Rationale
Globalization and integration are getting more and more rapidly in the world and in Vietnam does not stand outside of this process Participation in many free trade agreements with countries around the world helps Vietnam expand goods exchange and investment and cooperate internationally with other countries The fact that import and export activities are boosted leads to the emergence and rapid development of additional services such as transportation services, warehouse services, and distribution services, … Among those, freight forwarding service plays an important role in promoting the fast and convenient delivery of goods, contributing to increasing the efficiency of foreign trade activities However, when freight forwarding services develop quickly, it leads to the problem of coping with more competitors and increasingly complicated customer demand In that case, logistics businesses need to increase their unique competitiveness by improving their freight forwarding services to come up with the right policies, improve their service quality and thereby, meet the customer demand better than competitors.
As a company that has been operating for more than 10 years in the field of logistics in Da Nang, GVLINK is trying its best to break through and be willing to bring more optimal solutions to our dear partners soon With the growing participation of freight forwarders in the Da Nang market, GVLINK’s managers are finding a way to increase its distinct competitiveness by improving service quality and satisfying customers The company provides freight forwarding services by sea, air, and all of that, and the sea method accounts for the largest proportion, thus the company focuses on developing this service first Additionally, customers coming to GVLINK are not only domestic firms but also foreign ones, freight forwarding services quality thereby should be focused on relentless development As a result,studying the relationship between the service quality of import and export freight forwarding by the sea with customer satisfaction is very important to GVLINK.Through searching for information on the financial economics faculty, there have been many subjects measuring customer satisfaction with the quality of logistics services of logistics companies in Vietnam However, there are no topics that go into the quality of sea freight forwarding service that GVLINK has been providing in the market Within the company, this is the first study to measure customer satisfaction with GVLINK’s sea freight forwarding service quality This work is not only a reference for similar research in the company in the future but is also the basis for company managers to come up with reasonable policies to improve service quality for the purpose of satisfying more customer needs, attracting more customers, and increasing competitiveness for the business in the market.
Therefore, the author decided to choose the subject: “A systematic analysis to identify customer satisfaction factors for sea freight forwarding service quality atGVLINK Ltd company”.
Related research
Parasuraman revealed ten dimensions consumers use to frame ththeirxpectations and perceived services It has also been identified that there exist five key gaps with regaregard the quality of services from the service provider side which are affecting the service quality perceived by the consumers The five key gaps from the study of Parasuramansura et al (1991) indicated that gaps exist between consumer expectation and management perception, management perception and service quality specifications, service quality specifications and service delivery, service delivery and external communication, as well as expected service and perceived service.
LW Ellis, CC Curtis - Research-Technology Management, 1995 - Taylor & Francis Survey research on measuring customer satisfaction using an index, market share, and a lead user confirms that satisfaction must be with the firm as an innovator well as with the innovative service or product The customer is defined as not only the end-user or consumer but as a downstream counterpart of R&D in the same company or in other parts of the distribution chain For an overall indication of customer satisfaction, measure the firm's responsiveness, its technology(capabilities and products), and product quality/reliability.
Aims & objectives
Aims: Determine the sea freight forwarding factors provided by GVLINK.Objectives:
To Identify factors affecting customer satisfaction with sea freight forwarding service at GVLINK
Evaluate some aspects of the sea freight forwarding service at GVLINK based on customer satisfaction; Based on the research results, propose a few suggestions that help increase the level of customer satisfaction when using the sea freight forwarding service at GVLINK.
Scope of the study
Research subject: Study on factors affecting customer satisfaction with sea freight forwarding service at GVLINK.
About space: The study focuses on domestic customers using sea freight forwarding service at my intern company, GVLINK Company – 4 th floor, 06 Xo Viet Nghe Tinh, Hoa Cuong Nam Ward, Hai Chau District, Da Nang City, Vietnam.
About time: The study focuses on the level of customer satisfaction with sea freight forwarding service at GVLINK in the period 2021-2023.
Research methodology
The study adopts a quantitative research method.
Data was collected by surveying customers who used the sea freight forwarding service at GVLINK The questionnaire is distributed online through a variety of methods such as face-to-face meetings at the company, e-mails, or social networks under the supervision of the instructor The time from sending the first questionnaire is about 3 weeks (3-4/2023).
From the collected data, the author conducts analysis steps such as descriptive statistics, tests the scale by Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients, and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) through the statistical software SPSS (version
20) After testing the scale, the observed variables that meet the requirements will be included in Pearson’s correlation analysis to analyze the statistically significant relationships between variables before being included in the multiple regression analysis.
Research structure
Overview of service quality and satisfaction
Parasuraman et al (1985, 1988) said that: “Service quality is the distance between the expectations of the customer and their perception when used through the service” Service quality perception stems from how well a provider performs compared to customer expectations of how the provider performs Service quality is a focused assessment that reflects the customers’ perception of specific aspects of a service, which are reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. According to Lewis and Mitchell (1990), service quality is the degree to which a service meets customer needs and expectations Service quality is defined by Cronin and Taylor (1992) as the factor have the most influence on customer satisfaction Kotler et al (2006) suggested that the gap between perceived service quality and expected quality contributes to increased customer satisfaction.
