Marketing

With the advancement of technology in the banking industry in recent years has led to the fulfillment of customer satisfaction with better online facilities and tracking system. Customers are able to enjoy rapid speed and service, better delivery channels and faster response rate dealing with queries and account transactions. In Malaysia, customers expect higher quality services from banks which, if fulfilled could result in significant improvement in customer satisfaction levels. This study mainly focuses on investigating to identify the major factors that influence online customers’ satisfaction with the services provided by their respective banks. This study will also assess the online transactions (internet banking) and would therefore help the banks management to improve and better service their customers and strengthen the bond between banks and their valued customers. A total of 227 customers were surveyed via online structured questionnaire for this study. This study identified core services, problem resolution, cost saved, convenience and risk and privacy concerns as the major factors affecting overall customer satisfaction in Malaysia.

The research was performed to study effect of Leadership Development on Employee Performance as well as organizational performance in Punjab, Pakistan. More particularly the research was performed in banking sector and several banks within Punjab province are included. The research focused the three variables for the study such that Training and Development, Employee Participation and Employee Empowerment. These three variables are studied inter-related to each other effecting the employee performance. Though study which as performed to find that, these variables effect employee performance with about 50% while other 50% is effected by other internal forces and contributes towards attitude, commitment, rewards and incentives etc. On the other hand organizational performance do effected by these variables but external environmental factors also effects the performance of organization. Study also attains that certain leadership styles are essential to increase the employee and organizational performance. Thus study shows that these three variables are major tools to increase employee performance in order that learning and training capacity of employee and manager should be valid and have positive approach towards the leadership development program. Though manager and employees should work and collaborate with each other for better performance and should also communicate with each other for increased performance.

The purpose of this paper is to identify competitive marketing strategies used by home-based businesses in the northern and southern suburbs of Pietermaritzburg, to help the businesses focus on the target markets they can best serve to achieve a competitive advantage. The researcher adopted an exploratory study in which both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. The target population for this study comprised of 118 home-based businesses, operating in various industries, in the northern and southern suburbs of Pietermaritzburg. The study enabled an insight into the various types of marketing strategies employed by home-based businesses and the effectiveness of the identified marketing strategies. Through the study it was possible to determine the home-based business owner's knowledge of marketing strategies and whether they were adopting the correct strategies for their businesses in order to achieve a competitive advantage. The major findings revealed that the main challenges were the lack of finance as well as lack of marketing knowledge and skills which inadvertently had a negative impact on the choice of marketing strategies being adopted as the majority of home-based businesses relied mostly on word of mouth marketing and networking. Factor analysis carried out in the survey enabled the identification of latent factors that could affect adoption of marketing strategies. The results of the findings led to the development criteria that would enable home-based to be able to decide on the marketing mix strategies that would be suitable for their target markets.

This study aims to explore the role of marketing practices in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and to evaluate the impact of changes in marketing practices from traditional to entrepreneurial marketing practices will have an impact on the SME performance. A quantitative, exploratory approach using structured questionnaire amongst 50 owners of SMEs in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia was used. Marketing in SMEs is centered on traditional methods such as using print media and hard selling. SME owners should take account of the findings and work towards introducing SME-specific marketing practices in trying to achieve higher sales volume and growth. This study uses a small number of SME companies in one region and therefore the generalizability of the findings may be limited. Further research could extend the number of SME companies and to other regions of Malaysia. The findings have a bearing on the Malaysian SME performance. This study offers insights into how the marketing practices in Malaysian SMEs needs to be adapted in light of the findings to ensure marketing practices of SMEs are compatible with current digital approaches.

