report on servqual

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Banglalink is continuously coming up with new ideas regarding its products and services. Recently, the company is mainly focusing on the non-voice services. Because, the company knows in near future, voice based services will reach to the maturity stage, which will make the business growth constant to some extents. Hence, the company is trying to maintain its position in non-voices services as well like SMS, Push-Pull, and Information related services at the early growing stage. These services are working as a building block to increase Banglalink’s service value.

Coming up with innovative service is easier than making subscribers aware of services. Hence through this report we have tried to analyze the present situation of the cellular phone industry in Bangladesh and Banglalink’s position there in, find out the services that Banglalink is presently providing to its valued customers & their satisfaction level. 50 million people out of 160 million total citizen of Bangladesh are presently using cell phone; it means approximately 34% people are using cell phone. In the third world country like Bangladesh the amount of users is amazing. Banglalink holds almost 25% market share of telecom industry that is out of every 100 users 25 belongs to Banglalink. So Banglalink marketing strategy should be “Profitable growth & expanding market share through satisfying existing customers”. We have drawn some valuable recommendation to Banglalink to be the market leader in future in this competitive market.

A comprehensive survey was conducted to know about Banglalink’s present position in the market and its present service condition that is providing to its valued customers. The survey report shows that Banglalink is still one of the leading companies in this industry but as it is becoming more competitive day by day so Banglalink should revise its service packages, quality with more conveniently for the customers.

Among the cellular phone companies Banglalink has some unique competitive advantages in this industry in Bangladesh so if it is possible for Banglalink to provide better services with continuous innovative products it will add value to the company. Otherwise, in the long run new innovation services will not give its ultimate success.

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Consumers Attitude toward the Service Quality of Banglalink

CHAPTER-1INTRODUCTION

1.1 Origin of the Study

The term paper is prepared for Mr. Md. Humayun Kabir Chowdhury, the course teacher of Service Marketing, MBA program, BRAC Business School at BRAC University. Submission of this report is a part of fulfilling the requirement of the course Service Marketing (MKT-602). Following the standard procedure and instruction given by the course teacher does this formal report.

1.2 Statement of the Research Problem

As a requirement of Marketing Management we got an opportunity to make a project based on the SERVQUAL Scale; we are writing this report on the basis of the facts and figures we have collected and analyzed the consumer attitude towards Banglalink by conducting survey. During the last two weeks, we have personally interviewed the consumers and consulted with knowledgeable persons. This report has been written based on the findings of the investigation. The purpose of this report is to get an exposure to the consumer attitude towards Banglalink. This study will give us an opportunity to experience how the preference varies from consumer to consumer.

Customer satisfactions are positively related with product and service quality. Recent study shows the relationship between customer satisfaction and trust with product and service quality in the context of Global System for Mobile Telecommunication (GSM) mobile phone service providers. They have utilized customer satisfaction and trust as dependent variables while products and services are as independent variable. Moreover, overall service quality, corporate image, and attractiveness of the company could be taken into account to investigate further research. The present study will investigate the relationship among product and service quality, customer satisfaction in the context Banglalink in Bangladesh.

1.3 Scope of the Study

The consumer perception regarding a product will not always be the same. To buy a product or services a consumer needs to know the key attributes of that product or service. This project helps us to have a clear view about how a consumer perceives a service. It also helps to identify the major attributes and decision making system based on those attributes.

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1.4 Background of the Study

Banglalink is the market follower in telecommunication service in Bangladesh having more than 14 million subscribers and is controlling approximately 30% of the market share. The market share of Banglalink is now increasing at a great extent as the customer satisfaction level is increasing. As the socioeconomic status of the country does not provide further possibilities to enhance the growth of the industry, as a market follower, Banglalink should strive to retain its existing subscribers and penetrate other operator’s subscriber. Therefore, there is an emergence of studying the related facets of the customer satisfaction and loyalty in the context of Bangladesh to retain and increase its market share.

Hence, in the current study, we try to examine whether there are relationships between products and service quality, customer satisfaction in Banglalink in Bangladesh or not.

