General Management
32
Masterarbeit
Complaint Management Process at Swiss WorldCargo
Graduate
tween the two terms had to be made in order to guarantee
Marco Willa
the validity of the customer satisfaction survey. Further findings suggested that satisfaction levels differed accord-
supervisor
ing to region. This would suggest a need to implement new
Dr. Frank Hannich
measures for commonly applied complaint-handling guidelines. Qualitative results, on the other hand, show that customers do not expect to receive compensation after making a complaint, however it is of utmost importance that Swiss WorldCargo’s employees react quickly, demon-
Complaint Management is a crucial part of customer rela-
strate a commitment to solving the problem, and keep the
tionship management (CRM). As the commonly known
customer actively informed about the progress of their in-
“the-customer-is-always-right” policy states, companies
vestigations. Employees need to focus on fast communi-
have to adapt to customer wishes in order to be success-
cation and an appropriate attitude in their capacity as am-
ful. The policy gains in significance when dealing with com-
bassadors for the brand and for the airline.
plaints. Swiss WorldCargo, which is the freight division of Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS), noticed declining
The thesis concludes with two recommendations: Firstly,
complaint-handling satisfaction indices over the last two
employee behavior at Swiss WorldCargo has to be target-
years so it was decided that the existing complaint-han-
ed in training sessions in order to turn front-end employees
dling process needed to be overhauled. The focus of this
into brand ambassadors and secondly, new world-wide
Master’s thesis, therefore, is on using best-practice recom-
standard procedures have to be introduced in order to cre-
mendations for complaint-handling according to existing
ate a common understanding of complaint-handling. An
research literature as well as on the aspect of behavioral
adaptation of the satisfaction survey would not be nec
branding in order to improve complaint handling at Swiss
essary if all employees knew the difference between a
WorldCargo.
complaint and a claim and were able explain it to Swiss WorldCargo customers. The thesis also suggests ways of
First, the existing situation at Swiss WorldCargo was ana-
improving existing complaint management procedures by
lyzed by applying a CRM framework developed at ZHAW
adapting certain processes in response to customer feed-
to detect areas in need of attention. Additionally, quantita-
back.
tive data from previous satisfaction surveys was used to describe how complaints are perceived, how satisfaction levels have changed in recent years, and how complaints and claims correlate. Furthermore, qualitative data, which is obtained from in-depth interviews with core customers, was used to describe customer expectations, recommendations for improvement, competitor benchmarks, and new ideas about how to deal with complaints. The three
partner Company – Swiss International
main areas that were investigated in the interview were
Air Lines
time, compensation, and employee attitude. The focus in
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is the national air-
this case was on employee attitude.
line of Switzerland, serving over 80 destinations from hubs in Zurich, Basel, and Geneva. SWISS is part of the
Results showed that satisfaction levels regarding complaints and claims correlate. Therefore, a distinction be-
Lufthansa Group and a member of Star Alliance.