal employees can also play their effective role in achieving organization’s objectives because the loyal employees can play their role effectively because the employees dedicate themselves for organizational objectives positively by taking into consideration their welfare and rewards and incentive programs. Customer relationship management is responsible for assessing the resources and allocating those resources to the concerned and right people and control the resource wastage. Customer relationship management first of all assess the required job descriptions and roles and required skills and competencies for achieving agreed objectives and then design the development plans for the employees and provide them the necessary and required skills and competencies and set the standards to measure their performance and time to time measure their performance for efficiency and gave them proper feedback as well. Then the customer relationship management review the skills and trainings and with the change in technology update the skilled workers information, knowledge and improve their competencies for achieving organizational agreed objectives. The customer relationship management department also make necessary and important decisions and involve all other relevant workers in the process of decision making for creating loyalty among them. Before designing and developing policies and strategies for the business organization the customer relationship department assess those factors those contribute their role in creating happiness, loyalty and satisfaction among the clients and then by considering those factors into their minds they design the effective and efficient strategies and policies for achieving organizational objectives.

4.3      Questionnaires

The researcher has designed the following question to gather the primary data from the respondents and as in the previous chapter the researcher has been described in details about the samples and their attributes in detail. The researcher has been designed all the questions by keeping in mind all the factors and the main aims and objectives of the research and also by keeping the principles of communications and 7 c’s of the marketing communication and according to the available resources for achieving organizational objectives. Each question has its own purpose and reason that describe the validity and reliability and the researcher has been linked the theories with the questions. The researcher has been used the pie and bar charts to show the relevant relationships among the different variables and factors and their connection in creating loyalty and increasing sales volume and in building relationship with the clients by the customer relationship management. All the questions those were included in the questionnaire are given as follows.

Q:        What is the main purpose of your visit at ASDA?

Response:       

Reasons	For Shopping	Visits	Some other reasons	Total
Yes	90	10	0	100
No		0	00
Total	90	10	00	100

The researcher has made this question to know exactly the purpose of the respondents at ASDA. And the researcher came to know about the main purpose of the visit of client is the shopping and some of people come to ASDA for visit might be with their friends or family members and no anybody come for the some other reasons. According to the scholars Antony & Antony, (2007) that when there are clients there is business and if there is no client means there is no business.

As in the above both charts in has been shown that the maximum number of people about 90% come to ASDA for shopping purpose whereas 0% of the people come for other reasons. So from this response the researcher come to know that 90% of the people just come for the shopping which is a huge number of people and the visitors may just come with their family members or with their friends, whereas the 0% of the people come for other reasons which includes to check the price, for killing their time and for jobs or may be for looking the offers. 90% is large amount of people and if the customer relationship management can create the loyalty among these people then in this way the organizational sales volume can be boost up. And the remaining 10% those come their family members and friends are also come for the shopping purpose, so one thing is clear here that majority come for shopping and this is an opportunity for the ASDA CRM department to provide them necessary requirements at their best level.  

Q:        Are you regular customer at ASDA or this is your first visit?

Answer:

Answer	Yes	No	Total
Female	45	5	50
Male	44	6	50
Total	89	11	100

The researcher has designed this question to understand that the loyalty or satisfaction of the clients and want to understand the people that either they are first time here or they are regular clients, because there are so many factors those can play their role in bringing people here like their residences, the opening or closing time of ASDA  and the most appropriate for them those come in evening time or in weekend only so it is very important to ask them about their reasons to visit ASDA and the result shows in the following pie and bar charts. People buy from the superstore for buying their general purpose items and they also buy the services so it is important that the products and services must be in their ease of access (Bhote, 2011).    

The chart shows that the 89% of the people come to ASDA for shopping on regular basis and only 11% people are here for their first time. 89% means that these people are loyal or there may be some other factors that are why these people are here and rest of them may be moved in this area and ASDA is more convenient for them, in the next question the researcher has asked them about the motivational factors.

Q:        What are the motivational factors that you come at ASDA for shopping?

            Please tick the appropriate factor

Answer:

Motivational Factors	Female	Male	Total
Happy and satisfaction	13	15	28
Due to reference
Loyal	18	14	32
Convenient
Products quality	15	19	34
Near their residents	4	2	6
Total	50	50	100

The researcher has made that above question in order to understand the motivational factors and main reasons of their shopping from the ASDA supermarket. Some scholars have been stated that customer relationship management can create loyalty by offering low price but high quality of products and services to the clients and in this way they can increase the market share (Buttle, 2010). Because this is very important for the researcher to identify those factors and reasons that attract the clients towards the ASDA supermarket and to find out the other factors those are motivational factors so that ASDA must consider them while designing the policies and strategies for the clients. People always go again to buy the products and services to overcome their problems and if they become happy they tell others and if the products did not satisfy them they become angry and next time they will find out the substitute (Bowen and Lawler, 2010). Whereas Bitran and Hoech, (2005) have been stated that people buy from the superstore due to quality of product and lower prices, some people are price and some are quality conscious, the quality conscious never think about the price but the price conscious always concerned about the price and they have the saving habit and they do not care about the quality because they know that the high quality products and services always cost them at high prices.

From the above chart is has been cleared that the maximum people buy from the ASDA due to the loyalty and their ratio is the 32%, this percentage shows that the people among the 90% those come for shopping at ASDA and among them only 32% are loyal with the ASDA it means that customer relationship management at ASDA need more hard work because the 32% not a good percentage. And to maximize this ratio the customer relationship management need more improvements in its policies and strategies. 34% of the people buy from the superstore due to its high quality and these people are quality conscious and they do not bother the prices and they just buy due to quality of the products and quality always come because of the values and honouring the promises with the clients. There are only 6% people those come for shopping because they are living near the ASDA and they do not have much time to go other departments and ASDA location is convenient to them.

Q:        Are you happy with the policies and strategies of the ASDA superstore?

Answer:

Answers	Females	Males	Total
Yes	38	30	68
No	12	20	32
Total	50	50	100

According to the Farber and Wycoff, (2011) that the effective strategies and policies always bring happiness among the clients and the employees and this happiness always leads them towards loyalty and loyalty is the key of success for the organizations for both clients and employees. As the tables shows that majority of the people have been respond that they are happy and the minority of the respondents replied that they are not happy, here one thing is very important that the minority of the people are not negligible and their views and opinions must be strictly consider by the customer relationship management for positive response.

From the above diagrams (bar chart and pie chart) the researcher came to know that the 68% of the people like the CRM policies and strategies because they are happy and those strategies and policies are in their favour, whereas the rest of the people are not happy and they do not like the CRM recent strategies and policies and 32% of the respondents in not negligible and the management must consider them and must review the policies for creating strong and trusty relationship with them.

Q:        What do you think about the CRM role in organizational success?

Answer:

Answer	Female	Male	Total
Yes	44	47	91
No	06	03	09
Total	50	50	100

As the above table shows that the majority of the people have believe in the role of customer relationship management for the success of organization. The people have the awareness of customer relationship management department and its effectiveness and they know that this department is for the mutual benefits of organization and customers (Gonzalez et al., 2009).

69% of the respondents have responded that the CRM department can play its role effectively in obtaining organizational objectives, whereas the remaining 31% respondents have not believed in the CRM efforts. This response showed that the 31% of the people did not have knowledge about the CRM department and its effectiveness in the super stores. The main purpose of this question was to know about the importance and effectiveness of this department in the superstores. The customer relationship management department is responsible for tackling customer’s problems and providing them necessary solution as per demands and create the loyalty among the customers for obtaining organizational objectives, and it is also CRM department to convey their importance message to the customers for its effectiveness (Gundersen et al., 2008).

Q:        Did customer relationship management representative ever have asked you about your expectations regarding quality and price?

Respondents	Yes	No	Total
Male	46	4	50
Female	48	2	50
Total	94	6	100

Answer:

Most of the respondents responded that yes the CRM representative asked them about their expectations regarding quality of products and quality of services and prices. Some customers are price conscious and some quality conscious, this question was designed by the researcher to know about the interest of customers towards the quality of products and services and the result showed that a significant percentage 92% of the customers are quality conscious and remaining may be price conscious. According to Bowen and Lawler, (2009) most of the customers prefer the quality and then price. Here is the same situation that people first check the quality and then price and make their decision on the basis of quality and price.

The charts showed that the 94% of the people have believe in the effectiveness and positive role of customer relationship management department and only 6% do not have believe in its effectiveness. It is good that majority of the people have believes in the CRM departmental effectiveness and in this way the CRM department can achieve its objectives.

Q:        Are you registered at ASDA website and did you ever receive the pamphlets and email for promotions and advertisement?

Answer:

Answer	Female	Male	Total
Yes	42	48	90
No	8	2	10
Total	50	50	100

The above table shows that the majority of the people are registered with the website and they have received the advertisement and promotional emails from the customer relationship management department as well. The organizations must use effective media channels for products and offer’s promotions (Bhote, 2011). From this question the researcher came to know that most of the people use internet and they are receiving promotional emails and the CRM department can also use maximum advantage of this opportunity. By using the latest and advance technology the organization can reduce the cost effectively and the quality of the products and services and in this way the organizations can achieve the competitive advantages (Bowen and Lawler, 2010).

It has been cleared that 90% of the people are receiving the promotional emails and they are registered with the ASDA online as well and in this way the CRM department can take maximum advantage of this opportunity the remaining 10% of the respondents must be taken into consideration and the organization must register them with the online services in this way they both can be benefited.

Q:        Which one the most suitable media for marketing?

Answer:         

Answer	Internet	Radio	Door to door campaign	Television	Local Newspapers	Total
Female	27	3	5	8	7	50
Male	25	2	3	11	9	50
Total	52	5	8	19	16	100

The researcher wants to know the effective media channel to start the marketing campaigns for creating awareness among the clients. It is very necessary for the organizations to deliver the marketing message to the potential customers through effective media channels (Bitran and Hoech, 2005).

As in the above pie chart and in the bar chart it is clear that the majority of the people 52% like the internet whereas 19% of the respondents respond that television is the best and effective media channel to advertise the marketing messages, whereas 16% of the respondents have been responded that news papers are effective way for advertisement, 8% responded that door to door campaign is the best way and only 5% have been responded that radio is the effective way to advertise the marketing campaign.

Q:        Do you believe in customer relationship management representative’s efforts for dealing with you while solving your problems?

Answer:

Answer	Yes	No	Total
Female	39	11	50
Male	41	9	50
Total	80	20	100

The CRM department representatives can create long term and strong relationship among the clients through their skills and competencies (Choi and Chu, 2010). The researcher came to know that majority of the respondents responded that they believe in the CRM efforts only 20 people do not believe in CRM efforts.

The above charts shows that the 80% of the people are in the favour of the CRM departmental efforts and this is because of their past experience and only 20% of the people do not have believe in the CRM departmental efforts. The 80% is the majority and very clear majority that have past experience with the attitude and dealing of CRM department and that’s why they have responded that CRM representative are effective and their efforts are positive, the 20% is not negligible and their experience is not good.

Q:        Do you believe that lower price and high quality will bring satisfaction and CRM department can offer?

Answer:

Answers	Female	Male	Total
Yes	50	0	50
No	50	0	50
Total	100	0	100

As the scholars have been stated that CRM department can also consider the lower prices and higher quality to create loyalty and satisfaction among the clients for achieving organizational objectives (Everett, 2007). The table and charts have been shown that 100% of the respondents have been stated that low price and high quality always bring satisfaction among them and no one has responded against the question. It means that customer relationship management can create loyalty satisfaction among clients by offering them low price products with high quality of products. And while making strategies and policies must include these factors.

Q:        Do you believe that CRM employees are playing their role in identifying your expectations and their attitude and behaviour is good?

Answer:

Answer	Female	Male	Total
Yes	35	15	50
No	42	8	50
Total	77	23	100

The researcher found out that the majority of the people responded that CRM department at ASDA is playing its role effectively in identifying their expectations and workers attitude and behaviour are good and they are satisfied.

The 23% respondents have been responded that they are not happy with the CRM departmental worker’s attitude and they do not believe that CRM department is not playing its role in identifying their expectations. The majority like 77% have been responded that the CRM department is successfully identifying their expectations and worker’s attitude and behaviour is so nice and they are happy.

Q:        Do you believe that workers are continuously updated your database for identifying your priorities and remain in touch with you and collect your feedback and your suggestions and opinions to redesign the products and improving the products and services and this create your satisfaction and loyalty?

Answer	Female	Male	Total
Yes	42	47	89
No	8	3	11
Total	50	50	100

The researcher found that 89% of the respondents have believe in the CRM workers are updating their data base and identifying their priorities and taking properly their feedback and their views and opinions and passing this information to the manufacturing department to improve the weaknesses and redesigning the products as per their requirements for creating loyalty and satisfaction among them. Only 11% of the people do not have believe in the CRM workers abilities and their this efforts and they responded that they do not believe in that they are not putting their efforts for identifying their needs and wants and do not taken their opinion and feedback to redesign products as per their needs and wants. 11% is not negligible ratio.

Q:        Tick the appropriate factors those can play their role in creating satisfaction and loyalty for increasing market share and sales volume?

Answer:         

Factors	Female	Male	Total
Quality of Products	35	48	83
Response	45	47	92
Lower Prices	50	50	100
Best solution	46	48	94
Product range	48	48	96
Ingredients and Promises	49	49	98

Customer relationship management must consider the factors that can create loyalty and satisfaction and happiness among their clients to increase the sales volume those can be include quality, lower price, best solution, product full range under one roof, promises and ingredients (Gonzalez et al., 2009). The 83% respondents have been responded that quality is count as a key successive factor in creating happiness and loyalty among the clients, 92% are agree that quick response can be used as key successive factor in creating loyalty and satisfaction among them, similarly 100% respondents responded that lower price can create happiness and satisfaction and loyalty among them and 94% best solution, 96% vote to the product full range and 98% have responded that promises and ingredients also those factors those can create happiness, loyalty and satisfaction among them and in this way the organizations can increase the sales volume.

Q:        Do you believe that ASDA is offering lower prices, better quality, best solutions, range of products, honouring promises and quick response in creating loyalty and satisfaction?

Answer:

Answer	Female	Male	Total
Yes	46	45	91
No	4	5	9
Total	50	50	100

91% of the respondents have been responded that the organization is offering them all the necessary requirements to create loyalty and satisfaction among them only 9% which is a minor ratio these people are not satisfied with the above given statement and they do not believe in that organization is not offering them the quality of products, quick response, best solution, is not fulfilling its promises and range of products to create loyalty and happiness and satisfaction among them.

Q:        Do you believe that happy and angry clients both make references for the organizations?

Answer:

Answer	Female	Male	Total
Yes	48	44	92
No	2	6	8
	50	50	100

It is human being nature that they share their experiences and clients also share their satisfaction and good and bad experience with family members, colleagues and friends, in this way happy clients always recommend to buy products and angry people also share their bad experiences with others (Gundersen et al., 2010). So the 92% of the respondents have responded that yes they share their experiences with others, only 8% have responded that they do not share their experiences because these people do not like to mix with others and they do not like to share their personals with others and they want to live alone.

Q:        Have you made quality and price comparisons among the same products from different superstores?

Answer:

Answer	Female	Males	Total
Yes	45	5	50
No	48	2	50
Total	93	7	100

Some people are price and some are quality conscious and they make comparisons before buying products (Helgesen, 2011). In this research the 93% responded that they made comparisons and off curse they will prefer to buy lower prices products and only 7% do not care about price and quality comparisons.

Q:        Have you ever registered complaint to customer relationship management about product and did they solve your problem?

Answer:

Answer	Female	Male	Total
Yes	43	7	50
No	41	9	50
Total	84	16	80

The customer relationship management has the skilled workers and competent employees those can handle their problems and offer them best solutions for creating loyalty and satisfaction among them (Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2012). The charts showed that 84% of the people responded that they have registered the complaints about faulty or inappropriate products and CRM department has responded them and solve their problems. Remaining 16% responded that they never registered the complaints it means that they might be never receive the faulty or inappropriate products or they do not know the procedure to register the complaints or they do not have time to register. But they also come to buy from the ASDA supermarket because they are happy.

Q:        Do you believe that following factors should be considered by the CM department in creating loyalty and happiness for increasing sales volume and did the ASDA CRM team is also considering them for increasing sales volume?

Answer:

Variables	Answer
Behaviour	90
Low cost	100
Size of Product	95
Client’s feedback	90
High quality	100
Feedback	90
Solution	90
Availability	100
Attitude	95
Quickness	100
Promises	100
Ease of access	90
Characteristics	100
Expectation’s identification	100
Compensation	90
Offers	90
Guarantees and warrantees	90

The respondents have been responded that all the above stated factors or variables are very important for them and majority of the people like 100% have been responded that quickness, promises, lower cost and high quality are the factors those can be used by the customer relationship management to create loyalty and satisfaction among the clients. Whereas 95% of the respondents have been responded that size and attitude must be considered by the customer relationship management to create loyalty and satisfaction among the clients for increasing sales volume and achieving organizational objectives, 90% of the respondents have been replied that customer relationship management employee’s behaviour, client’s feedback, best solution, compensations, offers, warranty and guarantees and ease of access also play their role in creating loyalty and satisfaction among the clients for increasing sales volume.

Chapter # 5:          Conclusion and Recommendations

5.1      Introduction

The researcher has been discussed in details the conclusions and the positive recommendations for the selected organization in detail and the researcher has been discussed the associated constraints and limitations and has been clearly defined the ways to reduce them, all the details are given as under.

5.2      Conclusion and Limitations and recommendations

5.2.1   Conclusion

The researcher has the time and budget shortage and the researcher has spent the money from own sources and other resources were provided by the ASDA management and by selecting the one case study and by choosing the questionnaires and interviews techniques times was saved and for more validity and reliability the researcher has followed the ethical considerations. The researcher has made these conclusions as per the respondents responses and the researcher has been used the secondary data as a support. First of all the management at the superstore have been disclosed so many facts and realities for the customer relationship management and they have been told that customer relationship management has the positive impact on all the objectives positively, this department can play its role and is playing its role very positively in increasing organizational sales and in sustaining growth, but the speed is slow just because of the strategies and policies. They have responded that the customer relationship management department is facing a lot of issues and problems while designing and implementing its strategies in the organizations and main cause is the resource allocation which means that the allocated budget is low. For more improvements in the efficiency of the customer relationship management the higher management must allocate them the resources as per their needs and wants because allocation of resources at the right time has importance (Choi and Chu, 2010). It has been clear from the very first question that the 90% which shows that the maximum number of people come for shopping purpose and remaining 10% people come with family members and with friends. It means that the majority of the people come for buying products which also shows their interest and there will be some reasons, whereas the 10% showed that they come with family member’s means that they also come for shopping. The researcher came to know that the maximum clients are regular customers and few of them are new clients. the researcher has made the conclusion that the 32% of the people are loyal with the superstore and 28% of the people are satisfied and 34% are the client those buy the products and services due to high quality, these are the people those do not care about the prices but the people those are satisfied they are conscious about the price as well. So the opportunity is there and the customer relationship management has the opportunity in this way. The organizations can consider the quality and low price as key successive factors in creating loyalty among the clients and in this way loyalty will lead the clients towards more buying and hence the sales volume will be increased (Dimitriades, 2012). Majority of the people are happy with the recent policies and strategies but the other people those are not happy and their percentage is 32% which is a great percentage and the CRM department could not neglect them. Some scholars have been stated that the strategies and policies are the set of rules and regulations followed by the organizations to handle and behave and interact with the clients (Flyvbjerg, 2011). Majority of the people have believes in the CRM department only 6% do not have believe in CRM departmental effectiveness. The CRM department must consider the promotion of CRM departmental effectiveness among the clients because in this way people will contact with CRM department to solve their problems and to register their complaints. Most of the clients have been responded that internet is the effective way to advertise the messages regarding promotions and offers.

Majority of the respondents have been responded that they have believe in CRM positive efforts and CM can play role in creating loyalty and happiness among them only 20% of the people are not agree with the CRM department efforts positively. The researcher has been concluded that majority 100% of the clients wants products and services at lower prices but at high quality.

Majority of the people are happy with CRM department worker’s attitude and behaviours and they are satisfied with by the CRM role in identifying in their expectations positively. CRM first identify client’s expectations and then can offer them expected products to create loyalty that will leads them towards more sales (Flyvbjerg, 2011). Most of the respondents have believe that CRM is taking feedback and their opinions for improving and redesigning the products to create loyalty and satisfaction for increasing sales volume. All the clients wants best quality, lower price, best solution of their problems, full range of products under one roof, promises and ingredients are those factors those can create happiness, loyalty and satisfaction among them. Majority of the people made comparisons of same products from the different providers about price and quality and prefer to buy lower price and high quality of products.

5.2.2   Recommendations

1.         The customer relationship management at ASDA must review its policies and strategies and must increase the target market and must reduce the risk factor by producing and offering products range and must offer the products at lower price as compared to its competitors.

2.         Customer relationship management can also attract the visitors towards buying products but organizational management must review the budget policy and must allocate more budgets to the customer relationship management.

3.         The customer relationship management need more resources and they need advance technology and procedures to make their strategies and policies more effective in attaining organizational objectives. Proper and timely allocated resources are necessary for expected outcomes (Gonzalez et al., 2009).

4.         CRM department need strategies and policies to attract the visitors and must handle them and can advertise and marketing for those people in effective way, there must be price comparisons for them, by handing over them the pamphlets and by taking their details and creating their database and sending them the offers and value added offers as well to grab such people in this way the market share can be increased. These are the basically effective policies of an organization to attract customer and to create happiness among them (Getty & Thompson, 2011).

5.         Customer relationship management department should also pay its full attention towards the quality and the price as well because if the department pay its attention on the low price as compared to the competitors then maximum share can be increased that will automatically increase the sales volume and the organization will be in position to earn more money.

6.         The customer relationship management needs to adopt latest technology and follow the latest procedures to increase the quality of products and to reduce the cost.

The higher management must review the customer relationship management strategies and policies and must amend them as per the client’s views and opinions and the organization can get the client’s views and their opinions by conducting online or offline surveys and by taking their feedback for achieving organizational objectives.

7.         It is very important that people have the awareness about the CRM department and in this way they can create happiness and loyalty among the customers (Antony & Antony, 2007). So the CRM department must pay its attention on creating awareness among the clients because it is first step towards the success.

8.         The CRM department must adopt internet and website and must adopt the online media channel for marketing and other media channels as well to promote the products and offers and discounts and sales for attracting new clients from the market. Due to effective media channels the organizations can attract new markets and can retain the old clients as well and in both ways the sales volume will be increased (Buttle, 2010).

9.         The CRM department must pay the attention on the skills and training and must review the resources and authorities and behaviour of the representatives to create loyalty, happiness’s by providing them the suitable solutions of their problems and CRM department must measure the worker’s performance and must review their personal development plans and update their knowledge and equip them with latest skills and competencies. It is necessary for the business organizations to measure employee’s performance and gave them feedback and provides them trainings and updates their knowledge for positive output (Dimitriades, 2012). The customer relationship management must consider low price and high quality while designing and offering the products and services as compared to its competitors because 100% clients need low price bust high quality of products and services. Farber and Wycoff, (2011) have been stated that organizations can increase sales volume by offering low price and at high quality products in the market.

10.       The CRM department must review the strategy and policy and must pay attention on taking client’s feedback and updating their data base that will be helpful for identifying their expectation and offering them suitable products to create loyalty and satisfaction to increase market share and sales volume. Identification of client’s priorities and their feedback can be useful in creating loyalty and satisfaction among them and for increasing sales volume (Getty & Thompson, 2011).

5.3      Further Research Areas

The researcher has disclosed so many areas those need to be taken by the other researchers into their considerations and they must conduct research on them for the better outcomes and in this way the business organizations can gain maximum benefits from them which involves the carbon emission impact on CRM activities.

Analysis of Factors that influence Customer Loyalty

Abstract

The concept of Customer Loyalty has received much consideration and attention from both academics and practitioners in different industries. It is always costly to attract new customers, so the managers always try to find ways to retain their current customers and concentrate on different factors which enhances the customer loyalty among the customers of the organizations. In increasingly competitive markets, being able to build consumer loyalty is seen as the key factor in winning market share and developing a sustainable competitive advantage. And banking industry is no exception as it has high interaction with the customers, so managers must understand the factors which influence the loyalty of the customers towards their respective banks. 

So this research attempts to find the factors of customer loyalty and their relationships with banking industry in one of the developing countries i.e. Pakistan. Then analyzing the relationship among different factors a model for the customer loyalty is proposed at the end of the research.

In order to do this, a questionnaire is designed and validated, then based on the data which were gained from the 316 respondents’ answers to the designed questionnaire, the analysis is done and the results and the relations among the factors are explained.

Tangible Perceived Quality, Intangible Perceived Quality, Satisfaction, Trust, Switching Cost, Habit and Choosing are the factors which influence the Loyalty of the customers. Theses factors also influence each other as well. The relationships of different factors with each other are also studied and the SPSS software is used to analyze the data gathered from the respondents.

It is hoped that this Master thesis would be helpful and interesting for both academics and practitioners.

Introduction

This chapter of the thesis will provide the reader with an insight to the research area. First, a brief discussion of the background will be presented that will be followed by the problem discussion. The problem discussion ends with the overall purpose of the study and specific research questions. The background of this research starts with customer loyalty and the factors which influences the customer loyalty, such as satisfaction, perceived quality, switching cost, trust, choosing, commitment and habit. Afterward, Impact of these factors on customer loyalty in Pakistani banks and a model will be proposed. The respondents will be the customers of Allied Bank Limited, Habib Bank Limited and National Bank of Pakistan.

1.1 Background

Customer loyalty is a topic of grave interest for both academia and practice and a base of loyal customers is found to be very beneficial and advantageous for the firms. Loyal customers are those who stick with their bank over the long term, even if they’re not getting the best price. They tend to trans-act and invest more over time as their income grows, or as they devote an increasingly larger “share of wallet” to a bank they feel good about. They are also those customers who will tell their family, friends and business associates about their bank.( Forrester, June 2004). Customer disloyalty or the ending of relationship has also gained much importance in the last decade. During the past thirty years the economic conditions have been changing due to economic stagnation, higher inflation and increased unemployment. Many markets have settled into maturity. It could be said that the actor who nowadays dominates the market is the customer because focus has moved from the seller to the customer. The trend from transaction marketing towards relationship marketing has been significant in recent years (Kotler et al, 1996). The main point of transaction marketing has been to focus continually on single sale, short time-scale, to limit the customer commitment and to put little emphasis on customer service.

Every company tries to maintain a loyal customer base and they continually strive for customer loyalty through different loyalty programs. As the competition in most sectors grows tighter, both the importance of, and the challenge in, keeping customers loyal increases. Long term relationship is imperative for more profits and success of the firm.

The most important reasons according to (Reis, Pena, & Lopes,2005) are:

• “Loyal customers are often willing to pay premium prices for a supplier they know and trust”.
• “The cost of acquiring new customers can be substantial. A higher customer retention rate implies that fewer customers need to be acquired and these can be acquired more cheaply”. “Loyal customers place frequent, consistent orders and, therefore, usually cost less to serve”.
• “Loyal customers often refer new customers to the supplier at virtually no cost”.
• “Established customers tend to buy more”.
• “Loyal customers place frequent, consistent orders and, therefore, usually cost less to serve”.

Today, a customer loss is a customer gain for a competitor. According to Kotler et al (1996) it takes five times as much effort, time and money to attract a new customer than it does keeping an existing customer. In today’s highly competitive world companies need to spend as much energy and efforts in retaining customers as they do on acquiring them. Loyalty is seen to be difficult to define and measure. The problem lies in identifying whether loyalty is an attitudinal or behavioral measure. McGoldrick and Andre (1997) argues that the term loyalty is been used loosely and includes affection, fidelity or commitment. For this reason, customer satisfaction is been used as a measure of loyalty because it has been assumed that satisfaction affects buying intentions in a positive way. Reichheld (1994) finds that despite being satisfied or very satisfied many customers still defect. Such behaviour may be explained by the impact of other variables such as choice, convenience, price, and habit.

The subject of customer retention, loyalty, and churn is receiving much-needed attention in many industries (Matt Hasan, 2001). This is evident from the number of “customer intimacy” initiatives that are either under way or being considered in a variety of companies. Businesses need to consider customer market among different markets that are taken into account. Businesses traditionally employed transaction marketing, i.e. marketing through 4Ps: transactions of product, price, promotion, and place. However, over the past two decades, businesses across all sectors have increasingly moved towards relationships, networks and interactions.

The complete change and shift in customer’s behaviour and business thinking is due to the commoditization of offerings and the intensification of competition in many industries, rendering ownership of the customer relationship, the most critical business success factor. Examples of these types of market dynamics are in long distance telecommunications as well as the credit card, retail banking, insurance, food and beverage industries, cellular phone service, cable TV, information services, and health care, banking service.

The realization on the part of key decision makers to shift the paradigm from transaction oriented marketing to customer-centric marketing is obvious now. Studies reveal the importance that business decision makers now place on customer retention, loyalty and churn in several industries. Back and Aperia (2004) states suppliers who form close working relationships with their customers tend to have “better” customers. These close relationships make the customer more loyal to the suppliers and the customers often give the suppliers a greater share of their business.

In the highly dynamic and complex banking industry, the very slight differences which exist in financial services and products together with an increasingly demanding customer have led to a great transformation in the industry. The industry is becoming more customer-oriented, which states that the main goal of any relationship marketing would always be to build customer loyalty. In this sense, Gilmore (2001) considers that constant customer-oriented behaviour is a requisite for improving the implementation of quality in services marketing.

Building customer loyalty through loyalty marketing is a business strategy not just a marketing program, all businesses should seek to increase and maximize the share of customers. The pursuit of customer loyalty is continuous and it is more of a journey than a destination. (Duffy, 1998). Fullerton (2003) states that focus on loyalty segmentation provide strategic and tactical insights that will assist in building strong brands. The market is divided into several different segments that consist of groups of people with similar preferences within the groups rather than between the groups (Stewart, 1998). If a company practice loyalty marketing, they must first know who their loyal customers are, which a lot is easier for many business-to-business marketers than for most consumer goods marketers (Fox and Poje, 2002).

The CRM approach to marketing has gained much currency in recent years, seeking to establish closer relationships and interactions between a business and its most important customers. CRM-oriented businesses market their products and services through relationships and interactions with multiple markets, most notably the customer market, often taking advantage of IT-based interactivity. This is why relationship marketing is termed “customer relationship management” when it emphasizes the customer market in particular.

It is, of course, possible to acquire and retain unprofitable customers. Some companies make this mistake by constantly acquiring new customers with price promotions and then wondering why these same customers flit to the next deal offered by a competitor. The resulting high-churn, low-margin customer base is unlikely to ever be profitable. Keeping the right customers is crucial to effective CRM. To be close to the customer and manage successful investments to create customer loyalty is not only important, it is the key factor to success for many companies. The established companies’ closeness to the customers becomes a high entrance barrier for new companies on the market. This because the new companies do not only have to meet the already established companies high standards, but also break into a system of strong personal relationships, trust and respect. (Butscher, 2000)

Many researchers consider CRM as a new paradigm in marketing. The concept of “paradigm” has been defined as “a set of assumptions about the social world, and about what constitute proper techniques and topics for inquiry”. Much of the marketing literature has regarded CRM as representing a paradigm shift in marketing thought. CRM is reshaping the marketing landscape. Customer Relationship Management has overtaken the market and it is revolutionizing marketing and reshaping entire business models.

Butscher (2000) states that on a market, which is distinguished by increasing competition, unpredictable and well informed customers, efforts to increase brand loyalty will get a greater significance. To create loyalty will become one of the most important strategic factors to succeed, neglecting these factors could lead to failure for the companies.

According to Zineldin (2005), it would seem that the discussion is much similar to the one in the 1990s on whether relationship marketing constituted a new paradigm or not. In this respect, relationship marketing is defined as being about “establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relational exchanges”. Exchanges would take place between the business and important markets, including the customer market (Christopher et al., 1991).

The main objective of this paper is to identify the key factors that influence the extent to which customers are loyal towards their banks. The customers of National Bank Pakistan, Allied Bank Limited and Habib Bank in retail banking will form the subject of our research. To this end, we have carried out empirical analyses of the complex interdependence relationships that exist among the different variables, or factors, which explain customer loyalty in the retail banking market.

1.2 Who Is a Customer?

Customer can be defined in different ways, for example Sara Gustafson and Erica Lundgren (2005) described “a customer” as below:

• A Customer is the most important person ever in this office . . . in person or by mail.
• A Customer is not dependent on us . . . we are dependent on him.
• A Customer is not an interruption of our work . . . he is the purpose of it. We are not doing a favor by serving him . . . he is doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so.
• A Customer is not someone to argue or match wits with. Nobody ever won an argument with a customer.
• A Customer is a person who brings us his wants. It is our job to handle them profitably to him and to ourselves.

