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Customer Retention (customer + retention)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	75%

Selected Abstracts

Strategies for preventing defection based on the mean time to defection and their implementations on a self-organizing map

EXPERT SYSTEMS, Issue 5 2005
Young Ae Kim
Abstract: Customer retention is a critical issue for the survival of any business in today's competitive marketplace. In this paper, we propose a dynamic procedure utilizing self-organizing maps and a Markov process for detecting and preventing customer defection that uses data of past and current customer behavior. The basic concept originates from empirical observations that identified that a customer has a tendency to change behavior (i.e. trim-out usage volumes) before eventual withdrawal and defection. Our explanatory model predicts when potential defectors are likely to withdraw. Two strategies are suggested to respond to the question of where to lead potential defectors for the next stage, based on anticipating when the potential defector will leave. Our model predicts potential defectors with little deterioration of prediction accuracy compared with that of the multilayer perceptron neural network and decision trees. Moreover, it performs reasonably well in a controlled experiment using an online game. [source]

A new direction in M&A integration: How companies find solutions to value destruction in people-based activity

GLOBAL BUSINESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE, Issue 4 2009
Ben de Haldevang
We've all heard merger-and-acquisition (M&A) horror stories in which ignoring the complex human element in integration led to problems that leached away some,or much,of the deal's hoped-for value. The success stories presented here point to effective strategies for smoothly merging organizations without compromising productivity, talent and customer retention, innovation, and other sources of value creation. The author argues that integration planning and management, which too often focus narrowly on process, should also explicitly address the people-intensive aspects of planning, speed, communication, innovation, culture, and HR issues. For each of these areas, he presents actual cases in which preparation or intervention kept a postdeal integration on track and shares specific solutions and tools that can be adapted to other M&As. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]

End-user access to multiple sources: incorporating knowledge discovery into knowledge management

INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS IN ACCOUNTING, FINANCE & MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2002
Katharina Morik
The End-User Access to Multiple Sources,Eams system,integrates given information sources into a knowledge management system. It relates the world of documents with the database world using an ontology. The focus of developing the Eams system is on the acquisition and maintenance of knowledge. Hence, in both worlds, machine learning is applied. In the document world, a learning search engine adapts to user behaviour by analysing the click-through-data. This eases the personalization of selecting appropriate documents for users and does not require further maintenance. In the database world, knowledge discovery in databases (KDD) bridges the gap between the ,ne granularity of relational databases and the actual information needs of users. KDD extracts knowledge from data and, therefore, allows the knowledge management system to make good use of already existing company data,without further acquisition or maintenance. A graphical user interface provides users with a uniform access to document collections on the Internet (Intranet) as well as to relational databases. Since the ontology generates the items in the user interface, a change in the ontology automatically changes the user interface without further efforts. The Eams system has been applied to customer relationship management in the insurance domain. Questions to be answered by the system concern customer acquisition (e.g. direct marketing), customer up- and cross-selling (e.g. which products sell well together), and customer retention (here, which customers are likely to leave the insurance company or ask for a return of a capital life insurance). Documents about other insurance companies and demographic data published on the Internet contribute to the answers, as do the results of data analysis of the company's contracts. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Mediating, Interactive, and Non-linear Effects in Service Quality and Satisfaction with Services Research

CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES, Issue 2 2002
Gordon Fullerton
This study examines a number of different hypotheses about the relationship between service quality and satisfaction with services and some important loyalty-related consequences of these constructs. The study confirms the general position in the service quality literature that satisfaction mediates the relationship between service quality and switching intentions, advocacy intentions, and willingness to pay more for the service. In particular, satisfaction is a strong mediator of the effects of service quality on customer retention. The study also finds good support for the existence of a non-linear relationship between satisfaction and these loyalty intentions. The nature of this non-linear relationship is such that the effect of satisfaction on these loyalty-related intentions is more positive at higher levels of satisfaction than it is at lower levels of satisfaction. This is consistent with emerging findings on the nature and consequences of customer delight. Résumé Cette étude examine un certain nombre de différentes hypothèses concernant le rapport entre la qualité de service et la satisfaction des clients, et passe en revue quelques conséquences importantes des ces hypothèses qui illuminent la loyauté des consommateurs envers produits et services. L'étude confirme la validité de la théorie dominante de la qualité de service, à savoir que la satisfaction réglemente le rapport entre la qualité de service et l'intention de commuter de service, comme entre la propensité de recommander un produit ou service et la volonté de supporter un prix plus élevé pour le même service. En particulier, la satisfaction régit les standards de la qualité de service et la retention de la clientèle. L'étude confirme également l'existence d'un rapport non-linéaire entre la satisfaction et la fidelité. Ce rapport indique que l'effet de la satisfaction sur la fidélité est proportionellement plus fort à des niveaux de satisfaction plus élevé qu'à des niveaux plus bas. Cette tendance par ailleurs est conforme à d'autres études récentes sur la nature et les conséquences de la satisfaction des clients. [source]