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While market theorists have devoted a great deal of effort to the conceptualization of service quality, the practical guidance available to service providers continues to be very limited. Utilizing the emerging role of a new marketing entity, the retail electric service provider, as an illustration, the article discusses how data envelopment analysis might be used to analyze service quality at the retail service level. Specific dimensions thought to influence consumers’ perceptions of the quality of retail electric energy services are identified, and the potential use of data envelopment analysis as a diagnostic tool for effective management of service quality by retail electric service providers is demonstrated. Generalization to different types of service providers is suggested. Empirical studies to develop practical guidance along this line of analysis are encouraged.

Tourism is a key source of income to South Africa. Food and beverages is a key part of tourism and the literature reveals that tourists spend up to a quarter of their budget on cuisine. South Africa has, however, been rated as the least-prepared culinary travel destination and the travel destination with the greatest potential for growth. Therefore, a segmentation taxonomy based on culinary preferences of international tourists to South Africa is put forth which can be used to prepare South Africa as a culinary travel destination. The 627 international tourists surveyed were divided into five segments with the use of factor analyses, t-tests, Spearman rank correlations and analysis of variance. The segments were named conservationists, experience seekers, devotees, explorers and socialisers (CEDES taxonomy). Multiple results and implications are discussed in the paper.