Essay My Senior Year

When you reach your senior year at high school it is time to stop for a moment and think seriously about your current position and the future. After all, it can without an exaggeration be called one of the most important and even decisive periods of life, the last step before your life becomes completely independent. Just a year separates you from taking independent decisions, choosing a college, taking some actions concerning your future career – in other words, grown-up life. And like with many other things, it is never too early to start preparing to it – you may be sure that an extra mile you walk right now will pay off many times over later on. The Best Way to Be Prepared A lot of students perceive their senior year as the last piece of true freedom in their lives. After that they will have to think about jobs, families and career, but right now it looks like it is very far away. Isn’t it better to enjoy yourself while you still can? In the long run this approach doesn’t pay off. What most students learn by the end of their senior year is one simple truth – namely, that it is never too early to start preparing. In the beginning it seems that examinations, choice of a college, application essays and suchlike are very far off indeed; and then suddenly they are not. Believe those who are more experienced than you are – it is much better and more enjoyable to take your time and go ahead steadily than to try desperately to catch up during the last weeks. Don’t make the same mistakes hundreds of students made before you – it is exactly the main difference between being stupid and being clever: clever people learn from mistakes done by stupid ones. Things to Take Into Account There are so many things to pay attention to that your head is probably in a whirl. Let this short list help you a little bit in setting your priorities: Don’t be insincere in your application essays and during your interview. What college wants from you is, firstly, good language (to show that you can express yourself) and, well, expression. The essays should be about something you actually care about – it should, in a word, be real. Professional committee will feel insincerity from a mile off. Don’t spread yourself thin. People tend to trust specialists more than universalists. If you enumerate half a dozen talents it is simply hard to believe that you are equally proficient in all of them; if, however, you find your niche and stick to it you will find yourself in a much better position. Be prepared to your interview. Decide beforehand what you are going to say: why you like this school in particular, what are your ambitions, why you think this school is going to give you what you need. And, more than anything, be reasonable. Look at what lies ahead and tell yourself: â€Å"My senior year isn’t going to be a waste of time†. This was an example of the Senior Year essay, written by the writers of our custom writing service. To buy an essay on the necessary topic, please, fill in the Free Inquiry form in the top right corner of this page.

Patient Protection Affordable Health Care Act - 1594 Words

Unable to pay health insurance hundred thousand people died every year too many people not having comprehensive coverage, many were dropped due serious medical issue, drop their health insurance plans due employer. Years the American people request affordable health care that everyone can have; government Officials disagreed universal health care known Patient Protection Affordable Health Care Act. The number issues, uninsured Americans have been an issue years. President Obama started focusing nationwide issue, introduced signed law to revise the widespread number Americans with no health insurance. This essay I will discuss Patient Protection Affordable Health Care Act as it pertains to our nation as well as explain the pro/cons of the issue of the PPACA, President Obama made it clear that when it came everyone should have coverage. Over the years health care insurance reform, in the U.S has been a political debate for provider consumers. One thing that Americans agreed that the reshaped of the U.S health care system; an effort by President Obama was successful in March 2010, the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act or PPACA was signed into law Increase numbers uninsured individuals due our nation had spent majority to support welfare allowed public program cut back. March, 2010 President Obama signed Patient Protection Affordable Care Act; Affordable Care Act purpose help millions without health insurance subsidies to help lower, middle income Americans boughtShow MoreRelatedThe Patient Protection And Affordable Health Care Act Essay1935 Words   |  8 Pagesunfortunately over years our government has degraded this country and what it stands for. The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, also known as Obama Care and Affordable Care Act, force all Americans to have health insurance or they will be assessed a penalty fine which some view as an illegal tax. It was the view point which was the basis of a case that went before the Supreme Court arguing against Obama Care. Unfortunately for some the ruling was against the â€Å"tax† based suit. The ACA has beenRead MoreThe Patient Protection And Affordable Health Care Act ( Obamacare )2199 Words   |  9 PagesThe Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act aka Obamacare, has been the largest, and most challenging, adjustment to the United States health system in the past 60 years. â€Å"Obamacare’s main focus is on providing more Americans with access to affordable health insurance, improving the quality of health care and health insurance, regulating the health insurance industry, and reducing health care spending in the US.† (http://obamacarefacts.com/whatis-obamacare/) Referenced Obamacare in shortRead MoreHealth Care Reform : Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act927 Words   |  4 PagesHealth Care Reform The health care reform of 2010, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), signed by the President Barrack Obama marked a significant landmark on the health care system that needed to be changed in order to provide health to the millions of uninsured in the United States. Nurses play an important role in the Affordable Care Act. According to Nickitas (2015), â€Å"nurses need deep understanding of the cost of care, health economics, and policy. Understanding the impact ofRead MoreHealth Insurance : The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act ( Aca )759 Words   |  4 Pagesb. Health Insurance In the modern United States, the starting point of any practical discussion about health insurance begins with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA has a significant amount of influence over employers and their individual employees, and therefore must be discussed before any recommendations may be made. There are three major aspects of the ACA that are relevant to our client and that ought to be discussed and considered. These aspects include the individualRead MoreImpact Of The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act On Public Health Services Essay1030 Words   |  5 PagesImpacts of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on Public Health Services The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has had many impacts on public health services under ten different titles addressing the health and welfare of Americans. There are two titles specifically under the health system reform that have lead to putting a greater focus on public health and prevention, while also focusing on building a stronger workforce and infrastructure. Through Title Four and TitleRead MoreThe Impact Of The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act On Public Health Services2883 Words   |  12 Pages The Impact of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on Public Health Services HSAD 500 Brian M. Mwesigwa Eastern Washington University – Master of Public Health Abstract Attempts for nearly a century in America have failed to establish the principle that every American is entitled to affordable and effective health insurance coverage regardless of their income or health status. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 has made this legislationRead MoreWhat Is The Goal Of The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act And Womens Health1119 Words   |  5 PagesPatient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Women’s Health In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was passed. The PPACA grants all legal residents in the United States access to health insurance. The PPACA is accommodated by expanding Medicaid, establishing tax credits for small business owners to cover insurance for their employees, and through state-offered â€Å"marketplaces† where citizens can buy insurance if they aren’t offered insurance elsewhere (Ranji, SalganicoffRead MoreThe Health Care Procedures Of The United States : The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act1900 Words   |  8 PagesIn my final analysis, I will review the present health care procedures. I will delve into the history of health care and the essential need for transformation in America. I will examine the existing health care reorganization in the United States; the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. I will look into the PPACA execution and possible repercussions. I will also look at the pros and cons of the ne w law. I will scrutinize and combine what changes need to take place in the future. And lastlyRead MoreSimilarities Between the The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Plan in Israel567 Words   |  2 Pagesreform has come to the United States. It is called The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In its wake, healthcare in the United States will radically change. The United States trails as one of the last industrialized countries in the world to construct a national health plan. Israel has a national health plan that covers all its citizens that has been in place since 1995. There are some similarities with the proposed US health plan, but many differences. Both of these will be brieflyRead MoreEmployee Health Benefits Are Undergoing A Radical Change Due The Passage Of The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act Essay863 Words   |  4 PagesEmployee health benefits are undergoing a radical change due the passage of the Patient Protection Afford able Care Act in March 2010, employers are having to re-evaluating how and if they will be provide health benefits to their employees (Grant Thornton LLP, 2013). According to Dunn, Kirsschner, Livingston (2014) the PPACA has created new complications into collective bargaining negotiations over health insurance benefits. Especially in firms like GMFC which employs a large numbers of workers

Breakdown of Wartime Alliance Free Essays

string(83) " stated that it was the Russians who â€Å"tore the heart out of the German army\." Superpower Relations 1943-1991 The Breakdown of the Wartime Alliance The Breakdown of the wartime alliance Although allies, cracks were already appearing in the Soviet-American alliance by 1945. Stalin was particularly suspicious of Britain’s policy before the war of appeasement, which he thought aimed secretly to encourage Hitler to attack Russia. He was also unhappy with the US/British failure to open up a second front in Europe before June 1944. We will write a custom essay sample on Breakdown of Wartime Alliance or any similar topic only for you Order Now On the other hand the British and Americans were worried about Soviet troops in Eastern Europe and their failure to help the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis. The question remained- would the USA and USSR remain friends following the removal of the one factor which kept them united- the defeat of Germany? [pic] American and Russian troops meet at Torgau on the Elbe, 25th April 1945 World War Two: K/W/L Grid What do I know about WW2? (complete at start of What do I want to know? What have I learnt? lesson) (complete at start of lesson) (complete at end of lesson using the following pages). The war in Russia was to change the course of World War Two in Europe. In June 1941, World War Two witnessed what was then the largest land attack in history   -‘Operation Barbarossa’. A vast Nazi force used Blitzkrieg to devastating effect on the Russian Army. Hitler had long made it clear that he hated the Russians and that war between the two countries was inevitable. The Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939 had only delayed what Hitler was apparently planning even when the Battle of Britain was at its height. He believed that the Russians were sub-human (the ‘untermenschen’ ) and that they had no right to live where they did. That they were East European was compounded by the fact that Russia was communist and led by Joseph Stalin. Hitler hated communism and Stalin. Hitler wanted all the land in Eastern Europe to be given to Germans as they, Hitler believed, could farm it properly while East Europeans could not. Also many Jews lived in Russia (also known as the USSR at this time) and Hitler wanted them exterminated. In August 1939, Hitler and Russia had signed a treaty of non-aggression