1.3 Customer churn

Customer churn is the tendency for customer to move from one competitive provider to another (Michael Fox and Missy Poje, 2002). Reichheld (1996) cited research indicating that 65 to 85 percent of defecting cus­tomers do so despite being “satisfied” or “highly satis­fied.” Thus, high satisfaction levels do not guarantee that customers will not defect. And dissatisfaction does not necessarily lead to defection-customers may continue to purchase from a vendor that has been a source of dissatis­faction (Hennig-Thurau and Klee, 1998).

It’s not easy for a business to predict churn. “Only a small percentage of customers will complain,” writes Griffin in Customer Loyalty. “A typical business hears from only four percent of its dissatisfied customers. The remaining 96 percent go away, and on average, 91 percent never go back.” Yet, you can track customers’ actions.

After four years of research on the best practices of about 200 companies for Customer Loyalty, Griffin was able to put together the following list of six indicators that a customer was ready to walk out the door for good:

• Customer approval of your proposals comes slower.
• Access to upper-level management decreases.
• The flow of customer data slows down.
• Plans for future work become progressively shorter-term.
• One or more of your products or services are discontinued.
• The volume of business the customer is doing with you is reduced.

Some indicators, such as customer approval of proposals and access to upper-level management, are related more to the business-to-business market than the business-to-consumer market. However, even consumer businesses can note if the level of business is reduced. Certain industries, where companies keep activity logs-such as telecommunications, pay television and Internet service-are in a good position to note when activity drops off and take action before a defection occurs.

1.4 Loyalty

Loyalty has to be defined as an internal intensity of customers towards sticking with or switching from their current supplier-an inherent value. Customer loyalty is when a customer remains as a client of original supplier even if a competitor proposes more advantageous conditions.

In a December 2004 CRMGuru survey, 64 percent defined loyalty as repeat buying behavior; 58 percent as a customer who makes referrals to friends and colleagues and 54 percent as a customer’s emotional commitment to the relationship. Only 32 percent of the respondents defined loyalty as a customer spending more over time. According to Jacoby and Kyner (1973), loyalty is the biased (i.e. non-random) behavioral response (i.e. purchase), expressed over time, by some decision-making unit, either on the part of an individual, family or organization.

Oliver (1999) defines loyalty as:

“A deeply held commitment to rebuy or repatronize a preferred product/service consistently in the future, thereby causing repetitive same-brand or same brand-set purchasing, despite situational influences and marketing efforts having the potential to cause switching behavior.”

Therefore, loyalty is a concept that goes beyond simple purchase repetition behaviour since it is a variable which basically consists of one dimension related to behaviour and another related to attitude, where commitment is the essential feature (Day, 1999; Jacoby and Kyner, 1973; Berne´, 1997).

1.5 Retention

Retention is the outcome or the event that customers are retained with their current provider. Retaining customers is the most important strategic issue for the managers in the business. As is said that it’s very easy to make a friend but very difficult to keep him or her, similarly in businesses customers are your friends, so it’s very easy to attract them for the first time but quite complex and difficult to keep them motivated for the repeat purchases of your firm’s products and services.

Customer retention is a well-known and heavily researched topic in the field of marketing. Throughout the years, the main stream of retention and loyalty research has focused on the willingness of customers to enter and to stay in a relationship with the provider of a product or service based on their satisfaction (Hirschman, 1970, Oliver, 1980, Swan, Trawick, & Carroll, 1982, Garfein, 1987, Oliver & Swan, 1989, Anderson & Sullivan, 1993, Bloemer & Kasper, 1995, Enew & Brinks, 1996, Oliver, 1997, Anderson, 1998, Bolton, 1998, Day, 1999,  Jones, Mothersbaugh, & Beatty, 2000, Anderson & Mittal, 2000, Bowman & Narayandas, 2001, Dver, 2001, Homburg & Giering, 2001).

Retained customers are profitable customers, according to Reichheld (1996) and Reichheld et al. (2000), and that customer retention rates can be connected to profitability (Page et al., 1996; Payne and Frow, 1997). The driver of a higher rate of customer retention was found to be customer satisfaction (Berry and Parasuraman, 1991; Rust and Zahorik, 1993).

In other studies, Storbacka et al. (1994), found customer satisfaction drove longevity in relationships. Other authors (Oliver, 1980; Zeithaml et al., 1990; Storbacka et al., 1994; Rust et al., 1995; Hallowell, 1996; Heskett et al., 1997) found that satisfaction drove customer loyalty and also exerted influence on purchase intention (Cronin and Taylor, 1992).

Retention rather than satisfaction is becoming the number one strategic goal in today’s competitive business environment (Oliver, 1999). With a renewed interest in loyalty, the concept of brand commitment has received increasing attention among consumer behavior researchers (e.g. Dick and Basu, 1994, Fournier, 1998, Ahluwalia et al., 2001). The customer retention will be increased since customers stay longer; spend more for the service and products.

1.6 Customer relationship

Relationship management, however, emphasizes the organization of marketing activities around cross-functional processes as opposed to organizational functions or departments. The crux of customer relationship is that the company or the business gives value to the customer and customer has a say in the firm. This results in a stronger link between the internal processes and the needs of customers, and results in higher levels of customer satisfaction.

CRM evolved from business concepts and processes such as relationship marketing and the increased emphasis on improved customer retention through the effective management of customer relationships. Both RM and CRM emphasize that customer retention affects company profitability in that it is more efficient to maintain an existing relationship with a customer than create a new one (Zineldin, 2000, 2005) sited by (Payne et al., 1999; Reichheld, 1996).

According to Bob Thompson (2005) if a firm’s objective is to improve genuine customer loyalty, remember that the value the customer perceives is all important. CRM systems can have an impact on customer loyalty by helping you:

Improve service delivery with a single view of the customer. CRM systems that give you an integrated view of each customer across all channels and touch-points enable your organization to provide the flawless service that customers demand today. And remember, poor customer service is the leading cause of defection.

Optimize marketing with customer analysis. Instead of “spray and pray” campaigns, use CRM analytical tools to dig deep into customer data to uncover purchase patterns and buying indicators. Then you’re prepared to make offers that are welcomed.

Identify potential defectors and be proactive. Analysis is critical, but the real secret is acting before it’s too late. CRM systems, especially when tied to other operational systems, enable you to proactively contact “at risk” customers and resolve their issues before they leave for good. Chances are you won’t get a second chance.

Tie customer-centric behavior to employee rewards. If you know the factors that drive customer loyalty, then you can use CRM systems to track employee behavior. But don’t stop there. Real change will only occur when employees and management are rewarded for doing the right things.

Several studies have examined the importance for a business of retaining its customers in great depth, with evidence suggesting that retention leads to increase market share and eventually greater profits. Marketing tools that businesses can employ for retaining customers may, therefore, provide for a competitive advantage. For example, tools may contribute to product and service differentiation, as well as to create barriers for customers switching to other products and services.

During the 1990s, many organizations and consumers experienced great movements and actions. Some key environmental factors provided the setting whereby companies changed their attention and orientation toward marketing and the consumer.

Companies have recognized the fact that they must change and restructure their way of establishing and maintaining business relationships. For example, many manufacturers discovered, or more adequately, re-discovered that close relationship with customers is not valuable with constantly changing technology and increasing global competition.

Today’s businesses are facing fierce and aggressive competition while operating in both domestic and global markets. Most managers and marketers would of course agree that establishing long-term business relationships is about development and survival. According to Lewis (1991), the world has never been so interdependent. All trends point to cooperation as a fundamental, growing force in business.

Marketing is also about how to integrate the customer into the design of the products/services and how to design a systematic process for the interaction that will create substance in relationships. In a competitive world, companies have to work hard to gain any added value. They have to work with their customers to discover the new ways for running the business more efficiently for themselves and more effectively for the customers.

1.7 Banking and Loyalty

Loyalty to a bank can be thought of as continuing patronage over time. The degree of loyalty can be gauged by tracking customer accounts^, over defined time periods and noting the degree of continuity in patronage (Yi and Jeon, 2003).

During the past decade, the financial service sector has undergone drastic changes, resulting in a market place which is characterized by intense competition, little growth in primary demand and increased deregulation. (Bloemer, Ruyter,Peeters ,1998) In the new market place, the occurrence of committed and often inherited relationships between a customer and his or her bank is becoming increasingly scarce (Levesque and McDougall, 1996). Several strategies have been attempted to retain customers. In order to increase customer loyalty, many banks have introduced innovative products and services (Alam and Khokhar, 2006). Marketing success requires understanding and frequently monitoring the product and service attributes which increase loyalty and share of wallet.  

However, as such innovations are frequently followed by similar charges; it has been argued that a more viable approach for banks is to focus on less tangible and less easy-to-imitate determinants of customer loyalty such as customer evaluative judgments like service quality and satisfaction (Worcester, 1997; Yavas and Shemwell, 1996).

Banking has traditionally operated in a relatively stable environment for decades. However, today the industry is facing a dramatically aggressive competition in a new deregulated environment. Government of Pakistan has privatized quite a number of banks which further increases the competition and complexity among the banks. The net result of the recent competition and legislation is that traditional banks have lost a substantial proportion of their domestic business to essentially non-bank competition. Competition will undoubtedly continue to be a more significant factor.

Thus it is imperative for banks to get useful feedback on their actual response time and customer service quality aspects of retail banking, which in turn will help them take positive steps to maintain a competitive edge. Finding a place in this heating sun becomes vital to the long-range profitability and ultimate survival of the bank. Those banks that are not considering the new atmosphere to build and protect their competitive position will likely become victims of that heating sun. (Zineldin, 2006).

With the phenomenal increase in the country’s population and the increased demand for banking services; commitment, service quality and customer satisfaction are going to be key differentiators for each bank’s future success. Banks begin to realize that no bank can offer all products and be the best/leading bank for all customers. They are forced to find a new basis for competition and they have to improve the quality of their own products/services (Zineldin, 1996; Olsen, 1992). A bank has to create the customer relationship that delivers value beyond the provided by the core product. This involves added tangible and intangible elements to the core products, thus creating and enhancing the “product surrounding”.

Positioning is an attempt to distinguish the bank from its competitors along real dimensions in order to be the most preferred bank for a certain market segment or in other words, if a bank can position itself favorably within a particular marketplace, relative to competitors, that bank is a competitive one. Competitiveness means that a bank, in terms of its competitive position, its management and marketing strategies, its use of information technology, the quality of its products/services and its ability of managing long term customer relationship must be increasingly responsive to the market consideration and customer orientation.

With better understanding of customers’ perceptions, companies can determine the actions required to meet the customers’ needs. They can identify their own strengths and weaknesses, where they stand in comparison to their competitors, chart out path future progress and improvement. Customer satisfaction measurement helps to promote an increased focus on customer outcomes and stimulate improvements in the work practices and processes used within the company.

The increasing importance of relational marketing in recent years, particularly in the servicing and manufacturing industries, such as banks, has been accompanied by a bundle of works on customer loyalty. Several authors emphasize the positive relationship existing between customer loyalty and business performance (Beerli et al., 2004; Reichheld and Sasser, 1996). Loyal customers not only increase the value of the business, but also enable it to maintain the costs lower than those associated with attracting new customers (Beerli et al., 2004).

Many definitions in the literature suffer from the problem that they record what the consumer does and none taps into the psychological meaning of loyalty (Oliver, 1999). By the above introduction to customer relationship, loyalty and bank, now it is time to have a brief look at what is going to be in this research.

1.8 Retail Banking in Pakistan

Retail banking industry refers to the banking industry that provides personal financial services to the mass market – individuals or retail banking customers, henceforth also referred to as customers. Retail banking products refer to traditional financial products used by individuals such as cash accessibility, remittances, loans, deposits, investment, and related advices. These products have become commodities and the market has been opened to near-banks and non-banks providers of financial services. Branch network remains the main channel for delivering retail banking services in the Pakistan but self service technologies such as ATM Machines, Online Transactions are increasingly being used partly to meet consumer needs and partly to minimise operating costs.

Pakistani banking industry is made of different banks which are in three main categories:

• Central Bank
• Commercial government-owned banks
• Private banks

According to State Bank of Pakistan and Finance Division every country has a central bank. The name of central bank in Pakistan is State Bank of Pakistan. The aim of this bank is not to earn profit but to regard the supreme interest of the country. It is responsible for regulating the volume of money and credit in the country. All the notes are issued by this bank. It is financial adviser to the government.

In the second category, the banks are owned by government and they do the commercial tasks which are described in the Pakistani banking rules. The Government of Pakistan owns the following banks:

1.8.1Government Owned Banks

• First Women Bank Ltd
• Industrial development Bank Of Pakistan
• Khushhali Bank
• National Bank Of Pakistan
• SME Bank Limited
• The Bank Of Khyber
• The Bank Of Punjab
• The Punjab Provincial Co-operative Bank Limited
• Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited

The third category includes the banks which obey the Pakistani banking rules but they are not owned by the government. These banks are established by a person or a group of people under the control and supervision of the central bank of Pakistan. These banks do the banking tasks which are described in the banking rules of Pakistan.

Their main aim is to earn profit. The banks accept deposits from the people and advance short, medium and long term loans to the businessmen. The commercial bank also provides a number of agency and utility services to the public.

1.8.2 Privatized Banks

The following four banks were owned by the Government of Pakistan but now they have been privatized.

• Allied Bank Limited
• Habib Bank Limited
• MCB Bank Limited
• United Bank Limited

1.8.3 Private Banks:

The following banks are the private banks of Pakistan:

• Askari Commercial Bank Limited
• Bank Al-Falah Limited
• Bank Al Habib Limited
• Bolan Bank Limited
• Faysal Bank Limited
• Metropolitan Bank Limited
• Platinum Commercial Bank Ltd
• Prime Commercial Bank Limited
• Saudi Pak Commercial Bank Ltd
• PICIC Commercial Bank Limited
• Soneri Bank Limited
• Union Bank Limited
• ABN Amro Bank
• Al Baraka Islamic Bank
• American Express
• The Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi
• CITI Bank
• Credit Agricole Indo Suez
• Deutsche Bank
• Doha Bank
• Emirates Bank
• Habib Bank A. G. Zurich
• Hong Kong Shangai Banking Corporation
• IFIC
• Mashreq Bank PJSC
• Oman Bank
• Rupali Bank
• Standard Chartered Bank

In this research only the main commercial banks of Pakistan are considered. The customers of National Bank of Pakistan, Allied Bank Limited and Habib Bank Limited in Abbottabad region will be considered. All of these banks have some main tasks like credit activities, monetary activities such as opening different accounts, payment activities…

The National Bank of Pakistan has its headquarters in Karachi, Pakistan. It has over 1,200 branches throughout Pakistan. The bank provides both commercial and public sector banking services. It has assets worth USD 12.293 billion in 2007.

Allied Bank is located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.It was established in 1942 before independence, and Allied Bank Limited is one of the largest banks in Pakistan with 735 branches connected to an online network. In August 2004 the Bank was restructured and the ownership was transferred to Ibrahim Group.

Habib Bank Limited (commonly referred to as “HBL”) , headquartered in Habib Bank Plaza, Karachi, Sindh, is the largest bank in Pakistan. The bank has a network of 1425 branches in Pakistan and 55 branches worldwide. It has a domestic market share of over 40%. It continues to dominate the commercial banking sector with a major market share in inward foreign remittances (55%) and loans to small industries, traders and farmers.

1.9 Research Area and Problem

In this competitive environment each company or bank wants to absorb the customers. This can be done both by maintenance or having new ones. So main and clever ones understand that they should work on the customer loyalty. In this research I tried to find the main determinants of the customer loyalty in banking industry of Pakistan in order to help this key industry to have a wider look for supporting their customers and finally having more loyal ones. I will consider the customers of three major banks of Pakistan (National Bank, Allied Bank and Habib Bank) due to shortage of time and money resources. In this environment naturally there are some customers who are using the banking services, and because of the similarity of the offered services by different banks, I consider the customers similar to each other.

1.10 Research Questions

The answer to the following questions will together provide us the possibility to reach the objective of this research.

• Can a model for customer loyalty in banking industry of Pakistan be specified?
• What factors influence the customer loyalty in banking industry in Pakistan?
• What are the relationships between the factors?

In order to answer to the research questions I defined some more detailed questions such as:

• Does customer satisfaction influence the loyalty of the customer in the banking industry of Pakistan?
• Does customer habit influence the loyalty of the customer in the banking industry of Pakistan?
• Does switching cost influence the loyalty of the customer in the banking industry of Pakistan?
• Does perceived quality influence the loyalty of the customer in the banking industry of Pakistan?
• Does choosing influence the loyalty of the customer in the banking industry of Pakistan?

• Does trust influence the loyalty of the customer in the banking industry of Pakistan?
• Does commitment influence the loyalty of the customer in the banking industry of Pakistan?

1.11 Research Hypotheses

This research attempts to determine the factors which affect customer loyalty in banking in order to make a loyalty model for Pakistani banking customers.

Therefore the following hypotheses are formulated:

• Choosing influences the loyalty
• Tangible Perceived Quality influences the loyalty
• Intangible Perceived Quality influences the loyalty
• Trust influences the loyalty
• Satisfaction influences the loyalty
• Switching cost influences the loyalty
• Habit influences the loyalty
• Commitment influences the loyalty

1. Structure of the Thesis

The structure of the report is outlined here. Chapter 1 introduced the background of the study and the definitions of important concepts related to customer loyalty, as well as the retail banking context. Chapter 2 presents the literature review and conceptual foundation. Chapter 3 presents the methodology and methods of the study, and Chapter 4 reports the analysis of data and findings of the study. Chapter 5 discusses the recommendations of the study and suggestions for future research are made.

Chapter 2

Literature Review

This chapter provides the reader with sufficient theory to assimilate the continuing part of this study. It will begin briefly by the concepts associated with the customer loyalty, all the factors or determinants associated with customer loyalty will be explained, then discusses why loyalty is important and finally proposes a model for determining customer loyalty in the banking sector of Pakistan, which is going to be evaluated in following chapters.

2.1 Literature Review

Why do all the decision makers talk about the customer loyalty and why it is so crucial for all business in general and banking in particular? In 2001, Bain & Company worked on a comparative analysis of different businesses on the basis of profitability vs. loyalty. The finding suggested that a business can achieve outstanding financial result by cultivating customer loyalty. Their analysis showed that a five to ten percent increase in customer retention increases profits by almost thirty to eighty five percent.

Acquiring a new customer is always expensive because it costs higher in the acquisition of a customer then in retention customers as falls it happens only with customers has they repeatedly purchase the products and services and the volume of purchases increases. The firms and do not invest much in attracting the loyal customers towards their products and services. These findings prompted business decision makers and executive to search for new innovative strategies to keep their existing customers loyal towards their products and services, and also to further increase the base of loyal customers (Darrell K. Rigby, Frederick Reichheld and Chris Dawson, 2003)

According to Ellie Trubik and Malcolm Smith, there are four major factors and attributes which identify defected customers in the banking industry. The first attribute is that the customer had a very minimal range of products out of which to choose. Usually those customers leave the bank which offer only one product or one service. Customer needs a variety of services in the banks and they prefer banks with more advance services for which can address a range of customers needs.

The second factor is that the major channel of the distribution of the services is the branch bank with fewer branches is likely to suffer customer satisfaction. Today customer needs services at his or her door step. The third factor is the service charges. If banks do not   exempt fee on their services, they will surely lose a customer base. The forth attribute is quite interesting which showed that most of the customers defected on their third month with their respective banks.

2.2 Customer’s Relationship

The attachment or relationship of customer with a business has three levels. According to Berry, the first level is the financial bond, which refers to the sensitivity of price in establishing a long term relationship. The second level is the social bond, which refers to the close-ties between a customer and service staff. This friendship also makes the relationship stronger and longer in nature. The third level is the structural bond in which the seller in consent with buyer invests jointly.

The price is above all consideration. The relationship or bond is strengthened on the basis of fewer prices and more value. The customers also consider their friendships with employees or service staff as a very important factor in their decision to remain loyal with the current firm or service provider. On the basis of this decision, they keep on repurchasing the same service or to purchase additional services.

Applying this bond in the banking industry, Berry’s analysis implies that the customers bond with the bank takes place under three conditions:

1. Fewer prices and more value to the customer.
2.  Friendship between customer and the bank staff
3.  Both parties (customer and bank) decide to make joint investments and benefit from it. The customers become the shareholders of the bank by buying it shares.

However, every customer is different from one another because his needs and wants are different. A customer who has the money but lacks time tends to value low price less then convenience, freedom, friendships with banking staff and privacy. Additionally, the introduction of ATM machines and online services has made the social relationship between customer and the banks les important or insignificant. 

Such customers have minimal interaction with the banks because they do not go in the banks for cash withdrawals. The interactions between a customer and his or her bank can be grouped into three types: The first type is the interaction of customer with the service provider’s technologies such as ATM machines, self –service machines and online services.

The second type of interaction occurs when the customer goes to the bank and asks for personal services and personal advices. The customer interacts with the staff of the bank and builds relationship. The third type of interaction s the combination of first two type’s .it occurs when both the customer as well as the banks representatives works in collaboration to produce, deliver and consume a bank service with use of banking technologies and physical infrastructure.

The example is when banks service representative solves a problem of the customer through the use of technologies related to information technology. Meuter et al (2000) found that almost 90 percent of complaints resulted from the failure of online technologies and self service technologies. So to resolve these complaints the hybrid interaction is used.

Ahmad (2005) also explains the existence of relationship between customers and their banks. He categorized the relationship into three bonds. The primary bond may be measured in terms of overall value of the particular basic product. It is concerned with the quality of product or service. Is quality is based on the functional characteristics of the product or service. Which refers to the minimum condition on the basis of which a customer’s decides to choose a bank and connects with his or her bank for a definite time period?

The second category is the secondary bond which is concerned with the personal relationship of the customer with his/her bank. It is least related h the quality of the service infrastructure package which means the ease with which a service is utilized by the bank. Secondary bond establishes the commitment of a customer towards his/her bank. It strengthens the primary bond. It further cements the relationship initiated in the primary bond and help in the prolongation and protection of customer- bank relationship.

Secondary bond reinforces the primary bond and it is irrelevant without the establishing of the primary bond. The dimension of the secondary bond includes the helpfulness of the service representatives, how courteous are they in providing customs with the service and solving their problems instantly. The reliability of the banking infrastructure means the banks and all of their branches should ensure error- prompt in usage and user friendly. Interface. The banks must insure trustworthiness of their services. The aims should be error free which will increase the trust of the customers. There should be no underlying meanings or features in any service. The bank representatives should explain he complete features or attributes of their services.

The banking infrastructure should be convenient to the customers. If there is more number of branches, the more convenient it will be for the customers.

The last category is the superlative bond. after the establishment of first two banks between the customer and the employees, the superlative bond creates the ultimate satisfaction which make a customer loyal towards his/her bank .it in calculates behavior due to which a  customer remain committed towards the service of the bank. Even if the service are not up to the mark. These bond barriers which stops customers from switching to other banks. These barriers get so strong that the customer does not even think of switching to other banks. This bond also establishes strong affiliation with the bank and the customers also convince other people to come and join their bank. They become a part of the marketing campaign and advertise the services of the bank to their relatives and friends etc.

Secondary bond may be measured in term of friendly-typed behaviors such as politeness, trustworthiness, friendliness and understanding of service staff. The already published researches (Bitner et al., 1990; Ostrom and Iacobucci, 1999; Hurley, 2000; Keaveney, 2001) also emphasized that the friendly relation between the customers and the banks representatitives improve the outcome of the service.

The quality of banking service infrastructure and the relationship of customer with his/her bank is important for two reasons. Firstly, it would enable customers to have problem –free interaction with the advanced online technologies. The customers would be able to use the services with a lot of ease and the online services would be fast and error-free. Secondly the level of relationship between the customer and his/her bank will improve tremendously. Social interactions always will inculcate higher level of relationship. The speed of online services and efficiency of a banks computer based information system make the level of relationship more qualitative. If a customer wants any information from the banks representatives that information is retrieved through computer based system. The fast the information is retrieved, the more responsive and helpful is the impression of the representatives that is created. So the relationship is improved due to instant accessibility of the information. The delivery of the online services goes in tandem with the behavior of the banks representatives.

Moreover, an efficient, fast, reliable, error-free and easy to use information system would also facilitate and encourage a faster rate of customer adaptability to the bank which will encourage the repeated use of all the services especially the self-services IT based technologies.

So secondary bond is measured in terms of the level of user friendliness as to what level the customer is attached with the service of the bank and the convenience of the banks service infrastructure to the user as to how easily the customer can utilize the service  of the bank. Satisfied and loyal customers have very strong secondary bond with their bank and they find their relationship quite enjoyable. In today’s fast faced world people love to use the online services. So most of the customers prefer to withdraw their money through ATM machines and transfer money through.

2.3 Loyalty

Loyalty is the decision of the customer to purchase from the products and services of the same brand repeatedly for longer period of time. Loyalty demands commitment and trust of the customers over the services and products of their particular companies. Loyalty in banking sector comes gradually and is of great importance. It is usually a life time decision. Once the customer become loyal to a bank, he/she will continue to purchase its services through out its life that is why it is pivotal to make customers loyal in the banking industry. The loyalty of a customer has a strong link with the satisfaction. The satisfied customers usually become loyal with the passage of time, and once they become loyal they don’t switch despite the fact that the quality of the product may not satisfy them. Even if they are dissatisfied from the quality of products and services, they remain loyal and committed.

The knowledge of the customers about the products and services leads to the satisfaction and it is explained by the posy purchase behaviors, such as repurchase intention, usage of the product, word of mouth and complaints about the quality of the product as well as services (Oliver, 1999). Past researches also reinforce this point that satisfaction is always a reliable predictor of re-purchase intentions (Lin and Wang, 2006).

Anderson and Srinivasan suggested that if a loyal customer is dissatisfied on a rare occasion he/she may not think of switching, but if the quality of the product/ service continuously comes up with complaints, he/she is likely to search for information on alternatives and will switch to a competitor wit the better level of products and services.

Feurst  (1999) divides loyalty into four different types. He tries to categorize the concept of loyalty on the basis of force that opens the door towards loyal behavior. These categories show the strength of loyalty and bond between customer and his/her brand. Customers are harder to get by competitor if the grade of the loyalty is high and relationship is strong. The grades go from enforcement from the outside through different techniques to the inner commitment. The first two grades are easier to create if they are set in a tandem with the other two. The customers who are in either of the grades are quite easy for competitors to steal and churn.

The first grade is:

Forced Loyalty. The first grade is categorized by different obstacles. The obstacles can be: lack of alternatives, lack of time to search the market for the company offering bet services, monopoly the brand over its competitor, or if the change from one supplier to another proves expensive.

An example could be that you choose a bank just because it is close to your home or office geographically, even if there are other banks with superior services.

Bought Loyalty. This loyalty is bought consciously. In bought loyalty, customers receive some sort of bonus in the form of money or discount in reward of their loyalty and repeated purchase. The loyalty of customer can be because when he/she buys three of something then he/she gets fourth for free.

Sometimes banks give monetary bonuses to their loyal customers. Every bank employs different loyalty program to buy loyalty of the customers.

Practical Loyalty. This is unconscious loyalty. Customer is aware of his loyalty and chooses on routine basis without searching the market and competitors. He always uses one supplier and continues to do so without researching the market and competitors, he always uses one supplier and continue to do so without prior analysis of the market.

An example could be when customer goes to same hair dresser without thinking much.

Engaged Loyalty.  This type of loyalty is subject to status, symbolic value, inner awards and social values. The customer becomes committed to the supplier on the basis pf the quality it provides. The customer thinks the supplier is providing him/her the best possible set of pleasures and quality among all the competitors.

Sodurland (2001) says that these are two main categories of loyal customers. The first category is of loyal customers. With in the loyal category there are satisfied and un-satisfied customers. The satisfaction is not an essential requirement for loyalty, so satisfied customers do not have to be loyal but there is a correlation between the satisfied customers and loyal customers.

Sometimes unsatisfied customers are also loyal due to attachment and commitment with the supplier. And satisfied customers, if lack the trust commitment and attachment with the suppliers products and services will always deflect once they find a competitor with better quality of products and services. This type of loyalty is sometimes called False Loyalty in whish unsatisfied customers remain loyal to their suppliers. The reason for this false loyalty is the factors due to which the customer feels hurdles and obstacles in his/her way, which stops him her from switching or choosing another supplier. These hurdles are called switching costs.

2.3.1 Loyalty and Retention

In today’s technologically advanced world and due to arrival of internet, it’s much more difficult to retain a customer. They have far more choices, the level of competition is high, and each supplier tries to attract customers through different packages. Within second a customer can surf the internet and can check out for better deal. The defection rates are ever on increase. A company with a seemingly impressive 80% retention rate will lose more than 60% of its customers in the next five to ten years (Kim, 2004).  By retaining more and more customers, the profits increase phenomenally and costs are reduced considerably.

In a recent survey of business executives, these terms i.e., loyalty and retention are used synonymously. But if the switching behavior of customers is taken into account, then the distinction between these two terms is essential. As it was mentioned in chapter no 1, loyalty is essential intensity of customers towards sticking with or switching from their supplier and deciding to buy repeatedly from the same supplier. Loyalty can never be bought on the other hand, retention is the decision of the customer to stay with his/her current supplier. Retention is usually bought with the appropriate incentives or packages. The retention is subject to the product attributes, pecuniary switching costs, prices and internal loyalty is through customer care. The retention is also subject to advertisement strategies and the company has to of offer some sort of external incentives. When the loyalty is increased, It actually means that the retention of the customer is increasing and on a rise.

Loyalty is somewhat internal to the customer it can only be changed through a shift in the value system and thinking pattern of the customer. Retention on the other hand can be increased by the firm through the application of incentives as well as rewards. Retention can never be ensured. Satisfied customers are usually retained and they maintain their relationship with the supplier. However, whenever the level of satisfaction decreases from the expectations, the customers start churning and look for better suppliers. The concept of providing complete satisfaction to the customer incurs heavy costs and is usually not investment friendly.

Instead, a mutually beneficial relationship between the supplier and the customer has to be achieved and worked upon. This mutual “win-win” relationship considers traditional revenue and cost measures as well. It also takes into account the different cost of acquiring and retaining each customer on the basis of their internal loyalty intensity. In terms of marketing, it is always costly to attract and then acquire new customers. The cost of advertisement and developing of attractive marketing promotional campaigns incurs additional burden on economics of a company. Hence, currently it is becoming an industry-wide belief among all the business decision makers that the best marketing is to try to retain existing customers by increasing customer loyalty (Kim, 2004). Although the task of retaining a customer is also difficult but it yields more profits and ensures long term revenue generation.

To acquire new customers is always costly and as difficult in marketing terms. Hence, currently the best marketing strategy is to retain existing customers by increasing customer loyalty and customer value (Peppers and Rogers, 1995 and Reichheld, 2003). Long term business relationships result in considerable savings in costs. In banking industry, just like other businesses, the costs of attracting new customers is quite high, e.g. costs of setting new accounts for customers; costs of attracting potential customers through advertisements and aggressive marketing campaign; costs of personal selling and advertisement; costs of explaining the banking rules and procedures to the new customers; costs of orientation of the customers costs of charging minimal fee for selling up accounts etc (Berry 1995; Bendapudi and Berry 1997; Chaudhuri and Holbrook 2001). So, there is no doubt in acknowledging the importance of customer retention. It has a two-way advantage for banks. Firstly, the revenues increase through repeat purchase of the banks services throughout the life and secondly all the above mentioned costs decline to a minimal value. Thus customer retention has become a major tool for long-term success (Rust and Zahorik, 1993).

If the customers start leaving, the revenues start declining .the business decision makers must understand and know that customer defection is really important to tackle. The more the customer defection, the greater is the loss in profits. In todays globalise world, it is quite demanding to retain a customer. The customers have so many banks to choose from and each bank allures the customer with some differentiating features. The customers can defect at anytime. so, encouraging customers to stay stuff but the managers have to try hard because they know that keeping an existing customer is go more beneficial, cost effective and profitable than acquiring a new one.

2.3.2 Internal Loyalty

Loyalty indicates residences because of conveyance problems. Where as this conveyance is not an important issue in developed countries. Similarly, sometimes customers may be loyal to banks simply because they are lazy and lethargic to switch which mean there comfort – related switching cost is high. Others may decide not to switch because of the high risks or uncertainties associated with the market as well as unknown entity. Others may not switch because they do not have time to search for a better alternative. Each customer has a unique way of behaving and buying. The inherent orientation toward switching from current situation for each customer makes him/her loyal or switcher from the provider. The attitude of the individuals varies from each other as ell as it varies from commodity to commodity. The attitude does not apply uniformly over all aspects of life. An individual may have loyalist approach and intensity for a bank but defection approach for electronic appliances. It may depend on his / her attachment toward a product or service. He/she may b vary choosy and sensitive about one thing and lazy about another thing.

