perceived service performance and prospects development of vnpt telecommunications in thai nguyen, vietnam

Thai Nguyen University
Socialist Republic of Vietnam



Southern Luzon State University
Republic of Philippines


PERCEIVED SERVICE PERFORMANCE AND PROSPECTS
DEVELOPMENT OF VNPT TELECOMMUNICATIONS
IN THAI NGUYEN, VIETNAM







A Dissertation
Presented to the
Faculty of Graduate School of
Southern Luzon State University, Philippines and
Thai Nguyen University, S.R. Vietnam

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor in Business Administration









NGUYEN PHUONG THAO (CANDY)
August 2013






APPROVAL SHEET

iii



DEDICATION


This piece of work is dedicated
To My Family

iv

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The researcher wishes to extend her most sincere gratitude to the following
people who made this piece of work a reality.
Dr. Cecilia N. Gascon, President of Southern Luzon State University, Republic
of the Philippines, who made possible the linkage with Thai Nguyen University and
the offering of Doctor of Business Administration, through the ITC-TUAF;
Dr. Dang Kim Vui, the President of Thai Nguyen University, who made the
linkage with Southern Luzon State University, Republic of the Philippines and the
offering of Doctor of Business Administration, through the ITC-TUAF;
Dr. Alice T. Valerio, for her support and supervision throughout my graduate
study program. Her kindness and daily instructions in the last three years are greatly
appreciated and this dissertation is as much her work as mine;
Prof. Nordelina Ilano, Director, Office for International Affairs of URS for her
support to the DBA1 students;
Dr. Tran Thanh Van, the Dean of the Graduate School of Thai Nguyen
University, for his assistance and encouragement to pursue this study;
Dr. Dang Xuan Binh, the Director of International Training Center, for his
assistance and encouragement to pursue this study;
Dr. Nguyen Thanh Hai, the Vice Director of International Training Center, for
his assistance and encouragement to pursue this study as DBA Class Manager;
To all the SLSU and TNU Professors, for their support and guidance extended
throughout the graduate studies in Thai Nguyen University, Vietnam;
To his ever dearest friends for their kindness and remarkable support;
To his family, for their support, encouragement for being the sources of
greatest inspiration, which made his career a success.
v

ABSTRACT

In Vietnam's intensifying telecommunication service market today, satisfying
customers is only the baseline and may not be sufficient for survival for mobile phone
service providers. Management should focus on gaining customer loyalty by
enhancing customer perceptions of service quality and increasing as perceived by the
consumer value. To do that, it is necessary for them to figure out the relationships and
impacts of service quality, customer value, customer satisfaction, corporate image and
customer loyalty. This research focused on evaluating the service performance of
telecommunications services by employees and customers in VNPT in terms of
services, place, price, promotion, people and position. This research also sought to
assess the prospect of VNPT Thai Nguyen in terms of management capacity, human
resource, service attitude, marketing and material facilities. Based on the assessments,
proposing recommendations to improve the quality of activities and prospect of
resources of VNPT Thai Nguyen .
All ratings for VNPT in Thai Nguyen are collected opinions of
Telecommunications Director of Thai Nguyen, the employees, Deputy Sales Rooms,
as well as transaction services for customers, and especially survey of customers
using the services of VNPT.
The service performance of VNPT in Thai Nguyen province is
reflected through the perceived products and services, places, price, promotion,
people and position. For the overall mean for both employees and customers
respondents show similarity on their perception on the position status of the company
in terms of the six components with the overall obtained mean of 3.81 and 3.66 both
rated as very good. For the overall mean for both manager and employee respondents,
vi

there is similarity on their perception on the prospects in terms of the five areas as
shown in the obtained mean of 4.10 and 4.16 both rated as very good. But about the
order reviews of these factors is different.

