SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARDS VAT CACH PORT’S SERVICE QUALITY

MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION MINISTRY OF EDUCATION & TRAINING VIETNAM MARITIME UNIVERSITY STUDENT NAME: ĐẶNG TUYẾT MAI DISSERTATION GLOBAL STUDIES AND MARITIME AFFAIRS SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARDS VAT CACH PORT’S SERVICE QUALITY HAI PHONG – 2015 MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION MINISTRY OF EDUCATION & TRAINING VIETNAM MARITIME UNIVERSITY STUDENT NAME: ĐẶNG TUYẾT MAI CLASS: GMA02 DISSERTATION GLOBAL STUDIES AND MARITIME AFFAIRS SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARDS VAT CACH PORT’S SERVICE QUALITY Supervisor: Vu Thi Thu Hang Division: Global Studies and Maritime Affairs Faculty: Economics HAI PHONG – 2015 Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality PREFACE The work outlined in this dissertation was carried out at Vat Cach port, where I undertook in internship, over the period from August 2015 to the end of September 2015 I declare that this report is my own unaided work It has not been submitted before If violated, I am solely responsible for and bear the punishments of the Institution and University Student Name and Signature Đặng Tuyết Mai Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This internship report would not be completed without the help and cooperation of the following people First of all, I would like to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to Ms Vũ Thị Thu Hằng and Mr Vũ Lê Huy for the guidelines given, which were very helpful for me to understand and prepare the structure of the report And I would like to thank all staffs of Vat Cach Port joint stock company who gave me necessary help, support and information to complete this report successfully Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE .i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF TABLES v LIST OF FIGURES vi INTRODUCTION  The importance of research .1  Target and research scope .2  Methodology  Research results .2  Layout of the dissertation CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW .3 1.1 Service quality and Port service quality 1.2.1 Service quality 1.2.2 Port service quality 1.2 Customer satisfaction 1.3 Relation between customer satisfaction and port service quality 1.4 RATER model 1.5 Important - Performance matrix CHAPTER 2: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARDS VAT CACH PORT’S SERVICE QUALITY 11 2.1 Introduction about Vat Cach Joint stock company .11 2.1.1 General information 11 Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality 2.1.2 Main services 12 2.1.3 Facility 12 2.1.4 Organizational structure of Vat Cach Port 14 2.2 Evaluation of Customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality 16 2.2.1 Research method 16 2.2.2 Analysis of customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality 19 CHAPTER 3: SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARDS VAT CACH PORT’S SERVICE QUALITY .27 3.1 Identifying and analyzing prioritized factors that need to be improved 27 3.1.1 Factor REL3: “The port always provide service in a consistent manner” 28 3.1.2 Factor REL5: “The port always produces error-free invoice and related documents” 28 3.1.3 Factor A3: “The staff uses the technology quickly and skilfully” 28 3.1.4 Factor RES2: “The port always provides satisfactory answers towards any comments” 30 3.2 Suggestions to improve the service quality of Vat Cach Port 30 3.2.1 Factor REL3: “The port always provides service in a consistent manner” 30 3.2.2 Factor REL5: “The port always produces error-free invoice and related documents” 31 3.2.3 Factor A3: “The staff use the technology quickly and skilfully” 31 Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality 3.2.4 Factor RES2: “The port always provide satisfactory answers towards any comments” 32 CONCLUSION .33 REFERENCE .34 APPENDIX – QUESTIONNAIRES 36 Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality LIST OF TABLES Table Vat Cach port's wharf system 12 Table Quay system .13 Table The number of equipment of Vat Cach Port JSC 13 Table List of variables 17 Table Summary of the customers’ expectation score 19 Table Summary of the customers’ perception score .22 Table Summary of gap score between expectation and perception 24 Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality LIST OF FIGURES Figure Importance-Performance Matrix Figure Vat Cach JSC headquarter .11 Figure Organizational Structure of Vat Cach Port JSC 14 Figure Distribution of the expectation score of these variables 21 Figure Distribution of the perception score of these variables 24 Figure Importance-Performance matrix of individual variables 27 Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality INTRODUCTION  The importance of research It goes without saying that seaports play a vital role in the regional and national economy They are not only the places of loading/unloading cargoes onto/from vessels but also the distribution centers where value-added services take place With the advantage of locating near the international maritime route, maritime transportation plays a crucial role in foreign cargo trading of Vietnam In recent years, because of the Government’s open policies as well as the high growth rate of national economy, the amount of cargoes traded through ports in Vietnam has increased dramatically The number of ships docking at Vietnamese ports also rose, leading to the high demand for services supporting