Kim (2004) states that internal intensity may also change gradually over time due to the life experiences and market experiences. An individual may decide to leave the provider after he/she came to know about the fraud in product or the sub standard quality of the products and services. Therefore, the companies divide the market into different segments on the basis of varying attitudes of the consumers. The product mix for each segment is according to the chunks demands and needs, but the segments are supported only if they are economically justifiable. The action of customers can also be influence through external stimuli such as product attributes, price and other pecuniary costs of communications, customer care, switching and choosing. The companies try to attract customers through such incentives or external stimuli. These incentives do help companies to achieve the desired results.

2.3.3 Customer Loyalty Objectives

The development of customer loyalty is one of the most important and current issues that are being encountered by the organizations. Businesses are attempting to create long term sustained relationship with their customers. The businesses have to satisfy the customers. Nowadays, the markets are highly concentrated and competition is increasing phenomenally, so companies need to attract the customers for long term (Gremler and Brown, 1996).Many organizations know that it is critical for their success to increase the pool of satisfied and loyal customers.

It is a widely acknowledged fact that loyalty changes over time. Garland (2002) states that loyalty gradually grows from indifference to commitment. There is a continuum that customers at the lowest level always intend to switch; they are not loyal to the provider and always look for better alternatives. The customers who are at the highest level are highly loyal and they become enthusiastic advocates of the company (Ayden and Ozer, 1995). And shaped in to conative sense and at the end the loyalty is turned into behavior and customers exhibit loyalty through actions. Organizations achieve a lot of goals by creating loyal customers’ pool. The main goal is to increase the profits of the organization. They help the organization to predict the sales and profit streams with an increased certainty level. The organizations make strategies that are long term and certain in such predictable level. The loyal customers purchase repeatedly which help to increase the production of goods and services (Gremler and Brown, 1999).

The customer loyalty does not only help in generating revenues and profits but it also helps achieve other benefits like advocating the process in which loyal customers become the advocates of the providers’ goods and services. They more likely talk about the providers’ quality of products and services.

They even recommend it to their near and dear ones like family and friends. This will help in generating new businesses and further expand the market range of the provider. Many researchers (Rust,Zahorik and Keiningham 19995;Trafimow 2000) emphasized that the share of wallet come from studies attempting to tickle down the effect from service quality programs upon the satisfaction, loyalty and profitability of the customers. This chain is termed as service-profit chain by Burnham and Mahajan in 2003.These results suggest that quality improvements help both customer acquisition and customer retention. New customers are attracted and endorsed from existing customers about quality products. Existing customers are encouraged by their banks to remain committed which will result in the higher retention and automatically lower churn rates. Such customers devote a greater share of wallet to their banks.Reichland(1996) has shown in his research that minimal increase in retention rates result in considerable effects on profitability.

In a Scandinavian banking context, Chumpitaz, Paparoidamis and Nicholas, (2004) demonstrated direct relationships between customer longevity with their main bank and share of wallet given to that bank. In New Zealand, Colgate (1999) in his study of customer satisfaction with New Zealand banks wrote that the depth of relationship with customers (the “quality” of the relationship rather than the number of relationships) was particularly important. Gummesson (1999) echoed these sentiments in the context of long-term customer relationships in general, supported by earlier work by Fomell (1992), Anderson, Fomell and Lehman (1994).

Maximization of customer loyalty is a priority for most industries. It is often stated that industries like banks need to operate on a long-term “cradle-to-grave” customer management strategy where youthful customers are recognized as being unprofitable in their earlier years but becoming profitable as they move on through the family lifecycle (Ron Garland, 2002). Concomitantly, customers can become “entangled” with their main bank to such an extent that the perceived cost of defection outweighs the benefits of shifting banking business to a new provider.Coyles and Gokey (2005), has identified that there is a relationship between customer loyalty and profitability and suggests that some customers can never be satisfied while it is unprofitable to try to satisfy others.

2.3.4 Loyalty Programs and Its Benefits

Banks employ different loyalty programs to retain the customers. Customer Loyalty Programs have developed remarkably in the era of customer retention in recent years. This is due to recent advances in information technology. They have been considered by many organizations and many of them have adapted customer loyalty programs. According to Yi and Jeon (2003) loyalty programs are introduced to build customer loyalty. Dowling and Hammond (2003) stated that customer loyalty programs offer rewards to customers in form of relationships and financial rewards. Customer loyalty programs have also been willingly embraced by customers; this is due to the benefits associated with it (O’Malley, 1998).

The importance of benefits for enticing customers into these loyalty programs and according to YI and Jeon (2003) the goal of customer loyalty programs is to create a high level of customer retention. Gilbert referred to O’Malley (1998) states that the basic idea of a loyalty scheme is to reward customers’ repeat purchasing and encourage loyalty by providing targets at which various benefits can be achieved. The longer a customer stays with an organization the more profit the customer generates (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990).This result in increasing the number of purchases by the customers.

.It was recognized by Colgate et al. (1996) and by Storbacka et al. (1994) that once the rate of defection is reduced it contributes to the sudden increase in profits whereas the impact on profit shares is not as high and considerable. The profits of organizations can increase by 100 percent through retaining 5 percent more of their customers (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990; O’Malley, 1998).

Moreover, seen from a customer perspective, loyalty scheme can be a way to decrease price sensitivity, increase brand loyalty, reduce the willingness to consider alternative brands, encourage word-of-mouth support and endorsement, attract a larger group of customers and increase the amount product bought (Daniel Jacobsen 2004).

Customer loyalty programs are assumed to create value for the customer and it is due to this value that customer loyalty programs promote loyalty. On the other hand, the degree to which customer loyalty programs offer value to customers is uncertain, mostly because customers are not equal and value will represent different things to different people and will also be different in different context (O’Malley, 1998). In order to make the value of customer loyalty programs work properly and succeed, an organization needs to understand the needs and desires of their customers. The value an organization delivers to its customers needs to be competitive in five dimensions. Seen from a customer perspective, the dimensions are: cash value (as a percentage of the proportion spends), aspiration value (how much this reward motivates a customer), relevance (the extent to which the reward is achieved), and convenience (ease of participation of the scheme), choice (the variety of rewards offered) (O’Brien and Jones, 1995).

Even though a small number of schemes today offer all dimensions of value, it is obvious that companies which want to play the rewards game should be sure that their value measures up to customers’ alternatives (O’Brien and Jones, 1995). This is most significant when customer loyalty programs are mainly used as a differentiation.

Due to the popularity and benefits derived from customer loyalty programs many corporations have adapted these schemes. Customer loyalty programs can and do build customer loyalty and corporations now realize how important loyalty is for their profitability. One of the main reasons of creating loyalty programs is to increase revenues, which can be done by either increasing purchase and usage levels and also by increasing the range of products bought. However, there are other reasons for creating loyalty programs including: to generate information, to reward loyal customers, to manipulate consumer behavior and as a defensive measure toward competitors (O’Malley, 1998).

Apart from the benefits that longevity of customers brings, research findings also suggest that the costs of customer retention activities are less than the costs of acquiring new customers. Rust and Zahorik (1993) identify the financial implications of customer retention, citing US Office of Consumer Affairs research that estimates that attracting new customers may be five times as costly as keeping existing customers.

We believe that banks use loyalty programs (Blomqvist et al, 1993; Feurst, 1999).Loyalty programs are used by the managers and decision makers of the banks to retain and put different emotional as well as economic hurdles in the ways of the customers which prevent them from switching to other banks (Feurst,1999).banks in today’s highly vulnerable and competitive industry can not even think of surviving in the long term without employing such strategies which help them in retaining customers. The programs can be on the basis of the culture, economy, and political situation, social and technological aspects of a country. The decision makers have to decide as which strategy to pursue. In western countries, the banks provide their customers with free memberships of different types such as hotel, golf club, beach resorts etc. They also allow some of their customers to go on free tours to different countries. So companies manage these loyalty programs through different measures and in this way they retain the customers and make profits through repeat purchases.

2.3.5 Involvement of the Customer

In order to implement the loyalty programs, we have to focus on the involvement of the customer. The interaction between customers and service providers is an important determinant of perceptions of service quality (DeLone and McLean. 2003). In some instances, this interaction will be largely of a transactional nature but more commonly interaction occurs within the context of an ongoing service relationship. Indeed, services marketing places considerable emphasis on the development and management of relationships with customers as a means of enhancing the quality of service delivery (Berry, 1983; Christopher et al., 1991; Anew and Binks, 1996).

Those relationships are seen as being of particular importance in situations in which the service is long term in nature, when customers are heavily dependent on credence qualities in service evaluation and where perceived risk in high (Farquahar, 2004). Furthermore, building effective and successful relationships can contribute significantly to customer satisfaction, loyalty, retention and thus to improved performance (Reichheld and Sasser, 1993; Rust and Zahorik, 1993). These all reduce the churn process.

A handsome amount of customers in a survey by CRMGuru in 2006 said that defection occurs due to lack of importance the compnies give to their customers. The customers think that in today’s competitive market, the ultimate authority lies with the customer who is always the boss of the provider’s specifications. In banking industry every customer is to be taken care of. When they come in the banks, they should be thought as a part of the bank. Their complaints must be handled with minimum of delays and maximum of ease. There should be an effective way of dealing with the queries of the customers. The grievances are to be curtained. In such environment, the customers would feel themselves important which will increase the level of loyalty. The acknowledgement of their thoughts and innovative ideas has to be considered. This will decrease defection phenomenally (Anderson, 1999).The greater the level of participation, the lesser are the defection rates.

2.3.6 Offensive and Defensive Strategies

Companies’ relationship to their customers can be divided into two separate business strategies, offensive and defensive. The offensive strategy is also termed as proactive strategy in which companies try to capture new markets and concentrate on the acquisition of new potential customers whose defection chances are higher than others. The defensive strategy is a reactive strategy in which businesses try to retain their current pool of customers because of intense completion and limited capital. Traditionally companies devoted more resources to acquire new customers but today most companies apply a combination of both offensive and defensive strategies. Defensive strategies are pursued when the brand is to be protected from highly competitive market and it increases the barriers for the customers which force them not to switch because of the high concentration up on a single segment of the market (Caruana, 2002).

2.4 Quality

A concept which is very closely related with satisfaction and loyalty is perceived quality, and the differences between these have not always been very clearly defined. They have been used on occasion in an indistinguishable manner. In an attempt to clarify the distinction between satisfaction and perceived quality, Anderson et al. (1994) consider that satisfaction requires previous consumption experience and depends on price, whereas quality can be perceived without previous consumption experience and does not normally depend on price. However in circumstances where there is little available information or where quality evaluation is difficult, price can be an indicator of quality. In this sense, Spreng and Mackoy (1996), starting from Oliver’s (1997, 1999) conceptual model of service quality and service satisfaction, concluded that these constructs are distinct and have different determinants. Service quality has been found to have a profound input on customer satisfaction and loyalty as a whole and is defined as the result of the comparison that customers makebetween their expectations about a service and their perception of the way the service has been performed (Parasuraman et al., referred to in Caruana, 2002).

According to Caruana (2002), the concept of service quality has several dimensions. Out of these dimensions there are two dimensions which are of great concern to the companies and their decision makers. The first one is the technical aspects of the quality which refers to the details of delivery process of the quality. How easily is the customer gain access to the qualitative aspects of the product or service of the concerned providers? The other aspect is the end result of the deliverance process. These aspects invoke psychological as well as behavioral aspects of the customers. The behaviors of the customers are shaped on the basis of the tasks performance of the service providers, the easy accessibility of the providers and the way these services are performed.

The service industry should focus more and more on the quality of their services. In banking industry it is indeed very difficulty to access the qualitative aspects of the services because of the intangibility of the services. The banks provide their customers with error free services and also handle the complaints of the customers with minimum of difficulties and maximum of ease (Grönroos, 2002). The more time will it take to resolve a problem or complaint of the customer, the poorer will be the level of the services which will result in the dissatisfaction and ultimately the customer churns from the current service provider. The banks have reanalyzed that they can not survive without the proper imposition of excellent quality of their services. A customer feels satisfied when he uses the services with no error and instant response (Carman, 1990).

A major factor which defines quality is the instant action of the complaint handling and other queries handling. If a customer starts feeling himself a part of the bank, that is the point where the actual quality is delivered. The employees of the bank have to be courteous and should pay special attention to their customers whenever they interact with each other. Similarly the tangible part of the quality can be the interest rate being bestowed to the customers (Zeithaml, 1988). The better is the interest rate the better is the level of quality which leads to better retention of customers and a highly involved and loyal customer. The banks should also facilitate their customers with modern looking equipment and easy to interact services. The online services should be used with easy to use interfaces and minimum of clicks. If a customer requires utilizing any services, those services are to be accessed with minimum of clicks and time on the internet (Gustavsson, Lundgren, 2005).

These are the attributes which differentiate one service provider from another. The attributes of quality are considered by every provider. Without this qualitative aspect, the companies start liquidating and suffer losses. The companies have to get the instant access to all the information from different sources to improve the level of quality (Hansemark & Albinsson, 2004; Dodds, 1991). Some banks take feedback from the customers about the areas where better quality can be provided to the customers. Such feedbacks help the companies and their decision maker to understand the deficiencies and upgrade the system with better level of quality and better retention strategies (Jacob, 2005).

The quality should be traded off with price and cost. It is to be decided by the decision makers as to what aspect to be included. If extra feature is added to enhance the quality, that feature must correspond with the price and required profit margins (Hallowel, 1996). Those features are added which require minimum of resources and efforts while generate maximum of satisfaction and loyalty among customers (Aydin&Ozer, 2005).

2.5 Customer Satisfaction

The satisfaction is yet another important trait which must be taken in to account when shaping the overall loyalty of the customers towards their service providers. In banks, the customers ask themselves about the level of the services and decide about the lack of importance given to them and decides about repurchase behavior after using the services. The level of satisfaction is always high when the customer gives minimum price and gets maximum of usage and profit (Jamal and Kamal, 2004).  If a customer buys some product and the post purchase scenario forces him to quit the current provider then it means the customer was highly dissatisfied from the level of quality and service provided to him. A satisfied customer is the one whose needs are taken in to consideration. In today’s world, the business managers not only have to think about satisfying customers in terms of products and their basic features but they have to give extra features as well which can differentiate their products and services from the other providers and which can give some extra pleasures to the customers (Egan, 2004).

Dissatisfaction usually occurs when the pricing issues are not suiting the needs of the customers. In banking industry also, the interest rates on loans and charges on the usage of online services such as ATM machines and the processing fee is a major bone of contention between the bank and its customers. If the customer thinks that the charges are more than the needs he churns. Satisfaction only results when the banks take regular feedback from the customers and whatever practical is told to them by the customers should also be implemented with in the banks. In case if the suggestions of customers are not taken into account, it will gradually start the process of defection (Lin, 2003).

Kotler (2000) says:

“Satisfaction is a person’s feeling of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a product’s perceived performance (or outcome) in relation to his or her expectations “.

Yi (1990) believes that:

“Customer satisfaction is a collective outcome of perception, evaluation and psychological reactions to the consumption experience with a product/service”.

The customer initially tries to compromise with the bank but at a certain point he decides to defect. Nowadays, it has become too easy to open an account in any other bank so the switching cost is also minimal. These all factors help customers to switch from the current bank. The response of customer plays a pivot role in the overall satisfaction graph of the provider. If a customer is satisfied, the loyalty injects automatically and the customer remains with the current providers for a longer and longer period of time (Giese and Cote; 2000).

2.6 Switching Cost

As defined by Jones et al (2000), a switching barrier is any factor that makes it difficult or costly for customers to change providers.

Another brand loyalty determinant is known as switching costs, which can be defined as the technical, financial or psychological factors which make it difficult or expensive for a customer to change brand (Selnes, 1993).

Whenever a customer decides to switch from one brand to another, the cost involved in this shifting process is known as switching cost. This cost involves the level of uncertainty involved in new provider’s products and services (Porter, 1998).  In case of banking industry, the consumer decides to switch when the level of services is not up to expectations and the desired needs are not fulfilled. The consumer has to decide whether the new bank to which he is going has the minimum level of uncertainty. The customers usually churn when they realize that the banks do not take care of their needs and wants. Switching from one bank to another requires a lot of effort and customers have to gain complete knowledge about the new service providers as to what services are they providing; whether the services are reliable or not; whether the online services are error free (Jones, Beatty, Mothersbaugh, 2002).

The decision to switch causes major behavioral transformations because every brand has a different positioning concept in the market. Some companies are known for their superior quality, others for their cheap prices and so on. So when a customer switches from a company with high quality product and service to cheap product, he switches to a different concept (Aydin and Ozer, 2005). Every bank tries its level best to break the customers of its competitors. For this reason, the banks are trying to introduce customer friendly environment and nowadays the opening of new account has become too easy and user friendly. The banks almost charge very minimal fee for the opening of account and gives access to online services charge less (Selnes, 1993).

The world is moving at a very fast pace. Consumers have limited time to analyze the market and switch from their current providers. The firms keep on adopting new and innovative strategies to attract new customers (Kon, 2004). In telecommunication services, the companies charge nothing for a new potential customer and sometimes give them bonuses on starting new connection. There are some customers who never switch despite the fact that they are not satisfied with the products and services and the overall quality dimensions (Wernerfelt, 1991; Selnes, 1993; Klemperer, 1995; Ruyter et al., 1996; Anto´n Martı´n et al., 1998).

On the other hand there is another category of customers who switch the moment they see a lack of quality and other traits’ deficiencies. Most of the customers initially try to compromise on some of the loop holes in the standards and switch when they decide that enough is enough and the required level of quality is not there (Jackson, 1985). The firms do not concentrate on the first type of customers. They will never switch so the firms do not employ any strategy to gain access of such customers. It is the third category on which the firms concentrate the most. This group is called the potential churners and the firms have to devise different strategies to attract these customers (Lauren and Lin, 2003).

The customers usually switch when they are persistently not getting the desired level of performance and standard from their providers. The consumers will always think of switching when the pricing strategies do not match their demands. If the company is charging more and giving low quality the customer switches (Aydin and Ozer, 2005; Sharma and Patterson, 2000). If the customer does not switch even then he is a potential defector and the competitors start working on such customers. It is very difficult to retain customers. For retention, the firms keep on employing different programs and make customers a part of their organizations (Aydin and Ozer, 2005; Sharma et al., 1997).

It is indeed a tough work to for the banks to attract such customers who will likely switch. Every bank tries to attract such customers towards its services. At this time the overall image of the brand matters the most (Klemperer, 1995). If the bank is renowned for its services and quality that bank will always be chosen because satisfaction yields from quality and trust. The trust is never developed over night. It takes blood of the firms and especially banks to build their good will and positive image. Once the require level of image is created, that is the time when the banks start attracting new customers who switch from other banks due to poor quality of services (A. Jones, L. Mothersbaugh et al. 2000).

The banks try to put barriers for their potential defectors. The barriers can be non refundable processing fee and block of services and incurring extra charges when the money is withdrawn from the bank on permanent basis. The banks will employ a combination of defensive and offensive strategies to gain access of all the customers which include the potential customers and the churners who are fed up from the services and their qualities. The firms who take in to account such factors are always successful not only in the short run but also in the longer term (Lee and Feick, 2001).

The banks are facing fierce competition nowadays. In developed countries, each bank comes up with attractive packages for its customers. The chances of defection are minimal in today’s highly competitive industry. So it is imperative to maintain a handsome base of customers who can prove to be a permanent source of revenue generation and who can help the firms in handling pressures. These customers become very important in the moment of crisis. The customers repeatedly purchase the services which help the firms to carry on their day to day operations. In this way it is really important for the banks to retain customers. These traits are presented by every bank but very few know the actual trick of retaining customers. In highly vulnerable industry it is not only about retaining customers but also about attracting new pools of customers by employing different marketing campaigns and strategies(Aydin and Ozer, 2005; Shy, 2002).

The last resort for today’s banks in view of Kon (2004) is to put maximum barriers in the way of those customers who might switch or think of switching in future due to drop in the standard or due to a better alternative with excellent level of services and products. The decision makers then employ only those strategies which help them to reinforce their current customers and help to give a deep understanding of the needs and wants of their current customers.

Switching barriers make customer defection difficult or costly and include interpersonal relationships, perceived switching costs, and the attractiveness of alternatives(A. Jones, L. Mothersbaugh et al. 2000).Barriers to customer defection, such as development of strong interpersonal relationships or imposition of switching costs, represent additional retention strategies. Such barriers are important because they may generally foster greater retention and because they may help companies weather short-term fluctuations in service quality that might otherwise result in defection (A. Jones, L. Mothersbaugh et al. 2000). Another stream suggests that simply having less knowledge can influence evaluation. Consumers com­monly make decisions with incomplete knowledge about alternatives (Kivetz and Simonson 2000).

2.7 Choosing

In the relationship existing between the different factors and loyalty, the degree of elaboration which is followed in the decision-making process can have a moderating influence. Elaboration is a construct based on the information processing theory (Petty and Cacioppo, 1997) and is determined by the motivation and the ability of a consumer to elaborate on the brand choice (Bloemer and Ruyter, 1998). Motivation can be operationalised by bank choice involvement and ability can be operationalised by bank choice deliberation. (Beerli, Quintana, Martin, 2004)

Despite the fact that motivation and the ability of a consumer to elaborate on the choice can be high if the consumer does not perceive differences among brands, the degree of elaboration in the decision-making process may be low. Therefore the perceived distinction between different brands is important.

Dissatisfaction usually occurs when the pricing issues are not suiting the needs of the customers. In banking industry also, the interest rates on loans and charges on the usage of online services such as ATM machines and the processing fee is a major bone of contention between the bank and its customers. If the customer thinks that the charges are more than the needs he churns. Satisfaction only results when the banks take regular feedback from the customers and whatever practical is told to them by the customers should also be implemented with in the banks. In case if the suggestions of customers are not taken into account, it will gradually start the process of defection (Lin, 2003).

The customer initially tries to compromise with the bank but at a certain point he decides to defect. Nowadays, it has become too easy to open an account in any other bank so the switching cost is also minimal. These all factors help customers to switch from the current bank. The response of customer plays a pivot role in the overall satisfaction graph of the provider. If a customer is satisfied, the loyalty injects automatically and the customer remains with the current providers for a longer and longer period of time (Giese and Cote; 2000).

2.8 Habit

The satisfaction is yet another important trait which must be taken in to account when shaping the overall loyalty of the customers towards their service providers. In banks, the customers ask themselves about the level of the services and decide about the lack of importance given to them and decides about repurchase behavior after using the services. The level of satisfaction is always high when the customer gives minimum price and gets maximum of usage and profit (Jamal and Kamal, 2004).  If a customer buys some product and the post purchase scenario forces him to quit the current provider then it means the customer was highly dissatisfied from the level of quality and service provided to him. A satisfied customer is the one whose needs are taken in to consideration. In today’s world, the business managers not only have to think about satisfying customers in terms of products and their basic features but they have to give extra features as well which can differentiate their products and services from the other providers and which can give some extra pleasures to the customers (Egan, 2004). The banks try to put barriers for their potential defectors. The barriers can be non refundable processing fee and block of services and incurring extra charges when the money is withdrawn from the bank on permanent basis. The banks will employ a combination of defensive and offensive strategies to gain access of all the customers which include the potential customers and the churners who are fed up from the services and their qualities. The firms who take in to account such factors are always successful not only in the short run but also in the longer term (Lee and Feick, 2001).

As a result, there are numerous works in marketing which have attempted to explain the relationships between loyalty and the various variables regarded as determinants, the most significant of which are customer satisfaction, and, to a lesser degree, switching costs (Bearden and Teel, 1983; LaBarbera and Mazursky, 1983; Kasper, 1988; Bloemer and Lemmink, 1992; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Fornell, 1992; Oliva et al., 1992; Anderson and Sullivan, 1993; Bloemer and Kasper, 1993, 1995; Boulding et al., 1993; Oliver, 1999).

2.9 Trust

Trust has been defined as the willingness to rely on an exchange partner in whom one has confidence (Moorman et al. 1992) or confidence in an exchange partner’s reliability and integrity (Morgan and Hunt 1994). Chaudhuri and Holbrook (2001:82) define brand trust as the customer’s willingness to rely on the ability of the brand to perform its stated function. Trust causes dedication because it reduces the costs of negotiating agreements (Williamson 1981; Bendapudi and Berry 1997) and lessens customers’ fear of opportunistic behaviour by the service provider (Bendapudi and Berry 1997). In social psychology trust is considered to consist of two elements: trust in the partner’s honesty, and trust in the partner’s benevolence (Wetzels et al. 1998). Honesty is the belief that a partner stands by his word, while benevolence is the belief that the partner is interested in the customer’s welfare, and will not take actions with negative impact on the customer.

Whenever a customer decides to switch from one brand to another, the cost involved in this shifting process is known as switching cost. This cost involves the level of uncertainty involved in new provider’s products and services (Porter, 1998).  In case of banking industry, the consumer decides to switch when the level of services is not up to expectations and the desired needs are not fulfilled. The consumer has to decide whether the new bank to which he is going has the minimum level of uncertainty. The customers usually churn when they realize that the banks do not take care of their needs and wants. Switching from one bank to another requires a lot of effort and customers have to gain complete knowledge about the new service providers as to what services are they providing; whether the services are reliable or not; whether the online services are error free (Jones, Beatty, Mothersbaugh, 2002).

The decision to switch causes major behavioral transformations because every brand has a different positioning concept in the market. Some companies are known for their superior quality, others for their cheap prices and so on. So when a customer switches from a company with high quality product and service to cheap product, he switches to a different concept (Aydin and Ozer, 2005). Every bank tries its level best to break the customers of its competitors. For this reason, the banks are trying to introduce customer friendly environment and nowadays the opening of new account has become too easy and user friendly. The banks almost charge very minimal fee for the opening of account and gives access to online services charge less (Selnes, 1993).

The world is moving at a very fast pace. Consumers have limited time to analyze the market and switch from their current providers. The firms keep on adopting new and innovative strategies to attract new customers (Kon, 2004). In telecommunication services, the companies charge nothing for a new potential customer and sometimes give them bonuses on starting new connection. There are some customers who never switch despite the fact that they are not satisfied with the products and services and the overall quality dimensions (Wernerfelt, 1991; Selnes, 1993; Klemperer, 1995; Ruyter et al., 1996; Anto´n Martı´n et al., 1998).

2.10 Commitment

The customers usually switch when they are persistently not getting the desired level of performance and standard from their providers. The consumers will always think of switching when the pricing strategies do not match their demands. If the company is charging more and giving low quality the customer switches (Aydin and Ozer, 2005; Sharma and Patterson, 2000). If the customer does not switch even then he is a potential defector and the competitors start working on such customers. It is very difficult to retain customers. For retention, the firms keep on employing different programs and make customers a part of their organizations (Aydin and Ozer, 2005; Sharma et al., 1997).

It is indeed a tough work to for the banks to attract such customers who will likely switch. Every bank tries to attract such customers towards its services. At this time the overall image of the brand matters the most (Klemperer, 1995). If the bank is renowned for its services and quality that bank will always be chosen because satisfaction yields from quality and trust. The trust is never developed over night. It takes blood of the firms and especially banks to build their good will and positive image. Once the require level of image is created, that is the time when the banks start attracting new customers who switch from other banks due to poor quality of services (A. Jones, L. Mothersbaugh et al. 2000).

The banks try to put barriers for their potential defectors. The barriers can be non refundable processing fee and block of services and incurring extra charges when the money is withdrawn from the bank on permanent basis. The banks will employ a combination of defensive and offensive strategies to gain access of all the customers which include the potential customers and the churners who are fed up from the services and their qualities. The firms who take in to account such factors are always successful not only in the short run but also in the longer term (Lee and Feick, 2001).

The banks are facing fierce competition nowadays. In developed countries, each bank comes up with attractive packages for its customers. The chances of defection are minimal in today’s highly competitive industry. So it is imperative to maintain a handsome base of customers who can prove to be a permanent source of revenue generation and who can help the firms in handling pressures. These customers become very important in the moment of crisis. The customers repeatedly purchase the services which help the firms to carry on their day to day operations. In this way it is really important for the banks to retain customers. These traits are presented by every bank but very few know the actual trick of retaining customers. In highly vulnerable industry it is not only about retaining customers but also about attracting new pools of customers by employing different marketing campaigns and strategies(Aydin and Ozer, 2005; Shy, 2002).

The last resort for today’s banks in view of Kon (2004) is to put maximum barriers in the way of those customers who might switch or think of switching in future due to drop in the standard or due to a better alternative with excellent level of services and products. The decision makers then employ only those strategies which help them to reinforce their current customers and help to give a deep understanding of the needs and wants of their current customers.

2.11 Model

As it is mentioned in the introduction chapter, the goal of this research is finding the factors of customer loyalty for banking industry of Pakistan. In order to do this, the previous studies were reviewed.

According to (Beerli, Martin and Quintana, 2004) the factors which have influenced the customer loyalty in banking industry have been selected which are perceived quality, satisfaction and switching cost and choosing. Also more models in this category were reviewed to see whether there are more factors that can be considered in banking industry or not (Lin and Wang, 2006; Lauren and Lin, 2003, etc). So the loyalty model for other industries was considered in the reviewing of the literature. And finally according to (Lin and Wang, 2006) another factor which was mentioned in that loyalty model and could be considered in banking industry, which is habit is selected and added to the list. Also in the main model the authors didn’t mention the choosing factor in the model, but I also try to consider this item and find its relation.

Tangible Perceived Quality, Intangible Perceived Quality, Satisfaction, Trust, Switching Cost, Habit and Choosing are the factors which I have selected for my research after analyzing the cultural and socio economic situation of Pakistan. My proposed model has seven factors which is different from the already published works of (Beerli, Martin and Quintana, 2004)  and (Lin and Wang, 2006; Lauren and Lin, 2003).

The original model of banking industry is mentioned in figure 1.

Figure 1: Loyalty Model (Beerli, Martin and Quintana, 2004)

Chapter 3

Methodology

In this chapter, the outline of the methodology that is used in the research and the theoretical basis behind the approach and their definitions will be explained. The choices of methodology approaches that were adapted in order to answer the research questions posed will be explained and justified.

The data collection methods will also be discussed in this chapter. After mentioning the research purpose, according to (Saunders et al., 2000)’s research process onion, the first layer raises the question of the research philosophy. The second layer considers the subject of the research approach that flows from our research philosophy. Thirdly, the research strategy will be examined and the fourth layer is about time horizons which are applied to the research. In the fifth layer data collection method will be identified, and then the validity and reliability of the research will be explained.

3.1 Research Purpose

The purpose of research is a statement of what is to be accomplished by conducting research and how the results of the research can be used (Weidersheim et. al., 2000).

According to (Saunders et al., 2000) enquiries can be classified in terms of their purposes as well as the research strategy which is used (Robson, 1993).

There are three categories; one of them is often used:

• Exploratory study: This category is trying to find out “what is happening; to seek new insights; to ask questions and to assess phenomena in a new light” (Robson, 1993).It is particularly a useful approach if you wish to clarify your understanding of a problem and it is suitable when the researcher is uncertain which theories are relevant and when important characteristics and relations are difficult to determine.
• Descriptive study: A descriptive research approach is appropriate when the

problem is well structured, when the researcher knows what knowledge it aims to collect, and where there is no intend to look for the cause and effect relationships (Weidersheim et. al., 2000).

The object of descriptive studies is “to portray an accurate profile of persons, events or situations” (Robson, 1993). The objective with this kind of research is to describe something, such as a population or a phenomenon. It seeks to answer who, what, where, and how questions. Consequently, it doesn’t give the answer to why questions, in other words, it doesn’t give the explanation of the cause of findings.

• Explanatory study: It is a study that establishes causal relationships between variables. The emphasis here is on studying a situation or a problem in order to explain the

relationships between variables (Saunders, et. al., 2003). Explanatory studies are designed to test whether one event causes another (Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel 2003). According to Yin (2003), the objective with this kind of research is to analyze cause-effect relationship, explaining what cause produces what effects.

It establishes causal relationships between variables. In these studies the emphasis is on studying a situation or a problem in order to explain the relationships between variables.

The purpose of this thesis is to find out the main determinants of customer loyalty and then evaluate and validate the proposed model in the Pakistan’s Banking Industry. Five of the determinants of  in the studied model which are satisfaction, perceived quality, switching cost, choosing and habit have been considered in literature and previous theories and the influencers of loyalty, and two of them, commitment and trust, are going to be added to the studied model.

Based on this description and the mentioned types of research purpose this can be figured out that the purpose of this research is descriptive. As we know what we want to investigate but we are not sure about the answers, we have chosen descriptive research. Also because the relationship between the variables is going to be discovered, it is also explanatory.

3.2 Research Philosophy

According to (Saunders et al., 2000), there are two research processes which dominate the literature:

• Positivism
• Phenomenology

Positivism approach was influenced by the scientific discoveries made during the 18^th and 19^th centuries. It seemed clear at that time that the body of knowledge existed independently of whether people knew it or not, and the scientific task was to discover this knowledge. It was assumed that there are laws that manage the operation of the social world and these can be discovered. Social behavior is seen as a result of external pressure acting on relatively passive people. It was assumed that there was such a thing as absolute truth and that it could be used (once obtained) to create a better society. This research tradition leads to the development of methods that concentrate on producing supposedly objective data, usually in the form of statistics.

