Service Quality and Export Performance of Business-to-Business Service Providers: The Role of Service Employee– and Customer-Oriented Quality Control Initiatives

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Sichtmann ◽  
Maren von Selasinsky ◽  
Adamantios Diamantopoulos
2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (03) ◽  
pp. 1850030 ◽  
Author(s):  
GIULIA NARDELLI ◽  
MARCEL BROUMELS

Value co-creation is a specific type of collaboration that is considered to be an innovative and interactive process between end users and organizations; it aims to increase the value of a product or service. This study investigates how a network of stakeholders collaborating to manage innovation openly co-creates value over time; it contributes to the existing literature on value co-creation by taking the perspective of the network as a whole. The study follows a case in which value co-creation unfolds over time across a network of stakeholders within the business-to-business facility service context. The in-depth longitudinal investigation of a network composed of a corporate customer and its external facility service providers revealed that a network of stakeholders co-creates value over time by (i) offering an adaptable structure for the network to organize innovation activities and establish support routines, (ii) facilitating interactions to support stakeholder relation development and (iii) allowing participants to achieve self-empowerment. Therefore, stakeholder value co-creation entails the combination of single value co-creation activities and overarching network progressions that allow for learning and inter-organizational trust among stakeholders.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Gaudenzi ◽  
Ilenia Confente ◽  
Ivan Russo

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the logistics service quality (LSQ) from a supply chain quality perspective. The purpose is twofold: (1) to investigate how business customers perceive the LSQ dimensions in business-to-business (B2B) relationships, with a particular focus on the role of logistics service providers and (2) to analyse the manner in which such dimensions, when combined, lead to high levels of customer satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachData collected through a survey of a sample of Italian food companies are analysed using a qualitative comparative analysis approach. The analysis explores ways of achieving customer satisfaction through different combinations of LSQ dimensions and not only via a “single recipe,” as in most symmetrical methods.FindingsThe study describes how seven dimensions of LSQ lead to achieve customer satisfaction, particularly highlighting and discussing how the different LSQ constructs lead to gain high customer satisfaction via different configurations. This approach is unique in identifying not only linear relationships among variables as traditional statistical methods do, via a configurational approach.Research limitations/implicationsMost academic studies in the related literature investigate service quality from a quality management and a supply chain management perspective. This study fills the existing gap in the analysis of B2B relationships, focusing on the role of third-party logistics (3PL) service providers.Practical implicationsThe study presents useful implications for practitioners, describing several ways in which 3PL service providers can combine LSQ dimensions to perform a continuous improvement of customer experience and to gain higher levels of customer satisfaction.Originality/valueThis study fills the existing gap in the analysis of B2B relationships, using the lens of quality management and supply chain management perspectives, and focusing on the role of 3PL service providers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mpho Hlefana ◽  
Mornay Roberts-Lombard ◽  
Beate E. Stiehler-Mulder

Orientation: To secure a competitive business position, mobile business service providers need to explore the factors that, in predicting customer loyalty, will enable them to focus marketing efforts on improving their current customer management strategy, ultimately leading to enhanced satisfaction.Research purpose: This study intended to determine the influence of selected customer relationship management factors on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.Motivation for the study: To ensure the loyalty of their customer base, mobile business service providers need to understand the factors that secure customer satisfaction in a competitive ICT business-to-business (B2B) market.Research design, approach and method: Data were gathered by means of a self-administered questionnaire, and a total of 253 responses were eligible for analysis. Simple regression analysis was applied to validate the hypotheses formulated.Main findings: It was established that corporate image, service quality, perceived value, customisation and trust have a significant and positive influence on ICT business customer satisfaction and loyalty.Practical/managerial implications: The findings suggest that efforts towards improving corporate image, service quality and customer perception of the value provided, focusing on the level of customisation and establishing trust among business customers will aid B2B mobile service providers in achieving satisfied and loyal customers.Contribution/value-add: This study adds to the body of knowledge by identifying and demonstrating the influence of five customer relationship management factors that contribute to achieving customer satisfaction and loyalty in the Business-to-business information communication technology (B2B ICT) industry of an emerging African market.


Author(s):  
Eman Mohamed Abd-El-Salam

The purpose of this paper is to examine how service quality, relationship value, relationship quality and customer loyalty play a vital role in the Egyptian business to business market-and to test it empirically in agricultural business customers of chemical manufacturer with respect to their main supplier. The findings of this study show significant positive relationships among the variables under investigation. An international manufacturing company can manage its buyer-seller relationships to gain the trust, commitment, satisfaction, and loyalty of its business customers by offering high service quality. When the goal is to improve corporate marketing performance and increase business with an existing customer, managers should focus on the role of value as a key building block in their relationships. Relationship quality (satisfaction, trust and commitment) appears to be an important antecedent in establishing a sustainable business relationship. The paper adds to the understanding of business relationships in the Egyptian context by studying customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, customer trust, and customer commitment from the perspective of relationship-value-based dimensions. This approach emphasizes the pivotal role of relationship value as well as relationship quality, which has not been studied before in Egyptian business to business relationship markets.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sukanya Kundu ◽  
Saroj Kumar Datta

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to find the role of trust as a mediating variable between e-service quality and customer satisfaction in internet banking. Design/methodology/approach – The paper opted for an exploratory study using closed ended questionnaire. The empirical data are drawn from 367 customers of internet banking. Factor structure of e-SQ, customer satisfaction and trust has been tested using EFA and CFA by gap values and perception values. Structure equation modeling has been used to analyze the effects of independent variable e-service quality on customer satisfaction and the role of mediating variable trust. Stepwise analysis has been done to examine the effect of trust on customer satisfaction. Sobel test has been used to measure the indirect effect. Findings – e-SQ was found to be strongly correlated with customer satisfaction. The results confirm trust as a mediating variable between e-service quality while analyzing the same model with gap value and perception value. Research limitations/implications – The research implies that banking service providers should focus on improvement of trust parameters as well as those e-SQ dimensions which affects trust, to retain the customers and to get more customers for internet banking. Originality/value – The reliable and valid instrument confirmed in this research can be used by further studies detecting the relationships among these constructs in an extended context. The fundamental premise of the proposed research work model was to make banking service providers understand comprehensively the factors necessary to achieve high service quality that will significantly impact on customers’ trust, satisfaction.


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