Lars Merle

Designing a new industry award for service excellence competition in retailing Lars Merle

Diplomarbeit, die am 01.08.2003 erfolgreich an einer Universität in Deutschland eingereicht wurde. Abstract: This thesis resolves the need for an industry award for service excellence in retailing, based on a comprehensive framework to foster management quality. A service excellence framework is developed and the design for a new service excellence award is proposed. The proposed framework is based on the Industrial Excellence Award. In addition to the original four fundamental processes a fifth component is introduced: the customer. To complete the framework, the seven components of management quality known from the IEA are adopted. This framework is the structure for the self-assessment questionnaire that will be the core of the new "Best Retailer" service excellence award. Through an extensive literature review, success factors and empirically tested items for questionnaires were identified and assigned to the corresponding sections in the questionnaire. The result is a collection of questions that - if appropriately considered by management - can help introducing service excellence in the retailing industry. The modus operandi of a possible future award competition is suggested to stay close the example of the IEA in order to leverage the existing brand. This should help to popularize the new award, to create outstanding showcases quickly, and to disseminate excellent management quality in the industry. Inhaltsverzeichnis: |Acknowledgements|II |List of abbreviations:|3 |Executive Summary|5 1.|Introduction|6 2.|Retailing|8 2.1|Developments and Trends|8 2.1.1|Modern History of Retailing and Retailing Formats|8 2.1.2|Past and Future Trends|11 2.2|Strategies & Concepts|18 2.2.1|Retailing Classifications|18 2.2.2|Positioning|20 2.2.3|Strategies for Competitive Advantage|21 2.2.4|Scientific Concepts in Retailing|23 2.3|Success Factors in Retailing|28 2.3.1|Employees|29 2.3.2|Technology|32 2.3.3|Customer Service