Understanding Customer Satisfaction

In its simplest sense, customer satisfaction refers to a customer being satisfied for the service or goods s/he opts for. To do so, the service provider should meet the user’s expectations. Unless a service taker feels something is amiss, customer satisfaction seldom takes place. Eventually, enterprises are profit driven ventures. Hence, an unsatisfied customer significantly affects an enterprise’s financial inflow. As a result, in modern business era, which is fueled with neck-to-neck competition between organizations on diverse platforms, (ranging from social media to advertisements to Corporate Social Responsibilities), customer satisfaction is the key mantra.

In their article, “The three Cs of customer satisfaction: Consistency, consistency, consistency” authors Alfonso Pulido, Dorian Stone and John Strevel argue that sustaining an audience is hard. As a result, the writers express, that to sustain an audience, an enterprise requires a “consistency of thought, of purpose, and action over a long period of time.” They argue that while managers generally tend to look down upon consistency, the writers think otherwise. They opine that as customers are ever increasingly voicing their satisfaction and seeing to it that the service or product they use meets their expectations, one cannot, in no way, refrain from customer satisfaction. To do so, enterprises need to focus on consistency, the writers argue. Indeed, “(a) satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all,” Michael LeBoeuf, American Businessman and author rightly said to highlight the importance of customer satisfaction.

For me, as a consumer, key issues that seek consistency are: consistent business policies, service quality, service delivery and communication.  To elaborate the four, a consistent business policy means that an institution knows what it is doing. For example, sale of Classmate notebooks in India are far superior to other notebooks. The reason: Classmate has joined hands with a social cause. With each notebook a person buys, 2 rupees goes to educating the poor. Here, a buyer feels satisfied on two ways: firstly, the notebook is of superior quality for the price. Secondly, she has supported for a social cause.

Likewise, I believe that service quality and service delivery are two wheels of a cart in marketing. In this competitive world, no individual pays for two things: poor quality and poor service delivery. A quality service with slow service delivery or, a quick service delivery with poor quality is something that industries have to guard themselves against. Hence, industries should maintain consistent quality of a service. If possible, they should add on to their services to give them the edge. Secondly, with quality, they should also have quick service delivery. The reason, I believe is simple: people now want quality things; quicker. Service delivery, moreover, relies on the ways a service is rendered. As people continually have lesser free time, people are drifting away from traditional service usage of queeing. People now want efficiency and action in best possible quickest means: cell phones, World Wide Web, social media. Hence, the better and stronger the service delivery with quality service, the more satisfied a customer tends to be.

Lastly, but another important aspect of customer satisfaction is communication. One of the key marketing strategies is to stay in touch with its customers. An enterprise first, must effectively communicate its vision to the masses. Secondly, they have to ensure that customers understand their meaning as stated through queries via emails, phone call or surveys. Finally, they continually need to stay in touch with their audience, even after a customer buys or uses a service.  Hence, customer satisfaction are important for 6 reasons.

-          It is a leading indicator of consumer repurchase intentions and loyalty -          It is a point of differentiation -          It reduces customer churn -          It increases customer lifetime value -          It reduces negative word of mouth -          It is cheaper to retain customers than to acquire new ones (http://blog.clientheartbeat.com/why-customer-satisfaction-is-important/)

Some theories of Customer Satisfaction:

The Dissonance Theory:  The theory suggests that a person who expected a high-value product and received a low value product would recognize the disparity and experience a cognitive dissonance (Cardozzo, 1965). What this means is, when a customer uses a service which is assumed to be of superior quality, but ends up to be inferior, the customer tends to repent on the time and price she has paid to use the service. It then creates a psychological discomfort between a customer and a product.

The Contrast Theory: The theory is opposite to the dissonance theory. The theory expresses that when a product falls short to a customer’s expectation, the contrast between expectation and outcome will lead customers to exaggerate the disparity (Yi, 1990). The theory maintains that a customer who receives a product less value than expected, will magnify the difference between the product expected and the product received (Cardozzo, 1965)

The Comparison Theory: The theory maintains that there are numerous detriments for a customer to opt for one service or product against others. When dealing with customer satisfaction, the theory argues to look upon the following areas; 1) consumers’ prior experiences with similar products, 2) expectations produced by a situation (those created by advertisements and promotional efforts) and 3) the experience of other consumers who serve as referent persons. The theory argues that prior to using any service or product, consumers compare against other products, user opinions, referrals, advertisements and so forth.

