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Customer loyalty in the Hong Kong Aviation market, A case study of Cathy Pacific Airways

Customer loyalty in the Hong Kong Aviation market: A case study of Cathy Pacific Airways

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Topic Choice Matrix

The terms or concepts to be used

In definition, customer satisfaction can be understood as an attitudinal concept which reconciles the customer expectation and actual experience. Since the customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are directly related, they can be used interchangeably. Theory or models that could be applied

The only theories that can be used to underpin this dissertation will be customer satisfaction theory. It will be used in explaining, expanding and discussing the factors affecting customer satisfaction in the Airways.

Data collection

The data collection method will be questionnaire. A questionnaire is best used in studies seeking answers for how, when, problems and to what extent. Among the information that will be collected form customers include:

Customer satisfaction and opinions

Number of times a customer has used the Airways

Is the customer willing to use the Airways in future?

Access required

After identifying the customers using Airways’ past record and guest book, 100 participants (50 fathers and 50 mothers) will be selected using stratified random sampling. Participation will be voluntary. The questionnaires will be sent prior or in advance to the selected respondents together with a return address and envelope, after contacting them and obtaining their participation in the study.

Measurements

A number of factors are likely to impact on the amount and type of collected data. Some of the factors that have been identified to cause an impact on the internal validity of a study include the following. The variety of information collected from various people and sources might contradict. For instance, in one study, the researchers found out that the management had created different environments for the customers. Another notable threat to the research validity is the method of selection that might be (though the probability cannot be determined) biased. Since participation in the study by respondents is voluntary, selection bias is likely to affect the internal validity. Instrumentation is also identified by the scholars as another factor that affects internal validity. In this threat, any change or alterations made in the measurement of variables or changes in the techniques of observation may justify changes in the measurement that is ultimately obtained. Contribution of this research

The research will be essential in determining the factors that affect customer satisfaction in various Airways. The research outcomes will be useful to all Airways and other organizations.

Introduction

There is a great paradigm shift in the contemporary business environment and this intermarried with the day-to-day economic conditions that various businesses are subjected. It becomes very essential for every business to explore the aspect of customer satisfaction thoroughly as an important aspect and process of business survival and growth. By exploring customer satisfaction, the business organizations not only gain knowledge of the customer satisfaction drivers but establish strategies to retain them and have a competing edge over the competitors in the market.

This provides the rationale upon which this dissertation examines a customer loyalty in the Hong Kong Aviation market taking a case study of Cathy Pacific Airways. The dissertation takes a multi-faceted perspective of various professional fields, deeply analyzing the concept of customer satisfaction in those fields.

2.0 Aim of the research

The main aim of the research is to examine the customer loyalty in the Hong Kong Aviation market taking a case study of Cathy Pacific Airways.

2.0.1 Objectives of the research

To examine the level of customer satisfaction in Cathy Pacific Airways. Since customer satisfaction and loyalty are directly related, the more the satisfied customers the greater the loyalty.

To determine the customer satisfaction drivers in Cathy Pacific Airways. This will help in determining the factors that contributes to customer satisfaction in the Airway.

To examine the factors affecting customer satisfaction in Cathy Pacific Airways.

To determine the percentage of repeat customers in Cathy Pacific Airways. This will help in examining the extent to which customers are satisfied with the Airway’s services.

To determine how prices in the airways affect customer retention , satisfaction and loyalty in the Airways.

3. Rationale

Knowledge of the customer satisfaction factors is a strong backbone upon which an organization can base its customer retention. This is by knowing the satisfaction drivers of the customers it has attracted. Furthermore, though there is a great significance of using customer opinions and attitudes in various fields. Not many studies have specifically focused on assessing the attitudes of customers with respect to their satisfaction with the services offered and so the importance of this research. This research in its secondary research attempts to give an assessment of the studies that have been undertaken in an attempt to investigate the relationship of the two broad dimensions of customer satisfaction and that of customer retention. These two dimensions are powerfully related when attempts are made to understand or debunk on customer satisfaction. After all, the ideological significance of endeavouring to satisfy the customer is to retain the attracted customer and attract more hence creating a pool of loyal customer in the market. The end result is strong customer base and hence formidable market dominance and so the importance of this research.

4. Theoretical framework

Customer satisfaction and retention takes a central role in present marketing theory and praxis. As such, it contains significant link between customers’ behaviours and the activities of the Airways or any company. Customer satisfaction, correspondingly, has been the object of research in more than 20,000 studies across the globe. As a result, various theories have been developed to explain this abstract construct. To date, however, consensus on that matter has not been reached.

This research examines various conceptions of the formation of customer satisfaction. For this reason, customer satisfaction paradigm is sent as the basis on which other theories are developed. Subsequently, a brief presentation and evaluation of existing methods for measuring customer satisfaction sets the focus for this research.

5.0 Literature review

The literature examines original investigations, other literature reviews, peer reviewed academic literature, research databases, reviews, journals in various academic fields and original manuscripts that relate to customer satisfaction. This is intended to bring a better understanding of the factors behind customer satisfaction in various Airways targeting Cathy Pacific Airways. One of the most recent studies, which directly involved investigation of customer satisfaction of consumer is the study carried out by SSP (2006). Since a search in the research databases produces a big number of results, the reviewed literature sources are picked on a random- sample strategy. Databases searched include the BMC research database, JAMA database among others.

In definition, customer satisfaction can be understood as an attitudinal concept which reconciles the customer expectation and actual experience (Mont & Plepys 2003). When the difference between the two aspects (for instance expectation and actual experience) is wide, then there is little satisfaction and an organization stands high chances of losing the attracted customers.

Cooper (2008) observes that because of this knowledge about customer satisfaction with the services of doctors and nurses in the field of health care services, it should therefore help in strengthening the complex intermarriage of various variables across the board with respect to satisfaction of the consumers in the healthcare industry. He further observes that consumer satisfaction will eventually lead to job satisfaction in the service providers. Put in the business setting of any other industry, what this implies is that when the customer is satisfied and the organization’s employees are made aware of the fact, they too are motivated and hence become satisfied with their job. Satisfaction of one is dependent on satisfaction of the other in one or more ways. It in part therefore stresses the significance of involving the employees in the employee satisfaction plans.

With the changing characteristics of the market platform on which business is conducted, the aspect of customer satisfaction becomes even more relevant. Online businesses that deal with clients in a virtual world would wish to know the satisfaction of their customers. This is the basis of the research article by Nusair and Kandampully (2008) which sought to establish the factors that influence customer satisfaction in online business platforms. Nusair and Kandampully (2008) conducted a survey of travel websites with respect customer satisfaction. The objective of their research study was to establish the relationship of various customer satisfaction dimensions and then attempt to investigate if the customers of the analyzed websites are actually satisfied. The researchers provide a good rationale upon which the results of their study may not attain external validity. One of the research limitation identified by the researchers and which limits external validity is that the extent to which their results could be generalized to other business websites or organizational settings is greatly impounded by the fact that they conducted the study on a sample of six travel websites. Another limitation was that the attributes of customer satisfaction could be covered only to a limited extent. This also contributes to reduced generalizability of the results.

As a component of the contemporary business model, corporations and business organizations customarily examined the consequences of changes in customer satisfaction on sales volume and customer retention (Tang & Bougoure 2007). Tang & Bougoure (2007) posit that there is an integral link connecting customer satisfaction and service quality, a link which cannot be doubted. The two researchers make an observation, which concurs with what Bates and associates (1995) had observed in their study. The two research associates observe that for a better business standing in the market and better performance, the business should aim at providing an excess of the satisfaction customers expect out of the services (Tang & Bougoure 2007). This gives an organization’s marketing department and customer service departments a fundamental challenge.