The assumption is that “the researcher is independent of and neither affects nor is affected by the subject of the research”.

Phenomenologists deny what positivists assert, that humans can be studied using the same philosophical base as used in studying physical objects or other animals. Phenomenologists assert that there is a difference between the subject matter of sociology and natural science. Humans are active, conscious beings and they can make choices.

It is important to consider that there is no research approach “better” than another, they are “better” at doing different things. Lots of researches are a mixture of two philosophies (Saunders et al.,2000).In this research, in order to find the factors of the customer loyalty model in banking industry in Pakistan, positivism is the philosophy .

3.3 Research Approach

Research approach includes both a theoretical and methodological approach. The theoretical approach can be either inductive or deductive, and methodological approach is qualitative or quantitative (Zikmund, 2000). The deductive approach implies that a conclusion is derived from a known premise or something known to be true. In this kind of research the researcher starts from a general rule and explains a specific case (Zikmund, 2000).

The research approach is deductive when a theory and the hypothesis (or hypotheses) are developed and a research strategy is designed to test the hypothesis. When applying a deductive approach already established theories and literature are used as a foundation for the research in, 1994). Several hypotheses are constituted from existing theory and are then tested in reality (Weidersheim et. al., 2000).

On the other hand, induction means generalization from conclusions derived from a specific case or when the data is collected and the theory is developed as a result of the data analysis. The deductive approach owes more to positivism and inductive approach more to phenomenology, although it is believed that such labeling is potentially misleading and of no practical value (Saunders et al., 2000).

This research is deductive since the research starts with a literature overview which later is compared with the empirical findings and the main idea is drawn form already existing theories within the research area and then the hypotheses are developed and then the research strategy is designed.

Quantitative research implies hard data, like information on profits gained and order size, and is often presented as numbers that will determine the quantity or extent of some phenomena. The purpose of this kind is to gather, analyze and measure statistical data.

The researchers have in advance constructed questions, which give the researchers a high degree of control (Yin, 1994).A wide sample selection is normally used and the questions asked are generally not of a complex nature and close-ended. In most of exploratory researches the data collected is qualitative and on the other hand in descriptive ones the data is quantitative.

In this study, a lot of data has been collected by distributing questionnaires. All of this data was numerical and as a result the methodological research approach in his thesis is quantitative.

3.4 Research Strategy

Research strategy is a general plan of how to answer the research questions that have been set. It deals with the strategy that is appropriate for the research question(s) and objectives be chosen (Saunders et al., 2000).Saunders et al. (2000) explained that the research strategy is employed as follow:

Experiment: The purpose with the experiment study is to help formulate the problem and clarify concepts, rather than develop conclusive evidence (Zikmund, 2000).It involves the definition of theoretical hypothesis, selection of samples and allocation of them to different experimental conditions, introduction of planned changes, measurement on some variables and control of other variables.

Survey: Survey method is a popular and common strategy in business research. Surveys allow the collection of a large amount of data from a sizeable population in a highly economical way. Based mostly on the questionnaires, the data are standardized and allow easy comparison. It is also easily understood.

There can be limited number of questions. Another threat is that the questionnaires might be answered not completely by the respondents. There are also other data collection devices that belong to the survey category such as structure observations and structured interviews where standardized questions are asked from all interviewees. Questions “what” and “how” tend to be more the concern of the survey method.

Case study: Saunders et al. (2000) define case study as the development of detailed, intensive knowledge about a single case, or a small number of related cases. This strategy is of particular interest when the purpose is to gain a rich understanding of the context of the research and the processes being enacted. This is beneficial when the researcher wishes to gain a deeper understanding of the concept of research (Robson, 1993).The information collection methods might differ between case studies. Case study can be a very worthwhile way of exploring a theory. The case study approach has considerable ability to generate answers to the questions “why” as well as “what” and “how”.

Grounded theory: Grounded theory is often thought of the best example of the inductive approach. It is better to think of it as a combination of induction and deduction. In grounded theory data collection starts without the formation of an initial theoretical framework. Theory is developed from the data generated by series of observations. These data lead to the generation of predictions that are then tested in further observations.

Action Research: Action research is the part of the organization within which the research and the changing process are taking place. So action research differs from other forms of applied research because of its explicit focus on action, in particular promoting change within the organization.

In this research, survey method is employed to have an analysis on the model of customer loyalty in banking industry of Pakistan. The research approach is deductive and quantitative; survey would be a good choice. In order to find the factors and also the relationship between these factors, a questionnaire is designed. For doing so the factors of models which were mentioned in the literature review are used. Because one of those models is for e-commerce industry, I had to check the factors to see whether they are appropriate for banking in Pakistan or not.

So I had a discussion with some experts in banking industry to show them the factors which were going to be used in the new model. After the discussion all of the considered factors were accepted. after finalizing the factors the questionnaire of those researches were combined together, then among those questions some had little changes, some were eliminated, some were added and the rest were not changed. Then a complete translated questionnaire was ready.

3.5 Time Horizon

(Saunders et al., 2000) believes that most research projects undertaken for academic courses are necessarily time constrained. When planning for the research there are two options in the time perspective:

• Cross -sectional: a study in which a group(s) of individuals are composed into one large sample and studied at only a single point of time.
• Longitudinal: a study in which an individual or a group of individuals is observed over a period of time.

In this research cross -sectional study is performed.

3.6 Data Collection Method

The gathering of data may range from a simple observation at one location to an extravagant survey of multinational corporations at sites in different parts of the world. The method of research can determine how the data are collected. Questionnaires, standardized tests, observational forms, laboratory notes, and instrument calibration logs are among the devices used to recover raw data (cooper and Schindler, 2003).Saunders, etc. al. (2000) explains that when gathering data and information to meet the objectives of the research questions, there are two options to face, primary and secondary data.

Kotler &Armstrong (1994) declare that secondary data is information collected from former existing studies and literatures, gathered for another purpose. They continue to explain that the main advantage of this data compared to primary data is that it is fairly inexpensive. In this study the information can be obtained from books, articles and research reports. Because no previous data and documents were available for this thesis, and the data is gathered only for the problem at hand, the type of data which is going to be used here is primary. Also for collecting data there are different ways. Yin (1994) calls them source of evidence. A few examples are: interviews, observations, literature study, etc.

After validating the model, in order to apply it in the Pakistani Banking Industry, a questionnaire was designed and distributed among the studied sample. So the method employed to gather primary data was through questionnaires. The sampling frame for any probability sample is a complete list of all cases in the population from which your sample will be drawn (Saunders et al., 2000).As the research questions in this study concern bank customers, so the sampling frame is a complete list of all banking customers in Pakistan.

While employing all probability samples, it is very important to consider the response rate. According to (Saunders et al.,2000), response rates in business surveys are usually as low as 15-20 percent for postal surveys and also response rate of between 50 to 92 percent for questionnaire surveys and of 73 to 99 percent for telephone interviews.

Therefore I asked the customer in my sample population to fill the questionnaires. Those who didn’t want to participate mentioned the lack of time was the reason. The response rate in this research performing the above method of data gathering was calculated as 93 percent and this is because the questionnaires were given one by one and face to face.

3.7 Sample Selection

There are two major alternatives on how to select an appropriate sample: random (probability) and non-random (non-probability) sampling. The random sampling gives every part of population an equal probability of selection. The non-probability sampling includes a selection of a sample on other basis than the random sampling, such as convenience and personal judgment (Zikmund, 2000).The random sampling technique was used in this thesis when all the members of the population had same chance to be selected and no specific characteristic more than being a customer of the bank, was considered while selecting them.

3.8 Collecting Primary data using questionnaire

Primary data is collected for a specific purpose by the researcher and the information is gathered for instance through interviews, questionnaires and observations (Weidersheim et. al., 1997). (Saunders et al., 2000) note that the greatest use of questionnaires is made by the survey strategy. Questionnaires can therefore be used for descriptive research, such as that undertaken using attitude and opinion questionnaires and questionnaires of organizational practices will enable you to identify and describe the variability in different phenomena.

3.9 Questionnaire Design

Because of the reasons mentioned above I used a self-administered questionnaire method for collecting the primary data. More importantly replicated a study that had been done in Taiwan by (Lin and Wang, 2006) and in Spain by (Beerli, Martin, Quintana, 2004)’s questionnaire and in Iran by (Golrou Abdollahi, 2007).

Hence in this research I combine those three questionnaires and added some more to them.

First the duplicated questions were omitted. Then because of the different environment between the banking industry of Pakistan and other countries, questions had to be checked to see whether they needed localization changes or not. Some of the questions were edited for this reason. And a few questions were added to some of the factors.

(Salant and Dillman, 1994) argue that, to achieve a response rate as high as possible, you need to explain clearly and concisely why you want the respondent to complete the survey on the first page. Regarding this issue a covering letter was provided for the first page. The questions in the questionnaire tried to find the factors of customer loyalty in Pakistan. The above opinions were measured by requesting respondents to indicate, on a five-point Likert-type scales, anchored on “1 = to a very little extent” through “5 = to a very great extent”, their agreement or disagreement with a series of statements that characterize the factors for loyalty model of the customers in banking industry in Pakistan.

Likert scales were developed in 1932 as the familiar five-point bipolar response format most people are familiar with today. These scales always ask people to what extent they agree or disagree with something, approve or disapprove something and believe something to be true or false. There’s really no wrong way to do a Likert scale, the most important thing is to at least have five response categories (Likert, 1932).The questionnaire also contained some personal questions to reach to some contextual sense of the answers collected such as name, age, position, etc.

A total of 350 questionnaires were distributed among the respondents out of which I got 316 filled questionnaires. The response rate was 93% which was quite high.

3.10 Research Credibility

When researchers research they must take the two concepts of validity and reliability into consideration. A research must have high validity, meaning that a research must measure what it is suppose to measure. The reliability must also be high, meaning that a research has to be done in a reliable way. There is a relation between these two concepts, and therefore researchers must take both concepts into consideration and they cannot focus only on one of them (Saunders et al, 2003).

According to (Saunders et al., 2000) reducing the possibility of getting the wrong answer means that attention has to be paid to two particular points in the research design:

• Reliability
• Validity

3.10.1 Reliability

Reliability means that the research is performed in a reliable way. This is how well the measuring method resists different influences. If the reliability is high, different researchers will be able to come to the same conclusions with the same measuring methods, if the research would be repeated. (Denscombe, 1998).This is about the results of each investigation, which have to be reliable. If nothing changes in a population between two investigations for the same purpose, it is reliable.

As we dispensed the questionnaires during the exhibitions we really did not face the subject error. For reducing the subject bias, we tried to make the respondents certain that their answers would be considered confidential. Since the questionnaire was designed as a survey format, we did not face the observer error or the observer bias.

A minimum (Cronbach, 1951)’s Alpha value of 0.7 indicates reliability of the questionnaire. In my research all the factors and their individual questions have very high reliability.  

3.10.2 Validity

According to Denscombe (1998) “validity is about to what extent researched data and the methods to receive this data are exact, real and accurate.” (p. 238). Widersheim-Paul and Eriksson (2001) claims that validity is the most important requirement of a measuring tool since this will show the accuracy of the found data.

Validity is concerned with whether the findings are really about what they appear to be about (Saunders et al., 2000).

If a question can be misunderstood, the information is said to be of low validity. In order to avoid low validity, I myself administered most of the questionnaires and explained each question thoroughly to the respondent. In addition, questionnaires were given to the respondents face-to-face, so that if they faced any difficulties while filling out the questionnaire, the ambiguity could be explained.

Chapter 4

 Analysis

In this chapter I will present the result of the statistical analysis. I have used SPSS software to analyze the data. Then after analyzing the data, some suggestions will also be given according to the results.

4.1 General Information

At the start of the questionnaire. I asked for some general information from the respondents (Table 2).According to the results, the most active bank customers are the ones between 35 to 50 and most of the respondents are having the bachelor’s degree. The results also show that most of the respondents have official occupation. An interesting information that the results show is that a large number of customers are male. This could be because of male dominant society of Pakistan, in general and Abbottabad, in particular and also due to the fact that males usually are the caretakers of the family’s financial matters.

Table 1: General Information about the respondents

Gender Female	86%
Male	14%
Age Under 20	4%
20-35	32%
35-50	48%
50-60	9%
Over 60	7%
Education Under SSC	11%
Under HSSC	14%
Bachelor	51%
Master and higher	24%
Occupation Employee	60%
Businessman	27%
Unemployed	8%
Student	5%

The general information also shows that the majority of the customers have their accounts in the banks for a period of more than three years and less than five years. So, it is very important to make these customers loyal to the bank for longer periods.

4.2 Analysis of the factors

• Quality

Customer loyalty is mainly shaped by the quality of the service or products, thus quality plays a pivotal role in determining the loyalty of the customers. The customers can think of giving up the loyalty on serious grounds if they perceive quality in negative terms. The quality of the services can further be divided into two categories.

a) Tangible Perceived Quality

The tangible perceived quality is the quality which can be seen by the customers. The customers perceive the tangibility of the services provided by the bank such as the appearance and outlook of bank employees, equipment and the interest rates. The tangible perceived quality questions are as follows:

Table 2: Tangible Perceived Questions

Do you agree that the received interest from the bank is effective to continue my work with this bank?Do you agree that the bank has modern-looking equipment?Do you agree this bank’s facilities are attractive and modern? (Such as ATM Machines, telephone banking, internet…)Do you agree this bank’s employees are tidy in appearance?Do you agree materials associated with the services are visually clean, tidy, intact, and enough? (Such as pen, chair…)Do you agree the opening hours of the bank are convenient to you?Do you agree your needs and interests are considered in the bank’s services?Do you use this bank because all of its services are available in the branch?Was my problem resolved on the first contact to customer representative or was additional customer representative contacts required?Are customer representatives knowledgeable?

The Cronbach’s alpha, which was gained from these questions after running the questionnaire in the SPSS, were 0.818 which was a high one. This means that the reliability of the questions was high and also the validity as well. Variable’s validity determines the extent to which a scale measures a variable of interest.

The table 3 shows the mean and the standard deviations of the questions answered by the customer. The mean column shows the average answers given to the questions. As I have used five point liker methods and by considering that “1” responds to very little extent and “5” to a very large extent. I have asked the customers for their agreement to each question. The following table shows the mean and standard deviation results.

Table 3: Tangible Perceived Quality Mean and Standard Deviation Result

	Mean	Std. Deviation
TPQ1	3.22	.75
TPQ2	3.45	.80
TPQ3	3.30	.71
TPQ4	3.49	.88
TPQ5	3.11	.77
TPQ6	3.70	.73
TPQ7	3.27	.80
TPQ8	3.76	.71
TPQ9 TPQ10	3.12 3.50	.64 .85

In tangible perceived quality, the customers felt particularly strong about the eighth question. There are ten questions in tangible perceived quality category. The customers agree to a great extent that they use bank because all of it’s services are available in the branch. The customers felt weak about the fifth as well as ninth question with mean of 3.11 and 3.12 respectively.

Variance and standard deviation show the spread ness of the answers. If we have a high average mean number and also high variance, it doesn’t mean that the questions have been answered properly. There was some problem in the questions, and we have to find the reason of the problem. On the other hand, a low variance is a good symptom.

Table 4: Tangible Perceived Quality average result

Tangible Quality Category	Mean
Item Means	3.395
Item Variances	.596

The inter-item correlation between these questions is as follows:

Table 5: Tangible Perceived Quality Inter-Item Correlation Matrix

	TPQ1	TPQ2	TPQ3	TPQ4	TPQ5	TPQ6	TPQ7	TPQ8	TPQ9	TPQ10
TPQ1	1.000	.243	.863	.217	.816	.241	.921	.221	.746	.145
TPQ2	.243	1.000	.231	.253	.270	.285	.206	.280	.120	.168
TPQ3	.863	.231	1.000	.188	.780	.171	.798	.148	.615	.101
TPQ4	.217	.253	.188	1.000	.135	.151	.157	.135	.177	.120
TPQ5	.816	.270	.780	.135	1.000	.208	.757	.200	.620	.174
TPQ6	.241	.285	.171	.151	.208	1.000	.180	.948	.245	.009
TPQ7	.921	.206	.798	.157	.757	.180	1.000	.155	.689	.136
TPQ8	.221	.280	.148	.135	.200	.948	.155	1.000	.234	.008
TPQ9	.746	.120	.615	.177	.620	.245	.689	.234	1.000	.147
TPQ10	.145	.168	.101	.120	.174	.009	.136	.008	.147	1.000

b) Intangible Perceived Quality

Intangible quality is the unseen perceived quality of the product or service. The product is equal to the service in the service sector, so in banking industry, the quality of the services is analyzed by the customers. The customers are asked different questions about the intangibility of the services.

The intangible perceived quality category has eight questions in total. The table shows the questions for the customers.

Table 6: Intangible Perceived Quality Questions

Do you agree this bank insists on providing the services error free?Do you agree this bank provides its services at the time it promises to do so?Do you agree the bank employees are fast enough in providing the services?Do you agree employees of this bank are always willing to help you to overcome the problems?Do you agree the behavior of employees of this bank instills confidence in customers?Do you agree employees of this bank are constantly courteous to you?Do you agree employees of the bank pay special attention to you?Do banks value people and relationships ahead of short-term goals?

The Cronbach’s alpha which is used to check the reliability and validity of the questions, was gained from these right questions. The Cronbach’s alpha for intangible perceived quality category were 0.816 which was a very high one. This means that the questions about intangible perceived quality were reliable and also valid.

The following table shows the average of means and also variances of the questions. The average item means was 3.612 which shows that the customers agreed to almost great extent with the fact that the banks are providing them with the desired level of intangible quality in their services. The overall unseen quality of services of the bank is on the stronger side. The item variances of the intangible perceived quality category was 0.615 and a low variance is always a good symptom. This low variance shows that the questions were designed in such a way that most of the customers understand it in the same way.

Table 7: Intangible Perceived Quality Average Result

Intangible Quality Category	Mean
Item Means	3.612
Item Variances	.615

The following table shows the standard deviations and means of the questions which were answered by the customers.

Table 8: Intangible Perceived Quality Mean and Std. Deviation Result

	Mean	Std. Deviation
IPQ1	3.55	.83
IPQ2	3.57	.75
IPQ3	3.46	.94
IPQ4	3.65	.77
IPQ5	3.61	.74
IPQ6	3.66	.78
IPQ7	3.17	1.17
IPQ8	3.63	.87

In intangible perceived quality category the customers felt particularly strong about the sixth and fourth questions with an average of 3.66 and 3.65 respectively. The customers do not feel strong enough about the employees of the bank as they do not pay special attention to them whenever they are stuck with any problem.

The inter-item correlation between these questions is as follows:

Table 9: Intangible Perceived Quality Inter-Item Correlation Matrix

	IPQ1	IPQ2	IPQ3	IPQ4	IPQ5	IPQ6	IPQ7	IPQ8
IPQ1	1.000	.539	.278	.318	.268	.162	.061	.102
IPQ2	.539	1.000	.408	.359	.358	.293	.187	.073
IPQ3	.278	.408	1.000	.615	.416	.413	.326	.141
IPQ4	.318	.359	.615	1.000	.680	.510	.450	.266
IPQ5	.268	.358	.416	.680	1.000	.695	.599	.254
IPQ6	.162	.293	.413	.510	.695	1.000	.893	.278
IPQ7	.061	.187	.326	.450	.599	.893	1.000	.257
IPQ8	.102	.073	.141	.266	.254	.278	.257	1.000

• Trust

As it was mentioned in chapter 2, and as every person, at least has felt this feeling once, all can agree that trust has a major role in being loyal to a brand or company.

Trust plays a pivotal role in making a customer loyal especially in Pakistani environment; trust on the services of the bank is always a major priority of the customers. The customers want error free and transparent services such as ATM services, leasing services, credit card services etc. ‘Loyalty’ and ‘trust’ are related concepts: while banks want loyal customers, the consumers want trustworthy banks. If consumers feel that their bank is trustworthy, they respond with trust and perhaps loyalty. If trust is threatened, e.g. by unreasonable bank conditions, loyalty could disappear. Some would claim, though, that true loyalty is to continue buying a product even after disappointing incidents.

The trust on the services of the bank in this research is measured by nine questions.

Table 10: Trust Questions

Do you agree this bank informed me of its side services from the beginning?Do you agree the bank insists on error-free records?Do you agree employees of this bank solve your problems when they promise to do so?Do you trust the bank and its ATM Services?Based on my experience with the bank in the past, I know it is not opportunistic.Based on my experience with the bank in the past, I know it cares about customers.Based on my experience with the bank in the past, I know it delivers what it promises in its advertisements and it is honest.I feel secure when I use products and services of the bank because I know    that the bank will never let me down and will never cheat me.The bank provides me with reliable and worthwhile (value formoney) product and services?

The test for reliability of thes3e questions was done and the result of Cronbach’s alpha is 0.947 which is high one and shows that the questions were chosen properly and they are reliable. Then the mean and variances of the items in the trust category is calculated. The following table shows the mean and the standard deviations of the questions which are answered by the customers.

Table 11: Trust Mean and Std. Deviation Result

	Mean	Std. Deviation
T1	3.57	.75
T2	3.55	.73
T3	3.45	.71
T4	3.64	.73
T5	3.86	.82
T6	3.67	.79
T7	3.60	.73
T8	3.65	.75
T9	3.58	.74

It seems that most of the customers agreed to a great extent to the fact that their experiences reveal that the banks are not opportunistic at all and the banks do really care for them. However a little concern of the customers is that the employees do not necessarily solve their problems when they promise to do so and when they make commitment.

The following table is about the average of the mean and variances.

      Table 12: Trust Average Result

Trust Category	Mean
Item Means	3.628
Item Variances	.562

The variances of the questions in the trust category is 0.562 which is a good symptom because low variance shows that the customers have understood the questions in the same way. The average answers of the question is 3.628 which shows that the customers agree to above average extent with the fact that the banks in which they have the accounts, are trustworthy in providing them with error free and transparent services.

The inter-item correlation between these questions is as follows:

Table 13: Trust Inter-Item Correlation Matrix

	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6	T7	T8	T9
T1	1.000	.490	.482	.475	.202	.377	.457	.456	.466
T2	.490	1.000	.909	.931	.406	.842	.955	.907	.973
T3	.482	.909	1.000	.846	.351	.767	.867	.825	.885
T4	.475	.931	.846	1.000	.388	.782	.902	.872	.909
T5	.202	.406	.351	.388	1.000	.326	.433	.350	.381
T6	.377	.842	.767	.782	.326	1.000	.842	.783	.806
T7	.457	.955	.867	.902	.433	.842	1.000	.902	.911
T8	.456	.907	.825	.872	.350	.783	.902	1.000	.870
T9	.466	.973	.885	.909	.381	.806	.911	.870	1.000

• Switching Cost

Switching cost means the price paid by the customers for moving from one company or brand and choosing another. The price includes both the internal and external price. The previous researchers show that there are always some barriers for the customers in defection time, so they don’t feel that it is simple to switch from one company to another. When the costs of switching brand are high for the customer, there is a greater probability that the customer will remain loyal in terms of repeat purchase behaviour, because of the risk or expense involved in switching and because of the accompanying decrease in the appeal of other alternatives.

The customers find it difficult to switch from one bank to another due to different reasons or barriers. Barriers to customer defection, such as development of strong interpersonal relationships or imposition of switching costs, represent additional retention strategies. Such barriers are important because they may generally foster greater retention and because they may help companies weather short-term fluctuations in service quality that might otherwise result in defection.

This factor is analyzed using five questions. The following table shows the questions through which the customers switching cost is analyzed.

Table 14: Switching Cost Questions

Change to another bank involves investing time in searching for information about                                                                                                                                     other banksChange to another bank involves much effort in deciding which other bank to use.Change to another bank involves a risk and uncertainty in choosing which might turn          Out not to satisfy me. It would cost me a lot of money to switch from my bank to another bank.It would cost me a lot of time to switch from my bank to another bank.

The reliability of these questions was calculated by SPSS software and the Cronbach’s alpha was found to be 0.841 which is good to conclude that the questions are reliable as well as valid in the switching cost category.

Then the mean and standard deviation of each question is shown.

Table 15: Switching Cost Mean and Std. Deviation

	Mean	Std. Deviation
SC1	3.42	.77
SC2	3.12	1.15
SC3	3.00	1.10
SC4	3.02	.99
SC5	3.40	.85

The table shows that the first question has the maximum mean. The customers agree to a great extent that it requires investing a lot of time in order to switch from one bank to another. The customers would require time to find out the information about the other alternative banks and their services.

Switching does not require a lot of money investment initially and the customers do not consider it a major barrier in churning. The respondents think that even switching may turn out not to satisfy them at the end and this uncertain situation will further complicate the problems as well as their satisfaction status. 

Then the average of the variance and the mean of all the questions in the switching cost category are shown in the following table.

Table 16: Switching Cost Average Result

Switching Cost Category	Mean
Item Means	3.486
Item Variances	.666

The switching cost category’s item means is 3.486 which shows that the customers agree to an average extent that the switching cost of the bank is considerably high enough. So, most of the customers do not switch from one bank to another because they consider the barriers too high and effective.

The switching cost item variances are .666 which is quite low and shows that the customers have understood the questions in a common way.

The inter-item correlation between these questions is as follows:

Table 17: Switching Cost Inter-Item Correlation Matrix

	SC1	SC2	SC3	SC4	SC5
SC1	1.000	.893	.386	.607	.818
SC2	.893	1.000	.298	.531	.732
SC3	.386	.298	1.000	.212	.347
SC4	.607	.531	.212	1.000	.504
SC5	.818	.732	.347	.504	1.000

• Satisfaction

Satisfaction in banking industry means that the product or service which is offered to the customer makes him/her satisfied and meets his/her expectations. Customer satisfaction is another determinant of customer loyalty. In the highly competitive business world of today, customer satisfaction can be seen as the substantial of success, as customer satisfaction can lead to customer retention and therefore to profitability for an organization.

The customers would love to buy the services from the same bank again and again. In the competitive environment which the competitors are trying to have the other’s customers, this determinant can be vital. By this, the company can gain more profit. The direct monetary profit and the indirect one which can be for example advertising by word-of-mouth process or etc can be the means of profit gaining.

This factor in this research is measured by eight questions given in table 19, and the test for reliability of these questions was done. The Cronbach’s alpha is 0.883 which is a good one and shows that the questions were chosen properly and they are reliable.

Table 18: Satisfaction Questions

Do you agree this bank meets my needs?     Do you agree the bank I deal with is far from my expectations of an ideal bank?     According to my experiences, am I satisfied with this bank?      In comparison to other banks, do I consider this bank and its services successful?Do your banks take your feedback regularly?     Are you satisfied with the way complaints are handled?Are you satisfied with the online services and their promptness?Are you satisfied with the pricing issues (Margins on loans, charges on ATM and other online services)?

To check whether these eight questions are showing one common thing, which is the satisfaction, factor analysis was done. The extraction communalities are estimates of the variance in each variable accounted for by the components. The communalities for satisfaction factor are all high, which indicates that the extracted components represent the variables well. If any communalities are very low in a principal components extraction, you may need to extract another component.

The table below shows the mean and the variance of the questions which are answered by the customer.

Table 19: Satisfaction Mean and Std. Deviation Result

	Mean	Std. Deviation
S1	3.84	.85
S2	3.02	1.05
S3	3.95	.83
S4	3.85	.86
S5	2.64	1.04
S6	3.59	.69
S7	3.94	.87
S8	2.99	1.04

The customers felt particularly strong about the third and seventh question with the mean of 3.95 and 3.94 respectively. This means, most of the customers are satisfied with the services of the banks and their needs are being taken care of by the banks. The fifth question has the least mean of 2.64 which highlights an important issue that the feedback about the services of the bank is not taken regularly by the customers.

The average of the means and variances is as below:

                                           Table 20: Satisfaction Average Result

Satisfaction	Mean
Item Means Item Variances	3.517 .837

The item means of 3.517 shows that the customers agreed to a great extent to the point that the banks are fulfilling their needs and they are satisfied from the services of the banks.

The inter-item correlation between these questions is as follows:

Table 21: Satisfaction Inter-Item Correlation Matrix

	S1	S2	S3	S4	S5	S6	S7	S8
S1	1.000	.318	.822	.963	.281	.553	.848	.294
S2	.318	1.000	.264	.296	.888	.319	.267	.980
S3	.822	.264	1.000	.788	.237	.420	.765	.243
S4	.963	.296	.788	1.000	.262	.543	.838	.273
S5	.281	.888	.237	.262	1.000	.306	.222	.870
S6	.553	.319	.420	.543	.306	1.000	.429	.298
S7	.848	.267	.765	.838	.222	.429	1.000	.247
S8	.294	.980	.243	.273	.870	.298	.247	1.000

• Choosing

Choosing has an important role to play in the loyalty of a customer. This variable will find out what role does choosing power plays in making a customer loyal or churn. If the customer chooses a bank after a careful analysis of different banks and considering some of the crucial factors then obviously his or her loyalty towards that particular bank will be quite strong because of his/her efforts in choosing the right bank. When a customer decides to choose a company for getting some sort of services, for example a bank to have the financial services, if the selection of that target company is done by considering some factors, then being loyal to that company in the future is more possible and probable.

The questionnaire has four questions which represent this category. The table 23 enlists the questions related to the choosing category.

Table 22: Choosing Questions

Before choosing a bank do I consider its advantages and disadvantages? The decision which I make for choosing a bank for the first time is very important? Before choosing a bank, do I compare it with other banks? Before choosing a bank, have you taken input from others (Parents, Relatives and Friends)?

The reliability of this factor was calculated through SPSS which was 0.897 showing that the questions were reliable as well as valid.

The means and standard deviations of these four questions of choosing category are shown in the following table.

Table 23: Choosing Mean and Std. Deviation Result

	Mean	Std. Deviation
CH1	3.67	.91
CH2	3.29	.88
CH3	3.50	.865
CH4	3.40	.93

The results show that the customers consider the advantages and disadvantages of a bank while choosing. The customers analyze the merits of the services of the banks and compare it other banks and finally select or chooses a bank. The lowest mean is of question number 2 which shows the decision of choosing bank is not as important in the first instance.

The average of the means and the variance of the questions of the choosing factor are given in table 24.

Table 24: Choosing Average Result

Choosing	Mean
Item Means	3.466
Item Variances	.808

The inter-item correlation between these questions is as follows:

Table 25: Choosing Inter-Item Correlation Matrix

	CH1	CH2	CH3	CH4
CH1	1.000	.499	.768	.678
CH2	.499	1.000	.665	.615
CH3	.768	.665	1.000	.892
CH4	.678	.615	.892	1.000

4.2.6 Habit

Habit is an important factor in repeat purchases and becoming loyal. I visit some of the websites out of habit. Gradually habits turn in to permanent behaviors. Once a behavior has become a habit, or a well-practiced behavior, it becomes automatic and is carried out without conscious decision. The researchers have found that habit can directly affect behavioral intentions more than attitude and social norms. It is a fact of life that the force of habit still dictates many behavioral intentions, when people have gained experience.

Six questions in my research has described this all important factor. These are:

Table 26: Habit Questions

Do I use this bank because my family also uses it? Do I use this bank because I am admitted as a member of this bank by my office or family?Do I use this bank because it is near my office or home?Do I use this bank because it has many branches?Do I use this bank because this is the first bank which I used its services?Am I used to using of the services of this bank?

The Cronbach’s alpha which was gained from the respondents’ answer was 0.769.Although this was the lowest of all the other factors but even then it is above 0.70 which is the standard. So the questions are reliable and valid.

The table 27 shows the results of mean and Std. Deviation of the questions which are related to the habit.

Table 27: Habit Mean and Std. Deviation

	Mean	Std. Deviation
H1	3.07	.965
H2	3.20	.913
H3	3.26	.963
H4	3.32	.985
H5	2.96	.739
H6	3.32	.944

The fourth and sixth question has the highest mean. The fifth question has the lowest mean and standard deviation which states, the customers do not agree to a considerable extent that they became habitual after initially using the services. The average of means and variance is as follows:

Table 28: Habit Average Result

Habit	Mean
Item Means	3.186
Item Variances	0.850

The inter-item correlation between these questions is as follows:

Table 29: Tangible Perceived Quality Inter-Item Correlation Matrix

	HB1	HB2	HB3	HB4	HB5	HB6
HB1	1.000	.042	.031	.022	-.120	-.009
HB2	.042	1.000	.944	.868	.025	.808
HB3	.031	.944	1.000	.829	.039	.786
HB4	.022	.868	.829	1.000	.030	.685
HB5	-.120	.025	.039	.030	1.000	.055
HB6	-.009	.808	.786	.685	.055	1.000

4.2.7 Commitment

Commitment is a desire to maintain a relationship as well as a pledge of continuity with the bank. This factor is explained with the help of six questions. Firstly, the factor analysis was done to check the relation of the questions with the factor. The communalities for commitment factor are all high, which indicates that the extracted components represent the variables well. If any communalities are very low in a principal components extraction, you may need to extract another component. The table 31 presents the six questions of commitment.

