Search results

In today's ever‐increasing globalization of services and brands, service‐oriented businesses need to attend to the satisfaction of their customers both domestically and abroad while transcending unique cultural differences from country to country. This study provides a cross‐cultural comparison of service satisfaction of fast food establishments in four English‐speaking countries. It is based on data collected from customers of five globally‐franchised fast‐food chains, using a previously developed service satisfaction instrument. The study reveals two empirically derived, cross‐cultural fast‐food customer satisfaction dimensions: satisfaction with the personal service and satisfaction with the service setting. Should future research support this study's findings, the measurement of cross‐cultural service satisfaction among franchised brands and services could aid business managers’ efforts to assess the quality of the services they provide across national boundaries and on a more real time, practical basis.

To help fast‐food restaurants enhance their competitiveness and then increase their market share, the purpose of this paper is to measure the service performances of fast‐food restaurant franchises in the USA and identify salient factors influencing the service performances of fast‐food restaurants over time.

This paper develops a set of benchmarks that helps fast‐food restaurants monitor their service‐delivery process, identify relative weaknesses, and take corrective actions for continuous service improvements using analytic hierarchy process and competitive gap analysis.

This study reveals that a service attribute considered most important to the fast‐food restaurant customers' impressions of service quality is taste of food. This preference has not been changed over time. Also, we found a pattern of the correlation between the overall level of customer satisfaction with the fast‐food restaurant and its word‐of‐mouth reputation. Furthermore, we discovered that the customers tended to be more favorable to easily accessible and national fast‐food restaurant franchises than less accessible, relatively new, and regional counterparts.

The current study is limited to the evaluation of comparative service quality in the USA. Thus, this study may not capture the national differences in the restaurant customers' perceived service quality.

For the last four decades, Americans' obsession with fast serving, cheap meals has made the fast‐food restaurant a mainstay in their daily life. As the appetite for fast food grows, every corner of the American Society has been infiltrated by fast‐food restaurants. With the increasing number of fast‐food restaurants competing in the market, their survival often rests on their ability to sustain high‐quality services and meet changing needs/preferences of customers. This paper provides practical guidelines for enhancing the competitiveness of the fast‐food restaurant franchise.

This paper is one of the first to compare the service quality of fast‐food franchises in the USA and develop dynamic service quality standards for fast‐food restaurant franchises using a longitudinal study.

The purpose of this paper is to help fast‐food restaurants successfully penetrate foreign markets and then strengthen their foothold in those markets by identifying cross‐cultural differences in the perceived service quality of fast‐food restaurants; and by examining how those differences affect the globalization of fast‐food restaurant franchises based in the USA and Korea.

This paper develops a set of target performance standards that helps fast‐food restaurants monitor their service delivery process, identify relative weaknesses, and take corrective actions for continuous service improvements in cross‐cultural settings using analytic hierarchy process and competitive gap analysis.

This study reveals that a service attribute considered most important to the fast‐food restaurant customers' impressions of service quality differs from one country (USA) to another (Korea). It was found that US customers valued taste of food most whereas Korean customers valued cleanliness most. Also, it was discovered that Koreans considered employee courtesy far more important for their service impression of service quality than Americans, while they were less concerned about food price than their US counterparts. Furthermore, Koreans tended to be more brand‐conscious than Americans and thus considered word‐of‐mouth reputation more seriously than Americans for restaurant selection.

The current study is limited to the evaluation of comparative service quality of fast‐food restaurants in only two countries (namely the USA and Korea). Thus, this study cannot be generalized to the restaurant customers' perceived service quality in other countries or cultural settings. Also, this paper focuses on the performance aspect of benchmarking rather than the strategic aspect of benchmarking.

Saturated with the US restaurant market selling fast‐serving and cheap meals, a growing number of US fast‐food restaurant franchises began to explore foreign markets to increase world‐wide customer bases. However, it is not easy for them to duplicate their domestic success in foreign soils due to different needs, tastes, and preferences of foreign customers. This paper helps the fast‐food restaurant franchises develop viable market penetration and localization strategies and then provides practical guidelines for enhancing their competitiveness in the emerging foreign markets.

This paper is one of the first to compare the service quality of fast‐food franchises in the USA to that of Korean fast‐food restaurant franchises from the cross‐cultural perspectives.

Examines how customers react to service extensions, or the use of an established company name to enter new service categories or classes. Reports the findings of an experiment designed to assess the effectiveness of the extensions. Discusses the managerial implications of the results for service extension strategies in the marketplace.