Another comprehensive research study on customer satisfaction is the research done by Conklin (2005) investigating the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty. The researcher gives a comprehensive approach with a systematic methodology, which aims at exploring the concept of customer retention with respect to various aspects of customer satisfaction like quality of services (that is, reliability of the services, responsiveness of the business to customer needs and assurance) and the marketing strategy adapted by the organization (promotional tactics and the channels used among other aspects). The setting for the study is the Bangkok Airport. The researcher used a 5- point rating questionnaire design to collect data related to the above mentioned aspects and subjected the data to statistical analysis.

On another perspective, the researcher also subjected customer satisfaction to analysis as an independent variable. Here, the dependent variable was the customer loyalty. Since the researcher also wanted to establish if there was any relationship between satisfaction of customers and their loyalty, he subjected the data collected to this analysis. The findings of the analysis pointed to a strong positive relationship between the two variables. The researcher therefore managed to derive a string of correlations leading to customer satisfaction. The implication of this study is that customer satisfaction as a fundamental aspect of business and welfare economics of consumer behaviour should be understood as a process (Mont & Plepys 2003).

Customer satisfaction and brand loyalty have a causal link, which means that utmost care must be borne in mind when attempts are made by business organizations to develop satisfaction strategies. An oversight may easily lead to the plan not working at all. Since the characteristics of the variables a long this causal link may not be similar across the industries and may also vary from business to business, every organization must examine directionality of its customer satisfaction thoroughly (SSP 2006).

Based on the literature review, a number of issues are evident. First, given that customer satisfaction is not a quantitatively measurable variable and it ideally depends on the behaviour of consumers, more investigative efforts should be put in understanding consumer behaviour of consumers in a particular industry, geographic location and across gender. However, it must be taken into account that consumer behaviour is not only a profound process in business interaction with the society but it also has many intervening variables which cannot be assumed. For instance, a business that wishes to gain customer loyalty without satisfaction is unlikely to succeed. On the same basis, an organization that wants to ensure a satisfied customer without examining the consumer behaviour of customer with respect to changes in quality of services offered and market approach strategies employed may also not be planning to succeed.

6. Methodology

Primary research design

The quantitative data collection method will be employed in this research. Questionnaires will be sent randomly to the Airways customers. A questionnaire is best used in studies seeking answers for how, when, problems and to what extent. A questionnaire is the appropriate quantitative method for the study because it supports the gathering of data on the measurable effects and it enables the researcher to collect data from 100 respondents.

The questionnaire takes approximately 40 minutes to finish. The questionnaires will be sent prior or in advance to the selected respondents together with a return address and envelope, after contacting them and obtaining their participation in the study. Duration of one week will be allowed for the questionnaire completion (Clarke, 2005).

Secondary research

The literature examines original investigations, other literature reviews, peer reviewed academic literature, research databases, reviews, journals in various academic fields and original manuscripts that relate to customer satisfaction. This is intended to bring a better understanding. One of the most recent studies, which directly involved investigation of customer satisfaction of consumer is the study carried out by SSP (2006). The qualitative data collection method will be secondary research materials. The questions focus on accounts of the level of satisfaction, social relations of customers, as well as on areas of need and recommendations in addressing these areas (Munhall, 2007).

Sampling

The participants of the study are the regular customers or other users who happened to use the Airway. The participants (to fill the questionnaires) will be selected randomly. After identifying the customers using Airways’ past record and guest book, 100 participants (50 fathers and 50 mothers) will be selected using stratified random sampling. This method of selection considers criteria in selecting the respondents. The criteria comprise the classification of the respondents and the number of respondents needed to represent each classification (Kabala, 2005). The specific respondents to fill the number required for each classification are selected randomly. Using this sampling method ensures that customers from different income classes and are represented proportionally.

Data Analysis

Quantitative data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics to summarize the responses and determine means and standard deviation. The analysis is aimed to determine the significance of measurable level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of customers (Kabala, 2005). Qualitative data will be analyzed by using thematic classification and drawing implications relative to the quantitative data and the research questions. Results will be presented in tables and graphs together with textual explanations. From the analysis, the level of customers’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction will be determined. Since customer satisfaction and loyalty are directly related, the extent of customer satisfaction will show how customers are loyal.

Bibliography

Caldwell, E., 2003, Research Designs and their applications: Connecticut, USA: Engage

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Camilla, M., 2003, Textbook of basic Research Methods. New York, USA: Lippincott

Williams & Wilkins. Pp. 45-56.

Charmaz, K., 2006, Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Clarke, A., 2005, Situational Analysis: Grounded Theory After the Postmodern Turn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Jeon, Y., 2004, The application of grounded theory and symbolic interactionism: Sydney, Australia. University of technology.

Kabala, M., 2005, Modern Research Methods and Techniques. New York, USA: Lippincott

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Munhall, L., 2007, Nursing research: a qualitative perspective. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Bates DW, Cullen DJ, Laird N, Petersen LA, Small SD, Servi D, Laffel G, Sweitzer BJ, Shea BF, Hallisey (1995). Incidence of adverse drug events and potential adverse drug events. Implications for prevention. ADE Prevention Study Group. JAMA; 274:29–34. doi: 10.1001/jama.274.1.29.

Conklin K. M. (2005) Customer satisfaction with Services at Bangkok Airport. Retrieved online at: http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:Yz1rkd7PYhAJ:library.utcc.ac.th/onlinethesis/onlinethesis/M0228901/chapter3.pdf+methodology+chapter+on+customer+satisfaction&hl=en&gl=ke&sig=AFQjCNE45F0XMq0TpVDXl8WXQeMAwVdS8Q

Cooper, J. F. (2008) – The Relationship of Morale and Productivity: A Historical Overview http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED147985&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED147985

Kacel, B., Miller, M. & Norris, D. (2005). Integrating Nurse Job Satisfaction and Patient Satisfaction with Health care Services; Time Warner Publishing

Kersnik J. (2008) Health Policy: Determinants of customer satisfaction Health Policy, Volume 57, Issue 2, Pages 155-164

Mont O. & A. Plepys (2003) Customer satisfaction: Application to the product-service systems: Accessible online at: http://www.citeulike.org/user/jlreis/article/2783227

SSP (2006) Customer Satisfaction Survey: Accessed online on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 from URL: http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:EP9AChtI-ccJ:biology.usgs.gov/ssp/docs/Final%2520SSP%2520Survey%2520Report%2520July%25202006.pdf+research+proposal+customer+satisfaction&hl=en&gl=ke&sig=AFQjCNFSMIGoUyLueoytXeDtIZ2pC5tU2Q

Tang, K. M. & Bougoure, Ursula (2007) Service Quality: An investigation into Malaysia consumers using DINESERV

Balabanis G. & Souitaris V. (2007) Tailoring Online Retail Strategies to Increase Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty; Long Range Planning, Volume 40, (2): 244-261 INCLUDEPICTURE “http://www.sciencedirect.com/scidirimg/clear.gif” * MERGEFORMATINET HYPERLINK “http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2006.11.006” t “doilink” doi:10.1016/j.lrp.2006.11.006    

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Customer Experience

Customer Experience

Introduction

When customer experience becomes important in an industry, the management team roles tend to be inclined towards establishment of practices that build the best results and performance track. The banking sector is in a heavily service intensive industry that relies on the consumer behavior, much of which dictates the outcomes of customer experience. It gets more important for a banking institution to equip itself with the information and recourses that enable rapid response and reaction against unfavorable customer experience in such an industry. Opening a new banking outlet, particularly in an overseas location, it is imperative for the banking institution adequately prepares for the groundbreaking exercise and positioning that will facilitate sustainability.