which was meant to last for 10 years. However, for both countries the treaty was merely to buy time to get their armies into shape before one attacked the other. Hitler wished to stabilise his western frontier before turning east. Stalin desperately needed to reform his army after the 1930’s putches when his senior officers had been effectively wiped out either by imprisonment or execution. In June 1941 Operation Barbarossa took place – a massive attack by the Germans on Russia. Hitler’s senior commanders had advised that the bulk of the German attack should be concentrated on Moscow. Two smaller armies would target Leningrad and Stalingrad and engage the enemy. These two armies would then be helped by the troops in the main bulk once Moscow had surrendered. They felt that once the heart of the nation had been cut out, the rest of the country would fall. Hitler would not have this. He did not believe that the Russian army was a match for the Wehrmacht and decided on three equal forces attacking Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad. As always, he got his way. The German attack on Russia involved: 3 million soldiers,    3580 tanks,   7184 artillery guns,   1830 planes  Ã‚   750,000 horses   The Russian army collapsed under this onslaught and the attack was initially incredibly successful. Moscow was nearly reached, Leningrad was surrounded and the oil fields in the south were swiftly approached. But it had one main failing and that was created by Hitler himself. As the Russians pulled back (retreated) they destroyed anything that might be of use to the German army as it advanced – bridges, railways, buildings etc. and poisoned water supplies. This policy was known as â€Å"scorched earth† and it was not expected by the Germans and severely hindered their armies. The supply lines of the German army stretched from Germany through Poland and into Russia itself – a huge distance to defend and control. These supply lines were attacked by guerrillas called partisans who did a considerable amount of damage to the German army and caused major shortages. The winter of 1941-42 was one of the worst in recorded history. Daily temperatures fell to 40 degrees below zero. German soldiers had not been issued with warm winter clothing as Hitler believed that the invasion would be over by the winter. Soldiers froze to death in their sleep, diesel froze in fuel tanks and food was in very short supply. Russian soldiers had been issued with winter clothing and did not suffer as badly as their German enemies. The defeat of an entire German army at Stalingrad was a disaster for the Germans and some historians consider this battle the turning point of World War Two because the German army could now only go in one direction and that was back to Germany. However, while the army was fighting the Russian army, soldiers from the SS Einsatzgruppen murdered hundreds of thousands of civilians. This was all part of Hitler’s plan to get rid of ‘sub-humans’ from Europe. It is thought that as many as 20 million Russians died during the war. The slaughter was so great that Himmler believed that the policy of shooting civilians might disturbed those doing the killing. A direct result of this was the order to find a quicker way of murdering the people of Russia and the idea of death factories developed from this which lead to the Holocaust. However, from a military point of view, the defeat of the Germans by the Russians was vital to the Allies overall victory in Europe. Over two-thirds of the German army was in the Russian war and its defeat meant that the Allies in the west (GB, France and USA) had more chance of success against a smaller force. Winston Churchill stated that it was the Russians who â€Å"tore the heart out of the German army. You read "Breakdown of Wartime Alliance" in category "Essay examples" † What was the war like for the people in Russia and for the German soldiers? From a German soldier who fought in Russia : â€Å"Do you know how we behaved to the civilians? We behaved like devils out of Hell. We left those poor villagers to starve to death, thousands and thousands of them. How can you win a war in this way? We shoot villagers on the slightest excuse. Just stick them up against a wall. We order the whole village out to watch. It’s a vicious circle. We hate them and they hate us, and on and on it goes, everyone getting more inhuman. The civilians were all ready to look on us as saviours. They had had years of oppression from the communists. What did we do? Turn into slaves under Hitler. If the Russians should ever pay back one half of what we have done, you won’t smile or sing again. We were quartered (living) in a house outside the town. Our dwelling for the night was a wooden house occupied by a Russian family of five children and an old grandmother. We were bitten by fleas all night. We pened our tins and made coffee, sharing what we had with the children and the old woman. The man of the house was a soldier and the mother had been taken away to dig trenches. The children all had protruding bellies of long-term malnutrition. The reality is that after 22 years of Communist rule, a salted fish is the height of luxury. How this country depresses me. † From a soldier who fought in southern Russia : â€Å"I watched my mother and father die. I knew perfectly well that they were starving. But I wanted their bread more than I wanted them to stay alive. And they knew that. That’s what I remember about the blockade (of Leningrad): that feeling that you wanted your parents to die because you wanted their bread. Daily rationing quotas for the people of Leningrad in November 1941    Labourer Child of Eight Bread 252g 128g Fat 19g 17g Meat 49g 14g Cereals 49g 39g Sugar 49g 39g Factor 1: Communism and Capitalism One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression. The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio; fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms. A speech by President Truman of the US (1947) Read Waugh and Wright page 10 1. Complete the following table to explain the differences between the two political systems [ideologies]: Communism Capitalism Political System Only one political party – the communist party – No choice, Unable toSeveral Parties – voters may choose and change their change their government. government Economic ideas NO private industries or businesses, NO private profit, ALL industry Most industry and businesses privately owned . and businesses owned by the state for the benefit of everyone. State intervention Censorship of media, State run economy , no choice in a government. NO real state intervention, free market Freedoms NO FREEDOM Freedom of speech, freedom to watch, read, listen to whatever you want. Freedom to own your own business 2. What was meant by the term ‘Cold War’? Read Waugh and Wright pages 8-9 Answer: The Cold War was a phrase used to describe the rivalry and tension between the Superpowers- USA and USSR after 1945. The Cold War had several defining features†¦ Now add some brief detail about the following aspects: Different ideologies Capitalism is a way of life that you are free to do as you wish but communism, you are kept to strictlawsEconomic rivalry In Capitalism you are free to own your own business but in Communism all businesses aremonitored by the statePropaganda Both sides used propaganda to create the worst possible image of the other sideArms Race Each side wanted more weapons and newer technologies than the otherSpace race At first it was only to launch the first satellite, then the first man in space and finally first man onthe moonSpying Both sides spied on each other. This was to find out any military developments3. What was meant by the term ‘Superpower’? Read Waugh and Wright page 9 Now have a go at a definition yourself: A super power is a country or an group of countries (Empire) that is very powerful and they havethe best economies and have the most advanced technologies and weapons like the atomic bomb,missiles, etc.Factor 2: Rivalry before 1945 Read Waugh and Wright pages 10-15 During the 1920s and 1930s US and Soviet contact with each other was limited. However both sides viewed each other with suspicion. Though the USA did not feel directly threatened by the USSR there had been ‘red scares’ in America in the early 1920s- Americans feared that immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe might bring with them socialist ideas and attempt to persuade the American working class to mount a revolution. The origins of McCarthyism predate World War Two! Make notes on the following points of tension: a. The Russian Civil War The Bolsheviks led by Lenin seized control of the Government and in the following yearsIntroduced Communism to the countryb. British foreign policy [appeasement] before World War Two British foreign policy was to avoid war in Europe at allCostsRussian cartoon comments on Munich c. Rivalry during World War Twod. The Tehran ConferenceExam Technique Part A Question – DESCRIBE Advice: Write about ONE decision or reason or consequence. Write two sentences- one which makes the point and a second which develops it with some factual detail. Describe one decision made by the allies about the war against Germany at the Tehran conference in 1943 (2) Point: One Decision made by the allies about the war against Germany wasDevelopment:Factor 3: Yalta, Crimea [USSR] 4th-11th February 1945 a. Who were the key figures in the wartime alliance system and what were their aims? Read Waugh and Wright pages 14-15 [pic] 1. Complete the table below explaining each leader’s aims and attitudes at Yalta: [pic] [pic] [pic] Winston Churchill Franklin Delano Roosevelt Joseph Stalin b. The Yalta Meeting: Agreements and Disagreements The aims of the three war leaders were different, both aiming to combine the security of their own country with the ideal of European stability. Stalin wanted to create a buffer of pro-Soviet states to protect the Soviet Union against any potential attack from the West, something which Roosevelt and Churchill were firmly against. Poland, being the largest country in Eastern Europe, was likely to set the pattern for the rest of the region, and it was on this matter that the allies met in February 1945, at Yalta. Two different political groups had emerged: London Poles Lublin Poles This was the Polish government of 1939 which had spent the war years in This was a ‘government in waiting’. Stalin had established this group of exile in London. They continued to meet despite the fact that Poland was Polish communists in the city of Lublin after its liberation from the Nazis. occupied by the Nazis. Stalin hoped to place the Lublin Poles into government in Warsaw. They were anti-communist, and wanted Poland to remain independent and free from Soviet control. The Red Army was the first to reach Poland, and as it approached in August 1944, Polish resistance fighters had begun an uprising against the German occupying troops in Warsaw, the capital. They counted on the support of the nearby Red Army, but also believed that by taking the initiative they could ensure the leadership of the London Poles. The Red Army did nothing to help and the rebellion was mercilessly crushed by the Germans. 300 000 Poles were killed. Eventually Warsaw fell to the Russians and by January 1945 Poland had been liberated and the Lublin Poles were placed in control by the USSR. 2. Complete the table below: Source Despite the apparent unity of the allies (see Sources A and B), behind the scenes the West were increasingly suspicious of Stalin (see Source C). Relations deteriorated as Stalin seemed to ignore certain elements of the Yalta Agreement. The high expectations in the West that Stalin would allow democratic governments in Eastern Europe was soon destroyed when 16 leaders of the Polish Resistance were invited from London to hold talks with the Soviet authorities near Warsaw. They were arrested and never seen again. Source A Source B 3. Who gained most from Yalta?Factor 4: Potsdam, Berlin, 17th July- 2nd August 1945. a. Events before the conference Read Waugh and Wright p16-17 and make notes on the following: 1. What had changed between Yalta and Potsdam? [pic] FOCUS ON:Poland ‘jumps to the left’ Poland in 1939 [marked in bold and dotted] Poland in 1945 [marked in bold and dotted] b. The Potsdam Conference [pic] [pic] [pic] At Potsdam, Truman, less inclined to trust Stalin than Roosevelt had been, also had a secret weapon; Operation Manhattan had been completed and the USA possessed a working atomic bomb. This placed Truman firmly in control of the negotiations: â€Å"Truman was a changed man. He told the Russians where they got on and off and generally bossed the whole meeting† (Churchill, writing about the conference later) Atlee Truman Stalin Using three colours highlight or underline the following: (1) Areas of agreement between the allies; (2) ideas rejected by the West; (3) ideas rejected by Stalin; Exam Technique Part B Question – KEY FEATURES You will need to identify a key feature and develop it with more detail/analysis 1 developed key feature = 4 marks 2 developed key features = 5 marks 3 developed key features = 6 marks A key feature is one of three things: A CAUSE†¦AN EVENT†¦A CONSEQUENCE †¦ so do three paragraphs with one of each or two