CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Related Literature
According to Russel and Murdick (2010), customers play the most significant
part in business. In fact the customer is the actual boss in a deal and is responsible for the
actually profit for the organization. Customer is the one who uses the products and
services and judges the quality of those products and services. Hence its importance for
an organization to retain customers or make new customers and flourish business. To
manage customers, organizations should follow some sort of approaches like
segmentation or division of customers into groups because each customer has to be
considered valuable and profitable.
An organization should always focus on loyal customers and should expand or
multiply the service range to leverage impulsive customers. For other types of customers
strategies should be renovated and enhances for turning out these customers to satisfy
their needs and modify these types of customers to let them fall under loyal and
impulsive category.
According to Kotler (2009), satisfaction reflects a persons comparative
judgments resulting from a products perceived performance in relation to his or her
expectations. If the performance falls short of expectation, the customer is dissatisfied

and disappointed. If the performance matches the expectations, the customer is satisfied.
If the performance exceeds expectations, the customers are highly satisfied or delighted.
According to Kotler, customer satisfaction is the response with pleasure or
disappointment for the performance of certain product or service related to individual
expectations.
Tse and Wilton (2006) elaborated hunt definition where they said customer
satisfaction is a process of consumers response to the evaluation of the perceived
discrepancy between prior expectations and the actual performance of the product as
perceived after its consumption.
Evangelos and Yannis (2010), this definition approaches two sides where the
first approach defines satisfaction as a final situation or as end-state resulting from the
consumption experience and the second approach emphasizes the perceptual, evaluative
and psychological process that contributes to satisfaction.
According to Hollensen (2010), service is any act or performance that one
party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the
ownership of anything. Its production may not be tied to a physical product.
Services are a deed by one party for another. Services are perishable they cant
be stored. Services often have to produce in the presence of the customer.
According to Cravens (2009), quality means a products ability to satisfy a
customers needs or requirements.

According to Keller, Lane et. al (2006), quality is the totality of features and
characteristics of a product or services that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied
needs. This is clearly a customer centered definition.
Improving quality, for many reasons, most organization is consistently striving
to improve the quality of their products or services competitive pressures, complaints
from clients or consumer, professionalism and the desire to increase sales or markets
share. All have a potential for investigating quality improvements and research and
development competitors, customer and employees. Research and development involves
exploring new different designs for products or services or new different equipment,
material, and process, methods or packaging that have the potential for yielding quality
improvements. Competitors are often sources for quality improvements, although at first
glance it may seem unethical to adopt anther firms ideas.
Olsen et al. (2005), service quality is a factor used to measure how well
services actually performed compared to customer expectations
Naeem & Saif (2009), excellent service quality will result in a high level of
customer satisfaction.
Kee et al. (2009), customers perception of service delivery and quality can
have an impact on the long term profits of an organization.
According to Peter et al.(2007) one of the most important and complex
decisions a firm has to make relates to pricing its products and services. If consumers or
organizational buyers perceive a price to be too high, they may purchase competitive
brands or substitute products, leading to a loss of sales and profits of the firm. If the price

is too low, sales might increase, but profitability may suffer. Thus, pricing decisions must
be given careful consideration when affirm is introducing a new product or planning a
short or long term price change.
According to Go (2005), place is concerned w/ getting the right product to the
target markets place. It includes company, activities that make the product conveniently
available to the market consistent w/ their purchasing patterns.
According to Armstrong and Kotler (2008), this marketing Mix stands for the
companys activities, it includes the various undertakes to make product accessible and
available to target customers. The company must identify, recruit and make various
marketing techniques so that its product and services are efficiently supplied to the target
market.
According to Walts W, et. al.(2005), promotion is refers to sales promotion
which is one type of marketing communication and consist of short term incentives to
encourage purchase or sales of a product or services. Although advertising is designed to
build long term brand awareness, sales promotion is primarily focused on creating
actions.
According to Go(2006), promotion is concerned w/ getting the right
product/services. It means the activities that communicate the merits of the product and
persuade target consumers to buy it. It is also used to build and improve consumer
demand. Advertising is one of the methods to promote products/services.it is any paid

Summation
The related literature and studies discussed related information to the present
studies in Customers Satisfaction on the Services Offered by the Funeral Parlors. The
present study have a similarity to the related literature w/c included product/service,
price, place, and promotion.
There are also similarities with the related studies in terms of customers
satisfaction in rendering services. In the study of Palentinos and Vasquez (2003, entitled
Customer Satisfaction on the Product and Services Of Aqua Soft Refilling Station in the
Poblacion area of Majayjay, Laguna. According to this study, the following findings
were revealed that their customers are very satisfied w/ the free delivering services
provided by the refilling station as it delivers the item fast and accurately. And the study
of Araya and Mendoza (2003), other related study entitled Customer Satisfaction on
Milk Products produced by Pearls MPC in Lucban, Quezon. According to this study, the
findings revealed that the respondents responses are very satisfied in the unit price and
only satisfied in the competitiveness. Meaning, they have to be more competitive
regarding the price. The average Mean is 3.34 w/c is satisfied scale.

Conceptual Framework
Based on the research to be conducted, the research paradigm and conceptual
framework was made to illustrate the concept of the study in the Customers Satisfaction
on the services offered by the Funeral Parlors in Tagkawayan, Quezon.
The research paradigm shows the relationship between independent variables
and the dependent variables.
The independent variables include the demographic profile of all customers of
Funeral Parlors in terms of age, gender, civil status, occupation , and family income.
The dependent variables include the customers satisfaction in terms of their
services, price, place, promotion and personnel job performance .

Conceptual Paradigm
Customers Satisfaction on the Services Offered by the Funeral Parlors in
Tagkawayan, Quezon

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES

1. Customers Profile

DEPENDENT VARIABLES

1.Customers Satisfaction

1.1. Age

1.1. Product/services

1.2. Gender

1.2. Price

1.3. Civil Status

1.3. Place

1.4. Occupation

1.4. Promotion

1.5. Monthly Income

1.5. Personnel Job

2. Services Offered

2. Significant relationship

2.2. Embalming
2.3. Visitation/Viewing
2.4. Burial

Figure 1. Shows the Conceptual Paradigm of the Study