Competing: Strategies to Improve Customer Relationships Through Training

by Michael E. Smith

Revision with unchanged content. Like most businesses today, municipal utilities are confronting trans-formational change. Once a protected monopoly, they face an increasingly competitive environment. Their production is being outsourced. Their ability to sustain prices is being challenged. As a result, they are recognizing the importance of their relationship with their customers. The need for quality training focused on specific competencies is becoming evident. Drawing on the results of a national survey of customer service representatives, the most important competencies for customer service providers are explored. Information from utility research, customer service competency research, training and development theory, and intellectual capital theory are combined. These concepts are linked to current research based on subject matter experts' insights.The information is essential for managers who confront rapid change in their marketplace. This book explores the importance and competitive advantage of customer relationships. HR professionals, marketing managers and customer service managers who seek to improve customer service through training will also benefit.

168 pages, Paperback

Published July 31, 2012

About the author

See also:

Michael E. Smith, specialist on Aztec cultures
Michael E. Smith (Derbyshire)

Professor Michael E. Smith joined the University of Aberdeen in 2010; prior to that he was a Reader in International Relations at the University of St Andrews and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University in Atlanta. A native of western Pennsylvania in the US, he holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of California (Irvine) as well as an MA in International Affairs from The George Washington University. He has been a Fulbright scholar to the European Union in Brussels, a Council for European Studies fellow, a visiting research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, and a University of California Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation/MacArthur Foundation fellow. He was the founder and first co-chair of the “EU as a Global Actor” interest section of the European Union Studies Association (2003-07), and he is on the editorial boards of the Journal of European Public Policy and European Security.

Research Interests

International security; international cooperation/organization/institutions; regional integration/governance; Europe/European Union; the international politics of science/technology.