Marketing Management
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Item The strategic importance of supply chain management in small and medium sized enterprises. A case study of the garment industry in Sri Lanka(2014) Herath, H.M.R.P.This research concerns SMEs in the Sri Lankan garment manufacturing and export industry and explores success factors in managing their supply chains. The overall aim of the study is to better understand successful supply chain management (SCM) practices which have been implemented by SMEs in the Sri Lankan garment exporting industry and the obstacles faced in their implementation. Eight telephone interviews were followed by 20 in-depth, face-to-face interviews with senior managers in Sri Lanka. Documentary evidence was also collected and analysed. Combined with a literature review on manufacturing operations, the data collection led to the development of three criteria for the selection of cases for the research: 1) maintaining direct contacts with foreign buyers, 2) shorter lead times and 3) high value added of products. Based on these three criteria, a sample of six cases: three firms that exercised ‗more successful‘ SCM strategies and three characterised by ‗less successful‘ SCM strategies were selected. Data were analysed using NVivo10 software with a combination of theoretically derived codes and indigenous codes as the coding strategy. Successful SCM strategies and constraints on improving SCM performance were identified based on each factor considered: lead time, value added and direct contacts related. While both macro and micro-environmental factors influence SME performance, the micro-environmental ones (in particular the lack of strategic business thinking, a weak resource base, resistance to business risk and low profit marginal niches) were far more salient. Further to this, the lack of a fabric manufacturing base within Sri Lanka is a common barrier for both ‗more‘ and ‗less successful‘ companies while company-specific successful strategies and constrains also were evident. The absence of direct contact with foreign buyers is critical for ‗less successful‘ companies as it has led these companies to work with intermediaries. Critical supply chain decisions have to be channelled via buying offices, which leave these companies at risk. The findings add to a growing body of literature on the role of international buying offices and their impact on the implementation of SCM strategies‘ by exporting SMEs.Item Type of Account Consumer Maintains with their Banks and Service Quality.(2011) Herath, H.M.R.P.In Sri Lanka, financial system of the country mainly dEends on banking system' because banking sector rEresints a share of 70.8i, ( Central BankRryort,2006) of totalfinancial system of the eclnoffiy. Deregutation of the banking sector and entrance of foreign banks to sri Lankan market intensifies the competitiin. Thueford;,,banks need thems.elues to diffe.rentiate ftom other institutes thror,tgh improuing the qualig of the rririrr. Therefore, it is worthwhile to study the significance of the type of the account that the consumer maintains with the bank and the seraice quality in the retail contmercialbankingindustry of sriLanka. Asampre of 1s0 consumerswas selected throughstratified random sampting techniq,e. The scope of the stucry was retail consumers of priaate and public conmtercial banks situ,ated in the Gampaha" district, zoho haaebeen dealingwith thoseparticularbanks .for tnre than two yefirs. The retnit consumers who maintain saaings nccounts, fixed deposit accounts nntr atrrent accoitnts were considered proportionntery in drawing the sample elements- A structured questionnaire deueloped hnsedon SERVO LLAL model of seraice quality was used to collect data' The gathered dttt* were nnalyzed rtsing ANouA and finclings showecl that there is not any impact made by tlte type of the account that the consumer maintain with the bank on eaaluation of seraice quality proaidedby thebanks.Item Income Level of the Consumer and Service Quality(2009) Herath, H.M.R.P.; Ranjanee, S.The bankingsector in Sri feqtp recent years. Services sector accoLr attitudetowardscu eisatisfactionandoptimization ofservice quality. With this background this study is aimed at identifying the significance of the income level of the consumers' on the evaluation of service quality in the retail commercial banking industry of Sri Lanka. Further, to identify whether there is any difference based on the level of income of the consumers on evaluation of service quality of the banks of which they are dealing with. A sample of 150 consumers was selected tfuougli stratified random sampling technique. The scope of the study was retail consumers of private and public commercial banks situated in the Gampahadistrict, who have been dealing with those particular banks rnofe than two years. The 1. lntroduction Deregulation of the banking sector has speed up the competition between banks and expanded the industry to greater extent and also the entrance of foreign banks to Sri Lankan market intensify the competition since the competitive edge that they are having with their huge asset base and advanced technology. Therefore banks need themselves to differentiate from other institutes. But being differentiated is not that easy for banks since their core business is to sell a service. Products can be differentiated easily with its features where as it is difficult with services due to its intangible nature. The only way of differentiating services is tangiblizing the service through improving the quality of the service. Therefore, due to the undifferentiated nature of money and other financial services, banks are now heavily rely on improving qualityof service to getthe competitive edge. Across all service industries, the issue of service quality remains a critical one as businesses strive to maintain a . comparative advantage