As claimed by Gronroos (1984), service quality is assessed on two aspects: technical quality and functional quality Technical quality is relative to what is served and functional quality dictates how they are served.
Since service quality is also an intangible concept, it is not easy to give a full definition of service quality Customers can only evaluate the quality of the service after purchasing and using it Quality is not only evaluated based on the performance of the service but also assessed throughout the entire process. Customers evaluate service quality based on attitude, subjectivity, and awareness.
1.1.2.1 The five-gap model (1985) and the SERVQUAL model (1988) by Parasuraman et al.
The five-gap model identifies 5 gaps that can cause customers to experience poor service quality In addition to comparing customer expectations and reality, the model considers the service the company wants to provide and mentions that service quality is affected by the difference between customer expectations and company perception.
GAP 1: The distance between the company’s perception of customer expectations and customer expectations KC1 occurs when companies do not fully understand the essential characteristics of their service quality as well as service delivery to satisfy customers.
GAP 2: The gap between a company’s perception of customer expectations and service quality standards KC2 meant it was difficult for the company to turn customer expectations into the right standard of performance The reason may be that the staff is not well trained, or the customer demand is too high.
Service delivery (including pre and post contacts)
Management perceptions of the consumer expectations
External communi- cations to the consumer
Translation of perceptions into service quality specifications
GAP 3: The distance between service standards and actual services provided to the customer occurs when employees are unable to provide and meet established service standards.
GAP 4: The gap between the actual service quality provided and the quality of service communicated to customers occurs when promotional campaigns or advertisements are inconsistent with reality, it will be easy to lose customers’ trust in the company’s image.
GAP 5: The distance between the service received by the customer and the customer’s expectation of the service The assessment of service quality is largely dependent on KC5, and this gap is also affected by the first four gaps above If the customer doesn’t feel any difference between expectations and reality, the service will be rated as excellent Therefore, the goal of the company is to reduce these gaps to increase customer satisfaction.
From the 5-distance model, Parasuraman and his colleagues tried to build a specific and more practical scale to assess the actual service quality Initially, they thought that any service is judged on ten factors: reliability, responsiveness, competence, accessibility, communication, courtesy, credibility, safety, understanding knowledge, and tangible factors But investigating and analyzing all ten components at once was such a difficult task that they later simplified it into a SERVQUAL model with five factors as follows:
Reliability demonstrates the ability to perform the service accurately, appropriately, and on time from the first time, demonstrating the ability to keep trust with customers.
Responsiveness: reflected in aspects such as the ability to promptly respond to customer needs, the ability to solve problems and quickly handle complaints This is the response from the service provider about what the customer is expecting.
Assurance: felt through the professional style of the consultant, professional knowledge, good communication ability, elegant style, and the warmth of the service staff towards customers.
Empathy: showing kindness, concern, and encouragement to each customer,giving customers the best possible thoughtful treatment.
Tangibles: reflecting through aspects: brand, image, document, facilities, service equipment, support, style, and attire of staff.
Parasuraman and his partners affirmed that SERVQUAL is a reliable and accurate measurement of service quality According to the SERVQUAL model,Service quality = Perceived value – Expected value Up to now, the SERVQUAL model is not only widely accepted by research, but also used and applied in practice more than any other models to evaluate service quality in several types of service such as supermarkets, banks, hotels, entertainment activities, entertainment … In the process of designing the scale, the authors only keep common measurement questions that are appropriate for the type of studied service The types of service are very diverse so when using the SERVQUAL model, it is necessary to approach and improve to make this model more suitable for each type of service (NguyenDinh Tho, 2007).
1.1.2.2 Service quality synthesis model by Brogowicz et al (1990)
A service quality gap may exist even when the customer has not used the service or listening through other media The problem here is to link potential customers’ perceptions of service This model studies service quality in relation to three factors: external influences, company image, and traditional marketing activities.
Figure 1.2 Service quality synthesis model
External influences Company Image Traditional
Perceived service quality offered and/or experienced
Plan, implement and control marketing strategies
Determine company mission and objectivesService Quality
1.1.2.3 The SERVPERF model by Cronin and Taylor (1992)
Cronin and Taylor (1992) did in-depth research on the concepts, methods, and tools to measure service quality and the relationship between customer satisfaction and purchase willingness, thereby concluding that perception is a better predictor of service quality They argued that the service quality model and the SERVQUAL scale built by Parasuraman et al (1988) easily cause confusion among customer attitudes and satisfaction Cronin and Taylor have studied and shown that perceptions are better predictors of service quality According to this conclusion, service quality is assessed only through customer perceptions, but there is no assessment of service quality in customer expectations, so there is no weighting for each ingredient of the quality With the model SERVPERF, Cronin, and Taylor
(1992) said that: Service quality = Perceived level This statement is supported by other authors such as Lee et al (2000) The SERVQUAL model, ignores the expectation question.
SERVPERF has the advantage that the questionnaire in the SERVPERF model is more concise than SERVQUAL, which means it can save much time and is more sympathetic to the respondent The disadvantage is that SERVPERF does not reflect the relationship between customer satisfaction and satisfaction with the quality of service provided Therefore, although the SERVPERF model has many advantages, the research on the service quality component affecting customer satisfaction often uses the SERVQUAL model.
