ansoff matrix - 1731 Words

What is ansoff Mareix: Introduction The Ansoff matrix presents the product and market choices available to an organization. Here in markets may be defined as customers, and products as items sold to customers (Lynch, 2003). The Ansoff matrix is also referred to as the market/product matrix in some texts. Some texts refer to the market options matrix, which involves examining the options available to the organization from a broader perspective. The market options matrix is different from Ansoff matrix in the sense that it not only presents the options of launching new products and moving into new markets, but also involves exploration of possibilities of withdrawing from certain markets and moving into unrelated markets (Lynch, 2003).†¦show more content†¦Since the projection market matures , more and more people know about it and desire to buy , coupled with a steady decline in their prices , some small urban residents have a certain purchasing power. 3 Diversification the main industry has been divided into core business strategy business, emerging business, Changhong still as TV as their core business , they ensure the stable profitability and mobility ; they regard air conditioning , electronic parts , batteries as their main strategic business. information appliances is also the next major product development direction of changhong. 4 Service After Changhong operat the 4008 customer service call, the efficiency of customer service and information needs will be improved higher. integrated marketing services .Changhong integrated marketing services, the want improve the quality of services to satisfy the country s growing consumer demand for services and provide strong technical guarantee. Introduction The value chain approach was developed by Michael Porter in the 1980s in his book â€Å"Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance† (Porter, 1985). The concept of value added, in the form of the value chain, can be utilised to develop an organisation’s sustainable competitive advantage in the business arena of the 21st C. All organisationsShow MoreRelatedAnsoff Matrix1576 Words   |  7 PagesAssignment title: ANSOFF MATRIX 08/04/2015 Tanju Colak AccountID: 70446465 1 Tanju Colak (70446465) – Betriebswirtschaftliche und volkswirtschaftliche Grundlagen 1. Introduction In 2003, the author Lynch suggested that the Ansoff Matrix describes the market and product choices available to a company. In this context products may be determined as items sold to customers and markets as customers. In some cases, the Ansoff Matrix is also defined as the market and product matrix. With the help ofRead MoreAnsoff Matrix3132 Words   |  13 PagesTable of content The executive summary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 2 1. History of Ansoff Matrix.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 3 2. Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. . 3 3. Model Use and the Applicability†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 5 3.1 Market Penetration†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦........ 5 3.2 Market development†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 7 3.3 Product Development†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. .. 7 3.4 Diversification†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦ 9 4. The Advantages†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 12 5. The Risks†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Read MoreAnsoff Matrix1081 Words   |  5 Pagesassignment I will be describing how marketing techniques are used to market products in two organisations. The organisations I have selected are Tesco and Virgin Group. Growth strategies (Ansoff matrix) Igor Ansoff designed the Ansoff Matrix in 1957 and this was first published in the Harvard Business Review. The Ansoff Matrix identifies four areas of growth: 1. Market Penetration- Market penetration is where a business markets existing products to its existing customers. With this approach businesses areRead MoreAnsoff Matrix , Pdf2059 Words   |  9 PagesStrengths | Weaknesses |   Ã‚  Fast decision making |   Ã‚  Negative image of the Middle East |   Ã‚  Oil money, booming economy |   Ã‚  Barren desert, the lack of natural resources |   Ã‚  Political neutrality and impartiality |   Ã‚  Only 20% of UAE nationals |   Ã‚  Unique beauty, hotels and attractions |   Ã‚  The lack of fundamental infrastructure: transportation, water |   Ã‚  Luxury experience includes relaxing beaches and invigorating sport and exploration opportunities |   Ã‚  Luxuries might appeal too small a segmentRead MoreNestle Ansoff Matrix1801 Words   |  8 PagesIntroduction of Ansoff Matrix This well known marketing tool was first published in the Harvard Business Review (1957) in an article called Strategies for Diversification. It is used by marketers who have objectives for growth. Ansoffs matrix offers strategic choices to achieve the objectives. There are four main categories for selection. The market penetration strategy is the least risky since it leverages many of the firm’s existing resources and capabilities. In a growing market, simply maintainingRead MoreTesco Boston Matrix and Ansoff Matrix1156 Words   |  5 Pagesmacro environmental factors 1.2 Compare and contrast a minimum of two tools such as SWOT and POWER SWOT and apply to business solutions 1.3 Critically contrast Primary and Secondary research methods 2.1 Evaluate the use of tools such as Boston and Ansoff Matrix to business situations 2.2 Analyse the effectiveness of models such as Porter’s Generic Strategies 3.1 Evaluate consumer buying behaviour and the adoption process 3.2 Analyse the role of marketing mix to specific products 3.3 Evaluate the ProductRead MoreAnsoff Matrix on Apple1154 Words   |  5 Pagessoff MatMarket Penetration: -The signature product that made Apple, Apple, was the Macintosh. It first had a famous Television Advertisement in the US in 1984 introducing its signature product the Macintosh. This was led by Anya Major who was chased by agents of Thought Police, threw a sledgehammer into the screen of big brother David Graham. At the end, it says, â€Å"Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like 1984.