ABSTRACT

Services delivery is an integral part of human life nevertheless, in recent year the quality of service delivery has come under scrutiny due to the disparity in the different levels of satisfaction by customer satisfaction. And as such, This research seeks “To examine and analyse the optimization of service delivery quality to meet customer satisfaction” the main problem of the study resonates on the fact that many customers are not satisfied with the quality of services offered to them. The study had as main objective: “To investigate the techniques used in optimization of service delivery quality, to find out the relationship between service delivery quality optimization and customer satisfaction. To examine the effects of service delivery quality challenges on customer satisfaction. The main hypothesis was “There is a relationship between service delivery quality optimization and customer satisfaction.  This gave rise to the following specific hypotheses. Some of the techniques used for optimizing service delivery quality level include tangibility, reliability and responsiveness. There is a relationship between optimization of quality of service delivery and customer satisfaction. Companies face service delivery quality challenges such as lack of communication and lack of business knowledge. The research design used was the survey design. The research used a total of 75 questionnaires through face to face administration. The data was analyzed using the SPSS and Microsoft Excel. The main findings reveals that method of service delivery optimization include Time management, After time services, Offering door to door services, Giving little free gifts to customers, Special consideration of customers request, Precision delivery, Maintaining quality and as such when service delivery  is optimize it can lead to  Ensure customers satisfaction, Can cause brand loyalty, Consumption of more services from satisfied customers, Ensure cordial relationship, Can result to fulfillment of cooperate social responsibility, Added value, Costumers become brand ambassadors, Greater market share but is not the case as it faces challenges like Dissatisfaction, Confrontation and argument, Customers turn to other alternatives, Reduces Competitiveness, Fall in profit, Costumers castigates the company, Legal issues may arise  Reduction of risk of theft , Loss market shares  And as such it was recommended that effective and efficient optimization plans be implemented to optimize and maximize customers satisfaction. 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

  1.0 Introduction

This chapter comprises of the background to the study following a trickle down approach from global to local, problem statement, research questions main and specific, like wise research objectives, research hypothesis, and significances of the study to various individuals and institution, scope of the study in terms of geographic, and time scope, location of the study area, its physical milieu, population dynamics, human structure, economic structure, definition of key terms and organisation of the study.                                             

• Background to the study

Nowadays, people live in a society that increasingly moves to an economy based on service industries. In recent years, employment in services has increased whilst the employment in manufacturing has reduced (Cambridge Policy Consultants, 2006.). In the USA and most of the European countries, service sector generates 70% of the gross national product (Halseth, G 2006). Customer behavior is a kind of spontaneous behavior that assists the production and services of the organization (Loevinsohn, B et al., 2005). Generally, the term service quality describes a comparison of expectations with performance. Service quality is defined as a global judgment or attitude, relating to overall superiority of the service (OECD, 2010). Hence, service quality is the conformance of services to customer specifications, perceptions or expectations.

In African countries such as Zimbabwe, the ultimate desire of all service providers is to satisfy

the needs of their customers at a profit (Nkululeko, 2011). Quality is a vital tool or technique that a service marketer can use to tilt customers’ judgments to his favor. Both scholars and practitioners have given service quality and customer satisfaction a great deal of attention because of their relevancy and relationship according to Global Development Network (2008). Despite the effort service providers make towards providing excellent service quality for achieving satisfaction and loyalty, there is still a fact that “no organization is so perfect in the delivery of superior customer performance that significant levels of dissatisfaction (the source of complaints) do not exist” (Agenda for Sustainable Development,” 2015.). It has been established through research that even some satisfied customers may still complain in order to provide useful feedback to product/service providers on service quality (Liu et al., 2006). Therefore, service consumers in Africa hold perceptions which make them expect certain levels of service delivery to be satisfied. Any deviation from this may lead to customer dissatisfaction. For this reason, there is a need for service delivery level optimization to better satisfy customers.

        Today, there is intense competition in the banking sector of Cameroon due to the influx of new commercial banks and micro-finance agencies such as the cooperative societies not leaving out telecommunication companies like MTN which also offer banking services (Beteck, 2019). As customers are of a great significant importance, it is necessary for banks to satisfy their needs by providing optimum delivery services so as to establish and maintain long term relationship with the customers to enable them to combat the increasing competition in the global market. As a result, customer relationship management has become very important in the programs and practice of banking services (Tamilarasan, 2011). This therefore calls for an optimal level of customer satisfaction in order to maintain customer relationship.

       Also, in today’s global economy, firms increasingly depend on fast response times as an important source of sustainable competitive advantage (Sangjun et al., 2014). Considering the optimum service times on demand is therefore needed. 

    Progressive economic development, the increasing market competition and the globalization of market operations require companies operating on the market to pursue effective actions to best meet their customers’ needs in a competitive manner (D. Krishna, 2017). Changes in international markets have forced companies to be highly competitive and a high level of service delivery. Organizations that aim at succeeding in the market and achieving high profitability should treat customer satisfaction as their important goal. They also cannot forget to offer the optimum quality products and services as these are the main determinants of achieving high customer satisfaction. For this reason, satisfaction should be measured in different dimensions (quality attributes) if it is to create the foundation for quality improvement.

• Delimitation of the Study

1.2.1 Spatial delimitation

The study was carried out in Bota Limbe South West region of Cameroon. Bota Limbe was created in 1982 by a presidential decree No 98/187. Geographically Bota in limbe lies between latitude 40 01’’N and 9o 13’’E North of the equator and 4.0 17N degree 9.217’’E and 10 degrees 15’’ East of GMT Bota is situated in Limbe and it consist of different quarters

1.2.2 Time delimitation

The timeframe for within which the data for this work was carried out was three months that is March 2022 to May 2022

1.2.3 Thematic delimitation

Thematic implies the theme in respect to my research topic it is focused on “Optimization of Service Delivery Quality to Meet Customer Satisfaction, Case Study: Cameroon Development Cooperation (CDC)”. it equally seeks to focus on the 3 specific objectives of the study as seen above 

• Statement of the research problem

There has been inefficient and uncharted inconsistence to address challenges associated with service quality level in most organizations. Customers judge quality by comparing their expectations with their perceptions of the kind of service they receive.  Companies in Cameroon are faced with the extreme changes in customers’ demands and the kind of services they expect. Cases such as fake promises on delivery time, not listening to customers, rude staff, low quality of products or services are some of the common reasons why customers are not satisfied with the services provided them. In a company such as CDC (Cameroon Development Corporation), customers can contact the company for lodging an issue with the expectation of resolving their issues quickly or being compensated. If the customer service agent does not attend their calls promptly and make sure they provide relevant solutions timely, the customers will feel discouraged and become disloyal to their brand regarding the experience of inconvenience.  The creation and maintenance of optimum service delivery quality level is therefore very essential for continuity in production, fuller utilization of men and machines and ability to meet specific customers demand. This work is therefore aimed at optimizing the service delivery quality in order to better satisfy customers.

• Research questions

• Main Research question

How does the optimization of service delivery quality affect customer satisfaction?

• Specific Research questions

1. What are the techniques used in optimization of service delivery quality?
2. What is the relationship between service delivery quality optimization and customer satisfaction?
3. What are the effects of service delivery quality optimization on customer satisfaction?

• Research objectives (main and specific)
• Main objectives

          The overall objective of this study is to assess the contribution of service delivery quality optimization on customer satisfaction.

• Specific objectives

1. To investigate the techniques used in optimization of service delivery quality.
2. To find out the relationship between service delivery quality optimization and customer satisfaction.
3. To examine the effects of service delivery quality challenges on customer satisfaction.