Table 30: Commitment Questions

1. My preference for this bank would not willingly change.           2. It would be difficult to change my beliefs about this bank.           3. Even if close friends recommended another bank, I would not change my                  preference for this bank           4. To change my preference from this bank would require major rethinking?          5. My intention to use the services of this bank would not be changed.          6. Would I always use this bank’s services?

The reliability of the commitment was 0.937 which is quite high. So the questions are reliable and valid. The means and standard deviations of each question was also calculated and the result is shown in table 32.These means show the average response of all the respondents for a given question.

Table 31: Commitment Mean and Std. Deviation

	Mean	Std. Deviation
CMT1	3.72	.881
CMT2	3.80	.904
CMT3	3.55	.930
CMT4	3.66	.935
CMT5	3.56	.956
CMT6	3.67	.967

The result shows that the highest mean is 3.80 of question 1 and the lowest mean is 3.55 of question 3.The highest standard deviation is of question 6 and the lowest standard deviation is of question 1.The customers felt strongly about almost all the questions of commitment. They agree to recommend their respective banks to others and are determined that no one can change their commitment and preference towards their own banks. Even if the banks fail to meet some of their demands, they will continue their relationship with the banks.

The average of the means and variances for the commitment category questions is as follows:

Table 32: Commitment Average Result

Commitment	Mean
Item Means	3.662
Item Variances	0.863

The item means of 3.662 shows the customers are committed to continue their relationship with their own banks even if minor problems exist in the services of the banks. To change their commitment from a bank will require a major flaw in the service.

The inter-item correlation between these questions is as follows:

Table 33: Commitment Inter-Item Correlation Matrix

	CMT1	CMT2	CMT3	CMT4	CMT5	CMT6
CMT1	1.000	.830	.696	.832	.685	.812
CMT2	.830	1.000	.628	.820	.666	.771
CMT3	.696	.628	1.000	.614	.654	.639
CMT4	.832	.820	.614	1.000	.600	.867
CMT5	.685	.666	.654	.600	1.000	.606
CMT6	.812	.771	.639	.867	.606	1.000

4.2.8 Loyalty

All of the factors which are mentioned above are designed to identify the customer’s loyalty in banking industry in order to create a model in the Pakistani industry. To do so, in addition to the elements which were designed and discussed above, some questions are trying to show the loyalty factor directly. There are four questions in this category which are showing one common factor i.e. loyalty. The following table enlists these four questions representing the Loyalty category.

Table 34: Loyalty Questions

Would I always recommend my bank to the others?Am I a loyal customer to this bank?I intend to keep purchasing products/services from this bank.Will you continue relationship with this bank even if it is unable to meet some       Of your needs?

The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.873 which gives evidence of the reliability and the validity of the data. This is the dependent variable of my research and all other factors are trying to find and identify the customer’s loyalty in the banking sector of Pakistan. Through these four questions, the direct response of customers about the loyalty is measured.

The means and standard deviations are as follows:

Table 35: Loyalty Mean and Std. Deviation Result

	Mean	Std. Deviation
LOY1	3.58	.967
LOY2	3.46	.996
LOY3	3.62	.909
LOY4	3.28	.972

The third question has the highest mean and the customers have shown their strong willingness to continue buying the products and service of their respective banks. The fourth question has the least mean which states that the customers may think to switch the bank if it is unable to meet some of their basic demands and needs.

The average of means and variances is then given in the table 36.

Table 36: Loyalty Average Result

Commitment	Mean
Item Means	3.486
Item Variances	0.925

The inter-item correlation between these questions is as follows:

Table 37: Loyalty Inter-Item Correlation Matrix

	LOY1	LOY2	LOY3	LOY4
LOY1	1.000	.829	.967	.408
LOY2	.829	1.000	.812	.376
LOY3	.967	.812	1.000	.421
LOY4	.408	.376	.421	1.000

4.3 Discriminate Validity of the factors

The validity determines the extent to which a scale measures a variable of interest. In this research, I have conducted a principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation to investigate the distinctions among Tangible Perceived Quality, Intangible Perceived Quality, Trust, Satisfaction, Habit, Switching Cost, Choosing, Commitment and Loyalty. As shown in Table 39, the nine factors emerged with no cross-factor loadings above 0.5, indicating good discriminant validity. These results confirm that each of the nine factors is unidimensional and factorially distinct and that all items used to operationalize a particular determinant is loaded onto a single factor. The research has nine factors in total with one dependent factor and eight independent factors which are determining their effect on the dependent factor i.e. Loyalty. The table 38 shows the result of Principal Component Extraction.

Table 38. Factor Analysis Results: Principal Component Extraction

Items	Extraction
TPQ1	.941
TPQ2	.591
TPQ3	.833
TPQ4	.624
TPQ5	.799
TPQ6	.944
TPQ7	.876
TPQ8	.936
TPQ9	.695
TPQ10	.589
IPQ1	.600
IPQ2	.898
IPQ3	.660
IPQ4	.717
IPQ5	.727
IPQ6	.865
IPQ7	.802
IPQ8	.535
T1	.898
T2	.970
T3	.884
T4	.890
T5	.521
T6	.825
T7	.928
T8	.862
T9	.924
SC1	.918
SC2	.836
SC3	.591
SC4	.582
SC5	.807
S1	.949
S2	.965
S3	.805
S4	.924
S5	.897
S6	.733
S7	.842
S8	.956
CH1	.716
CH2	.649
CH3	.893
CH4	.864
HB1	.581
HB2	.951
HB3	.922
HB4	.833
HB5	.786
HB6	.787
CMT1	.849
CMT2	.791
CMT3	.615
CMT4	.829
CMT5	.579
CMT6	.813
LOY1	.807
LOY2	.665
LOY3	.819
LOY4	.695

4.4 Correlation between factors

I have discussed each factor and the questions which identified these factors in detail, the relationship between questions in each factor through inter-item correlation matrices, the reliability of each factor, the validity of each factor, now it’s time to analyze the correlation and relationship between the elements of the model. The Correlations procedure computes the pair wise associations for a set of variables and displays the results in a matrix. It is useful for determining the strength and direction of the association between two variables.

The correlation matrix between different factors is shown in table 39.

Table 39: Correlation Result

	LOY	TPQ	IPQ	T	SC	S	CH	HB	CMT
LOY	1	.516	.474	.254	.376	.741	.315	.127	.563
TPQ	.516	1	.673	.303	.291	.608	.285	.152	.200
IPQ	.474	.673	1	.207	.258	.400	.283	.166	.550
T	.254	.303	.207	1	.171	.125	.081	.091	.405
SC	.376	.291	.258	.171	1	.035	.142(*)	.364	.162
S	.741	.608	.405	.125	.035	1	.223	.205	.127
CH	.315	.285	.283	.081	.142(*)	.223	1	.143	.197
HB	.127	.152	.166	.091	.364	.205	.143	1	.110
CMT	.563	.200	.550	.405	.162	.127	.197	.110	1

Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

By looking at the correlation matrix between the factors we can understand that satisfaction is the most correlated element with loyalty. The correlation of 0.741 between these two factors shows that a little change in the satisfaction has a major influence on the loyalty of the customer towards his/her bank. the managers must meet the basic needs of the customers to make them satisfied such as the prompt and error free services and pricing issues(margins on loans, charges on usage of ATM services).once the customer is satisfied, the chances of his/her becoming loyal to the bank increases considerably.

The next factor which is more important is the commitment. The correlation between commitment and loyalty is 0.563 which shows that the highly committed customers are always loyal to the bank. The next factor which is more important is the tangible perceived quality with a correlation of 0.516 which shows a strong relationship with loyalty.

The managers should emphasize on the quality factors such as the availability of modern looking equipment and services and ensure that all the services of the bank are present in every branch. By giving the seen aspects of quality to the customer, the loyalty can be increased.

The next factor is intangible perceived quality. The managers should focus on the provision of error free services and train their employees to pay special attention to each customer and treat them courteously. By treating the customer well, the managers can make them loyal to their banks.

These are the most important factors which show strong correlation with the loyalty. The rest of the factors are also correlated but not as much as the satisfaction, commitment, tangible perceived quality and intangible perceived quality.

Then we analyze the correlation of each factor with other factors. The tangible perceived quality is most correlated with the satisfaction factor and least correlated with trust factor.                        So for having more satisfied customers, tangible perceived quality factors are more important to be considered by the banks. If the banks are successful in increasing the tangible quality of the services, they also become successful in increasing the number of satisfied customers. Intangible perceived quality has a good correlation with commitment and satisfaction. This means by providing error free services and paying special attention to the queries of the customers, the commitment of the customers can be increased. The highly committed customers are those who received high standard of intangible quality of services provided by the banks. The rest are also correlated with intangible quality but the effect is not as much as the effect of these two factors.

In trust column, the commitment factor is more correlated than the others. This means that when a customer is committed to a bank, his/her trust on the bank is increased more and more. Trust on the services of the banks is also increased depending on the standard of the tangibility provided by banks in their services. So changes in commitment or tangibility cause changes in the trust of the customer on the bank. The switching cost factor is most correlated with the habit factor. This means that when the customers are habitual in using the services of the bank, they do not switch easily from their bank. The more habitual the customers are, the higher the number of the barriers in switching from one bank to another bank. So habitual customers are usually not churners.

The choosing factor shows that loyalty, tangible perceived quality, intangible perceived quality and satisfaction are more correlated with this factor. This means that for choosing a bank as the service provider, quality factors and satisfaction can have a main role.

 The habit factor has strong correlation with the switching cost and satisfaction as well. The commitment factor has strong correlation with intangible perceived quality and trust factor. This means that the highly committed customers trust the services of the bank more than the customers who are not committed to the bank. The correlation of all the factor with each other has been discussed which is given in the table 40.

4.5 Factors’ Relationship

The factors which influence the loyalty factor in this model are:

• Tangible quality
• Intangible quality
• Satisfaction
• Choosing
• Trust
• Switching Cost
• Habit
• Commitment.

Some of the factors also influence the others. The relations were explained completely in previous parts.

So the primary hypotheses are shown in figure 2.

Figure 2: Primary Hypotheses

The final hypotheses which were considered in the research are as below:

• Choosing influences the loyalty
• Tangible Perceived Quality influences the loyalty
• Intangible Perceived Quality influences the loyalty
• Trust influences the loyalty
• Satisfaction influences the loyalty
• Switching cost influences the loyalty
• Habit influences the loyalty
• Commitment influences the loyalty

According to the above explanation, the hypotheses of the research are all approved (explained in previous parts). Also some more hypotheses were found in the analysis and explained in the previous part. They are as below:

H9: Trust will positively affect commitment.

H10: Tangible perceived quality influences satisfaction.

H11: Intangible perceived quality influences satisfaction.

H12: Tangible perceived quality influences habit

H13: Intangible perceived quality influences habit

H14: Intangible perceived quality influences choosing.

H15: Tangible perceived quality influences choosing.

H16: Intangible perceived quality influences switching cost

H17: Tangible perceived quality influences switching cost

H18: Intangible perceived quality influences commitment

H19: Tangible perceived quality influences commitment

H20: Satisfaction will positively affect commitment.

H21: Choosing will positively affect satisfaction.

H22: Tangible perceived quality influences trust

The complete relationships among different factors of customer loyalty in the banking industry of Pakistan are presented in the figure 3.

Figure 3: Factors’ Relations

The hypothesized relationships were tested using the multiple regression analysis of SPSS. The average scores of the items representing each of the nine factors were used in the data analysis. The R2 was used to assess the model’s overall predictive fit. Properties of the causal paths, including standardized path coefficients, t-values, and variance explained for each equation in the hypothesized model are presented in Figure 5. In hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6, H7 and H8 we investigate the influence of choosing, tangible perceived quality, intangible perceived quality, trust, satisfaction, switching cost, habit and commitment on loyalty.

As expected, choosing (β=0.196, t-value=3.033, p<0.01), tangible perceived quality (β =0.263, t-value=3.078, p<0.001) and intangible perceived quality (β =0.487, t-value=8.891, p<0.001) had a strong positive influence on the loyalty. Similarly, trust (β=0.293, t- value=3.367, p<0.001) and satisfaction (β=0.418, t-value=5.948, p<0.001) had a significant positive effect on the loyalty. The results of switching cost (β =0.114, t-value=2.592, p<0.001), habit (β =0.186, t-value=2.925, p<0.001) and commitment (β =0.215, t-value=3.011, p<0.001) also show that these factors have a positive strong influence on loyalty. Therefore, hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6, H7 and H8 were supported. We found that the proposed model explained a significant percentage of variance in loyalty (R²=79.9%, F-value=84.571, p<0.001).It means that about 80 percent of the variance in loyalty was accounted for by trust, satisfaction, tangible perceived quality, intangible perceived quality, choosing, habit, switching cost and commitment. According to the path coefficients, intangible perceived quality and satisfaction exhibited the strongest direct effect on loyalty.

Hypotheses H9, H10, and H11 examine the paths from trust to commitment, tangible perceived quality to satisfaction and intangible perceived quality to satisfaction. Trust (β =0.325, t-value=4.370, p<0.001) had a significant positive effect on commitment. The tangible perceived quality (β =0.181, t-value=2.393, p<0.001) as well as intangible perceived quality (β =0.165, t-value=2.179, p<0.001) also had a significant positive effect on the satisfaction thus supporting the hypotheses. The tangible perceived quality had no significant influence on the habit (β=0.071, t-value=1.579, p=0.068) at the 0.05 level. Similarly, intangible quality also had no substantial influence on the habit (β =0.097, t-value=1.823, p=0.073). Thus, hypotheses H12 and hypothesis H13 were rejected whereas hypotheses H9, H10 and H11 were supported by the results.H14 and H15 examine the paths from intangible quality to choosing and tangible quality to choosing respectively. The intangible perceived quality (β =0.273, t-value=3.913, p<0.001) and tangible perceived quality (β =0.251, t-value=3.801, p<0.001) show a positive significant influence on choosing. So the hypotheses H14 and H15 were supported by the path coefficients and t-values. The influence of intangible  and tangible quality on switching cost was (β =0.110, t-value=2.02, p<0.001) and (β =0.142, t-value=2.152, p<0.001) respectively which showed the support of the hypotheses H16 and H17.The hypotheses H18 and H19 are about the influence of these two factors on commitment. The intangible quality (β =0.401, t-value=5.720, p<0.001) and tangible quality (β =0.343, t-value=4.171, p<0.001) effect on commitment is strong and positive. Hence, H18 and H19 are also supported.

The results showed an interesting fact according to which the satisfaction (β =0.213, t-value=2.617, p<0.001) had a significant and substantial influence on commitment. On the other hand, choosing(β =0.195, t-value=2.321, p<0.001) had a positive influence on satisfaction thus supporting H21.The influence of tangible perceived quality on trust was not strong as t value was 1.034 and p value was 0.065 which is not significant, so hypothesis H22 was rejected.

The analysis shows that satisfaction has a link with loyalty. This link is very strong, and it shows that if the bank managers want to make the customers loyal, they should have some special strategies to satisfy the customer. A satisfied customer never takes the risk of changing or moving to other competitors.

So, managers should always consider the needs of the customers. The loyalty comes in the customers once their stated as well as unstated needs are fulfilled by the managers of the banks. It can be the current needs or the ones which could be desired in the future. The unstated needs can be the future needs of the customers. The point is, the managers should not only think of few basic needs of the customers. They should focus on providing extra pleasures to their customers.

This means that the managers should have a team which can estimate the future requirements by having the fast movement in the world and technology, specially in the developing countries like Pakistan, this movement could be a little faster, so the research team of the banks should consider the environment and by having the focus on the culture requirements estimate the future needs of the customer. The next link which is going to be explained is habit. Habit also has a relationship with loyalty. The t-value of the analysis for this relationship is more than 2, and this shows that this relation ship exists.

When a customer stays with a bank to have some sort of services, it can have two reasons. First this customer is really satisfied with the current services and the next reason could be the habitual behavior. It means that some sort of reasons is related to the factor Habit. Some of the most important habitual reasons are measured in this research like the family influence, or the distance which can make a customer find the habit of using a special bank services. In finding the loyal customer, this category also can be considered. But it is not as serious as the satisfied customers.

The customer managers should find this category and to minimize the risk of defecting of these customers, they can find a way to change this group of customers to satisfied ones. By doing this, the number of loyal customers is not changed at the moment but the number of satisfied ones and also the number of future loyal customers is changed.

The next link which is valid, and its t-value is greater than 2 is the link between switching cost and loyalty. By analyzing the answers of the three questions of this part, the relationship between the loyalty of the customer and the switching cost can be explained as below:

When a customer is not sure about the new bank which might be chosen, it makes him/her not move simply and suddenly. He or she thinks that should spend more time in order to be able to make a good decision. This process makes the customer stay more with the current bank, because he/she considers the risk of not being satisfied with the new bank and tries to think more about switching. By doing so, staying with the bank for a longer time is more possible than choosing a new one carelessly.

The next factor that has a valid relationship with loyalty is choosing. In this factor when a customer tries to find a new bank for having financial transactions, he or she tries to compare the different banks with each other. And at last the best one will be found (almost it is in his/her point of view), so because of the effort that the customer puts for selecting the bank, he/she would be more satisfied with the services of the new bank. In long time, this can make a long-term relationship, and the customer who tries to compare the banks and select the proper one would be more satisfied and loyal. By this explanation, the link between choosing and satisfaction becomes clear.

So the managers of the banks can give this permission to the banking industry’s customers to have some sort of clear information about the services and also about the bank itself. Choosing can have a big role in making a new customer a loyal one.

The next factors which are going to be discussed are the quality factors. As I mentioned in the previous parts, in the main model, the researchers analyze the quality as one factor. But by having a deeper look at this element, I found that it could be separated into two factors, and I decided to measure them separately and find each one’s relation with loyalty. The first category is about tangible qualities. This means the feasible perceived quality in the branches or wherever the customer has the services, fore example, the beauty or the neatness of the materials, has influence on the loyalty of the customer. It is important for the customer to have the financial services in a tidy way. Also the other element that affects this factor is the advertisements and the interest for the customers’ investments.

Intangible factor is about the infeasible quality .It also can be named as behavioral quality, like the respectfulness of the bank’s staffs. This factor has also an important relationship with the loyalty of the customer. Both of these factors got the valid t-value in the analysis, but in comparison the tangible quality has a greater coefficient with loyalty. This shows that the viable perceived quality has a greater role in making a customer loyal or defector.

The bank managers should focus their strategies on offering the financial services with considering these two factors. Also these two factors have influence on the satisfaction of the customer. It means that by providing a better service, banks can make their customers more satisfied. At the next step, they can make them loyal. As the analysis shows, these two factors have influence on loyalty and satisfaction.

Quality factors have also influence on switching cost. It means that when a customer receives a good quality (tangible or intangible),his/her expectations of the banking services increase, so at the switching time, he wants to get more in the other new banks, and this makes the movement not simple.

Quality factors have relationship with choosing. When a bank is offering the financial services in a qualified way, and the customer perceived quality (tangible or intangible) is high, at choosing time, he/she wants to compare the new bank’s services with perceived one. This can also influence the new customers’ choosing decisions. Also managers can advertise on the customer perceived quality by having some researches on it and representing the results to the public. Quality factors have relationship with habit. This is because when a customer gets a good service quality, this remains in his mind and when needed he is likely to go to the same place.

Chapter 5

Conclusion

This chapter will provide an overall conclusion to my research findings. In the first chapter we developed some hypotheses as well as research questions, now is the time to get answers of theses research questions. After giving answers to the research questions, the conclusion will be presented and the final model for the customer loyalty in the banking industry of Pakistan will be revealed. Then the limitations of the research along with the areas for further research will be mentioned.

5.1 Research Questions and their Answers

As it was mentioned in the previous part, the analysis of the data shows the different links which have been explained previously. The hypothesized relationships were tested using the multiple regression analysis of SPSS. In the introduction chapter some research questions were mentioned and I bring them again here:

• Can a model for customer loyalty in banking industry of Pakistan be specified?
• What factors influence the customer loyalty in banking industry in Pakistan?
• What are the relationships between the factors?

In order to answer to the research questions I, defined some more detailed questions which are as below:

• Does customer satisfaction influence the loyalty of the customer in the banking industry of Pakistan?
• Does customer habit influence the loyalty of the customer in the banking industry of Pakistan?
• Does switching cost influence the loyalty of the customer in the banking industry of Pakistan?
• Does perceived quality influence the loyalty of the customer in the banking industry of Pakistan?
• Does choosing influence the loyalty of the customer in the banking industry of Pakistan?
• Does trust influence the loyalty of the customer in the banking industry of Pakistan?
• Does commitment influence the loyalty of the customer in the banking industry of Pakistan?

According to the result of the analysis of the model, all of the research questions can be answered. A model for banking industry in Pakistan is made. And the factors which influence the loyalty factor in this model are Tangible quality and Intangible quality, Satisfaction, Choosing, Trust, Switching Cost, Habit and Commitment. Some of the factors also influence the others. The relations were explained completely in previous parts.

5.2 Conclusion

Previous chapters tried to find the factors and their links with customer loyalty in banking industry in the Pakistani environment. As a conclusion this research found Habit, Choosing, Trust, Switching cost, Tangible Quality, Intangible Quality, Commitment and Satisfaction, as the factors which have influence on loyalty .Also these factors have relationships with each other which were explained in detail in the previous chapter. And also the factors which are added to the main model (Beerli, 2004) improve the fitness of the model. I hope that this model will surely help the managers of Pakistani Banks to further increase their pool of loyal customers.

5.3 Final Model

The final model of the customer loyalty in the banking industry of Pakistan can be presented in figure 4.

Figure 4: The Loyalty Model

As we can see, among the factors that have links with loyalty, satisfaction coefficient is the highest of all. This means that satisfaction is more important for the managers to be considered in order to make their customers loyal.

In comparison, (Beerli, Martin and Quintana, 2004) the coefficient of the satisfaction in the perceived model (0.67) in Pakistan is less than the one which is chosen as the resource model (0.83). This means that the satisfaction factor in Pakistan has less influence on loyalty than Spain. This could be because of the differences in the environment and also culture. It could be also because of the influence of the added factors on the model.

But the switching cost in Pakistan (0.28) has more influence than what is mentioned in the original model (0.18). This could be because of the reasons mentioned above.

Trust also has an important role to play in the loyalty of the customers in Pakistani banks because Beerli did not consider this factor in his model for the Spanish banking industry. Choosing has influence on loyalty in Pakistan (0.20). In the main model, (Beerli et al., 2004) this factor wasn’t mention in the final model and the authors rejected the hypothesis of the relationship of choosing with other factors in their model, but in this model this relations are exist. Habits also play a pivotal role in Pakistani environment as people prefer banks if they are nearer to their offices or homes. The reason can be most of the customers come to banks on foot as the number of car owners are still not as high as in European countries like Spain and also due to the high prices of traveling.

According to (Lin and Wang, 2006), the habit in the perceived loyalty model has less influence (0.17) than the model of loyalty in m-commerce industry in Taiwan (0.35). This could be because of the difference in the industries.

5.4 Contribution

This research has been done to find the customer loyalty factors and their relations in order to present a model for customer loyalty in banking industry. And it has been done in Pakistani environment.

This research tries to present the factors which influence in this environment for banking industry. And different factors and also different relations were found in this study.

As it was mentioned previously in this research, loyal customers have different benefits for the industries. Having more profit is the simplest one to mention. This model will help managers to better shape their strategies to make more and more loyal customers. Loyalty is a big challenge for every manager in today’s competitive world. In Pakistan, there are so many banks with different alluring services who can snatch a customer from your customer base at any time, so the managers have to be vigilant and they can only make customers loyal through the application of these factors in their respective banks. According to the main strategy of the bank, they can choose some factors of the presented model and by considering the relations between them they can make their sub-strategies. Also it might differ from one bank to another and it could be because of each bank’s goal.

5.5 Limitations

This research has some limitations, which are time and money. Although it is a valid sample size, but if the time allowed this research could be done in a bigger sample size which needs time and money. The research could be carried out in all the major cities of Pakistan but again that needs a lot of time and money.

But all of the attempts were used not to allow the limitations to have influence on the results.

5.6 Further research

These days the loyalty concept has great importance and its different aspects can be studied in different situations.

This research tries to investigate more factors which have links with the customer loyalty in banking industry in comparison to the previous researches. Also different relations were found during this study.

It is hoped that the findings could stimulate further research in other parts of the world; especially in the other developing countries .If this happens, the model can be presented in a wider area not only in Pakistan.

The other people who are interested in modeling could analyze, find and test more factors according to their environment, or also the same factors in other industries.

Also a research which is about the factors that influence the “loyalty model” can also be done in order to find the external points which could differ from one environment to another, in case of existence. In this way, a general model for the banking industry’s customer loyalty can be presented after the analysis of the factors in all the countries.

The Role of CRM in increasing sales volume in Super Markets

All the organization both they belongs to profitable or non profitable, have their own aims and objectives set by the higher management and all the workers agreed to achieve those all objectives (Bennett, 2010). There are two types of products tangible and non tangible, tangible products are products those have physical existence and occupy place and have weight and other characters as well and the non tangible products means services like to provide facilities to others (Chen and Popovich, 2008). Business organizations have their aims and objectives to become market leader, to earn more profit and to increase their sales volume and establishing their relationship with their clients as well (Cronin and Taylor, 2007). The employees have been allocated different resources like machinery, skills, authorities, finance, human resources as well and other secrets and formulas and all other related and necessary resources to carry out their daily assigned duties and tasks to achieve the company aims and objectives. Some scholars have been stated that to achieve company goals and objective it is necessary to pay full attention at their clients relationship if there exist a strong relationship between company and clients then the company will achieve all its objectives and if the relationship is weak then there will be no transaction (Dimitriades, 2010). According to Olorunniwo et al., (2007) that customer relationship management can build strong relationship between clients and company and this department can also play role in achieving organizational objectives because there are so many characteristics of this department, whereas some scholars have been concluded that instead to pay attention at this department the organizations should consider clients and employee’s and focus them instead of customer relationship management (Sheth and Parvatiyar, 2010). Whereas some scholars have been stated that all the business operations are linked up with the customer relationship management strategies in business operations and the main objectives of this department is to implement business operations in smooth working effectively and efficiently in achieving organizational objectives (Ehrenberg, 2005). Some scholars also supported the above statement by saying that sales is directly proportional with the market share and CRM is most suitable and effective department in capturing the market share (Megicks, 2011).

1.2      Problem/Issue

All the business organizations in the world focus their customers for their growth and for making profit because they know that the sales volume and the profit margins are directly linked with the number of clients. In the same sector and industry all the business organizations are offering their products like household items, office stationary, mobile vehicles, Mobile Phones, cloths, kitchen items even then electricity related items all the manufacturing companies are offering their items and capturing more market shares and the ratio of market share is depend on the business strategies. Most efficient and effective strategies always attract more customers from the market (Sheth and Parvatiyar, 2010). Basically customers have needs and to fulfill those needs the companies conducts surveys and makes researches and based on the results the manufacturers design and develop the products and services. The customers always attracted towards those items which are available and are as per their needs and wants and there is minimum difference between their demand and available products and price, quality factors always play their role as well, so social responsible organizations have the opportunity also to capture those clients and some time some people only attracted by the quality and some people attracted by the low price. Here the problem is to capture more market share to achieve organization objectives. Some scholars have been stated that the customer relationship management can contribute effectively in achieving company goals more effectively by recognizing client’s needs and their demands. So this problem of capturing more clients in competition environment where all the companies in the same industry are trying their best to capture clients is more important and the researcher will find out the importance of CRM role in achieving those goals. Gilbert and Horsnell, (2006) have been stated that loyalty and satisfaction can be created among customers by CRM policies and sales volume can be enhanced.

1.3      Aims and Objectives

Main aim of this research is to find out the role of customer relationship management in super markets (on sales volume and market share) in United Kingdom and the researcher will select ASDA super market as case study tool to conduct the research.

1.4      Research Question

Do supermarket managers believe in customer relationship management impact on the sales and market share or not?

Research Title:

The Role of Customer Relationship Management in increasing sales volume in Super Markets in United Kingdom (A Case Study of ASDA Supermarket)

1.5      Objectives

The researcher has discussed above the research question and aims and to achieve the above stated aim the researcher has further divided it into different objectives.

The researcher will find out the benefits of CRM in United Kingdom Superstores

The researcher will disclose the relationship of CRM department with other departments and will find out its relationship with sales

The researcher will disclose the factors those can play and must be taken into consideration by the CRM department and organization while designing business strategies in capturing market share and manufacturing and delivering products

The researcher will also find out the relationship between the client’s and CRM department and its influence of the clients

The researcher will find out the factors those can contribute effectively in creating loyalty and satisfaction among the customers

The researcher will also find out the problems and issues related with the CRM strategies and also conclude the drawbacks of CRM

Finally the researcher will also make some recommendations and suggestions for the selected organization to improve its business strategies to obtain the goals and objectives.

1.6      Study Scope

CRM department can play its role in capturing clients from the market and organizations have the opportunity to make more sales and profits and in this way the organizations can be able to make growth and can sustain their growth. So the role of CRM department is so effective and companies can be benefited by applying these departmental strategies in the business operations. The companies can also save their resource wastage and save also reduce the cost and then competitive advantage can be obtained by the organizations. The business organizations can be more benefited and they can get more advantages by implementing CRM strategies. The organization can adopt the CRM strategies to enhance their sales and to enhance the ratios of their market share. The organizations can recognize the client’s needs and can be able to manufacture the products and services as per market requirement and can save the resources in effective way.

1.7      Limitations

There are some limitations with this research so the researcher will also explain these limitations in detail which includes time being student the researcher has limited time to conduct the research and as the researcher will select only one organization as case study tool rather than more than two this is because of time shortage. The researcher already has no idea of conducting research. And the finance budget is also limited because being student the researcher will bear all the cost by his means. 

1.8      Ethical Consideration

For valid and reliable primary and secondary data the researcher will consider all the ethical considerations which involve electronic books, electronics articles and electronic journals and companies’ websites and other books related with customer relationship management and for the validity and more reliability the researcher abide by the unfair means to collect secondary data. The researcher will not get the help from colleagues and class fellows and will not copy data from colleagues’ work. Sheth and Parvatiyar, (2010) has been stated that for valid and reliable data there should be no duplication of data and researchers must keep into considerations. It is ethically importance on the researchers to keep secret the respondents detail involved in research (Olorunniwo et al., 2007). So for more validity and reliability the researcher will use percentages, proportion and bar and pie charts to show the relationships and associations among different variables, some scholars have been stated that researcher must use tables and charts to show the relationship among different variables (Bennett, 2010).   

Task #2

2.1      Introduction

The researcher will describe the research methodology. The researcher will describe the research technique, research tools and source of primary and secondary data and recording and analysis tools, more the researcher will also describe the data presentation, sample technique and research methods will also be discussed by the researcher. Research method is important components of researches which provides the way and lead the researcher till the conclusion and recommendations along with the main aims and objectives of the research (Bennett, 2010).

2.2      Research Method

The researcher will adopt qualitative and quantitative research methods to conduct the research and the researcher will conduct interviews with the management (CRM department) and will distribute the questionnaires among the respondents (customers). Qualitative and quantitative research method are both have importance and the researcher has no experience of conducting research, the researcher has financial and time limitations and the small number of respondents will be selected so the qualitative and quantitative methods  will be adopted by the researcher (Chen and Popovich, 2008).

2.3      Population and Sample Size

All the customers and CRM departmental staff is the populations and the researcher will select the samples by using systematic selection approach. Systematic approach is more suitable techniques because the researcher can get valid and more reliable results and there no bias can be included by the researcher, so every 5^th customer will be selected by the researcher, it will save the time and finance as well. And about 80 total samples males and females with 50% ratio and age range 19 to 55 years old will be selected by the researcher. When the researcher has no past experience then most suitable way is to adopt systematic method to select samples (Cronin and Taylor, 2007).

Respondents (Male)	Respondents (Female)	Total	Age Range (Years)
40	40	80	19-55
50%	50%	100%

2.4      Case Study

Due to research limitations the researcher has been decided to select ASDA super market store as case study to conduct the research by using its research methods. The questionnaires will be distributed among the customers and CRM staff members will be interviewed by the researcher. When there is short time to conduct the research, then case study is the best way to conduct the research (Dimitriades, 2010).

