Abstract:
A prescription for the business success is a matter of concern for company
management, researchers and policy makers. There is an ongoing debate
regarding the key tools which can increase business efficiency. For example, one
stream of research argued that focusing on short-term goals is enough to boost
up business performance. On the other hand, another stream argued that
companies should focus on long-term performance by emphasising the
importance of continuous improvement to assure the delivery of business
sustainability. From this point of view, researchers proposed that problem solving
is the key for achieving continuous improvement. Problem solving approaches
are essential for maintaining the customer service quality as high as possible
given the fact that they (problem solving approaches) focus on preventing the
reoccurrence of complaints from customers. However, researcher did not reach
a consensus regarding the effectiveness of the ‘traditional’ approaches of
problem solving (e.g. the 5 whys).
As a result, this study develops an A3 Thinking approach for problem-solving in
order to enhance the complaints handling process in the airline sector. This
approach is validated by using case studies of Saudi Airlines. One of the main
advantages of developing such an approach is that it enables the capture of
subsequent provision of useful knowledge gained from each complaint, thus
enabling the prevention of the reoccurrence of problems, and supporting
decision- making. This study provided a valid evidence on the importance of
handling customer complaints in different touchpoints during customer journey
(pre-flight, on board and post-flight phases). This study found that breaking down
customer journey to touchpoints help company management prevent the
reoccurrence of customer complaints by increasing the efficiency of responding
to customer complaints.
The research contributes to the literature by providing a detailed explanation of
the journey encountered by airline customers, and it contributes towards
enhanced practitioner outcomes by developing a customised A3 Thinking
approach for problem-solving in the airline sector based on a learning cycle.
