Theses and dissertations (Management Sciences)
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Item Customer centricity in enhancing organisational objectives at a selected government parastatal(2021-10) Swartbooi, Angelique; Bayat, Mohamed SaheedThe selected Government Parastatal is an operating division of a State-Owned Entity, wholly-owned by the South African Government. The parastatal operates 3 800 km of pipeline throughout South Africa, transporting refined petroleum products, crude oil and methane rich gas. The focus of the parastatal is to provide an integrated pipeline service offering to customers, by maximising product volumes, while minimising logistical costs. The parastatal services six of the leading petroleum and gas companies in South Africa through its pipeline service offering. With the assistance of an external service provider, the parastatal conducted a customer satisfaction survey in the financial year 2018/19, with results indicating 70 percent customer dissatisfaction with their current service. The results highlighted areas of concern such as clear and proactive communication, operations and service delivery and delivery on contractual agreements. It is held that being customer-centric means being involved and invested in the organisation, knowing and helping customers to satisfy their needs. Nonetheless, organisations need to develop a new set of operating beliefs that are customer-focussed, with literature proposing customer-centricity as an important factor in the long-term growth and sustainability of an organisation. The parastatal selected for study is a service-driven organisation and its business depends on its customers, thus, it is important to consistently ensure a high-level of customer service. Organisations that focus on a customer-centric perspective have been shown as able to address customer needs. This research project will, therefore, focus on the role of customer-centricity and how it can enhance organisational objectives within a selected parastatal, through an evaluation of the need for a customer centric culture and the significance of employee participation in customer-centricity, in addition to an analysis of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as a tool in evolving the Government Parastatal as a customer centric organisation. The study will employ a quantitative research design, with a 5-point Likert scaled questionnaire, comprised of closed-ended questions that will be distributed to the targeted population of 400 and a sample size of 199. A web-based survey will be used to distribute the questionnaire and a link emailed to participants, while hand delivering to those without email acces. Responses will be analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27. At the conclusion of the study, the researcher hopes to recommend the significance of customer-centricity to the Executive Management team of the government parastatal and how it can enhance organisational objectives. The researcher also expects to find a correlation between employee participation in creating a customercentric culture in an organisation and achieving organisational objectives.Item The influence of customer-supplier relationships through the facilitation of credit on the development of micro enterprises in the Sobonakhona Makhanya tribal area of KwaZulu-Natal(2009) Maome, Itumeleng Judith; De Beer, MarieThe purpose of this study is to identify the influence of customer-supplier relationships through facilitation of credit on the development of Micro enterprises in the Sobonakhona Makhanya Tribal Area of KZN. This study originates from the fact that there are many SMME‟s in South Africa, absorbing about 15 million people (DTI, 1995:7). Even though this sector is providing most of the employment in the country, they still find it difficult to arrange funds to start or expand their businesses. Lending institutions do not want to provide finance for them, and if they do, they do it with reluctance and reservations. As a result, SMME‟s are not able to grow and develop into big businesses. This is a quantitative and exploratory research study which was used to explore, for the first time in Sobonakhona Makhanya Tribal area, the relationship between customer-supplier relationships and accessibility of credit facilities. The study made use of questionnaires to obtain the respondents‟ perceptions on the research questions developed. A questionnaire that consisted of 35 questions was distributed to 50 SMME owners in Adams Mission, Madundube and Umbumbulu (AMU) villages. Cronbach‟s reliability analysis was not applied as it was not appropriate for use with this questionnaire. The research showed that a relationship between customers and suppliers assists SMME‟s to obtain access to credit facilities. Added to this, SMME owners, who had access to credit facilities, experienced positive changes in their businesses. This serves to prove that access to credit is essential for the development of SMME‟s. As a result, recommendations to train and educate SMME owners on how to manage their businesses, how to apply for credit and the requirements needed for applications have been set out.Item The interaction between public relations and marketing within selected companies in the greater Durban area(2007) Naidoo, PauleneThis dissertation is a qualitative examination into a debatable view of the interaction between public relations and marketing in which one supports the other leading to an interactional outcome. Public relations is different from marketing in several ways. Their boundaries, however, often overlap, for example, both deal with an organisation’s relationships and employ similar communication tools to reach the public. Both functions have an ultimate purpose which is ensuring an organisation’s success and economic survival. Public relations and marketing, however, approach this task from somewhat different perspectives, or world views. In some instances public relations is seen as a separate entity when compared to marketing. The study investigates the current trends with the main objective of investigating the interaction/synergy between the public relations and marketing departments of seven major companies in the greater Durban area. These companies were interviewed based on their location and willingness to participate in the study. The seven companies researched for the purpose of the study were ABI Coke, Toyota, Sentec, ABSA, Sanlam, Natal Sharks Rugby Union and Lifestyle Communication: Chatsworth Centre.