for those ships Although the volume of exporting and importing cargoes through Vietnamese ports increased rapidly, especially containerized cargoes, majority of Vietnamese ports are still considered not to utilize their capacity The location of port, quality of equipment and facility as well as the production management in port and transportation are the elements causing the delay of ships docking at Vietnamese ports, reducing cargo handling capacity, hence reducing the attraction of Vietnamese ports to ships from outside In addition, Vietnamese ports also reveal several drawbacks, namely the outdated equipment and facility which have been used for years without being invested to upgrade or improve Consequently, those equipment and facility are easy to be broken and cost a long time for repairing Other related factors can be named as the relatively high price and staff with insufficient ability in handling cargoes, causing loss or damage to cargoes and low level of satisfaction among customers During the time doing internship at Vat Cach Port Join Stock Company, by interview and through self-observation, I noticed that the company is well aware of the importance to improve service quality in order to acquire higher satisfactory level among their Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality  Factor REL5: “The port always produces error-free invoice and related documents”  Factor A3: “The staff uses the technology quickly and skilfully”  Factor RES2: “The port always provides satisfactory answers towards any comments” 3.1.1 Factor REL3: “The port always provide service in a consistent manner” The customers’ perception is 3.531 The gap score is (-0.657) indicating that customers are not satisfied To provide a service in a consistent manner means the company should have a steady and reliable way in carrying out the services they promise Normally, in order to ensure that the provided services are performed in a common and consistent way, companies have to build procedure for those services However, as being asked, the staffs at Vat Cach port either say they have never seen such procedure before or claim that those procedures are not useful and they prefer perform their works by habitual actions This indicates that the procedures built by Vat Cach port are not efficient and as a result, their staffs not find it is necessary to follow them Sometimes employees of the company have to explore, learn and gather additional documentation and methods from colleagues, websites or books by themselves This is the direct reason for the inconsistent manner in providing services of this port 3.1.2 Factor REL5: “The port always produces error- free invoice and related documents” The customers’ perception is 3.719 The gap score is (-0.469) indicating that customers are not satisfied Together with price, invoice and documents related to the services are key indicators and evidences for customers to assess Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page 31 Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality the quality of services provided by a company When it comes to port related works, there are a great number of invoices and documents needed to be conducted While making those documents, errors and mistakes are sometimes unavoidable However, if the problems happening too often, it might make the customers annoyed and hence reduces the reliability of the company in showing their ability to carry out the works 3.1.3 Factor A3: “The staff uses the technology quickly and skilfully” The customers’ perception is 3.281 The gap score is (-0.782) indicating that customers are not satisfied Technology in this case involves both the equipment and facility in the office as well as in the port area For the ability of office staff to use technology in a skillful manner, from my observation, employees in the office of Vat Cach port are provided with personal computer, either desktop or laptop depending on their positions The office is equipped with photocopy and fax machines for supporting their works However, majority of the staffs at Vat Cach port’s office are familiar with only some basic office programs and still struggle to get used with the up-to-date software For instance, from my observation, 23 over 44 employees, acquiring for 53% Vat Cach port’s office staffs, not know how to use Office Outlook – one of the useful programs from Microsoft for office works, even though it has been installed in their computer Staff only have emails recently and are still getting used to some basic functions in e-mails, such as, attaching file or image, forwarding e-mails, drawing table, etc Moreover, from my observation, there are 15 over 44 office staffs in the company not know how to use the machines provided in their office They still have to ask for help from others just to make a copy of a Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page 32 Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality document or fax a report to their customers Those are only easy works but if it is too time consuming, it can make customers feel annoyed When it comes to the ability of staff at port area to use equipment and facility, it is difficult to define what quickness and skillfulness mean While the satisfactory level of customers for how quickly Vat Cach staffs carry out their jobs can be measured by the amount of time they need to finish a specific task, the fact that how skillfully they perform is debatable Normally, customers not present at the