CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE Customer satisfaction, a term frequently used in marketing, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Customer satisfaction is defined as “the number of customers, or percentage of total customers, whose reported experience with a firm, its products, or its services (ratings) exceeds specified satisfaction goals." It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is often part of a Balanced Scorecard. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy. Within organizations, customer satisfaction ratings can have powerful effects. They focus employees on the importance of fulfilling customers’ expectations. Furthermore, when these ratings dip, they warn of problems that can affect sales and profitability. These metrics quantify an important dynamic, When a brand has loyal customers, it gains positive word-of-mouth marketing, which is both free and highly effective. Therefore, it is essential for businesses to effectively manage customer satisfaction. To be able do this, firms need reliable and reprehensive measures of satisfaction. In researching satisfaction, firms generally ask customers whether their product or service has met or exceeded expectations. Thus, expectations are a key factor behind satisfaction. When customers have high expectations and the reality falls short, they will be disappointed and will likely rate their experience as less than satisfying. For this reason, a luxury resort, for example, might receive a lower satisfaction rating than a budget motel—even though its facilities and service would be deemed superior in “absolute” terms. Measuring customer satisfaction Organizations needto retain existing customers while targeting non-customers. Measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace. Customer satisfaction is measured at the individual level, but it is almost always reported at an aggregate level. It can be, and often is, measured along various dimensions. A hotel, for example, might ask customers to rate their experience with its front desk and check-in service, with the room, with the amenities in the room, with the restaurants, and so on. Additionally, in a holistic sense, the hotel might ask about overall satisfaction “with your stay.”Analysis and interpretation is essential for any research study. This forms the basis for suggestions. The data, after collection, has to be processed and analyzed in accordance with the outline laid down for the purpose at the time of developing the research plan. This is to ensure that the relevant data is available for making contemplated comparisons and analysis. The term ‘analysis’ refers to the computation of certain measures along with searching for patterns of relationship that exists among data-groups. Analysis of data in a general way involves a number of closely related operations, which are performed with the purpose of summarizing the data and organizing these in such a manner that answers the research questions. Interpretation refers to the task of drawing inferences from the collected data after an analytical and/or experimental study. In fact, it is a search for broader meaning of research findings. The task of interpretation has two major aspects viz., a) The effort to establish continuity in research through linking the results of a given study with those of another. bp The establishment of some explanatory concepts. The study is to find out the satisfaction level of the Customers of Ambal Auto and to analyze the customer’s opinion about the various factors such as service quality, employees approach, etc., The questionnaire is framed using $-point Likert-Type scaling Techniques. The responses to various statement are scored in such a way that a responses indicative of the most favorable attitude is given the highest score of 2 and that with the most unfavorable attitude is given the lowest score, say, of -2. For example strongly agree — 2; Agree — 1; Neutral — 0; Disagree- 1; Strongly disagree- -2, The analysis is discussed below.ORGANISATIONAL CHART OF AMBAL AUTO: aul uaa sapeg ay Sigg 10g ETT wauaievey, ‘suit ‘auaar sapg sarong sapeguouag aur, wauabeueyy weey | [sonosny wn vn | ~na8K 1S =] ene soy fluey ove t amar peugnneeig Babee CHAPTER V ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONAMBAL Auto’s Achievement in the past 7 years Balance Score Card — Platinum dealer for third year in a row 2005 - 2006 Best dealer in Rural Marketing efforts 2005 - 2006 Best Dealer in Exchange Sales Penetration 2005 - 2006 Ist runner up in All India Technical Skill Competition 2005 - 2006 Customer Satisfaction Index 2005 - 2006 Balance Score Card — All India Best Dealer — Non Metro Citi WINNER All India Technical skill Competition. - 2004 - 2005 Customer Satisfaction Index All India winner- Ambal Erode-Non JD Power