2.5      Secondary Data Source

The researcher will gather valid, effective, most reliable secondary data and for this purpose the researcher will use electronic books, electronic journals, ASDA website, and other reports and use books and journals to collect secondary data. Faullent et al., (2011) have been stated that newspapers, books, journals, annual CRM reports, digital data, are useful and valid source of gathering secondary data

2.6      Primary Data Source

To gather primary data the researcher will use questionnaires and will conduct semi structured interviews. Sheth and Parvatiyar, (2010) have been stated that most suitable source of gathering primary and secondary data is questionnaires (open and close ended questions) and the researchers must conduct semi structured interviews.

2.6.1    Interviews

Gronroos, (2005) has been stated that interviews are most important and highly validity and reliable source of gathering primary data. Semi structured interviews are the best way to conduct interview and in this way the researcher cannot include his/ her opinion and the respondents always respond exact answer and could not mislead the researcher, and the researcher must prepare the questions as according to the aims and objectives of the research (Ehrenberg, 2005). Semi structured interviews technique is the most suitable and reliable way to gather actual nature of problem that leads the researcher to the conclusion as per the specific aims and objectives of research (Feagin et al., 2005).  

2.6.2    Questionnaires

Questionnaires is a good technique to gather primary data and if the researchers include close ended and open ended questions then the validity and reliability can be enhanced. Jones and Sasser, (2007) have been stated that most reliable and cheapest way to gather reliable data is the questionnaires. Gilbert and Horsnell, (2006) have been stated that it is highly recommended that open and close ended questions must be included in the questionnaires. The researcher will include both open and close ended questions in the questionnaires to obtain the primary data. Kandampully and Suhartanto, (2005) have been stated that it is the effective way to save the cost and time to design questionnaires to gather valid and reliable primary data.

Task # 3

3.1      Review of Literature

Jones and Sasser, (2007) have been stated that sales has a relationship with customer’s loyalty and satisfaction and the happiness can be created by the CRM department among the clients, if the CRM department can be successfully develop and implement the effective and suitable strategies in the organization. Chen and Popovich, (2008) have been stated that there are some factors those change the needs and wants of people in a society which includes technology, culture and trends. Cronin and Taylor, (2007) stated that customer relationship management can be helpful in identifying the change and can be helpful in manufacturing products and services as per client’s requirements, but some of the scholar Dimitriades, (2010) has been stated that it is not necessary for the organizations to maintain the customer relationship management department in operation because the organizations can meet their goals by considering their employee’s and customer welfare being social welfare. Ehrenberg, (2005) stated that the organizations must reduce the cost to offer financial advantages and benefits to the society and customer relationship department means high cost and it will increase the price and customer may have to pay more cost. More resources more cost and the cost is always paid by the customers (Faullent et al., 2011). The organizations should focus the employee’s welfare and provide them more facilities to increase their productive level to gain objectives rather than to spend money on customer relationship department for building strong relationship with customers (Feagin et al., 2005). The organizations must pay their attentions to adopt advance technology and latest procedures to reduce the cost rather than to establish customer relationship management in the business and the objectives can be achieved in this way (Gilbert and Horsnell, 2006). Some scholars pay their attention on the importance of customer relationship management by saying that it is the only department that can increase the sales volume and can identify the people needs and requirement and organizations can be more benefited if they have CRM department and implemented its effective strategies as a part of business operations (Gronroos, 2005). And this statement has been supported b the Jones and Sasser, (2007) that customer relationship management has the ability to reduce the wastage of resources and in this way the cost can be reduced and significant results can be expected. Kandampully and Suhartanto, (2005) have been stated that rather than to spend a huge amount on the CRM department the organizations can pay their attention on the welfare of employees and the more productive level can be achieved and in this way the organization can meet its targets. It is not easy task to identify the actual nature of client’s problem and requirement and only the skilled and professional employee can understand (Looy et al., 2007). There is a relationship exist between profit and market share, similarly the relationship exist between the loyalty, satisfaction and customer happiness and market share, means more loyalty more market share and vice versa, similarly loyalty and happiness are related with the organizational business strategies (May, 2005), so in a result the organizations must review and develop the business strategies and especially focus the products features and keep into considerations the price and people need to increase the market share (Macintosh and Lockshin, 2008). But some scholars Cronin and Taylor, (2007) have been stated that through loyal employees the organizational objectives can be achieved in better way and in this way the organizations need to pay more attention on employee’s welfare rather than CRM department. Chen and Popovich, (2008) have been stated that happy and loyal customer will bring and will motivate his friends, colleagues and family members and will share his or her happiness and satisfaction among all the friends, family and colleagues and in this way they will also come and buy those products and ultimately the sales volume will become high. The angry customers have worst impact on the business transactions and they can harm the business in worst ways (Bennett, 2010), so it is very important for the organizations to create happiness among the clients (Chen and Popovich, 2008). The organizations only have a way to establish customer care services and also have the skilled equipped professionals to handle the clients and can create happiness and loyalty among them by identifying their problems and requirements  (Cronin and Taylor, 2007) and sales volume can be increased if the CRM representatives perform their job in effective way  (Dimitriades, 2010). Ehrenberg, (2005) has been stated that CRM department can play its role in increasing sales volume and the skilled and professional employees can handle angry clients as well and can create happiness and satisfaction among the customers. It is not an easy task to find out customer’s actual nature of their problem and to create loyalty and happiness among them, because customers have no time to waste to make complaints and visit regularly because they avoid wasting their time and in this way the organizations can lose business (Faullent et al., 2011). But the solution can be provided to the customers when they inform the responsible about their complaints and their problems, and it is the only customer relationship management department that can provide these facilities even then if the customers do not want to come in the stores physically then the CRM representatives have the other means to make a contact with the customers to take their feedback and in this way the loyalty and satisfaction can be created (Feagin et al., 2005). Customer relationship management can play its role in achieving organizational objectives effectively and efficiently and this department is responsible of creating happiness, loyalty and satisfactions among the customers through proper investments and through professional employees and by having proper means by adopting latest technology and procedures (Gilbert and Horsnell, 2006). Gronroos, (2005) customer’s expectations can be easily determined by the skills staff members of customer relationship management and the expected services and products can be offered to them. The market share can be enhanced if there is loyalty and satisfaction can be created among the customers through effective and efficient CRM departmental strategies (Helgesen, 2009). But Jones and Sasser, (2007) have been stated that companies can also capture more market share if the companies successfully honour their promises with the customers. It is not easy task to build and maintain the effective and loyal relationship with customers but customer relationship management can also build and can maintain the relationship with clients based on their progress and their strategies (Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2005). Different customers have different needs and problems and some of them needs quality and some want low price so it is not been possible for the employees to identify those needs and requirements so the CRM department has the solution for this problem (Looy et al., 2007).  Macintosh and Lockshin, (2008) stated that the only customer relationship management can provide the expected quality and products at the expected price to the customers to create loyalty to obtain company goals.

3.2      Conceptual Framework

Company Aims and Objectives (Long term and short term)

Experience leads results, results leads satisfaction and loyalty, Loyalty leads towards Resale

                             

 

Form the above scholar statements and the figure showed the flow of work, and it has been explained that customer relationship management has positive impact on the companies. The scholar’s statements and their arguments in the favour and against the customer relationship management showed the importance of CRM departmental activities and its role in achieving company aims and objectives, through the review of literature it is cleared that the identification of customers requirement cab be possible and the customer’s can avail the products and services as per their requirements.

Task # 4

4.1      Data Presentation and Analysis tools

Here in this section the researcher will show the primary data and its results and the researcher will explain the relations and associations among the different variables. The researcher will use tables (columns X rows) to show the responses and then in Pie and Bar charts the results will be showed by the researcher. The researcher will also use SPSS software to find out the mean, median and probability as well. Looy et al., (2007) have stated that tables are arrangements of columns and rows that prevent the researchers to duplication of data record and increase the validity and reliability of data.

4.2      Expected Findings

The researcher will find out the positive impact of the customer relationship management and its strategies on capturing, retaining, creating loyalty, happiness for increasing more market share and will also find out the issues and problems associated with the CRM department in the selected organization. The researcher will also find out the factors those can play their role in increasing loyalty, happiness and satisfaction and to identify the client’s needs and wants as well. The researcher will find out the benefits of CRM department and its major issues and its other problems while implementing its strategies into actions with business operations. Finally the researcher will also find out the importance of CRM department with sales and growth prospective. The researcher will also explain the results and will relate those results with the scholar’s statements to prove the importance of CRM department as a beneficial for the supermarkets stores in United Kingdom.

4.3      Validity and Reliability

Reliability and validity means that the procedures were accurate, the samples were genuine and the researcher opinion is not included in the data and the quality of data is up to date and no old scholar statement has been included and no unrealistic means and unfair means has been used in the whole process of gathering data and conducting research. The researcher will also explain the gathered data reliability and validity in this section.

4.4         Table 1(Forecasted resources and cost)

Serial #	Resources	Expense (£)	Total Expense (£)
1	Fair and papers, CDs’ and software	300	300
2	Lunch	70	370
3	Other expenses	130	500

4.5         Gantt Chart

Actions	Time Slice in Weeks
Identification of problem/Issue	X
Aims Objectives and Research Questions	X	x
Review of Literature		x	x
Questionnaires and semi structured Preparation			x	x
Number of Weeks	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Primary data Gathering					x
Data Recording, Analysis						x	x
Data presenting and making conclusion and recommendations							x	x
Contingency Plan									x	x

4.6      Contingency Plan

The last two week have been reserved by the researcher to make necessary corrections as per supervisor instructions and guidance if need.

Task # 5

5.1      Limitations and Conclusion

Here in this section the researcher will first of all discuss the limitations associated with this research and then the researcher will discuss the methods adopted by him to reduce those limitations. Then the researcher will make the conclusion and will discuss the outcomes and in the light of review of literature and results. The researcher will discuss the positive influence of CRM department and its strategies and will relate the necessary scholar’s statements as well. And finally the conclusion will be explained.

5.2      Recommendations

Here in this section the researcher will discuss the weak areas of selected organizations and factors and finally will design the recommendations for the selected organization to improve the weak areas and will discuss the issues and problems and their solution as well. Positive recommendations to improve the strategies implemented and redesign the necessary strategies for the positive impact will be discussed by the researcher in this section. Those recommendations will include creating the loyalty and happiness among the clients to achieve organization’s goals positively.

5.3      Further study

At the end the researcher will explain the further factors that must be undertaken the considerations by the researchers to conduct the research for more positive impact and role of CRM department for more benefits will be discussed.

Does Soap and the Water can help to reduce the cross infection among the patients hospitalized?

1. Introduction

Benefits are related with the hand washing which includes the cost reducing and for the human being there are many other benefits like it also prevent from the infections (Voss & Widmer, 1997). Hand washing can play its important role in reducing the mortality predates and the morbidity in minimizing them (Newsom, 1993).

1.1 Background

The ratio of the infection is always high in the situation where many people live together or they work together closely, in such situation the probability of the infection is so high. High probability of spreading the infection can be reduced if the precautions and necessary actions taken on time. In order to prevent the cross infection basic hygiene requirements are need to be implemented. According to the Bradley & Rees, (2003) have been stated that due to different kind of infections can produce different diseases and the information regarding hand washing benefits can also play its important role in prevention of such diseases those can be produced in the result of cross infections. So the ratio of these kind of diseases can be controlled and can be reduced to a significant numbers if the proper precautions could be undertaken by the people and the awareness of hand washing and other hygiene actions and standards can be implemented and people act on the guidelines to prevent themselves from such type of infections and they can avoid themselves to become victim of such infections, because these infections become cause of many illness among them and these kind of diseases can be easily transfer from one person to other person.

1.2 Guidance on the control and prevention of infection

In June 2003 the National Institute for health and clinical excellence has been published the prevention guidelines from the infections in order to control the spreading the infections. These all the guidelines to prevent the people from the cross infection and these all guidelines were based completely on the scientific scholars statement and were also documented, all those conclusions and the positive recommendations were completely based on the HCAI primary principles and on the high standards and all the measures were made and evaluation methods were used and implemented just in order to prevent people from the cross infection to save their lives and to improve their health and life standards. 

1.3 Aim of the Research

There are the following aims and objectives of this research

The researcher will find out about the role and benefits of soap and water in order to minimize the effect of infection

The researcher will also find out the role of water and soap in reducing the number of infected people from cross infection

The researcher will find out the role of soap and water in improving people health quality

Research Approach

The research method and the tools and research techniques adopted by the researcher to conduct this research will be discussed here in this section in detail.

1.4 Objectives

• The literatures will be critically analyzed on the topic of infection and its causes and the methods and guidelines to prevent people from this infection.
• The advantages and importance of all methods those can play their role in controlling and preventing the infection in the care homes to improve the quality of health and lives of residents will be find out.
• Conclusion and recommendations will be made to improve the weak areas and to improve the strategies.

1.5 Research questions

• Which steps are necessary to taken under considerations by the care homes to make preventions and making control the infection in the care homes in United Kingdom?
• What are the main hindrances, issues and problems are related while implementing guidelines to prevent the infection in care homes?
• What are necessary and basic actions important to control and prevent the infections in the care homes?

Literature review

2.1 Significance of infection control programs

Too much health care resources are required and its cost is so high to offer care services, the cost of health care especially to provide the antibiotic and to provide health care facilities the hospitals need more laboratory studies and medicine supply. According to Rhinehart and Friedman, (2006) that hospitals have acquire the infections germs those can damage the patient’s quality of life. And one main and major cause of hospital acquired infection is the use of advanced technology and the persistent procedures and due to these causes the old people are suffering from the chronic diseases. The main cause and factors those play their role in acquiring infections in the hospitals include antimicrobial resistant bacteria. Due to the shortages of untrained and unskilled employees or staff members those can play their effective role in preventing infections.

2.2 Infection control and promoting factors in care homes

There are following considerations those leads towards reflection

Health care services without infections are always required by the people

While during the treatment the people can be affected through the infection in the hospital or through working or eating or sharing toilets or kitchens stuff with infected people due to cross infection bacteria.

During treatment the people pass through damaged procedures and processes that can cause them infection

According to the Bearman et al., (2004) that health care providers can also transfer into the customers and themselves as well during the investigation and observation process the infectious agents in both ways like indirectly or directly.

There are following some factors those can contribute their important role in spreading the cross transmission and those factors are given as under

In the hospital when there are so many people admitted for their treatment and when there is shortage of staff members to provide necessary treatment

2.3 Different means of infectious disease transmission in homes

In the hospitals there are two kind of main sources of infection and both are discussed in detail below one by one

Exogenous Sources: In this way the infection always spread and the infection bacteria occur just because of the patients those enter the hospitals and come from outside this is called exogenous source of infection bacteria in the hospitals and in this way the others like other patients or staff members they can be affected and the infection can be developed inside them.

Endogenous Source: This is the second way of infection spreading in the hospitals and in this way the bacteria or infection already exist inside the hospital and germs remained inside the part of the hospital and the patients can be affected due to microbes and the patients can be affected seriously.

2.4 Way of infection transmission

2.4.1 Disease transmission cycle

first of all is the main mean of infection transmission is the disease transmission cycle which states that infection can be controlled when all the other necessary elements are clear, means when the infectious agents is identified and the source of the agent has been identified, the susceptible host must be identified those received the agent must be identified and the source from host to agent must be identified then in this way the infection can be controlled successfully. And the basically the relationship among all is called the chain of the infection and some of the scholars stated it as disease or infection transmission cycle (East, 1999). Similarly East, (1999) has been stated that in order to break the transmission of the infection it is necessary to break down the infection transmission chain and then in this way the infection control is possible.

2.4.2 Mechanism of disease transmission cycle

Agent

Agent is the major component that can cause the disease and that can be one of the between following different agents like parasites, virus, fungi or bacteria, so one of them can be the agent of the infection.

Reservoir

 2^nd main component of the infection transmission cycle is the reservoir and if there is no reservoir then the infection transmission is not possible, and the agent as discussed above is always resides and its growth is always take place in the reservoir. According to the Ayliffe et al., (2000) have been stated that all the items which includes and take part in the clinical processes and procedures always serve as the infection agent reservoirs and the items like human being, plants, air, soil, animals, solutions and water those can take part in the clinical procedures can serve as reservoir for the infection agents.

Exit Place

First of all the infection bacteria called the agent get growth in the reservoir and after infection it leave the reservoir that is called the exit place and the only one way is the skin cut, blood stream, surgical suit, puncture and rash which are known as the exit place for the infection agent.

2.5 Modes of infection Transmission

Contact:       

This means the direct mean of infection transmission like through sexual inter course or through touching the infected person, it can be through the hospital visit frequently because the infection germs can be transferred into human being through hospital atmosphere or through any clinical procedure or it can be possible through infection acquired instrument or area.

This area has been divided into two major sub sections

(i).     Indirect Transformation:         In this way the infection germs can be transferred through infected (already contained infection germs) through infected needle, any other infected clinical or surgical instrument, gloves or through contaminated dress.

(ii).    Direct Transformation: the second main source of the infection transformation is the direct source like through one body to another body, one surface to another surface, one physical transformation to another like from one person blood to another person blood it can be transferred.

Droplet Transformation:           

Droplet transformation which is always generated by the cough of the already contaminated germs, through the patient sneezing, bronchoscope or through his or her talk as well, and the contaminated drops if fallen at some distance (short distance) some scholars have been stated that minimum at one meter distance they can be affected and harmful for the other healthy people. According to the Wilson, (2011), that through air contaminated drops can be transmitted into other people and the infection agent can move easily in the survivor easily and there is no such a way to disturb the air to interrupt this air that contained the agents.

Vector Transmission

The infection agent always transferred through them those have already this infection inside their body and become cause of infection agent transformation in other physical bodies for example the yellow fever, malaria, plague and fleas for most common here.

4.       Common Vehicle Transmission

According to the Pratt et al., (2001) that sometimes the infection agent can be transmitted through the specific material that already contained the infection agent for example the blood that already contained hepatitis A Virus, B Virus and C infection virus and HIV and HCV similarly salmonella spp. Food, in the water some the existence of Shigella or Chol era can also become cause of infection transmission and the infection can be transferred from one people to other people.

Airborne Transmission

Transfer the infection agents in the other physical human body and especial kind of air ventilators and air handling are required to disturb the droplet transformation of infection from air to healthy body, Measles and M. Tuberculosis are the both kind of infections agents those can easily transmit from air to survivors.

2.6 Infection control practices and its Importance

Infection agent transformation control can be break and the disease spreading can be controlled and can be prevented by creating the awareness among the people regarding the use of water and soap and its role and importance. According to the Wilson, (2001) that the awareness about the disease and infection from the HCV and HIV and from the HCV and the scope of the controlling actions and all other activities those can play their role positively, in order to break the infection transmission spreading cycle or chain it is very important to find out the importance of those steps that can easily play their role in breaking the chain or cycle of the germs transformation.

Research Methodology

3.1 Introduction

Importance of case study selection, research limitations, sample size and sample selection method, research method either quantitative or qualitative, tools and techniques those will be adopted by the researcher to records, making analysis and conclusions will be explained.

3.2 Research Method

According to the Saunders et al., (2009) have been stated that it is the demand and need of the time to choose more than one research methods to conduct the research and to achieve the specific aims and objectives, so researchers must select more than one research methods to obtain valid and reliable results. In order to achieve the specific aims and objectives of the research, Saunders et al., (2009) have been defined some effective and important steps to achieve the research aims and objectives efficiently and effectively. The researcher will adopt the qualitative research method to conduct this research to achieve the aims and objectives of this research positively because in this way in the available time and other resources the researcher by selecting the case study as tool can achieve the aims and objectives to solve the research problem. According to the Neumann & Lawrence, (2006) that quantitative research method is most suitable for the researchers when they have limited resources as compared to the qualitative research method, but in the medical sciences in the opinion of the doctors and nursing staff there are more advantages for the researchers to adopt the qualitative research methods.

3.3 Source of data

Here the researcher will use the review of literature as secondary data and the researcher will consult the books, reports, articles and journals, the researcher will also use electronic books, electronic articles and journals as well and websites as well but all the books and articles and press releases and report will be titled on the health care and on the importance of water and soap role in reducing and preventing the people from infections.

3.4 Search results

The researcher has been gathered the about 40 research papers and by adopting the criteria of inclusion and the criteria of exclusion the researcher has been rejected the 17 research papers and the remaining 23 papers were selected by the researcher to conduct the research. And after studying the research papers in details the researcher has again rejected the 8 research papers from the 23 research papers and selected the 15 research papers and then those research papers were evaluated by the researcher as per the aims and the objectives of the research.

3.5      Research Limitations

Shortage of time

Limited financial resources

The researcher has no already research experience

3.6      Ethical considerations

The researcher will not disclose the results to the co workers, colleagues and to the class fellows and the researcher will not include her own opinion in the primary data collection, the researcher will never allow other people to steel her research work. The researcher will abide by all kind of discriminations and will not disclose any information of the participants and will not use this research work for another academic purpose.

1.                 Project Planning

4.1      Project Resources

Financial cost will be paid by him and all the cost associated with this research will be paid by the researcher.

4.2      Cost of the Project

Serial  Number	Description of Resources	Cost (£)
1	Printing	50
2	High tea and travelling	150
3	Software cost and printing as well	250
4	Total amount	450

4.3      Gantt Chart

Problem/Issue	X
Aims and Objectives	X	X
Literature Review	X	X	X
Questionnaires			X	X
Weeks	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Primary Data and analysis					X	X
Conclusion and Recommendations						X	X	X
Application of Contingency Plan									X	X

4.4      Contingency Plan

The researcher has 2 consecutive weeks to make necessary changes as per the recommendations of the honourable supervisor.

5.        Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1      Standard Precautions

According to the Clarke, (2003) that standard precautions always are useful in reducing the probability or chance of occurring infection very low and if these precautions can be implemented effectively then the infection can be controlled easily and the cost of the infection prevention can be reduced.   

There are some precautions have been discussed by the researcher

Personal protection from (The staff members must use their own)

Gown

Gloves

Facemasks

5.2      Transmission Based precautions

There are three different kinds of precautions

Droplet

Contact

Airborne

According to the Cozad & Jones, (2003) that in order to reduce and to prevent people from the infection agent combination of the precautions that is the most suitable and the more effective and efficient way.

5.3      Trainings and educating people

According to the Goldrick, (1999) that following processes and procedures are required to train and creating awareness among the staff members to train them to prevent people from infection.

All the staff people including contractors and regular workers must be trained

5.4      Evaluation of competencies

According to the Pratt et al., (2007) that the environment must be neat and clean and the neat and clean environment can prevent the infection agent to transmit and the hand hygiene must be implemented because the hand hygiene can play its role in the prevention of infection agent among the people.

5.5      Hand Hygiene

According to the Larson, (1995) that hand washing is so important and the people must wash their hands with the liquid or soap and make it sure that they have cleaned their both hands and all the surface of both hands have been properly cleaned.

5.6      Point of care when the hand hygiene is necessary

The hospital staff members of care home staff members must consider the following points.

Touching the patients

Doing wound

Any Task (aseptic)

And after the touching blood, faces, urine, vomits etc.

After touching patients

The staff members must taken into their consideration the following actions

They must wear gloves and must change the gloves after touching one patient

They must put the gloves in the bin after touching patient and do not reuse them

5.7      Conclusion

As this is the social and ethical and on job duty of all the members of the hospitals and care home nursing staff to prevent and to break the infection agent cycle for improving the life and health quality of the patients and to keep clean the atmosphere free from infection agents. It is the duty of all the care providers and the hospitals to provide the healthy environment and infection free atmosphere and environment to the patients.

A critical discussion of The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility

1.          Introduction

The essay is important for its early analysis of photography, and the influence photography and technological reproducibility have had on art and our perception of it. I summarized the essay below, dedicating a short paragraph to each of the chapters of Walter Benjamin’s essay. I have commented briefly after each paragraph to indicate strong and weak points in the essay. First of all, Benjamin observes that the reproducibility of art is a consequence of the advances of productive capitalist society, and that the political interest of its consequences should not be underestimated. Benjamin’s main observation is correct and extremely important. One may quarrel with the Marxist style of his preliminary observations (Samuel, 1996). However, they are explicit, not hidden and do not influence his main analysis of the consequences of the reproducibility of art, and should rather be seen as hallmarks of intellectual integrity and openness (Taylor, 1997).

2.          First Paragraph

 Next, he observes that though reproducibility of artworks has been known for a long time (casting, stamping, woodcuts, movable type, engraving, etching, lithography), with the advent of photography, reproduction in detail was vastly accelerated, with minimal effort. He sets out to analyze the effects of the reproduction of artworks and the art of film, on art in its traditional form. Again, Benjamin’s main observation is acute, and acknowledges the strong influence that reproductive society has on our perception. He rightly considers the influence of photography on art as dominant compared to the influence of art on photography although the latter is also important. In fact, he stops short of analysing the wider influence of photography on culture in society, although he alludes to it often in the sequel of the essay. He could have allowed his observations a wider applicability (Walter, 1988). Benjamin is clearly aware of that but chooses nevertheless to concentrate on the influence on art. The choice of domain is artificially small, and is presumably the cause for a much less refined treatment of much broader subjects in the introduction and epilogue (Theodor, 1997).

3.          Second Paragraph

Benjamin argues that the work of art is distinguished from a reproduction by the here and now of the artwork. He argues that photographic reproduction is not forgery, since it can reveal details unobservable to the human eye, and can place the artwork in otherwise unreachable contexts. Reproducibility endangers the original’s aura. Mass existence detaches the authentic object from the sphere of tradition. Once more, Benjamin makes an important observation. The reproduction of an artwork is not like the original, however, note that Benjamin chooses here to think of photography of art, and not of photography by itself. He considers the artwork as reproducible via photography, and concentrates on the difference between the reproduction and the original, identifying authenticity and aura of the artwork as qualities that are lost in the process of reproduction (Samuel, 1996). Aura and authenticity are vague concepts, in my view, and I associate them with an old view on art in which a Master realizes a singular work of art, and distils magic on a canvas. However, it is true that the concepts of aura and authenticity can, in many particular instances be filled in concretely, and they are therefore useful. More examples would have been appropriate. To me the most important point at this junction is that photographs are reproducible independent of their application (Taylor, 1997). It is one of their most important characteristics, here applied only to the reproducible reproduction of a work of art. In fact the paragraph show that Benjamin is only concerned with a particular application of photography, namely in art. His essay cannot be read as an analysis of photography proper, although it contains important elements for such an undertaking. In particular, anything photographed becomes a mechanically reproducible image. That is an important characteristic of the act of photographing (Walter, 1988).

4.          Third Paragraph

Modes of perception change. Aura is associated to distance. By reproduction, distances gets smaller, sameness is extracted from uniqueness, the work of art becomes repeatable and transitory. The reverence for true art is again manifest in the description of what photographical reproduction does to the artwork, perhaps, to make the transition clearer, Benjamin consciously exaggerates the starting point (Samuel, 1996). However, that is unnecessary and refers to a very classic view on art. I often want to be close, feel close is taken in by the artwork, are emotionally touched by its mastery. Moreover, associating repeatability to transistorize does not make little sense, nor does associating art to eternity make sense, although again, it is a classic mistake. Eternity is a concept that I won’t easily fit into my lifetime. It is a negation of the finitude that we are familiar with in our lives, and that I should cherish. Benjamin makes the very important point that our perception of art changed through its reproducibility. That is certainly true, and needs to be analyzed in more detail (Taylor, 1997).

5.          Fourth Paragraph

The uniqueness of the work of art is determined by its basis in ritual. Art in the age of reproducibility is revolutionized. It is based not anymore on ritual, but politics. Ritual is advanced as a prerequisite for art. Without ritual, art becomes a goal in and of itself. However, there is nothing wrong with that, and I believe that art has gained its independency of ritual, and that it deserved to do so (Walter, 1988).

6.          Fifth Paragraph

The stress on the cult value of works of art has shifted to their exhibition value. Photography and film are ideally suited for realizing that shift. Again an acute and visionary observation, a further analysis of the consequences of this fact, both negative and positive, is necessary (Theodor, 1997).

7.          Sixth paragraph

From some cult value in early photography portraits, fleeting human presence via at get photography has become evidence for a historical process. Perhaps, when photographs were less widely spread, they kept cult value. However, they were always ideally suited for exhibition, and they still are, even the eldest ones.

8.          Seventh Paragraph

Certainly, it is true that we must not ask whether photography is an art, for various reasons. The technological innovation underlying photography and film revolutionized our vision, and we must undertake the definition of new categories to cope with its advent, instead of trying to fit them into an old dictionary. However, it is also insufficient to ask how photography as a technique of reproduction has changed art. It has changed art in more drastic ways than as a means of reproduction. It seems that Benjamin underestimates still the importance of photography (Taylor, 1997).

9.          Eight Paragraph

The actor is tested optically by cinematography. The audience is not in personal contact, but takes the position of the camera, the optical tester. The approach contradicts the cult value.

10.      Ninth Paragraph

In film, the actor loses his person, his here and now. The best acting is where the actor acts as little as possible losing his aura entirely, the actor need not identify with a role. Indeed, the best acting is often minimal and I believe this is partly due to the viewer’s capability for empathy and her imagination (Samuel, 1996).

11.      Tenth Paragraph

The screen actor confronts the consumer. Capital sets the fashion. Film is only revolutionary in its criticism of the traditional concepts of art. Everybody can be filmed, everybody writes. The masses are involved. The revolt of the masses is a fact and I associate it to a rise of the overall standard of living rather than to one particular facet of technological revolution and the breadth of its manifestation is, by nature, large (Theodor, 1997).

12.      Eleventh Paragraph

Vision of reality is one via apparatuses, diminishing distance and increasing detail. Our daily perception of reality has remained more or less constant, from our ape days until now, and the influence of apparatuses on our daily lives should not be exaggerated. Their technological importance, and their importance in scientific discovery, of course, can hardly be overestimated and it is true that to some degree, the associated sense of possibility has influenced popular culture (Walter, 1988).

13.      Twelfths Paragraph

Pleasure becomes fused with expert appraisal, in the relation of the masses with art. Simultaneous mass reception of painting is unthinkable, and does not naturally confront masses directly. Art is again associated to an elite, individual activity, while it is essential that culture is public, and only in its publicity and public value, it can be culture. However, it is clear that a reaction of the masses cannot replace an expert opinion, when better informed, based on a broader interpretation, a finer analysis of distinguishing characteristics, etcetera, the larger public should take time to listen to experts, but should by no means be excused from an attempt to shape an informed opinion (Taylor, 1997). Any suggestion to that effect is tantamount to cultural suicide.

14.      Thirteenth Paragraph

Film sharpens and deepens our optical and auditory impressions. Artistic uses and scientific uses of photography are identical, as will be demonstrated by film. My field of vision is enlarged, our eye is sharpened. We see things we could not see before, discovering the optical unconscious. Benjamin rightly estimates that photography and film have influenced and enlarged our visual perception. This society has developed a far more subtle visual language, due to the omnipresence of imagery and a linguistic analysis of visual language in contemporary imagery is called for (Walter, 1988).

15.      Fourteenth Paragraph

Dadaists destroyed the aura of art and outraged the public. Film is shock replaced by shock. The analysis of cinema is certainly not simplified by the continuous visual attack on our brain during viewing. The analysis of film should be approached with caution, time delay, and a stop button.

16.      Last Paragraph

The artist enters the painting the masses absorb the work of art. Concentration is contrasted with distraction. The public is a distracted examiner. Benjamin again uses a classic image of art in which the artist loses himself in the painting, contrasted with the masses devouring art. The latter is a more optimistic view on art than we are used to from Benjamin. Fascism allows masses to express themselves, not changing the property relations and war delivers the artistic gratification of a sense of perception altered by technology (Samuel, 1996).

Conclusion

The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility points towards very important consequences of the invention and pervasiveness of photography. Benjamin wrote an essay about art and about the influence of photography on art. He identifies technological reproducibility as a paramount feature of photography. His concept of art is classical, and his essay seems to have a pessimist undertone about the influence of modern media on the experience and social consequences of art. He rightly identifies the strong influence of photography and film on our modes of perception. By contrast I would like to argue that photography and its reproducibility are still underestimated in this essay, where its function is too often narrowed down to the reproduction of art. I wish to stress the necessity of a linguistic analysis of visual imagery and a more thorough study of the special relationship between art and politics, from the perspective of quieter times. It is necessary to understand photography and film better, to better control its potentially destructive use. Clearly, photography has made fine art more democratically accessible to a much wider public and the influence of this fact on art should not be overestimated, whereas art is bought by a small fraction of the people that have been reached by photography and it is true that expert critics and potential buyers have gained easier access to art works through photography, but it would be fair to conclude from this that better art has gotten a better chance of getting the upper hand, not only in the market, but everywhere worldwide (Theodor, 1997). The influence of the public at large on the expert critics and buyers exists but should not be exaggerated. We should not confuse products of distraction and entertainment with the production of works of art. Though it is extremely interesting to analyze precisely the way in which Benjamin identifies, like a visionary, salient features of technological and cultural streams during his lifetime, more than half a decade later it should strongly be recognized that his analysis is dated (Samuel, 1996).