† This screen of big brother David Graham supposedlyRead MoreAnsoff Matrix on Apple1170 Words   |  5 Pagessoff MatMarket Penetration: -The signature product that made Apple, Apple, was the Macintosh. It first had a famous Television Advertisement in the US in 1984 introducing its signature product the Macintosh. This was led by Anya Major who was chased by agents of Thought Police, threw a sledgehammer into the screen of big brother David Graham. At the end, it says, â€Å"Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like 1984.† This screen of big brother David Graham supposedlyRead MoreSwot Analysis Of Ansoff s Matrix For Mercure Hotel Essay1492 Words   |  6 PagesThe Ansoff Product-Growth Matrix as a marketing tool is used to analyses alternative corporate growth strategies, concentrating on the hotel’s present and possible products and markets. It evaluates ways to grow by exploring the existing products as well as new products. In existing markets and new markets, there exist four likely product-market combinations (Cohen 2013). Ansoff s matrix for Mercure Hotel offers four different growth strategies: Market Penetration - the hotel pursue to attain growthRead MoreSamsung Ansoff Matrix and Generic Strategies4248 Words   |  17 Pagesto grow and compete effectively. Secondly, we will analyse Ryanair generic strategic comprehensively. I will discuss its corporate strategy with the help of Ansoff Matrix. It provides four different growth strategies: Market Penetration, Market Development, Product Development, Diversification. Corporate Level Strategy (Ansoffs Matrix) Existing New Products

Essay on Philosophy of School Counseling - 1076 Words

Human Nature It is human nature to take the easy way when given a choice between an easy option and a difficult one. However, the easy way is not always the best way to grow and progress. Growth occurs when adversity is present, not when there is an absence of adversity and everything is easy. The Roman poet Horace observed, Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant. Horaces contention examines the role that adversity plays in the development of one’s character and understanding difficulty and suffering. It is in times of trouble, when adversities thrusts itself upon one that true character is make known. I am an optimist and believe that people are fundamentally good†¦show more content†¦The counselor is a collaborator The professional school counselor is first and foremost a collaborator with the student being his first client. It is the counselor’s responsibility to champion the cause of the student who has lost all options by collaborating with families and other educators. As a collaborator, the counselor gives other stakeholders options to choose and avenues to meet goals so that the student can succeed. It can be tricky to make suggestions to teachers or administrators that have given up on a student to help them see that the student can overcome past mistakes. The counselor who can suggest a plan of action to help a student get back on track and then have administration and teachers think it was their plan is truly resourceful. The ASCA National Model asserts that â€Å"school counselors can access a vast array of support for student achievement and development that cannot be achieved by an individual, or school, alone (American School Counselor Association, 2012, p. 6).† Collaboration is vital to effectiveness of a school counseling program. Structure of school counseling School counseling looks brief and active from the perspective of the professional school counselor. When I interviewed John Gavin (Mineral County School District Audit, 2014), he cautioned that his job was to help a student overcome a bump in the roadShow MoreRelatedPhilosophy Of School Counseling1329 Words   |  6 PagesAs a school counselor in practice, my philosophy of the role of the school counselor is that school counselors play a tremendous role in the life of their student and is very important for us, school counselors to be aware of our role in the students’ life. We play a big role in their development of different areas such as personal development, career/academic development, and social development. Therefore, what guide me to this career is that I want to be able to advocate for my students, and toRead MorePersonal Philosophy Of School Counseling1112 Words   |  5 PagesPersonal Philosophy of School Counseling In schools all over the world today, School Counselors are crucial to assisting students, parents, school administrations, and the community. I believe that creating an effective counseling program that supports the counselors’ role in education will foster a close interaction between students and counselor to achieve success in their personal/social lives, academic achievements, and college readiness careers. The Purpose of School Counseling School counselorsRead MoreProfessional Identity Paper1699 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿ The Professional Identity of a Counselor-in-Training COUN5004 The Professional Identity of a Counselor-in-Training What is professional identity? Is it the philosophies that a professional holds regarding their profession? Is it the roles and characteristics that are required in a listing of their job description? Or is it related to the resources available for a working professional to continually develop their skills within their profession? Professional identity is all of theseRead MoreCounseling: Helping Clients Find Solutions Essay1345 Words   |  6 PagesCounseling can be viewed as relationship between two individuals, a counselor and a client, with the aim of helping the client overcome a problem or reduce adversary/suffering .In this relationship, the