LEVEL OF CUSTOMER ORIENTATION AND CUSTOMER PROTECTION IN HOTELS IN SERBIA

Maja Ćirić; Milan Počuča; Vuk Raičević

doi:10.5937/ekoPolj1401025C

Authors

Maja ?iri?, PhD Faculty of Economics and Engineering Management, Novi Sad
Milan Po?u?a, PhD Faculty of Low, Novi Sad
Vuk Rai?evi?, PhD University Business Academy, Faculty of Economics and Engineering Management, Novi Sad

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5937/ekoPolj1401025C

Keywords:

customer orientation, customer satisfaction, protection of customers, marketing in hotel management industry

Abstract

Hotels present an engine of tourism development. Their standard and orientation towards specific target groups of customers determine the strength of tourism offer. In addition, they contribute to the agricultural development, too, because they are the great buyers of agricultural products. According to official data, the existing potentials of Serbian tourism have been insufficiently valorised and Serbian hotels are in pretty poor condition- compared to international standards. Taking these facts into consideration, we can raise a question whether the key problems of Serbian hotels lie exclusively in inadequate accommodation capacities, or perhaps that there is a lack of customer- oriented business philosophy. Also the question is to what extent the legal regulations contribute to the protection of customer rights and their satisfaction. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to ascertain the level of customer orientation in Serbian hotels, so as to find out whether members of hotel staff are acquainted with the notion of customer orientation and determine the degree to which this approach has been applied in practice. Conclusions and recommendations for improvement of competitiveness of hotels in Serbia are derived on the basis of research conducted by interviewing the employees of a sample of hotels in Serbia.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

1. Antevski, M., Petrović, P., Vesić, D. (2012): Development perspectives in agriculture and rural areas in Serbia in the EU integration process, Economics of Agriculture, vol. 59(2), pp. 243-251.
2. Beech, J., Chadwick, S. (2006): The Business of Tourism Management, Prentice Hall, London.
3. Brady, M., Cronin, J. (2005): Customer orientation. Effects on customer service perceptions and outcome behaviours, Journal of Service Research, vol. 3(3), pp. 241-251.
4. Bruhn, M. (1995): Internes Marketing als Baustein der Kundenorientierung, Die Unternehmung, vol. 49(6), pp. 381-402.
5. Deshpandé, R., Farley, J., Webster, Jr., F. (1993): Corporate culture, customer orientation, and innovativeness in Japanese frms: a quadrate analysis, Journal of Marketing, vol. 57(1), pp. 23-37.
6. Goleman, D. (1998):What makes a leader?Harvard Business Review, vol. 76(6), pp. 92–102. 7. Grandov, Z., Jovanović, R. (2011): Zaštita potrošača-komparativna analiza Srbije i susednih zemalja, Časopis za Ekonomiju i tržišno komuniciranje, EMC Review, vol. 1(1), pp. 9–24.
8. Henning-Thurau, T. (2004): Customer orientation of service employees -Its impact on customer satisfaction, commitment, and retention, International Journal of Service Industry Management, vol. 15(5), pp. 460-478.
9. Ivolga, A., Erokhin, V. (2013): Tourism as an approach to sustainable rural development: Case of Southern Russia, Economics of Agriculture, vol. 60(4), pp. 789-800.
10.Kohli, A., Jaworski, B. (1990): Market orientation: the construct, research propositions, and managerial implications, Journal of Marketing, vol. 54(2), pp. 1-18.
11. Kohli, A., Jaworski, B. J., Kumar, A. (1993): MARKOR: a measure of market orientation, Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 30(4), pp. 467-77.
12.Ljubojević, Č. (2002): Marketing usluga, Stylos, Novi Sad.
13.Macintosh, G. (2007): Customer orientation, relationship quality, and relational benefits to the firm, Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 21(3), pp. 150-159.
14.McNealy, R. M. (1994): Making Customer satisfaction happens: A strategy for delighting customers, Champan & Hall, London.
15.Narver, J., Slater, S. (1990): The effect of a market orientation on business profitability, Journal of Marketing, vol. 54(4), pp. 20-35.
16.Nwankwo, S. (1995). Developing a customer orientation, Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 12(5), pp. 5-15.
17. Novaković Rajčić, B. (2008): Marketing-put kojim treba ići, Privredna akademija, Novi Sad.
18. Popesku, J. (2013): Marketing u turizmu i hotelijerstvu, Univerzitet Singidunum, Beograd.
19.Ćirić, M., Đorđević, D., Ignjatijević, S. (2013): Measurement Framework for Analyzing Customer Orientation in the Hotel Industry, Actual Problems of Economics, vol. 3(141), pp. 493–503.
20.Ćirić, M. (2013): Menadžment odnosa sa klijentima u bankama, Fakultet za ekonomiju i inženjerski menadžment, Novi Sad.
21.Ćirić, M., Klincov, R. (2008): Satisfakcija korisnika usluga-trošak ili investicija za uslužne organizacije?, Ekonomika, vol. 1(2), pp. 90–100.
22.Zheng Zhou, K., Brown, J., Dev, C., Agarwal, S. (2007): The effects of customer and competitor orientations on performance in global markets: a contingency analysis, Journal of International Business Studies, vol. 38, pp. 303-319.
23.Strategija razvoja turizma Republike Srbije, available at: http://www.srbija.gov.rs/vesti/dokumenti_sekcija.php?id=45678
24.Strategija zaštite potrošača za period 2013-2018 godine, available at: http://zastitapotrosaca.gov.rs/info.php?naslov=usvojena-strategija-zastita-potrosaca