Identify the range of sources which constitute the evidence base for social work practice and how these sources inform decision making

In reviewing definitions of evidence based practice, a frequently cited one is the definition offered by Sackett, identified as the father of the evidence based medicine movement in England. He stated that evidence based practice is the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decision about the care of the individual patient. It means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research (Gibbs, 2003). Evidence quality can be assessed based on the source type from meta analyses and systematic reviews of triple blind randomized clinical trials with concealment of allocation and no attrition at the top end, down to conventional wisdom at the bottom, as well as other factors including statistical validity, clinical relevance, currency, and peer review acceptance. EBM recognizes that many aspects of health care depend on individual factors such as quality and value of life judgments, which are only partially subject to quantitative scientific methods. Application of EBM data therefore depends on patient circumstances and preferences, and medical treatment remains subject to input from personal, political, philosophical, ethical, economic, and esthetic values. The Institute of defines evidence-based medicine as the integration of best researched evidence and clinical expertise with patient values. This evidence based medicine movement has morphed into a more generic focus on evidence based practice, and the discussions can now be found in the broad health and behavioral health arena, as well as in the context of education, criminal justice, and child welfare services (Institute of Medicine, 2001). In the social work profession, evidence based practice is receiving increasing attention. The scholar has been addressed several basic premises that support a social work focus on EBP, including commitment to clients best interest, values guided practice, goal directed practice, accountability, and commitment to scientific standards of evidence. Some scholars suggested that placing  the client’s benefits first, evidence based practitioners adopt a process of lifelong learning that involves continually posing specific questions of direct practical importance to clients, searching objectively and efficiently for the current best evidence relative to each question and taking appropriate action guided by evidence. In response to this call to use evidence-based interventions, concerns arise that evidence based interventions might be too prescriptive because services will be developed according to guidelines without attention to individual client needs (McCall and Green, 2004). A comprehensive definition of EBP is intended, however, to take into account the values, ethics, and individual situation of the client. Evidence based practice is a process for making practice decisions in which practitioners integrate the best research evidence available with their practice expertise and with client attributes, values, preferences, and circumstances. Evidence based practice involves a practitioner bringing their own knowledge and skills together with best quality evaluation research to make a decision about selecting what programme/intervention is most appropriate to the parents/children they are working with. The results of population based research form the foundation of evidence based medicine. It aims to use the experience of a population of patients reported in the research literature to guide decision making in practice. This practice of evidence based medicine, which later evolved to evidence-based health care, requires the application of population based data to the care of an individual patient. In the past, we have relied on the experience of physicians or other health care workers to make decisions about therapy. In the current information era, this approach would be suboptimal as health care workers rapidly find themselves unable to cope with the influx of a huge variety of new information, from the irrelevant to the very important (Rosen, 2003). Therefore, Evidence-based decision making gradually emerged as a solution to integrate the best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values and expectations as practiced by the individual health care provider. The concepts and ideas attributed to and labeled collectively as EBM/EBHC have now become a part of daily clinical lives, and health care professionals increasingly hear about evidence-based guidelines, care paths, questions and solutions. The controversy has shifted from whether to implement the new concepts to how to do so sensibly and efficiently, while avoiding potential problems associated with a number of misconceptions about what EBM/EBHC is and what it is not. The EBM/EBHC related concepts of hierarchy of evidence, meta-analyses, confidence intervals, study design, and so forth are so widespread, that health care professionals have no choice but to become familiar with EBM/EBHC principles and methodologies (Sackett et at., 1996).                         

Recognise the usefulness of inquiry reports as sources of evidence for the development of future social work practice

Inquiries, in my view, should be conducted as far as possible in the public domain. This issue arose recently in respect of the Shipman Inquiry in which a decision to hold a substantial part of the inquiry in private was overruled by the High Court (Collins, 2000) It is important that inquiries are carried out in such a way that there can be no appearance of a cover up, while ensuring that the proceedings are not a substitute for a criminal or disciplinary process. It is also necessary to make sure that individuals’ rights are protected as far as possible. However, a balancing of a number of peoples’ rights will often have to be undertaken. Relevant to that difficulty is whether inquiries should be conducted in an inquisitorial or adversarial manner. Many inquiries, it has been said, claim to prefer the former approach (Carr and Kemmis, 2006). In other words, the inquiry is not restricted to evidence produced by the parties and the way they present it. The inquiry can, through a counsel to the inquiry, carry out its own thorough investigation. However, it is essential, in my view, that there is cross-examination of witnesses. The trend recently has been only to permit counsel to the inquiry to question witnesses. The reality is probably that inquiries, apart from internal ones, are mostly a mixture of the inquisitorial and adversarial approaches. The introduction of ‘Salmon Letters’, named after a well-known judge, has ensured that potential witnesses are informed of allegations which may be made against them and of possible criticism. This has become standard procedure in inquiries. The messages from the Care Inquiry evidence sessions, that the system should be one that enables positive relationships to be established and maintained, are absolutely consistent with by feedback from the research in practice network. This year our members have asked us to focus on relationship based practice, managing contact, working effectively with families at risk of entering the care system, and supporting carers (Dingwall, 2003). What of the practical impact of inquiries? In the child care field, we have learnt of the terrible abuse that has taken place in, for example, residential children’s homes. As a result, some children and young people have been able to come to terms with what happened to them and, in some cases, to obtain compensation in the civil courts. Some very necessary reforms have taken place. Some remain gathering dust. Overall I believe there is a feeling that we are still generally awash with recommendations that have not been implemented, or effectively implemented. No one can doubt that there will be more scandals in the future and there are bound to be more recommendations about more effective inter-agency working in the child care field (Fahl and Markand, 2007). It has been mooted that child care inquiries have failed at great cost to the public purse and should, therefore, be discontinued. There has certainly been a trend towards many more internal reviews which, unfortunately, have far less public exposure. I do not think that public inquiries should, or will, be made redundant. Their role is still, in appropriate circumstances, of great importance and it is vital that energetic people of integrity are prepared to carry out thorough investigations. There is a clear desire within the sector to understand how to improve these areas and it is a real privilege to be working alongside people to this end. To get a complete picture, it is important to take a systematic and ongoing approach to collecting, analysing, and interpreting data in order to gain a wide variety of useful evidence. Useful evidence is evidence that helps provide answers to the questions or hypotheses being investigated (Fisher, 2009). This means that the tools and approaches used to gather data must relate to the purpose of the inquiry and the context in which it is taking place. Site based inquiry can draw on informal evidence, such as observations and interviews, and formal evidence, such as standardised achievement data. Related research findings by others from outside the immediate context are another valuable source of evidence, provided it too is collected and actively interpreted for the purpose and the context. The distinction between inquiry and research also points to the centrality of research to a culture of inquiry. Published research should be a rich source of information for those engaged in reflecting on their work practices or in developing policy, provided that it is not simply transferred un problematically but is read in the context of the issues being explored through inquiry. Once the inquiry report is completed and handed over, matters are then left in the hands of central and/or local Government and so often seem to get lost. It has been suggested that recommendations from inquiries should become legislative proposals immediately. I think that this is too ambitious and, constitutionally and practically, too difficult (Hall, 2006). However, there is scope for a small body to be set up to monitor the progress of the implementation of the results of inquiries on a regular basis. In respect of children, this is another important function that could be carried out by an independent children’s commissioner. Such a post is, in my view, urgently required in England.

Analyse against an identified framework the relationship between agency policy, legal requirements, research, practitioner knowledge and the voice of service users.

Policy

Good quality of care requires competently delivered services that meet the client’s needs by practitioners who are appropriately supported and accountable. Practitioners should give careful consideration to the limitations of their training and experience and work within these limits, taking advantage of available professional support (Kirk and Reid, 2007). If work with clients requires the provision of additional services operating in parallel with counselling or psychotherapy, the availability of such services ought to be taken into account, as their absence may constitute a significant limitation. Good practice involves clarifying and agreeing the rights and responsibilities of both the practitioner and client at appropriate points in their working relationship. Dual relationships arise when the practitioner has two or more kinds of relationship concurrently with a client, for example client and trainee, acquaintance and client, colleague and supervisee. The existence of a dual relationship with a client is seldom neutral and can have a powerful beneficial or detrimental impact that may not always be easily foreseeable. For these reasons practitioners are required to consider the implications of entering into dual relationships with clients, to avoid entering into relationships that are likely to be detrimental to clients, and to be readily accountable to clients and colleagues for any dual relationships that occur. Practitioners are encouraged to keep appropriate records of their work with clients unless there are adequate reasons for not keeping any records (Lang, 2004). All records should be accurate, respectful of clients and colleagues and protected from unauthorised disclosure. Practitioners should take into account their responsibilities and their clients’ rights under data protection legislation and any other legal requirements. Clients are entitled to competently delivered services that are periodically reviewed by the practitioner. These reviews may be conducted, when appropriate, in consultation with clients, supervisors, managers or other practitioners with relevant expertise (McIvor, 2005).

Legal Requirements

All counsellors, psychotherapists, trainers and supervisors are required to have regular and on-going formal supervision/consultative support for their work in accordance with professional requirements (Gibbs, 2003). Managers, researchers and providers of counselling skills are strongly encouraged to review their need for professional and personal support and to obtain appropriate services for themselves. Regularly monitoring and reviewing one’s work is essential to maintaining good practice. It is important to be open to, and conscientious in considering, feedback from colleagues, appraisals and assessments. Responding constructively to feedback helps to advance practice. A commitment to good practice requires practitioners to keep up to date with the latest knowledge and respond to changing circumstances. They should consider carefully their own need for continuing professional development and engage in appropriate educational activities. Practitioners should be aware of and understand any legal requirements concerning their work consider these conscientiously and be legally accountable for their practice (Institute of Medicine, 2001).

Practitioner Knowledge and voice of user

The practice of counselling and psychotherapy depends on gaining and honouring the trust of clients. Keeping trust requires:

Attentiveness to the quality of listening and respect offered to clients

Culturally appropriate ways of communicating that are courteous and clear

Respect for privacy and dignity

Careful attention to client consent and confidentiality

Clients should be adequately informed about the nature of the services being offered. Practitioners should obtain adequately informed consent from their clients and respect a client’s right to choose whether to continue or withdraw. Practitioners should ensure that services are normally delivered on the basis of the client’s explicit consent. Reliance on implicit consent is more vulnerable to misunderstandings and is best avoided unless there are sound reasons for doing so (McCall and Green, 2004). Overriding a client’s known wishes or consent is a serious matter that requires commensurate justification. Practitioners should be prepared to be readily accountable to clients, colleagues and professional body if they override a client’s known wishes. Situations in which clients pose a risk of causing serious harm to themselves or others are particularly challenging for the practitioner. These are situations in which the practitioner should be alert to the possibility of conflicting responsibilities between those concerning their client, other people who may be significantly affected, and society generally. Resolving conflicting responsibilities may require due consideration of the context in which the service is being provided (Rosen, 2003). Consultation with a supervisor or experienced practitioner is strongly recommended, whenever this would not cause undue delay. In all cases, the aim should be to ensure for the client a good quality of care that is as respectful of the client’s capacity for self-determination and their trust as circumstances permit. Working with young people requires specific ethical awareness and competence. The practitioner is required to consider and assess the balance between young people’s dependence on adults and carers and their progressive development towards acting independently. Working with children and young people requires careful consideration of issues concerning their capacity to give consent to receiving any service independently of someone with parental responsibilities and the management of confidences disclosed by clients. Respecting client confidentiality is a fundamental requirement for keeping trust (Sackett et at., 1996). The professional management of confidentiality concerns the protection of personally identifiable and sensitive information from unauthorised disclosure. Disclosure may be authorised by client consent or the law. Any disclosures should be undertaken in ways that best protect the client’s trust. Practitioners should be willing to be accountable to their clients and to their profession for their management of confidentiality in general and particularly for any disclosures made without their client’s consent. Practitioners should normally be willing to respond to their client’s requests for information about the way that they are working and any assessment that they may have made. This professional requirement does not apply if it is considered that imparting this information would be detrimental to the client or inconsistent with the counselling or psychotherapeutic approach previously agreed with the client. Clients may have legal rights to this information and these needs to be taken into account. Practitioners must not abuse their client’s trust in order to gain sexual, emotional, financial or any other kind of personal advantage. Sexual relations with clients are prohibited. ‘Sexual relations’ include intercourse, any other type of sexual activity or sexualised behaviour (Carr and Kemmis, 2006). Practitioners should think carefully about, and exercise considerable caution before, entering into personal or business relationships with former clients and should expect to be professionally accountable if the relationship becomes detrimental to the client or the standing of the profession. Practitioners should not allow their professional relationships with clients to be prejudiced by any personal views they may hold about lifestyle, age, gender, disability, gender reassignment, race, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership. Practitioners should be clear about any commitment to be available to clients and colleagues and honour these commitments (Collins, 2000).

Utilise legal, political and ethical frameworks to inform current best practice

Principles direct attention to important ethical responsibilities. Each principle is described below and is followed by examples of good practice that have been developed in response to that principle. Ethical decisions that are strongly supported by one or more of these principles without any contradiction from others may be regarded as reasonably well founded. However, practitioners will encounter circumstances in which it is impossible to reconcile all the applicable principles and choosing between principles may be required (Dingwall, 2003). A decision or course of action does not necessarily become unethical merely because it is contentious or other practitioners would have reached different conclusions in similar circumstances. A practitioner’s obligation is to consider all the relevant circumstances with as much care as is reasonably possible and to be appropriately accountable for decisions made. Being trustworthy is regarded as fundamental to understanding and resolving ethical issues. Practitioners who adopt this principle: act in accordance with the trust placed in them, regard confidentiality as an obligation arising from the client’s trust; restrict any disclosure of confidential information about clients to furthering the purposes for which it was originally disclosed (Fahl and Markand, 2007). Practitioners who respect their clients’ autonomy: ensure accuracy in any advertising or information given in advance of services offered; seek freely given and adequately informed consent, engage in explicit contracting in advance of any commitment by the client, protect privacy, protect confidentiality, normally make any disclosures of confidential information conditional on the consent of the person concerned; and inform the client in advance of foreseeable conflicts of interest or as soon as possible after such conflicts become apparent. The principle of autonomy opposes the manipulation of clients against their will, even for beneficial social ends (Fisher, 2009). It directs attention to working strictly within one’s limits of competence and providing services on the basis of adequate training or experience. Ensuring that the client’s best interests are achieved requires systematic monitoring of practice and outcomes by the best available means. It is considered important that research and systematic reflection inform practice (Hall, 2006). There is an obligation to use regular and on-going supervision to enhance the quality of the services provided and to commit to updating practice by continuing professional development. An obligation to act in the best interests of a client may become paramount when working with clients whose capacity for autonomy is diminished because of immaturity, lack of understanding, extreme distress, serious disturbance or other significant personal constraints (Kirk and Reid, 2007).

Personal moral qualities

The practitioner’s personal moral qualities are of the utmost importance to clients. Many of the personal qualities considered important in the provision of services have an ethical or moral component and are therefore considered as virtues or good personal qualities. It is inappropriate to prescribe that all practitioners possess these qualities, since it is fundamental that these personal qualities are deeply rooted in the person concerned and developed out of personal commitment rather than the requirement of an external authority. Personal qualities to which counsellors and psychotherapists are strongly encouraged to aspire include (Lang, 2004) (McIvor, 2005):

Empathy: The ability to communicate understanding of another person’s experience from that person’s perspective.

Sincerity: A personal commitment to consistency between what is professed and what is done.

Integrity: Commitment to being moral in dealings with others, personal straightforwardness, honesty and coherence.

Resilience: The capacity to work with the client’s concerns without being personally diminished.

Respect: Showing appropriate esteem to others and their understanding of themselves.

Humility: The ability to assess accurately and acknowledge one’s own strengths and weaknesses.

Competence: The effective deployment of the skills and knowledge needed to do what is required.

Fairness: The consistent application of appropriate criteria to inform decisions and actions.

Wisdom: Possession of sound judgement that informs practice.

Courage: The capacity to act in spite of known fears, risks and uncertainty.

Conclusion

The challenge of working ethically means that practitioners will inevitably encounter situations where there are competing obligations. In such situations it is tempting to retreat from all ethical analysis in order to escape a sense of what may appear to be un resolvable ethical tension. These ethics are intended to be of assistance in such circumstances by directing attention to the variety of ethical factors that may need to be taken into consideration and to alternative ways of approaching ethics that may prove more useful. No statement of ethics can totally alleviate the difficulty of making professional judgements in circumstances that may be constantly changing and full of uncertainties. By accepting this statement of ethics, members of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy are committing themselves to engaging with the challenge of striving to be ethical, even when doing so involves making difficult decisions or acting courageously (Sackett et at., 1996).

Develop a research minded approach to professional practice

It is now widely understood that professional practice must be informed by research and that students should also learn how to take this approach. This idea is not new, but the idea of evidence based practice has gained a higher profile in recent years. For example, Rosen, (2003) asserted that many of the processes and skills used in professional practice also support research work. He drew a parallel between the main tasks of the social worker and the researcher:

Social Work:		Research:
Assessment		Problem formulation
Determine intervention plan		Research strategy
Implement intervention		Collect data
Evaluate intervention effects		Analysis of data
Review and termination		Conclusions

Others have made a philosophical argument about the inter-dependence of professional practice and research, including how the combination can be mutually enriching. This resource aims to show you how to build those bridges between research, learning and practice, so that research-mindedness becomes an every-day perspective that informs what you do and how you do it. A care manager in an elderly person’s team in a Social Services Department wanted information on local voluntary groups willing to visit elderly people to provide a friendly contact, especially in cold weather (Gibbs, 2003). A list of such groups already existed in the office, but the care manager suspected it was out of date and possibly incomplete. She wrote to each of the groups on the list to ask whether they still visited elderly people, and if so how many volunteers they had available (Institute of Medicine, 2001). She also wrote to local faith organisations and other relevant groups, as well as asking her colleagues, in an effort to identify new groups. The care manager used local knowledge and contacts to spread the net for new groups, and asked a couple of questions of each so as to establish whether they did visiting and how much they could take on. Once gathered the data was used to provide a resource for all staff in the office (McCall and Green, 2004). 

SWOT and STEEP analysis of ASDA

ASDA was originally formed in the 1920s as Hindell’s Dairies. The company was established by a group of Yorkshire farmers who processed and sold meat and milk products through Hindell’s Dairies. In 1949, the company changed its name to Associated Dairies and Farm Stores Ltd. The grocer merged with Queen’s Supermarkets to form ASDA Stores Ltd in 1965.

ASDA aims to be a value retailer that surpasses the customer’s expectations in terms of product price. To this end, the supermarket chain says that it will provide customers with goods as a lower price than its competitors do. At its more than 300 stores across the United Kingdom, ASDA sells food and groceries, as well as other products for the home.

ASDA, a British supermarket chain, was acquired by Wal-Mart in 1999. The British chain also follows Wal-Mart’s strategy of making goods available at a low cost so as to attract customers. Thus, a major objective for ASDA is to be a value retailer that helps customers to save money on their purchases. Another is to source products locally in order to play a role in the local communities they operate in.

1.1   ASDA aims and Objectives

ASDA group Ltd aims is to provide goods and services that are cheap and affordable to the public.

Reducing packaging is one of ASDA’s key objectives and they consider every option to achieve this goal.

It intends to increase the amount of fresh products sold loose from boxes and reduce its range of own label pre-packed products sold in its stores across the country is key objective.

To offer quality products at low price is another aim of ASDA.

In order to cover this aim they buy products from highly competitive supplier.

They also use their own packing and brand name to reduce packaging cost.

1.2   ASDA Mission Statement

A mission statement sets out the long-term direction of the organisation. ASDA’s mission is: ‘to be Britain’s best-value retailer exceeding customer needs always’.

As well as having a mission statement, ASDA has a statement of purpose. This helps stakeholders to understand why the business exists. ASDA’s purpose is ‘To make goods and services more affordable for everyone’.

1.3   ASDA Values

ASDA also has a series of values. These are moral statements that help to encapsulate the company’s beliefs which then determine the decisions and actions it takes in the marketplace.

ASDA’s values are (Ronald, 2013):

Respect for the individual

Strive for excellence

Service to our customers

2.      SWOT and STEEP analysis of ASDA

SWOT analysis entails a distillation of the findings of an internal and external audit which draws attention, from a strategic perspective, to the critical organisational strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats facing the organisation. Whereas PESTLE analysis is an audit of an organisation’s environmental influences with the purpose of using this information to guide strategic decision-making. The assumption is that if the organisation is able to audit its current environment and assess potential changes, it will be better placed than its competitors to respond to changes (Thomas, 2007).

This report will analyse the impact of political, economic, social, technological and environmental factors on Asda. It will also identify the key forces that represent both opportunities and threats to its profit. Data is supplemented with details on the company’s history, key executives, business description, locations and subsidiaries as well as a list of products and services and the latest available company statement (Julie, 2009).

2.1   SWOT analysis

2.1.1   Strengths

Asda/Wal-Mart is a powerful retail brand. It has a reputation for value for money, convenience and a wide range of products all in one store. Asda primary focus is saving money and keeping costs low (Jean and Glen, 2010). The company has a core competence involving its use of information technology to support its operations. For example, it can see how individual products are performing store by store at a glance. It also supports its efficient procurement. People are key to the company’s business and it invests time and money in training people, and retaining a developing them. Its expansion in non-food has been propelled by Wal-Mart. In the last five years the supermarket has quadrupled its non-food offer to more than 12,000 general merchandise lines (Albert, 2008). Asda recognised it was a great way to accelerate growth in the UK and has drawn on the expertise of Wal-Mart in this area. They have taken product, gone on joint buying trips, sourced globally and shared category management expertise on how to space and display (Menon, 2010).

2.1.2   Weaknesses

A key Asda weakness is its lack of smaller supermarkets and convenience stores. Britain, like many European countries, has placed sharp restrictions on construction of “big box” stores in suburbs and rural areas (Koch, 2006). While most Asda stores fall into that category, two thirds of Tesco’s outlets are small or medium stores. Wal-Mart is the World’s largest grocery retailer and control of its empire, despite its IT advantages, could leave it weak in some areas due to the huge span of control. Since Wal-Mart sell products across many sectors (such as clothing, food, or stationary), it may not have the flexibility of some of its more focused competitors (Hill & Westbrook, 2007).

2.1.3   Opportunities

As part of the world’s largest retailer, Asda has harnessed Wal-Mart’s enormous buying power, especially on general merchandise. Here, its ability to source materials like denim on a global scale has helped drive down the price of a pair of jeans from £14 to £4 over the last five years (Ronald, 2013). But food still accounts for the largest part of Asda’s turnover and it is here where its low pricing model has really fuelled sales.

Asda has opportunities to take over, merge with, or form strategic alliances with other global retailers, focusing on growing both its food and non-food markets. According to Andy Bond, part-time chairman of the company, set out a series of key targets for the chain, including overtaking Tesco to become ‘number one’ in non-food retailing in the UK and opening 100 smaller format supermarkets. Asda buys Netto supermarket. The move signals supermarket chain’s commitment to smaller store format, as it plans to incorporate 193 Netto stores into its portfolio (Julie, 2009). The sale, which remains subject to regulatory approval, will see Asda convert all of Netto’s UK locations into Asda stores and integrate them into its new supermarkets division for units smaller than 25,000sq ft. Asda expects the transaction, which will see it close the gap between rival chain Tesco, to finalise after approval from the Office of Fair Trading later this summer (Thomas, 2007).

2.1.4   Threats
Consumers, worried by the coalition government’s measures to rein in record debt with tax increases and public sector cuts, are also becoming more wary in their spending. Britain’s grocers are facing more moderate food price inflation and a jump in petrol prices that has left shoppers with less to spend on groceries (Jean and Glen, 2010). According to Asda, research carried out on its behalf by Cebr showed UK families’ disposable income in December is forecast to be 172 pounds, 5 pounds lower than last year. Asda’s second quarter to June 30, report shows flat underlying sales, impacted by subdued food price inflation and consumer worries over prospective tax rises and employment uncertainty. That compares with a decrease of 0.3 percent in the first three months of the year, the first fall since early 2012, and a rise of 4.6 percent in the final quarter of 2013 (www.asda.com).

2.2   STEEP Analysis

The following factors in the macro environment including tax changes, new laws, trade barriers, demographic change and government policy changes will affect the decisions of the managers of Asda. To help analyse these factors, managers can categorise them using the STEEP model (Albert, 2008).

2.2.1   Political factors

According to United Kingdom government that an across the board tax was needed to increase the costs to all drinkers. Increasing taxes has been announced as part of the Conservative’s alcohol policy, but questions have been raised about how effective it will be to find a fair formula that could be used to judge whether a product is being sold below cost, as outlined in their Green paper (Hill & Westbrook, 2007). Alcohol Concern have previously commented that increased taxes are a start, but that minimum pricing is the most effective policy and prevents supermarkets from absorbing tax increases on alcohol as loss-leaders. Asda strategic planners will be watching this closely and would want to study the impact it will have on their policy of keeping prices low (Menon, 2010).

2.2.2   Economic factors

With the budget looming and coalition economic policy still awaiting definition, the call for a new, stricter approach to competition has come under elliptical attack from both the political right and left. Asda like its main competitors Tesco and Sainsbury have been accused of tax avoidance, depriving farmers of a livelihood and functioning as modern-day monopolies that drive local businesses out of communities (Koch, 2006). There is increasing pressure on the conservative government to bring a stricter approach to competition to bring the big companies under control. This may have very serious implications for the long term operations of the supermarkets especially Asda that prides itself on keeping prices low. The question to ask is how important are grocery prices compared with long-term market competitiveness, small business ownership and the livelihood of agricultural producers? The average family spends 11 percent of their income on food, and this rises to 15.9 percent for those on the lowest incomes. There is suggestion that decreases in food prices considered in isolation over the past two decades have increased the standard of living for the poorest by approximately 2.75 percent, before inflation is taken into account (Ronald, 2013). Consumers, worried by the coalition government’s measures to rein in record debt with tax increases and public sector cuts, are also becoming more wary in their spending. Identifying markets that are likely to be resilient and potentially growing during the recession requires analysing what people and businesses are likely to do more during the recession. This leads to several general ideas that may be applicable to a wide range of business. The most evident growth potential exists in the low price segment as many consumers shift from premium brands to budget substitutes. Consumers will always need to satisfy their basic needs, and during recession they do so with tighter budgets. Evidence of successful value-for-money strategies exists in the low price section of retail sector. For instance Asda has been reporting sales growth (Thomas, 2007).

2.2.3   Social factors

Changes in social trends can affect the demand for Asda’s food and non-food products and the availability and willingness of individuals to work for it. In the UK, for example, there is a growing pool of retired workers willing to work to supplement their pensions. Asda have started to recruit older employees to tap into this growing labour pool. The ageing population also has impact on the demand for both its food and non-food products such as medicines and glasses from its optical stores (Julie, 2009).

2.2.4   Technological factors

New technologies create new products and new processes. Online shopping and computer aided design are all improvements to the way that Asda do its business. The company has a core competence involving its use of information technology to support its operations. For example, it can see how individual products are performing store-by-store at a glance. IT also supports its efficient procurement (Jean and Glen, 2010). Technological factors that have perhaps had the most impact on Asda have been the Internet. More and more people are using the Internet and a company like Asda have seen a very significant growth in its online shopping and provision of service through its website (www.asda.com). Technology can reduce costs, improve quality and lead to innovation. These developments can benefit consumers as well as the organisations providing the products. Technology has been used to support and realise Asda’s primary focus of saving money and keeping costs low (Albert, 2008).

2.2.5   Environmental factors

Asda supports carbon reductions in most of its stores. Asda’s stores are eco friendly 40% more energy efficient and emit 50% less carbon dioxide than a standard new build store (Menon, 2010). Over the past couple of years Asda have been working with their suppliers to reduce the amount of carbon emitted during the manufacture, growing and processing of their products something that’s known as embedded carbon. Asda is also part of the Institute of Grocery Distribution, a think tank and research organisation for the sector, working with the British Standards Institute to find a method by which all retailers can measure the amount of embedded carbon in their supply chains. If Asda did not take environmental issues seriously it could have dire consequences for its reputation (Hill & Westbrook, 2007).

3.     Conclusion

There are issues about Asda having unfair competitive advantage over other small retailers and potentially driving them out of business. It is important for managers to consider factors such as tax changes, new laws, trade barriers, demographic change and government policy changes, opportunities to enter new or emerging markets, their perceived weaknesses and competitions that can impact on the operations of Asda and rank such factors in the order of their likelihood of occurring and also rate the impact if it did. STEEP analysis will help identify policies, laws and regulations governing monopolies and competition.  This is one of the challenges facing Asda in its quest to expand its business. Consumer law helps to protect consumers by ensuring that businesses can compete fairly in the market economy and competition drive down prices and improve quality of goods and services.  Under EU law, there is concern that unfair competition or a large share of the market (dominant) can result in low quality product and services and consequently increase in prices of goods and services. Fortunately for ASDA, it is not considered to be exploitative but should bear that in mind as it continues to expand its stores. Higher the likelihood of it occurring, the greater the impact of any change and the more significant this factor will be to the ASDA’s planning. A SWOT/STEEP analyses are therefore important to the day- to-day management of Asda stores.

What is the role and importance of CRM department in identification of customer’s expectations to achieve organizational objectives?

Loss and profits are the final results of business operations after financial transaction has been occurred (Bejou et al., 2005). Most of the organizations could not achieve their targets (long term and short term) and these organizations suffered from the heavy financial looses and at the end either they switch the industry or they leave the business (Anderson and Mittal, 2008). There are so many problems associated with the business organizations that’s why they could not achieve their targets well in time and all those problems are associated with their negligence and due to lack of skilled workers and lack of intentions towards identifying customer’s requirements and some time due to competitors strategies the organizational strategies become fail and organizations suffered from heavy financial looses (Anderson, 2009). There is a gap exist between the customer’s expectations and the products they perceived from the manufactures and this gap have great impact on the organizational success and can also impact on the client’s satisfaction and loyalty and in this way it has the impact on the sales and growth of organization (Buttle, 2007). The organizations can minimize this gap if they have proper and suitable business strategies to identify the client’s requirements and then they pass the information to the relevant department to design and manufacture or produce such type of products and services and include all the required characteristics in the products as per client’s requirements then in such a way the organizations can achieve their long and short term targets easily otherwise in the era of high competition the competitors can lead and there will be no success (Chen & Popovich, 2007). With the development and advancement in the technology and change in the culture the client’s requirements always changed (Bejou et al., 2005). Bennett, (2003) has been stated that change in the technology and procedure always have an impact on the people’s requirements and drawbacks and benefits of technology always pay positive and negative impacts on the demand and expectations of people in a society and even then in all over the world the change in technology have an impact on the culture and human beings. So it is important for the organizations to understand the living standards and change in the expectations and behaviours of people for their business success. It is necessary for the organizations to first understand the real requirements of their potential customers and then offer them the real solution as per their problem and in this way the satisfaction can be created and the loyalty and resale is also associated with the identification of clients problems and only the CRM department can be helpful in finding out the solution, and the clients retention ratio is also associated with the CRM department’s strategies by considering client’s expectations (Bhote, 2003). Change in the environment and change in the culture and routine always change in the demand (Kitzinger, 2006). Looy et al., (2007) have been stated that among the clients happiness always leads towards satisfaction and satisfaction leads towards loyalty and customer relationship management can create the satisfaction among the clients and this satisfaction can leads the companies towards success, and the success can be only complete when the organization meets the annual sales targets.

1.         To understand the gap between customer’s expectations and offered services

2.         Identify customer’s expectations

1.2      Title

The role of CRM department in Identifying Customer’s expectations to achieve organizational objectives (A Case Study of Sainsbury Superstore in Manchester United Kingdom)

1.3      Research Question

What is the role and importance of CRM department in identification of customer’s expectations to achieve organizational objectives?

1.4      Aims and Objectives

The researcher will conduct this research to find out the main role and importance of customer relationship management departmental activities in achieving organizational objectives and for this purpose the researcher will achieve this stated aims by dividing the aim into different objectives which are given as under

1.5      Objectives

To achieve the above stated aim and as per the above stated title and research question, the researcher has been divided the objectives to achieve the main aims of the research into small objectives which are given below here

First of all the researcher will find out the main responsibilities which includes the benefits/advantages of customers relationship management departmental and its duties towards organizational objectives.

Then the researcher will disclose the impact and importance of the customer’s expectations and its importance and its role for the success of organization

The researcher will also find out the relationship between the CM departmental connection and relationships between the organizational success and customer’s requirements

All other factors those can play their role in the success of customer’s loyalty and in retaining them by considering them through customer relationship management department and including them in the strategies and implementing at the workplace

The gap will be defined in detail and its negative impacts will be finding out by the researcher and the role of CRM department in reducing this gap will be disclosed by the researcher

The main issues/problems and challenges those are main hindrance in designing and implementing its strategies for the success of organization will be disclosed and their solution will be finding out by the researcher

Finally Conclusions and recommendations will be designed and developed by the researcher as per the outcomes for improving the strategies and policies and practices in reality in the organizations for positive outcomes.

