OCTOBER 19-20, 2012 - YMCA University of Science & Technology

Proceedings of the National Conference on
Trends and Advances in Mechanical Engineering,
YMCA University of Science & Technology, Faridabad, Haryana, Oct 19-20, 2012
Figure -1 Classification of service quality literature
Organization service quality
Within the last few years researcher and practitioners have increasingly focused their attention on customer
service and how to improve the quality of external service, encounters between the contact employee and
external customer. Bitner et al., 1990 was interested in the physical surrounding that improve service
encounters, while Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988, 1991) focused on minimization of organization gaps that
effect customer satisfaction. When service quality levels are high, benefits are found to include greater
profitability, cost saving and increased market share (Thompron et al., 1985). Davis (1992) asserted that sound
service quality strategy results in cost saving and financial gain over the long term.
The importance of the internal environment and an employee role in delivering product and service quality to
external customers, however in a relatively new idea Heskett et al. (1994) asserted importance of internal service
quality to overall customer satisfaction by examining what they termed the “service – profit chain”. Based on
extensive care studies, they suggested that profit and growth resulted from customer loyalty, which is an
outcome of customer satisfaction service encounters play a vital role in external customer satisfaction and thus to
the firm’s overall success. Negal and Cilliers (1990) defined the internal customer as anyone who receives
product or services by others in the organization. For measuring service quality in the manufacturing side
researchers preferred to explored quality management practices and their implications.
Distributor service quality
Rapid global changes in the environments of industrial markets make distributor commitment more important to
suppliers and in some ways more difficult to achieve (Goodman and Dion, 2001). Ma and Deng (2002) also
advocated that the distribution part plays a crucial role in the management of a supply chain, so particularly
separated it from general supply chain and defined it as distribution chain.
Erengue et al. (1999) advocated for integrated production/distribution planning for effective supply chain
functioning. Numerous researchers advocated for manufacturer distributor partnership and alliances. Li and Lee
(1994) find that in competition between two equal firms, the one furnishing better service enjoys a larger
market share and a price premium. A higher-quality service is thus presumed to lead to greater sales revenue.
Consumers expect the whole package, which include distribution service (availability of stock, reliable delivery),
Kumar and Sharma (1992).
Retailer service quality
Technical service quality is an important contributor to product quality and value perceptions. Sales person’s
knowledge has a significant effect on perception of product quality and the value attached to a specific product.
Sweeney et al (1997) discussed that service quality at the point of purchase influences consumer’s perceptions of
value and willingness to buy. A good service first time and every time built up the confidence of customer in the
firm specially retailer firm.
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