of one and one of another! Remember to number and signpost with the wording of the question. Use the word BECAUSE. Briefly explain the key features of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, 1945 (6) Paragraph 1: One cause of the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences was†¦This meant that†¦Paragraph 2: A key event of the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences was†¦This meant that†¦Paragraph 3: A key consequence of the Yalta and Potsdam Conference was †¦This meant that†¦Factor 5: The Development of the Iron Curtain, 1945-8 Read Waugh and Wright page 21-23. As the Red Army liberated much of Eastern Europe, Stalin made sure that in the post-war reorganisation most of these countries would be under direct Soviet influence, or at the very least friendly Communist countries. Step by step he took over Albania, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and East Germany in a process described by the Hungarian Communist Rakosi as ‘slicing salami’, or salami tactics (slowly removing or slicing away all opposition to Communism). Why did Stalin do this? Source A: The devastated landscape of Stalingrad- Russia suffered greatly as a result of the war. 27 million Russians died. Source B: Stalin speaking in February 1945 Victory means, first of all, that our Soviet social system has won. The Soviet social system has successfully stood the test in the fire of war and it has proved its complete vitality. The Soviet social system has proved to be more capable and more stable than the non-Soviet social system. The Soviet social system is a better form of society than nay non-Soviet social system. Source C: Stalin at Yalta Mr. Churchill has said that for Great Britain the Polish question is one of honour. But for the Russians it is a question of honour and security. Throughout history Poland has been the corridor of attack on Russia. Source D: Stalin comments on Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech in 1946 It should not be forgotten that the Germans invaded the USSR through Finland, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary. The Germans were able to invade because governments hostile to the USSR existed in these countries. As a result the USSR suffered a loss of life several times greater than Britain and the USA combined. The Soviet Union can not forget the huge sacrifices of the Soviet people. Is it surprising that the Soviet Union is trying to see that governments loyal to the Soviet Union should exist in these countries. 1. Complete the table below. U [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] Factor 6: Winston Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ Speech Nine months after Sir Winston Churchill failed to be re-elected as Britain’s PM, Churchill [with President Truman] traveled on March 5, 1946, to Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri (population of 7,000). Churchill gave his now famous â€Å"Iron Curtain speech. Before this speech, the U. S. nd Britain had been concerned with their own post-war economies and had remained extremely grateful for the Soviet Union’s role in ending World War II. It was Churchill’s speech, which he titled â€Å"The Sinews of Peace,† that changed the way the democratic West viewed the Communist East. Though many people believe that Churchill coined the phrase â€Å"the iron curtain† during this speech, the term had actually been used for decades (including in several earlier letters from Churchill to Truman). Churchill’s use of the phrase g ave it wider circulation and made the phrase popularly recognized as the division of Europe into East and West. 1. Why do you think did Churchill’s words contribute to further East-West tension? 2. Annotate the cartoon below to explain its meaning. Exam Technique Part B Question – KEY FEATURES You will need to identify a key feature and develop it with more detail/analysis 1 developed key feature = 4 marks developed key features = 5 marks 3 developed key features = 6 marks Briefly explain the key features of the Iron Curtain. Cause:Event:Consequence:Revision and Overview Effect on relations between the Allies Event 1939 Nazi Soviet Non-Aggression Pact Britain and the USSR are enemies, USA is neutral but leaning towards Britain. 1941 Nazi invasion of USSR The USSR changes from an enemy to an ally against the common threat of Nazi Germany. Little direct co-operation. 1944 ‘Lublin Poles’ set up West suspects USSR of a desire to create buffer zone of puppet Communist states 1944 Warsaw Uprising 1945 Liberation of Poland 1945 Yalta Conference 1945 Failed discussions with Molotov concerning Polish government 1945 Arrest of Polish Resistance leaders 1945 Death o f Roosevelt – Truman 1945 US completion of Manhattan Project 1945 Potsdam Conference 1946 Iron Curtain Speech, made by Churchill at Fulton, Missouri Focus on: Learning through Mnemonics: CAUSES OF THE COLD WAR [memory word: BARE] [pBeliefs: ic[pic] Russia was (3 things) ] [pic] a Communist country, [pic] ruled by a dictator [pic] who cared little about human rights. [pic] America was (3 things) [pic] a capitalist [pic] democracy, [pic] which valued freedom. [pAims: ic[pic] Stalin wanted (2 things) ] [pic] reparations from Germany [pic] a buffer of friendly states. [pic] Britain and the USA [led by President Truman] wanted (2 things) [pic] to help Germany recover [pic] to prevent large areas of Europe from coming under Communist control. [pResentment about history ic[pic] The USSR did not trust Britain and the USA (2 reasons) ] [pic] They had tried to destroy the Russian Revolution in 1918. [pic] Stalin thought they had not helped the USSR enough in WW2. [pic] Britain and the USA did not trust the USSR (1 reason) [pic] Stalin had signed the Nazi-Soviet pact in 1939. [pEvents ic ] †¦.. and in case you are wondering: EVENTS    (9 events): [pYALTA Conference (4 things) ic[pic] February 1945 ] [pic] Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt agreed to (5 points): [pic] Divide Germany into 4 zones occupied by France, Britain, USA, USSR. [pic] Hold free elections in Eastern European countries. [pic] Give the USSR territory in Manchuria in return for their help against Japan. [pic] Set up the United Nations. [pic] Set up a government of Communists and non Communists in Poland. [pic] On the surface, everything seemed friendly [pic] Tension behind the scenes [pPOTSDAM Conference (4 things) ic[pic] July 1945 ] [pic] At Potsdam the tensions surfaced. [pic] Stalin, Truman and Atlee agreed to (2 things): [pic] Bring Nazi war criminals to trial. [pic] Divide Germany into 4 occupied zones. [pic] There were also disagreements over (3 things): [pic] Soviet policy in Poland. [pic] The size of German reparations. [pic] Stalin’s demands for a naval base in the Mediterranean. [pSALAMI TACTICS (2 things) ic[pic] 1945–48 ] [pic] ‘Slice-by-slice’, Stalin ensured 7 Eastern European countries had Communist governments. [pic] Albania [pic] (1945) – the Communists took power after the war without opposition [pic] Bulgaria [pic] (1945) – the Communists executed the leaders of all the other parties. [pic] Poland [pic] (1947) – the Communists forced the non-Communist leaders into exile. [pic] Hungary    (4 things) [pic] (1947) – Russian troops stayed there. Stalin allowed elections (non-communists won a big majority). The Communists were led by the pro-Russian Rakosi. [pic] Rakosi demanded that grou ps which opposed him should be banned. [pic] He got control of the police, and arrested his opponents. How to cite Breakdown of Wartime Alliance, Essay examples

Blacks Treated As Lower Class Citizens Essay free essay sample

, Research Paper Blacks Treated as Lower Class Citizens The black community in the United States of America has ever been the mark of bias from the Whites. The Constitution of America states all work forces should hold equal rights, but alternatively of following the fundamental law Whites have treated the inkinesss as lower- category citizen. An illustration that the black community has been treated as a lower category citizen they were being persecuted for seeking to acquire an instruction. The following illustration that the black community was being treated as lower category citizens is shown when the inkinesss could non have a just test in the tribunals. The concluding illustration that the inkinesss have non been treated as peers was when they could non acquire a nice occupation. The black community has ever been treated as a lower- category citizen non merely in the past, but besides in today # 8217 ; s society. The first illustration that the black community has been treated as a lower- category citizen was when they couldn # 8217 ; t acquire a good instruction. # 8220 ; Besides, those doors are ever unfastened to them? But most are deprived of instruction? This gets easier and easier until she comes up with still another kid to abort or back up, But none of this is # 8216 ; Negro-ness # 8217 ; # 8221 ; ( Griffin 92 ) . This quotation mark shows that the inkinesss were deprived of an instruction, and a good instruction is normally a symbol of middle- or higher- category citizen. # 8220 ; They are so near to their ascendants learned to read and write at the hazard of terrible penalty, that acquisition is about a sacred privilege ( Griffin 125 ) . # 8221 ; This quotation mark shows how the Whites had deprived them of an instruction for many centuries. The quotation mark besides shows how an instruction is a privilege for a lower category citizen and is taken for granted for middle- and higher- category citizens. In today # 8217 ; s society inkinesss are still being persecuted in schools. An illustration in today # 8217 ; s society that inkinesss are still being discriminated against is in Corvallis, Oregon. At Oregon State University the white pupils and module are invariably hassling inkinesss. # 8220 ; Peoples look at me like I # 8217 ; m a goon pack member, # 8221 ; said a football participant at the university ( Cain ) . This quote negotiations about how a batch of inkinesss are viewed as a stereotypic mobster which is considered a lower- category citizen in most people # 8217 ; s eyes. At the same campus a black authorities campaigner # 8217 ; s postings were defaced ( Cain ) . This shows that the white community does non desire inkinesss in a high authorities place. A authorities place is a symbol of a higher- category citizen and since Whites defaced the postings it is clear that the Whites treat inkinesss as lower- category citizens. The following illustration that shows that the Whites were being treated as lower- category citizens was the manner the inkinesss could non acquire justness in the judicial system. # 8220 ; Mississippi has long had a repute of neglecting to penalize white work forces accused of condemnable Acts of the Apostless against Negroes # 8221 ; ( Griffin 50 ) . This quotation mark shows the unfairness of the judicial system. Since merely lower- category citizens are looked down upon and are non treated reasonably, the quotation mark implies that the inkinesss are treated as lower- category citizens. Another illustration that the inkinesss did non have justness in the judicial system was during the Parker Lynch instance ( Griffin 50 ) . Even though the F. B. I. provided grounds placing the lynchers, they still went free. This shows that a black adult male can non have justness even when murdered. In the fundamental law it states that all work forces will have a just test, and since the inkinesss can non have a just test, the quotation mark implies that inkinesss are lower than Whites. In today # 8217 ; s society the same exact thing is go oning. Blacks can non have any justness in the judicial system. # 8220 ; A batch of white people will convey bias denial to a state of affairs? the first Rodney King test where you had the whole crushing incident on tape? the chiefly white jury found the constabulary non guilty. ( Rodriguez ) # 8221 ; This quote clearly shows that a black adult male can non acquire a just test. Which besides implies that he is non worthy plenty to have the rights the fundamental law gives him and that he is a low- category citizen who can non have any justness. Another illustration in today # 8217 ; s society where inkinesss can non have justness is during the O. J. Simpson test. # 8220 ; There are non merely cases of racial insensitiveness? the denial of due procedure, of indefensible hunts, of illegal ictuss, of all the charges inkinesss have been doing all along. ( Rodriguez ) # 8221 ; This quotation mark shows that even a celebrated black adult male like O. J. can non have a just test. This shows that inkinesss can neer be equal and will ever be a lower-cla US Secret Service citizen. The last manner inkinesss have been treated as lower- category citizen was the manner that the inkinesss had a difficult clip acquiring a occupation or acquiring by on the occupation the inkinesss already have. An illustration of this is when Griffin tried to happen a occupation, but no affair how qualified or good dressed he could non acquire a occupation ( Griffin 43 ) . This shows that most employers did non desire any inkinesss working for them no affair how qualified, and if you do non hold a occupation it symbolizes a lower- category citizen. # 8220 ; Do you cognize how long we # 8217 ; d last, making something like that # 8221 ; ( Griffin 108 ) . This quotation mark shows the small power the inkinesss have over their occupations and how easy they could hunger to decease. The lower- category citizen normally has an inferior occupation, so this quotation mark shows how they are lower- category citizens. In today # 8217 ; s society there are still favoritisms on the occupation site. # 8220 ; Black jellybeans, # 8221 ; Texaco functionaries said ( # 8221 ; Change in Course # 8221 ; ) . Harmonizing to this quotation mark it is clear there is racism at the occupation site and that the inkinesss have no power what- so- of all time, and no power means that you are considered lower so the Whites. It is clear that inkinesss were and are still treated as lower category citizens. It is clear that the inkinesss could non acquire an equal opportunity to acquire an instruction. It is besides clear that inkinesss could non have any justness in the judicial systems. Blacks could non even acquire a nice occupation to draw him into the higher category. Although we might hold improved a small on some of these jobs, they are still go oning. In the hereafter we should endeavor to do everyone equal. T