It is recommended that VNPT in Thai Nguyen province should focus on
opening course training staff security, and wireless computer maintenance skills to
motivate work, team work skills and communication skills. Continue to promote the
exploitation of Internet and mobile phones, in addition to developing network services
Hold training on customer relationship management skills and the purchase of
software for customer relationship management for marketing. Maintain giving gifts
to customers to congratulate customers on their birthdays or major holidays. This will
help customers feel special and be concerned about how the customers are treated.














vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE Page
APPROVAL SHEET ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT iv

ABSTRACT v
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
LIST OF TABLES ix
LIST OF FIGURES xi
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………1
Background of the Study 6
Statement of the Problem 7
Objective of the Study 9
Hypothesis of the Study 10
Significance of the Study 11
Scope and Limitation of the Study 11
Definition of Terms 11
2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Related Literature 14
Related Studies 20
Conceptual Framework 30
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY… ………32
Locale of the Study 32
viii

Population, Samples and Sampling Techniques 32
Research Instruments 33
Data Gathering Procedures 34
Statistical Treatment 34
4 PRESENTATION ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA… 36
5 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.73
Summary of Findings 73
Conclusions 79
Recommendations 80

BIBLIOGRAPHY 89
APPENDIX 92
QUESTIONNAIRE 94
CURRICULUM VITAE 106


ix



LIST OF TABLES

Table


Page
1
Personal profile of respondents
39

2
Computed Mean, Verbal Interpretation and Rank Distribution on the
Perception of the Two Groups of Respondents on the Status of the
Company in Terms of Products and Services

40

3
Computed Mean, Verbal Interpretation and Rank Distribution on the
Perception of the Two Groups of Respondents on the Status of the

Company in Terms of Place
43

4

Computed Mean, Verbal Interpretation and Rank Distribution on the
Perception of the Two groups of Respondents on the Status of the
Company in terms of the Price
45

5

Computed Mean, Verbal Interpretation and Rank Distribution on the
Perception of the Two Groups of Respondents on the Company Status
in Terms of Promotion
47

6

Computed Mean, Verbal Interpretation and Rank Distribution on the
Perception of the Two Groups of Respondents on the Company Status
in terms of People 49

7

Computed Mean, Verbal Interpretation and Rank Distribution on the
Perception of the Two Groups of Respondents on the Company in
Terms of Position
53

8

Composite Table on the Status of the Company as Evaluated by the
Two Groups of Respondents in Terms of the Six Areas
55

9

Computed Mean, Verbal Interpretation and Rank Distribution on the
Perception of the Two Groups of Respondents on the Prospect of the
Company in Terms of Management Capacity
56

10

Computed Mean, Verbal Interpretation and Rank Distribution on the
Perception of the Two Groups of Respondents on the Prospect of the
Company in Terms of Human Resource 58

11

Computed Mean, Verbal Interpretation and Rank Distribution on the
Perception of the Two Groups of Respondents on the Prospect of the
Company in Terms of Service attitude
60

12

Computed Mean, Verbal Interpretation and Rank Distribution on the
Perception of the Two Groups of Respondents on the Prospect of the

Company in Terms of Marketing
62



x

13
Computed Mean, Verbal Interpretation and Rank Distribution on the
Perception of the Two Groups of Respondents on the Prospect of the
Company in terms of Material Facilities
66

14

Composite Table of the Computed Mean, Verbal Interpretation and
Rank Distribution on the Prospect of the Company as Evaluated by
the Two Groups of Respondents in terms of the Five Areas
67

15

Mean, Standard Deviation, and Correlated T-Test on the Assessment
of the Two Groups of Respondents as to the services performance of
the Company in Terms of Area with respect to the Different Criteria 69

16

Mean, Standard Deviation, and Correlated T-Test on the assessment
of the Two Groups of Respondents as to the Prospect of the Company

in Terms of Areas with respect to the Different Criteria
70


xi



LIST OF FIGURE
Table

Page
1
Conceptual framework showing the assessment service
performance and prospect VNPT Telecommunications in Thai
Nguyen Province

31
2
The profile of respondents in terms of gender
36
3
The profile of respondents in terms of age
37
4
The profile of respondents in terms of civil status
38
5
The profile of respondents in terms of educational attainment
39

6
The organizational structure of the management VNPT
Telecommunication Thai Nguyen 104









Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION

In the past, people contact each other in many ways as the fire burned for
smoke, or sounding, empty, to a signal that things are close to. Today, the world is
growing and the knowledge economy. The most important economic resource is not
land, capital or technology, but human. Vietnam steps up ship in the global economy,
to integrate successfully, "the comparison with the national strength in Asia", the
prerequisite is the ability to work by employees. Requirements for workers in the
economic integration must not only have expertise which must be capable of
distribution in combination with other work. While people are not always close, they
require communication between people with children who need to quickly correct.
(Nguyen Sang, 2010)
Vietnam's mobile phone market is considered one of the fastest growing
markets in the world with mobile phone subscribers currently estimated at 96.5
million, increasing 80 percent year-on-year (General Statistics Office, 2009). Vietnam
Telecom Services Company is an economic organization - a member unit under
Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation operating in compliance with