assumption is that the client is in a problem and needs assistance, while the counselor is experienced and possesses unconditional positive regard to the client (Colin J. S Graham U. 1994).Therefore, counseling may also be regarded as a helping profession because it aims at helping the clients dealRead MoreHistory And Roles Of The Counsel ing Profession1173 Words   |  5 PagesMany counseling professions have been cultivated out of a gap in traditional subjects. Psychology is a great example of how a subject can develop into multiple branches like sociology or philosophy or counseling. Counseling in particular is a relatively new branch compared to the other social sciences and had a complex history on its path to becoming a respectable career. Despite its humble beginnings, individuals still benefit from counseling. Counseling specifications allow a multi-team approachRead MoreChicken Of The Woods - Turkey Tail1738 Words   |  7 Pagesstudies, and your plans for the future after you receive your degree. Report Name I am submitting to Syracuse University’s School of Education for full-time enrollment in the Ph.D. program for Counselor Education and Supervision. I pursue this degree in the spirit of Syracuse University’s philosophy of â€Å"living excellence,† a concept I fully embrace. My version of this philosophy is to live by the Greek word arete, meaning being for the highest moral virtue. Applied to my careers in education andRead More The Identity of a Professional Counselor 1777 Words   |  7 Pagesdifferences based on the specialization of counseling, as well as, overall identity factors that remain the same across the entire counseling spectrum. The paper examines key philosophies of the counseling profession which include: wellness, resilience, and prevention and how these philosophies impact the counseling profession. Next it will discuss the characteristics of an effective professional counselor in two different professional roles and two professional counse ling associations. Further, it will lookRead MoreKey Philosophies and Professional Identity1466 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿ Key Philosophies and Professional Identity: The Counseling Profession Rachel A Johnston COUN5004-205 Survey of Research in Human Development for Professional Counselors 108 Twin Lakes Road Port Deposit, MD 21904 Telephone: 443-993-6817 Email: rachelannjohnston05@gmail.com Instructor: Dr. Barbara Cooper Abstract When attempting to identify as a professional counselor, it is important to understand the basic elements of counseling as it pertains to individual specializations.Read MoreCounseling Philosophy1107 Words   |  5 PagesPhilosophy of Counseling As I reflect on what I have learned over the last five weeks, I find my personal philosophy of counseling being based on one main theme that I repeatedly saw in different readings; it is our duty to do what is in the best interest of the child. When I think about my reasons for wanting to pursue this career, I naturally feel it is because of my love for children; but more than that, I want to help foster the feeling that each and every student can be anything they wantRead MoreHistory of Counseling Essay1131 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿ History of Counseling Lead to Multidisciplinary Teams COUN5004 Survey of Research in Human Development for Professional Counselors History of Counseling Leading to Multidisciplinary Teams Counseling is a relatively new profession which has transformed over time from treating mental illnesses to providing educational guidance to counseling with a variety of specializations. Pistole summarizes by stating that counselors, now, aim to, â€Å"contribute to the vitality and vigor and

Relationships Among Service Quality Free Essays

string(133) " overall judgment of satisfaction or decomposed into satisfaction with performance or quality attributes \(Cronin and Taylor 1992\)\." Relationships among Service Quality, Image, Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty in a Hong Kong Franchised Bus Company Iris M. H. Yeung* Abstract Market share of franchised buses in Hong Kong decreases since 2004 irrespective of increase in service quality as reported by Tang and Lo (2010). We will write a custom essay sample on Relationships Among Service Quality or any similar topic only for you Order Now This paper investigates how service quality, image, satisfaction and loyalty are related to gain insight on the decreasing market share problem based on data collected from passengers of a franchised bus company in Hong Kong in 2004. The structural equation modelling results support the hypothesis that (1) service quality affects satisfaction and image directly, (2) image affects overall satisfaction and loyalty directly, and (3) overall satisfaction affects loyalty directly. However, the results do not support the hypothesis that service quality affects loyalty directly. Service quality has only indirect effect on loyalty through image and overall satisfaction. So even though the service quality may be increasing, the indirect effect of service quality on loyalty is not adequate to increase market share. Keywords: image, loyalty, public transport, satisfaction, service quality, structural equation model. Field of Study: Customer Service and Customer Relations Introduction In Hong Kong, public transport is the dominant transport mode, accounting for approximately 90% of daily passenger journeys over the past 10 years (Transport Department (1999, 2003)). Public transport comprises railways, franchised buses, public light buses, taxi service, non-franchised bus services for residents, ferries, railway feeder buses, and peak tramways. Among these modes, railways and franchised buses play an important role, carrying over seven million passenger journeys per day, or approximately 70% of the total public transport patronage (Transport Department (1995–2010)). Market share of franchised buses is generally higher than that of railways. In 2002, market share of franchised buses peaked at 39. 