ABSTRACT The research was done to assess the Relationship Marketing Strategy satisfaction of Ethiopian Airlines (EAL), and the research used customer satisfaction and the airline’s overall performance as its measure. Purposive sampling technique was used to select sample respondents, and twenty two (22) Ethiopian Airlines’ employees and ticketing agents in Uganda were chosen purposely for the survey. Unstructured interview was also conducted with five (5) purposely selected EAL’s employees in Uganda branch office to gather the airline’s overall Relationship Marketing and Customer Handling strategy. Both primary and secondary data were used for the survey. Primary data were gathered directly from sample respondents through self-administered questionnaires. Secondary data such as annual reports, publications, and flight magazines were also referred to back up the analysis. The study attempted to assess the role of relationship marketing in Ethiopian Airlines customer Relationship management. The finding from the analysis of responses indicated that relationship marketing leads very highly in understanding customer psyche, address them better, building trust to customers and partnering. The study further shows that if the airline’s stated roles are done with utmost value by the management it will definitely lead to various outcome necessary to keep the business going and to have customers which are satisfied and which will eventually be trusting the company and possibly become partners of the business.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION A
DECLARATION B II
APPROVAL SH~~
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS VII
LIST OF TABLES Ix
CHAPTER ONE
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE 1
1.0 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 BACKGROUND OFTHE STUDY 3
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 6
1.3 OBJECTIVEOFTHE5TUDY 7
1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 8
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 8
1.6 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF KEY TERMS 9
CHAPETR TWO 10
REVIEW OF RELATED LITRATURE 10
2.0 INTRODUCTION 10
2.1 RELATIONSHIP MARKETING 10
2.1.1 FUNCTIONALITY AND RELATIONSHIP MARKETING TO COMPETITIVE MARKETING 17
2.1.2 RELATIONSHIP MARKETING TO IMPROVE PROFITABILITY 18
2.1.3 RELATIONSHIP MARKETING BUILDS PARTNERING 19
2.1.4 RELATIONSHIP TECHNOLOGY HELPS ADDRESS ‘CUSTOMER BETTER’ 21
2.2 CUSTOMER SATISFACTION 22
2.2.1 MEASURING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION 26
2.2.2 EFFECT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON CUSTOMER LOYALTY AND RETENTION 29
2.2.2.1 CUSTOMER LOYALTY 30
2.2.2.2 CUSTOMER RETENTION 31
2.2.3 CUSTOMER SURVEY AND FEED BACK 32
CHAPTER THREE 34
METHEDOLOGY
3.0 INTRODUCTION
vii
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN ~
3.2 RESEARCH POPULX~ION 35
3.2.2 SAMPLE SIZE 35
3.3 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS 36
3.3.1 TESTING OF INSTRUMENt 37
3.3 Data Analysis 37
3.4 ETHICAL CONSIDERATION 38
3.5 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY 39
CHAPTER FOUR 40
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 40
4,0 INTRODUCTION 40
4.1 DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATIONS 40
CHAPTER FIVE 46
DISCUSSIONS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 46
5.1 OVERVIEW 46
5.2 DISCUSSIONS OF MAJOR FiNDINGS 46
5.3 CONCLUSIONS 51
5.4 RECOMMENDATION 52
5.5 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 53
REFERENCES 54
APPENDIX 1 58
TRANSMITTAL LETTER 58
APPENDIX II~ 59
RESERCH INSTRUMENT 59
A) QUESTIONAIP.. DESIGEND TO BE FILLED BY THE “ETA” EMPLOYEES AND “TICKETING
AGENTS”
(B) INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR EAL EMPLOYEES IN UGANDA 62
APPENDIX III 64
RESEARCHER’S CURICULUM VITEA 64
Gebreyesus, A (2022). The Relationship Marketing Strategy in Competitive Market: A Case Study of Ethiopian Airlines Branch Office in Uganda. Afribary. Retrieved from https://afribary.com/works/the-relationship-marketing-strategy-in-competitive-market-a-case-study-of-ethiopian-airlines-branch-office-in-uganda
Gebreyesus, Atakilt "The Relationship Marketing Strategy in Competitive Market: A Case Study of Ethiopian Airlines Branch Office in Uganda" Afribary. Afribary, 12 Oct. 2022, https://afribary.com/works/the-relationship-marketing-strategy-in-competitive-market-a-case-study-of-ethiopian-airlines-branch-office-in-uganda. Accessed 08 Oct. 2024.
Gebreyesus, Atakilt . "The Relationship Marketing Strategy in Competitive Market: A Case Study of Ethiopian Airlines Branch Office in Uganda". Afribary, Afribary, 12 Oct. 2022. Web. 08 Oct. 2024. < https://afribary.com/works/the-relationship-marketing-strategy-in-competitive-market-a-case-study-of-ethiopian-airlines-branch-office-in-uganda >.
Gebreyesus, Atakilt . "The Relationship Marketing Strategy in Competitive Market: A Case Study of Ethiopian Airlines Branch Office in Uganda" Afribary (2022). Accessed October 08, 2024. https://afribary.com/works/the-relationship-marketing-strategy-in-competitive-market-a-case-study-of-ethiopian-airlines-branch-office-in-uganda