Oliva, Oliver, and Bearden (1995) said that: “The difference, or relationship of the value of product or services received by customers compared with previous products and services, will indicate customer satisfaction”.
Sea freight forwarding service
1.2.1 Definition of sea freight forwarding service
In Vietnam, Article 233 of the 2005 Commercial Law states freight forwarding service is a “commercial activity whereby traders perform one or more tasks including delivery, transportation, storage and storage, customs clearance,other paperwork, customer consulting, packaging, marking, delivery or other service related to the goods as agreed with the customer to enjoy remuneration”.According to FIATA (the International Federation of Freight ForwardersAssociations) and CLECAT (the European Association for Forwarding, Transport,Logistic, and Customs Services), “Freight Forwarding and Logistic Services means services of any kind relating to the carriage (performed by single mode or multimodal transport means), consolidation, storage, handling, packing or distribution of the Goods as well as ancillary and advisory services in connection therewith, including but not limited to customs and fiscal matters, declaring the Goods for official purpose, procuring insurance of the Goods and collecting or procuring payment or documents relating to the Goods”.
In general, sea freight forwarding (SFF) is a collection of operations and procedures related to the transport process to carry out the movement of goods from the place of shipment (the consignor) to the transportation mode by sea Sea freight forwarding service usually offers the following activities: Preparing goods for transport; Organizing the transportation of goods within the station or port; Organization of loading and unloading goods; Storage and preservation of goods; Advise the Company in cargo transportation; Signing transport contracts with the carrier, charter, freight; Making procedures for sending goods, receiving goods; Doing customs and quarantine procedures; Buy insurance for goods; Make necessary documents in the process of sending and receiving goods; Make a payment; Receive goods from the Company, deliver to the carrier and deliver to the consignee; Collect goods; Helping the Company in claiming compensation; … Currently, in big businesses, freight forwarding service also includes providing their own means of transportation; arranging export packaging and labeling; combining multiple shipments into single customer motions; tracing, and tracking.
Basically, freight forwarding service has the same characteristics as other general services such as intangibility, inseparability, perishability, variability, and lack of ownership Apart from that, the forwarding service also has some specific characteristics First of all, freight forwarding service is a service related to many business sectors such as sea transportation, air transportation, domestic transportation, warehouse business, and insurance, Secondly, it is a service that requires the connection and cooperation between offices and agents abroad to perform the service together because this service is mostly related to business activities across national borders The third characteristic is that the main customers of this service are import-export enterprises and manufacturing companies, and only a very small part of our individual customers Finally, the provision of information technology is essential and important in this service.
Freight forwarding service quality is also developed based on the concepts and research of service quality but with adjustments to be more suitable with reality. Perreault & Russ (1976), who are pioneers in the research of logistics service quality, described in detail the scales of logistics service operations and proposed time, place, and convenience to enhance the product value This scale continues to be supported by the study of (Stock & Lambert, 1987; Coyle et al, 1992) In these studies, the authors have described 7 "Rights", which are made by logistics services: the right product, right quantity, right place, right time, right condition, right customer, and the right price Murphy et al (1989, 1991, 1992) show the availability of equipment and delivery information and the loss, as well as damage that arises when doing tasks, are the three most important factors in selecting carriers in freight forwarding Frankel (1993) found that the following criteria indicate major concerns about quality regarding ocean freight forwarding service: service reliability; service executing time; assurance in the delivery time; readiness of commitments or recognized capabilities; goods safety, security, and guarantee; control and tracking of goods movement; timely and accurate documents and information about performance results; cost and transaction volume control; service status and planning management; multimedia management Forwarding service quality in practice is closely associated with safety and environmental protection, as emphasized by Hawkins (2001) and Bengtson (1992) The importance of safety and environmental protection also sheds light on a new and important dimension of freight forwarding services.
Review of previous studies
Currently, in the world, there are many research models on service quality.Among them, the SERVQUAL model (Parasunaman et al, 1988), the SERVPERF model (Cronin & Taylor, 1992), Technical quality / functional quality model(Gronroos, 1983) are the most common ones In the marine industry, especially in the field of sea freight forwarding, researchers often use the SERVQUAL model and the recently emerged ROPMIS model (Thai & Grewal, 2007) According to the
ROPMIS model, service quality includes 6 components: Resources, Results, Process, Management, Image, and Social Responsibility.
1.3.1 Some research models in the world
According to the research "Service quality and customer satisfaction in liner shipping" by Yuen, Kum Fai, and Thai Van Vinh (2013), a scale based on the SERVQUAL model is constructed to study service quality components pertaining to customer satisfaction in transport service by liner ships It consists of 4 components measured by 19 observed variables as follows: Responsiveness, Speed, Value, and Reliability The result showed that Reliability has the strongest impact on customer satisfaction (3.91), followed by Speed (3.53) and Responsiveness (3.49), and Value (3.32) ranked last in the factor means.
S Subhashini and S Preetha (2018) built a customer satisfaction evaluation model for the service quality of ocean freight forwarders in "An empirical analysis of service quality factors pertaining to ocean freight forwarding service" in Chennai, India Besides 5 original factors from Parasunaman's SERVQUAL model, the authors added Value and Safety to the model for the suitability to the study context, which made up 7 factors with 28 attributes of service quality pertaining to freight forwarding services After regression analysis, 4 components are retained to study.
