Customer Satisfaction of AVIS Rent - Case Study Example

Customer Satisfaction of AVIS Rent Introduction to the Topic: ‘Avis Rent A Car System, LLC and its subsidiaries operate one of the world's leading car rental brands, providing business and leisure customers with a wide range of services at more than 2,100 locations in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and the Caribbean region. Avis is one of the world's top brands for customer loyalty, ranked as the number-one car rental company in the Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Index for the past eight years (Burke 2007).’ This fact had also been complimented by other surveys done in the business such as the survey done by Markinor Thinking (2007). Below chart showed that customers worldwide rely on Avis Rent a Car services. SOURCE: Markinor/Sunday Times Top Brands Survey Markinor Although, previous studies revealed that brand AVIS consistently excel in customer satisfactions, it is prominent that the study should also reveal the contributions of the subsidiaries of this brand and services in which this study would likely cover. It is then necessary to compare how subsidiaries in United States, UK and Australia contribute in a high ranking given to AVIS in general in terms of Customer Satisfaction. Problem Statement: Avis Rent a Car System was one of the world’s top brands for Customer Satisfaction and as Avis conquers world-wide Customer Loyalty Index for the past eight years; it is necessary to measure and compare the impact of each subsidiaries on their contribution to this success. Specifically, this study will aim in answering questions below: Among United States, UK and Australia, which subsidiary of Avis Rent a Car System rank 1 in Customer Satisfaction? What factors affect the ranking? How does this ranking affect AVIS Rent a Car general ranking? Hypotheses: Untied States has been a major contributor and the first to offer new services of Avis Rent a Car System; therefore, it is hypothesized to lead the ranking for Customer Satisfaction. The availability of new services and programs of Avis to the subsidiaries; as well as the location could be the major factors that would affect the ranking of each Avis subsidiaries in Customer Satisfaction. The ranking is hypothesized to affect the general view on Avis rent a car system in Customer Satisfaction as it may lead to know the main contributor for its success as a leading brand in car rentals, The Main Aim of the Research: According to Preis, ‘High levels of customer satisfaction are important to marketers as both offensive and defensive tools and are capable of creating a lasting competitive advantage (2004). As earlier mentioned, Avis Rent a Car has been a leader in Customer Satisfaction in car rentals for almost a decade now; however, most of the studies are focused on how Avis perform in general and has not showed statistics on how each of the subsidiaries perform in the Avis ranking. Having this in mind, it is vital to measure how customers of different Avis rent a car system performs to satisfy their customers. Since Avis in United States, UK and Australia has found to be widely used by the customers who avail car rental services; it is essential to base this research on these three subsidiaries. With this in mind, the outcome of this research would primarily benefit the management of AVIS to evaluate the services offered by these subsidiaries and determine the contributing factors affecting the rankings. This will help the management to aid the subsidiaries by applying services to other subsidiaries not only the countries mentioned but in other parts of the worlds with the services that has made the leading subsidiary excel in the ranking. Below specific aims will be addressed in the research: To measure Customer Satisfaction of Avis rent a car system in the United states, UK and Australia To compare these three subsidiaries in terms of ranking in Customer Satisfaction To determine the factors affecting the ranking; and To measure the extent of the ranking in view of how Avis rent a car performs in general. Review of Related Literature A lot of researchers have looked into the significance of customer satisfaction. Satisfaction as defined by Kotler (2000) is a sentiment of delight or dissatisfaction resulting from weighing a product’s outcome performance against a person’s. According to Hoyer and MacInnis (2001) satisfaction can be linked with belief of happiness, acceptance, relief, delight and excitement. Customer satisfaction is affected by several of factors. These factors comprise of friendly employees, knowledgeable employees, courteous employees, helpful employees, billing timeliness, accuracy of billing, billing clarity competitive pricing, good value, service quality, and quick service according to Hokanson (1995). According to La Barbera and Mazursky (1983) to be able to attain customer satisfaction, organisations must be able to suit their customer’s wants and needs. Kotler (200) suggested that customers’ needs declare the felt deficiency of a customer in the previous brands/commodities they used. On the other hand, customers’ wants talk about “the form taken by human needs as they are shaped by culture and individual personality” (Kotler 2000). Heskett et al (1992) stated that contented customers who have turn as loyal customers will spread the word to others and will make long term relationships that could guarantee outstanding financial results. There is clearly a powerful connection between customer retention and customer satisfaction. Customer's view of quality and service of product will establish the accomplishment of the service or product in the market. Companies can conclude the required actions to meet the needs of the customers with better understanding of customers' views. They can recognize their own weaknesses and strengths, evaluate their standing in the market compared with their competitors, plan out the path for future improvement and progress. Measuring customer satisfaction aids to promote a boosted focus on customer conclusions and encourage progress in the work processes and practices applied in the company. Review of Related studies: Avis Rent a Car System has been acclaimed one of the best car rental services in the world. This can be validated with the received awards and recognitions of AVIS in car rentals and other services. The awards and recognition received are enlisted in http://www.avis.com/AvisWeb/JSP/US/en/aboutavis/corp_info/awards_and_recognition.jsp;jsessionid=ZkGMLQBQ9LwTqsh2Pp9WYnkhW7FFXF7vkGmQkTH18JGpH8vrln7y!879611006 . Marketers and business researches are keener in studying the services and performance of AVIS. Below are some of the most recent studies done on Car rentals wherein AVIS either lead the competitions or found to be second most outstanding in car rental service. Markinor on their Sunday Times Top Brands Survey revealed that for the year 2006 and 2007, AVIS Rent a Car was TOP 1 among the other competitors in car rental industry. Brand Keys (2008) stated that ‘the annual Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Winners are those brands best able to engage consumers and create loyal customers. The Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, fielded annually in the spring and fall, currently examine customers' relationships with 382 brands in 57 categories.’ SOURCE: Brand Keys/2008 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index MarketMetrix Customer Satisfaction surveys result for 2007 showed that AVIS ranked 2 in Customer Satisfaction with relatively small difference from the leading Car Service Provider. This was the same ranking for 2005 and 2006; however experts of market analysis like Perkins (2005) argued that ”Avis ‘Preferred Service,"… fast-track programs outperform anything Enterprise can offer for airport rentals. SOURCE: MarketMetrix/ 2007 Winners Car Rental Customer Satisfaction It is important to know how AVIS stand on other studies in Customer Satisfaction for this research to be more credible and significant. Methodology: This research will be applying the Customer Satisfaction Theory as a mean of measuring Customer Satisfaction via indices. The planned use of customer satisfaction measurement will determine a very important decision about the structure of measurement. Preferably, this research will use questions that determine both component satisfaction and overall satisfaction since the combination carries the three essential decisions that companies frequently face. With this, overall satisfaction measurement for a service will bear an overall evaluation of AVIS service in specific subsidiary and contingency forecasts and plans. Through this, the company may get information to forecast customers’ sentiment of delight or dissatisfaction for a service offered and to prepare budgets for future use of the service. Together with a measure of overall satisfaction, the measurement of components allows the researcher to an approximated statistical relationship of definite components to the level of overall satisfaction. This approximation, sequentially, can recognize components of a service that need change or improvement. The absence of the component level of measurement will lead the company to only have and option of rejecting or accepting a service as a whole, depending upon the Company’s interpretation of a report of overall customer satisfaction. When all information are gathered and analyzed, the researcher will compare the results of the responses on the three subsidiaries: United States, UK, Australia in terms of Customer Satisfaction Indices projected based on Service performance; Quality and Service Packaging. Sampling: The survey will be disseminated to 100 respondents of each subsidiary; comprising a total of 300 respondents to the survey. Online survey is highly applicable; with the expectation of full participations of the Managements of AVIS subsidiaries in the United States, UK and Australia. The survey will be made available on the AVIS sites and respondents are chosen randomly provided that the respondents have already availed the service. The survey in turn will be regarded as post-evaluation survey of AVIS. To ensure the validity of results, the survey responses will be directly emailed to the researcher and no action can be done on the research on the part of AVIS employees. The measurement of components will be in coherence with the services provided per subsidiary. Sample Questionnaire: 1. Where do you avail AVIS Services? □ United States □ UK □ Australia 2. How would you rate your level of overall satisfaction with Avis Rent a Car Services, on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 represents “Extremely Satisfied” and 5 represents “Extremely Dissatisfied”? □ □ □ □ □ 1 2 3 4 5 3. Which among AVIS services do you regularly avail? Please check all that applies. □ AVIS Fleet □ AVIS Preferred □ AVIS Cares □ AVIS Access 4. What are the chances that you would likely recommend AVIS to a relative or friend? □ Excellent □ Very Good □ Good □ Fair □ Poor 5. How likely are you to re-avail services from AVIS? The chances would be .. □ Excellent □ Very Good □ Good □ Fair □ Poor 6. What are the top three reasons in order of importance why you choose to avail services from AVIS compared with other car rental service provider? 1 as the most important, 2 more important, 3 important □ Services offered □ Low rates □ Convenience □ Personnel □ Others, please specify: _______________________________ (other survey questionnaires will be updated once become evaluated in view of importance) Time and Action Plan: This research needs approximately eight (8) months to complete. Two (2) months will be needed to carry out the initial work of reviewing the literature, preparation of the survey, and identification of respondents. Two (2) months will be required to perform negotiations to participating AVIS subsidiaries. One (1) month will be required to post the survey online and distribute the link to the survey to the identified respondents. Two (2) months are needed to graph and analyze the results and lay down the initial findings. One (1) month will be needed to organize the final version of the research report. References Brand Keys, 2008, “2008 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index” viewed 22 April 2008, < http://www.brandkeys.com/awards/> Burke, M 2007, “Avis Fact Sheet”, viewed 18 April 2008, Heskett J.L., Sasser W.E., and Schlesinger L.A. (1992) The service profit chain, The Free Press, New York. Hokanson, S., January 2, 1995, “The Deeper You Analyse, The More You Satisfy Customers”, Marketing News, p. 16. Hoyer, W. D. & MacInnis, D. J., 2001, “Consumer Behaviour”. 2nd ed., Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company. Kotler, P., 2000, “Marketing Management”, 10th ed., New Jersey, Prentice-Hall. LaBarbera, P. A. & Mazursky, D., 1983,” A Longitudinal Assessment of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction: the Dynamic Aspect of Cognitive Process”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 20, November, pp. 393-404. MarketMetrix 2007, “2007 Winners Car Rental Customer Satisfaction”, viewed 21 April 2008, http://www.marketmetrix.com/en/default.aspx?s=mmhigraph&p=CR&y=2007.75 Perkin, E. 2005, “The travel Industry’s customer satisfaction winners and losers”, Smart Travel, viewed 21 April 2008, < http://www.smartertravel.com/travel-advice/travel-industry-customer-satisfaction.html?id=14986 > Preis, Michael W. 2004, “Effects of components of satisfaction on overall satisfaction in industrial markets”, Journal of Academy of Business Economics. Read More