8%, whereas market share of railways at the time was a mere 32. 3%. However, with the opening of new rails, market shares of franchised buses and railways were 32. 4% and 38. 8% respectively in 2010. Other than competition from other modes, franchised buses compete with each other as well for the operating right of new bus routes. Moreover, the franchise can be terminated based on poor performance. Thus, service quality is essential to maintain market share and increase profitability under fierce competition. Iris M. H. Yeung , Department of Management Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon,Hong Kong, Tel. : + 852-3442-8566; Fax: + 852-3442-0189, E-mail address: msiris@cityu. edu. hk (I. M. H. Yeung) Yeung In fact, quality of services for both railways and franchised buses has continuously improved over the past years. Using Mass Transit Railway (MTR) and Kowloon Motor Bus Limited (KMB) as references, Tang and Lo (2010) commented that the quality of rail and bus service provision improved from 1984 to 2004, particularly in terms of service supply and based on technical measures such as vehicle-kilometre per capita and real fare increase rate. However, market share of franchised buses, including KMB, started to drop since 2004 irrespective of increase in service quality as reported by Tang and Lo (2010). As passengers decide on which transport mode to take, this paper investigates how service quality, image, satisfaction and loyalty are related in order to gain insight into decreasing market share problem from passengers? perspective. In line with Tang and Lo? s study, the analysis is based on a data set collected from passengers in 2004. Further, among all the franchised bus operators in Hong Kong, KMB has the longest history and is currently the largest, occupying approximately 70% of the franchised bus share in Hong Kong. Thus, KMB? quality of service affects many people in Hong Kong; it is of interest to a large share of the population and therefore merits investigation. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the literature review of the four constructs and the research hypothesis of the proposed structural model. Section 3 describes the research methodology. The results of exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and s tructural equation model (SEM) are provided in Section 4. Finally, Section 5 presents the concluding remarks with limitations of the study and suggestions for future research directions. Literature Review Service quality Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988) developed the SERVQUAL instrument, which consists of 22 attributes under five distinct dimensions (i. e. , reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness). They defined service quality as the difference or gap between customers? expectations and perceived performance and proposed to use gap scores to measure service quality. Despite the widespread use of SERVQUAL in various industries and countries, some scholars such as Brady et al. (2002), Cronin and Taylor (1992, 1994), Zhao et al. 2002) reported that service quality is more accurately assessed by the perceptions of quality rather than the „gap? scores. Another criticism on the SERVQUAL instrument is that the 22 associated attributes have been deemed inappropriate, or that they cannot be simply adopted for measuring service quality in all service industries (Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Lai and Chen, 2011). According to Ladhari (2009), 30 industry- specific measures of service quality have been developed between 1990 and 2007 in different industries and countries. Corporate image Corporate image can be defined as the overall impression that is formed in people? minds about a firm (Barich and Kotler 1991). Some researchers thought that service quality affects image (See, for example, Ostrowski et al (1993), Aydin and Ozer (2005), Nguyen and LeBlanc 1998). Also, it has been reported that corporate image can also affect customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (see, for example, Hart and Rosenberger 2004). 2 Yeung Customer satisfaction According to Oliver (1997, 2010), customer satisfaction is defined as a judgment that a product or service provided a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfillment. Also there are two levels of individual consumer? satisfaction: transaction-specific satisfaction and cumulative satisfaction. Transaction-specific satisfaction or encounter satisfaction is identified as a fulfillment response to a single transaction or encounter, whereas cumulative satisfaction is a judgment based on many occurrences of the same experience and not just one-time experience. For both cases (encounter satisfaction and cumulative satisfaction), satisfaction is either defined as an overall judgment of satisfaction or decomposed into satisfaction with performance or quality attributes (Cronin and Taylor 1992). You read "Relationships Among Service Quality" in category "Essay examples" Overall† â€Å"cumulative† satisfaction is commonly used by researchers such as Mittal et al. 1999 and Spreng et al. 1996. Loyalty According to Oliver (1997 P392;2010), loyalty is defined as â€Å"a deeply held commitment to rebuy or repatronize a preferred product or service consistently in the future, thereby causing repetitive same-brand or same brand-set purchasing, despite situational influences and marketing efforts that have the potential to cause switching behavior†. There are two appr oaches to customer loyalty: behavioural and attitudinal. Behavioral loyalty refers to a customer? s actual behavior to repeat purchases of products or services and recommend whereas attitudinal loyalty refers to a customer? s intention to repurchase and willingness to recommend. Attitudinal loyalty is more commonly used in many research studies (Loureiro and Kastenholz 2011) and relatively easy to