In other words, responsibility, reliability, value, and tangibility play a major role in affecting customer satisfaction about the influence level are 0.275, 0.521, 0.213, and 0.081, respectively.
Enna Hirata (2019) conducted the study "Service characteristics and customer satisfaction in the container liner shipping industry" posted in The Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics, Volume 35, Issue 1, March 2019, Pages 24-29 so that she could identify service quality components that have the strongest impact on customer satisfaction in container liner shipping The result claimed that the quality of customer service representatives, the quality of digitalization, and the quality of sales representatives, respectively, are the most influential factors.
Most researchers have shown that: the quality of sea freight forwarding service has a correlation with customer satisfaction.
1.3.2 Some research in Viet Nam
The research "Service quality in maritime transport: a conceptual model and empirical evidence" by Thai Van Vinh in Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol 20 No.4, 2008 suggested the ROPMIS model with 6 dimensions associated with service quality in marine transport They are defined as resources, outcomes, processes, management, image, and social responsibility The survey data was collected from logistics firms/NVOCCs, port operators, and transport companies in Vietnam in order to analyze this model The outcomes of the study elucidated that knowledge of customers' needs and requirements was the most important element of service quality whereas, shipment tracing capability ranked last in the nautical transport industry.
Le Anh Tuan, Ho Tuan Vu, and Nguyen Le Nhan studied “Satisfaction of Customers for the Quality of Sea Transport Services: Case in Tan Cang Shipping Joint Stock Company Da Nang Branch" in International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and Science, Volume 3, Issue 4, pp 220-224, 2018 A ROPMIS-based model was used in this study and it consisted of resources, results, service processes, management, and brand These 5 factors all remained at last and the factors that have the most influence on customer satisfaction in descending order are management (0.294), resources (0.201), service process (0.172), brand (0.150), and result (0.146).
"Measuring customer satisfaction about the quality of forwarding service at Southern Foreign Trade Logistics Joint Stock Company (Vietransaigon)" was a research conducted by Le Thi Nhat Ha (2018) with the aim to clarify determinants of satisfaction with forwarding service quality at a company in Ho Chi Minh City. The research model was founded on the basis of the ROPMIS model The final result indicated that management had the strongest effect on customer satisfaction, outcomes, and process ranked second and third while brand ranked last.
CURRENT STATUS OF SEA FREIGHT FORWARDING
Company Profile
GVLINK - Global Vietnam Link, began as an Affiliated Company in August
2010, then was officially established on November 13th, 2013 - are very proud of being named by a Singaporean businessman - a BOD's close friend as well as a credible partner from the early beginning The name means the hope and the mission for the link to bring Vietnam to World With more than 10 years of experience in the logistics field, GVLINK is trying its best to break through and be willing to bring more optimal solutions to our dear partners soon.
With more than 10 years of experience in providing optimal Import-Export solutions to partners, GVINK truly understands your demands We always try to innovate ourselves every day to diversity services and flexibly satisfy even the toughest partners' requirements so that we possibly bring you the best experiences in comfort We supply:
The GVLINK's head office and representative offices are all put in 3 ofVietnam's largest ports Hai Phong, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City as 3 keys.Logistics points to assure that our partner’s cargo is available as soon as possible.
GVLINK/Official established Representative office in HCM City
Affiliated Company Representative office in Hai Phong
Core values
Vision, Mission, and Values are a guideline for all activities of the company including management strategies as well as business strategies.
Vision: Connecting people, businesses, and the community with a better future- through logistics.
Mission: GVLINK, is applying import and Export wires w outstanding values to improve portal burlesques what makes them feel comfortable with this cooperation Theme porters help us obtain turnover, profit, and cote vile allowing our company, staff, and company 10 to develop healthy and sustainably.
Transparency: GVLINK always appreciates honesty, forthrightness, and doing the right things based on both GVLINK’s and our dear partner’s rules.
Control: GVLINK masters our work and tries our best to overcome “barriers”.
We commit to utilizing all our forces to finish our work efficiently.
Ownership: Each GVLINK individual always works actively and behaves as an “owner” to improve our system and bring both our company and our dear partners to success.
Victory Desire: Never resting on our laurels GVLINK is determined to become the best partner support in the most important kinds of stuff and then bring success to both our company and our dear partners in recent fluctuation.
Belief: GVLINK always believes that we can satisfy all our partners' desires if we have belief in ourselves, especially, wonderful partners.
A pioneer in breakthroughs in the field of shipping, offering optimal shipping methods with high quality, and competitive prices to meet the needs and options of customers.
Ready to cooperate and share with business partners to develop together to improve the capacity of providing multimodal transport services across the country. Customer support is based on the company's strengths in import and export.
The operations (OPS) team includes experienced staff cultivating knowledge daily as well as working professionally, carefully, and certainly to not only smooth Operations and Customs procedures but also reduce costs and risks of post-Customs clearance with absolute legality that bring our partners an utter assurance OPS team proudly efficient “The Hands of the GVLINK”.