Cities. - 2004 - 2005 Dealer with Maximum Growth Shown in Market Share. - 2004 - 2005 Best performing Maruti dealer in the Country on Balance Score Card Norms- Non Metros year ending 2004. Best Sales Satisfaction Index Score in the Region South 1. -Last Quarter - 2004. Branch Performance Award May 2002 Best Performance in Spares - New Dealer Best New Workshop Service Excellence Best Service Performance Rank 2000 - 2001 Highest Growth of Spare Parts 2000 Best Service Workshop 2000 - 2001 Regional Topper in Sales Satisfaction Index for the Four Quarters in a row. The company sells Genuine Accessories that which is manufactured by the Maruti. + The Accessories has wide range of products available within the organization. + The product is demonstrated to the customers, based on the product order received the accessories places order for the product in the Maruti. + 2004 - 2005Financial Institution - HDFC, CITI CORPORATION, ICICI, Sundaram Finance Limited, M&M, and Kotak Mahindra the financer persons are always available in the showroom. During the period of sale of car if the customer is not able to pay the full amount in such situation, these finance institution come forward to provide loan at different rates. Depending on the customers preference the finance is arranged. The process is done immediately Auto Card — the company also provides auto card where the customer use it during fueling servicing by which they earn some points. The points are used while exchanging, their products the cost value will increase. This also make them remain that the product has been used for the past 5 year and its now the time to exchange. A card is provides, this card should be swiped while fuelling, servicing ete. Each time they swipe the card they get points. The card is provided by the Maruti RTO — The RTO persons do all the registration related process. All the temporary and permanent documentation. Once the order is received it is forwarded to the back support officer and the back support officer orders the product. As soon as the product reaches, the RTO in-charge will take the vehicle for registration at the RTO. After the car is registered they get the number the next day itself, The registered number will be intimated to the customer immediately. Human Resource — The human resource does the recruitment process. Based on the requirement received from the various departments the recruitment is done. The company adopts advertisement, campus interview, referrals and from private employment exchanges. The walk-ins are also interviewed. The interview process - the preliminary interview is conducted by the Human Resource and then followed by the Senior Manager- Sales. Once the senior officers are satisfied with the candidate selection is done. Insurance - The insurance department all the insurance related activities. The company provides- Royal Sundaram Insurance, Life Insurance ete. They also send a reminder card when the due date falls or do telephonic intimation. All the documentation procedure is processed by them. The processed documents after completing all the data works are send to the customers home directly by the insurance person personally Customer Care — Customer care executive finds the level of satisfaction. The customer after the purchase of the product to their experience post sales follow-up is done to know their satisfaction towards delivery, with the executive, finance, accessories, about showroom and the product, Within a period of 15 — 20 days from the date of purchase customer meet is arranged where the customers experience is shared and the sales executives will also be present to clarify the doubts if any, is raised by the customer. Before winding up of meeting feedback is got from them in writing. As a vote of thanks while ending the meeting a surprise gift is distributed to the customers.Good quality measures need to have high satisfaction loadings, good reliability, and low error variances. In an empirical study comparing commonly used satisfaction measures it was found that two multi-item semantic differential scales performed best across both hedonic and utilitarian service consumption contexts. According to studies by Wirtz & Lee (2003), they identified a stx-item 7-point semantic differential scale (e.g, Oliver and Swan 1983), which is a six-item 7-point bipolar scale, that consistently performed best across both hedonic and utilitarian services. It loaded most highly on satisfaction, had the highest item reliability, and had by far the lowest error variance across both studies. In the study, the six items asked respondents” evaluation of their most recent experience with ATM services and ice cream restaurant, along seven points within these six items: “please me to displeased me”, “contented with to disgusted with”, “very satisfied with to very dissatisfied