This paper focuses on the extent to which the market regulatory environment in the mobile telecommunication industry in Kenya has posed great challenges to new entrants and small operators and frustrated their efforts to counter the continued market leadership and dominance by Safaricom. Debates on ICT regulation in Sub Saharan Africa and the rest of the developing countries were confined to technology and tele-density issues without looking at the social, political, institutional, legal and economic factors that shape industry specific issues. Globally, the telecommunications industry has been viewed as a public utility and public ownership or strong government controls went with that. The argument this paper is premised on is that post liberalization of the telecommunications sector in Kenya, state monopoly of the Kenya Posts and Telecommunication Corporation shifted from government to the private sector oligopoly ( Kerretts, 2005:50, Mureithi, 2008, Manica and Vescovi: 2011:23). There was a shift from structuralism (active role of the state in driving economic development) to neo-liberalism (freeing market forces from government control, reducing taxes, divesting state-owned enterprises, deregulation of telecommunication, weakening of the state’s redistributive functions) (Nwankwo, 2000:147). Despite privatization and introduction of competition, most incumbents are still able to continue dominating the markets and enjoying significant advantages. The market share amongst the four operators in the telecommunications industry in Kenya is skewed in favour of one operator. The paper present an argument on macro-economic, political, legal, social, cultural, economic, institutional and policy issues (Isik, Arditi, Dilem and Birgonul, 2010:119) at the end of the seven year old oligopoly, market liberalisation, market distortions and competitive environment that favour established market players compared to new entrants. The paper is also highlighting the relevance of a classical theory such as Porter’s Five Forces competitive theory and macro environmental forces in explaining regulatory challenges faced by new market entrants in the telecommunications industry in Kenya and other emerging markets.

In this paper, the authors propose a voter-customer brand loyalty model using a mixture of associative network memory model, brand signalling theory and social identity theory. The model will describe the behavioural influences of the political celebrity credibility, the political party brand credibility and the political party brand image on the brand equity of the party presidential candidate, voter-customer-party identification and the voter-customers loyalty. In this model, the authors propose that credible political celebrity endorsement can effectively enhance the brand equity of the party presidential candidate and the brand credibility of the party. In addition, the brand credibility of the party may enhance the brand equity of presidential candidate. In sum, the model framework will show that the use of credible endorsers and investment on the enhancement of the party brand image will lead to enhanced brand equity and committed meaningful relationship with the party presidential candidate by voter-customers.

Solar energy has a bright potential to be the clean source of energy for the future. This paper presents a review on the literature found of the solar panel industry in Malaysia followed by identification of possible factors that may influence consumer’s purchase intention of the green product. The review exercise found perceived government policy, perceived costs and maintenance, product knowledge and experience, solar panel aesthetics, social influence, environmental concern, environmental attitude, product benefits as well as demographic factors (such as education level and income) as possible influencing factors for solar panel. The review outcomes are beneficial particularly for solar panel marketers and businesses who can develop proper planning and strategies to market this product from the consumer’s behaviour insights gained to help the renewable energy industry to grow.

The paper sought to assess the effects of multimedia advertisement features on customer satisfaction in 5-star hotels in Kenya. The study was conducted in Nairobi which is the capital city of Kenya between the month of July and September, 2015. The city is endowed with top rated high class hotels ranging from (1) to (5) star luxury hotels which are competing against each other. Classified hotels are trend setters in the tourism and hospitality industry. High classified hotels distinguish themselves by offering superior products and customised services. The mentioned reasons provided a good setup to conduct this research study. The research design for the study was explanatory research design. The target population comprised of the customers of the hotels listed. The total number of hotel rooms from which the sample was derived was 2500 rooms drawn from 15 five-star hotels. Purposive sampling was undertaken in order to distribute the sample size proportionately in accordance to the hotel room capacity. The customers were stratified and then systematic random sampling was used to select the samples who gave responses to the research instruments. The study established that multimedia online advertisement has significant effect on customer satisfaction by improving the interactivity and customer involvement with the brand it also enhances the presentation of the contents.

Bullwhip effect is a phenomenon of increase in variation of demand as one move up the supply chain. Bullwhip effect has adverse effects on the sustainable growth of the industries. Bullwhip effect is very predominant in case of seasonal products. In this paper author has identified the major factors that affects the Bullwhip effect, and has derived a Multi-level model of these factors, on the basis of their contextual relationship, using Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) technique.

This study aims to examine the response of female fashion shoppers towards the mall atmosphere. A total of 100 female students conveniently sampled at a higher learning institution in Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia, served as the sample. Results from regression analysis revealed that the mall atmospherics positively influence hedonic shopping value and approach behaviour among all female shopper fashion clusters. It seems that fashion forward shoppers are not responding any better than female shoppers on the low end of the fashion spectrum. This study produced evidence suggesting that store environment triggers affective reactions in customers. The paper rounds off with conclusions and an agenda for future research in this area.