Managing Footwear Manufacturers’ Logistics Customer Service:
An Australian supplier-retailers’ context case study
鞋業制造商的物流客戶服務管理：
澳大利亞供應商零售商上下文案例研究

School of Management
Business Portfolio
RMIT University
September 2007
管理學院
業務組合
墨爾本皇家理工大學
2007年9月

ABSTRACT
摘要

Purpose – This paper aims to explore a strategic approach to customer service management and apply it to a footwear manufacturer in Australian market that distributes its products to retailers. The main goals of this study are: (1) identifying key customer service measurements and related items; (2) discussing the relationship between key customer service measurements and overall customer satisfaction; (3) discussing the relationship among logistics process, manufacture flexibility and customer satisfaction.
目的 - 本文旨在探討客戶服務管理的戰略方針，并將其應用到鞋類制造商在澳大利亞市場上銷售其產品給零售商。這項研究的主要目標是：（1）確定關鍵客戶服務測量及相關項目;（2）討論關鍵客戶服務測量和整體客戶滿意度之間的關系，（3）討論物流過程之間的關系，制造靈活性和客戶滿意度。

Design/methodology/approach – Case study approach is applied to gather comprehensive, systematic, and in depth information of study area. To manage customer service, the requirements are: the identification, evaluation and selection of customer service measurements and the establishment of measures as well as performance standards. To identify service measurements, previous research on customer service management, the Australian TCF manufacturers as well as the retailers’ viewpoints were taken into consideration. To evaluate key service measurements, 112 retailers were asked to rate the level of satisfaction to service items the footwear manufacturer provided. Statistic analysis like factor analysis and regression analysis were conducted. Measurements and related items were then evaluated by applying Impact-Satisfaction model. In addition, interview with the management, accessing the secondary data was conducted to get deep understanding of the footwear manufacturer’s logistics processes and current customer service management system.
設計/方法/方式 - 案例研究方法應用于收集全面，系統，研究區域的深度信息。為了管理客戶服務的要求是：識別，評估和選擇的客戶服務測量和措施以及性能標準的建立。標識服務測量，以前的研究，客戶服務管理，澳大利亞TCF制造商以及零售商的觀點考慮。為了評估主要服務測量，112家零售商被要求評價鞋履制造商提供的服務項目的滿意程度。進行因子分析和回歸分析等統計分析。測量及相關項目，然后施加影響滿意度模型評估。此外，接受采訪的管理，訪問輔助數據進行鞋類制造商的物流流程和目前的客戶服務管理系統的深刻理解。#p#分頁標題#e#

Findings – Sales & promotion, order & delivery efficiency, post-sales support, and product were identified as key measurements of customer service satisfaction. The results of regression analysis and Impact-Satisfaction model suggested that “sales & promotion “and “order & delivery efficiency” had high impact degree but less satisfaction. Improvement on them could be helpful to develop the footwear manufacturer’s competitive advantages. In addition, increasing of satisfaction on service item “response to problem” will have significantly positive effort on improvement of measurement “sales & promotion”.
調查 - 銷售與推廣，訂單&交付效率，售后支持，產品被認定為關鍵的客戶服務滿意度的測量。回歸分析的結果和影響滿意度模型提出，“銷售及推廣”和“訂單交付效率高的影響程度，但滿意度較低。改進他們可以幫助開發鞋類制造商的競爭優勢。此外，增加的滿意服務項目“問題的反應”將有顯著的積極努力改進的測量方法“的銷售和推廣”。

Stock and order systems, accuracy of order, completeness of order, ability of advise on product non-availability and order status tracking service were identified as the key areas to improve measurement “order & delivery efficiency”.
Discussion of Crocs current logistics processes, manufacturing flexibility, and customer service quality provides evident how logistics processes determine customer service quality delivered while expected customer service level requires related logistics processes.
Practical implications – The results can help the manufacturer under study pinpoint which service quality measurements need to be measured and in which of them its performance should be improved or maintained. It is of immediate benefit to the manufacturer for its customer service policies and its customers are being researched. Furthermore, lessons and experiences gained would http://ukthesis.org/dissertation_sample complete practical example in academic paper. Insights from such descriptive studies may suggest fruitful directions for additional, more in-depth research.

