REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The world has taken cognizance of the emergence of the service industry as a prominent contributor to its economy over the last century. A number of countries in the last few decades have experienced a dramatic change in the importance of services and the role of the services sector in their economies (Sharma, 2002; Nankervis and Pearson, 2002; Edwards and Croker, 2001). Customer retention is one of the most frequently addressed subjects in the marketing and service literature. The subject has gained attention of service companies because of its importance to the successful running of any business. Realizing the prime importance of customer retention to organizations, a major concern is to determine how it is affected. Issues involving customer retention in service organizations have drawn the attention of various researchers concerned with finding the determinants of customer retention and their implications in service industries (Andreassen and Lindestad, 1998a; Kerr, 1999; Patterson and Smith, 2003; Eshghi, Haughton, and Topi, 2007; Heskett and Sasser, 2010). The telecommunications industry is undergoing changes through globalisation and technological development. Multiple mergers and acquisitions result in global expansion, liberalisation and privatisation of the industry. Thus, achieving the right service quality is important as it is the driving force for customer retention, ultimately for productivity and profitability. Good service could be achieved through empowerment and adequately trained. If retention is not managed, Customers loyalty may be lost. It is examined that there is potential constructs in Customer retention by investigating the chain of effects of retention from Customer service, satisfaction, value and behavioral intention. Customer satisfaction does not necessarily lead to Customers loyalty. It is assumed that when the Customer is satisfied, then loyalty towards the telecom company is strengthened. Customers always have a positive impression towards their telecom companys ability to meet their changing needs. (a10- p3)

Marketing researches have suggested that price is a critical factor which enhances the customer satisfaction because whenever customer evaluates the value of goods or services they often think of price. The price is what the customer sacrificed to obtain goods or services. However, unreasonable changes in price caused customers to perceive unfairness and unsatisfactory. Fairness can be defined as a belief of judgment of whether an outcome reaches to be reasonable, acceptable and just. Moreover, customers will not always know or remember the actual price of a good or service but they consider in a way of appropriateness for them. That means price fairness can be included the comparison of standard price, price perception and reference price. (A11, p1) Customer satisfaction and retention are key issues for organizations in today's competitive market place. As such, much research and revenue has been invested in developing accurate wars of assessing consumer satisfaction at both the macro (national) and micro (organizational) level. Nowadays all companies are realizing the significance of delivering and managing service quality, which leads to customer satisfaction. Service quality that is delivered can meet or exceed customers expectations are mainly influenced by customers prior expectations. (A14, p2) The deregulation of the telecom industry India in the early 1990s brought multiple players/ service providers to the country. With the competition becoming tough, service providers realized that retaining ones existing customer base is important as much as the acquiring of a new customer. In that context, service providers realized the importance of knowing the attributes that customers consider as relevant, in deciding whether to continue or not to continue with a particular service provider. The India mobile telecommunication services industry is entering a new transition period. This has been brought about by the market for mobile telecommunications reaching maturity, the launching of new services and the scheduled introduction of mobile number portability. In response, the industry is shifting its strategic focus away from attracting new customers, towards retaining existing customers through the promotion of customer loyalty. It is very important to know how customer satisfaction and the switching barrier influence customer loyalty. The adjustment effect of the switching barrier on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is also analyzed. (a15, p1)