measure. Relationships among perceived service quality, corporate image, overall satisfaction, and loyalty There is much previous research exploring the quality-satisfaction-loyalty (QSL) relationship. It is generally believed in marketing and service industries that (1) good service quality results in customer satisfaction, (2) good service quality attracts customers and hence lead to customer loyalty and (3) high satisfaction level is likely to create customer loyalty. However, it has also been reported that satisfaction may not be adequate enough to lead to loyalty, though loyal customers are almost typically satisfied (Cronin and Taylor 1992; Cronin et al 2000). Furthermore, corporate image is also found to affect customer satisfaction and loyalty. Customers who develop a positive image towards a company will tend to have high customer satisfaction through a halo effect (see for example, Hart and Rosenberger 2004; Lai et al 2009). Hart and Rosenberger (2004) reported that image has a â€Å"marginally significant† direct effect on customer loyalty, but a substantial effect mediated by customer satisfaction. Therefore, image can affect loyalty directly and indirectly. Based on the above literature review, this paper considers the structural model presented in Figure 1. The hypothesis proposed in the model are given below: H1: Service quality has a significant, positive and direct effect on orporate image. 3 Yeung H2: Service quality has significant, positive, and direct effect on customer satisfaction. H3: Service quality has a significant, positive and direct effect on loyalty. H4: Corporate image has a significant, positive and direct effect on customer satisfaction. H5: Corporate image has a significant, positive and di rect effect on loyalty. H6: Customer satisfaction has a significant, positive and direct effect on loyalty. Methodology Sampling and Data Collection The target population of this study comprises purely KMB passengers. KMB has three main types of bus routes running through urban Kowloon, the New Territories, and crossharbour. Stratified sampling was employed to select the bus routes within each type of stratum: urban Kowloon, New Territories, and cross-harbour. Passengers over 16 years old waiting at the bus stops or stations to ride the selected bus routes and had ridden a KMB bus in the previous month were invited for interview. A total of 855 passengers were randomly selected to complete the questionnaire; only 636 samples were valid and included in the analysis. Successful response rate was 74. %. To complete the questionnaire, passengers must be waiting for the bus at the bus stop. It should be noted that passengers arriving at the bus stop and boarding the bus immediately with little or no waiting period are relatively difficult to interview. Thus, the questionnaire must be as short as possible to encourage response, taking into consideration that respondents may easily lose their patience or may be in a hurry, as well as the fact that buses may arrive during the interview. The time for conducting the survey was scheduled from 7:00 a. m. to 11:00 p. m. n both weekdays and weekends to interview both peak-hour and non-peak-hour passengers. The interview was conducted in Cantonese in March 2004. Measurement and Data Analysis Based on a comprehensive review of the transport literature, detailed search on the printed materials and KMB Web sites, and results of focus groups, 15 attributes of service quality were derived. The order of these attributes in the questionnaire is as follows: clarity of bus number design, bus route map, bus stop location, fare, discount, bus frequency, bus punctuality, bus service time, bus route coverage, travelling/driving safety, driver attitude (anything related to he driver other than driving such as politeness and friendliness, caring about the safety of passengers when they board get on or off the bus), bus cleanliness, seat design (such as c omfort, seat layout, leg space), air-conditioning, and bus stop information. Passengers? perception of the performance of service quality are measured by asking them to rate each service quality attribute on a satisfaction scale (1 = very dissatisfied and 5 = very satisfied). This type of measurement scale is used by researchers such as Huang et al. (2006), Lin et al. (2011), and Tam et al. (2005). The overall satisfaction, corporate image and loyalty are measured by a singleitem. Although the use of single-item measures may weaken the estimated relationships, such measures have been used successfully in many research studies (see for example, Bolton and Drew 1991; Bolton and Lemon 1999; Cronin and Taylor 1992; Brunner et al 2008; Mittal, Kumar and Tsiros 1999). As mentioned above, the questionnaire must be short enough to encourage response. Use of multi-item scales for overall satisfaction, corporate image and loyalty will mean longer questionnaire and may affect the response rate and overall reliability. Therefore, single-item measures for these three constructs are considered adequate for this exploratory study. 4 Yeung Overall satisfaction is measured on a 5-point Likert scale with (1=very dissatisfied and 5 = very satisfied). As the respondents had ridden a KMB bus in the previous month, â€Å"overall† cumulative satisfaction is appropriate in this study. Corporate image is measured on a five-point scale from â€Å"very bad† to â€Å"very good† whereas customer loyalty is measured by the intention to increase ridership in the coming month on a five-point scale from â€Å"definitely will not† to â€Å"definitely will†. Repurchase intention and willingness to recommend others are two common indicators of loyalty. As Hong Kong people are already familiar with KMB and its service and hence it is less necessary for the respondents to recommend KMB bus service to others, so this study uses repurchase intention only to measure loyalty. In this paper, we conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation model (SEM) to