The Mediating Effect Of Perceived Quality on The Customer Loyalty in Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in The Mobile Phone Sector in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)- Vietnam

VUONG KHANH TUAN, Prof PREMKUMAR RAJAGOPAL

This paper is to analyze the relationship of branding on perceived quality of the service enterprises towards customer loyalty in marketing management’s perspective in Vietnam; particular in the retail market in a time of intense competition for the products or service supplied by the SMEs in the mobile sector. In the business organization, the primary target of enterprises is to convince customers to buy products or services in the long-term relationship. Nowadays, the most important issue for the business organization is to create an advantage of sustainable competition. In addition, brand is a vital asset of any business organization because it leads to the customer’s loyalty. Hence, the customer loyalty is the most important factor to enhance the competitive advantage in any enterprises. Besides, perceived quality of customers on their products or services when they purchase remains one of the most significant values in marketing management. There are two reasons why the perceived quality is important for the mediating role between in customers and branding; firstly, the perceived quality determines the success or failure of business; secondly, it influences the rate of acceptance of the products or service for the business organization. Therefore, this paper aimed to explore the mediating effect on customers’ perceived quality towards their loyalty the branding in the SMEs in the mobile sector. In the first stage, the study has applied the expert’s opinion to analyze the factors effect on the customer’s loyalty. In the second one, the researcher applied the qualitative method to interview around 10 buyers who regularly purchase in The Gioi Di Dong’s Shops and Vien Thong A’s Shops in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) with the convenient method to observe the process of service to get the close ideas of service to build the questions for the observed variables in the SMEs in mobile phone sector as well as enhance customers’ loyalty. In general, the author composed 5 factors including 34 observed variables from total of 50 observed variables chosen to build the questionnaire scale such as (1) Brand trust, (2) Service Organization, (3) Brand Awareness, (4) Perceived Quality, and (5) Customer’s Loyalty to study in Vietnamese SMEs in mobile phone sector in HCMC, Vietnam.