Organizational and Operational regulations of Vietnam Post and Telecommunications
Corporation, which was approved by Decision No. 51/CP on August 1, 1995 by the
Government. The Company specializes in trading and services in fields of mobile
information, SMS sending and card-based phones nationwide together with other
members in the chain of post and telecommunications technologies with very close
and united relation on network organization, economic and financial benefits,




development of post and telecommunications services to carry out objectives and
plans assigned to the Corporation by the State (Report VNPT, 2012)
The Company was established under Decision No. 331/QĐ-TCCB dated June
14, 1997 by the General Minister of General Post Office. The main missions of the
company are to manage and exploit three services: Nationwide mobile network
(VNPT), Vietnam Messaging Network (Paging), Card-based phone network
(CardPhone). Paging network was stopped operating in September 2004 by VNPT
due to the fact that it was no longer suitable for the market after 10 years in operation.
In 2006, an important event that marked a great turning-point of Vietnam's
economy in general and of the telecommunication sector in particular was that:
Vietnam officially became the 150th member of the World Trade Organization
(WTO). Also in this time, in order to enhance competitive capacity in the context of
international integration, the Telecommunication Services Company made an
important behavior: that was to change its abbreviation name from GPC (G=GSM;
P=Paging; C=CardPhone) into VNPT. This change showed business diversion of the
Company in the new stage. The Company also announced its new brand identity
system that was of professional and modern manner. It was the determination of the
Company to make VNPT the first-ranked mobile network in Vietnam with orientation
towards international cooperation and integration.
Under definition of the World Intellectual Property Organization, brand is a

special sign (tangible and intangible) to recognize a product or service that is
manufactured or provided by an individual or an organization. Main criteria in
creating ideas on design of Company's new logo model are to maintain the former
basic brand name of VNPT services - decisive services - but it must create a
breakthrough in image. The new brand image must be more simple, modern but it still
3



needs to be purely Vietnamese, easy to apply and convenient in displaying on
different background colors and different materials. Specially, the new logo must
show the meaning in terms of connection - a specific characteristic in business of
VNPT Company. VNPT is the pioneer in expanding mobile information in remote
regions in Vietnam. It is doing business to provide good services in order to promote
local socioeconomic developments. (Vietbao, 2012)
In the wake of these changing dynamics, the Vietnamese mobile phone
operators face a number of significant challenges. First, the majority of Vietnam
mobile subscribers are pre-paid who are apt to change the provider continuously,
hence retaining existing customers in a predominantly pre-paid and high chum market
has become more difficult and costly. Similarly, new customer acquisition is
becoming more elusive than ever as potential customers have more options to choose
from and mobile phone operators offer attractive deals to lure prospects. Third, as
mobile phone operators have had to incur additional expense in keeping existing
customers and acquiring new ones, their average revenue per user has declined,
leading to deterioration of their financial performance. Due to these challenges,
service quality improvement, enhancing customer value and corporate image in order
to satisfy customer, then customer loyalty, are the key determinants of firm's success
or at least survival.
Telecommunications has been formed to help people move recently, economic,
political, social stability and more smoothly. Understanding the importance of

information technology brings to human as well as the ways to develop more industry
information technology. If prompted efforts to build a legal framework, "lodestar"
guiding the telecommunications industry can not mention the achievements on the
4