Doctoring The Truth Essays - Health In The United States, Insurance

Doctoring The Truth Doctoring the Truth. The New Republic. Nov 15, 1999. P 13. Is it ethical for doctors to bend the truth in order to get an insurance company to pay for medical treatment? According to this article, most doctors do. A survey has shown that 58% of doctors say that they would be willing to give an insurance company deliberately deceptive documentation to influence the companys decision to approve surgery or other treatment for a life-threatening illness. These doctors believe that if they did not lie, their patients would receive sub-standard health care. Insurance companies are continually looking for ways to reduce their costs, and the most common way is to second-guess the doctors opinions or to approve the minimum treatments necessary. This has created a crisis in American medicine in which doctors feel they must be dishonest with the insurance companies in order to be the good guy to their patients. Does the end justify the mean? After all, these doctors seem to have a good reason for lying. They are trying to help someone, right? But it does not make it morally and ethically right. Lying is wrong, no matter what the reason is. Even though saving someones life seems to be a valid reason for bending the truth, it does not solve the problem. It is unethical for a doctor to lie, even to an insurance company. Although HMOs and insurance companies need to be dealt with, lying is not the way to defeat them. You should not lie to beat the system. It solves nothing. Lying is a quick fix. It may work on a case-to-case basis, but health care reform is the only permanent solution. While we can condemn doctors for being untruthful, we also have to look at the flip side HMOs and other insurance companies who are trying to cut back costs, approving the least expensive treatments and sometimes denying those claims that have real merit. These companies do breed an environment where it is difficult for doctors to be completely honest. Doctors are supposed to be looking after the interests of their patients, and they sometimes see lying as the only way to skirt the policies of some HMOs. The author takes the position that it is morally and ethically wrong for doctors to lie to insurance companies. However, in the current health system, dishonest pays. This creates a continuous cycle of corruption. The integrity of the medical community is at stake and patients have become the pawns. Health insurance companies have indeed created the problem but lying is not the answer. This cycle of deception begetting new rules begetting new deceptions could continue indefinitely. The authors opinion appears unbiased. He presents the facts and both sides of the issue, and condemns them both. Perhaps someday we can agree upon a reasonable system where the needs of the patient come before the wallet of the insurance company. Only then will doctors feel that they are not obligated to lie and integrity will be restored to the American health system. Social Issues

Service Quality Essay Example

Service Quality Essay Example Service Quality Essay Service Quality Essay University of Nottingham The Dark Side of Customer Relationship Management in the Luxury segment of the Hotel Industry Akshay Jaipuria MA Management Abstract Today, service organizations are shifting their focus from â€Å"transactional exchange† to â€Å"relational exchange† for developing mutually satisfying relationship with customers. Extended relationships are reported to have a significant impact on transaction cost and profitability, and customer lifetime value. Serving the customers, in true sense, is the need of the hour as the customer was, is and will remain the central focus of all organizational activities. The hotel industry, especially the luxury segment hotels needs to be purely customer-centric and focus on the customer needs and duly fulfill them. Customers will not blindly accept poor service quality from a luxury hotel. They expect high quality of service in return for the money they spend on luxury hotels. This paper is an attempt to explain the dark side of CRM in the luxury segment of the hotel industry with the help of the ‘gap model’ available in literature which suggests that gaps in service occur at various instances. The author explains that the gap model is a useful tool to explain the dark side partly. There is more to the dark side like privacy issues, unwillingness of customers to build a relationship with the service provider and changing tastes and preferences of the customer. Ritz- Carlton Hotel Company, L. L. C. has been chosen as a single case study and the research questions have been addressed for the industry at large using Ritz- Carlton as a classic example of superior service quality to the customers. Some simple measures to reduce the dark side have been mentioned, which addresses the third and last research question. The project would contribute as a useful guide to luxury hotels, giving them some valuable information on what the customer expectations are and if they are duly met then service gaps shall not occur. This paper shall provide scope for luxury hotels to improve their overall service quality and strengthen their position in the industry. The relevant existing theory has been reviewed and the subject has been explored, using the ‘gap model’ (Parasuraman et al 1998) mainly. Based on the research findings and analysis, recommendation has been given to reduce the dark side at Ritz-Carlton and luxury hotels in general. Table of Contents Abstract0 Table of Contents2 Acknowledgments4 Chapter 1: Introduction5 Chapter 2: Literature Review7 2. 1 What is Customer Relationship Management? 7 2. 2Customer satisfaction, loyalty and business performance9 2. 3CRM and Service Quality13 2. 3. 1 Customer’s perception of quality:13 2. 3. 2 The Perceived Service Quality approach16 2. 3. 3 Gaps between customer expectations and perceptions:17 2. . 4 Service Guarantee24 2. 3. 5 Service Recovery26 2. 3. 6 Complaints management28 2. 4 Do all customers want a relationship with their service provider? 29 2. 5 Synopsis31 Chapter 3: CRM and Hotel Industry32 Chapter 4: Methodology and Research Design34 4. 1 Overview34 4. 2 Research objectives34 4. 3 Research design35 4. 4 Case study: An introduction36 4. 5 History of case study37 4. 6 Types of Case Study37 4. 7 Choice of cas e: Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company38 4. 8 Components of the Case Study38 4. 9 Data collection39 4. 9. 1 Documentation41 4. 9. Focus Groups41 4. 9. 3 Interviews43 4. 10 Data Analysis49 4. 11 Key issues of Data collection: Reliability and Validity50 4. 12 Synopsis51 Chapter 5: Case study52 5. 1 Ritz-Carlton: An Overview52 5. 2 Ritz-Carlton and the â€Å"Gold Standards† of Service Quality54 5. 2. 1 The Credo54 5. 2. 2Motto55 5. 2. 3 Three Steps of Service55 5. 2. 4 Service Values55 5. 2. 5 Employee Promise56 5. 3Ritz-Carlton: Current Reality57 Chapter 6: Research Findings59 6. 1 Focus groups findings59 6. 1. 1 Does the gap model explain the dark side of CRM? 59 6. 1. Is there more to the dark side of CRM than what is explained in the gap model? 61 6. 1. 3 How can the dark side of CRM be reduced? 62 6. 2 In-depth interview findings63 6. 2. 1 Customer Interviews64 6. 2. 2 Employee Interviews67 Chapter 7: Analysis of Research Findings70 7. 1 Does the gap model explain the dark side of C RM? 70 7. 1. 1 Ritz-Carlton and the ‘Gap model’70 7. 1. 2General Inference for the luxury hotel sector75 7. 2 Is there more to the dark side of CRM than what is explained in the gap model? 76 7. 2. 1 Willingness to build a relationship76 7. . 2 General Inference for the Hotel Industry79 7. 3 How can the dark side of CRM be reduced? 79 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Further research83 References85 Appendices93 Appendix 1Consent Form93 Appendix 2CRM and ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’94 Appendix 397 Appendix 4100 Appendix 5108 Acknowledgments Education is a progressive discovery of our ignorance. Will Durant (1885-1981) U. S. author and historian I would like to thank all those who helped me through the project phase of the MA Management program. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my supervisor, Prof. Dave Wastell for his enlightenment of my knowledge of CRM and the hotel industry, valuable advice and kind support throughout the process of dissertation completion Most importantly, I would like to thank my parents and sister who were always there to motivate me. I would also like to thank my close friends at Nottingham for being around to discuss my ideas and giving me emotional support when I was stressed. I would like to thank all the focus group members for giving their valuable time and thoughts to my project. I would like to thank all the customers and employees of Ritz-Carlton for sharing their valuable thoughts which helped me shape this project. Lastly, I would like to thank the academic and library staff at University of Nottingham for their support throughout this year. Chapter 1: Introduction In the mid-twentieth century, mass production techniques and mass marketing changed the competitive landscape by increasing product availability for consumers. However, the purchasing process that allowed the shopkeeper and customer to spend quality time interacting with each other was also fundamentally changed. As a result, customers lost their uniqueness becoming an â€Å"account number†. Shopkeepers lost track of their customers’ individual needs as the market became full of product and service options. Many companies today are striving to re-establish their connections to new as well as existing customers to boost long-term customer loyalty (Chen and Popovich, 2003). The world has come full circle from selling to marketing and from seller’s market to buyer’s market. The customer today has the option to buy what he thinks he should and from whom, being in his best interest. Product development, technological improvement, cost optimization and excellent service facility are very important for any organisation but their importance is only if the customer appreciates it. For example, both diamond and coal are carbon but they are priced differently due to different valuations by the customer. Therefore, any business begins and ends with the customer (Sugandhi, 2002). Thus, service organizations are shifting their focus from â€Å"transactional exchange† to â€Å"relational exchange† for developing mutually satisfying relationship with customers. Extended relationships are reported to have a significant impact on transaction cost and profitability, and customer lifetime value. Serving the customers, in true sense, is the need of the hour as the customer was, is and will remain the central focus of all organizational activities. The paper explores â€Å"The Dark Side of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the Luxury segment of the Hotel Industry† using the ‘gap model’ of Parasuraman et al (1985) and suggests generic strategies to reduce the dark side. The researcher was motivated to choose the hotel industry because of his deep rooted passion for luxury hotels. The importance of this research is that it helped the researcher familiarize himself with the use of primary with a blend of secondary research to analyze a given situation. This piece of work shall contribute to the academic community as there is not much literature available on the dark side of CRM for the luxury hotels. It shall also benefit the management of luxury hotels to understand what the customer expects in terms of service quality. The aim of this research is to highlight the dark side of CRM in the luxury segment of the hotel industry using The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company as a classic example of high service quality. The research objectives are as follows: 1. Does the gap model explain the dark side of CRM? 2. Is there more to the dark side of CRM than what is explained in the gap model? 