with”, “did a good job for me to did a poor job for me”, “wise choice to poor choice” and “happy with w unhappy with”.Time taken to bring the vehide after arrival of customer Promptness of having vehicle ready when promised 4. Overall performance of Service Advisor a. Honesty b. Fulfillment of commitments cc. Behavior (Giving attention and treating with courtesy) d. Knowledge and expertise Explanation of work done Explanation of charges/ bill amount Cleanliness of vehicle we Faimmess of charges 9. Thoroughness of faltilling requests 10, Availability of parts for service 11. Overall opinion of facility a. Convenience of location b, Cleanliness of facility ¢. Convenience of days and hours of workshop operation 12. Dealer taking ownership of’service to assure of any problems in future Service Delivery is the last stage of service when physical interaction happens between the customer and the workshop staff, After this, a physical interaction may be required only in the event of requirement of any service recovery activity, On the other hand, if'a customer experiences a lapse in service at the time of delivery, then the service recovery activity may be required on-the-spot depending on the time required for the activity and time available with the customer. Post-Service Experience This is the stage of the service when customer evaluates the quality of service by using the vehicle Here, there is no physical interaction between the customer and the workshop as the customer is all by himself, This is a critical stage as when the customer takes delivery of vehicle after completion of service he may not be able to completely evaluate the service perfurmance, As most of the customers are not technically competent, hence the may not be able to differentiate between product problem and service problem, For few days (~ 1 month) after service, even if any problem craps up with the vehicle due to product quality, the customer may attribute it to poor quality of service performed by the workshop. On the other hand, as the customer is usually ina hurry during the delivery of the vehicle, he may not be able to thoroughly evaluate the performance of the vehicle then. Hence, it becomes critical to keep track of the customer for few days after service in order to assess the satisfaction of ‘customer. The aspects of service which a customer would evaluate-in this stage are: Ability to understand and diagnose problem mentioned Quality of work performed Trouble free operation Ease of maintenance and repair Dealership’s concern fur service are Work done right first time 12/1/2009 erice sta orized ging Customer SatisfCHAPTER 3 COMPANY PROFILE AMBAL AUTO COMPANY — PROFILE Ambal Auto was started in the year 1998 by Mr, Ashokan Muthusamy headed by Mr. Krishna Murthy. The company has developed significantly in the short span. The company pays attention only on customer satisfaction. During the sales period the customer is dealt by the sales executive, wherein the car details is given and the demonstration is done by test drive executives who are well versed in the driving. Once the product is delivered the after sales service is given more importance as this gives a chance for the company to maintain good relationship and capture the market share. Sales executives also give their contact no. to customer so that the customers contact them in case of emergency, when contacted the executives make themselves reach the sport at the earliest possible to solve the problem as a result this creates a good understanding between customer and sales executive. When the customer gets satisfied with the executives, it creates a loyalty with the company. It has 6 showrooms, 5 workshops and 2 true values — above 500 employees are working here. The company has now a driving school. The company deals only in Maruti cars like - Maruti 800, Maruti alte, Maruti Omni, Maruti Estilo or Zen, Ritz, A-Star, Maruti Gypsy, EECO, Grand Vitara. The services provided are — Finance, Insurance, Auto card, RTO and Afier Sales Service. Sales - The sales executive does the explanation of the product to the customer. They also make arrangement for test demo for the customer. They also show the various colours that are available. During the delivery time the customer is handed over the owner's manual wherein the basic tips are given, and the car keys are also handed over to them ‘Company arranges for the pooja on its own cost for the welfare of the customer. While delivering the product the sales executive and delivery in-charge persons should be present to do all the documentation activities. The management has also arranged to provide gift during the delivery period. ‘The company has above 75 executives. It has split up the sales personnel’s into teams ‘The team leader will have under him $ executives (It includes — Management