Business
Research Paper: Article Reviews
Article reviews
Introduction:
For this section of research, an article review will be carried out on two major research themes causing the problem under analysis. The two selected themes are customer satisfaction and emiritisation. Under each theme, researcher selected and summarized five articles. In total ten summaries were completed. The summaries provide an insight into knowledge relating to the problem under research.
Theme 1: The impact of customer satisfaction
Introduction
This theme has been selected because customer satisfaction plays a major role in the business. If customers are not satisfied with the offerings of the business, they can choose not to bring their business here and the impact will be felt by the business. Problems with customer satisfaction are therefore very significant to the business.
Summary 1: Achieving customer satisfaction through integrated products and services
ENOC is facing financial problems because of the world financial crisis and falling oil prices. Being an oil marketer, the company has faced problems because of customers not being able to buy many of their products because of the world economic crisis. The falling oil prices also mean that the margins for the company have fallen significantly. Other products sold by ENOC at its service stations have not been able to compensate for these shortfalls. This article looks at increasing customer satisfaction using integrated products and services. Many companies fail to exploit for additional income using integrated products and services. These products and services go with the initial purchase made form the company. When exploited properly, they give additional value to the customer for the original products or services sought. Customers will be willing to pay for these additional services because of the additional value they will get. This gives the company an opportunity to earn additional revenue. Satisfied customers are also likely to become loyal to the brand, which will guarantee sales in the long term. Integrated products and services can therefore be used to increase revenue for the company, which can help the company to overcome its financial difficulties.
Summary 2: Market share Customer satisfaction relationship
ENOC is a company that is tasked with exporting petroleum products from the UAE. As a result, its marketing deals in four major categories of products. The company deals with aviation fuel, LPG and other natural gases, lubricants and bulk industrial products such as diesel and fuel oil. As a result, the company deals with many customers and has a large market share. In neighboring Saudi Arabia, the company works with vendors who sell the company’s products. This article shows that there is a negative relationship between market share and customer satisfaction. This is primarily based on the premises that once a company has a large market share, it is dealing with numerous individual customers. The company therefore has to come up with a general product that caters for all the customers. This means that the general product will cater for the specific needs of each individual. This lack of specialized products or each customer leads to less customer satisfaction. The company therefore needs to come up with strategies that help it differentiate its products to create virtual market segments that will allow it to offer specialized products to its clients that help to increase customer satisfaction.
Summary 3: The effect for requests for positive evaluation on customer satisfaction ratings
Increasing customer satisfaction has been identified as one way in which ENOC can improve its financial performance. Increasing customer satisfaction will lead to customers being willing to spend more with the company. However, many companies have usually opted to reward (or punish) employees based on the reports given by customers on customer satisfaction. An employee will usually be rewarded if a customer expresses that they were satisfied with their services while an employee can be punished if the report from a customer is negative. Furthermore, because of these measurements and consequences, employees are likely to ask the customer directly for positive feedback. For example, an employee can ask a customer to report that they were satisfied with the service offered. This usually has an effect on the way the customer will view the service offered and how they view the company as a whole. Usually, a customer will report positively if they are satisfied with the service offered. However, putting the customer under pressure to report positively is likely to make the customer unsatisfied. They can opt not to seek the service from the company because of this. The company needs to evaluate how it uses customer satisfaction ratings so as not to pressure employees into pressuring customers for positive feedback.
Summary 4: Creating a new standard of service
Every company has its customers. These people provide the market for the goods or services provided by the company. The aim of any company should therefore be to deliver value to its customers. However, in the global marketplace, there are many companies offering similar products and therefore targeting the same markets or customers. Customer satisfaction is what will make a company stand out over its competitors making it attract more customers and therefore earn higher revenues. Currently in the business world, it is vital for the company to understand the factors that contribute towards customer satisfaction. For example, in the hotel industry, friendly and helpful staff plays a major role in customer satisfaction. In ENOC’s industry, it is paramount that the right products are delivered in a timely manner. The company will therefore need to understand the factors that contribute to customer satisfaction in its industry. During training of employees, the company will focus on these factors to ensure that employees will be able to interact with its customers in the proper way and deliver its products in the required manner. This will create customer satisfaction. Satisfied customers are more likely to conduct more business with the company.