3. How can the dark side of CRM be reduced? This paper is divided into seven chapters. Chapter one is an introduction to the paper. Chapter two provides the reader with necessary literature available on CRM. Chapter three provides information on CRM and the hotel industry. Chapter four discusses the research design including interviews and focus groups that have been used for primary research. Chapter five provides an overview of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company . Chapter six provides a summary of the research findings. Chapter seven is an analysis of the research findings addressing the research questions, one of which provides recommendations to reduce the dark side. Chapter eight is a conclusion of the paper. The following chapter provides the literature review. Chapter 2: Literature Review Modern marketers are rediscovering the ancient mantras for success in corporate world and blending them with contemporary marketing practices. Long term survival and competitive advantage can only be attained by establishing an emotional bond with the customers. A shift is taking place from marketing to anonymous masses of customers to developing and managing relationships with more or less well known or at least some identified customers (Gronroos, 1994). This section shall provide general literature on CRM and its link with customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and business performance followed by literature on CRM and service quality in details. The ‘gap model’ shall be introduced and literature on service guarantee, service recovery, and complaint management shall be provided. This would lead to the privacy issues related with CRM. 2. 1 What is Customer Relationship Management? Customer Relationship Management (CRM) â€Å"is the core business strategy that integrates internal processes and functions, and external networks, to create and deliver value to targeted customers at a profit. It is grounded on high-quality customer data and enabled by IT† (Buttle, 2004). CRM is a business strategy to identify, cultivate, and maintain long-term profitable customer relationships. It requires developing a method to select your most profitable customer relationships (or those with the most potential) and working to provide those customers with service quality that exceeds their expectations. McDonald, 2002) An organization’s survival depends largely on harmonious relationships with its stakeholders in the market. Customers provide the ‘life-blood’ to the organization in terms of competitive advantage, revenue and profits. Managing relationships with customers is imperative for all types and size of service organizations. A sound base of satis fied customers allows the organization to move on the path of growth, enhance profitability, fight out competition and carve a niche in the market place. Bennett (1996) described that CRM seeks to establish long term, committed, trusting and cooperative relationship with customers, characterized by openness, genuine concern for the delivery of high quality services, responsiveness to customer suggestions, fair dealings and willingness to sacrifice short term advantage for long term gains. Schneider and Bowen (1999) advocated that service business can retain customers and achieve profitability by building reciprocal relationships founded on safeguarding and affirming customer security, fairness and self esteem. It requires that companies view customers as people first and consumers second. Trust, commitment, ethical practices, fulfillment of promises, mutual exchange, emotional bonding, personalization and customer orientation have been reported to be the key elements in the relationship building process (Levitt,1986; Gronroos, 1994; Morgan,1994; Gummesson,1994; Bejou et al,1998 ). CRM refers to all business activities directed towards initiating, establishing, maintaining, and developing successful long-term relational exchanges (Heide, 1994; Reinartz Kumar, 2003). One of the results of CRM is the promotion of customer loyalty (Evans Laskin, 1994), which is considered to be a relational phenomenon, (Chow Holden, 1997; Jacoby Kyner, 1973; Sheth Parvatiyar, 1995; cited by Macintosh Lockshin, 1997). The benefits of customer loyalty to a provider of either services or products are numerous, and thus organizations are eager to secure as significant a loyal customer base as possible (Gefen, 2002; Reinartz Kumar, 2003; Rowley Dawes, 2000). Recent developments in Internet technology have given the Internet a new role to facilitate the link between CRM and customer loyalty (Body and Limayem, 2004). It is common knowledge that a dissatisfied and unhappy customer will share his unfortunate experience more than a satisfied customer. It is also observed that a fraction of unhappy customers choose to complain while others simply switch their loyalty to others service providers. Loss of customer is loss of business along with the opportunity for business growth and profitability. Feedback collection from the customer is essential for the supplier to ascertain customer satisfaction and scope for improvisation (Sugandhi, 2002). The fundamental reason for companies aspiring to build relationships with customers is economic. For survival in the global market, focusing on the customer is becoming a key factor for companies big and small. Establishing and managing a good customer relationship is a strategic endeavor. Having a CRM software installed does not ensure a successful customer relationship. For this to happen business processes and company culture have to be redesigned to focus on the customer. CRM software can be only a tool to implement a customer strategy. It is known that it takes up to five times more money to acquire a new customer than to get an existing customer to make a new purchase. Improving customer retention rates increases the size of the customer base. Thus, customer retention is essential. (Baumeister, unknown). 2 Customer satisfaction, loyalty and business performance The rationale for CRM is that it improves business performance by enhancing customer satisfaction and driving up customer loyalty (see figure 4). There is a compelling logic to the model, which has been dubbed the ‘satisfaction-profit chain’ (Anderson and Mittal, 2000). Satisfaction increases because customer insight allows companies to understand their customers better, and create improved customer value propositions. As customer satisfaction rises, so does customer repurchase intention (Anderson, 1994). This in turn influences actual purchasing behaviour, which has a significant impact on business performance. [pic] Figure 4: Customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and business performance (Buttle, 2004) Customer satisfaction has been the subject of considerable research and has been defined and measured in various ways (Oliver, 1997). Customer satisfaction may be defined as the customer’s fulfillment response to a consumption experience, or some part of it. Customer satisfaction I a pleasurable fulfillment response while dissatisfaction is an unpleasurable one (Buttle, 2004). Satisfaction and dissatisfaction are two ends of a continuum, where the location is defined by a comparison between expectations and outcome. Customers would be satisfied if the outcome of the service meets expectations. When the service quality exceeds the expectations, the service provider has won a delighted customer. Dissatisfaction will occur when the perceived overall service quality does not meet expectations (Looy, Gemmel Dierdonck, 2003). Sometimes customer’s expectations are met, yet the customer is not satisfied. This occurs when the expectations are low (Buttle, 2005). For example, the customer expects the flight to be late and it gets late. Customer satisfaction is considered to be one of the most important outcomes of all marketing activities in a market-oriented firm. The obvious need for atisfying the firm’s customer is to expand the business, to gain a higher market share, and to acquire repeat and referral business, all of which lead to improved profitability (Barsky, 1992). Studies conducted by Cronin and Taylor (1992) in service sectors such as: banking, pest control, dry cleaning, and fast food; found that customer satisfaction has a significant effect on purchase intentions in all four sectors. Similarly, in the health-care sector, McAlexander et al. (1994) found that patient satisfaction and service quality have a significant effect on future purchase intentions. Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000) Customer loyalty can be defines as â€Å"customer behavior characterized by a positive buying pattern during an extended period (measured by means of repeat purchase, frequency of purchase, wallet share or other indicators) and driven by a positive attitude towards the company and its products or services† (Looy, Gemmel Dierdonck, 2003). Practitioners and researchers have not clearly identified a theoretical framework, identifying factors that could lead to the development of customer loyalty (Gremler and Brown, 1997). However, there is a consensus amongst practitioners and academics that customer satisfaction and service quality are prerequisites of loyalty (Gremler and Brown, 1997; Cronin and Taylor, 1992). Those technical, economical and psychological factors that influence customers to switch suppliers are considered to be additional prerequisites of loyalty (Selnes, 1993; Gremler and Brown, 1997). Recent studies also indicate that the firm’s image may influence customer enthusiasm: value, delight, and loyalty (Bhote, 1996). (Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000) Loyalty behaviors, including relationship continuance, increased scale or scope of relationship, and recommendation (word of mouth advertising) result from customers’ beliefs that the quantity of value received from one supplier is greater than that available from other suppliers. Loyalty, in one or more of the forms noted above, creates increased profit through enhanced revenues, reduced costs to acquire customers, lower customer-price sensitivity, and decreased costs to serve customers familiar with a firm’s service delivery system (Reicheld and Sasser, 1990). Yi’s â€Å"Critical review of customer satisfaction† (1990) concludes, â€Å"Many studies found that customer satisfaction influences purchase intentions as well as post-purchase attitude† (p. 104). Customer loyalty can be viewed in two distinct ways (Jacoby and Kyner, 1973). The first views loyalty as an attitude. Different feelings create an individual’s overall attachment to a product, service, or organization (see Fornier, 1994). These feelings define the individual’s (purely cognitive) degree of loyalty. The second view of loyalty is behavioural. Examples of loyalty behaviour include continuing to purchase services from the same supplier, increasing the scale and or scope of a relationship, or the act of recommendation (Yi, 1990). The behavioural view of loyalty is similar to loyalty as defined in the service management literature. In brief, there are two dimensions to customer loyalty: behavioural and attitudinal (Julander et al. , 1997). The behaviour dimension refers to a customer’s behaviour on repeat purchases, indicating a preference for a brand or a service over time (Bowen and Shoemaker, 1998). Attitudinal dimensions, on the other hand, refer to a customer’s intention to repurchase and recommend, which are good indicators of a loyal customer (Getty and Thompson, 1994). Moreover, a customer who has the intention to repurchase and recommend is very likely to remain with the company. (Kandampully Suhartanto, 2000 and Hallowell, 1996) Customer attitude being difficult to measure, for financial and practical purposes, customer retention is widely used as an indicator of customer loyalty. Researchers have combined both views into comprehensive models of customer loyalty. Dick and Basu (1994) came up with a two-dimensional model of customer loyalty identifying four forms of loyalty according to relative attitudinal strength and repeat purchase behavior. The true loyal are those who have high levels of repeat purchase behavior and a strong relative attitude. Spuriously loyal customers tend to be more motivated by impulse, convenience and habit i. e. if the conditions are right. Latent loyalty applies to those customers who are loyal simply because they have no other choice. Lastly, there will always be some customers who shall not be loyal to any particular brand. 2. CRM and Service Quality Service quality is essential for an organization’s survival and growth. Interest in service quality emerged in 1970s. Ever since, the topic has attracted substantial attention among researchers and practitioners (Gronroos, 2001). Service quality is a form of attitude representing a long-run, overall, evaluation, which is different from customer satisfaction, a more short term, transaction specific judgment. The level of customer satisfaction is a result of the customer’s comparison of the service quality expected in a given service encounter with perceived service quality. This implies that satisfaction assessments require customer experiences while quality does not (Caruana, Money and Berthon, 2000). 2. 3. 