Some of the intricate issues that determine the success of a newly opened branch in the banking sector are generally related to the first impression created regarding customer experience. Customer experience can be memorable for either good or bad reasons. How suitable and pleasant an experience gets to the newcomers is usually dependent on the trend set from the beginning. It follows that the remainder of the experience in a new market is defined in the initial stages of market positioning and establishment. Aware of these facts, Cooperative Bank and Smile UK Limited will require the detail of the following study regarding the new market in Tanzania for the creation of an appropriate customer.

According to Avaya (2008, P1), both local and international banking institutions find a huge challenge to balance their strategy mix and technological capacity to facilitate sustainable customer relationships. According to the revelations of the group, today’s customer experience has changed a lot due to a number of factors. One of the most important factors that have necessitated a different approach to handling of customer experience is the easy availability of information that has impacted on customer expectations. In view of the new market in Tanzania, this study reveals some of the most important information that the management of Cooperative Bank and Smile will need to handle the changed customer experience issues in Tanzania.

UK Customer Experience

Comparing the banking sector in the UK to that in Tanzania, there are fundamental differences in the economic settings of the two countries. While the UK is an industrialized economy, Tanzania is a developing country, where profound differences in operations will be experienced. Performance in the developed economy presents quite enough experience of operating inside a competitive market, since investment is balanced into almost every sector. Competition is an experienced area therefore that the Cooperative Bank and Smile will depend on while making entry into the Tanzanian market. One of the major strategies that characterize operations of banks in such a crowded market is the creation of a sustainable customer relations program. It is therefore expected that the Cooperative Bank and Smile entry will have an upper hand in economic orientation in Tanzania due to the exposure already held. The fact that the Tanzanian economy is significantly compatible with the Commonwealth economic foundation makes the bank ideal for entry into a new system.

Prospects of Customer Experience in Tanzania

Entry into the Tanzanian banking market will perhaps require a mention of the factors likely to affect the customer experience in the East African region to a great extent on the African continent. One positive indicator of unlimited opportunities that the new market has in Tanzania is the relatively low penetration of banking sector into the population (ReConnect Africa, 2010, p1). Population figures indicated in Appendix 1 can be used to predict performance of the banking sector under these factors (CIA, 2011, p1). Economic prospects of the country and the region are pointers that a good entry and customer experience strategy will face little resistance from economic environment. The cultural background in Tanzania is founded on a friendly and supportive environment arising from the faded Ujamaa socialism that would facilitate growth and thriving for customer experience in the banking sector (TANU, 1974, p120).

Today’s Market Landscape

According to Microsoft (n.d, p4), today’s banks are responsive of the customer needs than it used to be long ago. This is mainly due to changes in the socioeconomic space that human beings continue to experience. Customer experience in today’s banking market is therefore a representation of a scenario undergoing several transformations. Customer emotions are stimulated to trigger the desired outcomes, since earlier advertising expenditure seem ineffective. Information age is here with us and the transformations experienced through technology and innovation is likely to introduce even more changes into the future of the market (Ivens & Shaw, 2002, p5). According to Barnes (p17), getting customers to satisfaction is a matter of how well customer experience matches their needs. Generally, conduction of surveys will be a tool enough to indicate the amount of satisfaction that customers get from services of a certain trade. The banking industry will therefore continue to experience changes in the manner in which customers are handled.

Appropriate Customer Experience Practices

Different industries devise ways of ensuring that their customers act with loyalty and remain as part of the important and vocal stakeholders. Ensuring that the customer feels appreciated and important in the business defines the amount of transactions made, hence revenue. The customer experience practice embarked by individual businesses must therefore be or appear to be responsive of the needs of the customers. Almost every business has a different set of unique issues define their existence, but certain customer issues cut across all industry models. Dealing with the banking sector, several issues can be identified for the creation of the best customer experience that can translate into positive economic results. Knowledge of dealing with the customer is not only a management tool but an important cultural asset for the entire organization’s practice.

Firstly, organizational commitment in the banking sector is important in establishment of the appropriate customer experience. Decision making and implementation of decided work plan at every level of the organization is determined by how responsive the workforce is. In order for the Cooperative Bank and Smile to achieve important progress in the initial entrance stages in Tanzania, employee commitment will be invaluable. Customers may not offer the best experience due to the various personality differences, but organizational commitment is usually designed to overcome any of such challenges. According to Shea (2008, p1), it is always important to equip the employees with the relevant information on how to deal with customers through research to unravel what customers like. The author calls such concept the Voice of the Customer (VOC), since the revelations thereon can be used in such an accuracy that the actual customer’s voice would be. Decisions and policies to handle customers will be formulated with regard to the findings of such a study conducted to identify with the needs of a customer. It would be important for an overseas institution such as Cooperative Bank and Smile based in London to carry out such a study to equip the employees with the information they need for the same. Commitment arises when the management appreciates certain issues and incorporates them into the organizational policy framework.

Shea (1), reckons that to operate with the VOC concept, a well outlined structure and arrangement to direct the appropriate research findings into the policy framework. Research must be conducted in such a manner that useful information is obtained and possible technicalities accordingly translated into the proper scope and meaning. Clear and definite policy is then drawn out of the research findings and commitment sought from the employee quarters while enforcement resources are expected from the management.

Secondly, business initiatives must be formulated in tandem with the presenting customer precedence and opportunities. In order for the Cooperative Bank and Smile to successfully facilitate a balanced investment entry into the Tanzanian market, targets will have to be set in advance, in line with the main investment objectives that the parent institution envisions. Customer experience programs taken into consideration will then be formulated and compared against the provisions of the longer investment plans of the bank. The importance of this exercise is to ensure that the long term objectives of the bank are not eroded by overambitious suggestion to handle customers. Performance metrics and figures direct the amount of consideration that the management ought to give to the new branch with regard to customer experience. However, initial stages of market entry may not necessarily be guided by the performance in Tanzania, since it is the first instance of establishment. Priorities must be set out in ensuring that the most strategic issues of establishment take precedence in order for a smooth establishment to take place.

Thirdly, brand positioning must target customer loyalty into the future of the banks existence in the new environment (Ahmad & Clifton, 2009, p22). Customer experience is determined by the first impression that the new entrant makes, depending on the features of the rest of the competitors. Within a competitive market, customers will be attracted to the players who handle their interests with the best welcoming gestures. In the event that the new entrant offers better or acceptable brand image, the customers are likely to embrace the services of the entrant. Contrary to this, the customer experience is severely damaged since the standards set by the market are higher than what the entrant can offer. Brand positioning will therefore be a factor of the perception that customers make of the entrant (96). This implies that the first impression created by Cooperative Bank and Smile will be expected to comply to the set market standards in Tanzania in order for a positive and favorable customer experience to be facilitated. Depending on the initial research performed on the market conditions, the management is equipped with the relevant information regarding the nature of brand positioning likely to attract enough customers to kick-start operations. Constant reviews of programs improving brand positioning are necessary to ensure that changes in market expectations do not leave the entrant in a less advantageous condition.