Summary 5: Towards a better measurement of customer experience
Increasing customer satisfaction has been identified as one of the ways in which the company can solve its existing financial difficulties. Increasing customer satisfaction will lead to customers being willing to doing more business with the company and also attract new customers for the business. However, it is important to understand customer experience. This article looks at various ways of understanding customer experience and therefore customer satisfaction. It is important to differentiate between good quality products and services with customer experience. Good quality products and services contribute a great part towards customer satisfaction but they are only part of the experience. Many things that affect customer satisfaction are not directly related to the product itself. For example, a restaurant can offer the best dishes in a ton. However, if its waiters are unfriendly, people will avoid this restaurant and opt for other restaurants with friendlier waiters although their food might not be the best. This is an example that shows the difference between quality and experience. Both quality and experience will play a part towards customer satisfaction. It is therefore important for the company to understand how to measure customer experience in order to increase customer satisfaction. This will help the company achieve its goal to using customer satisfaction to increase revenues.
Conclusion
This theme provides an insight into how the company can use different aspects of customer satisfaction towards solving its problem identified as financial hardships as a result of the global financial crisis and falling oil prices. Customer satisfaction will usually not cost the company much but it will give the company a competitive edge in the market.
Theme 2: The impact of Emiratisation
Introduction
Emiratisation is a program by the UAE government to ensure employment for its citizens in skilled and professional positions in the country rather than opting for expatriates. This program has a significant impact on business in the country because citizens are being given responsibilities that are new. It is therefore important to have strategic business plans that ensure the long-term growth of the business rather than concentrating on the short term impacts of Emiratisation.
Summary 1: Emiratisation, determining the factors that influence the recruiting decisions of employers
ENOC is a major UAE company that employs over 3500 individuals. The company is facing financial difficulties because of the global financial crisis and falling oil prices. Labor is usually one of the biggest costs that a company faces. When a company is in financial trouble, one of the first and most common strategies used to reduce costs is to streamline the workforce. Emiratisation is a government strategy that aims at providing skilled and professional employment to citizens of the UAE in positions within the company that would have previously been filled by foreigners. This article looks at factors that an employer considers before hiring an employee. These are social, cultural, economic, regulatory, motivational, and educational. These are very important factors when an employer is considering an employee to hire. For instance, foreigners in skilled and professional positions are more likely to attract higher wages as compared to locals. If the company wants to reduce its costs, it can opt to replace the highly paid foreigners with cheaper locals. However, this article discovers that economic and educational factors are not usually the major factors employers consider. On the contrary, employers prefer employees who are more motivated to do the job.
Summary 2: The impact of Emiratisation on job description issues
ENOC is a company operating in the UAE acting as a marketer for oil products. The UAE government has the Emiratisation program that aims to provide employment for skilled and professional citizens in companies operating in the country. However, Emiratisation has major issues concerning job description. A job description is a statement declaring the duties and responsibilities of an employee in an organization. The job description allows an employee to know what is expected of them in the role they play within the organization. A clear job description is therefore very important for individual employees and for the organization as a whole in order to achieve the objectives of the organization. The Emiratisation program requires companies operating within the company to hire professionals and skilled workers from among the citizens rather than hiring foreigners. However, this has led to major problems for organizations. They are forced to hire people who fit the criteria of being citizens. However, their education does not fit in the job description. This results in a situation where unqualified people hold critical positions in the organization resulting in losses for the company. It is therefore important for ENOC to consider the impact of Emiratisation on its job descriptions and eventual financial performance.
Summary 3: Controversies over labor naturalization policies and its dilemmas; 40 years of Emiratisation in the UAE
The governments of the UAE have advocated for Emiratisation for over four decades. However, the issues that forced the government into that decision remain unsolved decades later. The UAE are citizen minority states. This means that citizens of the country make up a lower proportion of the population. This is because foreigners provide most of the labor in the country. The economies of the UAE depended on oil until recently when diversification has started. The education system has changed and more money invested in trying to make the citizens competitive in the markets. However, despite Emiratisation, there are still over 30000 unemployed citizens despite there being over 4 million foreign workers. Being a local company, ENOC is affected by Emiratisation and the factors that contribute to citizens not being employable. First, citizens do not prefer to work in labor-intensive industries. However, most of the work available is still labor intensive. Secondly, local workers are not competitive in the market. They lack motivation, education, skill and experience when compared to foreigners. A company must be willing to take up this cost when hiring local employees. Thirdly, locals prefer government jobs because of availability of benefits. The private sector is seen as more demanding and most work is based on performance contracts. A company like ENOC trying to recover from financial difficulties will therefore be affected by Emiratisation.
