What causes poor customer service? You might be surprised.

Inhaltsangabe:Abstract: Although many firms may aspire to offer zero defects service, the possibility of service failures cannot be wholly eliminated simply because of the variety of factors that may impact on the delivery process. Consequently, the manner in which firms respond to service failures is increasingly seen as a factor that may separate the more successful firms form the others. This response, termed service recovery, is defined as the process by which the firm attempts to rectify a service failure. Some researchers suggest that a firm s response to failures can either reinforce customer relationships or exacerbate the negative effects of the failure. In fact, some assert that it is often a firm s response to a failure, rather than the failure itself, that triggers discontent. Recoveries are critical because customers perceiving poor recovery efforts may dissolve the buyer-seller relationship and purchase elsewhere. Such customer turnover can be costly, especially given that it costs more to win new customers than it does to retain current ones. As a consequence, service failure and recovery encounters have been recognised as critical moments of truth for organisations in their efforts to satisfy and keep customers. Although there is a substantial literature on customer (dis)satisfaction and complaining behaviour, relatively little progress has been made in developing a theoretical understanding of how consumer evaluate a company s response to service failure and recovery encounters. Using perceived justice theory as a conceptual foundation, the current research develops and tests a model that (1) explains how customers evaluate service failure and recovery encounters and (2) how these evaluations affect customer satisfaction and subsequent post-purchase behaviour and attitudes. The study employed a two-stage research strategy. The first phase of the research included an extensive literature review and exploratory research involving semi-structured interviews and experiments. This first stage resulted in the development of a research model establishing the links between the antecedents and outcomes of customer satisfaction judgments involving service failure and recovery encounters. In the second phase, the proposed conceptual model was evaluated through a self-administered, cross-sectional survey. Respondents were requested to recall a time when they complained to a travel and tourism services provider about a failed [...]

Social media has redefined the way marketers communicate with their customers, giving consumers an advantage that they did not have previously. However, recent issues in online communication platforms have increased the challenges faced by marketers in developing and retaining their customers. Practitioners need to develop effective marketing communication programs that incorporate the meaningful forms of sociality into a customer-driven marketing program. Leveraging Computer-Mediated Marketing Environments discusses the nature of heightened interaction between marketers and consumers in the evolving technological environments, particularly on the central nature of online communities and other emerging technologies on dialogic engagement. Additionally, it aims to examine the relevant roles of online communities and emerging technologies in creating and retaining customers through effective dialogue management. Highlighting brand strategy, e-services, and web analytics, it is designed for marketers, brand managers, business managers, academicians, and students.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “This is one of those books that will go down as the seminal work—the determinative work—in this field. . . . Terrifying.”—Rachel Maddow The first definitive account of the rise and fall of the Secret Service, from the Kennedy assassination to the alarming mismanagement of the Obama and Trump years, right up to the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6—by the Pulitzer Prize winner and #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of A Very Stable Genius and I Alone Can Fix It NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST Carol Leonnig has been reporting on the Secret Service for The Washington Post for most of the last decade, bringing to light the secrets, scandals, and shortcomings that plague the agency today—from a toxic work culture to dangerously outdated equipment to the deep resentment within the ranks at key agency leaders, who put protecting the agency’s once-hallowed image before fixing its flaws. But the Secret Service wasn’t always so troubled. The Secret Service was born in 1865, in the wake of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, but its story begins in earnest in 1963, with the death of John F. Kennedy. Shocked into reform by its failure to protect the president on that fateful day in Dallas, this once-sleepy agency was radically transformed into an elite, highly trained unit that would redeem itself several times, most famously in 1981 by thwarting an assassination attempt against Ronald Reagan. But this reputation for courage and excellence would not last forever. By Barack Obama’s presidency, the once-proud Secret Service was running on fumes and beset by mistakes and alarming lapses in judgment: break-ins at the White House, an armed gunman firing into the windows of the residence while confused agents stood by, and a massive prostitution scandal among agents in Cartagena, to name just a few. With Donald Trump’s arrival, a series of promised reforms were cast aside, as a president disdainful of public service instead abused the Secret Service to rack up political and personal gains. To explore these problems in the ranks, Leonnig interviewed dozens of current and former agents, government officials, and whistleblowers who put their jobs on the line to speak out about a hobbled agency that’s in desperate need of reform. “I will be forever grateful to them for risking their careers,” she writes, “not because they wanted to share tantalizing gossip about presidents and their families, but because they know that the Service is broken and needs fixing. By telling their story, they hope to revive the Service they love.”