in the marketplace (Stafford, 1996); ' Because,financi.al services, particularly banks, compete in the marketplace with generally undi{ferentiated products, hence service quatrity becomes a primary competitive weapon (Stafford, 1996). Banks that excel in quality service can,have a data groups based on their incomeItem Gender of the Consumer and Service Quality(2009) Herath, H.M.R.P.; Wanninayake, W.M.C.B.Banking and financial services are a demand,driven industry; which constitute an important part of the services iLn.MduwsotLrryJ.. tMfr@antLy! tr9e6g@ulLaqt.ovrrJy,, ns.ttrwuLctwtu,uraL l a@nr.dql iLg?ct htLnrLoUloLUgSiccLaqlL acthruatnLg5ec)s thaauvvce tLaukLeernL PpLliUcLev wyvLitLhtLiLnt, tLhItec wwuolrLlud Management, banking industry, in line with the trend towards a rfuire integrated global banking environment.The banking Faculty of commerce sector in Sri Lanka grew rapidly in the recent years. Services sector accounts 56.2Vo of Gross Domestic and. Management Product in Sri Lankan economy which is the highest in all sectors where as the financial services which ,, . studies' includes banking industry contribute 9.7vo to total Gross Domestic Producti Furthir in Sri tan*a, fi";";;"luniversiry "'rf:':::o:: system of the country mninly depends on banking system because banking sector represents o share of 70.8?o of total financial system of the economy. The rapidly changing and highly competitive environment which banks are forced to operate within are pushing them to rethink about their attitude towards customer satisfoction and optimization of service quality. Therefore identifying the significance of the gender of the consumers' on the evaluation of service quality in the retail commercial banking industry of Sri lnnka is significantly important. Further it is worth to identifu whether there is any dffirence based on the gender of the consumers on evaluation of service quality of the banks that they are dealing with. Based on the stratified sampling technique 150 consumers were selected as the sample. The scope of the study was retail consumers of private and public commercial banks situated in the Gampaha district, who have been dealing with those particular banlcs more than two years. Survey method used to gather primary data and it was developed on SERVQUAL model of sewice quality. The gathered data were analyzed using ANOVA andfindings showed that there is no any dffirence among the consumer groups based on their gender in terms of evaluation of service quality provided by the banks.Item Application of six sigma in India and Sri Lanka. Review of Professional Management(New Delhi Institute of Management, 2009) Tannan, S.K.; Herath, H.M.R.P.India has been pogitioned as the most favored destination for outsourcing in the world. The nation has made significant progress and established itself as a preferred outsourcing destination owing to factors like availability of vast talent pool, good telecom infrastructure, conducive Government policies, and stable economic environment and, above all, cost arbitrage benefits. Thirty Six Indian firms have made it to the 2007 Global Services 100 list of the world,s best InfoTech and Business process Outsourcing (BpO) companies. The USA with 32 companies is the second largest contributor to the list-however, over a dozen of these US firms operate largely through BpO offices in India. Some of the most successful companies today have adopted Six Sigma as a mean to achieve the end of providing a value proposition to clients that encompasses superior quality and competitive pricing. Over the years, Six Sigma has added multiple billions of dollars to the financial bottom-line of numerous organizations and is used in many areas, including financial, healthcare, military and generJl manufacturing. Among the leading companies that emphas,ize,Six Sigma are GE, Motorola, American Express, 3M, and Sun Microsystems, and Dupont, Bank of America, Rolls Royce, Boeing and Wipro. For companies, which are contemplating to embark on the Six Sigma journey, it just takes five basic steps to maintain and improve their competitive position: (1) Define competitiveness for the business (2) What are your customer expectations? (3) How are your competitors peforming? (4) determine the gaps between your competitork pedormance and your own (5) Close the gaps. Companies which have not yet embraced Six Sigma argue that approaches like TeM, Benchmarking, and business excellence are the key to unlock the potential in the organizations.Item A case study approach on impact of branding on society in Sri Lankan context(Kalasalingam University, 2008) Herath, H.M.R.P.In the Sri Lankan context the explored area of branding literature is relatively very low. r Nowadays the brands are marketed to the customers not the products. The customers are brand seekers not the product seekers. They are willing to pay premium prices for their favourable brands than the average brands. Today's customer is more sophisticated and challenging due to the unlimited exposure of information with the development of information communication Technology. Thereby it has become a challenge to the marketers when it come6 to differentiate their products from other similar products. How it has been solved is through creating a distinguish name, symbol, logo or combination of them which is known as a brand. The organizations are ready to spend any amount of money in order to improve their brand image because it is an investment for the organization rather than a merely expenditure. I4lhen it is looked at a brand from the organizational point of view, brand equity is a most important asset it their balance sheet. Hence the situation is so, the impact that the brands are made on the day to day lives of the customers is relevant to measure to look at the same phenomenon from the societal point of view.Item The Attitudes of Customers towards Green Investments(2009) Wanninayake, W.M.C.B.; Herath, H.M.R.P.Wth the arrival of societal Marketing concept to the business environruent, Green Investment has g?ine!