Trainee, Sales Executive and Trainees).A STUDY ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARDS SALES AND SERVICE OF AMBAL AUTO. RAMANATHAPURAM (COIMBATORE) CHAPTER- 1 1., INDUSTRY INTRODUCTION 1.1.1. About the industry The Automotive industry in India is one of the largest in the world and one of the fastest growing globally. India manufactures over 11 million vehicles (including 2 wheeled and 4 wheeled) and exports about 1.5 million every year. It is the world's second largest manufacturer of motorcycles, with annual sales exceeding 8.5 million in 2009. India's passenger car and commercial vehicle manufacturing industry is the seventh largest in the world, with an annual production of more than 2.6 million units in 2009. In 2009, India emerged as Asia's fourth largest exporter of passenger cars, behind Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. As of 2009, India is home to 40 million passenger vehicles and more than 2.6 million cars were sold in India in 2009 (an increase of 26%), making the country the second fastest growing, automobile market in the world, According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, annual car sales are projected to increase up to 5 million vehicles by 2015 and more than 9 million by 2020. By 2050, the country is expected to top the world in car volumes with approximately 611 million vehicles on the nation’s roads. A chunk of India's car manufacturing industry is based in and around Chennai, also known as the “Detroit of India" with the India operations of BMW, Ford, Hyundai and Nissan headquartered in the city. Chennai accounts for 60 per cent of the country's automotive exports. Gurgaon and Manesar near New Delhi are hubs where all of the Maruti Suzuki cars in India are manufactured. The Chakan corridor near Pune, Maharashtra is another vehicular production hub with companies like General Motors, Volkswagen, Skoda, Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Motors, Mercedes Benz, Fiat and Force Motors having assembly plants in the area. Passenger vehicles in India This list is of cars that arc officially available and serviced in India. While other cars can be imported to the country at a steep 110% import duty, carmakers such as Alfa Lexus, Infiniti, Acura, Koenigsegg, Saab, Spyker, Renault, Peugeot-Citroen, Mazda, Ssang Yong, Kia and Proton are in varying stages of official introduction to the Indian automobile market.Indian automotive companies Chinkara Motors: Beachster, Hammer, Roadster 1.88, Rockster, Jeepster, Sailster Hindustan Motors: Ambassador ICML: Rhino Rx Mahindra: Major, Xylo, Scorpio, Bolero, Thar, Genio Premier Automobiles Limited: Sigma, RiO San Motors: Storm Tata Motors: Nano, Indica, Indica Vista, Indigo, Indigo Manza, Indigo CS, Sumo, Venture, Safari, Xenon, Aria Joint Venture automotive companies in India . Maruti Suzuki: Zen Alto, WagonR, Estilo, A-star, Ritz, Swift, Swift DZire, SX4, Omni, Versa, Eeeo, Gypsy, Grand Vitara Foreign automotive companies in India «_BMW India: | Series, 3 Series, 5 Series, X1 +__Fiat India (in collaboration with Tata Motors): Grande Punto, Linea, Palio Stile Ford India: Ford Figo, Ikon, Fiesta, Endeavour. General Motors India . Chevrolet (CSPIL): Spark, Beat, Aveo uU- VA, Aveo, Optra, Cruze, Tavera. Honda Siel: Jazz, City, Civie, Accord. Hyundai Motor India: Santro, i110, 120, Accent, Verna Transform, Sonata Transform. Mahindra Renault: Logan Mercedes-Benz India: C-Class, E-Class. Mitsubishi (in collaboration with Hindustan Motors): Lancer, Lancer Cedia, Pajero ‘Nissan Motor India: Micra.+ Toyota Kirloskar: Etios, Corolla, Innova, Camry. « Volkswagen India: Polo, Vento, Jetta, Passat. . Audi India: A4, A6. . Skoda Auto India: Fabia, Octavia, Laura, Superb, Yeti. ‘Commercial vehicle manufacturers in India Indian brands «Force +_Hindustan Motors +—Premier «_Tata «_AMW «__Eicher Motors Joint Venture Brands «_VE Commercial Vehicles Li d- VE Commercial Vehicles limited - A JV between Volvo Groups & Eicher Motors Limited. +—Ashok Leyland - originally a JV between Ashok Motors and Leyland Motors, now 51% owned by Hi n «Mahindra Navistar- a 51:49 JV between Mahindra Group and Navistar International «__Swaraj Mazda - originally a JV between Punjab Tractors and Mazda, now 53.5% owned by Sumi + Kamaz Vectra - A JV between Russia's KaMAZ and the Vectra Group Foreign brands +_Yolvo «Tatra «_MAN- as a JV with Force Motors, makes MAN Trucks in India «Mercedes-Benz sells luxury buses in India «Daimler AG- manufactures BharatBenz, a brand of trucks based on the Euso and the Mercedes Benz truck platforms, which Daimler AG owns «Caterpillar Inc.Financial Institution - HDFC, CITI CORPORATION, ICICI, Sundaram Finance Limited, M&M, and Kotak Mahindra the financer persons are always available in the showroom. During the period of sale of car if the customer is not able to