In-Flight Customer Service Excellence at Emirates Dissertation

In-Flight Customer Service Excellence at Emirates - Dissertation Example e Review 2.1 Introduction 7 2.2 Customer orientation 7 2.3 Customer satisfaction 7 2.4 Customer Service Excellence 9 2.5 Customer perception and attitude 11 2.6 Contact employees and attributes 13 2.7 Attribution Theory 15 2.8 Cabin crew training, selection and staff maintenance 16 Chapter III Methodology 3.1 Research Philosophy 19 3.2 Research Phenomenon 19 3.3 Research Approach 19 3.4 Research Design 21 3.5 Role of the researcher 21 3.6 Data collection 22 3.7 Data Analysis 25 3.8 Ethical concerns 25 3.9 Reliability and Validity 25 Chapter IV Presentation of Results 4.1 Competitor Airlines 27 4.2 Emirate Airlines 32 4.3 Data Analysis 43 Chapter V Conclusion and Recommendations 5.1 Conclusion 49 5.2 Recommendations 51 5.3 Limitations 51 References 52 Appendices 56 Tables Chart I Relationship with Emirates 38 Chart II Reasons for traveling Emirates 38 Chart III Service attributes 39 Chart IV Staff & Attributes 39 Chart V Best In-flight Service 40 Chart VI Services Desired 40 Chart VII Service Improvements 41 Chart VIII Staff Rating 41 Chart IX Customer Satisfaction 42 Chapter I Introduction 1.1 Background Consumers today are enlightened and empowered, and drive the changes in the market place. They are well informed, aware and concerned about products. These have an impact on companies’ go-to-market and service approaches (Baird & Gonzalez-Wertz 2011). Consumer behavior has fundamentally changed with the technological advancements and the old business models are threatened. Marketing professionals have to focus on developing fresh consumer insights which will enable them to transform customer experience. As markets have matured companies that had developed sophisticated but complex business models face tremendous pressure to reduce costs while meeting broad customer...Consumers today are enlightened and empowered, and drive the changes in the market place. They are well informed, aware and concerned about products. These have an impact on companiesâ€℠¢ go-to-market and service approaches (Baird & Gonzalez-Wertz 2011). Consumer behavior has fundamentally changed with the technological advancements and the old business models are threatened. Marketing professionals have to focus on developing fresh consumer insights which will enable them to transform customer experience. As markets have matured companies that had developed sophisticated but complex business models face tremendous pressure to reduce costs while meeting broad customer needs (Hansson, Ringbeck & Franke 2003). Service providers such as the airline have increased the scope their products and services over the decades which has impacted customer expectations. While their aim was to serve larger and more diverse customer base, it resulted in cost structure that is sustainable only when the principal competitors follow the same route (Hansson, Ringbeck & Franke 2003). The traditional carriers received a setback with the advent of technology and when low-cost airlines entered the competition. The low-cost carriers now dictate prices in large and growing parts of the market. This again prompted the larger traditional carriers to change their business model or offer some point of differentiation. One of the areas that airlines could differentiate was in adding value for the customer.