Role of government initiatives in addressing challenges faced by SMEs in working towards service excellence : a grounded theory study.

• Main Authors: Pang, Yang Yang., Liu, Ada Wei., Yeo, Lynette Qian Hui.
• Other Authors: Nanyang Business School
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business::Marketing::Customer services
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/51565
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In recent years, service has become a differentiating factor among companies to attract and retain their customers. Large companies have been active in building a skilled workforce and having an effective management system, which enables them to achieve service excellence. On the other hand, small companies are far from achieving service excellence due to limited resources and manpower. The government seeks to help these small companies by introducing various initiatives targeted at their needs. However, instead of seeing positive results, these companies continue to lag behind in displaying service excellence. Due to the lack of specific theories to explain why government initiatives may moderate service excellence, we embarked on a theory-building process to identify factors that drive and moderate service excellence development in Singapore. We first collaborated with SPRING Singapore to understand the service standards in Singapore through a mystery shopping exercise. We then conducted extensive literature review on the role of government initiatives in contributing towards service excellence. Based on the literature review, we formulated our interview questions and sought for participants from the food & beverage and retail industries. Subsequently, we developed a framework based on the information collected and proposed theoretical links to show how service excellence is moderated by factors that may be independent of government initiatives. Based on these findings and evaluation, we discuss the implications, limitations and highlight areas in which the government and SMEs can potentially work on.