Because of realizing the Expand-tampon document importance, GVLINK always focuses on developing our Documentary team into a careful, precise, and professional one Additionally, we always actively cultivate major knowledge to assure well problem-solving, optimal transport, and procedure stunt support for our dear partners.
The company's capital is not abundant, but still quite modest compared to many companies operating in this field The scale of justice is still small and the competition is not strong
The company's equipment is still lacking and incomplete The company's research and development system has not been well invested in.
The operating market is still small, mainly in the Asian region.
The increase in the volume of import and export goods by Vietnamese enterprises in recent times has led to the attribution of demand for import and export freight forwarding services This is an opportunity for the company to develop and expand the market
The State's export promotion policy also increases the volume of export goods, as well as the convenience and ease of doing customs procedures and clearing goods.
The development of domestic and foreign shipping lines also creates favorable conditions for the company to perform forwarding contracts.
Currently, logistics companies and shipping agents in Vietnam are constantly increasing in number, development, and scale and perfecting in quality, which is really a big challenge in the competition for customers with a new company coming into operation such as GVLINK Co., Ltd.
Company functions
GVLINK supplies wholly international transport and promises that the cargo in our charge is always in the best qualification, the best cost, and the fastest time. GVLINK network has linked more than 2000 agents around the world and has cooperated with many well-known airlines and shipping lines such as YML, SITC, COSCO, MSC, ZIM, ONE, Fedex Express, DHL, and Korean Air Cargo, etc.
Our experienced staff always carefully observe consignments and constantly update full of information about the cargo's route till it's all safe.
Ocean freight: Door-to-Door services with 2 options: Full Container Load (FCL) and Less than Container Load (LCL)
Air freight: Relying on our global agents' network and being a credible partner of many famous Airlines around the world, GVLINK has our own advantages in high-quality Air freight services that possibly satisfy safe, nimble, and qualified transportation needs, even the most complicated cargo.
Scope of activities
GVLINK operates in many provinces and cities of Vietnam, for instance, HaNoi, Nghe An Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Hue, Da Nang Quang Ngai, Quy Nhơn, andSai Gon, Regarding transportation service, it transports goods to Laos, Taiwan and vice versa The main areas of activity of the company are to provide main services such as international forwarding by sea and air, inland transport, customs clearance,packing, storage, and delivery
- Receive documents, and customs declarations, calculate taxes, apply tax codes, import, and export procedures, and delivery procedures at ports Customs clearance of import and export goods at seaports, and airports.
-Agreement on customs costs of difficult customs clearance
-Pick up goods at the warehouse, at the address from the sender’s request, domestic cargo in the country, or transfer goods to seaports, airports
- Freight transport across North-Central-South Vietnam regions
GVLINK Logistics Company always ensures that goods are transported on schedule through slot charter with local means of transportation.
-Provide customers with optimal solutions to ensure not only the most appropriate schedule but also cost savings for customers.
-Provide diverse services ranging from LCL, FCL, consolidation, and so on - Shipping exports and imports by sea from Vietnam to other countries
-Consolidation of retail, bulk, and unloading
-Customs declaration, brokerage procedures, import and export procedures
-Undertake a variety of services from the sender's warehouse or the recipient's warehouse to the airport such as:
-Consolidation of exports for export, split import retail
-Service package imports from goods packaging, loading, unloading, inland transport, customs declaration, international shipping
- Additional services: cargo insurance, providing documents of origin, quarantine.
Organization structure
Figure 2.1 Organization structure diagram of GVLINK
Director: holding the highest position in the company, the director of the company executes and decides on all business operations and is responsible for those decisions He directs, assigns the employees, and harmonizes the work between departments At the same time, he checks and manages the financial situation of the comnpaydetermineses the residuals related to the purchase of fixed assets and directly negotiate with key customers as well as assigns the contract The Director also sets rules, creates the organizational culture, and makes sure they are fulfilled Moreover, the director is the person who outlines the business path and looks for new business trends to achieve the highest profitability possible for the company
Vice Director: Under the direction of the director, responsible for performing the duties assigned by the director; At the same time, he directly leads the related departments.
Logistics department Accounting department Vice director
In charge of customs declaration, and customs clearance It is the unified cooperation between the divisions that have created the success in the forwarding with ports company's business operations
With a simple organizational structure along with adjacent departments arranged in a large office, managers can more easily monitor employees Staff in the same department as well as between different ones can consult or discuss work conveniently when the nature of the logistics job requires close coordination related to documents, invoicing, and debit status of customers.
Sale: have the task of finding and attracting new customers who want to transport goods, taking care of old customers, performing import and export goods delivery, and advising customers on the export process of goods.
Documentation: be in charge of good documentation such as certificate of goods, certificate of origin, supply bill, and delivery orders to customers.
The Accounting department is responsible for debt collection, related invoice issuance as well as periodic reports on debts and unscheduled cases in a timely manner Accountants have to collect and process accounting information, data, and vouchers through arsing economic operations related to business activities, make monthly tax reports, work with tax officials; manage and forecast cash flow including sales portfolio setting, cash balance, and weekly cash usage report Staff working in this division coordinate with other departments to provide required accounting formation, documents, reconciliation of real costs, and cost estimates.
