Frederick A. Frost

INTSERVQUAL – an internal adaptation of the GAP model in a large service organisation

Explores the extent to which the construct service quality plays in an internal marketing setting. A conceptual model known as the “Internal Service Quality Model” was designed based on the original “GAP Model” developed by Parasuraman. The model evaluated the dimensions, and their relationships, that determine service quality among internal customers (front‐line staff) and internal suppliers (support staff) within a large service organisation, namely, Singapore Airlines. The dependent variable in this study was internal service quality (ISQ), while the independent variables were tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. The results suggest that the perceptions and expectations of internal customers and internal suppliers play a major role in recognising the level of internal service quality perceived. The acceptance of the postulated hypotheses has confirmed the importance of the internal service quality construct, thus acknowledging the usefulness of the INTSERVQUAL instrument and the conceptualised Internal Service Quality Model proposed in this research study.

Service quality between internal customers and internal suppliers in an international airline

Over the past decade, SERVQUAL has emerged as perhaps the most popular standardized questionnaire to measure service quality. In this study, a conceptual model, INTSERVQUAL, was designed based on the original “Gap Model”, to explore the extent to which the construct service quality plays in an internal marketing setting. The research was conducted in a major international airline. The expectations and perceptions scales have emerged as measures with excellent internal consistency reliabilities. The two scales exhibited adequate validity as separate measures of front‐line staff (customer‐contact personnel) expectations of support services; and their perceptions of the support staff’s performance. The results indicated that the scales can be successfully used to assess the magnitude of the gap between front‐line staff perceptions and expectations.

The perception of Ethiopia as a tourist destination: an Australian perspective.

Tourism marketing has been an uphill struggle for Ethiopia, a country rich in history, culture, flora and fauna and other tourist attractions, yet it trails far behind its next door neighbors — Kenya and Tanzania. Besides the general adverse factors common to developing countries, the international image of Ethiopia leaves much to be desired. The country is perceived as famine stricken, war ravaged and politically unstable. The most recent problems in Ethiopia received world attention, effectively concentrating on issues of deprivation and abject misery. Under such conditions, it is very hard to imagine that Ethiopia would be considered as a tourist destination. However, no study has been undertaken to assess the perception of the public in general and tour operators in particular about Ethiopia as a tourist destination. This study was therefore undertaken to determine how a selection of potential travelers and tour operators perceive Ethiopia as a tourist destination and to identify areas that need speci...

Regionalism in Tourism-The Case for Kenya and Ethiopia

Abstract Africa represents a continent of almost infinite tourism potential and yet it lags far behind the rest of the world as a tourist opportunity. There are clearly pockets of excellence, countries that have, and are achieving significant tourism outcomes. However, these are the mi-nority-what of the remainder? In this paper a single regional coupling is proposed between two countries that appear on the surface to be ill matched. Closer inspection reveals that the senior partner in capitalizing on tourism development, Kenya, is in need of revitalization whilst the junior partner, Ethiopia, has great potential that is yet to be capitalized on. They share a significant geographical feature-the Rift Valley-and both have substantial assets in terms of flora and fauna. Ethiopia, regarded as the cradle of human origin, has substantial historical attractions, exemplified by the Historic Route. In this paper, elements of the need for, and, benefits of collaboration are outlined. This modest approach to regionalism in terms of tourism, could become, if successful, a model for other regional activities in the continent. Africa and specifically sub-Saharan Africa represents a range of exciting tourism opportunities by many standards. In terms of product, whether it is the flora or fauna, or locations, it would appear to be a tourism marketers dream. Unfortunately its true potential in terms of tourism has not been realized. At tourism conference after tourism conference, this part of the world is seen to be the “Orphan Annie” of tourism. This situation is reflected in the majority of comparative tourism statistics. Whilst numerous authors have identified reasons for this, solutions are more difficult to develop. In this paper, the concept of regionalism as a possible solution is developed in terms of two adjoining sub-Saharan countries, Kenya and Ethiopia.

Turnaround strategies of electric utilities in New Zealand and the Philippines

The turnaround experiences of four electricity utilities in New Zealand and the Philippines are discussed. Problems that the utilities faced are examined, and lessons drawn from their experiences.

New Product Development - Biotechnology in Australia

The paper is based on research to determine the process used in the field of Biotechnology to develop new products. Biotechnology whilst not in itself an industrial sector, is rather a set of enabling technologies that have application in a wide range of industries and research fields. The market for such endeavours is projected to be of the order of US

International Travel Preferences of Graduating Students

75 billion by the year 2000. New product development has long been recognised as one of the riskiest activities of business enterprises. This research explores questions such as what activities the firm undertakes in new product development, how proficient they were in so doing and what effect the firms organisational characteristics have on new product development efforts.

Cape to Cairo — Can the dream be realised?

Graduating students represent a potentially viable segment of international travel. The changing demographics of international travel would indicate that students represent a growing proportion of international travellers. Recent estimates that this segment constitutes 20 percent of all international travellers despite the substantial size and economic significance of the student segment of the international travel industry, little is known about the characteristics of this portion of the industry – the patterns of behaviour and motives of students travelling overseas – or how they plan their travel. A review of the literature has revealed very few studies exist on international travel by students. This paper provides further insights into the discrete market of graduating commerce students. The sample comprised both local and regional students from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong.

The use of strategic tools by small and medium‐sized enterprises: an Australasian study

This paper examines the potential for the Cape to Cairo tourism corridor that was long dreamt of by the British adventurer, Cecil John Rhodes, linking Africa from the south to the north by rail — from Cape to Cairo. Today, for the dream to be realised each country in the Cape to Cairo corridor as a member of the team and at the same time as a competitor needs to contribute to the establishment of the route. Each would present itself to the tourism market individually, but would also be part of the collaborative Cape to Cairo experience. Particular emphases should be placed on the need to establish cooperation within Africa to obtain a concerted approach to the development of African tourism. To achieve this, each country needs to develop its individual markets while at the same time ensuring the development and maintenance of the requisite infrastructure upon which the Cape to Cairo corridor so desperately depends.