1 Customer’s perception of quality: Quality of a particular service is whatever the customer perceives it to be. Service quality as perceived by the customer may differ from the quality of the service actually delivered. Services are subjectively experienced processes where production and consumption activities take place simultaneously. Interactions, including a series of moments of truth between the customer and the service provider occur. Such buyer-seller interactions or service encounters have a critical impact on the perceived service. The Nordic Model, originated by Christian Gronroos and developed by others, adopts a disconfirmation of expectations approach. This claims that customers have certain expectations of service performance with which they compare their actual experience. If the expectations are met, this is confirmation; if they are over performed, this is positive disconfirmation; if they are underperformed this is negative disconfirmation. According to Gronroos (1984), the quality of service as perceived by customers has two dimensions; a technical or outcome dimension and a functional or process-related dimension. What customers receive in their interaction with a firm is clearly important to them and their quality evaluation. This is one quality dimension, the Technical Quality of the outcome of the service production process. However, as there are numerous interactions between the service provider and customers, including various series of moments of truth, the technical quality dimension will not count for the total quality which the customer perceives he has received. The customer will also be influenced by the way in which technical qualitys include the accessibility of ATM, a website, appearance and behavior of waiting staff, how service employees perform their task, what they say and how they do it. Interestingly, other customers simultaneously consuming the same or similar services may influence the way in which customers will perceive a service. Thus, the consumer is also influenced by how he receives the service and how he experiences the simultaneous production and consumption process. This is the second quality dimension, the Functional Quality of the process, closely related to how the moments of truth of the service encounters themselves and are taken care of and how the service provider functions. Illustrated in figure 1, there are the two basic quality dimensions, namely, What the customer receives and How the customer receives it; the technical result or outcome of the process (technical quality) and the functional dimension of the process (functional quality. An organization’s image is an important variable that positively or negatively influences marketing activities. Image is considered to have the ability to influence customers’ perception of the goods and services offered (Zeithaml and Bitner, 1996). Thus, image will have an impact on customers’ buying behaviour. Image is considered to influence customers’ minds through the combined effects of advertising, public relations, physical image, word-of-mouth, and their actual experiences with the goods and services (Normann, 1991). Similarly, Gronroos (1983), using numerous researches on service organizations, found that service quality was the single most important determinant of image. Thus, a customer’s experience with the products and services is considered to be the most important factor that influences his mind in regard to image. For instance, if the service provider shares a positive or favorable image in the minds of the customers, minor mistakes will probably be overlooked or forgiven. However, if the image is negative, the impact of any mistake will often be considerably greater than it otherwise would be. This entire combination shall lead to total quality. [pic]Figure 1: Two service quality dimensions (Gronroos, 2001) 2. 3. 2 The Perceived Service Quality approach Gronroos (1982) introduced a service oriented approach to quality with the concept of Perceived Service Quality and the model of Total Perceived Service Quality. This approach is based on research into consumer behavior and the effects of expectations concerning goods performance on post-consumption evaluations. In previous sections, the two basic quality dimensions (the what and the how) in the minds of the customers has been discussed. However, the quality perception process is more complicated. It is not the experiences of the quality dimensions alone that determine whether quality is perceived as good, neutral or bad. Figure 2 illustrates how quality experiences are connected to traditional marketing activities resulting in a Perceived Service Quality. Good perceived quality is obtained when the experienced quality meets the expectations of the customers i. e. the expected quality. If expectations are unrealistic, the total perceived quality will be low, irrespective of the experienced quality measured in an objective way being good. As illustrated in figure 2, the expected quality is a function of factors, namely, marketing communication, word of mouth, company/local image, price, customer needs and values. Marketing communication includes advertising, direct mail, sales promotion, websites, internet communication and sales campaigns. These are directly under the control of the company unlike the image and word of mouth factors which are indirectly controlled by the company. Image of the company plays a central role in customer perception of service quality. Thus, it is imperative that image be properly managed. External impact on these factors could possibly occur, but they are a basically a function of the previous performance of the firm, supported by for instance advertising. Lastly, the needs of the customers as well as the values that determine the choice of customers also impact on their expectations. Thus, the level of total perceived quality is not determined simply by the level of technical and functional quality dimensions, but rather by the gap between the expected and experienced quality. [pic] Figure 2: Total Perceived Quality (Gronroos, 2001) 2. 3. 3 Gaps between customer expectations and perceptions: There exists a gap between expected service quality and perceived service quality. In an attempt to explain such gap, Parasuraman et al (1985), came up with a ‘gap model’ which is intended to be used for analyzing sources of quality problems and help managers understand how service quality can be improved. The model is illustrated in figure 3. Figure 3: The Gaps Model (Source: Parasuraman et al, 1988) Firstly, the model demonstrates how service emerges. The upper portion of the model includes phenomena related to customers, while the lower portion includes phenomena related to the service provider. The expected service is a function of the customer’s past experience and personal needs and of word of mouth communication. It is also influenced by the market communication activities of the firm. The service experienced, which in this model is termed as perceived service, is the outcome of a series of internal decisions and activities. Management perceptions of customer expectations guide decisions regarding service quality specifications to be followed by the company when service delivery (i. e. the execution of the service express) occurs. The customer experiences the service delivery and production process as a process-related quality component and the technical solution received by the process as an outcome-related quality component. As illustrated, marketing communication can influence the perceived service and also the expected service. This basic model demonstrates the steps that have to be considered during analyzing and planning service quality. The five discrepancies (so-called quality gaps) between the various elements of the structure are a result of inconsistencies in the quality management process. The ultimate gap (Gap 5) i. e. the gap between expected and perceived (experienced) service is a function of other gaps that possibly occurred in the process. The five gaps are discussed below: 1. The Management Perception Gap (Gap1): This gap occurs when the management perceives the quality expectations inaccurately due to inaccurate information from market research and demand analyses, inaccurately interpreted information about expectations, nonexistent demand analysis, bad or nonexistent upward information from the firm’s interface with its customers to management and numerous organizational layers which stop or change the information that may flow upward from those directly involved in customer contacts. Necessary action to open up or improve the various internal information channels has to be taken in such situations. 2. The Quality Specification Gap ( Gap 2): This gap signifies that service quality specifications are not consistent with management perceptions of quality expectations due to planning errors or insufficient planning procedures, bad management of planning, lack of clear goal-setting in the company and insufficient support for planning service quality from top management. The planning related problems vary depending on the size of the first gap. However, even if there is sufficient accurate information on customer expectations, planning of quality specifications may fail due to lack of real commitment to service quality among top management. Commitment, dedication and devotion to service quality among management as well as service providers are of highest importance and priority in closing the Quality Specification Gap. 3. The Service Delivery Gap (Gap 3): This gap means that quality specifications are not met by performance in the service production and delivery process due to specifications which are too complicated and/or too rigid, employees not agreeing with the specifications and therefore not fulfilling them, specifications not being in line with the existing corporate culture, bad management of service operations, lacking or insufficient internal marketing and technology and systems not facilitating performance according to specifications. The possible problems here are many and varied and usually the reasons for the existence of a Service Delivery Gap are complicated and so are the cures. The reason for this gap can be divided into three categories: management supervision, employee perception of specifications and rules/customer needs and wishes, and a lack of technological/operational support. Management and supervision related problems may be varied too. For instance, supervisors may not be encouraging and supportive of quality behavior or the supervisory control systems may be in conflict with good service or even with quality specifications. In an organization where control and reward systems are decided upon separately from the planning of quality specifications, which is the case often, there is inherent risk of a Service Delivery Gap occurring. Often non-essential or important activities are controlled, perhaps even rewarded; and activities that contradict quality specifications are encouraged by the control system. Control and reward systems partly determine the corporate culture, and goals and specifications that do not fit the prevailing culture tend not to be well executed. The cure here involves changes in the way managers and supervisors treat their subordinates and in the way supervisory systems control and reward performance. Since the way in which performance requirements of the specifications, on one hand and existing control and reward systems on the other hand, are in conflict with each other, an awkward situation may arise for personnel when a customer contact person realizes that a customer requires different behavior on the part of the service provider than that expected according to the company’s specifications. It must be noted that situations where the service provider is aware of the fact that the customer is not receiving what he expects and may feel that the demands and wishes of the customer are justified and perhaps could be fulfilled, however, the service provider is not allowed to perform accordingly, may ruin the motivation for quality-enhancing behavior among personnel. The skills and attitudes of personnel may cause problems if the wrong people are recruited. For instance, the firm may have employees who are unable to adjust to the specifications and systems that guide operations. Furthermore, the workload perceived by employees may be a problem. For example, there may be too much paperwork or some other administrative tasks involved, so that quality specifications cannot be fulfilled and a result of which, the service provider does not possess time to attend to customers as expected. Lastly, the technology or the systems of operating, including decision making may not be suitable to employees. The problem may be the employees, but it is quite probable that technology and operational and administrative systems have been introduced inappropriately. Perhaps the technology and systems do not support quality behavior, or they have been improperly introduced to the employees. To close the Service Delivery Gap, the problems need to be dealt with effectively and efficiently. 