1.6      Research Questions

To achieve the above stated aims and objectives the researcher has designed the basic questions which are given as under

What is the importance of CRM department and its role in achieving organizational objectives?

What is the role of customer’s expectations in organizational success?

Is there any gap exist between client’s requirements and offered products in the selected organization?

What is the link between the customer’s requirements and how the CRM department can play its role in identifying customer’s requirements and reducing gap?

What are the draw backs of this gap and which factors must be taken into consideration by CRM department in reducing and achieving organizations objectives effectively?

What kinds of improvements are required by the CRM department to improve its policies and strategies in order to reduce and in achieving selected organization’s goals?

1.7      Factors that contribute to the selection of the research question

Quality of products and services

Educations, training and skills of the staff members

Identification of customer’s expectations

Organizational objectives (to sustain the growth and business expansion)

Task 2

2.1      Rationale

All the business organizations have their aims and objectives and to achieve those objectives the organizations manage the business activities which include the organization, resource allocation, controlling and marketing (Powell and Single, 2003). Anderson and Mittal, (2008) have been stated that customers have needs and requirements and to overcome their specific needs and wants people are always ready to pay and spend amount and in return they need the solution of their needs and wants and solution of their problems. Bhote, (2003) has been stated that there are some factors that can be helpful for an organization to find out the customer’s expectations before designing and making products and before distributing the products, so the organizations must pay their attentions towards those factors rather than to pay its attention at marketing or customer relationship management role in identifying customer’s expectation, Buttle, (2007) has been stated that those factors includes actual problem, quality, price, size, volume, availability, ingredients, promises, feedback, opinion and suggestions these factors are most helpful for the organizations to identify customer’s needs and wants. To achieve organizational objectives it is necessary to create first the loyalty and satisfaction among the customers and the organizations if pay its attention at the research and development department then the customer’s needs and wants can be identified by implementing suitable strategies (Morgan, 2004). Customer relationship management always play its important role in identifying organizational opportunities and customer’s expectations and playing its role for achieving organizational objectives (Anderson, 2009). According to Bejou et al., (2005) have been stated that customers have their own needs and want and they are always ready to help out the customer in creating satisfaction, happiness and loyalty and ultimately in achieving organizational objectives. There is a direct relationship between the sales and the expected products and services and in this way the organizations can achieve their targets (Bennett, 2003). It is only marketing department responsibility to make it sure and plan all the marketing strategies in such a way that the successful transaction occur in result the sales function occur so that organization can achieve its main objectives (Bejou et al., 2005). It is not important for the organizations to establish the CRM department in the organizations because in this way the organizations needs to spend more money and the results are not as per expected (Bhote, 2003). Similarly the Buttle, (2007) has been stated that the loyalty and the satisfaction can be created by the organizations through high level quality and the low price and the employees can play their role in creating loyalty among the customers and this only can be possible if the organizations consider their welfare into their strategies and pay full attention for high salaries and equipping them high quality of trainings and skills can be developed among them instead of spending high amount on the customer relationship managements and offer high quality of products and services at cheap prices as compared to the competitors effectively and efficiently (Chen & Popovich, 2007). The organizations must put attentions on the welfare of client’s and on the welfare of staff members and offer them handsome salaries for creating productive attitude and creating loyalty among the clients by offering the low price products to the customers by identifying their required items and services (Kitzinger, 2006). Bejou et al., (2005) have been stated that it is customer relationship management responsibility to make strategies for the customers to offer them products at low prices as compared to the other suppliers and the products must be of high quality by identifying their expectations because the expectations can play their role in the sales and in achieving organizational objectives, because Anderson, (2009) has been stated that if the products are available in the market bust those products do not have the features as per customer’s needs and wants than no one will buy, and if someone will buy those products then after using the customer will become angry and there will be no sale. Chen & Popovich, (2007) have stated that the only customer relationship management department can determined the customer’s needs and their wants and can offer them the suitable solution for their problem, and in this way the organizations can be able to manufacture those products those can be as per the customers demand and their needs and the organizations can achieve their objectives. According to the Looy et al., (2007) that to achieve organizational objectives it is necessary for the organizations to first of all provide the products as per demand and the loyalty can be created by the organizations for successful business operations and customer relationship management can play its role in achieving organizational objectives successfully, and according to the McDonald, (2008) that once the relationship between the organization and the customer must be based on the loyalty and long term relationship is helpful for the organizations to meet their sales targets and sales volume for the growth of organizations. So in this way the identification of customer’s needs and requirements can play their role in achieving organizational objectives. 

According to the Sugandhi, (2007) that the organizations can achieve the goals only when the customers buy the products and after consuming those products and services they become happy means the products and services must provide them the expected results for which they paid the amount (price) and in this way they will come again and they will refer other people to buy the products and services and they will recommend others and when the sales volume will become high then the organizations can make profit for sustaining growth and to become market leader in the United Kingdom.

2.2      Rationale Frame of References

Loyalty, revisits, more sales, more profit

                               

2.3      Required Resources and their cost

S. #	Resources	Cost (£)
1	Travelling	70
2	Lunch etc.	100
3	Stationary, Software	300
4	Total	470

2.4      Time Schedule

Problem/Issue	X
Aims and Objectives	X	X
Secondary Data	X	X	X
Questionnaires			X	X
Time Schedule in Weeks	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Data Recording and Analysis					X	X
Making Conclusion and recommendation						X	X	X
Contingency Plan									X	X

2.5      Contingency Plan

The researcher has 2 weeks time as contingency period to make amendments and removing errors as per requirements

2.6      Questionnaires

Question:        Why did you come in this hotel?

Answer:

Respondents Reasons	Male	Female	Total
To meet someone	1	1	2
To attend a seminar	2	1	3
Visit the country	22	18	40
For official visit	14	19	33
To attend marriage ceremony	1	1	2
Total	40	40	80

In the given both charts the researcher came to know that the majority of the respondents belongs to the tourists and the second big number is belongs to the official tourists that belongs to the business meetings and for the government delegations where as the other purposes can be neglected and the main focus of the Holiday Inn must be on the foreigner tourists and on the official visitors because their proportion showed that these two kind of group mainly stayed in the hotels. The majority of the people is 49% those belongs to the foreign tourists and they stayed at the hotel and the second major proportion is the foreigner official delegation those stayed at the hotel.

Questions:      Did you ever been here (in this hotel) before and for how long you are coming and how many times you been here?

Answer:

Respondent’s Frequency per Year	Male	Female	Total
Never Before	3	2	5
1 to 5 times a year	15	17	32
5 to 10 times	11	10	21
15 to 20 times	6	7	13
More than 20 times	5	4	9
Total	40	40	80

So from the responses the researcher came to know that majority composed of 41% of the tourists came in London and they belongs to minimum 1 and maximum 5 times in a year, whereas the next major proportion is the 26% that people visit the London minimum 5 times and maximum for 10 times in a year, and then 16% of the tourists belong to the group those came in London for minimum 15 and maximum 20 times in a year and 11% of the people visits the London more than 20 times in a year and 6% came in London for the first time, so from the responses the researcher came to know that the opportunity is available in the market to capture more new clients from the target market and in this way the CRM department can make more benefits for the organizations.

Question:        Are you satisfied by the quality of services offered by this hotel CRM department?

Answer:

Serial #	Respondents	Male	Female	Total
1	Yes	34	30	64
2	No	8	8	16
Total		40	40	80

So from the respondents it is very clear that the 80% of the respondents are satisfied with the quality of services and products offered by the Holidays Inn customer relationship management.

Question:        Do you believe in the gap between the customer expectations and the offered quality of services and products?

Answer:

Serial #	Respondents	Yes	No	Total
1	Male	38	2	40
2	Female	38	2	40
Total		76	4	80

From this question the respondent came to know that 95% of the respondents have believe in the gap between their expectations and the only 5% of the respondents do not have an idea about the gap existence. A significant majority have the awareness about the gap between the customer’s expectations and the offered quality of services and products to the customers.

Question:        Do you believe that the customer relationship management department can play its effective role for enhancing sales and growth of an organization in the hotel industry and will reduce the gap between the customer’s expectations and the offered quality of services and products?

Answer:

Serial #	Respondents	Yes	No	Total
1	Male	32	8	40
2	Female	30	10	40
Total		62	18	80

CRM effectiveness in the hotel industry, the respondents showed that 77% of the respondents responded that they believe in the effectiveness of customer problem solutions and they believe that the CRM department can solve their all problems and there are only 23% of the respondents responded that they do not have knowledge about the effectiveness of CRM department.

Question:        Did you ever find the CRM staff helpful for their problem handling and in identifying their expectations to reduce the gap?

Answer:

Serial #	Respondents	Yes	No	Total
1	Male	32	8	40
2	Female	30	10	40
Total		68	18	80

About 85% of the respondents replied that they believe in the importance of the customer relationship management and its practices towards problem solving and helpful for themselves and they have also believe in that the CRM can also reduce this gap between their expectations and perceived quality of services and products, whereas only the rest 15% did not believe in the CRM strategies or their effectiveness. There are some reasons behind this answer first of all the clients 15% which is not negligible amount may do not have some idea or they do not have the knowledge about the effectiveness about the CRM.

Question:        Do you believe that is there a link between the customer’s expectations and their loyalty and satisfaction?

Answer:

Serial #	Respondents	Yes	No	Total
1	Male	38	2	40
2	Female	38	2	40
Total		76	4	80

As the 95% of the respondents have been responded that the customer’s expectations and their loyalty and satisfaction have a link, the 95% said that yes the link exist between their expectations and the loyalty.

Question:        Do you believe that loyalty and satisfaction can lead towards the re sale and can create the happiness for customers?

Answer:

Serial #	Respondents	Yes	No	Total
1	Male	40	0	40
2	Female	40	0	40
Total		80	0	80

100% of the respondents replied that there is no doubt and they all have believe in that loyalty and satisfaction are the factors those will lead them for re sale and become the reason of happiness among the customers and they all have believe in the satisfaction and the loyalty creating by identifying their expectations and by reducing the gap between the customer’s expectations and the offered or delivered quality of services and the products.

Question:        Which factors can play their important role in identifying their expectations and in creating more quality and happiness as compared to the other hotels?

Answer:

Serial #	Important Factors	Response	Total
1	Quick response	26	26
2	Employee attitude	22	48
3	Commitments	12	60
4	Offerings	18	78
5	Brand Image	2	80
Total		80	80

32% of the people believe that fast and quick response can create the quality of services and products whereas 27% of the respondents have responded that staff behaviour that includes the style, way of talking, communication and dealing is the major factors that can create quality and satisfaction among the customers, then 23% of the respondents have responded that offers which includes the low price at high level or pay for 2 nights and get i night free or book for 7 days and dinner and breakfast free same like the hotel must offer to create the quality and happiness among the customers and 15% of the respondents have replied that promises also play their important role in creating quality of services and products and happiness among the customers and there is no doubt that the keeping words and honour the promises always bring happiness and loyalty among the customers, only 3 % respondents have responded that brand image can create happiness and loyalty among the customers.

Question:        Which one or set of priorities would you like to prefer while booking a room in Holiday Inn and common factors those can helpful in identifying their expectations as well?

Answer:

Promises, Quality of services and products, Quick response of your call, Behaviour

Respondent’s Priorities list	Yes	No	Total Respondents
Quick response of call	70	10	80
Promises	75	5	80
Quality of services and Products	76	4	80
Staff behaviour	78	2	80

Question:        Did you ever register the complaints about the gap between offered quality of services and products and their expected quality of services and products?

Answer:

Serial #	Respondents	Yes	No	Total
1	Male	32	8	40
2	Female	28	12	40
Total		60	20	80

Most of the respondents have been responded in yes that they have registered their complaints against the gap and this ratio is 75% the higher ratio and only the 25% of the respondents have been responded that they never registered their any complaints against the gap regarding the quality of services and products.

Question:        Did you ever receive the response from CRM department against registered complaints and did they provide you the solutions at the spot or not?

Answer:

Serial #	Respondents	Yes	No	Total
1	Male	38	2	40
2	Female	38	2	40
Total		76	54	80

Majority like 95% of the respondents have been responded that the CRM department has responded them and the CRM department has responded them and provide them the best option and solution of their problems, only 5% people responded that they did not received the solution of their problems and they remained angry and waited for the solution.

Question:        Did you ever share your feelings, loyalty and your experience about the hotel quality of services with your friends, family friends and your colleagues?

Answer:

Serial #	Respondents	Yes	No	Total
1	Male	36	4	40
2	Female	38	2	40
Total		74	6	80

Majority of the people like 92% of the respondents have been responded that they share their experience of the travel and about their satisfaction and loyalty, quality of services and products with their colleagues and with their family members and with their family friends. Only 8% of the respondents did not share their experience with their family, friends and colleagues.

Question:        Do you believe that the price and quality can play their role in creating loyalty and satisfaction among the customer in the hotel industry?

Answer:

Serial #	Respondents	Yes	No	Total
1	Male	40	0	40
2	Female	40	0	40
Total		80	0	80

There are two types of customer quality conscious and quality conscious, and always customers gave priority to the high quality of products at low price items and that’s why 100% of the respondents have been responded that the price and quality always play its role in creating loyalty and happiness among the customers.

Task 3

3.1      Interpretation and Conclusion

The researcher has selected the qualitative and quantitative research methods to conduct the research and for the valid and more reliable result the researcher has been selected about 80 respondents and for their response the researcher make it sure that the visitors are as according to the target market, while conducting the whole research the researcher has keep all the aims and objectives in the mind and then go through for the research. The management of the hotel has arranged for the tea and sitting arrangements for the researcher and the respondents. From the interview of customer relationship management department management the researcher has concluded that the customer relationship management is responsible for the customer care and for the identification of customer expectations and for the improvements of the system in order to gather customer’s data. The researcher has been concluded that according to the management the customer relationship management can also find out the actual expectations of the customers and can play its role in delivering the quality of services and products as per the client’s needs and expectations and in this way CRM departmental role can be proved that there is a deep link between the CRM activities and sales and growth of the Holiday Inn hotel in London and this is the main purpose of the research to find out the factors and CRM activities to increase the sales volume and its role in growth of hotel industry in United Kingdom while its role in reducing the gap between the customer’s expectations and the delivered quality of services and products. The researcher has found out that there is a link between the CRM department strategies and the customer’s satisfaction and the loyalty and the loyalty and satisfaction have the direct relationship with the sales and growth of the organization.

Majority of the clients have believe in that their expectations and their loyalty are attached and have a deep link with each other and if the CRM department successfully understand their expectations about the quality of services and products then they will be able to deliver the same quality of services and products and in this case the clients will become happy and the organization will successful in creating satisfaction and loyalty among the clients and the client will come again to buy the products and will hire the services from them again and in this case sales and the growth will increase.

The researcher came to know that the CRM department and its activities at Holiday Inn need more concentrations and some factors as discussed above that need to be included in the process of identification of customer’s expectations. There are too opportunities available in the target market to capture more clients from the market and the Holidays Inn can become the market leader because most of the people have visited the London for different purposes and majority of the people came here for their different purposes minimum 5 times in a year. The 20% is not the negligible amount and the CRM department must review the whole procedure as the researcher has described that the CRM department must consider those factors those can play role in identification the customer’s expectations which includes priority, privacy, luxury, food, taste, pick and drop facility, neat and cleanliness and decoration, fast response and decoration and more important factors like low cost but high quality of services and products must be undertaken these factors and the staff skills and especially their communication skills must be reviewed and necessary actions must be taken by the department to improve their skills and communication process between CRM department and manufacturing department for manufacturing the services and products as per client’s expectations and the performance measurement must be evaluate so that the customer’s complaints must be handle in efficient way to create happiness and satisfaction among the customers for earning more money and become the market leader.

All the customers have believe in the loyalty and satisfaction and they responded that trough their expectation identification the CRM department can create satisfaction and loyalty among them if they provide them the quality of services and products as per their expectations then there will be significant increase in the sales and organization will make growth and the organization will capture new more clients and old will be retained y the CRM department in this way.

Here the researcher concluded that the 77% of the customers are linked with the new technology and they have the how and know about the CRM and its effectiveness where as the remaining 23% of the customers do not have interest in the new technology either the message of the awareness about the CRM effectiveness could not reach to them. The 15% is not negligible amount of the respondents and the 85% of the respondents have believe in the advantages and helping behaviour of the CRM staff and this is the loyalty and the happiness for the customers but the remaining 15% must be taken into consideration by the CRM department and pay its full attention towards achieving the effectiveness of CRM department for these 15% by actions and making policies that why these customers have been ignored. It is clear from the respondents that promises, quick response, staff behaviour and offers and brand image can create the quality of services improve and better for creating more loyalty and satisfaction among the customers.

Majority of the respondents 92% people share their feelings, experience and quality of services and products with their family friends, friends and colleagues and probably they may recommend them the products and services as per their experience and in this way loyalty can play its role for free marketing and this reference group will make string and permanent new clients and will help in achieving satisfaction and loyalty among them.

3.2      Evaluation

Here in this section the researcher will describe the research method that will be selected by the researcher to conduct the research, Anderson, (2009) has been stated that the researcher must select one of the research method from qualitative or quantitative research methods or both of them can be used as research method. Here the researcher will select both of the methods to conduct the research for achieving all the aims and objectives of the research. The researcher will select both of the research methods to collect valid and reliable data and to achieve aims and objectives of the research. According to the Bejou et al., (2005) that the qualitative and quantitative both of the research methods are useful for the inexperienced researcher when they have limited time and limited financial resources. 

a.         Population

All the customers and the customer relationship management staff members are the population of the research and the researcher will select the sample size among this population and “N” represent the whole number of population and “n” represents the sample size and the researcher will distribute the questionnaires (close ended and open ended questions) among them and semi structured interviews will be conducted by the researcher for achieving the aims and objectives of the research. According to the Bhote, (2003) that the researchers must involve the consumers in research process to gather valid and reliable primary data to make analysis and conclusion, similarly Bennett, (2003) has been stated that the researchers must include the departmental staff and especially the key person in the process of research conducting for achieving effective and valid information and to disclose the real factors and key successive factors. The researcher will select the key person from the customer relationship management because these people are most suitable responded and they have the valid and reliable information about the CRM department and its functionality and they have explain the responsibility and its functions more effectively.

b.         Sample Size

Chen & Popovich, (2007) have been stated that there are some different methods to select the sample size and all the methods have their advantages and disadvantages and it depends on the researchers to select the appropriate method for sample selection. Random sampling technique is appropriate if the whole population is available, and the stratified sampling technique is most suitable when the demographic or specific group must be taken into consideration, systematic method is always adopted by the researcher when a stream of people (like in a street) are available for research conducting like every 5^th person and finally cluster sampling is always referred when the respondents are far away like in some different cities and it is hard to conduct the research (Looy et al., 2007), so as the scholars have been stated that for this research the researcher must select the systematic sampling method to select every 9^th customer and will distribute the questionnaire among every 9^th customer, because the respondents need time to fill the questionnaires and this activity will take time. There must be about 100 respondents when the researchers planned to distribute questionnaires among them and follow qualitative and quantitative research methods (Kitzinger, 2006). The researcher has been decided to choose about 120 customers to distribute questionnaires among them. The researcher will include both the genders without any age, sex, colour and religion and ability discrimination.    

c.         Source of Secondary Data

Looy et al., (2007) have been stated that the researchers must not include the old literature while gathering secondary data and the researcher must not include own opinion and must use different sources like books, research papers, press releases and printed reports and latest technology must be used like electronic books, electronics journals and reports and websites must be included in secondary data gathering. There are many sources available to gather secondary data and the researcher will use the books with the title of customer relationship management and customer’s expectations identification and importance of customer relationship management, journals, articles, electronic books, electronics journals, different magazines and annual reports on the role and importance of CRM department in the and the selected organization (Sainsbury) website will also be used as a source of secondary data. McDonald, (2008) has been stated that the researchers must include the rational review of literature to prove its title and research question and must avoid including the old research statements because in the old time the technology and culture and trends and needs and wants are not same as today so fresh and latest scholar’s statements must be included in the secondary data.

d.         Questionnaires

According to the Chen & Popovich, (2007) have been stated that the researcher can gather primary data by distributing questionnaires among the respondents and the interviews are also the best way to conduct the research when the researchers have limited time and other financial resources limited. Case study is the best way to conduct the research when the researchers have the limitations like time and the other resources (Sugandhi, 2007). The researcher will select the case study “Sainsbury situated in Manchester United Kingdom” and will distribute the questionnaires among the samples by designing the effective questions and both type open ended and close ended will be included and the researcher will include both of them and the questions will be designed by keeping all the aims and objectives in their minds. According to Parasuraman et al., (2003) that, effective questionnaires include open and close ended questions. The researcher can gather valid and reliable primary data by distributing questionnaires among the respondents (Bejou et al., 2005).

D.        Reliability and Validity

It must be the most concern of the researcher to make sure the data validity and reliability at each and every step (Bejou et al., 2005). The researcher will consider all the ethical considerations as have been discussed in first chapter about the ethical considerations and in this way the data validity and reliability can be assured. According to Morgan, (2004) that data validity and reliability means the consistency and steadiness are the parameters of data validity and reliability.

3.3      Findings and Recommendations

The researcher came to know about the main responsibilities of the customer relationship management department in achieving organizational objectives and its main features and its role in creating happiness and satisfaction among the clients. The researcher has made some recommendations for the Holiday Inn hotel situated in the London 103-109 Southwark street London, England to get more positive results from the customer relationship management department. As according to the aims and objectives of the researcher the researcher has concluded the results after making analysis explained above and now made the suggestions for the Holiday Inn hotel to achieve its objectives while contributing the CRM departmental efforts positively, all the recommendations have been listed below

The hotel management must keep its full concentration on two types of target market number one is the foreigner tourists and second one is the official visitors those come and stayed in the United Kingdom and they pay high amount for short stay and those people expect high quality of services and products in the return of their amount, so the customer relationship management department must design the marketing plan for these two above stated targeted market to capture new clients and to hold and retain the old clients with the hotel for increasing the sales volume.

The customer relationship management must designed the marketing strategies with the coordination of other departments marketing and research and development department and after considering all those factors those can capture new and can retain old customers from the targeted market for achievement of organizational objectives.

The CRM department must review the specific skills and the software review according to the advance technology that has a great impact on the demand and expectations of the customers and the CRM department can also identified the expectations of the remaining 20% of the customers which is a major portion and the CRM department must check its communication process from top to bottom in the process of expectation identification in order to minimize the gap between the customer’s expectations and the quality of services offered to the customers in order achieve the main objectives to become market leader in hotel industry.

The researcher has suggested that the CRM must take it into consideration seriously and must design the promotional campaign and message convey policies must be affective and all other media channels used by the tourists for creating awareness among the tourists and making it sure that strategic alliance with the other business organizations is effectively conveying its message to the target people for awareness about CRM department.

CRM department must make it sure to get the feedback from them and in this way the customers will also feel that the CRM departmental staff is doing work for them and they can be benefited from them and in this way the more satisfaction and loyalty can be generated.

The CRM department must consider strictly the staff behaviour, brand image, always honour the promises made during the marketing campaign with the customers and always offer some kind of offers for the customers to attract them, to improve and increase the level of quality better and to make the customers happy and loyal with the Holiday Inn hotel.

To achieve organizational objectives the CRM department needs to pay its focus on the priorities of customers to create loyalty and satisfaction among the customers and for reducing the gap between the customer’s expectations and offered quality of services to capture more market share from the market and to earn more money from the customers.

Customer complaints handling process must be checked by the CRM department and the employee’s skills must be reviewed and they must be well equipped by all means in order to create happiness and loyalty among the clients so that they will come again to buy the products and services and sales volume will become high and organizational objectives will be achieved.

CRM department can reduce the gap between the customer expectations and offered quality of services and products to the customers by keeping in mind all those above discussed factors for identifying their expectations and for this purpose the CRM department must improve the staff skills and must keep in considerations the factors affecting priorities and expectations and increasing the quality of services and products and through the customer the free marketing opportunity can be availed.

All the customers want to buy the products at cheap price but with high quality of the products and in this way the CRM department in the Holiday Inn must design the offers to the customers and loyal customers in the seasons and loyalty card or the valued customers card guest card can be designed and a proper strategy must be designed by this department for special offers (low cost but high quality) in order to again attract these clients and in this way the old clients will also remain in contact and the new customers will also be captured by the CRM department from the market share easily and the organizational objectives can be achieved.

The hotel customer relationship management must find out the customer’s expectations and for this purpose the CRM department must update the software and must review the whole process because some important factors are missed from the software and those factors can play their important role in identification of customer’s expectations.

Task 4

4.1      Techniques used to analyze data

Looy et al., (2007) have been stated that, to avoid by the duplications the researchers can use tables to records data. Graphical representation is most suitable form to represent data proportions and pictorial form is most suitable form to show data associations among them and making analysis is more suitable and helpful (Kitzinger, 2006). The researcher will record the results in tables form first of all and then the data will be selected in excel sheet and proper diagrams will be used to show the relationships among different factors and their associations will be presented by using pie and bar charts.

The researcher has explained in detail the way of research and the methods he has adopted to conduct this research in detail and all those resources and the associated resources, sampling size, population size and primary and secondary data gathering techniques, data presentation and tools used in this research have been discussed in detail. The researcher has explained the aims and objectives of this research here in this section and all about the procedures of this research have been explained in this section. According to Soderlund, (2008) that the researcher must keep all the record of the research conducting which includes the methods, procedures, techniques and analysis tools and population and sample size as well as the main objectives of the research must be keep in record. According to the Reinartz and Kumar, (2003) that the researcher must follow a research method and keep record of all the work, due to the research method the researcher will save the resources and cost and the results are always valid and reliable when the researcher has adopted the specific way and method to conduct the research. Here in this research method the researcher has adopted the mix of qualitative and quantitative research method and selected a Case Study as tool to conduct the research because the research is associated with the academic purpose and the researcher has no such experience o research conducting and for the inexperienced person the case study tool is the better way to conduct the research and the researcher when has no time and money and for saving the time and resources the researcher must select the combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods and in the qualitative research methods the researcher must use the questionnaires for conducting the research.

Task 5

Date	Temp	Frequency
1	85	1810
2	90	4825
3	79	438
4	82	775
5	84	1213
6	96	8692
7	88	2356
8	76	266
9	93	4930
10	97	9138
11	89	2714
12	83	1082
13	85	1290
14	90	3970
15	82	894
16	91	2906
17	90	4615
18	84	1168
19	79	462
20	81	1018
21	95	5950
Mean		2881.524
Median		1810
Average		2881.524
S.D		2626.351

As per my calculations I came to know that the mean of the given data is 2881.524 and the median of the given data is 1810, the average that shows the mean value is the same as the mean value, has been calculated as the sum of frequency data and then divided by the 21 total days and consequently the figure is 2881.524, the standard deviation of the given data that is calculated is 2626.351 which shows that there is a big difference between mean value and the standard deviation, which showed that the value of standard deviation that the data is scattered on huge range from the mean value.

The graphical representation showed that the data is scattered from the mean value and the points showed that the values are away from the mean value, if the points found that those are near the mean value or the distance between the scattered points is less or near to the mean value it means that the data is most reliable.

As there is the difference between values is 255.2 which show that the variation is high. The value of standard deviation is high.

Quartile values are the values that if we divide the values in equal basis 1^st quartile 25%, 2^nd quartile means 50%, third quartile means 75%, so the lower quartile value is 1018 and upper quartile value is 9138.

The above chart shows the dates or time along x-axis and the sales volume along y-axis, which shows that there is no regularity, in the start the sales value is 1810 and the highest sales volume is 9238 the lowest is 266, but the sales volume is decreasing and increasing as per the variation in weather/ temperature.

After inserting the trend line to understand the trend of sales of beverage/ drink or to forecast the sale volume of drink in future it is clear from the drawn trend line that the sales volume will be decreases in the future but it depends on the temperature as well, in the start of the month the sales volume remain high because the trend line is above and with the passage of time the sales is going down and the line is also going downwards, it means that the sales volume is decreasing.

Task 6

Task/Weeks	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
A
B
C
D
E
F

The above chart is the Gantt chart that shows the number of tasks along y axis/ vertically and along x-axis or horizontally is shows the time period in weeks starting and completion time. In order to calculate the critical path time and to find out the critical path first of all we need to select the roots/ paths from start to end of the project. So there are only two paths first one is that start from A and B then C then E and finally at F and ends in 21 weeks, in the 2^nd path or root that start from A to B and then D, then E and finally towards F and end and in this way it will take 21 days to complete or finish the project time. The critical path that is the longest path and in this project the both are same.

Net Present Value

Project A

	Year1	Year2	Year3	Year4	Year5
Cash out flow	700000
Cash in Flow	225000	225000	225000	225000	225000
	-475000	225000	225000	225000	225000
	0.833	0.694	0.597	0.482	0.402
Present Value	-395675	156150	134325	108450	90450
NPV	93700

Project B

	Year1	Year2	Year3	Year4	Year5
Cash Out Flow	400000
Cash In Flow	110000	110000	110000	110000	110000
	-290000	110000	110000	110000	110000
	0.833	0.694	0.597	0.482	0.402
Present Value	-241570	76340	65670	53020	44220
NPV	-2320

As the net present values have been calculated for the both projects and in project B the value of net present is in negative so this project is rejected whereas the project A NPV is positive and that project is accepted and feasible.

Payback Period

Project A

For the project ‘A’ the payback period is 4 year    

The cash outflow is £400,000

First year cash inflow is 110,000, so the remaining will be (400,000-110,000) = £290,000

Second year cash inflow is 110,000, so the remaining will be (290,000-110,000) = £180,000

Third year cash inflow is 110,000, so the remaining will be (180,000-110,000) = £70,000

Fourth year cash inflow is 110,000, so the remaining will be (70,000-110,000) = £-40,000

And in the fourth year the cash outflow will be achieved and this year is the payback period.

Project B

In project B the payback period is 4 year

The cash outflow is £700,000

First year cash inflow is 225,000, so the remaining will be (700,000-225,000) = £475,000

Second year cash inflow is 110,000, so the remaining will be (475,000-225,000) = £250,000

Third year cash inflow is 110,000, so the remaining will be (250,000-225000) = £25,000

Fourth year cash inflow is 110,000, so the remaining will be (25,000-22500) = £-200,000

And in the fourth year the cash outflow will be achieved and this year is the payback period.

7.      References and Bibliography

Anderson, E.W. and Mittal, V. (2008) ‘Strengthening the satisfaction-profit chain’ Journal of

Service Research, 23(18), pp: 123-312

Anderson, E.W. (2009) ‘Cross Strategy variation in customer satisfaction and retention’

Marketing Letters, 33(9), pp: 111-180

Bejou, D., Ennuw, C. and Palmer, A. (2005) ‘Trust, ethics and relationship satisfaction’

Journalof Bank Marketing, 13(9), pp: 234-355

Bennett, R. (2003) ‘Relationship formation and governance in consumer markets: Transactional analysis versus the behaviourist approach’ Journal of Marketing Management, 23(12), pp: 33-156

Bhote, K.R. (2003) Beyond Customer Satisfaction to Customer Loyalty. 4^th ed. New York: AMA Management Briefing

Buttle, F. (2007) Customer Relationship Management: concepts and tools, 2^nd ed. Oxford:

Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann

Chen, I.J. & Popovich, K. (2008) ‘Understanding customer relationship management (CRM): People, process and technology’ Business Process Management Journal, 21(9), pp: 123-234

Engel, J.F., Blackwell, R.D. & Miniard, P.W. (2007) Consumer Behaviour, 2^nd ed. London: Dryden Press

Evans, J. R. and Laskin, R. L. (2002) ‘The relationship marketing process: A conceptualization  and application’ Industrial Marketing Management, 22(9), pp: 45-123

Goddard, W. and Melville, S. (2008) Research Methodology: An Introduction, 3^rd ed Lansdowne: Juta and Company Ltd

Gummesson, E. (2005) ‘Broadening and Specifying Relationship Marketing’ Asia-Australia

Marketing Journal, 21(13), pp: 123-234

Kitzinger, J. (2006) ‘Introducing focus groups’ British Medical Journal, 22(9), pp: 56-98

Looy, B.V., Gemmel, P. & Dierdonck, A. (2008) Services Management: An integrated Approach, 3^rd ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited

Morgan, D.L. (2004) Focus groups as qualitative research, 4^th ed. London: Sage Publications

Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (2003) ‘A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research’ Journal of Marketing, 32(21), pp: 45-132

Powell, R.A. and Single, H.M. (2003) ‘Focus groups’ International Journal of Quality in Health Care, 21(9), pp: 45-167

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2012) Research Methods for Business Students 3^rd ed. Essex: Pearson Education

Sugandhi, R.K. (2007) Customer Relationship Management. 4^th ed. New Delhi: New age

International Publishers

Yin, R. (2004) Case study research: Design and methods.3^rd ed. CA: Sage Publishing