Copley (2004, p83) describes positioning as offering goods and services with a perspective that considers the customer as well as the rest of the market competition. The author mentions of managing issues as they arise in the market in order to have an advantage over the determining factors represented by competitors and customers. It is therefore imperative that customer experience is based on a perspective that is accorded the seriousness it deserves, such as competition would. The author further mentions of strategic positioning, which entails clear policy and strategy taken from an informed perspective that takes care of the brand name. Regarding the banking sector, it is obvious that the correct positioning will take customers’ needs and competition into serious consideration.

Fourthly, customer experience will be a representation of how well the institution handles human beings, procedures, available products as well as delivery of services (Shea, 2008, p1). For the bank to facilitate a winning position for its customer experience, these four factors must be in consideration. People determine the success of any industry, both internally and externally. Human resource management directly impacts on customer experience as public relations and customer care services do. All the stakeholders must be satisfied with the operations of the bank in order for the customers to feel the same (Gitman & McDaniel, 2007, p520). Processes within the bank will also need to be clearly outlined and adherence measures taken into serious consideration before customers can accept to be served by the bank. Customers feel protected when procedures are laid out and their compliance guaranteed. The banking institution must also deliver financial products that represent the needs of the market in several ways. Delivery of the services must be done in such a manner that the customers feel that hey can associate and identify with such an institution.

Fifthly, competitive advantage in customer experience is enhanced by industry experiences when the environment becomes competitive (Schmitt, 2003, p11). It is estimated that some level of competition will be met in the Tanzanian market where customer experience will be directly proportional to level of competitiveness of the Cooperative Bank and Smile. Banking market experiences enjoyed by the bank in the UK will be importance in facilitating the identification of the competitive advantage the bank will enjoy in Tanzania. Customer experience elsewhere will be translated in some aspects and instances to make general customer consumption behavior in the two markets. Setting of goals prior to the actual entrance will determine the overall experience that the bank will have in Tanzania. Like observed earlier on, customer experience is usually performed from the informed perspective offered by the goals set prior to operations by the management.

Sixthly, customer experience heavily depends on the communication practices established from the beginning of operations. Cultural practices within an organization include communication practices where the banking industry is sensitive to the actual manner of communication established. Customer communication strategies are definitive of the customer experience that a bank has. For Cooperative Bank and Smile to achieve the appropriate customer experience as one of the strengths of its operations, it will be imperative that the initial customer contact is handled with the sensitivity it deserves. Customer expectations and actual feelings of the service must be matched as much as possible in order for a favorable experience to be achieved. This implies that the bank will be obliged to embark on frequent customer expectations surveys to establish exactly what the customers expect in the service delivered and their delivery format. It is from such informed grounds that the bank will formulate products and serves delivery plans to keep up with the demands of the customers. One of the responses expected from such an exercise is the formulation of a monitoring system that discerns the level of compliance with the laid out procedures and communication regulation requirements. Communication at all levels is supposed to facilitate delivery services such that customer standards are complied with (Fitch, 2007, p9).

Theoretical Approaches

There are several theoretical explanations why customer experience has to be approached in a certain manner and not anyhow. Several scholars have dedicated their research resources and time to unravel consumer consumption behavior, in order to offer the appropriate guidance to customer policy makers. Almost all cases of studies have demonstrated the need for any business entity to handle customers in a sensitive manner, since consumer behavior is guided by economic postulates of satisfaction of human needs and wants. Having understood the need to incorporate human needs models in unraveling consumer behavior for any product, decision and policy makers in a business organization are equipped with important resource. The following section details on some theoretical foundations on which customer experience seems to borrow from.

Hierarchy of Needs

According to Maslow, a certain hierarchy of needs dictates the manner in which human beings prioritize needs based on the limited nature of resources available to them (Shaw, 2007, p52). The author reckons that customers must not feel as if they are subjects of neglect when they need to achieve them. In a reducing order, biological, safety, identity, esteem and self actualization needs are sought. Customer experience is affected by the status of the immediate pressing need, with the most important factors being biological needs. Banking customer experience will rely on this order of needs priority (Chapman, 2004, p1).

Laddering Theory

Where information regarding consumer preferences is required to be extracted from a consumer, several techniques can be used to administer the extraction. One of such techniques employs the consultative but detailed interviewing of a customer to develop the needs profile. Such an interview is described as laddering, whereupon important information needed to unravel consumer preferences and behavior may be achieved. There are three elements of the technique as featured in the results. One of the elements is attributes, regarding the features of the product that the consumer perceives from the product. The other elements are consequences as well as values that a consumer makes of a choice to use a certain commodity over the other. Laddering Theory, also known as Means-End Theory implies that interrogation can be used to provoke a customer’s perceptions of a commodity or service to confirm that the three features determine consumption theory. A-C-V profiling implies that customers get motivated to consume goods on a certain order of influential features. The order of the features determine the level of compliance to a certain consumption behavior, hence the need for marketers to observe laddering before they push products down the throats of unwilling consumers (Olson & Reynolds, 2001, p25).

Customer Service Continuum Theory

Learning of the needs of the customer dictates how the product mix and service delivery should be presented to the customer. This is because responding to the customer demands will not only influence the industry’s products to be offered but also dictates the manner in which the package is to be delivered. Advertising therefore becomes part of the equation while how to deliver the commodity becomes another important aspect of factors affecting consumer behavior. Some of the traditional trading practices have experienced fundamental changes which have affected the way of handling customers. On one hand, the customer has gained cynicism and can critique advertisements. As a result, something else must come in as a force to convince their choice of commodity for consumption. On the other hand, a more information oriented society increasingly demand explanations necessitating customer service departments. In addition, consumers are aware of their right to quality goods and service and they place demands for higher quality. Competition tends to thrive since customers will always look for better commodities and services prompted by quest for quality. Alternatively, a more individualistic population of consumers demand a more personalized attention and attendance of customers. Finally, customers demand for proof changes customer experience with a more alert market. The above factors implies that customer experience tends to attract reforms in the manner in which the customer is attended, hence an apparent customer service range develops (Murley, 1997, p234).

Conclusion

Slight market differences are expected to exist between the Tanzanian banking market and the UK market, with regard to customer experience. However, fundamental differences in economic settings in the two countries are likely to have a direct bearing on customer experience, considering that the industrialization status of the two is distantly apart.

There are several customer experience practices that managers are supposed to familiarize with, in order to develop the best image of the market. While most of the practices cut across various investment models, there are industry specific practices that market research carried out ought before entry ought to reveal.

Using the above mentioned theoretical approaches, it can be demonstrated that the consumers follow a certain marked behavior. It therefore follow that entry into a new banking market must consider the general rules of customer uptake of services offered and the best approach to handle them.

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Chapman, A. (2004) “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,” [online] Available from: HYPERLINK “http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm” http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm (accessed 10 March 2011)

Christopher, M., Clark, M., Payne, A. & Peck, H. (2003) Relations marketing fro competitive advantage: winning and keeping customers. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann

CIA World Factbook (2011) [online] available from: HYPERLINK “https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tz.html” https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tz.html (accessed 10 March 2011)

Copley, P. (2004) Marketing communications management: concepts and theories, cases and practices. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann Publishers

Dibeehi, Q., Shaw, C. & Walden, S. (2010) Customer experience: future trends and insights. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan

Dyche, J. (2002) The CRM handbook: a business guide to customer relationship management. Montreal, Canada: Addison-Wesley Publishers

Fitch, T. P. (2007) Career opportunities in banking, finance and insurance. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing

Foss, B. & Stone, M. (2001) Successful customer relationship marketing: new thinking, new strategies, new tools for getting closer to your customers. London, UK: Kogan Page Ldt.