The US restaurant industry and the food‐service industry have undergone tremendous changes during the last decade owing to demographic changes, changes in the family structure, the increase in the number of working women and senior citizens, advances in technology (inventory management, customer order processing, accounting/financial systems, etc.), availability of financing, changes in the real estate industry (location, negotiation with malls, relationships with developers, etc.), intense competition, the growth in the types and number of marketing channels (including the Internet), increasing number of drive‐through customers, employee training requirements, changes in labor laws, the rate of implementation of technology, changes in food sourcing/purchasing, the growth of the franchising business model, and increasing regulation. These factors have combined to shape the strategic, legal, economic and operational considerations that executives and decision makers should thoroughly understand. This article discusses the issues and challenges facing one company in these two industries and how management and banks have reacted, and then explains strategies for the future. Also discussed are relevant considerations for financial sponsors and companies. Most data and analysis are as of April 2000.

This paper reviews brand equity and customer satisfaction as they relate to customer loyalty and relationship marketing in an effort to understand and mitigate some of the challenges facing quick‐service restaurants (QSRs) today.

The authors reviewed over 30 articles on the subjects of brand equity, customer equity, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, communal relationships, relationship marketing, and pseudo‐relationship marketing, as well as researched and evaluated current marketing techniques used by selected QSRs.

It is concluded by the authors that customer satisfaction, brand equity, and loyalty are invaluable to the formation of customer loyalty, as is the understanding that customers' relationships with companies need to be treated with the same respect as personal relationships.

Customer loyalty has been shown to be beneficial to a company, both tangibly and intangibly. Companies are cautioned in their use of relationship marketing techniques used to foster customer loyalty and encouraged to use methods that benefit both themselves and their customers.

This paper analyzes many different factors that affect customer loyalty, as well as discusses how relationship marketing techniques can be utilized by the QSR industry.

Briefly covers the development of the “brand” concept in marketing before looking at the experience of the service brand. Outlines the development of the fast food sector in the UK and discusses the make up and growth of McDonalds, KFC and Burger King in turn. Gathers customer perception about each brand by the use of discussion groups. Concludes that the ideas of focus, consistency and value were key, together with community activities.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the experience of a financial services regulator, the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), in identifying and dealing with conflicts of interest in innovative financial markets and involving sophisticated counterparties.

The paper draws on Bermuda legislation and regulations in force, on corporate records, produced by the BMA, documenting its structure, policies, and procedures in place to identify and manage conflicts of interest, as well as on observation of current corporate practices in this respect. In addition, background and contextual information on Bermuda reinsurance market relies on secondary sources describing and analyzing it.

The paper argues that the BMA has approached the issue of identification and treatment of conflicts of interest within a highly innovative environment involving sophisticated counterparties through two key strategies. First, it has concentrated its regulatory and supervisory efforts and resources at the “entry” stage of the process (e.g. licensing of financial entities). Second, the BMA has drawn on its knowledge of, and partnership with, the close‐knitted network of financial services stakeholders operating in Bermuda.

This paper is of value to those wishing to explore and better understand conflicts of interest involving sophisticated financial counterparties, and the role of the regulator in identifying and managing them, especially within the dynamics of innovative markets.

Marketing magazine calls it the brand that many love to hate and a “lightning conductor for anti‐capitalists”. But for the McDonald’s Corporation in 2002, name calling has been the least of its concerns. After a sustained spell of seemingly relentless international growth, stock prices have now hit a seven year low. CEO Jack Greenberg has abruptly retired, restaurants are being closed down and competitors are fighting back to challenge what not too long ago was viewed as the unchallengeable – McDonald’s reign as the world’s number one fast‐food chain.

Most businesses concentrate on refining their business model to enhance results. We see examples everyday of market leaders such as United Airlines, McDonald’s and Blockbuster who have built their reputation on a sound, predictable and consistent success formula. Today each is in serious trouble because of it. This article offers a method of recognizing when such success formulas are losing their effectiveness as well as an approach to reinvent them. The article presents examples of leading companies which have stayed with their success formula for too long, as well as examples of firms which have successfully reinvented their business model. It is possible to successfully anticipate the need for change and enhance a firm’s business model to maintain and strengthen a market leadership position. A strong focus on the changing requirements of a firm’s customers can be achieved through active listening programs in conjunction with a proactive commitment to deliver improved value to them everyday. Understanding that success formulas can fail is important for all business managers to recognize. This represents a significant change from a more traditional approach where businesses concentrate on refining their current business model to improve results. Change in how customers perceive value is the key driver. Anticipating and actively responding to this changing value driver requires a willingness and dedication to reinvent the firm’s success formula as appropriate.