site to see how staffs of the port operate equipment and machines to handle their cargoes The low score in perception of customers might come from their assessment after the works have been done, meaning they base on the final results rather than the working process If the staff at port cannot use the technology and run the machines or equipment at port in a skillful way, they might cause damage to cargoes and loss of time to customers Additionally, from my observation, the technical team at port is in charge of both operating equipment and repairing As a result, the productivity of cargo handling process is affected and the repairing works cannot be carried out timely These are the evidences for customers to base on and give such low perception score for this variable in the survey 3.1.4 Factor RES2: “The port always provides satisfactory answers towards any comments” The customers’ perception is 3.344 The gap score is (-0.781) indicating that customers are not satisfied Reasons for this problem might come from the hierarchical managerial system of Vat Cach port Due to this, staffs cannot make their own decisions and need to report to the director before answering customers Conveyed from the customer to the Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page 33 Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality responsive manager by staffs, the information might be altered and hence causes misunderstanding In some cases, the answers cannot satisfy the customers, consequently, they have to complain again to the staffs and wait for some more time As a result, normally, it takes a lot of time and effort for customers to get the answers that they want for a single issue 3.2 Suggestions to improve the service quality of Vat Cach Port 3.2.1 Factor REL3: “The port always provides service in a consistent manner” As mentioned above, this problems is related directly to the fact that procedures built by the company are not applied effectively by the staffs while carrying out their works Following are some suggestions to improve this situation: - Company should revise and consider their procedures to make it more helpful and applicable into the works of their staffs This action should be performed initially in the sense of ensuring that the procedures are necessary and useful In order to identify and analyze the details that need to be adjusted in those procedures, the managers as well as related department might consider interviewing or surveying staffs that work in the related fields The practical knowledge and experience of those staffs are crucial and essential for making the procedures more suitable and preferable by the direct workers - Company should continue to adopt policies to encourage their employees to work with a sense of responsibility and high motivation They should feel forceful to follow the given procedures while carrying out their works and hence follow them voluntarily - Checking and censure are also necessary while forcing employees to follow and apply procedures into their works One of the reason why Vat Cach port’s employees find it is not Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page 34 Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality essential to use the procedures or even not know about the existence of such procedures is because of the lack of checking from managers Therefore, the company should pay attention to the checking and build certain punishments for the cases in which employees make mistakes because of ignoring the procedures 3.2.2 Factor REL5: “The port always produces error- free invoice and related documents” - The potential solution for this problem should come from the training for improving staffs’ professional level and skills The company should enforce policies to encourage their staffs to - learn and improve their skills At the same time, the company should apply strict regulations related to errors in invoice and document reported by customers Punishments like administrative sanctions shall be the choice, so that employees feel more responsible to the - works they are doing Apart from the solutions involving the employees performing the works directly, tighter management from the supervisors can be helpful as well Double check is always a useful method in controlling errors If the staffs make mistake but as the supervisor and manager revise it again before signing or approval, the error invoice and related documents will be reduced 3.2.3 Factor A3: “The staff use the technology quickly and skilfully” Technology in general and information technology in particular play a crucial role in developing the company’s operation The problem of low ability among staffs of Vat Cach port to use technology effectively is not due to the fact that the company does not provide sufficient equipment or machinery to their staffs It is the low ability of the staff to be blamed Therefore, this problem can be improved by the following ways: Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page 35 Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality - Set up the standard of office skills for new recruited staffs The company might consider apply Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) - Certification as the compulsory condition for their new staffs Staffs should be able to use some basic functions in e-mails like: attaching file or image, forwarding e-mails, drawing table The company should enforce policies to encourage the current staffs to learn and improve their