實際影響 - 結果可以幫助制造商根據研究指出哪些需要來衡量服務質量的測量，和他們改善或維持其性能應。這是其客戶服務的政策和它的客戶正在研究向制造商直接的好處。此外，教訓和經驗將完成實際的例子，在學術紙。這種描述性研究的見解，從豐碩的方向可能會建議額外的，更深入的研究。
 
INTRODUCTION
簡介

Introduction to customer service management
客戶服務管理介紹

Under fierce marketing competition, companies are trying to improve competitive advantages to survive and get further development. Deliver what customer exactly needs on the right time in right condition is the goal of supply chain management. Customer driven supply chain strategy is being adopted by more companies as they believe that customer satisfaction leads company profitability which is the final objective of business. The service management and the marketing literatures suggest that there is a strong theoretical foundation for an empirical exploration of the linkages among customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profitability (See Nelson, Rust, Zahorik, Rose, Batalden, and Siemanski 1992; Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser, and Schlesinger 1994; Storbacka, Strandvik, and Grönroos 1994). Hallowell (1996) tests the hypothesis of relationship between customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and company profitability in bank industry. The results encourage the inference of relationships between customer satisfaction and customer retention, and between customer retention and profitability. Hallowell concluded from the data results that the direct satisfaction --> profitability relationship is significant. Although the test is subject to bank industry, the findings could be extended to other industries. Customer satisfaction seems a powerful weapon in intense marketing competition.#p#分頁標題#e#
在激烈的市場競爭中，公司都在努力提高競爭優勢，生存，并得到進一步的發展。提供客戶到底需要在正確的時間正確的條件是供應鏈管理的目標。客戶驅動的供應鏈戰略正在越來越多的企業所采納，因為他們認為，顧客滿意公司的盈利能力，這是企業的最終目標。

Customer service is a basis for customer satisfaction. Companies deliver a level customer service to maintain the customer satisfaction. The process and performance of customer service offering determine the degree of customer satisfaction. Since it has been proven (Hallowell 1996) that customer satisfaction is related to profit, some people might concluded that companies should provide customer service to satisfy every customer to maximize profit. Hallowell (1996) disagreed with that. He mentioned that the target customer should be those who are most likely to remain with that company for long periods, which will purchase multiple products and services, who will recommend the product to their friends and relations, and who may be the source of superior returns to the companies’ shareholders. In addition to the concept of target customer segmentation, the total cost concept has gained great attention. A trade-off between customer service requirements and the costs of that service must be considered carefully before setting the level of customer service. And it must be based on accurate information on customer needs (Norman 1994). Furthermore, there is good support that there is a gap between perceived services and customer expectations (Gilmour, George, Peter, Nigel, Limbek, and Shaw 1994; Norman 1994; Parasuraman 1998; Seth, Deshmukh, and Vrat 2006). Analyzing customer expectations and finding out what level of service they want are critical before developing customer service standards and performance measurements.
客戶服務是客戶滿意度的基礎。企業級客戶提供服務，保持客戶滿意度。客戶提供服務的過程和表現，確定顧客的滿意度。
分析客戶的期望，并找出他們想要什么樣的服務水平，是開發前的客戶服務標準和性能測量的關鍵。

In supply chain management area, several studies suggest that efficiency of logistics process and the company’s flexibility determine service quality, then lead to particular customer satisfaction (Tracey 1998; Bolumole, Michael Knmeyer, and Lambert 2003). Identify critical customer satisfaction attributes and improve related logistics process are becoming extremely important when companies manage their customer service. Several management models like creative customer service management, segmenting customer service management, and quality service management could be found in marketing and logistics literatures (see Tuker 1994; Zinszer 1997; Seth et al. 2006). Gap analysis, customer tolerance zone, and Importance-Satisfaction model are proposed to find service attributes that need improvements (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry 1994; Yang 2003; Seth et al. 2006). An effective customer service management strategy then can be established based on accurate understanding of customer expectation.#p#分頁標題#e#
一個有效的客戶服務管理策略，那么可以建立在準確理解客戶期望基礎上。