1.5 Objective of the Study

The basic objective of study was to focus on the basis of SERVQUAL. The objectives of the project are as follows:

To determine customer perceptions and expectations regarding different services of BanglalinkTo determine the level of satisfaction regarding different services of BanglalinkTo evaluate the reasons behind dissatisfaction regarding products and services of Banglalink

SignificanceWe expect that, this report will help to:

Banglalink to better understand their consumer attitude towards their services.Banglalink and the top management to take corrective action against their deficiencies.The research findings may help policy-makers to understand what key factors helped implement successful competitive strategies in the competitive market.

1.6 Research Methodology

Methodology gives shape of the total study. It actually designs the entire work. It helps to complete the work in a systematic & organized way. For that, selection of an appropriate methodology is very much essential and the total success of the study depends on it.

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For making any study successful data collection, processing & the best use of it are very important. Research methodology includes the sources we have used to collect the data. The data that we have used for research purposes mainly of two types- primary or raw data and secondary data or published source.

Primary SourcesWe have collected data by interviewing people directly. We have prepared questionnaire using five rating scale and asked them to choose best option according to them. For better understanding, we also discussed about the topic.

Secondary SourcesThe data and information is also taken from related books of marketing, magazines, catalogs, newspapers and also from the Internet.

1.7 Research Approach

SurveyWe have mainly basing our research based on survey. We have personally interviewed people to collect data and gone for the observational approach as well. We also browsed the internet to get more related information.

1.8 Research Instruments

QuestionnaireWe have prepared a questionnaire with a set of 23 questions and ask the consumers and we also ask random people. Our questionnaire pattern is close ended; so that we can understand properly and also use that information in our report effectively.

1.9 Sampling Plan

Sampling UnitFor study purpose, we have chosen Banglalink as sampling unit. To conduct survey we have taken interview of 20 respondents’ opinion to evaluate their decision-making procedure while consuming service of Banglalink. Judgmental and purposive sampling method is being followed to get the data from the respondents. Same sampling method is being followed to get experience person’s opinion. We have selected our survey participants randomly.

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1.10 Contact Method

Personal InterviewWe took personal interview procedure for data collection and contact people to conduct our survey. When we took the interview personally, we prepared a set of questions so that we do not miss out taking any important information.

1.11 Limitations

We have given our level best effort to work on SERVQUAL model and tried to find out vast outcomes of our concerned topics. To complete this work we have tried to find out all possible documents about the SERVQUAL Model. Our honorable teacher has given us the guidelines for completing the project.

Though our teacher helps us to solve the project, but still we have faced some problems to do our work because of some limitations. Some of the limitations for this study were as follows:

The sample size is small in considering with the existing services of Banglalink.The time available for completing the project was not sufficient.Many consumers have less idea regarding the service dimensions of SERVQUAL.People were reluctant to provide their valuable time for the collection of data, as they were busy with their own schedule.

Though all these limitations we have tried our level best to provide an excellent outcome. Now we are thankful to our respectful teacher and our classmates and almighty Allah, to help us to perform our jobs properly.

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CHAPTER-2AN OVERVIEW OF BANGLALINK

2.1 About Banglal ink

Banglalink (Bengali: বাং��লা�লিংলা�ক), is the second largest cellular service provider in Bangladesh

after Grameenphone. Sheba Telecom (Pvt.) Ltd. was granted license in 1989 to operate in the rural areas of 199 upazilas. Later it obtained GSM license in 1996 to extend its business to cellular mobile, radio telephone services. It launched operation in the last quarter of 1997 as a Bangladesh-Malaysia joint venture.

In July, 2004, it was reported that Egypt based Orascom Telecom is set to purchase the Malaysian stakes in Sheba Telecom through a hush-hush deal, as Sheba had failed to tap the business potentials in Bangladesh mainly due to a chronic feud between its Malaysian and Bangladeshi partners. An agreement was reached with Orascom worth US$25 million was finalized in secret. The pact has been kept secret for legal reasons, considering financial fallout and because of the feud. Now it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Orascom Telecom.

Banglalink had 1.03 million connections until December, 2005. The number of Banglalink users increased by 257 per cent and stood at 3.64 million at the end of 2006, making it the fastest growing operator in the world of that year. In August, 2006, Banglalink became the first company to provide free incoming calls from BTTB for both postpaid and prepaid connections. On August 20, 2008, Banglalink got past the landmark of 10 million subscriber base. As of January, 2010, Banglalink has a subscriber base of 14.07 million.