The sales department searches for and advises customers who have a demand for logistics services of the company: customs services, international air, and sea freight, forwarding services, domestic and foreign freight transportation, and other services The members in this division perform critical tasks such as: Developing and maintaining business relationships with new and existing customers; Making quotations of freight rates and service for the customer, Tracking and skrg care of potential comers, and performing other tasks assigned by the Office Manager.
Human Resources: have a duty to manage employees, understand the decree decrees of the Government to promptly set up salary policies, remuneration for employees, recruitment, and human resource training
Transport Department: mobilizing transport means to transport import and export goods, preserving goods in warehouses, managing fleets, undertaking loading and unloading goods at ports and airports and delivering goods to customers' places if required; tracking ship schedules and notifying customers when needed, responsible for contacting domestic and foreign shipping lines.
Status of GVLINK sea freight forwarding service
2.2.1 General business situation of GVLINK
Table 2.1 Income statement of GVLINK Da Nang from 2020 to 2022
Source: Accounting department of GVLINK
Sales from goods and services sold 15.543.054.041 21.428.121.189 13.428.121.189 Cost of goods sold 10.028.838.051 16.876.672.716 9.176.672.716
Gross profit from goods and services sold
Net profit from business activities
Table 2.2 Freight forwarding service structure of GVLINK Logistics
Road freight Sea freight Air freight Customs declaration Series 5
Figure 2.2 Freight forwarding service structure of GVLINK Logistics Company
Through the table above, we can see the company's revenue situation from
2020 to 2022 according to the types of services that the company offers We can see that the is active in the fields of forwarding, sea, air, and customs declaration services Overall, road transportation is the main source of revenue for the company's company business and has the largest impact on the company's total revenue from 2020 to 2022 In 2020, road transport revenue was 6462.36 millionVND accounting for 66.78% of total revenue, this figure has been halved in 2021 to VND 3120.18 million Although in 2022, road transport revenue still decreased compared to 2020 but showed a slight increase compared to 2021, reaching 4758.63 million VND, the proportion decreased to 68.86% The reason is that
2021 is affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, so the business situation decreases, leading to a significant decrease in service revenue
In addition, the proportion of customs declaration services in general only accounts for a small part of the revenue and is almost unchanged over the years, fluctuating around 2%.
Looking at shipping and aviation revenue, we see that air transport revenue in
2020 is the highest at 1504.21 million VND and will decrease to 939.87 in 2022. The proportion of air transport also decreased but not significantly from 15.54 % to 13.60%, and lower than sea freight revenue.
Sea transport in 2020 is 1518.73 million VND, accounting for 15.69% In
2021, this figure has decreased sharply to 907.22 million VND, but the proportion is the highest in 3 years By 2022, revenue has increased more than 2021 by 1065.46 million VND, accounting for a proportion nearly equivalent to 2020 of 15.42%.
Table 2.3 Freight forwarding market structure of GVLINK Logistics Company
Unit: Million VNĐ Business market
Revenue Rate (%) Revenue Rate (%) Revenue Rate (%)
Japan Korea China US Domestic market Other markets
Japan Korea China US Domestic market Other markets
Figure 2.3 Freight forwarding market structure of GVLINK Logistics Company
The international freight forwarding market mainly focuses on the US company's most potential market The proportion of revenue of the US market to the rest of the markets in which the company operates is in the range of 50-60%. Revenue from the company's forwarding activities in the US market in 2020, 2021, and 2022 were 5031.09 million, 2832.34 million, and 3667.11 million, respectively. The second largest market that generates revenue for businesses in China The company's revenue in this market in 2020 was 2583.85 million, accounting for 26.70% of the total proportion This number increased to 782.65 million in 2021, accounting for 16.69%, and 1553.42 million, 22.48% in 2022 The remaining markets account for a small market share of the company such as the domestic market, Japan, Korea, and some other markets The proportion of revenue coming from the Korean market fluctuated from 5 to 3.5% over the years, with the value decreasing from 351.53 million USD to 242.04 million USD The proportion of revenue from the Japanese market in 2022 and 2020 is higher than that of the Korean market, with a specific value of 440.98 million USD, and 664.26 million USD, accounting for 6.38%, and 6.86 %.
In general, the turnover of the markets has decreased slightly over the years and the proportion of the markets compared to the overall has not changed too much.
Customers
Currently, the company's biggest customers include direct customers such as Foremart, Hung Long, Hung Yen Jute, Kim Dong, and Unitex… (Hung Yen), Unico, Fineland, Bac Giang Garment, Lang Giang Garment, JMC… (Bac Giang), NamYang, MFG Global (Hai Duong), Ivory, Thai Binh Garment (Thai Binh), Panlof, Apparel Tech, Manson (Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa), Prex Vinh, Namsung (Nghe An), and customers who are logistics enterprises with demand for warehousing services such as Sotrans, KingFreight, VVMV, KMG, Maxspeed, SME
These customers sign purchase contracts with clothing and footwear manufacturers in Vietnam on FOB Da Nang terms Goods will be transferred to the warehouse by sales companies in Vietnam according to the instructions of these customers.
Assessment
The company's leaders not only have long-term experience in the industry but they abo used to work in many countries with developed logistics services in the world, so the company is able to handle problems that arise in the process of service delivery and advises customers on the best option to save time and money.