Gitman, L. J. & McDaniel, C. (2007) The future of business: the essentials. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning

Goodman, J. A. (2009) Strategic customer service: managing the customer experience to increase positive word of mouth, build loyalty and maximize profits. New York, NY: AMACOM Div American Management Association.

Greenberg, P. (2004) CRM at the speed of light: essential customer strategies for the 21st century. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Professional

Hansen, U. & Henning-Tharau, T. (2000) Relationship marketing: gaining competitive advantage through customer satisfaction and customer retention. Hannover, Germany: Springer-Velag Berlin Heidleberg

Ivens, J & Shaw, C. (2002) Building great customer experiences. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan

Microsoft, (n.d) Changing the banking customer experience: increasing [online] Available from: < HYPERLINK “http://bankjobsearch.com/MAVERICKSINBANKING/Libraries/Microsoft_Whitepapers/Changing_the_Banking_Customer_Experience.sflb.ashx” http://bankjobsearch.com/MAVERICKSINBANKING/Libraries/Microsoft_Whitepapers/Changing_the_Banking_Customer_Experience.sflb.ashx> [accessed 9 March 2011]

Murley, P. (1997) Gower handbook of customer service. Hampshire, UK: Gower Publishing, Ltd.,

Olson, J. C. & Reynolds, T. J. (2001) Understanding consumer decision making: the means-end approach and advertising strategy. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers

Peppers, D. & Rogers, M. (2004) Managing customer relationships: a strategic framework. Hoboken, NJ: John-Wiley and Sons

ReConnect Africa (2010) Is Tanzania’s banking sector ready for a nudge from Kenya? [online] Available from: <http://www.reconnectafrica.com/business/is-tanzanias-banking-sector-ready-for-a-nudge-from-kenya-2.html> [accessed 9 March 2011]

Reynolds, J. (2002) A practical guide to CRM: building more profitable customer relationships. New York, NY: Focal Press

Schmitt, B. (2003) Customer experience management: a revolutionary approach to connecting with your customers. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons

Shaw, C. (2007) The DNA of customer experience. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan

Shea, L. G. (2008) Forget the theory: practical considerations for listening to the customer experience. [online] Available from: HYPERLINK “http://www.icmi.com/Resources/Articles/2008/May/Forget-the-Theory-Practical-Considerations-for-Listening-to-the-Customer-Experience.aspx” http://www.icmi.com/Resources/Articles/2008/May/Forget-the-Theory-Practical-Considerations-for-Listening-to-the-Customer-Experience.aspx [accessed 10 March 2011]

TANU (1974) Towards Ujamaa: twenty years of TANU leadership. Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: East African Literature Bureau

Wilburn, M. (2006) Managing the customer experience: a measurement-based approach. Milwaukee, WI: ASQ Quality Press

Appendix 1: Tanzania’s Population Estimates as at 2010

Total population 41,892, 895

Population growth rate 2.032%

Birth rate 33.44 births/ 1000

Death rate 12.31 deaths/1000

Age structure: 0-14 years

0-14years 43%

15-64 years 54.1%

65 years and above 2.9%

Adopted from: CIA Factbook (2011) [online] available from: HYPERLINK “https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tz.html” https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tz.html (accessed 10 March 2011)

Custom Humidors

Custom Humidors

Custom Humidors are specially designed humidors to suit a particular purpose. In essence humidors are containers made for holding cigars as well as other tobacco merchandises at a stable echelon of humidity. Custom humidors are particularly designed with a specific use in mind. These give the user great convenience in storing and holding cigars. Specifically planned humidors include particular humidor designs that are nothing short of the intended use. Hand-made-cigar humidors are part and parcel of custom humidors. These often plays a more specific role bearing in mind that hand made products are often designed with customized precision. Incase a person is interested in having a particular humidor; a custom humidor could be created precisely to fit your specifications. It is possible to design a humidor explicitly to fit your picky size and variety of cigar. Cabinet humidors units can be designed for clandestine clubs, eateries as well as larger suburban installations, in addition to commercial humidors for gifts and confidential labels. Laser figurine is obtainable on all custom humidors.

Custom Humidors also incorporate antique humidors. Antique humidors are designed in accordance to traditional styles. Custom humidors cut across various dimensions of humidors depending on the specifications of the cigars. In reality, custom humidors primarily seek to fit the particular use of the cigars as well as its use. Personalized humidors are particularly designed with the personal particulars of the user. Therefore, it is possible to carve personal initials, name, folks crest, company logo and military emblem among others, to the specifications on the humidor. Large humidors work well for those customers with huge volume demands. The makers often consider their specifications. Immense humidor designs are often witnessed as the custom humidor makers. This explores the fact that most users will prefer having specifically designed humidors for their use.

Custom engraved glass is as well offered on all glass humidor designed to the user’s measurements. Anyone interested in custom humidors ought to contact the makers with a list of his preferences and specifications. These will enable the makers to come up with a commodity that suits the purpose. Cabinet humidors are made with exact precision for clients so as to serve the particular purposes. The user must cite the dimensions, timber species along with preferences, after which the makers give their quotation thereafter a humidor devised exclusively for the user.

Custom-walk-in humidors are also created specifically to carter for user’s particular needs. All you need to do is to specify the needs so as the makers consider them in the process. Incase one is not satisfied with the custom humidors then he can contact the makers for further deliberations. Apart from making specific humidors lessons are also provided on how to use a humidor. Essentially, every one of custom humidors is usually non-returnable; moreover any disparity from a stock humidor is perceived a custom humidor. Custom humidors are very reliable in several ways. Basically, there are preferable compared to standard humidors simply because they are designed specifically for the task. In every aspect custom humidors serve the users better than standard humidors.

Custom Homework, The Nyulnyulan use Bardi language

Institution

Instructor

Class

Student’s Name

Date

Custom Homework

The Nyulnyulan use Bardi language in their communication and other social aspects of their life. The Birdi language is an Australian northernmost language that is mainly used by this family, which is none-Pama. The non-Pama-Nyungan family lives in Kimberly, the western region of Australia. The language is considered as diminishing since its being absorbed by other languages within the region. It is claimed that only five individuals in the entire community can speak the language fluently among all people who identify as the Bardi community (Bowern, McDonough and Kelliher, 334). The Bardi community is approximated to consist of about one thousand people.

The Bardi community and language is said to have been influenced by the European missionaries. This happened in the 1930s when people from the community were moved to other regions dominated by the European languages and indigenous language speaking communities. This is how the Bardi community started to deteriorate in social value and significance in Australia (Bowern, McDonough and Kelliher, 334). The issue of first language acquisition within the Bardi people almost died making it difficult for even the Bardi people to speak their mother tongue fluently. The popularity of the Bardi community and language is therefore said to be dying out given that only five people can speak the Bardi language effortlessly.

The Baard and Jawi are intelligible language varieties related to the Bardi language. They have very much influenced the existence of the Bardi language. The influence of the Bardi by these two languages has made it difficult to know the scope of dialect variety within the language. There is evidence of collected information in a study to know more about the Bardi community and language (Bowern, McDonough and Kelliher, 341). The study involved collection of data through recording of word lists alongside elicitation. This was being done to bring out the language dialect and the aspect of fluency or alteration among various speakers conducted. There is no formal speaker to the language but those conducted were perfect for the study.