these data. Results and Discussion Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis Because two attributes – „bus route coverage? and „bus stop information? have cross loading and low reliability problems, EFA is performed on the remaining 13 service quality attributes using principle axis factoring extraction method and orthogonal rotation. The results of EFA on perceived service quality are shown in Table 1. Five factors with eigenvalue greater than one are retained. The factors are labelled as follows. Factor 1 is highly r elated with bus punctuality, bus frequency, and service time; thus, it represents reliability. Factor 2 is highly related with bus route map, bus number sign, and bus stop information; thus, it represents bus travelling information. Factor 3 is highly related with seat arrangement, air-conditioning, and cleanliness; thus, it represents bus environment. Factor 4 is highly related with fare and discount; thus, it represents price factor. Finally, Factor 5 is highly related with driver attitude and travel safety; thus, it represents driving or travelling factor. Cronbach? s alpha level for the five factors varies from 0. 658 to 0. 745, which are above the generally agreed lower limit of 0. 6 and hence suggesting high internal consistency among the variables within each factor (Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). The results of performing CFA on the perceived service quality scores are shown in Tables 2a and 2b respectively. All goodness of fit statistics shown in the bottom part of Table 2a suggest that the measurement model for the service quality has a good fit to the data : small ratio of chi-square value to degrees of freedom (2. 03); goodness of fit index (GFI), goodness of fit index adjusted for degrees of freedom (AGFI), Bentler? s comparative fit index (CFI), normed fit index (NFI), and non-normed fit index (NNFI) are greater than the threshold value of 0. ; and root mean square residual (RMR) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) are more below the threshold value of 0. 05. The measurement model for the service quality also has high validity and reliability. Firstly, standardized factor loadings and t values of the factor loadings being significantly different from zero at the 0. 001 level support the convergent validity of all attributes. Further, as none of the corre lation between the factors is greater than the square root of the AVE for the corresponding factors (see Table 2b), the perceived service quality scores demonstrate discriminant validity. Secondly, the composite reliability of all five factors exceeds the minimally acceptable value of 0. 6. Moreover, four out of five factors have variance extracted estimate (AVE) greater than or close to the threshold value of 0. 5. Only the „bus environment? factor has an average variance estimate below the threshold value. However, this test is conservative. Therefore, as a whole, it can be concluded that the perceived service quality scores have 5 Yeung good reliability. Five summated scales are created and used as indicators for the latent construct â€Å"perceived service quality† in the subsequent structural equation model. Structural equation model (SEM) A structural model is fit to the perceived service quality, corporate image, overall satisfaction and loyalty data according to the model structure given in Figure 1. The path between service quality and loyalty is found to be insignificant and dropped based on Wald tests. The goodness of fit indices for the revised structural model, shown in the bottom part of Table 3, suggest a good fit to the data: small ratio of chisquare to degree of freedom ( 2), great values of GFI, AGFI, CFI, NFI, NNFI ( 0,9) and small RMR and RMSEA values ( 0. 05). The estimation results in Table 3 indicate that both H1 (quality ? image) and H2 (quality ? satisfaction) are strongly supported, with standardized path coefficients of 0. 523 and 0. 386 respectively. However, H3 (quality ? loyalty) is not supported based on insignificant standardized path coefficient. It can be seen below that service quality has only indirect effect on loyalty through overall satisfaction and corporate image. So it indicates that high service quality is not adequate to create loyal customers for franchised bus company. The estimation results show moderate support for H4 (image ? atisfaction) with the standardized path coefficient of 0. 192 whereas weak support for H5 (image ? loyalty) and H6 (satisfaction ? loyalty), with the corresponding standardized path coefficients of 0. 105 and 0. 124 respectively. To summarize, the results support five out of six hypothesis (H1 – H2, H4 – H6). Furthermore, the magnitude of the support is strong for H1 and H2, m edium for H4 and weak for H5 and H6. In terms of explanatory power, the model accounts for 26. 3% of the variance in overall satisfaction, 27. 4% of the variance in image and 3. 6% of the variance in loyalty. In other words, he model has medium explanatory power for both overall satisfaction and image but low explanatory power for loyalty. The low explanatory power for loyalty may imply that there is not much guarantee that a customer with good perceived service quality, overall satisfaction and corporate image will be loyal and repeat purchase. The management should consider other factors that affect loyalty apart from service quality, overall satisfaction and corporate image. The direct, indirect and total effects of service quality, corporate image and overall satisfaction on loyalty is given in Table 4. It is interesting to see that corporate image plays a more important role than overall satisfaction in affecting loyalty, which are consistent with the findings of researchers such as Abdullah 2000. Concluding Remarks EFA concludes that there are five factors behind the perceived service quality scores. According to CFA, the measurement model for this five-factor structure performs well in terms of validity and reliability and hence five summated scales can be used as indicators for service quality in developing structural model. SEM supports the sequence: service quality ? corporate image? verall satisfaction? loyalty. However, it is found that service quality affects loyalty only indirectly through overall satisfaction and corporate image. So it may explain why high service quality is not adequate to lead to customer loyalty. The table of indirect, direct and total effects of service quality, overall satisfaction and image on loyalty shows that corporate image has higher total impa ct on loyalty, as 6 Yeung compared with satisfaction. So to increase loyalty, improving the corporate image of KMB in passengers? mind is more important than improving satisfaction. As the explanatory power of these three constructs (service quality, overall satisfaction and image) for loyalty is very low (3. 