‘KABI’ LAMA: NOT A POET, BUT AN ARTIST

When the 2011 Tsunami ravaged Japan, a young Nepali artist was stuck in Tokyo—stranded and in oblivion. With limited food supply, closed shopping centers and radiation leaking from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant, the artist had nowhere to go. “My parents cried and asked me to come back home.  Yet, even when I said that I would pay twice the amount for the airfare, I couldn’t get a ticket,” Kabi Lama shared.

An art student who had gone to pursue his Masters in Painting at the University of Tokyo, Japan, destiny had another fate waiting. Lama, when he came back with his degree to become Nepal’s only lithograph artist.

Although Lama is now proud at his achievement, it was not so when he decided to pursue a degree in lithography. “In the beginning, it was extremely difficult,” Lama shared adding that at some point of time he even regretted his decision to pursue lithography.

In his own words, Lama said that the beginning was a “torture”. “I had gone to study painting and I was learning science—chemicals and their properties,” Lama shared in his studio, a kilometer away from Boudha Stupa.

“Science had never been my cup of tea and I was there, in my class learning something that I detested. To it, language too became a barrier,” Lama said.

Although Lama made very good paintings, when he went to print, the images would all turn black. “For six months, my paintings were ruined and I was frustrated. I threw my paintings. I even spoke to my professor and shared that I wouldn’t be able to do it,” Lama shared.

However, rather than accepting Lama’s proposal to quit, his professor, Shibuya Kazuyoshi offered him a tip of advice – to experiment with different stones and immerse into self study. “My professor, who had spent four years in Germany researching stones, is an expert in lithography and he is extremely respected in Japan,” Lama shared of his professor.

Lama then took his professor’s advice and then, his journey towards being Nepal’s only lithography artist started. “I studied chemical properties and experimented with a lot of stones. I would write down the details on my notepad for reference. I then came to find out that each stone had different chemical properties, a reason why my paintings would turn black,” Lama shared.

By the end of the first year, with guidance from professor Kazuyoshi and his self study, Lama’s paintings started to turn out as he wanted. “That was the happiest moment of my life,” Lama shared.

 Lithography is derived from two Greek words, Litho meaning stone and Graphia meaning writing. “In its simplest terms, lithography means writing on stones,” Lama shared.

Lithography was invented by German author, Alphonse Louis Poitevin in 1796 AD.  The process of creating a lithography art is physically draining, Lama shared. “You will need to level the limestone manually and draw images. Even a millimeter of unevenness will ruin best art. Since its base is greasy, we have to wear gloves as even a bit of sweat from your finger tip would be absorbed and would come out on the final print,” Lama said about his subject.

“Once the sketch is completed, it is treated by nitric acid and gum, a process called planography. Then a canvas is kept in a machine which then presses the stone to form images on the canvas,” Lama shared, adding that while drawing, one would need to draw mirror images. “While printing, it would come as a straight image.”

Success is never by luck. It rather is through continuous hard work and by overcoming obstacles. “My parents were never happy when I said I wanted to get into painting. Like every parent would want from a child, my parents wanted me to have a good career, not a field that was extremely difficult to survive on. Hence, it was extremely difficult for me to make them understand. Only when they got a closer look at my paintings and saw them being brought by those who appreciated it did they understand,” Lama, who currently works as a visiting faculty in at WLC College, Gaushala said.

Although Lama entered into lithography by luck, worked hard to be where he now stands. “While Japan has excellent education, Tokyo is also one of world’s most expensive cities,” Lama shared adding that there seldom were opportunities for students to employment. “You have to do manual work, and before I was offered a teaching assistantship, I worked as a manual worker for two years,” Lama said.

Physical work, both at his work and at his Masters program consumed him. “I slept very less and at a time, it even started to become draining. It was then I realized that wherever I went, I was battling with my identity wherever I went. My realization was so profound that I started to replicate my life in my artwork. From 2011 AD till the end of 2013 AD, I then created the Identity series,” Lama shared.

