Service Innovation and Customer Satisfaction Nexus of the Transportation Sector of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State (Published)
Citation: Lyndon M. Etale and Patricia Akpi (2022) Service Innovation and Customer Satisfaction Nexus of the Transportation Sector of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, European Journal of Logistics, Purchasing and Supply Chain Management, Vol.10 No.1, pp.15-23
Abstract: The study was carried out with a view to provide a clear-cut understanding of the concept and principles of customer satisfaction, as it relates to service innovation of transportation firms in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Service innovation was used as the independent variable to ascertain the nature and strength of the relationship of its dimensions which were selected to be technological innovation, and service process innovation, and their relationship with customer satisfaction. In a bid to give the study a bearing and focus, two research questions and hypotheses were drawn from the variables, which sought to ascertain the relationship between the two dimensions of service innovation used in the study and customer satisfaction. The study was further grounded in the theory of assimilation, which is focused on the cognitive variations and dissonance experienced by customers after the consumption of a service, as a result of their pre-service encounter expectation and their actual service experience. The study thereby launched and distributed questionnaires to a total of 170 respondents from transportation firms in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State of Nigeria, and successfully retrieved a total of 160 questionnaires, which formed the basis of the data analysis and findings of the research study. The data was analyzed using the Pearson Correlation Coefficient method as a means of ascertaining the nature and strength of the relationship between the two variables. The findings of the study pointed to a significant positive relationship between the two variables, and informed the study to recommend that: firms should strive to innovate on their service to match the dynamic needs of the customers; and firms should constantly improve on the service processes to become more efficient and effective.
Keywords: Customer Satisfaction, Innovation, Process, Technological
Strategic Impacts of Supply Chain Innovation on Firms Performance (Published)
The need to be proactive to customers demand and the intensifying challenges from globalization and the rising cost of consumable goods necessitated the researchers desire to explores, strategic impacts of supply chain innovation on firms’ performance. Many firms believed that supply chain innovation is a means of competitive advantage. Conversely, one firm’s supply chain innovation is another company’s process improvement. In today’s competitive business environment, misunderstanding a new idea may result in wasting resources on an innovation that is not yet materialized. Lack of clarity is an issue for academic debate. The objective of this article therefore was to examine strategic impacts of supply chain innovation on firms’ performance. The researchers adopted theoretical framework in investigating the nature and concepts of supply chain innovation in this research. Data were sourced from management journals, internet and periodical. This gives a clear understanding of earlier work in the area of exploration thereby providing foundation for the researchable predicament at stake. Findings reveal that supply chain innovation involves an integrative system of customers, suppliers, manufacturers, information technology and finance through physical and human resources for enhance performance. Supply chains innovation requires array of relationships and numerous paths through which products and information travel. To gain utmost advantage from supply chain innovation, a firm must energetically draw upon its available internal capabilities and the external resources of its supply chain network to fulfill customer requirements.
Keywords: Chain, Innovation, Strategic, and Firms Performance, supply
Impact of innovation on the supply chain performance: Case of the automotive industry in Morocco (Published)
In Through the Looking-Glass famous incident from the book of Alice in Wonderland, known as the Red Queen’s race, it involves the Red Queen and where Alice is constantly running, but remaining in the same point. The Red Queen said: “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”This story is used in real life to illustrate the idea of running after capital and market share accumulation in order to maintain relative economic position. This idea cannot represent better the main purpose of our study: “The innovation and its impact on supply chain performance and competitiveness”.In this paper, we attempt to corroborate, based on an empirical study of Moroccan multinational firms specifically in the automotive industry, the relationship between the supply chain innovation and performance through the Supply Chain Integration.
Keywords: Competitiveness, Innovation, Supply Chain Integration, Supply chain performance
Building Sustainable Organizational Capabilities through Supply Chain Innovation (Published)
Organizational performance directly affecting supply chain management practices. A continuous innovation in supply chain is important for corporations to achieve sustainable competitive advantage, to differentiate from competitors. Contemporary supply chain management stresses coordinating supply chain stakeholders into seamless unit in meeting customers demand and enhancing competitive advantage. Although companies concentrate on innovating independently for developing capabilities, companies however demonstrate reliance on creating their supply chain innovation capability. As markets became global, competition intensified. This forced the companies to innovate to be competitive and carryout holistic, fully integrated approach to their supply chain designs. This can replace traditional thinking in pursuit of effective and responsiveness supply chain. The research addresses gap in the literature between supply chain innovation and organizational capabilities. The study explore how organizations expand their efforts in improving relationships for developing capabilities of supply chain and what capabilities do firms develop to create innovation capacity within a supply chain. Companies in Karnataka, India surveyed to examine the inter relationship beteen organizational capability and supply chain innovation. The results showed that supply chain innovation has positive relationship with organizational capabilities and supply chain integration mechanisms do impact supply chain innovation.
Keywords: Capabilities, Competitive Advantage, Innovation, Performance, Supply Chain