6%), it seems that efforts are still needed to increase loyalty through other means. There are several limitations in this study. The generalizability of this study is limited due to three reasons. Firstly, this study used one single item only to measure overall satisfaction, corporate image and loyalty to reduce the burden of respondents and the time for the interview. For further research, multiple-item scales are preferred so that their validity and eliability can be assessed through CFA. Also they may enhance the interpretation and prediction of overall satisfaction and loyalty. Secondly, the analysis is based on a survey data set collected in March 2004 when the market share of franchised buses such as KMB began to decrease. However, further study is necessary to examine whether the relationships among service quality, customer satisfaction, corporate image and customer loyalty change with time. Thirdly, the explanatory power for loyalty in terms of service quality, customer satisfaction and corporate image is low. Further analysis to investigate the predictors of loyalty other than service quality, overall satisfaction and corporate image is needed. References Abdullah M, Al-Nasser A and Husain N (2000). â€Å"Evaluating functional relationship between image, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty using general maximum entropy†, Total Quality Management, vol 11, P. S826-9. Aydin S and Ozer G (2005). â€Å"The analysis of antecedents of customer loyalty in the Turkish mobile telecommunication market. † European Journal of Marketing, 39 (7/8), P910-925. Barich H and Kotler P (1991),†A framework for marketing image management,†, Sloan Management Review, P94-104. Bolton R N and Drew J H (1991). â€Å"A multistage model of customers? assessments of service quality and value. †, Journal of Consumer Research, 17 (March), P375-384. Bolton R N and Lemon K N (1999). â€Å"A dynamic model of customers? usage of services: usage as antecedent and consequence of satisfaction. † Journal of Marketing Research, 36 (2), 171-186. Brady MK, Cronin JJ and Brand R (2002) Performance only measurement of service quality: A replication and extension. Journal of Business Research 55:17-31 Brunner T A, Stocklin M and Opwis K (2008). â€Å"Satisfaction, image and loyalty: new versus experienced customers. † European Journal of Marketing, 42 (9/10), p1095-1105. Cronin J J and Taylor S A (1992). â€Å"Measuring Service Quality: A Reexamination and Extension. †, Journal of Marketing, 56 (July): 55-68. Cronin JJ, Taylor SA (1994) SERVPERF versus SERVQUAL: Reconciling performance-based and perceptions-minus-expectations measurements of service quality. Journal of Marketing 58:125-131. 7 Yeung Cronin J J, Brady M K and Hult G T M (2000). Assessing the effects of quality, value and customer satisfaction on consumer behavioral intentions in service environments. †, Journal of Retailing, 76 (2), P193-218. Hart A E, Rosenberger P (2004). â€Å"Effect of corporate image in the formation of customer loyalty: an Australian replication. †Ã¢â‚¬  Australian Marketing Journal, 2004, 12(3), P88-96. Huang YC, Wu CH, Hsu JCJ (2006) Using importance –performance analysis in evaluating Taiwan medium and long distance. National Highway Passenger Transportation Service Quality 8:98-104. Ladhari R (2008). Alternative measures of service quality: a review. Managing Service Quality 18:65-86. Lai F, Griffin M, and Babin B (2009) How Quality, Value, Image, and Satisfaction Create Loyalty at a Chinese Telecom. Journal of Business Research, Vol 62, pp. 980-986. Lai WT, Chen CF (2011) Behavioral intentions of public transit passengers – The roles of service quality, perceived value, satisfaction and involvement. Transport Policy 18:318-325. Lin CN, Tsai LF, Wang PW, Su WJ and Shaw JC (2011) Using the expected importance and perceived satisfaction of tourists to construct indicators for improvement of resort hotel service quality. IJCSNS International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security 11:P91-94. Loureiro S M C and Kastenholz E (2011), â€Å"Corporate reputation, satisfaction, delight and loyalty towards rural lodging units in Portugal†, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 30, P575-583. Mittal V, Kumar P and Tsiros M (1999). Attribute-level performance, satisfaction and behavioral intentions over time: a consumption-system approach. Journal of Marketing, 63(2), p88-101. Nguyen N and Leblanc G (2001). â€Å"Corporate image and corporate reputation in customers? retention decisions in services. 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Total Quality Management 13:241-254. 9 Yeung Table 1 Five-factor structure of perceived service quality scores and Cronbach? s Alpha (with attributes „bus route coverage? and „bus stop information? being deleted) Service quality Attributes Clarity of bus number sign Bus route map Bus stop location Fare Discount Bus frequency Bus punctuality Bus service time Bus route coverage (NA) Travel safety Driver attitude Cleanliness Seat arrangement Air-conditioning Bus stop information (NA) Factor 1 Factor 2 0. 632 0. 865 0. 