GVLINK has close partnerships with numerous shipping lines such as Warhai, Hyundai, SITC, Yangming Maersk, Sealand, ZIM, and ONE, and has good contracts with airlines like AirAsia, Lufthansa, Korean Air, Virgin, Thereby, provides good price for customers as well as the possible boarding slots ready to book upon customer's requests.
The company does not take too much capital to invest in buying international transportation vehicles such as ships or aircraft, because it plays the role of the intermediary who signs the contract to buy back freight from international carriers and resells to customers.
Customs services at the company are professionally performed as the business already had existing relationships with Customs, warehouses, and transportation agents, so it is very convenient for procedures to execute.
GVLINK is one of the providers of freight forwarding services n Da Nang that has been granted the Customs agent certificate, the application of ECUSS VNACCS electronic customs declaration for import and export shipments and one of the first units in Vietnam to be granted a Green Freight Asia Green Transport Certificate at Level Two
Most of the customers are friends, acquaintances, and those who have been referred by friends of the company The sales department covers marketing activities, and it still doesn't perform effectively enough to exploit the potential market and attract more customers.
The logistics technology in GVLINK is still weak, it has not applied professional logistics management software to the company's business activities such as FMS, Mona Logistics, and FAST, The organization's capital scale is small (the charter capital in 2020 is 7,2 billion VND) Due to low equity capital and high bank loan balance, bank interest accounts for most of the operating costs of the business
The tracking system for the shipment during the transport process often occurs errors, thus customers sometimes find it hard to schedule for proper sending receipt,storage, and distribution plans.
CHAPTER3 - SOLUTION TO IMPROVE THE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH SEA FREIGHT FORWARDING
SERVICE QUALITY AT GVLINK COMPANY
Viewpoints and goals to improve the quality of freight forwarding
3.1.1 Perspectives on improving the quality of freight forwarding services.
GVLINK's vision is "Leading Logistics Provider in Vietnam - to become the leading freight forwarding service provider in Vietnam." "Leading" on 3 factors:
(1) Business - gain a position in a particular market
(3) Environment - a working school that is not tied to politics
The improvement of service quality must aim at creating value for customers, satisfying customers' needs while maximizing profits, enhancing company values, and corporate culture, and ensuring the interests of employees and shareholders. Improving the quality of freight forwarding services of the Company must be planned on two main bases: Results of analysis of internal resources of the enterprise (including human resources, facilities, ) and the results of customer perception analysis in the process of using freight forwarding services In which, the consolidation and development of resources towards improving satisfaction and meeting customer needs is the decisive factor; at the same time, strengthening links and cooperation with agents and related parties is also important.
3.1.2 The Company's goal of developing freight forwarding services.
About the overall goal: Consolidate and develop resources towards improving satisfaction, meeting customer needs, improving the quality of freight forwarding services, on that basis, increasing market share with revenue growth and Profit to become the leading freight forwarding service provider in Vietnam.
- Invest in developing infrastructure, fleet of container trucks, especially in the central region such as VSIP Quang Ngai, Quang Binh Apply information technology suitable to the field of Logistics and other fields.
- Improve professionalism in providing freight forwarding services from a and foster professional skills Building corporate culture associated with the development of the Company in order to enhance the prestige and brand of GVLINK at home and abroad.
- Provide the most effective freight forwarding solution, which focuses on optimizing the cost and time of transportation Committed to timely information sharing and timely delivery Free consulting service, saving customers' time and money, increasing the reliability and responsiveness of GVLINK.
Some suggestions
From the theoretical study, combined with the actual business activities of the Company, the results of the quality survey, the Company's views and service development goals, the author makes 5 suggestions, related to the Company's service development To ensure and improve the quality of the Company's freight forwarding services based on the factors that customers care about, tangible material factors, solutions that create customer's trust, ensure the delivery of goods and services pandemic service as promised, and competitive price.
The physical factor is one of the components that have the strongest influence on the customer's perception of service quality To complete and improve the physical component, GVLINK needs solutions to equip facilities, improve machinery and equipment, and apply IT to processes related to the Company's operations Thereby increasing competitiveness with competitors in the Vietnamese market Some of the suggested issues are as follows:
The characteristics of freight forwarding services, employees and customers mostly communicate via the Internet, so the network system and related machines need to be invested in and upgraded.
-Upgrading high-speed internet, computer software, copiers, printers, and fax machines are basic but important steps.
-Fix the status of connection errors, software errors, and damaged machines to avoid interrupting and creating unexpected situations while working.
-Replace new machinery and equipment: computers and copiers are too old to be used to overcome slow data processing, avoiding having to spend time waiting for the computer to operate.
The application of information technology in the enterprise helps the information flow in the enterprise to be transparent, up-to-date, and uninterrupted, to optimize and increase productivity, and to improve service quality For customers, the Company's application of information technology will help self- update information to create reliability and assurance level for customers.
