Business Research Proposal

Skyline University College

Etisalat; Customer Dissatisfaction Problems.

Talha Hussain Manzoor Faculty: Dr. JS Student ID: 6672

Business Research Proposal

Company
Etisalat Telecommunications.

Introduction & Company Background

Etisalat was founded in 1976 as a joint-stock company between International Aeradio Limited, a British Company, and local partners. In 1983 the ownership structure changed - United Arab Emirates government held a 60% share in the company and the remaining 40% were publicly traded. The legal name is Emirates Telecommunication Corporation Etisalat is the brand name. With a huge list of services being offered which caters to Voice and Data include Land lines, Mobile services , Internet to Video on Demand, Etisalat has also moved into an advanced era of communications positioning UAE as amongst first 5 countries in the World and 1st in the region to have 3D TV. Fixed line, currently the Corporation offers services over the Next Generation Network, and has been migrating sections of its users onto the advanced network. Mobile telephony which was established in 1982, and became the first telecom operator in the region to introduce a mobile phone service, early adopters of GSM technology, and most recently, the BlackBerry service in 2006, Mobile users enjoy the excellent voice and data applications like WAP, GPRS, 3G, MMS, Push To Talk, exceeded 4.5 million in 2005 and reached a remarkable figure regionally and internationally, Etisalat has roaming agreements with over 520 operators in more than 190 countries, and even Etisalats prepaid mobile subscribers can roam in many of these networks. Data communication services, Satellite phone, Mobile TV services, Offers telecommunication related contracting and consultancy services to international companies. Enabling the nation with basic telecommunication services, Etisalat also offers a range of innovative and modern services that have served to position the UAE as one of the most advanced nations in terms of telecom services.

Internet and broadband penetration also witnessed huge growth during 2005. Having certain number of local subsidiaries including, E-marine which is involved in submarine cable installation, maintenance and repair, E-vision which is a cable TV provider. Thuraya provides cost-effective mobile satellite services in more than 140 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. It was founded in 1997 by a consortium of leading national telecommunications operators and reputed investment firms from the region.

Executive Summary
The research has been proposed in order to identify and provide statistical feedback of the customers to guide the attention of the corporates management towards an alarming situation of customer dissatisfactions. The new products & services introduced by the company and the drawbacks of not providing the services to customers as per the standards of Etisalat. The customer care center lack of education and experience in handling complaints and customer calls. Under experience technicians and illiteracy of dealing with customers. No cross checks of quality service providing to the customers leading to dissatisfaction. The data collection for the research will be Primary type of data as well as secondary type, in order to compare the previous experiences of the customers with the current trends. The research will help the Higher Management of Etisalat to get to know the major problems the customers are facing. The reasons which caused them and what the customers are expecting from Etisalat the oldest telecom operator in United Arab Emirates.

Problem Statement
The major problems of customer dissatisfaction is not something new for Etisalat but since the introduction of the new Fiber Optic System and the services associated with it like e-life the problem has increased to n number. The questions that the research will try to seek and answer for will be as follow: Are the customers satisfied with new service offered by Etisalat i.e. e-life? What are the problems faced by the customers during the provisioning phase of the service? How are the customers being contacted to select the service? How helpful was the customer service in helping and guiding you for the provisioning of the service?

 Are the technicians visiting the customers co-operative and supportive? How long did it take to provide the service to the customer? How is the quality of e-life service?

Research Objectives
The primary objective of the research is to identify what the customers think about Etisalat where does company stands in the eyes of the customers. Although the monopolistic phase of the corporate in UAE has come to an end since the introduction of DU the new telcom operator in Dubai, but due to the limitation of the competitor in the Emirate of Dubai only Etisalat is still the largest telecom operator of UAE. In a normal scenario every organization/corporation will try to improve their services in products in the presence of a competitor in the market. But it seems like Etisalat is till presuming itself as the old monopolistic and sole telecom operator in UAE. Objective will be to get the customers feedback about the corporation and their services in order to understand the position of the company in the eyes of the public. Second objective will to provide a solution to the problems which are faced by the customers and how to get the customers loyalty back to the corporation.

Literature Review
Previously conducted researches on Etisalat will be viewed which are available on the internet. Etisalats own conducted customer satisfaction surveys will also be reviewed against the newly conducted research. Since the problem of customers dissatisfaction faced by the corporation is directly related to their own setup and organization structure, hence referring to any previously conducted research for customer satisfaction for any other organization might not be much fruitful in reviewing. New ways and procedures of improving customer satisfaction will be reviewed as well.

Importance/Benefit of the Study

The study will help to improve/cover the weak holes of the company which are causing the corporation to lose its repute within UAE.

It will help in understanding what the customers expect from a technician visiting their home. Either it be to behave in the norms of the country and religion they belong to or to provide the m with sufficient knowledge and information about what they will do or what they have done or what was wrong. The study will help in analyzing and providing a detail of the customer care center (i.e. 101 service for lodging a complaint and customer feedback) how are they lacking to help the customer.

Research Design
The study will involve to researching and surveying the customers to get a feedback of the existing and the new services provided by Etisalat and to understand the problems and reason which are causing dissatisfaction among the customers. The research will be designed in different ways to achieve its objective.

