1. CASE STUDY: ICICI Credit Cards - Improving Customer Service

In 2004, ICICI Bank was the second largest private commercial Bank in India with about 470 branches and 1800 ATMs. It provided a multitude of banking and financial services, namely banking, credit cards, loans, investments, NRI services, and so on.

In the same period, its credit card division was ranked second, having about 2.4 million customers. The bank offered various categories of credit cards such as Premium (Solid Gold, Amex Gold), Classic (Sterling Silver, American Express Green, Mini, Easy Deposit-Gold, and Silver). They also introduced value-for-money cards, affinity cards, and co-branded cards as part of their customer relationship strategy... Questions for Discussion: i. By concentrating on the numbers game, ICICI lost out on the quality of customer service. Highlight the various measures taken by the bank to retain its customers. ii. Increased usage leads to more spending on credit cards. Do you think ICICI Bank was able to leverage this factor and build customer relationships and loyalties?

2. CASE STUDY: McDonald's in India

McDonald's is a leading international fast-food restaurant chain with 30,000 restaurants spread across the globe. McDonald's was found to be the leader in fast food chains. In India, it launched its operations in 1996, with two stores. It now has 54 restaurants with a daily inflow of 500,000 customers.

It plans to add 15 more outlets by the end of 2004. As per the Informal Eating out (IEO) survey involving the survey of branded food chains in India, conducted by ACNielsen, McDonald's was found to be the leader in fast food chains. Many factors can be attributed to the success of McDonalds Indian operations...

Questions: i. The services marketing mix consists of three additional elements like people, process, and physical evidence apart from the traditional marketing mix elements such as product, price, promotion, and place. How McDonald was able to utilize these additional three elements to market its services? ii. The proliferation of western fast-food chains such as McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Subway, and Dominos in the Indian market has only been a recent phenomenon. What are the reasons that have contributed to the increased popularity of western fast food chains in India?

3.CASE STUDY: Airtel - Technology and Customer Service

Airtel, the leading cellular brand, is a product of Bharti Cellular Limited - a part of the biggest private integrated telecom conglomerate, Bharti Enterprises. In 2004, Bharti had a presence in 17 of the 23 telecom circles in India and a customer base of over one million. Apart from these, it also offered fixed-line services in five circles.

Its mission statement included "delighting customers" by "customer service focus, empowered employees, innovative services, cost efficiency" and this went a long way in helping it to establish itself in the market.

Over the years, Bharti undertook extensive customer research and used various technological tools as well as promotion schemes to retain customers and offer value-added customer services

Questions for Discussion: i. Technology plays an important role in customer-centric organizations. How has Airtel increased the quality of customer service through technology?

ii. Amidst stiff competition from local and international players, Airtel has managed to continuously be in the limelight. Discuss the various strategies Airtel has adopted time and again to improve customer relations.