2.2 Mission of Banglal ink

Banglalink aims to achieve its vision through being number ‘one’ not only in terms of market share but also by being an employer of choice with up-to-date knowledge and products geared to address the ever changing needs of our budding nation.

2.3 Vision of Banglal ink

Be a leader as a Telecommunication Service Provider in Bangladesh.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BTTB

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orascom_Telecom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orascom_Telecom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh

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CHAPTER-3SERVICE QUALITY AND SERVQUAL SCALE

3.1 Services

Services are commodities that cannot be stored or disappear in use, or as activities that require personal contact. The distinct characteristics of services are intangibility, perishability, heterogeneity of the product, and simultaneity of production and consumption.

Two economic units are required for a service to be produced – the consumer and the producer. While the consumer cannot retain the actual service after it is produced, the effect of the service can be retained. Managing a service operation requires the manager to understand the service concept, service delivery system, and service levels. As the consumer has a key role in the definition and evaluation of all three elements, it is imperative that service managers have a clear understanding of consumer expectations and perceptions. Services may be provided by private or public agencies. These characteristics enhance the importance of certain marketing strategies that are unique to services marketing, such as service customization, managing evidence, making the service tangible, and synchronizing supply and demand patterns.

3.2 Service Quality and SERVQUAL

Quality is a strategic tool for attaining operational efficiency and improved business performance. Importance of quality to service firms and have demonstrated its positive relationship with profits, increased market share, returns on investment, customer satisfaction, and future purchase intentions. Service quality has been described as a form of attitude, related but not equivalent to satisfaction, which results from the comparison of expectations with performance (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry 1988). Service quality involves a comparison of expectations with performance: it is a measure of how well the service level delivered matches customer expectations on a consistent basis. Service quality has been conceptualized as a function of consumer expectations towards the service situation and process, and of the output quality they perceived themselves to have received. The ultimate goal of service quality measurement is to assist managers in ensuring service quality and customer satisfaction (Webster, 1988). Measurement is a necessary step towards devising any action plan. However, because of its elusiveness and indistinctness, explication and measurement of quality also present problems for researchers, who often bypass definitions and use one-dimensional self-report measures to capture the concept.

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The emergence of service quality and its assessment has attracted the attention of numerous researchers in the past two decades or so. In this sense, there are two main lines of thoughts on measuring service quality an American and a European perspective. The focus on functional quality attributes is referred to as the American perspective of service quality while the European perspective suggests that service quality considers two more components.

The European perspective considers the quality of a service as perceived by customers consists of three dimensions: functional (the process of service delivery to customers), technical (the outcomes generated by the service to the customers), and image (how the customers view the company). Considering those dimensions, the quality of the service is dependent upon two variables: the expected service and the perceived service.

Functional quality of a service is often assessed by measures of customers’ attitudes, as in customer satisfaction questionnaires. The process of identifying customers’ attitudes begins with determining customers’ requirements or quality dimensions. The author explains two ways of identifying important quality dimensions of services: quality dimension development approach and critical incident approach. The first one uses different sources of information, such as opinions of providers and literature. The other one is a process to obtain information from customers.

The 10 determinants of service quality established by Parasuraman et al. (1985) provide a list that can guide investigation on the first approach. The authors subsequently developed SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al., 1988), a two-part instrument for measuring service quality that was refined later (Parasuraman et al., 1991). SERVQUAL provided a means of measurement for researchers to determine how well service level is delivered and how it matches customer expectations on a consistent basis.

Parasuraman et al. (1988) developed a 22-item measurement instrument called SERVQUAL for assessing customers' perceptions of service quality in service and retailing organizations. Respondents are first asked to provide the level of service expected from a service firm on the 22-item expectations scale. Perceived service quality is obtained by subtracting the expectation rating from the perception rating for each of the items. The perceived quality is assessed based on service quality dimensions that correspond to the criteria used by consumers when assessing service quality. There are 10 potentially overlapping dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, communication, credibility, assurance, competence, courtesy, understanding/knowing the customer, and access. Afterwards, these dimensions were reduced to five, namely: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy. The SERVQUAL instrument may be used individually or may be averaged across the 22 pairs of items to obtain an overall service quality score. Using these 5 dimensions as the evaluation criteria the specification of service quality becomes the gap between customers’ expectations and their perceptions (Parasuraman et al).

