INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT (IJM)

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1 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT (IJM) International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN (Print), ISSN 0976 ISSN (Print) ISSN (Online) Volume 3, Issue 3, September- December (2012), pp IAEME: Journal Impact Factor (2012): (Calculated by GISI) IJM I A E M E WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN BEAUTY CLINIC INDUSTRY IN TAMILNADU Mrs.M.Chitra, Assistant Professor, School of Management, SRM University, Kattankulathur, Chennai, India. chitramuthuraman@gmail.com,chitra.m@ktr.srmuniv.ac.in ABSTRACT Dr. Kalpana, Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, SRM University, Kattankulathur, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. kalpax4@gmail.com This paper aims to identify the problems faced by women entrepreneurs in beauty parlors and also analyze the customer satisfaction level. The study was conducted in Tamilnadu with a sample size of 350 beauty parlor for women and about 450 customers. The factors included are qualities for success, general management of parlor, stress, pricing, hygiene, qualities of service etc. Multiple regression, rotated component matrix and factor analysis were used. The study is focused on women owned parlours. Key words: hygiene, pricing, customer satisfaction, facilities, quality service. 1.0 INTRODUCTION Changing cultural environment and increasing educational trends leads the women to explore their personal skills. In rural areas female participation to generate income was not viewed in right angle. (Dube & Pariwala, 1990).But, the success of entrepreneur depends mainly upon her imagination, vision, innovativeness and risk-taking ability. Current entrepreneurship is mainly focused on creative thinking and the development of new ideas. Garland J.W., Hoy, Boulton and GarlandJ.A.C(1984), and Stewart, Watson, CarlandJ.C and CarlandJ.W (1998) have made it very clear that small business women are mainly concerned with securing an income to meet their needs than to lineup with innovative strategies. A liking for people of all ages, a friendly, confident approach, tact, courtesy an attractive, well groomed appearance, good skin, cool dry hands, good health, a sense of cleanliness and hygiene business sense and the ability to express oneself easily is most required for women entrepreneurs. Beauty and health care professional can 131

2 find employment in salon or beauty parlor, a cosmetic manufacturing company, a health club or gym, television or film and also self-employment. Beauty parlor is also called as aunty shop. There is a wide scope for beauty industry in India. In country like India, the beauty industry has significantly developed in terms of manufacture, promotion and marketing of different beauty products. 2.0 Objectives of study 1. To identify the obstacles in the conduct of Beauty clinics. 2. To analyze the customer satisfaction level in beauty clinics. 3.0 Methods of Data Collection The data was collected both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected by using 2 types of questionnaire. First questionnaire was framed exclusively for the beauticians and the second questionnaire was focused on the customers of the parlors. Information from secondary sources. The study was conducted in Tamilnadu with a sample size of 350 women owned beauty parlor and about 450 customers. Tools used to study are Chi-square test, weighted average method, factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. 4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Factor Analysis: In order to identify the factors which determine the success of entrepreneurs in beauty clinics, factor analysis was performed. Table 1 contains the result regarding the sample adequacy and sphericity of the sample. Table : 1 KMO and Bartlett's Test Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy..582 Bartlett's Test of Approx. Chi-Square Sphericity Df 45 Sig..000 To identify the factors which influence the success of entrepreneurship in beauty clinics, 10 factors were selected from the questionnaire and used in the Factor analysis. The results revealed that the first three components alone explain more than 72% of the variance. This 132

3 implies the three components consist of a number of factors which have to be concentrated on to improve the success of the beauty clinics. For this purpose the varimax rotated component matrix is studied. From table 3, it is clear that the first component has totally 4 factors are heavily loaded, viz., handling stress, commitment, optimizing entrepreneurial skills and performance. This means the entrepreneurs have to develop methods for managing stress in their day to day activities. They should ensure that the workers in the clinics are well trained in every aspect of the trade and motivate them in different ways [monetary and non-monetary ways] to improve their commitment. As regards performance, the entrepreneurs should realize that the service rendered is highly personal and customized. So what is offered to one customer is not relevant or applicable to others. In such a case, they have to understand the customer s requirements well and translate it appropriately and design the package of service which would enhance the customer satisfaction. As these four factors are heavily loaded every positive improvement in these four factors would improve customer satisfaction and also business success. The second component has four more factors heavily loaded, viz., years in the field, better in problem solving, general management skills and managing others. It could be noted that the second, third and fourth factors are completely dependent on the first one. As is often said practice makes a person perfect the entrepreneurs have to learn from their experience and also carefully understand the experience of the others in the field. Added to this is the necessity to retain the employees who are trained and oriented and this call for the ability to manage others. Years in the field and calculated risks are heavily loaded factors in the third component. This means, apart from the experience in the business, the entrepreneurs need to understand the risks posing challenges to their business. These could be business related, customer related or other external factor related. 133

