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This paper focuses on Medicare risk contracting in the USA. The issue of the current method of reimbursement versus Medicare risk contracting is explored. Risk sharing and payment mechanisms are described and analyzed. The strengths and weaknesses (score‐ card) of Medicare beneficiaries entering HMOs are reviewed. Finally, the issue of selection bias in Medicare HMOs is discussed regarding future implementation strategy.

This study assessed the technical (tangible) and functional (human interaction) quality of services in a first‐class international health resort and related these to service management effectiveness. Service management is effective when customers judge the overall service quality to be good, they are highly satisfied, they are willing to recommend the firm to others and they intend to re‐purchase or are predisposed to purchase additional services from the firm. The technical and functional aspects of services quality and their relation to service management effectiveness, were found to be different between the core and supplementary services, between customers and service personnel and between customers with and without experience. The results support the statement that competitive advantage in this industry can be obtained by improving the functional aspects of services management, by better performance of supplementary services and by reducing the gap in perceptions between customers and contact personnel.

Discusses the findings of a study in which 309 service encounters between customers and customer‐contact personnel in service businesses and retail stores were unobtrusively observed, to measure the occurrence of selected service behaviors (i.e. mostly interpersonal behaviors such as smiling, thanking customer, establishing eye contact, etc.), and to investigate possible behavioral biases. On average, only 72 percent of the measured behaviors were observed in each service encounter. Employees’ behaviors were generally less likely to be observed when served customers were male, young, caucasian, or casually dressed. The propensity of frontline workers to systematically discriminate against some types of customers on bases that have little or nothing to do with customers’ service requirements represents a downside of employee discretion dubbed as “empowerment by default”.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the quality of the banking services in a rather neglected context, i.e. quality of banking services that target the student population. The goals were: to highlight the importance of student population as in the long run profitable market for personal banking services, to determine whether there are significant differences between student perceptions of and expectations from the quality of banking services as well as which dimensions students find to be the most significant and which the least significant in assessing the quality of banking services.

A summary of the theoretical framework is followed by the results of a research using the SERVQUAL instrument.

Despite a steady increase in the number of students over the past few years, bank managers have not yet realized their full potential. The results point to a gap in the quality of the banking services on all five dimensions of the SERVQUAL model. It is necessary to improve the banking service on all dimensions, and particularly with regard to “reliability,” “assurance” and “responsiveness,” in which the gap was observed to be the largest.

The research used a convenient sample. Therefore, it is impossible to generalize research findings based on the data processed, but only point to their being indicative.

Banks should by no means neglect the student population that possesses information knowledge, essential for the use of modern banking services. Bank managers should pay more attention to the needs of this growing segment of potential highly profitable customers.

The necessity to provide a more flexible response to the needs and requirements of students as a target market segment is discussed, along with potential importance of this segment for banks’ future business operations.

This study aims to examine the factors that lead to loyalty in bank customers. It establishes a relationship of service quality (SQ) with satisfaction and attitude that leads to customer loyalty. The impact of SQ along with satisfaction and attitude on customer loyalty is explored.

Primary data was collected from 1,097 customers of the banking service. Structural equation modelling (SEM) and multiple regression analyses was used to analyse the data. The adaption of multiple regression and SEM for the analysis authenticates the similar findings in both the methods of analysis.

All the factors contribute to the formation of SQ. There exists a linear relationship of SQ, satisfaction and attitude in the formation of customer loyalty.

Sample can be more diverse and collected from different cities as well. Similar studies are possible for diverse demographic groups such as gender, age, education and others.

The results of this study have significant implications for understanding customer loyalty for banks of Saudi Arabia.

This research attempts to explore the factors responsible for the SQ in banks of Saudi Arabia so as to establish a relationship between SQ, satisfaction, attitude and loyalty.

The purpose of this study was to determine the transaction cost (TC) contractors incur when tendering for a project as well as establish a correlation between the TC of tender and tender amount of projects procured through the national competitive bidding procurement method.

The research draws extensively documentary analysis, observation and interviews to collect cost data on 14 different tenders submitted by a D1/K1 contractor. Using TC theory, the data are analyzed and the actual cost is determined. Further, Spearman rank correlation is employed to establish a relationship between tender price (TP) and the cost of tender by the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences.

The research developed a tender preparation conceptual framework highlighting the components of TC in competitive tendering in Ghana and also revealed that, apart from the emotional and psychological costs, contractors in Ghana incur approximately Gh₵ 4,625 (US$ 925)–Gh₵ 2,520 (US$ 504) to prepare and submit a competitive tender. In relation to the tender figure, the TC of tender in Ghana ranges from 0.05% to 0.65% and an average of 0.33%. Also, there is an inverse correlation between TP and the percentage cost of tender.

The research relied on 14 competitive tenders and also limited to public sector works. Findings from the study should therefore be applied with caution.

This study is the only known research that has focused on assessing the TC of public sector competitive tendering from a contractor's perspective and within a developing sub-Saharan African context.