office skills in order to perform their works faster and more skillfully For the staffs working at port, it is essential for the company to conduct a further survey or an interview to get the clear results of customers’ assessments towards their services at port The cargo handling productivity at port depends on various factors, however, there are two major factors which are most affective They consist of the productivity of handling equipment, such as cranes and forklift truck; and the professional level as well as the number of the workers responsible Therefore, the suggested solutions for the problem related to low ability of staffs at port might include the followings: - The company should ensure that their equipment are at good conditions When failures happen, the broken equipment should be repaired immediately and quickly so that it can be back into - work as soon as possible It is also important for the company to monitor, check and have - periodic maintenance plans for their equipment The company should consider hiring more workers, setting up the repairing team in order separate them from the available operating team, so that both of them can work more effectively There should be operating regulations to clarify the works of each person in the team 3.2.4 Factor RES2: “The port always provide satisfactory answers towards any comments” In order to improve this situation, it should be based on the efforts of both the management board as well as the employees working directly with customers Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page 36 Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality - The company should pay attention to collect comments and complaints from customers regularly It is better for the company to ask for the assessments from customers towards the service they provide rather than wait for the customers to - comment There should be policies to encourage employees to study and improve their professional level so that they are able to provide customers with answer whenever questions arise Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page 37 Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality CONCLUSION The purpose of this study is to evaluate the level of customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach Port’s service quality and find the possible limitations in the way that Vat Cach Port is providing services to their customers In order to find those issues, the RATER model and I-P matrix were applied to evaluate feedbacks from customers In conclusion, although Vat Cach port has achieved some accomplishments to provide their customers with better services, there are still some existing limitations that need to be improved Findings also indicate that customers expected more than what they perceive in the services offered by Vat Cach port Overall negative scores show that customers’ expectation has not been met, therefore, the company needs to strive harder to improve most dimensions of their service quality in order to provide higher service quality and achieve better customer satisfaction At the end of the paper, I also gave some suggestions to Vat Cach port for prioritized factors extracted from the I-P matrix Those prioritized factors include Factor REL3 - “The port always provide service in a consistent manner”, Factor REL5 - “The port always produces error-free invoice and related documents”, Factor A3 - “The staff use the technology quickly and skilfully”, and lastly Factor RES2 - “The port always provide satisfactory answers towards any comments” Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page 38 Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality REFERENCE (2002, January 1) Regulations of the People's Republic of China on International Maritime Transportation Abalo, J., Varela, J and Manzano, V (2007) Importance values for Importance-Performance Analysis: A formula for spreading out values derived from preference rankings Journal of Business Research,, 115-121 Business Dictionary (n.d.) Retrieved from Definition: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/customersatisfaction.html Dinh Vu Port Introduction (n.d.) Retrieved from Dinh Vu Port Web site: http://www.dinhvuport.com.vn/vi/gioi-thieu/?lag=en Farris, Paul W.; Neil T Bendle; Phillip E Pfeifer; David J Reibstein (2010) Marketing Metrics: The Definitive Guide to Measuring Marketing Performance Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc Martilla, J and James, J (1977) Importance-Performance Analysis Journal of Marketing, 77-79 Matzler, K., Sauerwein, E and Heischmidt, K (2003) Importance-performance analysis Revisited: the role of the factor structure of customer satisfaction The Service Industries, 112-129 Nigel Hill, John Brierley, Rob MacDougall (2003) How to Measure Customer Satisfaction Gower Publishing, Ltd Nguyen, H (2014, July 28) Chân dung doanh nghiệp Retrieved from Phòng thương mại cơng nghiệp Việt Nam (VCCI) - Văn hóa doanh nhân Web site: http://www.vhdn.vn/chan-dung-dn/cang-dinh-vu-but-pha-tu-loithe/idt109/nid1978.htm Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page 39 Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality 10 Nguyen, T (2015) PORT OPERTATION & MANAGEMENT Vietnam Maritime University 11 Parasuraman, A Z (1985) Conceptual Modal of ServiceQuality and Its Implications for Future Research Journal of Marketing , 49, 41-50 12 Parasurman A., V.A Zeithaml, & L.L Berry (1985) A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future Journal of