-much importance than it had. The societal marketing concept says rhil an organization should deliver the desired satisfaction of the customer in a way thit preserves or enhctnces the consumers' and the socie_ly's well-being. Investment in green sh-ares gives relaliveh,high rates ,.freturn- qs a sort of highly socially responsible investment. In the western countries q domestic growth in green investments introductions at the beginning of the 1990's and currently the market for green investments has been expanded rapti-ly. tn ile "us,a, one out of eight tLS dllturs invested in Green shares. The Sri Lankan market ii Cieen Investments, still not have reachecl to that level of western countries,-but_sr(uatly it has been improved than earlier years. Onbt a.fstv organizations can befomtd in sri Lanka thosewho engage in tropicalforestry. This paper deals with an evalaation of afiintctds of poten-tial "urto*", clientele towards the Green Investmen-ts, specially invest on tropical forgstry. The study was based on secon4ary da1a. and p-'lyory data. Primary data were collected by conducting a representative survey of interviewing 200 respondents through.a structured questionnaire. Tie sample elements were selected using convenience sampling teclniques descriptive statistics were used to analyze gathered clata. Findings showed that only a less percentage of interviewed customeri hid Jhvorable attitudes tgwards invest in tropigal for_eltry and furiher it was revealed that the willingness to invest in forestry is afunction ofvariables of edtlcatrion level, income, environmental awireness, nature of promotions and expected proJits. Based on the results, conclusions are drawn regarding marketing strategies to improve their market in the marketer's point of view.Item Age of the consumer and service quality(2011) Ranjanee, R.P.C.; Herath, H.M.R.P.Item Factors influencing consumer purchasing decision of impulse ice cream in Sri Lanka(The International Institute of Knowledge Management (TIIKM) Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2015) Herath, H.M.R.P.; de Silva, A.E.; de Silva, S.K.D.U.The purpose of this research is to identify the factors influencing consumer purchasing decision of impulse ice cream in the Western Province. The research investigates the relationship between brand prestige, trust in manufacturer, sensorial quality attributes, social status and nutritional quality and information, and the customer purchasing decision of impulse ice cream. An initial conceptualization was developed from reviewing the literature and then the conceptualization was tested with primary quantitative survey data collected from 100 respondents from different areas in the Western Province. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were used to test the key hypotheses derived from literature review. The findings indicated that consumer purchase decisions of impulse ice cream are influenced by brand prestige, trust in manufacturer, sensorial quality attributes, social status and nutritional quality & information. However, the significance of the relationship is different from one another. The research is conducted in the Western Province region. Hence, future research could extend these findings to other areas of Sri Lanka to generalization. Further, research can be carried out through data collection from those who actually participated in relation to test the factors that are concerned with bulk ice cream purchasing decision. This research and the claims made are limited to the ice cream industry. The key implications will help the ice cream manufacturers to support their marketing campaigns in Sri Lanka.Item Determinants of customer satisfaction level in tourist hotel industry with a special reference to the north of Colombo(The International Institute of Knowledge Management, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2015) Herath, H.M.R.P.; Cooray, N.H.K.; Perera, H.S.P.Tourism industry today is one of the world’s fastest growing industries. Sri Lanka with its glorious past has ensured that the present and subsequent generations that have plenty of historical and cultural heritages to be proud of. Tourism Industry is playing a vital role in the GDP of Sri Lankan Economy. In today’s context the tourism industry is growing rapidly after the war in Sri Lanka. Therefore tourist hotels and Sri Lankan government are responsible to attract the tourists to the country so they must precisely identify what their needs and wants are, particularly with what they are unsatisfied. Therefore identifying determinants of customer satisfaction level in tourist hotel industry is very crucial to increase the customer satisfaction in Tourist Hotels. The main objectives of the study is to find out the determinants of customer satisfaction level of tourist hotel industry in the North of Colombo and measure the relationship between the identified determinants on customer satisfaction level of tourist hotel industry in the North of Colombo. The data were collected from 100 tourists based on convenience sampling technique. These 100 tourists were boarded in the North of Colombo Hotels. The data were collected through a structured questionnaire and the hypotheses were tested using correlation analysis which clearly identifies the relationship between the dependent and the independent variables. This data was further analyzed on different factors and researcher tried to find out the impact of various factors on overall tourist satisfaction. The satisfaction was also analyzed gender wise, which gave an idea that in overall women are more satisfied than men. The recommendations were also then made for the Sri Lanka tourist hotels to enhance their level of customer satisfaction.