After four years in Japan, Nepal was calling him. “After I booked my tickets, I suddenly came to realize that I wouldn’t be able to do lithography in Nepal. I immediately approached my professor and asked him if he would allow me to use the studio for a week. With time tickling every second, I did an experimental Action Series,” Lama shared. “Action series includes whole body movement. One of my action series was bought by Suresh Vaidya for Rs. 200,000, my most expensive painting so far.” Lama shared.

Media in social development

What do media refer to? General understanding sees it synonymous to journalism—news that is printed on newspapers, broadcast on television and radio and hosted on the website. My encounters with my friends and relatives have produced the same result, to a larger extent. Hence, it becomes crucial to distinguish between media and journalism. While journalism is a part of media, mass media, abbreviated as media, is a larger picture comprising all forms of mass media used to disseminate mass media content. To elaborate, media is not just the Press, but also other forms of mass media genres and their content, including movies, documentaries, videos, infotainment amongst others. What it means is, while mass media is limited, media content is diverse and incorporating to modern times.

As I mentioned before, mass media is a platform that is used to disseminate mass media content. While the World Wide Web has significantly challenged this one way flow in recent times, especially after the upsurge of social networking sites like Facebook and micro blogging Twitter, I will stick to traditional media platforms (Television, Radio and Print) for this article.

Students who have pursued their Bachelors or Masters degrees in Journalism and Mass Communication are often familiar with the history of media—the invention of Gutenberg Press in 16^th century has been linked with the foundation of modern journalism. Airwaves invented by Marconi was pivotal for radio and later was incorporated for television after (ABC)’s ingenious idea to incorporate airwaves with video. The invention of media, as one can see, intertwines with developments in journalism.  Hence, media often becomes been misunderstood for journalism and vice versa.

Regardless, of the history, researches in the field of media studies and journalism have time and again proved the impact media (here, traditional media) have on the people. Communication researches in the early and late 20^h century, like the Shannon and Weaver’s model, Two-step model, The Hyperdermic model amongst others have highlighted the power media possesses to affect individuals.

Likewise, while modern researches done by the likes of Roberts and Bachen (1981), Hearold (1986) and others now contend that media does not affect individuals as it was initially thought of, citing various criteria’s: media literacy, knowledge, literacy, exposure, socio-cultural and economic values amongst others; they nonetheless agree that media does influence. Hence, it would not be wrong to say that media and its content can be used for development.

Media creates love as much as it creates hatred or resentment. It creates hope as much as it creates desperation. It strengthens love and friendship as much as it fuels enmity or anti-sentiments. Media tailors all of these human values to create an impact. Hence, we act and react to certain contents. For example, rape or adversities evoke feelings of helplessness, prosperity evokes hope for ourselves, romantic movies make us think of our loved ones and make us compare our love to that in the movies. We express such reactions because we have been affected by the media content. Hence, it would be impossible, if not improbable, to say that individuals exposed to media content would not be able to be affected.

Having seen the thread of effect, we can easily apply it for development. While some contend that media is only a reflection of the society, it also tends to enforce or bring in new concepts and trends in a society. For example, three decades ago, we did not even know of Burger. But now, burger has become a part of our lives. When strangers meet, they are likely to acquaint themselves over a bottle of beer as much as they would do with coffee or tea in the past.

Hence, media content can be used for development and to forecasting future as much as it can be used for depicting or reminding what our society is about; depravity, hopelessness, resentment and statelessness.

Western action movies (which to a larger extent becomes American movies) woe us by the patriotism of American soldiers, their willingness to die for saving a single individual. We immediately look into Nepal Army—something Nepalese know extremely less of. We wonder if our state would also do the same and stay quiet with disappointment. War movies produced by the West and our Southern neighbor India has helped produce patriotism as well as rivalry in their citizens. India is seen against Pakistan, The United States and its NATO allies are seen against the Communist.

