AUTHORS: Ji-Feng Ding, Jung-Fong Kuo

Download as PDF

ABSTRACT: Customer value has become the key to achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty in the future by the international air courier industry. The main purpose of this article was to apply the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method to study the key customer value factors for international air courier service providers based upon Taiwanese customers’ perspective. At first, a hierarchical structure with four assessment aspects and twenty assessment factors was constructed. Then, the proposed fuzzy AHP method was to employ to measure the relative weights via the AHP experts’ questionnaires for customer value factors. Finally, the empirical results showed that: (1) ‘time’ is the highest assessment aspect for customer value; and (2) the top six key customer value factors for international air courier service providers are ‘inland transit time at both ends of the warehouse and the airport,’ ‘lower administrative processing time,’ ‘warehouse processing and handling time,’ ‘high accuracy,’ ‘fast turnover rate,’ and ‘high safety.’ Furthermore, the first six factors are mainly distributed in ‘time’ and ‘quality’ value metrics. Hence, the international air courier industry should strengthen the related factors of ‘time’ and ‘quality’ value metrics, in order to provide customers with higher customer value.

KEYWORDS: Customer value; Courier service provider; Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP)

REFERENCES:

[1] Y. H. Chang, Air Transportation, 3rd edition,, Taipei: Hwa Tai Publishing, 2012.

[2] C. C. Chao, Y. L. Chen and Y. C. Chuang, “Carrier Selection of Express Mail Service in Taiwan - An Application of Analytic Hierarchy Process,” Maritime Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 2, 2013, pp. 43-59.

[3] S. Y. Lam, V. Shankar, M. K. Erramilli and B. Murthy, “Customer Value, Satisfaction, Loyalty, and Switching Costs: An Illustration from a Business-to-business Service Context,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 32, No. 3, 2004, pp. 293-311.

[4] H. J. Johansson, P. Mchugh, A. J. Pendlebury and W. A. Wheeler III, Business Process Reengineering: Breakpoint Strategies for Market Dominance, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1993.

[5] P. Kotler, Marketing Management: An Asian Perspective, 6th edition, Singapore: PrenticeHall, 2013.

[6] Y. Park, J. K. Choi, and A. Zhang, “Evaluating Competitiveness of Air Cargo Express Services,” Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Vol. 45, No. 2, 2009, pp. 321-334.

[7] J. F. Ding, G. S. Liang, C. H. Yeh, and Y. C. Yeh, “A Fuzzy Multi-criteria Decision Making Model for the Selection of Courier Service Providers: An Empirical Study from Shippers’ Perspective in Taiwan,” Maritime Economics and Logistics, Vol. 7, No. 3, 2005, pp. 250-261.

[8] T. L. Saaty, The Analytic Hierarchy Process, New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 1980.

[9] L. A. Zadeh, “Fuzzy Sets,” Information and Control, Vol.8, No. 3, 1965, pp. 338-353.

[10] D. M. Rui, D. D. Gremler, J. H. Washburn and G. C. Carrión, “Service Value Revisited: Specifying a Higher-order, Formative Measure,” Journal of Business Research, Vol. 61, 2008, pp. 1278-1291.

[11] T. Biegera, A. Wittmerb and C. Laesser, “What is Driving the Continued Growth in Demand for Air Travel? Customer Value of Air Transport,” Journal of Air Transport Management, Vol. 13, 2007, pp. 31-36.

[12] A. Wittmer and E. Rowley, “Customer Value of Purchasable Supplementary Services: The Case of a European Full Network Carrier’s Economy Class,” Journal of Air Transport Management, Vol. 34, 2014, pp. 17-23.

[13] F. C. Chang, T. R. Lee and S. W. Yen, “Demand Creating Service: A Hybrid Model for Identifying Key Selection Criteria and Service Strategies of International Express Suppliers,” Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 27, No. 3, 2015, pp. 467- 485.

[14] C. C. Chao and W. H. Li, “An Operational Cost Analysis of Selecting Regional Transshipment Airport by the International Express Delivery Industry: A Case Study of Asia-Pacific Region,” Journal of the Chinese Institute of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Vol. 24, No. 2, 2012, pp. 211-221.

[15] M. H. Chiang and J. Y. Ke, “A Strategic Model of Customer Service for International Express Delivery Service in Taiwan,” Journal of Management and Systems, vol. 6, no. 3, 1999, pp. 255-279.

[16] R. Ducret, “Parcel Deliveries and Urban Logistics: Changes and Challenges in the Courier Express and Parcel Sector in Europe — the French Case,” Research in Transportation Business and Management, Vol. 11, 2014, pp. 15-22.

[17] W. K. Hsu, “A Gap Analysis in Service Quality for Air Freight Forwarders,” Journal of the Chinese Institute of Transportation, Vol. 23, No. 4, 2011, pp. 106-131.

[18] S. Y. Lam, V. Shankar, M. K. Erramilli and B. Murthy, “Customer Value, Satisfaction, Loyalty, and Switching Costs: An Illustration from a Business-to-business Service Context,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 32, No. 3, 2004, pp. 293-311.

[19] P. C. Lin and C. H. Lee, “How Online Vendors Select Parcel Delivery Carriers,” Transportation Journal, Vol. 48, No. 3, 2009, pp. 20-31.

[20] Y. Park, J. K. Choi and A. Zhang, “Evaluating Competitiveness of Air Cargo Express Services,” Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Vol. 45, No. 2, 2009, pp. 321-334.

[21] R. Pongpanich, T. R. Lee and N. Sinnarong, “The Key Factors for Selecting C2C Logistics Companies in Thailand: An Application of Analytical Hierarchy Process and Three Ranking Logic,” International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, Vol. 21, No. 2, 2015, pp. 242-268.

[22] C. Wu, X. Zhang, I. C. Yeh, F. Chen, J. Bender and T. Wang, “Evaluating Competitiveness Using Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process—A Case Study of Chinese Airlines,” Journal of Advanced Transportation, Vol. 47, No. 7, 2013, pp. 619-634.

[23] S. H. Yoon and J. W. Park, “A Study of the Competitiveness of Airline Cargo Services Departing from Korea: Focusing on the Main Export Routes,” Journal of Air Transport Management, Vol. 42, 2015, pp. 232-238.

[24] D. Dubois and H. Prade, “Operations on Fuzzy Numbers,” The International Journal of Systems Science, Vol. 9, No. 6, 1978, pp. 613- 626.

[25] G. L. Klir and B. Yuan, Fuzzy Sets and Fuzzy Logic: Theory and Application, New York: Prentice-Hall, 1995.

[26] T. H. Hsu, “The Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process,” Journal of the Chinese Fuzzy Systems, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1998, pp. 59-72.

[27] S. H. Chen and C. H. Hsieh, “Representation, Ranking, Distance, and Similarity of L-R Type Fuzzy Number and Application,” Australian Journal of Intelligent Information Processing Systems, Vol. 6, No. 4, 2000, pp. 217-229.

[28] S. P. Robbins, Management, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1994.

[29] R. D. Daniel, “Management Information Crisis,” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 39, No. 5, 1961, pp. 111-121

WSEAS Transactions on Business and Economics, ISSN / E-ISSN: 1109-9526 / 2224-2899, Volume 15, 2018, Art. #37, pp. 385-393


Copyright Β© 2018 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0