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The five key gaps or discrepancies on the service provider's side that are likely to affect consumers' perceptions of service quality are:- Gap 1: Consumer expectation-management perception gap, which is the gap between consumer expectations of service quality and management perceptions of these expectations

Gap 2: Management perception-service quality perception gap, that is, the gap between management perceptions of consumer expectations and the firm's service quality specifications

Gap 3: Service quality specifications- service delivery gap, the gap between service quality Specifications and actual service quality

Gap 4: Service delivery-external communications gap, or the gap between actual service delivery and external communications about the service

Gap 5: Expected service-perceived service gap, which is the gap between expected service and perceived service

Applications of the SERVQUAL scale have been made to measure service quality in hospitals, hotels, travel and tourism, telecom companies, insurance companies and banks, business school placement centre, retail stores and acute care hospital physicians, dentists, attorney, financial and banking institutions, laundry/dry cleaning and automobile companies.

3.3 Service Quality Dimensions

Service quality is a perception of the customer. Customers, however, form opinions about service quality not just from a single reference but from a host of contributing factors. Service marketers need to understand all the dimensions used by customers to evaluate service quality.

David Garvin in the article ‘Competing on the Eight Dimensions of Quality’ identified the following eight dimensions of quality applicable to both goods and services. These include: Performance, Features, Reliability, Conformance, Durability, Serviceability, and Aesthetics, Perceived quality or prestige.

In a further refinement of their earlier factor identification, Parasuram, Zeithmal and Berry have identified the following five dimensions of service quality as crucial. These are:

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a. Reliability

This dimension is shown to have the highest influence on the customer perception of quality. It is the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.

Banglalink, one of the leading companies of telecommunication sector in Bangladesh, has been striving to protect itself as a reliable service provider. It hopes to differentiate itself from other companies in Bangladesh. To protect this reliability, Banglalink is always striving to provide its promised services as dependably and as accurately as possible which is quite evident from its growth rate.

When service delivery fails the first time, a service provider may get a second chance to provide the same service in the phase called ‘Recovery’. The expectations of the customer are usually higher during the recovery phase than before because of the initial failure. Thus, the service provider is likely to come under greater scrutiny, thereby increasing the possibility of customer dissatisfaction. The reliability dimension, which ensures timely delivery time after time, helps the service provider to meet the customer expectations fully at the lowest level of service expectation.

b. Responsiveness

It is the willingness of the service firm’s staff to help customers and to provide them with prompt service. The customers may have queries, special requests, complaints, etc. In fact, each customer may have problems of his or her own. While the front-end employee may have been trained or equipped to deliver standardized services, the customers want them to go

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beyond this limit. It is the willingness to help the customer or willingness to go that extra distance that is responsiveness.

The second aspect of responsiveness is speedy response to a customer request. When response is delayed customers usually loses interest. Many sales representatives respond on the phone, ‘I will call you back’. The call is never returned. The customer draws his or her own conclusion about the quality of service he is likely to receive in the future.

c. Assurance

It defined as the ability of the company to inspire trust and confidence in the service delivery. It refers to knowledge and courtesy of the service firm’s employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence in the customer toward the company. This dimension is considered vital for services that involve high risk as customers may not be able to evaluate all the uncertainties involved in the process by them.

Example: Telecommunication services sometimes requires complex uncommon procedures, services in various ways demand this service quality dimension.

There are property developers/builders who provide a list of previous buyers of flats or apartments to potential buyers. The evaluation of construction services is beyond technical capabilities of most buyers. However, the prospective customers are free to call the previous customers. When prospective customers hear from them about the company and its satisfactory delivery, they feel assured and develop a more positive attitude towards the company.

d. Empathy

It refers to the caring, individualized attention the service firm provides each customer. When service provider puts himself in the shoes of the customers, he may see the customer’s viewpoint better. When customers feel that the provider is making his best effort to see their viewpoint, it may be good enough for most.