All of these examples probably help us to retrospect and introspect our national media content that finds its place in media. It is high time that media be used extensively to promote development and create positive change. While every Nepalese is pinning hopes of a constitution which would lead the nation towards stability, it would be erroneous from the media (to be understood in larger context) to sideline other developmental aspects of our society. Nepalese movies should work to identify Nepal, its beauty and diversity. It should urge us to denounce violence as a form of patriotism. It should help us to live in mutual co-existence and respect to one other, regardless of caste, class, gender or ethnicity.

To conclude, Nepal has greatly been less aware of its power to influence and create change. It is seen as synonymous to journalism and very less, as an agent of social change. While media content investors might blame it for the lack of audience or economic constraints, I would see it because we fear to try something that’s never been tried. We look for profits on-the-go rather than learning from the losses. Hence, Nepalese media should work to change societies in a positive way by being able to context sensitive. It is through such responsible acts that they will be always remembered.

THE ROAD FORWARD: ISLAM AND TERRORISM

From the basement, the murmur and footsteps coming from the ground floor sounded like a victorious military march. As they came closer to the low lit two feet wide passage, their faces and clothes got visible. They were wearing salwar kameez, pants and shirts. At the door, the once empty passage steadily filled with slippers and shoes. They then entered inside the hall covered with red carpets.

As the clock slowly crossed 4:15 PM, more and more audible sounds of chatter and footsteps could be heard. On the basement of Mandela Hostel at Sharda University, it was time for the third prayer for the Muslim, the Asr, one of the five praying times. The other four are Fajr, Dhuhr, Maghrib and Isha.

After around 20 minutes of silence, except the cohesive sounds of movements when they bowed down or stood up during prayers, they walked out of the Masjid. Once again, the two feet wide passage filled with sounds. This time, the sounds faded.

Rabiu Abdul Kadir and Ayman Aminu, both 25 and from Nigeria were two of the 80 Muslims who prayed on Monday (Nov. 3) at the Masjid. The former in white salwar kameez and the latter, in jeans and t-shirt expressed that Islam meant “submission to only One God, Allah and believe that prophet Muhammad was the last messenger of Allah.” Both Mr. Kadir and Mr. Aminu agreed that there is no deity worthy of worshiping except Allah.

As terrorists, in the name of Islam continue to spread violence and killing of innocent people across the world, Muslims believe that their religion is losing its beauty. (A 2014 UN report stated in the past eight months, more than 24,000 people have been injured or killed by ISIS.) As a result, they argue that the religion should open up to modernity. However, some, on the other hand argue otherwise. Mr. Kadir opined that the teaching of Islam were universal and are suitable for any time.

OPENING UP

 “A Muslim submits himself to Allah and to what is written in the Holy Quran without doubt because it is the eternal truth,” Mr. Kadir expressed, adding that “whoever expressed doubt was not a Muslim.”

The 21^st century has been blessed with inventions and discoveries. These inventions and discoveries have, in turn, eased the world to know and understand what was unknown before. Powerful and economically rich nations devote billions of dollars for research and development. In 2013, the Obama administration devoted $140.8 billion alone.

While such inventions are accepted with more awe than doubt, Mr. Kadir and Mr. Aminu take a retreat. They highlighted conditions before accepting such inventions and expressed that Islam had already mentioned such inventions 1400 years ago.

“Any new discoveries are tallied with what is written in Quran. If it is mentioned, we accept. But if the finding are not mentioned, we think twice before accepting,” Mr. Kadir elaborated.

“In the first case, even if inventions are not written in Quran, and if they do not contradict anything that is written in the Quran, we accept it. In the second case, anything that is not mentioned in the Quran and that also contradicts the Holy Quran, are to be rejected.”

However, views vary. Sheik Hassan, 25 (name changed) argues the contrary. Mr. Hassan argues that Islam is suffering because of the silence that people have been enforced in the name of religion. “We should question everything that is written in the religion,” Mr. Hassan argued.

“We should be guided by reasons.  These reasons should be within the context of the modern world. Quran was written long time ago and things have changed. Quran was written at a time when there were no countries and societies and law. Now, we have nations, laws and societies.

“By sticking to what is written in the Quran, we are forgetting the first verse, Al Kalam, which urges Muslims to ‘Read.’ What ‘Read’ means is to cultivate the ability to think and to be rational,” Mr. Hassan said.

