Title: Effects of customer services efficiency and market effectiveness on dealer performance

Authors: Rajagopal

Addresses: Graduate Business School (EGADE) Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM), Mexico City Campus, 222, Calle del Puente, Tlalpan, DF 14380, Mexico

Abstract: Market orientation is positively associated with the performance of dealers in terms of customer service quality, sales growth and market share increase. This paper aims to analyse the impact of market orientation strategies and the performance of customer services on customer acquisition, retention and sales of automobiles, which reveals the overall performance of the automobile dealers in Mexico. The discussion in the paper also comprehends the customer-dealer relationship in the automobile market segment referring to the key factors which establish services quality encompassing tangibility, responsiveness, trust, accuracy and empathy. The results of the study reveal that customers perceive quality relationship in a given frame of functions that are performed effectively by the dealer, lowering the extent of conflicts thereof. The high-conformance quality services of dealers and value-added customer relationships offering high customer satisfaction develop lifetime customer value and strengthen the customer-dealer relationship.

Keywords: market orientation; customer services; SERVQUAL; customer-dealer relationship; customer value; dealer performance; service efficiency; market effectiveness; automobile industry; automotive dealers; Mexico; customer satisfaction; service quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2009.025115

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2009 Vol.5 No.5, pp.575 - 594

Published online: 13 May 2009 *

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