The marketing literature affirms the value of a customer orientation to organizational performance, but it is relatively silent on the implementation of this orientation. This research reports the results of a paired-comparison ethnographic study of the dynamics of implementing a customer orientation in a major public school district. Changes at a progressing site are compared with those at a struggling site. The study provides answers to the question of how an organization adopts a customer orientation by refining understanding of the roles of leadership, interfunctional coordination, and the collection and dissemination of customer-focused data in the transformation process.
Previous research has provided strong evidence for the benefits of embracing a market orientation, an organizational focus highlighting the needs of customers, and the creation of customer value. This study extends this focus on the customer to the individual worker level. A construct, customer mind-set (CMS), is developed that reflects the extent to which an individual employee believes that understanding and satisfying customers, whether internal or external to the organization, is central to the proper execution of his or her job. In this exploratory study, the authors develop a parsimonious scale for measuring CMS. Relationships between CMS and significant organizational variables are examined to establish CMS’s validity and provide some tentative insights into its value to researchers and practitioners. The authors believe the CMS construct will allow for operational-level analysis of the extent to which a customer orientation is embraced throughout an organization, permitting managers to implement targeted improvement strategies.
The authors developed and empirically tested a model reflecting a system of interrelations among patient loyalty, trust, and satisfaction as they are related to patients' intentions to stay with a primary care physician (PCP) and recommend the doctor to other people. They used a structural equation modeling approach. The fit statistics indicate a well-fitting model: root mean square error of approximation = .022, goodness-of-fit index = .99, adjusted goodness-of-fit index = .96, and comparative fit index = 1.00. The authors found that patient trust and good interpersonal relationships with the PCP are major predictors of patient satisfaction and loyalty to the physician. Patients need to trust the PCP to be satisfied and loyal to the physician. The authors also found that patient trust, satisfaction, and loyalty are strong and significant predictors of patients' intentions to stay with the doctor and to recommend the PCP to others.
In developing on-going customer relationships required in a global business world, twenty-first-century businesses are demanding greater numbers of well-trained, entry-level sales representatives while at the same time expecting higher levels of professionalism and skill from these salespeople. With increased focus on professional selling, we address the question: has the delivery of sales education at universities evolved in response to current demands? This research assesses the current state of sales education in domestic and international universities by surveying department chairs and sales faculty to determine what courses are being taught, what pedagogical techniques are being used, and what are the concerns facing departments in the delivery of sales education. In addition, we contrast the curriculum of schools that offer a dedicated sales program with those that have a general business or marketing program. We also focus attention on the differences and similarities of U.S. and global universities' sales offerings. Our findings provide benchmarks for schools that are developing or enhancing their sales courses to meet the demand from businesses. dawn r. deeter-schmelz (Ph.D., University of South Florida), O'Bleness Professor of Marketing, Ohio University, deeter-s@ ohio.edu.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.