This report presents the summary of the findings of the 2003 Image and Customer Service Survey for E-Consumables. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTERS IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Background of the research
- Product and Customer Markets
- Marketing Programs and distribution channels
- The Human Resources Component
- Data Collection
Other companies such as those in the FMCG sector will also draw some lessons from the findings of the research. The study will be of use to the management of the researcher's organization as decisions for the future will be based on the findings.
Quality systems, management style, corporate image and identity
- Applying Quality Control to E-consumables
- Customer Service
The techniques used focus on the impact of employee satisfaction, loyalty and productivity on "the value of products and services delivered so that managers can build customer satisfaction, loyalty and assess the corresponding impact on profitability and growth." The authors note, "..the lifetime value of a loyal customer can be astronomical, especially when references are added to the economics of customer retention and repeat purchases of related products." The tool used to examine the relationship between service and profit is called the service-profit chain. Hayes and Dredge (1998) described customer service as a way in which an organization handles interaction between itself (in . the person of its staff) and its customers.
Total Management Commitment
Customer service can be used as a way to differentiate an organization's product or service from competitors, especially where products are generic. Gerson (1992) devised a seven-step approach to a successful customer service system, which can be very useful.
Get to know your customer
Quality can be described as the degree to which a product or service meets the customer's expectations or "conformance to requirements". Simply put, this is the extent to which the buyer gets what he wants. The perception of service quality will be determined by the customer's evaluation of the service delivery and its results against expectations.
Mail (including e-mail)
This is a cheap way, but experience has shown that few people take the time to complete the questionnaires and then mail/send them back, even if a return envelope and postage stamp are included. This is because it still provides a solid basis for inference, and even when cross-analyzing by respondent type, we would still have a relatively large number of respondents to draw conclusions from.
The Questionnaire
To correct these problems in the actual fieldwork, the researcher developed an extensive self-introduction to put respondents at ease in answering some of the more sensitive questions. The researcher has gathered a lot of knowledge from the literature research to be able to properly specify possible reactions in advance. Therefore, the formulation of the questions took into account, where necessary, the definitions that the researcher implicitly preferred in the same way as all respondents.
Leading questions may result in answers that respondents believe are preferred by the researcher. As such, quality was ensured at all stages of the research process by implementing various quality control measures in advance. The researcher ensured that the data was reliable by properly identifying the respondents to be included in the study.
The complexity and specialization of quantitative data analysis resulted in seeking help from statistical specialists in using the program. This package is strong in terms of its statistical capabilities. It is a package that provides one of the best environments in which detailed statistical analysis of quality-related issues can be performed. This is a package that eliminates most of the data restrictions encountered by some of its competitors such as SAS, Minitab, etc.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
It is interesting to note that there are similar declines in the use of Datatech and Hi-Tech. One can only assume that there has been an increase in the number of computer vendors offering products and services, leading to a thinning out of business across a broader spectrum of IT vendors. One can only assume that their strategic positioning in the CBD and industrial locations gives them a clear advantage over the other suppliers.
As a follow-up to the preferred supplier question, E-Consumables was ranked among the more popular alternative suppliers. When comparing e-consumables with Datatech and Hitech, price, availability, and speed of service were common pluses as to why customers buy from these three.
Customer Dislikes
Zimbabwe is currently in a highly inflationary environment coupled with a highly volatile local currency that is valued against major currencies. Prices change almost daily and companies choose to stay with the equipment they already have because they do not have the cash available to buy products at inflation driven prices. In times of uncertainty, companies hold back on capital expansion by adopting more of a wait-and-see attitude.
Rather invest the money in your core business and expand it and try to keep up with inflation. Wages are struggling to keep up with inflation, so people's earnings have declined in real terms. Companies must now replace from within and increase the workload of employees in order to survive.
IT manufacturers are forever producing new spec computers with additional features that normal users don't even need (eg increased hard drive capacity from 20GB to 40GB). Normal users don't need those additional resources and tend to make do with what they already have. The respondents were then asked to consider the products they buy these days and to state their likelihood of buying each of those products in the future.