Summary 4: Emiratisation from policy to implementation
Emiratisation is a positive program that aims to provide skilled and professional employment to the citizens of the UAE. Private and public companies operating within the UAE are affected by this policy. However, major mistakes have been made in the implementation of this policy. Many companies have suffered because of just effecting the changes without having a strategic plan for long term sustainability. There are a number of factors that must be considered before an employee is hired. First, they should have the required skills and education to fit the job description. Many companies will also look at the motivation of the individual to perform the tasks they will be assigned. However, many locals are not motivated enough to perform labor-intensive duties. There is also a preference for government jobs over private jobs because of benefits such as job security and working hours. On the contrary, many private companies will hire employees based on performance contracts. The contract stipulates target that an employee should meet within a certain period. Hiring motivated employees will lead to the company not being able to meet its targets. ENOC should try to establish whether the Emiratisation policy has contributed to it not being able to meet its targets. Despite falling oil prices and the global financial crisis, unmotivated employees could also have resulted in the company’s financial difficulties.
Summary 5: Strategy, policy and strategy in naturalization of human capital; project Emiratisation
ENOC is a UAE based company that is tasked with marketing oil products. The global financial crisis has resulted in the company facing financial shortfalls. This problem has been further complicated by the falling oil prices in the global market. Despite these major problems, the company is also faced with the government policy of Emiratisation. However, Emiratisation has faced major problems since its inception. It is important to note that since it is a citizen minority country, the UAE has major problems in providing employment for its citizens despite relying on foreigners for most of its labor. The demand by the government for companies such as ENOC operating within the emirates to give priority to locals in hiring further adds pressure to the current situation of the country. In order to get out of the current problem, the company will need the best-qualified and motivated people working towards the objective. However, locals are usually not well educated and lack the motivation required for the difficult tasks. The company forced to hire locals in certain positions might therefore lead to the company facing greater financial difficulties as it will not be able to determine the cause of problems and effect the changes necessary to reverse the situation.
Conclusion
Emiratisation is an affirmative policy that is meant to provide employment for the minority locals over foreigners. However, it has faced problems ever since its inception. The company affected by Emiratisation will have a significant impact on trying to overcome its current problems.
References:
Alabdelkarim, A. O., Muftah, M. K., & Hodgson, S. (2014). The Impact of Emiratisation on Job Description Issues. Middle East Journal of Business, 9(2).
Forstenlechner, I., Madi, M. T., Selim, H. M., & Rutledge, E. J. (2012). Emiratisation: determining the factors that influence the recruitment decisions of employers in the UAE. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(2), 406-421.
Jones, M. A., Taylor, V. A., & Reynolds, K. E. (2014). The effect of requests for positive evaluations on customer satisfaction ratings. Psychology & Marketing, 31(3), 161-170.
Klaus, P., & Maklan, S. (2013). Towards a better measure of customer experience.
Koji, H. (2011). Controversies over Labour Naturalisation Policy and its Dilemmas: 40 Years of Emiratisation in the United Arab Emirates. Kyoto Bulletin of Islamic Area Studies, 4(1-2).
Modarress, B., Ansari, A., & Lockwood, D. L. (2013). Emiratisation: from policy to implementation. International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, 13(2-3), 188-205.
N. Torres, E., & Kline, S. (2013). From customer satisfaction to customer delight: Creating a new standard of service for the hotel industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 25(5), 642-659.
Raja, J. Z., Bourne, D., Goffin, K., Çakkol, M., & Martinez, V. (2013). Achieving customer satisfaction through integrated products and services: An exploratory study. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 30(6), 1128-1144.
Randeree, K. (2009). Strategy, policy and practice in the nationalisation of human capital:'project emiratisation'. Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 17(1), 71-87.
Rego, L. L., Morgan, N. A., & Fornell, C. (2013). Reexamining the market share-customer satisfaction relationship. Journal of Marketing, 77(5), 1-20.