4. The Marketing Communication Gap (Gap 4): This gap occurs when promises given by market communication activities are not consistent with the service delivered due to market communication planning not being integrated with service operations, lacking or insufficient coordination between traditional external marketing and operations, the organization failing to perform according to specifications, whereas market communication campaigns follow these specifications and an inherent propensity to exaggerate, and, thus, promise excessively. The reasons for Marketing Communication Gap can be divided into two categories: the planning and executing of external market communication and operations and a company’s propensity to over-promise in all advertising and marketing communication. The cure in the first situation could be creating a system that coordinates planning and execution of external market communication campaigns with service operations and delivery. For instance, every major campaign could be planned in collaboration with those involved in service production and delivery for Dual goal to be achieved. First, promises in market communications become more accurate and realistic and second, a greater commitment to what is promised in external campaigns could be achieved. The second category of problems i. e. over-promising can be dealt with by improving planning of marketing communication and/or closer management supervision. 5. The Perceived Service Quality Gap (Gap 5): This gap signifies that the perceived or experienced service is not consistent with the expected service resulting in negatively confirmed (bad) quality and a quality problem, bad word of mouth, a negative impact on corporate or local image and lost business. However, this gap may also be positive, which leads either to a positively confirmed quality or over-quality. If a Perceived Service Quality Gap occurs, the reason could be any one or a combination of those discussed above or other additional reasons. Addressing these gaps could be a basis for developing service processes in which expectations and experience consistently meet and a good perceived service quality will enhance. Some of the possible strategies that could be adopted by organizations to close these quality gaps are tabulated in Table 1. Gaps |Possible strategies to close gaps | | | | |1 |Change of management (in extreme situations), otherwise normally, learn from front-line customer contact | | |staff, flatten the hierarchical structure, include expectations data in consumer records, market research| | |for improvement in the knowledge of the characteristics of service competition, etc. | | | |2 |Change in firm’s priorities, Commitment to develop service standard s wherever possible, feasibility | | |assessment of customer expectations, develop a standards documentation process, automation of processes | | |wherever possible and desirable, activities outsourced wherever competencies are lacking, development of | | |service quality goals, etc. | | | |3 |Investment in people: (recruitment, training and retention), investment in technology, redesigning | | |workflow, encourage self organized teams; improve internal communication, clear job specifications to | | |avoid ambiguity, reward service excellence, etc. | | | |4 |Brief the advertising agency of the company, external communication of what the customer can expect | | |through advertising, training employees not to over-promise, penalize employees who over-promise, | | |encourage customers to sample the service experience, excel at service recovery, encourage and manage | | |customer complaints, etc. | Buttle, 2004; Gronroos, 2001 and Looy, Gemmel Dierdonck, 2003) 2. 3. 4 Service Guarant ee An organization tries to balance its customers’ expectations with the delivered service. A service guarantee promises the customers a certain service quality and backs up such promise with a payout, making services more ‘tangible’, reducing the perceived risk of purchasing a service. â€Å"A service guarantee makes the customer a meaningful promise and specifies a payout and an invocation procedure in case the promise is not kept. Each of these elements is equally important in making a guarantee successful† (Looy, Gemmel Dierdonck, 2003) The key elements of this definition are discussed below: The Promise Through introduction of a service guarantee, an organization makes a credible promise to its customers. For example, PTT Telecom promise to connect new telephones within three working days and to fix telephone lines within a day and a half. This promise is a credible one in a European context, where shorter lead times are highly desirous by customers (Looy, Gemmel Dierdonck, 2003). In defining a promise, a company should be careful not to promise what would be expected anyway. This may negatively signal that service failures are likely to be expected. Some promises are limited in scope i. e. guarantee only less important service aspects or are highly conditional, excluding all major causes of service failure. For example, Lufthansa guarantees that its customers will make their connecting flights if there are no delays due to weather or air-traffic control problems. Ironically, these two problems cause in total 95 percent of all flight delays. Furthermore, the guarantee is applicable only if all flights including connecting flights are with Lufthansa (Lufthansa airlines, 1987). The presence of a service guarantee can support the perception of service reliability, which is one of the most critical determinants of customer satisfaction. However, sometimes a guarantee may give out a negative message, indicating that service failures may occur due to customers wondering why it is necessary to provide a guarantee. For example, Lufthansa promises its customers that their luggage will arrive with them. However, this created the perception that lost luggage is more a problem with Lufthansa than its competitors (Lufthansa airlines, 1987). The effectiveness of communicating a service guarantee also depends on the source of the message, especially if the form has a history of service problems, making it difficult for a service firm with bad service reputation to send out credible message. The Payout In a situation where promises are not kept, the customer shall receive a payout which will encourage the customer to communicate all service failures, which has a double effect: Service recovery: The customer who claims his payout is less likely to defect or spread a negative word of mouth. Hence, service recovery becomes a possibility. Service quality improvement: Each claim represents valuable information about quality errors and their possible causes, but the avoidance of future payouts functions as an incentive to all staff to participate in improvement projects. In order to achieve service recovery, the payout has to be meaningful to customers. It should not only make up for all the damage and inconvenience suffered bu t also make the customer ‘whole. ’ For example, the payout offered by the Dutch bus service organization, â€Å"Interliner,† makes their customer ‘whole’ by guaranteeing that their passengers will reach their connecting flights and buses. A refund would not adequately compensate the passenger who missed a connection. Therefore, any passenger who would have to wait for more than fifteen minutes for a connection due to delay by Interliner would be taken to his destination by taxi at Interliner’s expense (www. interliner. nl). A payout can also be too high. For example, in India atleast, Domino’s Pizza offers customers its pizza free of charge if they were not delivered within thirty minutes from ordering. The Invocation Procedure The final aspect of the service guarantee is the invocation procedure. Invocating a guarantee should be either easy or proactive. For example, supermarkets Hoogvliet (Netherlands) and Match (Belgium) promise short queues at their checkouts. If all tills are not manned and if some customer is the third one (Hoogvliet) or the fourth one (Match) in the queue, he does not have to pay (Hoogvliet) or receives a significant discount (Match). An example of unconditional satisfaction guarantee which is easy to invoke is that of Superquinn’s Goof Card System. Superquinn is the leading supermarketing chain in the Greater Dublin area. Periodically, customers who participate in the loyalty saving system called ‘Superclub’ receive a ‘Goof Card’. Each time Superquinn ‘goofs’ i. e. produces a service failure, the customer simply has to point it out to any member of staff, and he shall receive thirty bonus points worth ? 1. The guarantee offers unconditional satisfaction guarantee as customers are able to define the goof themselves, however, for further help to customers, Superquinn lists ten examples of goofs. The invocation of PTT Telecom’s guarantee for example is proactive as well. After each connection or repair, PTT Telecom makes an after-sales call to the customer trying to assess customer’s satisfaction. If there is a failure of promise, the customer is immediately informed of the payout (Looy, Gemmel Dierdonck, 2003). 2. 3. 5 Service Recovery The real test of the customer orientation of a service provider takes place when service failure has occurred. Ideally, quality should be high throughout and failures should not occur in the service processes. However, in reality employees makes mistakes, systems break down, customers in the service process may cause problem for other customers, etc. Service recovery is a strategy for managing mistakes, failures and problems in customer relationships (Gronroos, 2001). As defined by Tax and Brown (2000) (in gronroos 2001), â€Å"Service recovery is a process that identifies service failures, effectively resolves customer problems, classifies their root cause(s), and yields data that can be integrated with other measures of performance to assess and improve the service system. † Service recovery includes all actions taken by company when there has been a service failure. Services fail for different reasons- sometimes technical service fails; sometimes functional service quality (Keaveney, 1995 in Buttle, 2004). Problems caused by a service failure are two-fold; factual and emotional problems (Gronroos, 2001). In a problematic situation when service recovery is called upon, customers are often frustrated, possess high expectations and tend to have a narrower zone of tolerance that normal (Tax et all, 1998). Therefore, service recovery could be risky (Smith and Bolton, 1998) and needs to be well managed. Service recovery performance can be better if the employees are more committed to the visions, strategies and service concepts of the firm. Moreover, empowered employees can be expected to perform better in recovery situations, inclined to deal quickly and effectively with service failures (Boshoff and Allen, 2000). When companies resolve problems quickly and effectively there are positive consequences for customer satisfaction, customer retention and word-of-mouth (Tax et al, 1998). Service recovery process should be developed and exercised to maximize fairness as perceived by the customer (Ruyter and Wetzels, 2000). In addition to mistake correction, quick response and adequate compensation are considered crucial elements of service recovery (Johnston and Fern, 1999). It has been discovered that customers who have been let down, then well recovered, are more satisfied than customers who have not been let down all (Hart et al, 1990). A well managed recovery has positive impact in development of a trusting relationship between a firm and its customer and may also deepen the customer’s commitment towards the service provider (Tax et al, 1998). Service recovery is an important factor influencing perceived service quality and is a criterion which can have a positive effect on functional quality. Satisfaction with the service can be increased through good service recovery (Spreng, Harrell Mackoy, 1995). According to Patrick Mene, Director of Quality at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company â€Å"1-10-100 rule of service recovery†, what costs the firm one pound, euro or dollar to fix immediately will cost ten the next day and hundred later on (Patlow, 1993). An example of quick service recovery is an incident that took place at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. A group of four MBA students from Europe had attended a seminar at the hotel and wished to spend a few hours of leisure time at the swimming pool before leaving for the airport. When they arrived at the swimming pool around mid afternoon, they were politely told that the pool area was closing because the area was to be prepared for an evening reception and dinner. The students explained that during their stay at the hotel, that was the only time they could spend at the pool before returning to the freezing temperature of their country and they had been looking forward to this opportunity. The waiter requested them to wait while he sorted out the situation. After a short while, a supervisor arrived to inform them that the hotel unfortunately had to close the entire pool area for evening preparation. However, he added that a limousine was waiting for them outside the main entrance to take them and their luggage to Biltmore Hotel where the pool area would be at their disposal. This limousine was at the Ritz-Carlton’s expense undoubtedly. This delighted the group and their already favorable perception of the hotel was improved further. They also engaged in considerable amount of positive word-of-mouth communication (Gronroos, 2001). 