By questioning, Mr. Hassan suggested that each Muslim should introspect themselves and ask if this is the Islam they want for themselves and their children. Moreover, Mr. Hassan argued that it was important that Muslims came together to redefine their religion to the world.

“We need to properly represent Islam through media, cinema music and not by weapons,” Mr. Hassan said.

Mr. Khalid Akhtar, editorial research consultant with India’s state run media, Door Darshan, argued that Islam was losing its beauty in modern age due to politics and distorted interpretations. He argued that politics and religion should be independent of each other.

Moreover, Mr. Akhtar opined that scholars should sit together and discuss and debate over the interpretations of the Quran and come up with the conclusions that fit modern times. 

However, the thirst for power is limitless. The clerical classes, especially religious preachers, do not want to lose their grip on the society. As a result, the clerical classes become adamant towards reforms. Eventually, the scholarly voices, Mr. Akhtar argued, gets suppressed and silenced.

ORIGINAL QURAN, NOT A CUP OF TEA

Quran was originally written in classic Arabic, which is not everyone’s cup of tea and only highly fluent people can read it in its original text, Mr. Akhtar opined.

“As a result, the Quran was rewritten and reinterpreted in simple and different languages by Imams of different countries. The rewriting was based on what the Imams themselves understood of the original Quran which was written in classic Arabic,” Mr. Akhtar expressed.

Researches and developments in the field of psychology and cognitive developments is increasingly highlighting how individuals act or react to certain message. One of the theories of reading, the Reader-response theory argues that any reading of a text is valid. The theory believes that each individual has different understanding of the text due to various factors like family, surrounding, culture, tradition, lifestyle amongst others.

However, the theory maintains that the “Reader” is defined as an imaginary person who reads the text exactly the way it was written—being careful of the stated, the implied, the grammar and the context, without having any biases. These researches have concluded that reading of the same text by the same person in different setting tends to produce different interpretations.

These personalities affect how an individual reacts and interprets a text. The four interpretations of Quran are no different, Mr. Akhtar explained.

“Yes, Quran is sacred but the interpretations were made by Imams who interpreted on their own understandings. As a result, so far we have four interpretations of the Quran. While we cannot change anything that is written in the Quran, we can always improve our understanding and interpretations in light to modern times,” Mr. Akhtar said.

JIHAD, ONE WORD, DIFFERENT VIEWS

Followers of Islam are divided on what Jihad means. Mr. Kadir and Aminu define it as self defense. They further expressed that death of a person during self defense was permissible. However, Mr. Hassan defined Jihad as a struggle and shared that Jihad Alnafs, (the ability to control oneself and their desire and senses and how they treated other living beings), is the highest form of jihad.

In their article, “Jihad: A Misunderstood concept from Islam”, authors Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani and Shaykh  Seraj Hendricks expressed that while the Arabic word was often translated as “holy war,”  “in a purely linguistic sense, the word ‘jihad’ meant struggling or striving.” The authors argued that in a religious sense, as described by the Quran and teachings of Prophet Muhammad, jihad had many meanings. “It could be referred to internal as well as external efforts to be a good Muslims or believer, as well as working to inform people about the faith of Islam.”

 ‘ISLAMIC MILITANT GROUP’ OR ‘TERRORIST’ OR ‘WARRIORS OF ISLAM’?

Views continue to be divided on whether to call the groups that are spreading violence across the world as “Islamic militant group” or as “terrorist.” While the larger population calls them both, some contend that lines are blurred. The Oxford Dictionary, 2014 defines terrorist as “a person who uses terrorism in the pursuit of political aims. Terrorism, the Dictionary continues to define, is “the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.”

Mr. Kadir expressed that while he personally, he could not come up with saying if these groups were “terrorists” or “warriors of Islam”.   Nonetheless, he agreed that there were some principles of Islam that they had failed to follow. Mr. Kadir expressed that although “these groups” were acting in the name of Jihad or self defense, they nevertheless were against the concept of jihad. Mr. Aminu expressed that these groups were “transgressing the limits of Islam” by killing innocent people.