Marketing, 41-50 13 Service definition (n.d.) Retrieved from Business Dictionary: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/service.html 14 Slack, N (1994) The Importance-Performance Matrix as a Determinant of Improvement International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 59-75 15 Thai, V (2008) Service quality in maritime transport: Conceptual model and empirical evidence Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 493-518 16 Thai, V V (2015) The impact of port service quality on customer satisfaction: The case of Singapore Maritime Econ Logistics 17 The Mind Tools Editorial Team (n.d.) MindTools Retrieved from The RATER Model: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/rater.htm 18 Walter Skok, Andrew Kophamel, Ian Richardson (2001, August) Information & Management, 38(7), 409–419 19 Zeithaml, V.A and Bitner, M.J (2000) Services Marketing: Intergrating Customer Focus across the Firm Boston Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page 40 Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality APPENDIX – QUESTIONNAIRES QUESTIONNAIRES ABOUT CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARDS VAT CACH PORT’S SERVICE QUALITY I am a student of Vietnam Maritime University I am currently conducting a research about customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality I would highly appreciate if you can spend some of your precious time to complete the following questions Please be noted that there is no absolutely right or wrong answers All of you answers are equally valuable to my study I commit to keep your personal information confidential and would not use it for any other purposes outside of this research Question 1: Please indicate your acceptance level for the statements as follows by circling the number Please be noted that there are two questionnaires put together, one involves your expectation and the other expresses your perception: (1: ABSOLUTELY DISAGREE; 2: DISAGREE.; 3: NEUTRAL; 4: AGREE; 5: ABSOLUTELY DISAGREE) No Contents Reliabilities Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page 41 Expectation Level of importance of this item to you Perception Your level of satisfaction with this item Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality The port always provide fast service 5 The port always provide services, deliver and receive cargoes on time 5 The port always provide service in a consistent manner 5 The port always ensure safety and security to our ships/shipments 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 The level of Information Communications Technology applications in customer service at the port is comprehensive Tangibles 5 The appearance of the physical facilities of the company is suitable for the provided services 5 The port always produces error-free invoice and related documents The port demonstrates high level of efficiency in operations and management Assurance 10 The staff in the port always demonstrate good knowledge of our needs and requirements Our employees has the ability to solve unexpected problem The staff use the technology quickly and skilfully Information of customers is always kept confidential by Vat Cach Port 11 12 Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page 42 Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality 13 The staff are well dressed Our employees get sufficient support from company to their jobs well Empathy 15 The port always offers competitive price of service 14 5 5 5 16 It is easy to contact and get access to the staff of Vat Cach port 5 17 The staff in the port always demonstrate good understanding of our needs and requirements and can give back clear and appropriate responses 5 The port always take good care of every customers without being partial Responsiveness 19 The staff in the port always respond quickly to any requests 5 5 20 The port always provide satisfactory answers towards any comments 5 21 The port always collect feedbacks about their services and reflect on their improvement 5 18 Question 2: Please check the type of company you are working for: Type of company Freight forwarders and logistics companies Import-export companies Inland transportation companies Shipping lines Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page 43 Check Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality Maritime transportation enterprises Others Question 3: Please check the frequency of your usage for Vat Cach port’s services per month: Frequency per month Less than times From to 10 times More than 10 times Check Question 4: Could you please provide some personal information as follows: (These are optional questions, you might skip them if you find they are annoying you) Your Sex: company: Your Phone current position: Email: Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page 44 number: Other comments: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you for your support! ... 16 2.2.2 Analysis of customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality 19 CHAPTER 3: SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARDS VAT CACH PORT’S SERVICE QUALITY .27 3.1... GMA02 Page Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality 1.2 Customer satisfaction Customer satisfaction is essential for business success in today's marketplace... to improve service quality in order to acquire higher satisfactory level among their Đặng Tuyết Mai – GMA02 Page Suggestions to improve customer satisfaction towards Vat Cach port’s service quality