Aspects of study included the structure of syllables alongside word structures. In this case, it was found that Bardi language has great inflectional morphology. This was found to be intensive in verbs, found to take suffixes, prefixes, as well as additional clitics. This was against nouns and pronouns or even adjectives that are inflected mainly for case. Nouns were found to take possession makers. This was by either a prefix or a suffix. An investigation of consonants indicated that the Bardi language has seventeen consonants. Among these seventeen consonants, twelve of them are sonorants and five obstruents that act as stops (Bowern, McDonough and Kelliher, 343). There were no fricatives found with the language as far as consonants are concerned. There is hardly contrasting stops within the language. Stops were found to be voiceless and less noticeable. Another aspect of study was plosives within the diminishing language. Plosives involve stop contrasts occurring at about five places of the language articulation. Plosives is part of the consonants but was considered exclusive since voicing is hardly contrastive in the stops.

Lenition was another item of study and it was found to include two processes in the Bardi language. The two lenition processes were synchronic and historical. The synchronic process is associated with leniting the stops that are phonemically voiceless to sonorous reflexes. On the other hand, the historical lenition is associated with sound change resulting to morphological alteration. Other aspects included retroflection, sonarants, vowels, prosodic features, and transcription of connected speech (Bowern, McDonough and Kelliher, 346). All these have completely changes among majority of the Bardi people due to influence by other communities and languages. Most of the Bardi people can hardly speak their native language apart from five people. Given that, these five people pass on, the Bardi language and culture dies out completely in the next few years.

Works Cited

Claire Bowern, Joyce McDonough and Katherine Kelliher. “Bardi.” Journal of the International Phonetic Association, Vol. 42, Is. No. 3 (2012): 333-351 doi:10.1017/S0025100312000217.

Currys Research Methodology

3.0Research Methodology

The study aimed to identify if there is any relationship between loyalty programme and customer retention at Currys UK. To establish the concept of customer retention and its implication on store’s profitability, researcher has identified other areas of business such as branding, customer service, customer’s intention to switch etc. It was imperative for the researcher to select specific methods before carrying out the research. Hence, researcher had decided semi-structured methods. Even though there are elements within the research which could have been analysed through empirical research, however, it would not have been possible to incorporate customer’s opinions. Without customer’s opinion on loyalty, the research would have been left open to questions. Hence, researcher took semi structured approach where literatures on loyalty and retention have been identified and analysed first. It was then tested through a field research where customers were given a set of questions to express their feelings and opinions on loyalty and retention. Researcher felt that this methodology was best as it allowed literatures to be tested on a field level. It was easy to collect data through a survey from customers and analyse it in computer programme to reach conclusion. To ensure the study will produce the desired results, researcher has testified the questionnaire on a small sample. Data collected through this pilot study was analysed in computer program to ensure it generated the outcome. This methods of collecting and testing sample data before the actual survey proved to be very effective as it ensured the reliability of the system and questionnaire. The following sections of the research describes different approaches, how the research was designed, what strategy was adopted to collect and analyse data for this study.

3.1 Research Approach

The sample population for this study consists of potential customers and employees who work at Currys Leyton and Stratford branch. Researcher has approached customers during busy period, more specifically over the weekend to collect data. It was imperative to have relaxed and flexible approach in order to collect quality data. As there was no obligation on the store management to release any information to researcher, flexibility and networking skill had opened a new door to researcher. Researcher had managed to convince employees from the social circle to give information on customer retention and loyalty. Relax attitude of the researcher also allows customers to understand that this study is not for marketing purpose as some customers felt their information might be used for direct marketing (Miles and Huberman, 1994). Researcher approached to he customer and employees with explanation, why the study is being carried out and the outcome sought from the study. As there was no pressure on customers or employees, they were happy to assist the researcher to fulfil academic commitment. There are specific reasons why data was collected from these two locations. Firstly, the location was close to researcher residence and secondly it was appropriate to collect data from these locations as the store gets very busy during the weekend. Currys being in the heart of largest shopping centre in Europe, there was a great influx of customers who were eager to fill out the questionnaire which increased the quality of the data collected. Researcher had given opportunity to customer to opt out of the survey to ensure customer does not feel obliged or pressurised. On the other hand, data has been collected randomly to remove biasness (Saunders et al., 2007), however, it would have been better if data was collected equally from male and female customers.

3.2 Research Strategy

Throughout the study, researcher has adopted different strategy to meet the deadline. The strategy adopted was based on the circumstances where researcher has spent a lot of time negotiating with friends to convince to take part in the survey. Apart from networking, other strategy includes, cost reduction, time management, in-depth search strategy in order to ensure every aspects of the study is covered. To reduce the cost of travel, researcher has spent the whole day at the Stratford and Layton shopping centre to collect data. This enabled researcher to collect lots of data in a single day and saved travel cost. To ensure the timely delivery of the project, researcher has adopted time management strategy where the whole research has been divided into section. It was important to put a deadline for each section of the study. This enabled researcher to complete individual sections and link it with the next section, making sure there is a thread running throughout the study. On the other hand, researcher had allocated time to carry out in-depth research on the subject topic, specifically in literature review section where researcher went to different databases and collected articles which is related to the study. The articles were read and screened to ensure appropriate articles were taken into consideration which had similar topic. This strategy enabled the researcher to formulate the questionnaire and linking the questionnaire with the literature review section. This search strategy enabled the researcher to identify, compare and contrast different articles and give own opinions. Researcher felt the need to adopt a supportive strategy to ensure management of Currys do not feel disturbed by the presence of the researcher outside the store. Hence, researcher had agreed verbally that the survey will stop taking place if management request to do so. On the other hand, strategy to support the customers while filling out survey questionnaire enabled researcher to build a report with the customer. As researcher has offered assistance to fill out the form for few customers, they felt that their opinion was valuable for this study. Researcher also felt the need to be organised to ensure data is collected on time, secured and recorded appropriately. Hence, researcher used stop watch, pen, pencils while collecting data and highlighter while reviewing literature. To ensure the authenticity of this research, researcher has saved and printed a handful of articles and secondary data which has been incorporated with this study. Researcher had adopted a friendly attitude while collecting data from customers and employees. Customers were greeted and explained what is expected from them, brief information about the research and outcome. Researcher also answered questions from the customers and employees to the best of his knowledge in the field of customer retention and loyalty. Moreover, participants have been given options to stay anonymous and have not been asked to personally sign the questionnaires. Some questionnaires had been completed by the researcher, as customers had shopping bags with them and did not want to leave it on the floor. Some customers did not feel confident to read and write and preferred the researcher filling out the form on behalf of them. Once the questionnaire was completed, researcher showed his gratitude by thanking every customer s and employees who took part in the research.

3.3 Data Collection Methods

It is important to collect appropriate and quality data for a research. The viability of the research depends on the source, authors, participant’s viewpoint (Rea and Parker, 2005). While searching for relevant data and journals, researcher has adopted primary and secondary data collection techniques. For example, primary data has been collected through the survey to identify if there is any deviation between the literature review and actual response from the customers. On the other hand, secondary data collection enabled researcher to have a holistic idea about the subject topic. To ensure the correct data is sourced and analysed, researcher used online sources. For example, Business Source Premier, Emerald, Science Direct, Sage and other database available using library account. Other search engine such as Google, Yahoo has also been used to search information in this area using key words i.e. retention, customer loyalty, barriers of loyalty. While collecting qualitative information from the customers and employees, researcher used notepad and pencils to log what has been said during the meeting and survey. To maintain confidentiality of customers, researcher did not use voice recorder, even though it would have saved researcher time to write it on the notepad. Primary data has been collected though a survey (Appendix A and Appendix B) which holds information about customers attitude towards brand and loyalty, what matter to them most and how Currys can bring customers back to the store. After the data had been collected through the survey, it was entered into MS Excel. Data was coded to ensure customer’s anonymity. As the sample size was 60, it took researcher few days to enter it into the system and for data protection, researcher used password to protect the data or others having access to the data. Researcher also ensured that written questionnaires were locked in a filing cabinet which nobody had access to without researcher. Following recommendation from Silverman (2004), researcher has adopted this particular method for the following reasons.