Example: a lady customer with a young child arrives slightly late at the check-in counter and requests the agent for a seat along the aisle and near the toilet. Even if all such seats have already been taken up, the agent and the airline may make even effort to request another passenger to exchange seats and meet the customer demand. The lady passenger would be delighted if her request could be honored despite the last minute checking in, and even if she does not get such a seat, she would be grateful for their effort.

e. Tangibles

It refers to physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of a service firm’s employees. The job of the tangible and physical evidence of a service is multifunctional.

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When a customer sees the various offerings of Banglalink in the newspaper or commercials, he becomes aware of the quality of service he is about to receive. If Banglalink provides customers service with well dressed & mannered employees, announce their offerings in a specified written format etc, customers will be impressed. Tangibles provide the customer proof of the quality of service.

3.4 Applicabil ity of SERVQUAL in Telecommunication

Despite the high growth market of cellular phone communication the research in customer satisfaction is still in its initial stages (Aydin & Özer, 2006; Sharma & Ojha, 2004; Woo & Fock, 1999). A survey of cellular phone customers in Hong Kong revealed that transmission quality and coverage of network are most important (Woo & Fock, 1999). Others have examined the link between loyalty, switching cost and switching behavior (Aydin & Özer, 2006; Lee & Feick, 2001). An exploratory study of factors contributing to customer satisfaction of mobile user in India has resulted in the construction of three distinct constituents i.e., network base service performance, retailer related process performance, and network operator related performance (Sharma & Ojha, 2004).

SERVQUAL can track service quality trends, systematically soliciting and analyzing customer suggestions and complaints. The potential application of SERVQUAL in evaluating Banglalink’s services is to determine relative importance of the five dimensions in influencing customer’s overall quality perceptions. The most critical dimension consistently identified is reliability, followed by assurance, tangibles, responsiveness and finally empathy. So, considering all the dimensions are important in measuring service quality, we are trying to find out the whether these dimension have significant influence on customer perceived performance or not in case of Banglalink.

3.5 Measuring Service Quality

When evaluating service quality, consumers examine five dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.

Using SERVQUAL to Measure Service Quality

The SERVQUAL instrument was based on the premise that service quality is the difference between customers’ expectations and their evaluation of the service they received. The first part of the questionnaire asks customers to indicate the level of service they would expect from a firm in a particular industry. The second part of the questionnaire asks customers to evaluate the service performed by a specific service firm. Gap Theory is the method for

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calculating service quality that involves subtracting a customer’s perceived level of service received from what was expected.

SERVQUAL uses 22 questions to measure the five dimensions of tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Through SERVQUAL, firms can measure customers’ evaluations of their service performance. For example, if customers consistently give firm low scores for one dimension, such as reliability, then the firm’s management can take steps to improve that particular dimension of their service offering.

3.6 Problems with SERVQUAL

Although SERVQUAL is an excellent instrument for measuring service quality, managers must be aware of potential problems with the instrument, as well as with the gap theory methodology on which it is based. An understanding of these problems may prevent service companies from misinterpreting the results and developing inappropriate marketing plans. The SERVQUAL instrument has three potential problems.

First, SERVQUAL measures customers’ expectations of the ideal firm in a particular service industry. This may or may not be relevant to the capabilities of a particular service firm or the set of service firms available to a consumer. For example, consumers may indicate that physicians should provide their services at the time they promised. Seldom do patients see the doctor at the scheduled time. No one likes waiting after their appointment time, yet, because of excess demand, patients will continue to wait.

The second problem with SERVQUAL is its generic nature. Since its not industry specific, it does not measure variables that may be important for a particular industry. For example, in the airline business, on-time arrival is a very important dimension to travelers, but SERVQUAL does not measure travelers’ perceptions of this variable.

The third problem with problem with SERVQUAL deals with the gap theory methodology used for measuring the level of service quality. Measuring consumer expectations after a service has been provided will bias consumers’ responses. If customers had a positive experience at Blockbuster, they will tend to report lower scores for their expectations, so there is a measurable gap between what they expected and the actual service they received.

3.7 Questionnaire

Based on your experiences as a customer of telecommunication, please show the extent to which you think a telecommunication company would possess the feature described by each statement. Here is no right or wrong answers - all we are interested in is the number that truly

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reflects your feelings regarding telecommunication that would deliver excellent quality of service.