Sampling Technique
A survey type of research technique will be adopted in which a sample from the target population of each emirates will be used for the study. A minimum of 500 people (Male/Female) will be surveyed about the problem statement. Secondly, Etisalats responsible sections which are directly dealing with customers will also be surveyed. The minimum number of people will be selected based 50% on the total strength of the department. (Optional, based on Organization Approval) Part of the survey can be conducted online on a separate website in order to insure non-manipulation of data. But online survey will require advertisement which can increase the budget of the research.

Data Collection
The research or study will mostly be based on the primary research to collect fresh data to provide a study based on the current scenario. But Secondary data will also be used to compare the current data with previous performances. Secondary data will be collected for better analysis and conclusion. The type of research data will be both quantitative and qualitative.

Data Analysis

The conducted survey which will mostly consist of close-ended questions will be rated in percentages. While the customer experiences/situations will be used to formulate a feedback to the corporation. The data collected either primary or secondary both will be analyzed via SPSS (statistical package of social sciences) software to compute the data gathered. The majority of the data feedback will be provided in quantitative form.

Nature and Forms of Results

The results will be provided as a Management Report and will not be published unless approved or directed by the higher management. The audience of the results will be the Head Office Human Resources Department in AbuDhabi, All seven emirates branches Senior Vice President of Quality and Assurance Department, Engineering Support Departments of all seven Emirates, Management of the concerned departments directly dealing with the customers and the CEO of Etisalat. The structure of the final document will firstly include the background of the company, then the concerned problems, then the results of the surveys conducted internally and externally, the results in a statistical format, next providing feedback on the necessary. Corrective actions to be taken and the limitations of the research. The identities of the internal staff who participated in the survey will be kept anonymous and will not be disclosed even on management request as well. However the customers information who participated in the survey can be provided to the management if requested.

Qualification of Researchers
Researcher #1: Talha Hussain Manzoor
Higher secondary school certificate from Pakistan Islamia Higher Secondary School, Sharjah. Currently pursuing Bachelors in Business Administration (International Business) from Skyline University Sharjah, UAE. Experienced in the area of technology, customer support, report writing and statistical sciences.

Researcher #2: Fatima Zahra

Higher secondary certificate from Ibn Seena School.

 Currently pursuing Bachelors in Business Administration (Travel & Tourism) from Skyline University Sharjah, UAE. Experienced in the area of Customer support & Human resource management.

Researcher #3: Zubair Moinuddin

Higher secondary certificate from Vidhya Bharathi High School. Currently pursuing Bachelors in Business Administration (Marketing Management) from Skyline University Sharjah, UAE. Experienced in the area of marketing, sales management & customer services.

Budget
Budgeted Amount
AED 8000 AED 12000 AED 5000 AED 10000 AED 8000 AED 24000 AED 8000 AED 8000

Particulars
Cost of Questionnaire and Documentation Expenses related to Data Collection Transportation Costs Telephone Costs Expenses related to Data Transformation into Digital Format Statistical Analysis Costs Statistical Software Costs (SPSS) Final Documentation costs of the Report

Schedule
Months (Year 2012)
January 1 to February 28 March 1 to March 10 March 11 to March 31 April 1 to May 15 May 16 to July 16 July 17 to July 31 August 1 to August 31 September 1 to September 20 Review of Literature Compiling the Review Scanning the corporate Database for previously conducted Customer Surveys Drafting of the Questionnaire & sorting of contacts in each region for sampling Commencing of survey Surveying of the Internal Departments of the Corporation Compiling and sorting of data from the survey Data Analysis

Activity

September 21 to October 15 October 17

Research report compilation Report submission to official authorities

Facilities and Special Resources

Management approval for internal data scanning. Management approval for internal concerned departments surveying. Customers contact database to be provided for surveying. Information related to the customers with most numbers of complaints. Internal sitting and office arrangement in any two regions for internal surveying purpose.

Bibliography
http://essaywritingnotes.com/articles/business-research-proposal.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature_review http://users.aims.ac.za/~frances/Mastersresearchproposal.html http://www.mediastow.com/papers/telecom-apr08 http://www.etisalat.ae/index.jsp http://sampleresearchproposals.blogspot.com/2010/02/international-human-resourcemanagement.html http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Pr-Sa/Research-Methods-andProcesses.html#b

Appendices
A sample demo questionnaire is attached below for your reference. Demo Questionnaire
Customer Name: Account# 1: Account# 2: Contact# 1: Contact# 2:

We would be grateful if you could spare a few minutes to complete this Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire to help us ensure that our standard of customer care exceeds expectations wherever possible. Please tick the appropriate box to indicate your degree of satisfaction. Where: 1 = Excellent, 2 = Good, 3 = Satisfactory, 4 = Poor

Topic
RESPONSIVENESS: How do you rate our responsiveness in dealing with you? PROFESSIONALISM: How do you rate our professionalism in dealing with you? TECHNICAL SUPPORT: If you received any technical support, how do you rate the technical competence of our engineers and their response time? PRODUCT QUALITY: How do you rate our products and services and did they meet your needs and expectations regarding quality and performance?

Comments

DELIVERY: How do you rate our delivery on time performance and our commitment to meet your delivery expectations?

COMPETITIVENESS: How do you rate the competitiveness of our products and do they represent best value for total cost of lifetime ownership? QUALITY: How do you rate our approach to quality management to ensure complete customer satisfaction? OVERALL: How do you rate Etisalat? Do you have any comments or suggestions that would help us improve our quality of customer service?

We will be waiting to hear back from you soon. The research can be commenced once an approval letter will be sent from your side.

Best Wishes & Regards,

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