Eliminate biasness- Researcher had collected data from both primary and secondary sources as it ensured correct data is sourced from the onset. It also ensured the research is free from biasness i.e. data from one source.

Diversification- Researcher wanted to have diversification in the study. For example, questionnaire had enabled the researcher to capture diversified opinions from customers and employees on loyalty programme and retention.

Availability of data- Semi structured research methodology is one of the best methods to pursue social research. Hence primary and secondary data collection methods were adapted to as customer retention through loyalty programme is a new concept and there is no or very little data available on the public domain to identify issues in this area. Hence it was imperative to collect the data manually to identify gaps and golden standards, i.e. customer’s acceptance of brand than loyalty.

Fear factor- Collecting data from a group of employees were relevant as it saved time for both employees and researcher. It also ensured that employees do not feel intimidated by managers being present in the meeting. One meeting took place outside the store and another in the restaurant where employees were relaxed and did not fear intimidation. It also ensured that confidentiality of the employees was maintained.

3.4 Limitations of the chosen methods

Even though there has been a rigorous data collection method in place, however the methods had its own limitations. None of these methods are fault proof and does not guarantee free from biasness. It was difficult to hand out questionnaire to equal number of male or female customers, leaving the research open to question on gender biasness. The data has been collected from only two stores, leaving the study open to question, is this enough to interpret the success of Currys overall programme. On the other hand, 60 customers had been chosen as data sample which is too small for over a million customer of Currys UK. Within the secondary data collection, there are limitations due to the lack of availability of books in this area. Some journals considered in this study were over 10 years old. The concept within the journals might have changed over a period of time which, leaving the study opens to question. Collecting data from employees in a group also had limitations as few employees did not respond equally with others. This might have been due to the fear factor or tiredness of the employees after a long day shift. This left the study open to question on the quality of the data collected though survey.

3.5 Ethical consideration

While carrying out the research on Currys, it was inevitable to face ethical issues during data collection. From the onset, researcher endeavored to receive formal cooperation from Currys management but has not been successful. Researcher made personal visit to the store, spoke to managers to allow employees to take part in the survey and a focus group which was proposed by the researcher to be held within the store. However, management did not feel the necessity to formally commit them in this research. Hence, collecting data from the employees outside the store has been an ethical issue for the researcher. As the study was depending on qualitative and quantitative data from customers and employees, there were no other alternatives. To balance the ethical issue, researcher has ensured management that the study will not put strain on the management or the employees and it will not affect the company financially.

National Security Threats to Supply Chain

National Security Threats to Supply Chain

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course Number and Name

Instructor Name

Due Date

National Security Threats to Supply Chain

There are many different types of security threats in the supply of different kinds of goods. When the goods being transported through a particular chain of supply are of exceptionally high cost, or they are valuable, security in most times is a considerable concern. This is because there are always individuals and even groups who always want to make the chain unstable, and therefore the goods cannot arrive at their destination. Apart from this, however, national security threats generally affect any supply chain, most of which are connected over an extended geographical area or from other countries. This is a big concern for everyone, and many efforts are in place to make sure that national security threats do not affect the supply chain of different goods. This paper focuses on national security threats and how they affect different types of supply chains.

Transnational crime is one of the national security threats to the supply chain. The FBI has a section dealing with these types of crimes. However, the fact that they are transnational still impacts the American people since some of the goods imported may be subject to these criminal groups (Basu, 2013). Therefore this is a big issue since these groups may even divert goods purchased and use them or re-sell them to other people.

Cyber terrorism is another type of national security threat which can affect almost everyone. With the growth of the internet of things, hacking groups and other individuals who want to maliciously steal or destroy other people’s property or information (Urciuoli et al., 2013). This affects the supply chain because a person wants to buy something, and they have to place an order online for that specific item. Sometimes cyber terrorists create a fake website, and a person ends up paying their money to the wrong address, and their money is never refunded, neither is the item they were trying to buy. This poses a significant problem because it disrupts the chain supply even before it begins. Instead, due to these issues, products delay as the company focuses on addressing cyber terrorism.

Pandemic threats and occurrences are also a threat to national security. From the view of pandemics being artificial, for example, in biological warfare, these become a significant threat to national security and supply chain. An example is coronavirus disease; even though it is not yet proven whether it is artificial, there is still a massive supply chain disruption due to its presence. Therefore, it is a security threat since the immunity and protection within the united states is surpassed by this disease, and those responsible have to find reasonable ways to explain the issue (Ivanov, & Das, 2020). People get sick, and in fear of getting the disease, some resign while others are sacked to reduce the costs of running different companies and organizations. All these disrupt the supply chain in that it becomes prolonged. For example, clothes or other products may stay up to 14 days before being picked to ensure that the owner who is to choose is not at the risk of being infected with the coronavirus.

References

Basu, G. (2013). The role of transnational smuggling operations in illicit supply chains. Journal of Transportation Security, 6(4), 315-328.

Ivanov, D., & Das, A. (2020). Coronavirus (COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2) and supply chain resilience: A research note. International Journal of Integrated Supply Management, 13(1), 90-102.

Urciuoli, L., Männistö, T., Hintsa, J., & Khan, T. (2013). Supply chain cybersecurity–potential threats. Information & Security: An International Journal, 29(1).

National Incident Management System (NIMS)

National Incident Management System

It is important to know that NIMS stands for National Incident Management System which is a structured framework which is used national wide by both the governmental and nongovernmental organizations in responding to natural disasters. Preparedness is one it components. Preparedness includes the crucial steps that are undertaken in forecasting the future and taking the initiative to ensure that future is secure (capola 2001). In our practical example it is inevitable for Greensburg having been hit by tornadoes once that totally destroyed come up with measure that will that the people are ready and well armed when such an event occurs in the future. One of the measures of preparedness includes training community so they may learn effective alert measures and how they could keep themselves safe. The staff also needs training so that they can effectively know how to manage incidents.

It is important that the designation of the incident commander be determined at the state or national level. Almost each and every single day communities do respond to very many emergencies effectively at the local levels. But there are some incidents that require a collaborative approach so as to effectively respond to the incidents. Thus local levels may not be able to mange some complicated incident such as tornadoes. The collaborative approaches include the state as whole and it multiple jurisdictions. They may also include the nongovernmental organizations, the private sectors and lastly the combination of disciplines or specialties. The management with NIMS ensures that people work together when the communities and the nation need them most. Thus at all times the NIMS is supposed to work at the state level and not to limited to the local community to deal with a disaster such as tornadoes( Mathew 2003).

The NIMS will always include the mitigating and recover efforts. This ensures that if the community suffers such a disaster there is a way to repair the damages that so that the scars caused by the incident are erasable. This for example includes putting up funds for the special programs such as building back the building that were destroyed. There are also businesses which may need to be put back. The combined efforts of the various organizations may be put together to foresee to this.

Loosing lives is so far the largest damage that tornadoes may cause and thus the most important long term safety need for any community is ensuring that the lives of the people are preserved (Capola 2001). This is by establishing weather stations which are well armed with necessary equipment that will undertake research at various periods to foretell a coming tornado so as to alert the people. The stations by using the modern technologies can also try to find out the cause of the previous tornado and if such causes can be prevented.