Currently, GVLINK has a relative information technology infrastructure with basic computer software such as excel, external purchase of accounting software, and electronic customs declaration software Business information flow is updated via Outlook and official expense channels such as Zalo,
Electronic interchange (EDI) systems should be considered for application in company operations because of their benefits in supply chain management EDI system helps to save costs for businesses, improve processing speed and accuracy in transactions, and is an important transaction method in B2B e-commerce Using new software always requires a lot of exploitation efforts from the departments. Once EDI is used smoothly, work productivity will be significantly increased, the Company will receive many benefits from EDI, helping to provide better freight forwarding services to customers.
With the freight forwarding contracts that GVLINK has, the GVLINK fleet with 11 tractors is responsible for transporting goods from industrial zones (customer's factories) to major ports in Vietnam such as Hai Phong, Tien Sa port; and vice versa In addition, GVLINK's fleet of vehicles also transports across borders mainly in Laos at Lao Bao (Quang Tri) and Cha Lo (Quang Binh) border gates.
In the context of the epidemic, lack of supplies, and the sharp increase in international oil prices, the fleet situation is not very positive Some solutions to this problem:
- Liquidation of vehicles that are too old and too old and obsolete to meet transportation requirements.
-Promoting marketing to businesses, especially other export manufacturing enterprises, so that they can sign many transport contracts because these businesses often have a stable and regular source of goods, helping to reduce the burden heavy daily depreciation expenses.
- Closely associated with other forwarding companies to be able to effectively exploit the consolidation of retail goods in domestic transportation.
3.2.2 About staff recruitment and training
For GVLINK, people are always an important factor in determining the quality of services provided by businesses Employees are the bridge between the business and the customer, the factor between the company's ability to provide services and the customer's satisfaction Because of that, the Company focuses on developing human resources with good expertise, good communication, serious and professional working spirit and attitude Human resource development policies should cover everything from recruitment and training to solutions to motivate and improve the Company's culture.
- Right from the recruitment stage, the Company should have a strict selection step, suitable candidates with the following conditions: high professional qualifications, talent, youthful vigor, and dynamism That creates opportunities for training and development later For sales staff who are in direct contact with customers, it is necessary to have ethics, good communication skills, and the appearance factor is also one of the advantages to be considered.
-Continue to implement a short-term internship program to attract many potential candidates to become full-time employees There are plans to attract workers from outside and from universities.
For sales staff, capturing the market is extremely important Currently,GVLINK has weekly meetings to discuss freight rates and markets to update information and exchange issues in the process of providing freight forwarding services to customers Some other recommendations are as follows:
-Every year, employees should participate in professional training courses: in English, and computer skills to improve their skills and ability to improvise, especially for employees who directly interact with customers additional skills in communication methods, serving customers in real situations, and limiting errors in the processing of documents.
-Organize training in basic knowledge including training programs of IATA, FIATA, dangerous goods regulations, how to pack goods, insurance, complaints, and current and revised laws of the state to help employees quickly grasp the experience, and basic knowledge in a sure way to make a strong impression on customers in the first contact with customers.
Employees who have faith, attachment, and dedication to the Company will serve customers better, contributing to improving the quality of services that businesses provide Due to the characteristics of the industry, when the employee is the focal point of business, the customer relationship leaving will lead to the company losing the number of customers, so the human resource policy should be paid due attention GVLINK needs to:
- There is a timely reward system for employees with excellent performance at work, "hot bonus" for individual cases where customers are praised by name, negotiating large contracts The commendation should be public and fair.
-Create opportunities for qualified employees to transparently advance to key positions in the business.
Conclusion
Through using quantitative research for the assessment of customer satisfaction with sea freight forwarding service quality, the research has identified and evaluated the factors affecting customer satisfaction with sea freight forwarding service quality at GVLINK company and analyze factors with which the business is satisfied or not satisfied That is a basis to propose some recommendations and to further improve the level of customer satisfaction at GVLINK company The study result does not only help the company's managers recognize the level of customer satisfaction with the sea freight forwarding service quality that the company provides but it is also the basis to plan appropriate strategies to improve service quality, enhance customer satisfaction, attract new customers, increase competitiveness in today's market and expand market share for business.
Limitations
Although the author has made great efforts in the process of carrying out research, this study is not immune to certain shoncomings and finations One limitation is that the author builds a research model based on ROPMIS sale by Thai (2008), which is a suitable model that can be applied in all types of services in Vietnam's shipping industry There are many studies on customer satisfaction about SFF service quality that build models based on this scale, but the concepts in the ROPMIS scale ca be confusing for respondents and the selection, including the factors related to the wa freight forwarding process into the 5 components of the scale can partly affect the quality of the data collected, leading to a decrease in the relability and instability of observed variables
Furthermore, the study mainly focuses on analyzing customer satisfaction about sea freight forwarding service at GVLINK company with a sample size of
59, the naber of samples included in the analysis is only 55 samples Usually, previous research has a sample size of 100 and more, but due to lenitations in accessing customers as well as the confidentiality of the company's information, the number of questionnaires generated is quite strall, which leads to a rather small sample se Moreover, the sample is selected by random sampling method, so the representativeness of the sample is not high Consequently, the significance level of the model is still low It is essential to have further studies in the future with a larger sample size and broader research scope to verify.Finally, after research scale is established, it has been consulted only by the staff from the forwarding department, who directly perform the work, but it has not been surveyed with experts in the related industry and some representative customers Therefore, the following studies may consider these survey objects.
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