This questionnaire attempts to explore the consumer attitude, perception and satisfaction toward the different services provided by one of the largest mobile phone operator of Bangladesh, Banglalink. Your cooperation in filling out this questionnaire will be immensely helpful in this regard. Your information will not be disclosed.

Weights for each category are given bellow:[Strongly Disagree = 1], [Disagree = 2], [Neutral = 3], [Agree = 4], [Strongly Agree = 5]

OA1: What is your overall attitude about the service quality of Banglalink?

Very Low Low Moderate High Very High

Statements in the Reliability Dimensions (Five Items)

R1: When Banglalink promises to do something by a certain time, it does so.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

R2: When you have a problem Banglalink shows a sincere interest in solving it.


R3: Banglalink performs the service right the first time.


R4: Banglalink provides its services at the time it promises to do so.


R5: Banglalink insists on error-free records.


Statements in the Responsiveness Dimensions (Four Items)

RES1: Banglalink keeps customers informed about when services will be performed.


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RES2: Employees in Banglalink give you prompt service.


RES3: Employees in Banglalink are always willing to help you.


RES4: Employees in Banglalink are never too busy to respond to your request.


Statements in the Assurance Dimensions (Four Items)

A1: The behavior of employees in Banglalink instills confidence in you.


A2: You feel safe in your transactions with Banglalink.


A3: Employees in Banglalink are consistently courteous with you.


A4: Employees in Banglalink have the knowledge to answer your questions.


Statements in the Empathy Dimensions (Five Items)

E1: Banglalink gives you individual attention.


E2: Banglalink has employees who give you personal attention.


E3: Banglalink has your best interests at heart.


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E4: Employees of Banglalink understand your specific needs.


E5: Banglalink has operating hours that are convenient to all its customers.


Statements in the Tangibles Dimensions (Four Items)

T1: Banglalink has modern looking equipment.


T2: Banglalink’s physical facilities are visually appealing.


T3: Banglalink’s employees appear neat.


T4: Materials associated with the service are visually appealing at Banglalink.


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CHAPTER-4ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

4.1 Analysis and Results a

For the study, twenty two questions have been used to identify the service Gap. A five point likert scale is used to measure the customer attitude, expectation and perception across the five dimension of the study. The RESULTS of the survey are shown in the following tables.

Model SummaryTaking overall attitude (OA1) as dependent variable and five dimensions (AR, ARES, AA, AE, AT) as independent variable we get the following model summary:

Model R R Square Adjusted R SquareStd. Error of the

Estimate

1 .803(a) .644 .517 .518

Predictors: (Constant), AT, ARES, AA, AR, AE

Coefficients (a)Taking overall attitude (OA1) as dependent variable and five dimensions (AR, ARES, AA, AE, AT) as independent variable we get the following Coefficients table:

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized Coefficients

t Sig.B Std. Error Beta

1 (Constant) .488 1.494 .327 .749

AR .939 .416 .692 2.256 .041

ARES -.168 .478 -.096 -.352 .730

AA .359 .507 .175 .710 .490

AE .680 .510 .420 1.333 .204

AT -.870 .447 -.510 -1.945 .072

Dependent Variable: OA1

Here, AR, ARES, AA, AE and AT stands for average reliability, average responsiveness, average assurance, average empathy and average tangibles respectively.

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CHAPTER-5FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

5.1 Findings

The results revealed that customer satisfaction is a multidimensional construct. In our study overall service quality refers to the rating of service quality on a scale of 1 to 5. Stepwise regression was used to examine the relative importance of the five dimensions in determining overall service quality.

There were only two significant dimensions that were important in determining the overall service quality of Banglalink, that is, reliability, tangibles. Among them reliability has the most significant influence on the overall service quality of Banglalink. After reliability, tangibles the next important dimension of Banglalink in determining the overall service quality is empathy. The remaining dimensions assurance and responsiveness were not statistically significant at the 5% level.

From the overall model summary we can say that, our model is 64 percent compatible/fit in measuring the overall service quality of Banglalink. Therefore it can be considered as a good model.