449 Factor 3 Factor 4 Factor 5 . 777 0. 649 0. 652 0. 902 0. 407 0. 799 0. 551 0. 520 0. 780 0. 495 Eigenvalue 4. 11 1. 44 1. 27 1. 11 Variance (%) 31. 61 11. 08 9. 76 8. 52 Cronbach? s alpha 0. 745 0. 722 0. 658 0. 726 Overall MSA = 0. 797, cumulative variance explained = 68. 70%, communality = 6. 853 Root mean square residual = 0. 012, RMSP = 0. 024, Cronbach? s alpha = 0. 816 1. 01 7. 73 0. 693 10 Yeung Table 2a Results of confirmatory factor analysis on per ceived service quality Loadin g 0. 728 0. 795 0. 557 0. 751 0. 765 0. 736 0. 876 0. 535 t 18. 0 1 19. 7 3 13. 4 6 16. 3 16. 4 4 19. 0 0 23. 0 8 13. 2 8 17. 5 4 14. 7 9 Reliabilit y 0. 739 0. 530 0. 632 0. 311 0. 729 0. 564 0. 585 0. 766 0. 541 0. 767 0. 286 0. 703 0. 663 0. 426 Variance Extracted 0. 491 Bus information factor Clarity of bus number sign route map Bus Bus stop location Price factor Fare Discount Reliability factor Bus frequency Bus punctuality Bus service time Bus route coverage (NA) Driving factor Travel safety Driver attitude 0. 574 0. 532 0. 545 0. 814 0. 653 Bus environment factor 0. 663 Cleanliness 0. 677 15. 1 0. 459 9 Seat arrangement . 675 15. 1 0. 456 5 Air-conditioning 0. 531 11. 9 0. 282 2 Bus stop information (NA) Fit indices: Chi-square = 130. 55, df = 55, Chi-square / df =2. 03 GFI = 0. 969, AGFI = 0. 949, CFI = 0. 966, NFI = 0. 943, NNFI = 0. 951 RMR = 0. 023, RMSEA = 0. 047 0. 399 Table 2b Correlation between factors for the measurement model on percei ved service quality Bus information Price Reliability Driving Bus environment Bus information 0. 701 0. 451 0. 404 0. 474 0. 334 Price ? 0. 758 0. 453 0. 393 0. 340 Reliability ? ? 0. 729 0. 461 0. 438 Driving ? ? 0. 738 0. 519 Bus environment ? ? ? ? 0. 631 11 Yeung Table 3 Standardized path coefficients of the Structural Model Standardized parameter estimates 0. 566 0. 558 0. 641 0. 586 0. 503 0. 523 0. 386 -t-value Hypothesis Conclusion Independent variable ? Dependent variable Service quality ? Bus information Price Reliability Driving Bus environment Corporate image Overall satisfaction Loyalty Corporate image ? Overall Satisfaction Loyalty 9. 99 -10. 71 10. 19 9. 23 9. 4 6. 6 -1 2 3 Supported Supported Not supported 0. 192 0. 105 4. 26 2. 7 4 5 Supported Supported Overall satisfaction ? Loyalty 0. 124 2. 92 Fit indices: Chi-square = 27. 7, df = 18, Chi-square / df = 1. 54 GFI = 0. 989, AGFI = 0. 978, CFI = 0. 988, NFI = 0. 967, NNFI = 0. 981 RMR = 0. 009, RMSEA = 0. 029 6 Supp orted 12 Yeung Table 4. Direct, Indirect and total effects on loyalty Direct Indirect -0. 105 0. 124 0. 115 0. 024 – Total 0. 115 0. 129 0. 1240 Service quality Image Satisfaction Corporate image H1 Service Quality H4 H2 H6 H5 Loyalty Figure 1 Hypothetical Structural Model Satisfaction Overall H3 13 How to cite Relationships Among Service Quality, Essay examples

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In, out, in, out, in, out—get out food, food to mouth, breathe in, out, mouth op—OW! My breathing rhythm during the second Varsity NorCal mountain biking race of the season was abruptly shattered by my cry of excruciating pain and fear. Gingerly, I tried to open my mouth again and quickly shut it with a moan. If I opened my jaw further than about a centimeter, an intense pain stabbed through the left joint of my jaw: it was locked almost completely shut. All-encompassing terror rose through me like so much floodwater, relentlessly filling me from head to toe until it felt like I couldn’t breathe. With this unfamiliarly overwhelming panic inundating my mind and blocking out every single rational thought, I felt myself slipping under into the realm of mentally being unable to finish the race. No. That feeling of slipping jolted and horrified me, shocking me back into my regular breathing rhythm—in, out, in, out†¦ Ever so slowly, I relaxed my jaw enough to drink a small amount of water and laboriously chew and swallow two energy shot blocks. We will write a custom essay sample on Breathe or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Picking up my cadence to match the pace I had been cycling before, I headed into the third and final lap of the race, determined to finish what I had set out to do regardless of the level of my discomfort. During those last miles, however, I found my determination wavering. Every time the pain seemed to reach a new high and the fear would start to swell once again, the letters â€Å"DNF† (short for â€Å"did not finish†) flashed through my mind. I knew that despite the loss of points it would cause, my team wouldn’t blame me for bailing from the race; I was going through spasms of pain and panic every few minutes as my jaw alternated between being completely locked, and being unlocked but still tight. However, I also knew that I needed to finish what I had set out to do while I was still physically and mentally capable of doing so. Thusly, whenever the thought of not finishing the race entered into my mind, I quickly swept it away, recognizing my physical abilit y to race my bike to end as being largely unhindered, and refusing to let any mental weakness prevent me from crossing the finish line. And suddenly, seven grueling miles later, I was rounding the final turn of the course. I stood up on my bike and threw my whole body and mind into that last stretch, surging across the finish line as the third rider in my category before exiting the course and collapsing with exhaustion. Crossing that finish line gave me something far better than earning a place on the podium; it proved that I am able to avoid succumbing to fear, pain, doubt, or any other mental or physical limits. These limits have instead pushed me to improve in many areas of life, such as speaking at the SCTA Fall Leadership Conference this year as the co-president of my school’s GSA instead of buckling under societal pressures and hate. Rather than give in, I will continue to use these limits in order to learn, to grow, to accomplish—to cross the line of what I bel ieved to be possible.