Study the information provided below and answer the following questions.

Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser, and Schlesinger's $(1994)$ Service$-$Profit Chain $($SPC$)$ theory is a management framework

that integrates concepts from marketing, human resources, and organisational behaviour. The SPC theory posits a direct

link between a firm's internal service climate and its external service value, which ultimately drives firm profitability and

growth.

Customer satisfaction is of critical importance in investment and portfolio management. A recent study reported a $30\%$

decline in customer satisfaction among South African investment firms. As an organisational researcher, you have

hypothesised that improvement in a certain variable, employee engagement, is likely to yield significant enhancement in

another variable, customer satisfaction. You are proposing a quantitative study premised on the SPC theory to investigate

whether improvement in employee engagement enhances customer satisfaction at twenty selected South African

investment brokerage firms. Please outline how you would go about conducting the proposed study with reference to the following: Formulate a problem statement for the proposed study. $(3$ Marks$)$