On the other hand, from the coefficients table we can see that the error on significance level for reliability among the five dimensions is the lowest (0.041). Therefore we can say that we are 96 percent confident that reliability has significant influence on the overall service quality of Banglalink.

Similarly, the error on significance level for tangibles is the second lowest (0.072). Therefore we can say that we are 93 percent confident that tangibles has significant influence on the overall service quality of Banglalink. The error on significance level for empathy is the third lowest (0.204). Therefore we can say that we are 80 percent confident that empathy has significant influence on the overall service quality of Banglalink.

The error on significance level for assurance is the fourth lowest (0.490). Therefore we can say that we are 51 percent confident that assurance has significant influence on the overall service quality of Banglalink. Last of all, the error on significance level for responsiveness is the highest (0.730) among the five dimensions. Therefore we can say that we are 27 percent confident that responsiveness has significant influence on the overall service quality of Banglalink.

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5.2 Recommendations

The findings of this study have important practical implications to management of service quality of Banglalink. This study demonstrates the usefulness of the SERVQUAL approach as a measure of service quality. The results of the study indicate that the SERVQUAL scale could make a valuable contribution by enhancing the understanding of the perceived service quality of telecommunication services. The measurement scale also serves to identify symptoms and the underlying problems that inhibit the effective provision of quality services. Once the attributes of mobile phone services from the customers' perspective are more clearly known and understood, its service providers will be in a better position to anticipate consumer requirements rather than to react to consumer dissatisfaction. The attributes of reliability and tangibles have been identified by respondents to be the most important dimensions of service quality. Although these findings cannot be generalized to the overall customer profile, Banglalink should use it as an impetus to assess their services, particularly to study ways of improving on their reliability and tangibles dimensions. Banglalink management could start by improving on staff training, especially to train their staff to be more professional and courteous when dealing with customers. The public confidence of Banglalink has to be gained and the best way is for the management to look at improving on aspects such as reliability of services, improving physical facilities, training of staff and communicating precise information on schedules. In view of the intense competition in the telecommunication sector, it is imperative that the management of Banglalink carry out more research to discover any shortfalls in service quality and to take necessary corrective measures in case of a shortfall. This could ensure that the service quality of Banglalink provides the best to its consumers in order to compete effectively with its competitors. As the consumer plays a key role in the definition and evaluation of the quality of telecommunication services offered, managers of Banglalink should incorporate consumer expectations and perceptions in the formulation of effective long-term marketing strategies.

5.3 Conclusion

Measuring customer satisfaction is one of the key steps in improving service quality and retaining customers on a long-term basis. The outcome of this study concluded that two of five dimensions of service quality were strong predictors of service quality of Banglalink and had positive influences on customers' perceived service quality. Gathered empirical results showed that in mobile telecom industry in Banglalink reliability and tangibles are strong determinants of service quality while empathy, assurance and responsiveness are weak ones and aren’t prominent dimensions in forming service quality perceptions.

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Although there are few players in Bangladesh’s mobile telecom market, the competition between them is more intense than ever. They compete not only in terms of network quality by substantial investments in network extensions and upgrades, but also in terms of customer acquisition and satisfaction via direct and indirect strategies. Based on the studied model, the present research successfully applies what is derived from service quality literature to the mobile telecom sector with evidence from Bangladesh, providing a comprehensively integrated framework to understand the dynamic relationships among dimensions of SERVQUAL in the marketplace.

According to the results of this study, firms expecting to build and maintain competitive advantages in this market must seek to deliver higher and better service quality. In other words, they must pay attention to and invest more on programs and approaches that increase their service quality, if they want to survive this market. As a result of the findings, a managerial priority should be to identify the most important factors in assessing service quality. Additionally, managers should make key performers aware of their role in customer perceived quality and provide these individuals with adequate training in order to offer a consistently high standard of service delivery. It is important that service quality be reassessed on a regular basis.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Valarie Zeithaml & Mary Bitner, Services “Marketing”, 4th Edition

2. http://www.banglalinkgsm.com

3. Kotler Philip, “Marketing Management”, 12th Education

4. Cooper Donald R. & Shindler Pamela S, “Business Research Methods”

5. Anderson & Sullivan, "The antecedents and consequences of customer satisfaction for firms"

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