The best practices such as preparedness and use of combined efforts in responding to a disaster have proved to be very effective and could be used very effectively in response to the Greensburg event.

References

Capola,D.(2001) Introduction to international disaster management. United States. University Press.

Mathew. G(2003) Importance of disaster preparedness. California. Nova publishers.

National Health Service in England

National Health Service in England

Student’s Name

Institution

National Health Service in England

The National Health Service body has touched lives of many people globally due to its significant contributions to the healthcare sector. The National Health Service Act advocated for universal free health care provided by a wide variety of physicians such as dentists, opticians as well as doctors among other hospital services. During this era poverty, sickness and unemployment in the society after the end of the world war. It was historically marked by the action of bringing all the physicians in the medicine field under one bracket where they could offer free healthcare services. The primary principles regarding National Health Service are precise that tax will fully finance the free health services to all people. It significantly meant that people have to pay for the health services offered but at their own means and time. The history of National Health Service in England since its establishment up to the year 2000 are discussed into a profound extent regarding the changes and developmental activities that has been instigated by the organization.

In the year 1948, Aneurin Bevan who was the health secretary took the initial step of launching the National Health Service at the Park Hospital in Manchester. It was a radical move which laid the background for the hospitals, doctors, nurses, dentists and the opticians to work together as in providing the free healthcare services to the civilians (Jones & Exworthy, 2015). It is a significant symbol of national cohesion where the public have free access to therapeutic services regardless of the wealth as well as the social class that one belongs to. It has been evident that the quality of medical services in various societies depend with the amount of payment leading to corruption and many other immoral vises in the community where the physicians take advantage of the patients’ ill-health. This was the kind of situation the National Health Service in England aimed to evade as everybody’s life and good state of health are valued and vital in enhancing the social-economic development of the nation.

In the evolvement of National Health Service, the introduction of charges prescription is a significant bit in the line of the organization’s history. In 1952, one shilling charge for the prescriptions was introduced after the decisions made by the people on top hierarchy, and it was later abolished in the 65s. After the abolition of medicament charges, the treatment remained unchanged up to the year 1968 when the charges were introduced again. Also, the launching of the program to fight against diphtheria and polio infections was an essential life-saving action initiated by the National Health Service (Guest, et al. 2015). According to the organization decision all the people under the age of fifteen years have to be vaccinated against polio and diphtheria. These two pandemics are life-threatening and detrimental to human well-being thus obtaining their vaccine as well as preventing their spread was a crucial achievement in the healthcare sector.

Availing of the contraceptive pills was another National Health Service organization objective that was vital and touching in the social living of people in the community. They significantly played an essential role in preventing unwanted pregnancy not only during the twentieth-century era but also in the society today. The number of women using contraceptive pills increased dramatically at the 1960s from around fifty thousand to about one million females. The hospital plan was another strategy that was criticized by the physicians where the National Health Service had to be divided into general practice, hospital and the local health authorities. During the calls of amalgamation, it was realized the establishment of district hospitals in the regions with high population. Also, the plan was essential in reducing the cost and time taken in the construction of new healthcare facilities.

The Report by Salmon recommended the expansion of the senior nursing staff as well as the energy put in trying to come up with practical measures to curb the disadvantages of the three segmented National Health Service structure. It was an effective way of recognizing the complexity of the National Health Service as well as the essential changes to be made to make the future objectives accomplishable. In the 1970s the computed tomography scans were introduced as they are critical to revolutionizing how the medic specialists examine the body (Abel-Smith & Titmuss, 2016). Apart from the MRI scans, which provide information about the organization that was introduced in the 1980s, the Keyhole surgery, black report, Aids health campaign and breast screening was also launched. The black report involves research regarding the inequality that exists in the healthcare centers where the black had the higher tendency to demise. The beginning of the Aids campaign was significant, and its impacts are experienced up to today as people are fully aware of the deleterious disease.

In the 1990s a variety of strategies were put in place by the National Health Service. These plans include National Health Service and the community care act; the initial National Health Service trusts developed as well as the organization’s direct launches. The community care act instigated that the healthcare managements manage their budgets and purchase the health services from other medical institutions (Morris, et al. 2014). The National Health Service direct launches play a vital role in the community of proving throughout online medical services. Lastly, in the year 2000, the National Health Service introduced the new health facilities that could be accessed at any time.

Throughout its history line, the National Health Service has been innovative and effective in offering the best health care services for free or even at a lower and affordable cost. As technology advances, with time great inventions are put in place, and they are vital in maintaining good well-being. National Health Service is a remarkable organization that has played recommendable activities in the medical field, and it touches both the present and future behavior.

References

Abel-Smith, B., & Titmuss, R. M. (2016). The cost of the national health service in England and Wales. Cambridge University Press.

Guest, J. F., Ayoub, N., McIlwraith, T., Uchegbu, I., Gerrish, A., Weidlich, D., … & Vowden, P. (2015). Health economic burden that wounds impose on the National Health Service in the UK. BMJ open, 5(12), e009283.

Jones, L., & Exworthy, M. (2015). Framing in policy processes: A case study from hospital planning in the National Health Service in England. Social Science & Medicine, 124, 196-204.

Morris, S., Karlsen, S., Chung, N., Hill, M., & Chitty, L. S. (2014). Model-based analysis of costs and outcomes of non-invasive prenatal testing for Down’s syndrome using cell free fetal DNA in the UK National Health Service. PloS one, 9(4), e93559.

NATIONAL COHESION AND VALUES INDICATOR TARGETS FOR

NATIONAL COHESION AND VALUES INDICATOR TARGETS FOR 2020/2021 PERFORMANCE CONTRACT PERIOD

National Cohesion and Values – This is an indicator that aims to promote national cohesion, national values and principles of governance to create a transformed, cohesive, peaceful, united and values-driven nation.

MDAs will be required to implement commitments and way forward in the 2018 Annual President’s Report on National Values and Principles of Governance.

To achieve this, MDAs are expected to:

Implement at least five (5) commitments and submit in the prescribed format an Annual Progress Report on the implementation of the commitments and way forward captured in the 2018 Annual President’s Report on National Values and Principles of Governance (60%).

The following are the eight (8) commitments and way forward in the 2018 President’s Annual Report on measures taken and progress Achieved:

Align policies and implement programs, projects and activities to the realization of the Big 4 agenda;

Continual fight against corruption,ehance judicial processes and capacity building to facilitate dispensation of justice and adherence to the rule of law;

Continual public awareness creation, capacity building, enforcement and monitoring of national values and principles of governance;

Support the building bridges initiative by implementing interventions aimed at promoting national unity and nationhood.;

Continual preparedness, collaborative ways to enhance public safety and security and the fight against terrorism.;

Enhance collaboration between the two levels of government to entrench sharing and devolution of power

Implement measures to support gender mainstreaming and youth empowerment;

Enhance the protection of the environment by securing riparian lands, water towers, improving the national forest cover and other measures to facilitate sustainable development;

Submit in the prescribed format the Annual Report on measures taken and progress achieved in the realization of National Values and Principles of Governance (40%).

The above two reports shall be submitted to the Directorate of National Cohesion and Values by 15th January 2021 through hard copy OR emailed to

info2@cohesionandvalues.go.ke OR nationalvalues2017@gmail.com.

NB:

1.The Directorate will analyze MDAs’ annual reports and issue a certificate of compliance at the end of the performance contract period.

For any clarification/additional information regarding this indicator, contact the Directorate of National Cohesion and Values on tel.

No. 0758 – 948706 or 0712 – 382871 or email: nationalvalues2017@gmail.com.