pay the full amount in such situation, these finance institution come forward to provide loan at different rates. Depending on the customers preference the finance is arranged. The process is done immediately Auto Card — the company also provides auto card where the customer use it during fueling servicing by which they earn some points. The points are used while exchanging, their products the cost value will increase. This also make them remain that the product has been used for the past 5 year and its now the time to exchange. A card is provides, this card should be swiped while fuelling, servicing ete. Each time they swipe the card they get points. The card is provided by the Maruti RTO — The RTO persons do all the registration related process. All the temporary and permanent documentation. Once the order is received it is forwarded to the back support officer and the back support officer orders the product. As soon as the product reaches, the RTO in-charge will take the vehicle for registration at the RTO. After the car is registered they get the number the next day itself, The registered number will be intimated to the customer immediately. Human Resource — The human resource does the recruitment process. Based on the requirement received from the various departments the recruitment is done. The company adopts advertisement, campus interview, referrals and from private employment exchanges. The walk-ins are also interviewed. The interview process - the preliminary interview is conducted by the Human Resource and then followed by the Senior Manager- Sales. Once the senior officers are satisfied with the candidate selection is done. Insurance - The insurance department all the insurance related activities. The company provides- Royal Sundaram Insurance, Life Insurance ete. They also send a reminder card when the due date falls or do telephonic intimation. All the documentation procedure is processed by them. The processed documents after completing all the data works are send to the customers home directly by the insurance person personally Customer Care — Customer care executive finds the level of satisfaction. The customer after the purchase of the product to their experience post sales follow-up is done to know their satisfaction towards delivery, with the executive, finance, accessories, about showroom and the product, Within a period of 15 — 20 days from the date of purchase customer meet is arranged where the customers experience is shared and the sales executives will also be present to clarify the doubts if any, is raised by the customer. Before winding up of meeting feedback is got from them in writing. As a vote of thanks while ending the meeting a surprise gift is distributed to the customers.As research on consumption experiences grows, evidence suggests that consumers purchase goods and services for a combination of two types of benefits: hedonic and utilitarian. Hedonic benefits are associated with the sensory and experiential attributes of the product Utilitarian benefits of a product are associated with the more instrumental and functional attributes of the product (Batra and Athola 1990). ‘Customer satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to product/service, The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and recommend rate. The level of satisfaction. can also vary depending on other options the customer may have and other products against which the customer can compare the organization's products. ‘Work done by Parasuraman, Zeitham! and Berry (Leonard L) between 1985 and 1988 provides the basis for the measurement of customer satisfaction with a service by using the gap between the customer's expectation of performance and their perceived experience of performance. This provides the measurer with a satisfaction "gap* which is objective and quantitative in nature Work done by Cronin and Taylor propose the “confirmation/disconfirmation" theory of combining the "gap" deseribed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry as two different measures (perception and expectation of performance) into a single measurement of performance according to expectation. The usual measures of customer satisfaction involve a survey with a set of statements using a Likert Technique or scale. The customer is asked to evaluate each statement and in term of their perception and expectation of performance of the organization being measured, Their satisfaction is generally measured on a five-point scale. ‘Customer satisfaction data can also be collected on a 10-point scale. Regardless of the scale used, the objective is to measure customers’ perceived satisfaction with their experience of a firm's offerings. It is essential for firms to effectively manage customer satisfaction. To be able do this, we need accurate measurement of satisfaction.