basis of development and infrastructure in 10 years that Vietnam has achieved from
efforts of Vietnamese enterprises (Report VNPT, 2012)
Economic environment in Vietnam increasingly becomes more dynamic.
VNPT of Thai Nguyen province sustains the needs of telecommunications. To
develop fast, strong and sustainable, VNPT must continually analyze and assess the
results of their operations and market to see the status service performance of the
project strategy and to draw specific measures appropriate to develop its network in
the province of Thai Nguyen province.
Vietnam has been developing market economy, with economic policy models
and strategies to integrate into the international economy. Development of the market
economy has been and will put the country's economy in general and businesses in
particular face challenges and difficulties ahead of the competition increasingly fierce
international to grab customers and expansion of the domestic market as well as at the
world. In market economies, firms operating in the country have to manage the
business operations an effective way to be able to stand firm in the market and
growing. Enterprises wishing to do so should be effective in their business activities,
while new businesses exist in the market and growing. Especially state-owned
enterprises, the business cannot effectively create momentum for economic
development, but also contributes towards maintaining the country's economy.
Always keep a leading role in economic integration, collaboration, more efficient
business. Group Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) is the state-
owned enterprises, operating in the information technology field, play an important
role in the national economy. VNPT provides many services to the market to meet

consumer needs. Creating service was difficult, but to bring them into the business
was even more difficult, as the market increasingly more competitors appear. To
5



compete in a highly competitive market such business activities of enterprises are
strictly monitored. For how effective business and still meet the needs of consumers,
with stiff competition market today, many other telecom operators are going to
dominate the market in the province. So, obviously aware of the activities of
providing services is an important requirement of VNPT Thai Nguyen. This has a
great influence on building strategy development, strategy to improve service quality
in order to meet higher demands of customers. At the same time, the perception of
quality resources, infrastructure, management capacity Thai Nguyen's internal
VNPT is also a necessary requirement in order to help VNPT Thai Nguyen build
strategies for human development, for infrastructure to set the stage for long-term
growth and sustainability of VNPT.
Last time, he never stops VNPT project coverage optimization, installation of
thousands of new 3G stations in order to meet customer demand for high-speed
Internet access, watch HD movies on the phone mobile, online gaming
Developing internal resources, self-reliance in the process of mastering
technology and business development is the motto of VNPT throughout the years.
From 8,000 subscribers in 1996, up to now, VNPT has nearly 30 million active
subscribers, including nearly 6 million 3G subscribers, (accounting for 35.92% of the
total number of 3G subscribers nationwide). The average growth of 30% VNPT, net
revenue reached 30.000 billion in 2011, an important contribution in the tax values
and state budget of VNPT.
VNPT Thai Nguyen is the only unit in the province to provide a full range of
products and services Telecommunications.
The main activities: Response services: telephone, fax, mobile VNPT,

Gphone fixed wireless, broadband ADSL Internet - FiberVNN, on-demand TV
6



MyTV. Provide value-added services such as display, alarm, call transfer, voicemail
box Provide equipment: internal switchboard, desk phones, cordless telephones, fax
machines, cell phones, computers, office machines Design and build internal
networks. Repair and upgrade of telecommunications equipment, information
technology. Consulting, inquiries through 1080 services, voicemail 801 108 1088 and
consulting services.
With the prestige of VNPT, with dedicated service and thoughtful, with the
motto as: "True Life", VNPT Thai Nguyen bring to customers the prestigious brand
products, source, origin unclear, the most reasonable prices.
Background of the Study
Telecommunications Thai Nguyen is a member of a large group
telecommunications companies in Vietnam called The Vietnam Posts and
Telecommunications group (VNPT). It is a member of the telecommunications
corporation also known as VNPT. VNPT efforts are geared towards effective
applications of technology and advanced telecommunications services to provide
information to mobile customers anywhere and to contribute to promoting economic -
society of Vietnam. It is committed to provide information services through mobile,
fixed, wireless devices, phone-based internet and high speed internet services, service
data transmission, wireless internet connectivity and construction of networks for
agencies, organizations, businesses and individuals (VNPT.com) With its purpose to
bring customers an improvement of material life and to sustain the work spirit of its
employees and to benefit partners, VNPT is at the core of helping the interests of the
Vietnam community as usual and possibly that of Southeast Asia and the world in
general through the application of technology and advanced telecommunications
thereby bringing economic development in the society.