4 Table : 2 Total Variance Explained Component Extraction Sums of SquaredRotation Sums of Squared Initial Eigenvalues Loadings Loadings % of Cumul % of Cumulative % of Cumulative Total Variance ative % Total Variance% Total Variance% dimension Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis Multiple Regression analysis In order to examine the factors influencing the customer satisfaction, a number of variables were selected and a multiple regression analysis was performed. The general form of linear regression is : Y = [ X 1, X 2, X 3, X 4, X 5.X n ] Where X1 Xn are the independent variables. The independent variables included are : X 1 location of the beauty clinic, X 2 frequency of visit, X 3 pricing strategy, X 4 punctuality of clinic employees, X 5 quality of work, X 6 quality of service in treatment, X 7 internal facility and X 8 parking facility., Y = satisfaction index 134

5 Table : 3 Rotated Component Matrixa Component Years in this field Qualities for success Calculated risk Better in problem solving handling stress General management skills Commitment Optimizing entrepreneurial skills Performance Managing Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis, Rotation Method : Varimax with Kaiser Normalization,a. Rotation converged in 5 iterations The result indicated a very high R 2 value of 0.900, implying that the factors included for the analysis together explain 90% of the fluctuations in the Customer satisfaction. A statistically high F value [31.499] implied that the regression equation is fit for both interpretation as well as prediction. Table : 4 ANOVAb Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Regression a Residual Total

6 Table : 5 Coefficients a Model Unstandardized Coefficients B Std. Error Beta Standardized Coefficients 1 (Constant) Location of the parlor Frequency of visit Pricing strategies Punctuality of clinic Members t.000 Quality of work Quality of service in treatment Internal facility parking facility a. Dependent Variable: Satisfaction index The regression equation developed is given below: Customer satisfaction index [Y] = ns X ns X2 2.83* X3 [t=3.283] * X4 [t=4.585] * X5 [t=0.14] * X6 [t=3.804] *X7 [t=3.543] * X8 [t=3.866] From the above equation it is clear, that X 3, X 4, X 5, X 6, X 7 and X 8 are statistically significant which means customer satisfaction index in a significant manner. As pricing strategy of the beauty clinic holds the key for improving customer satisfaction. Any price difference between clinics for any service is bound to affect the customer response and customer satisfaction. With very 1 unit reduction in price, the satisfaction would go up by 2.83 units. The presence of negative sign with the coefficient clearly implies that by suitably developing a pricing strategy, the satisfaction of the customer can be improved. Appointment is given to a customer by the clinic; it should be honored without fail. So this adherence to the appointment can improve customer satisfaction. Every one point improvement in punctuality among the employees can improve the customer satisfaction by nearly points. For this to happen, the employees 136

7 should be stress free, well supported and motivated by the entrepreneur. Another statistically significant factor is the quality of work. That is, every work done by the employee in the clinic should be of high quality. As is clear from the equation every unit improvement in the quality of work turned out the customer satisfaction would go up by units. The next factor is quality of service in treatment. The equation points out that every unit increase in the quality of service adds to the customer satisfaction by units. A very important expectation among the customers is a good internal environment. By addressing this in a professional manner, the customer satisfaction is bound to increase as shown by this equation. To be specific every unit improvement in the internal facility would increase the customer satisfaction by units. Similarly, customers who come to the clinic by their own conveyance would expect hassle free parking facility. This is an external factor which has nothing to do with the way the customer service is rendered. But this is equally important as no customer would leave the vehicle on road unprotected. So the beauty clinics can provide some reserved parking facility for customer satisfaction. Every unit support in providing parking facility would improve the satisfaction by 1.14 units. 5.0 CONCLUSIONS Key for achieving a higher customer satisfaction lies with the entrepreneur. Every satisfied customer will not only visit again, but also would spread the message among others. When the constituent of demographic profile of the respondents was studied with customer satisfaction, it was found only age has a significant relationship with customer satisfaction. A very important lesson from this, the entrepreneurs should give very high priority while dealing with each customer depending upon the age. Always the youngsters come to the clinics only to fine tune their beauty and the clinic should rise up to their expectations. Similarly middle aged and elderly women visit the clinic with specific requirements and expectations. The clinic should address this on a case to case basis so that each customer is satisfied. 6.0 REFERENCES 1. Aaker, D.A & Day, G.S, (1990) Marketing research, 4 th edition, New York: John Wiley and Sons. 2. Akter, S (2008). The Business of Beauty. The Daily Star. 137

8 3. Bebko,C.P (2000). Service Intangibility and its Impact on Consumer Expectations of Service Quality: Journal of Service Marketing, 14(1), Carman, J, (1990) Customer Perceptions of Service Quality: An Assessment of SERVQUAL Dimensions. Journal of Retailing, 66(Spring), Garvin, D. (1982). Quality on Line. Harvard Business Review, 61 (September October0, Goldman, W.& Lewis, P. (1977). Beautiful Is Good: Evidence that the physically attractive are more socially; skillful. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13, Grons, C. (1984). A service Quality Model and its Marketing Implications. European Journal of Marketing, 18(4), Service marketing,the Indian context,r Srinivasan, Prentice-hall of India Private ltd, New Delhi,2004 pp