2. 3. 6 Complaints management Customers complain under one or both of the conditions: their expectations being underperformed to a degree that falls outside their zone of tolerance or unfair treatment. Complaints management process should be developed to take a positive view of customer complaints. Customers who complain provide an opportunity for the service firm to identify root causes of problems as well as win back unhappy or dissatisfied customers to retain their future value (Buttle, 2005). A complaints management process should allow company to capture complaints before customers spread a negative word-of-mouth or take their business elsewhere (Buttle, 1998). Up to two-thirds of customers who are dissatisfied do not complain to the organization (Richins, 1983). However, they may complain to their social networks. Dissatisfied customers are likely to inform twice as many people about their experience than customers with a positive experience (TARP, 1995 in Buttle, 2005). According to Wilson (1991), only 4 percent of the dissatisfied customers actually complain, providing valuable feedback to the company. The remaining 96 percent choose to simply leave the business and go elsewhere. Companies choose to deal with complaints efficiently to bring about customer retention, continuous improvement in service quality and build a customers of each such benefit are mentioned below Recognition: A customer may feel more valued and important when recognized and addressed by name Personalization: For example, over time, a hotel manager may understand a customer’s particular preferences or expectations Power: For instance, some of the power asymmetries in relationships between banks and their customers may be reversed when customers feel that they have personal relationships with their bank officers and managers. Risk reduction: Risk may be in the form of performance, physical, financial, social or psychological. High levels of perceived risk are uncomfor table for many customers. A relationship has the ability to reduce, or even eliminate risk. For example, a customer may develop a relationship with a garage to reduce the perceived performance and physical risk attached to having a car serviced. The relationship provides the assurance that the job has been skillfully accomplished and the car is safe to drive. Status: For example, customers may feel that their status is enhanced by a relationship with an organization, say, the Hilton. Affiliation: people’s social needs can be met through relationships. For example, many people join particular forums or associations to be a part of a community. However, there are some customers who would be satisfied with the service quality and perhaps decide to be loyal, but not want a relationship as such with the supplier for privacy issues. It is a known fact that suppliers wish to increase their sales to customers. In order to know and analyze their customers, companies collect extensive data on their customers through various channels. One popular rather common channel is through loyalty programs and cards. Examples include Tesco loyalty cards, Hilton hhonors program, British Airways frequent flyer cards, etc. The companies provide some benefits to customers and collect data like contact name, history of purchase, money spent in the past on company’s services, etc. However, if the data is mishandled or incorrectly handled, it can destroy the trust and loyalty in the relationship. (Vargas, 2006) Privacy and data protection are key concerns of customers, who are increasingly concerned about the amount of information that organizations have about them and the uses to which information is put. In reality, most customers are unaware of the quantity of information available to companies. Some customers may wish to simply not join any loyalty programs in order to secure their privacy and prevent intrusion into personal information. 2. 5 Synopsis This section has provided available literature about CRM. The gap model explained shall be a strong basis for explaining the dark side of CRM. Privacy issues shall be given importance as well. The customers’ perception of service quality is to be given supreme priority by the hotel industry. It is important how customers perceive the service quality to be. What they receive and how they receive corresponding to their expectations helps them judge the service quality to a large extent. Chapter 3: CRM and Hotel Industry The hotel industry today has been recognized as a global industry, with producers and consumers spread around the world. The use of hotel facilities such as: room, restaurant, bar, nightclub or health club; are no longer considered a luxury. For many people these services have become an integral component of lifestyle. Moreover, in the last two decades, demand for and supply of hospitality services beyond that of the traditional services intended for travelers have escalated the growth of the hospitality industry globally, leading to intense competition in the market-place. One of the greatest challenges facing hotel organizations today is the ever-growing volume and pace of competition. Competition has had major implications for the customer, providing increased choice, greater value for money and augmented levels of service. Additionally, there is little to distinguish one hotel’s products and services from another. Thus it has become imperative for hotel organizations to gain a competitive advantage. There are two strategies most commonly used by hotel managers in order to gain a competitive advantage, which are low-cost leadership through price discounting and developing customer loyalty by providing unique benefits to customers. Hotels that attempt to improve their market share by discounting price run the serious risk of having a negative impact on the hotel’s medium- and long-term profitability. As a result, it is quality of service rather than price that has become the key to a hotel’s ability to differentiate itself from its competitors and to gain customer loyalty. Getty and Thompson (1994) studied relationships between quality of lodging, satisfaction, and the resulting effect on customers’ intentions to recommend the lodging to prospective customers. Their findings suggest that customers’ intentions to recommend are a function of their perception of both their satisfaction and service quality with the lodging experience. However, satisfying customers alone is not enough, since there is no guarantee that satisfied customers will return to purchase. It is now becoming apparent that customer loyalty is significantly more important than customer satisfaction for success. Numerous examples illustrate that it is important that the hotel industry develop customer loyalty, as opposed to relying solely on pricing strategies. Researchers have shown that a 5 per cent increase in customer loyalty can produce a profit increase of 25 per cent to 85 per cent (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). Hence a dedicated focus on customer loyalty is likely to become a necessary prerequisite for the future survival of hotel organizations. In the hotel industry, Customer relationship management (CRM) is more than the practice of collecting guest-centric data. It’s the art of using historical, personal, and experiential information to personalize a guest’s stay while generating incremental revenue opportunities. For instance, knowing a traveler is an avid sports fan creates the opportunity to market tickets to a game; knowing a guest had a less-than-memorable experience in the hotel restaurant gives you a chance to win them back the next time they are in town. With the latest offerings in CRM, hoteliers can develop comprehensive guest profiles from reservation information and demonstrate to guests that the property is in touch with their needs, drive guest-centric data down to the transaction level, allowing employees and guest-facing technology to deliver greater value to the guest, generate a realistic profile on the spending and stay patterns of guests, allowing the property to create guest-centric marketing for increased loyalty and spending, etc. Microsoft, 2006). To summarize, the shift in the sales and marketing landscape requires the hotel companies to be as advanced as technology will allow in managing their customer relationships. â€Å"There will be a sea change from management of customer data to management of customer relationships†. Hotel companies must carefully consider how they store, track, analyze and act upon every aspect of their relationships with their guests and booking customers. † The emphasis should be on using the data intelligently to predict consumer behavior, such as loyalty and usage patterns, and to use the customer knowledge to anticipate the customer needs or problems (EURHOTEC, 2000). Chapter 4: Methodology and Research Design 4. 1 Overview Methodology can be defined as (i) â€Å"a body of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline†, (ii) â€Å"a particular procedure or set of procedures or (iii) â€Å"the analysis of the principles or procedures of inquiry in a particular field†, the common idea being the collection, the comparative study, and the critique of the individual methods that are used in a given discipline or field of inquiry (Wikipedia, 2006). This chapter of the paper provides an overview of the research design (i. e. the case study) used for research about the hotel industry. The objectives of the research have been mentioned followed by a definition of research design and the qualitative approach of the case study. The researcher then presents his justification for choosing Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company as his case example leading to methods of data collection for the research conducted along with each method’s strengths and weaknesses. This chapter concludes with discussion on data analysis and the reliability and validity issues with data collection 4. 2 Research objectives A review of the present literature is a stepping stone in compiling the objectives behind the research. In this regard, the literature review enabled an understanding of how can the hotel industry improve its business performance through service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The service quality is provided by hotels to ultimately satisfy the customers and the hotel managers must know what their customer wants rather than blindly assuming. Even though the service quality may be satisfactory, there may be a gap between the expected service quality by the customer and their experienced service quality. The hotel management has to strive to bridge these gaps to improve service quality and customer satisfaction and attempt to bring about customer loyalty which in turn would impact business performance. The literature review also highlighted that there is possibly a ‘dark side of CRM’ which refers to privacy issues of the customer and doubts about customers willing to build relationships in the long run. There is also not ample literature available on the customer’s perspective i. e. how he customer feels about what the hotel provides him with, if the hotel actually provides them with what they promise to deliver, if the customers value all they receive and how much, the privacy issues and possibly customers’ reaction to certain experiences during their stay, just to name a few not so explored sides of CRM. Inspired by the above, the research objectives are as follows: 1. Does the gap model explain the dark side of CRM? 2. Is there more to the dark side of C RM than what is explained in the gap model? 3. How can the dark side of CRM be reduced? . 3 Research design A research design can be explained as the â€Å"detailed blueprint used to guide a research study toward its objectives† (Aaker, Kumar and Day, 2003). Research design provides the â€Å"glue that holds the research project together. A design is used to structure the research, to show how all of the major parts of the research project the samples or groups, measures, treatments or programs, and methods of assignment work together to try to address the central research questions† (Social research methods, 2006) The process of designing a research study requires some interrelated decisions to be made. The most significant decision is the choice of research approach which determines how the information will be obtained. The choice of research approach is dependant on the nature of the research to be conducted. Research approaches can be categorized into one of the three general categories of research i. e. exploratory, descriptive and casual (Aaker, Kumar and Day, 2003). Exploratory research: This type of research is undertaken when one is seeking insight into the general nature of a problem area, the possible decision alternatives and relevant variable that are to be considered. The research methods are loosely defined, highly flexible, unstructured and qualitative. The researcher begins without firm preconceptions as to what will be the outcome. The absence of structure allows a thorough pursuit of ideas and clues about the problem situation. Such research is conducted because a problem has not been clearly defined. Explor