7



Specifically, the VNPT aims to maximize the operational efficiency and
develop economic groups at the technology, modern management and professional
and high business sectors, including telecommunications and information technology
in the industry and professional business. It is tightly linked between production and
business with science, technology, research and training not to mention the objective
to preserve business interests; and to develop investors in the telecommunications
business. With stiff competition market today, many other telecom operators are
going to dominate the market in the province. The revenue of VNPT Thai Nguyen
decreased about 10% with previous years. Therefore, it is necessary to aware about
position in market. This study will help VNPT see clearly about their services and
resources in current. The results will help VNPT Thai Nguyen build strategies to
develop in the future.
Statement of the Problem
In Vietnam's intensifying telecommunication service market today, satisfying
customers is only the base line and may not be sufficient for survival for mobile
phone service providers. Management should focus on gaining customer loyalty by
enhancing customer perceptions of service quality and increasing as perceived by the
consumer value. To do that, it is necessary for them to figure out the relationships and
impacts of service quality, customer value, customer satisfaction, corporate image and
customer loyalty.
With stiff competition market today, many other telecom operators are going
to dominate the market in the province. Therefore, obviously aware of the activities of
providing services is an important requirement of VNPT Thai Nguyen. This has a
great influence on building strategy development, strategy to improve service quality
in order to meet higher demands of customers. At the same time, the perception of
8

quality resources, infrastructure, management capacity Thai Nguyen's internal
VNPT is also a necessary requirement in order to help VNPT Thai Nguyen build
strategies for human development, for infrastructure to set the stage for long-term
growth and sustainability of VNPT.
In the current study about VNPT to now, there has been no studies assessing
performance and prospects of the Thai Nguyen VNPT with variables in which the
researcher has chosen. Therefore, the study of this subject is really useful for VNPT
Thai Nguyen.
Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:
1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:
1.1. Age
1.2. Gender
1.3. Civil status
1.4. Education
1.5. Year in service
2. What are the perceptions of respondents on the services performance of the
VNPT Telecommunication Thai Nguyen in terms of:
2.1. Product and service
2.2. Place
2.3. Price
2.4. Promotion
2.5. People
2.6. Position
3. What are the perceptions of respondents on the prospects of the VNPT
Telecommunication Thai Nguyen in terms of:
9

3.1. Management capacity
3.2. Human resource
3.3. Service attitude
3.4. Marketing
3.5. Material facilities
4. What are the problems at VNPT Telecommunication Thai Nguyen and proposed
recommendations to improve services performance and prospect of VNPT TN?
5. Is there a significant difference in the assessed services performance and prospects
of VNPT Telecommunication in Thai Nguyen province as perceived by the two
groups of respondents?
Objectives of the Study
Assessing the quality of activities and prospect of VNPT resources of Thai
Nguyen on the basis of opinions survey review managers, employees and customers
of VNPT Thai Nguyen. Then to propose recommendations to improve operational
quality and resources of VNPT Thai Nguyen in the future.
Specifically, this study aimed:
1. To describe the profile of the respondents in terms of:
1.1. Age
1.2. Gender
1.3. Civil status
1.4. Education
1.5. Year in service
2. To determine the perceptions of respondents on the services performance of
the VNPT Telecommunication Thai Nguyen in terms of:
2.1. Product and service
10

2.2. Place
2.3. Price
2.4. Promotion
2.5. People
2.6. Position
3. To compare the services performance of VNPT Telecommunication in Thai
Nguyen province as perceived by the two groups of respondents, including
employees and customers of VNPT Thai Nguyen.
4. To assess the prospects of the VNPT Telecommunication Thai Nguyen in
terms of:
3.1. Management capacity
3.2. Human resource
3.3. Service attitude
3.4. Marketing
3.5. Material facilities
5. To compare the prospects of VNPT Telecommunication in Thai Nguyen
province as perceived by the two groups of respondents including staffs and
managers of VNPT Thai Nguyen.
Hypothesis of the Study
The study tested the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference in
the perception of services performance as perceived by employees and customers and
prospects of VNPT Telecommunication in Thai Nguyen Province - as perceived by
managers and staffs.


11

Significance of the Study
With the desired goal is to learn the current telecommunications practiced by
VNPT in the business of telecommunications services for the years 2011 to 2012, to offer
solutions, suggestions for improving the quality of telecommunications services and raise
awareness of competitive effectiveness of VNPT Thai Nguyen in the following years.
To the manager. This will provide them with valued information concerning
the marketing. In this regard they will be able to adapt their development programs to
help the company expand more in future
To the Researcher. The researchers as a candidate for Doctor of Business
Administration Degree, this study will enhance her knowledge aboutmarketing and
prospect development
To Future Researchers. This can serve as reference materials for future
researches similar to this.
Scope and Limitations of the Study
This research focused on evaluating the service performance of
telecommunications services by employees and customers in VNPT. This
research also focused on prospect in terms of management capacity, Human
resource, Service attitude; Marketing; and Material facilities of VNPT Thai Nguyen.
The others items are NOT included in the study.
Definition of Terms
Telecommunication is communication at a distance by technological means,
particularly through electrical signals or electromagnetic waves.
Services is type of economic activity that is intangible, is not stored and does
not result in ownership. A service is consumed at the point of sale. Services are one of
the two key components of economics, the other being goods.
12



Customer is person who uses the products of VNPT Thai Nguyen.

