How to increase customers commitment and loyalty to the products Research Paper

How to increase customers commitment and loyalty to the products - Research Paper Example Commitment, as Jones et al. outline, has some specific characteristics. First of all, it is targeted – a person can be committed to different things, including company’s product or the company itself. The subject of the commitment is, thus, what connects an individual with the organization through the person’s psychological attachment. Secondly, commitment may take different forms. Among them are affective, normative and continuance commitment. Each type of commitment has a different psychological basis. Finally, each of the three types of commitment generates â€Å"different effects on various relationship-related outcomes†. This means that, depending on which type of commitment a customer experiences, the individual is more or less likely to be willing to maintain the relationship with the subject of commitment. Similarly, the type of commitment determines how loyal that individual is to the brand or company, and how likely he or she is to abandon the br and or company. Affective commitment, according to Gruen, Summers and Acito can be defined as a degree of customer’s psychological attachment to the commitment target. This type of commitment is based on customer’s positive feelings towards the subject of commitment and is a predictor of such responses as advocacy, co-production, willingness to pay more, as well as the number of purchased items. Therefore, in order to build affective commitment of a customer the company has to make sure its brand, product or service evokes positive associations. Such positive associations can be supported by good company image, its CSR activities, or simply well-designed advertising campaign. Normative commitment is based on person’s feeling of being obliged to the subject of commitment. This feeling is usually evoked by certain social norms and social pressure for acting in a certain manner. Feeling obliged, the customer is more willing to help the company by means of, for instance, paying more for its product, helping in some way or recommending the product to others, thus also helping the organization. This type of commitment is more appropriate for organizations that are able to devote their resources to serving some positive social projects. For instance, a company might tell that it will send part from the received revenue to hungry children of Africa. In this situation an individual might choose this particular company to buy from because he or she feels obliged to help the children. Continuance commitment is based on â€Å"perceived costs associated with terminating the relationship† (Jones et al. 2010, 24). If, for instance, there are no alternatives to some product, or the customer has already invested much into certain company, the customer may feel continuance commitment. The cost of switching to another brand (product, company, etc.) is considered by such a client to be too high. In comparison to emotional affective and moral normative commitment, conti nuance commitment is the most rational form of commitment. Continuance comm

Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Case study - Essay Example Timely delivery of the products to meet the urgent customer needs is paramount over implementing innovation on the currently high demand products and services. When the company does not reach its targeted goals and objectives on time, the company may be forced to close shop. The company culture includes management’s terminating the services of employees who consistently do not meet job performance standards (Daft &Armstrong, 2008). In the same manner, the customers accept the organizational culture that companies sell products to generate profits. Customers understand the sales person’s reply to the current and future customers’ request for a lower selling price stating that the company must sell in order to recover its production costs, selling costs, and other cash outflows (Daft &Armstrong, 2008). Customer culture also includes relying on trust or agreement as well as a viable personal relationship between the organization’s employees and the current an d future customers. The company must not break the customers’ trust by delaying the delivery of the products to the market place. The company must build a personal relationship where the customer’s demands or needs are met in timely manner, without exception (Daft &Armstrong, 2008). Further, innovation of products and services must be grounded on ustomer demands and needs. The innovation must fill the customers’ continually changing needs and wants. ... Consequently, the disgruntled current and future customers may shift to buying their needs and wants from the competitors (Daft &Armstrong, 2008). Question 3. The organization must design a results-based organization structure to ensure a balance between opposing positive goals (Daft &Armstrong, 2008). The company sets standards in order to create synergy among the different goals of the company. Each department must ensure complementary achievement of the two opposing goals. Similarly each employee of every department is mandated to culturally contribute to the accomplishment of the employee’s department goals. The standards are the guidelines. However, there are certain situations in the organizational process where adjustments are required. Sometimes some customers request for certain adjustments. To please the customer, the organizational culture includes incorporating the customers’ requests to incorporate the requested adjustments to the products. Further, the org anization must design a customer-based process (Daft &Armstrong, 2008). The company must empower its line and staff employees to create a synergy between one choice and the other choice. For example, the company should implement customer-requested adjustments to allow some violations or noncompliance with certain established organizational standards. The timely adjustment reduces efficiency requirements and reduces long term effectiveness procedures. The customer may not need a product that took too long to deliver because the company prioritizes accomplishment of long term goals. The company must not eliminate efficiency procedures in order to ensure all long term effectiveness objectives are achieved.