The overwhelming majority of a software system’s lifespan is spent in use, not in design or implementation. So, why does conventional wisdom insist that software engineers focus primarily on the design and development of large-scale computing systems? In this collection of essays and articles, key members of Google’s Site Reliability Team explain how and why their commitment to the entire lifecycle has enabled the company to successfully build, deploy, monitor, and maintain some of the largest software systems in the world. You’ll learn the principles and practices that enable Google engineers to make systems more scalable, reliable, and efficient—lessons directly applicable to your organization. This book is divided into four sections: Introduction—Learn what site reliability engineering is and why it differs from conventional IT industry practices Principles—Examine the patterns, behaviors, and areas of concern that influence the work of a site reliability engineer (SRE) Practices—Understand the theory and practice of an SRE’s day-to-day work: building and operating large distributed computing systems Management—Explore Google's best practices for training, communication, and meetings that your organization can use

If you want your startup to succeed, you need to understand why startups fail. “Whether you’re a first-time founder or looking to bring innovation into a corporate environment, Why Startups Fail is essential reading.”—Eric Ries, founder and CEO, LTSE, and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way Why do startups fail? That question caught Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann by surprise when he realized he couldn’t answer it. So he launched a multiyear research project to find out. In Why Startups Fail, Eisenmann reveals his findings: six distinct patterns that account for the vast majority of startup failures. • Bad Bedfellows. Startup success is thought to rest largely on the founder’s talents and instincts. But the wrong team, investors, or partners can sink a venture just as quickly. • False Starts. In following the oft-cited advice to “fail fast” and to “launch before you’re ready,” founders risk wasting time and capital on the wrong solutions. • False Promises. Success with early adopters can be misleading and give founders unwarranted confidence to expand. • Speed Traps. Despite the pressure to “get big fast,” hypergrowth can spell disaster for even the most promising ventures. • Help Wanted. Rapidly scaling startups need lots of capital and talent, but they can make mistakes that leave them suddenly in short supply of both. • Cascading Miracles. Silicon Valley exhorts entrepreneurs to dream big. But the bigger the vision, the more things that can go wrong. Drawing on fascinating stories of ventures that failed to fulfill their early promise—from a home-furnishings retailer to a concierge dog-walking service, from a dating app to the inventor of a sophisticated social robot, from a fashion brand to a startup deploying a vast network of charging stations for electric vehicles—Eisenmann offers frameworks for detecting when a venture is vulnerable to these patterns, along with a wealth of strategies and tactics for avoiding them. A must-read for founders at any stage of their entrepreneurial journey, Why Startups Fail is not merely a guide to preventing failure but also a roadmap charting the path to startup success.

This book explores omnichannel fashion and luxury retailing with a particular emphasis on the role of computer-mediated marketing environments in determining a consumer’s purchase and post-purchase trajectories. The fashion industry has evolved rapidly over the last few years with the diffusion of fast fashion and luxury democratization, not to mention the advent of ICT and the development of communication. Today, fashion companies face new challenges, such as how to manage brands and how to choose between marketplaces and digital marketspaces. While some companies focus on one channel selection, others embrace the omnichannel choice and look for a balance between the two environments. Whatever the strategy, it is essential to manage these touch-points in order to create interaction between consumers and brands, provide meaningful customer experiences, and to maximize customers’ engagement. An insightful read for scholars in marketing, fashion and retail, this book investigates the triangulation between branding, marketplace, and marketspace and its impact on the organization.