However, Mr. Hassan did not hesitate to identify them as terrorists. “I do not think that they are representatives of Islam. Not at all,” Mr Hassan expressed.

“Warriors?” Mr. Hassan said rhetorically. “Warriors have something to fight for. These terrorists have nothing to fight for. They are blood thirsty people. If their cause was justified and if they were warriors, they would  not use kids and teenagers as shields for their cause. They would not trade women, bomb public spaces and kill innocent people. These terrorists don’t justify Islam. Not at all,” Mr. Hassan gasped, adding, “They are like cancer. The longer you keep, the more it spreads across your body. You can’t cure it. The only way you can stop its spread is by amputation.”

However Mr. Akhtar remarked that it was a catch. He argued that “while some of the demands these terrorist groups have made seem reasonable (as in the case of Israel and Palestine where both the nations are looking for a solution to the problem of land and fighting for their existence), their action of killing innocent people to achieve their goals under the name of Islam was not justified.” 

Likewise, the Iraqis have been protesting because they want American and other Western troops to go away from their land. Iraqis see Western selfish interests as a cause of their internal suffering and destruction, Mr. Akhtar added.

A WIDENING GAP?

As the global media continually reports increasing numbers of violence where innocent Muslims and other people are killed in the streets of Middle East, people feel that the gap between the Muslim and the non-Muslim community is widening.

The widening gap is a catch: as long as the Muslim community does not stop violence and killing of innocent people, the world would further discriminate Muslims. And as long as the world does not change their view of how they look at Muslims, the Muslim community cannot stop violence.

Moreover, developing nations are continually fighting for a religion based identity. The rise of Narendra Modi and his right wing Bharat Janta Party (BJP) in last year’s general election of India was interpreted as a triumph for the followers of Hinduism. Believers of Hinduism in India urged Modi and his party to call India as a “Hindu Rastra”. Similarly, rightwing Rastra Prajatantra Party of Nepal also advocated for reverting Nepal back to Hindu Rastra from a secular country after BJP came into power in its Southern neighbor, India.

Mr. Akhtar argued that religion and politics should never be intertwined. “Religion is a private affair. Politics should be separate from religion and vice versa,” Mr. Akhtar said, adding that “societies and nations needed to be accommodative and representative of all religions, castes and classes. In order to do so, governments should positively discriminate to increase popular participation.”

THE WAY FORWARD

Every year, developed countries spend billions of dollars to counter terrorism. The United States alone spent $16 billion in 2013. From 2001 as of 2014, America has spent more than $1.5 trillion, all to no avail. Terrorism, unlike planned, is continues to grow. Every year, new factions emerge killing hundreds and thousands of innocent people. Global economies continually collapse and countries even get engrossed into Civil War.

After the Arab Spring, Syria went into a civil war. The conflict between Shia, Sunna and the Hutis in Yemen is creating a political deadlock. Israel and Palestine have been striving for existence without any compromise.

In such light, views are turning to constructive counter terrorism approaches. These propagators are arguing that rather than spending billions of dollars in weapons, nations should invest in education and schools and creating employment. “We don’t need mosques. We need schools where we can learn freely. Schools which give us platform to raise queries, clear our doubts and understand better,” Mr. Hassan said.

Mr. Hassan and Mr. Akhtar argued that every individual and society needs to work together for the way forward. They argue that both need to trust the other. Apart from reporting negative images of Muslim, media also needs to convey positive images of good Muslims and positively discriminate them from the terrorists.

“Scholars should sit together and ponder upon the four interpretations and its validity in modern age. They should make reforms on practices and adjust according to modern times.”

Nonetheless, Mr. Akhtar maintained that modernity was subjective and needed clear definitions. “However, any form of regression to a society in the name of modernity should be discarded.”

Similarly, the Muslim community should also work towards peace. Moreover, Mr. Hassan argues that in modern age, with education and wider global exposure, individuals should be guided by reason and not by what is written. “We need to ask if it is applicable in modern day or not. If it is not, we should let it go.”

“In its core, Islam is respects freewill,” Mr. Hassan said.

(Names have been changed to protect the identity of individuals in light of potential threats.)