Important Factors Required From The Supplier
The findings for this question were interpreted using mean scores as follows: the higher the mean score above 3.00, the more likely the respondent is to purchase the product in the future, while the lower the mean score below the 3.00, the less likely it is that the product will be purchased in the future. purchased in the future. This shows us that suppliers need to continuously monitor and stock fast-moving products. This does create a need for working capital to meet the increased inventory level.
Added to this is the aspect of inflation and exchange rate risk, which means that the NILO costing method must be used in order for the supplier to maintain working capital.
Suppliers Associated With Available Products
Summary
Conclusion
- Human Resources
- Financial
The survey has shown us that E-Consumables is considered one of the better actors to provide a service in the IT industry. Like any maturing business, there are always areas of weakness and opportunity that need to be addressed. The products were also said to be of high quality and the company's service people were reliable.
The exodus from e-consumers was said to be due to too many out-of-stock situations, expensive products and their failure to deliver products to customers. The third most important consideration for customers is price, followed by supplier reputation. The researcher then asked the respondents to provide the names of the suppliers who are known to always have items in stock.
A huge limiting factor was the policy decision of one of the largest shareholders not to hold shares, which reduced the need for more working capital. However, to implement most of the above, two other important issues need to be considered. Achieving and expanding growth will require a huge injection of capital, either through the injection of shareholder funds or through loans, but then there is also interest to consider.
Summary
This is considerably higher than most consumer companies currently operating in Zimbabwe, considering that 40% of the business generated was between companies with a gross margin of 15%, which equates to a net margin of around 10%. These numbers show that E-Consumables is profitable and has potential, especially given that it grew in real terms based on sales and profits based on parallel US dollar exchange rates this time last year and using the same factors this year.
APPENDIXl
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
I QUESTION 1 I
QUESTION 4,
Could you please tell me what, if any, products/services you used to buy from your usual computer consumables company but stopped. WRITE IN SCORE ON IDENTIFIED PRODUCTS/SERVICES. e) What unique products/services would you like to see sold by computer consumables companies, but are not currently being sold.
I QUESTIONS. '·1
DEMOGRAPHICS
CATEGORY LENGTH OF TIME IN THE COMPANY STATUS OF THE RESPONDENT Large Small Less than 5 Longer than the company Business 1.00 customer customer years 5 - 10 years 10 years not on the stock exchange on the stock exchange. CATEGORY LENGTH OF TIME IN COMPANY STATUS OF RESPONDENT Large Small Less than 5 Longer than Corporation Corporation 1.00 client years clients 5 -10 years 10 years unlisted. CATEGORY LENGTH OF TIME IN THE COMPANY RESPONDENT STATUS Large Small Less than 5 Longer than Legal Firm Corporate 1.00 buyer years of buyer 5 -10 years 10 years unranked ranked.
CATEGORY LENGTH OF TIME IN COMPANY RESPONDENT STATUS Large Small Less than 5 Longer than Corporation Corporation 1.00 buyer years of buyer 5 -10 years 10 years unranked ranked. CATEGORY LENGTH OF TIME IN COMPANY RESPONDENT STATUS Large Small Less than 5 Longer than Legal Firm Corporate 1.00 buyer years buyer 5 10 years 10 years unranked ranked. CATEGORY LENGTH OF TIME IN COMPANY STATUS OF RESPONDENT Large Small Less than 5 Longer than Corporation Corporation 1.00 customer customer 5 -10 years old 10 years not listed on the stock exchange.
CATEGORY LENGTH OF TIME IN COMPANY STATUS OF RESPONDENT Large Small Less than 5 Longer than Corporation Corporation 1.00 client years clients 5 -10 years 10 years not listed on the stock exchange. Table4b1 Q5b: Assessment of the importance of always-available products as a deciding factor for purchasing from a supplier. CATEGORY LENGTH OF TIME IN THE COMPANY STATUS OF THE RESPONDENT Large Small Less than 5 Longer than the company Business 1.00 customer years customer 5 -10 years 10 years not listed on the stock exchange.
DURATION OF TIME IN BUSINESS RESPONDENT STATUS Large Small Less than 5 Longer than Business Business 1.00 customer customer years 5 -10 years 10 years not listed. Large Small Longer than Less than 5 Corporate Corporate 1.00 customer customer 5 -10 years 10 years years not listed.
