Name: SID: LS ID:

Muhammad Ahsan 1248398/1 8087

Course: BA (HONS) Marketing.

Research Proposal:

Customer retention marketing

Mobile telecommunications a study of the customers of Ufone, Pakistan

Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 3 Working title........................................................................................................................................... 3 Research question ............................................................................................................................... 3 Aims and objectives of research ........................................................................................................ 3 Background literature review .............................................................................................................. 4 Research methods ............................................................................................................................... 4 Research approach.............................................................................................................................. 5 Research strategy ................................................................................................................................ 5 Gantt chart ............................................................................................................................................. 5 References ............................................................................................................................................ 6

Introduction
The following report is a proposal intending to conduct a dissertation on the subject of customer retention is in the mobile telecommunications industry. According to Buttle and Ang, (2004), customer retention can be considered as the final phase of a relationship management within which the first two stages are the customer acquisition and customer development. Many theories have been developed based on the benefits of increased levels of customer retention for any organisation. Several studies have propounded that increased levels of customer retention contributes to increased profits and revenue as well as the intangible benefits of customer loyalty contributing to long-term sustainability of the organisation. Moreover there is adequate data on the subject of the feasibility of customer retention for a mass-market service-based organisation in the mobile telecommunications sector.

Working title
The main area of research is customer retention in the mobile telecommunication industry in the Pakistan and it is proposed that a case study approach is adopted to conduct that research on the subject. Waste on this the following working title is adopted. Customer retention strategies of the mobile telecommunication service organisations in the Pakistan A study of the customers of Ufone Mobile Pakistan

Research question
1. To critically evaluate the effectiveness of positive and negative strategies in increasing the retention ratio of customers

Aims and objectives of research

The proposed research will aim to critically evaluate the concept of customer retention and the effectiveness of positive and negative retention strategies on the customers of the mobile telecommunication service organisations in the Pakistan. Since a case study approach is utilised, Three Mobile which is a prominent service provider in the Pakistan is selected for the study and the customers of Ufone will be the population under the study. The objectives of the research are as follows

1. To critically evaluate the concept of customer retention contributing to increased profitability and sustainable revenue generation. 2. To analyse the effectiveness of positive and negative retention strategies employed by organisations in the mobile telecommunication service industry. 3. To recommend a mix of positive and negative retention strategies to be employed by Ufone for its customers in Pakistan.

Background literature review

Two prominent researchers Francis Buttle and Lawrence Ang have contributed significantly to the development of the research literature available on the subject of customer retention. For the proposed research the author will be basing the theoretical models developed by the abovementioned authors and will undertake a critical evaluation of their concept with the use of peerreviewed literature. The classifications of customer retention strategies and some of their main descriptions are provided in the previous section. Since the main object is to analyse the effectiveness of positive and negative retention strategies, the author is providing relevant theoretical concepts about the studies conducted by previous researchers on the aspect of positive and negative retention strategy employed in different types of industries. The positive retention strategy is considered that there was to the customer for continued patronage Alamaro, (2011) and negative retention strategy is the development of exit barriers or switching cost which either can be developed by the organisation itself or marketing induced (Buttle and Ang, 2004). According to Huber, (2008), a combination of positive and negative retention strategies are employed by many of the organisations but most of them do not evaluate a comparative assessment of or the effectiveness of the different types of practical aspects involved in the strategies. A research conducted by Oztayasi and Sezgin, (2011), have suggested that positive retention strategies are only effective after a long period of time mainly because of the loyalty creation concept employed in conjunction with such strategies. A further research by Tesform and Birch (2011) who conducted an empirical assessment of the frequent flyer program (loyalty program in the airline industry) it has been found that the effectiveness of providing a frequent flyer program in retaining profitable customers a significantly low.

Research methods
When considering the methodology to be adopted, it is necessary to provide the reader about the development of knowledge from the primary as well as the secondary data. The methodology in which a research needs to be conducted involves the philosophy of research, the approach and the strategy and for the proposed research, these are evaluated below.

Research approach
The two approaches towards the research are deductive and inductive (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). Deductive reasoning is theory or hypothesis testing and inductive reasoning is theory or hypothesis development (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). The proposed research will base itself on the theoretical concepts developed by previous researchers and will only evaluate or compare the positive and negative retention strategies. The main hypothetical question is about the effectiveness of the positive or negative retention strategies in the mobile telecommunication service industry. Hence the deductive reasoning or approach will be utilised for the proposed research.

Research strategy
Quantitative and qualitative research strategies can be employed and hence the proposed research will be adopting a positivist philosophy based on scientific principles, it is pertinent that a quantitative research strategy is employed. Quantitative research strategy will provide the researcher with the ability to collect data which is numerical informed and analyse them using statistical or mathematical techniques. Qualitative data will be subjective and hence may not be adequate in a comparison of the positive and negative retention strategies. Hence the proposed research will be undertaken using a quantitative research methodology.

Gantt chart
Work Plan/Weeks Proposal Compilation of aim and objectives Critical Literature Review Research Method selection Research Design Data Collection Data Analysis Compiling Information Revising and Editing Final Submission after Binding 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

References
1. Ahmad, R. and Buttle, F., (2002) Customer retention management: a reflection of theory and practice, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 20 Iss: 3, pp.149 161 2. Alamaro, A., (2011), Antecedents of brand preference for mobile telecommunications services, Journal of product and brand management, volume 20, issue 6, pages 475 to 486. 3. Buttle, F. and Ang, L., (2004), Management competencies for successful customer retention, Macquarie graduate school of management. 4. Buttle, F. and Ang, L., (2006) Customer retention management processes: A quantitative study, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 40 Iss: 1/2, pp.83 99 5. Clayton-Smith, D., (1996) Do It Alls loyalty programme and its impact on customer retention, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 6 Iss: 5, pp.33 37 6. Coyles, S. and Gokey, T. C., (2005) Customer retention is not enough, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 22 Iss: 2, pp.101 105 7. Gould, B, (1998) The rise, fall and return or customer retention at MCI, Antidote, The, Vol. 3 Iss: 5, pp.40 40 8. Henning-Thurau, T. and Hansen, U., (2000), Relationship marketing; gaining competitive advantage through customer satisfaction and customer retention, Springer publications Ltd. 9. Huber, M., (2008), From customer retention to a holistic stakeholder management system; leading innovation, Springer publications Ltd. 10. Oztayasi, B. and Sezgin, S., (2011), A measurement tool for customers relationship management process, Industrial management and data systems, volume and 11, issue six, pages 943 to 960. 11. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A., (2009), Research methods for business students, Pearson education publications Ltd. 12. Tesform, G. and Birch, N. J., (2011), Do switching barriers in the retail banking industry influence and customers in different age groups differently, Journal of services marketing, volume 25, issue 5, pages 371 to 380.