Prospect development is mentioned as resources that help VNPT develop in
future.
Human resource is about quality and quantity of employees in VNPT Thai
Nguyen.
Capacity Management is managerial skill of manager in VNPT Thai Nguyen
Place refers to where the product is to be sold.
Price refers to payment or compensation for products.
Product is the service that VNPT supply to customer. They include Internet
access Entertainment, Information, Call utilities, Credit Top-up/Transfer, Other
services.
Promotion it is concerned with getting people to know more about products
and related services. Advertising, public relations, point – of – sale displays, and word
– of mouth promotion.
Service performance is the process of providing telecommunications services
to customers, is reflected in policies about the price of service, types of products,
promotion.
Perception: The process by which people translate sensory impressions into a
coherent and unified view of the world around them. Though necessarily based on
incomplete and unverified (or unreliable) information, perception is equated with
reality for most practical purposes and guides human behavior in general. In this
study, perception is the awareness, idea and knowledge of respondent about service
performance and prospect of VNPT in general, VNPT Thai Nguyen in particular.
Position is also defined as the way by which the marketers create an
impression in the customers mind. What most will agree on is that Positioning is
13



something (perception) that happens in the minds of the target market. It is the
aggregate perception the market has of a particular company, product or service in

relation to their perceptions of the competitors in the same category. It will happen
whether or not a company's management is proactive, reactive or passive about the
on-going process of evolving a position. But a company can positively influence the
perceptions through enlightened strategic actions.
Service attitude in this study is understood as service attitude, service style
and service culture customers VNPT Thai Nguyen.
Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service
to customers, for the purpose of selling the product or service. It is a critical business
function for attracting customers. From a societal point of view, marketing is the link
between a society’s material requirements and its economic patterns of response.
Marketing satisfies these needs and wants through exchange processes and building
long term relationships. It is the process of communicating the value of a product or
service through positioning to customers. Marketing can be looked at as an
organizational function and a set of processes for creating, delivering and
communicating value to customers, and managing customer relationships in ways that
also benefit the organization and its shareholders. Marketing is the science of
choosing target markets through market analysis and market segmentation, as well as
understanding consumer buying behavior and providing superior customer value. In
this study, marketing is one of variable to assess prospect of VNPT Thai Nguyen. It
includes strategies, methods that VNPT apply in operation.
Material facilities are system material foundations, intangible and tangible
assets that the company owns, in order to serve the business and production activities.




Chapter 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents concepts and theories that have significant effect on the

conduct of the study. Review of related literatures and study presented what had been
written about the subject. Finally a Conceptual framework which aided the conduct of
this research work was established.
Related Literature
It has been suggested that a firm cannot achieve success in today's business
communications environment without delivering superior service quality. Profit
impact of market strategy (PIMS) research reports that companies that offer superior
service can charge industry eight percent more for their products (Gale, 2002), while
achieving above average market share growth (Buzzell and Gale, 2000) and
profitability (Phillips et al., 2000). Berry et al. (2000) concluded: “Excellent service is
a profit strategy because it results in more new customers, more business with existing
customers, fewer lost customers, more insulation from price competition, and fewer
mistakes requiring the re-performance of services”.
Earlier researchers suggest that customers assess service quality by comparing
what they feel a seller should offer with the seller's actual service performance
(Grönroos, 2001; Lehtinen & Lehtinen, 2002). Lehtinen and Lehtinen (2002) gave a
three-dimensional view of service quality consisting ‘interaction', ‘physical', and
‘corporate' quality. Physical quality is the quality dimension, which originates from
the physical elements of service like physical product and physical support.
Interactive quality indicates the interaction between the customer and the service
organization. Corporate quality is symbolic in nature and indicates the perception of