Relationship Between Marketing Mix Elements

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015 Last Modified: 16 May 2017

Business today is very competitive, any organizations are facing with many pressures: Changeable and unpredictable business environment, very fast change of technology, to be survival, developed and successful requires "company have to move from a product and selling philosophy to a customer and marketing philosophy"(Kotler et al., 2005).

All companies try to gain the best of the customer satisfaction to maximize the profit because they believe that customer satisfaction is very important for the survival of any organization. Many research shows that consequences of customer satisfaction are numerous: Customer satisfaction leads to positive word-of-mouth (Anderson, 1998; Swan and Oliver, 1989; Hoyer and MacInnis, 2001)…), customer satisfaction leads to customer retention (Curtis et al., 2012; Hennig, 1997; Kotler, 1994, p.20; Bitner, 1990), customer satisfaction leads to loyalty (Curtis et al., 2012; Singh, 2006), Customer leads to repurchase attention (Anton, 1996).

The question for companies is how to enhance the customer satisfaction? Which factors impact on customer satisfaction and this relationship is negative or positive? To answer all these questions, companies will have the appropriate strategies for success. Many researches show that there are many factors that affect customer satisfaction. According to Hokanson (1995), these factors including friendly employees, courteous employees, knowledgeable employees, helpful employees, accuracy of billing, billing timeliness, competitive pricing, service quality, good value, billing clarity and quick service impact on customer satisfaction. It is obviously that all these factors belong to Marketing mix. Moreover Doyle also recommends that "Most marketing professionals would answer that the right marketing mix is the one that maximizes customer satisfaction and results in the highest sales or market share" (Doyle, 2003) also suggests that customer satisfaction and sales can always be increased if companies offer more product features, lower prices than competition, higher promotional budgets and the immediate availability of the product, of outstanding customer service and support (Doyle, 2003).

Ford Motor Company is global automotive industry leader in the world based on US. Ford has its history of 109 years for existing and developing. Ford's strategy is "focus on developing vehicles that deliver exceptional value to our customers across global markets. Ford product vehicles sport bold exterior designs, while offering great handling and performance. Not only are they great to drive - with interior enhancements in comfort and connectivity - but fuel economy across every vehicle in our portfolio is a reason to buy"(Ford, np)

Ford worldwide market share reported end of 2011: 7.3%, regional Ford North America: 17.3%, Ford Europe 8.3%, Ford Asia South Pacific: 2.7%, South America 8.3%

Ford Vietnam is a joint venture established in 1995 between Ford Motor Company (75%) and Song Cong Diesel Company (25%). Cumulative market share up to SEP 2012 is in fifth position with 5.3%, meanwhile, two market leaders, Truong Hai and Toyota gain 30.9% and 29.1%. Ford's market share in Vietnam is nearly double in comparison with its regional market share - Asia South Pacific. But the gap between Ford and two market leaders in Vietnam is very huge. Since, Ford's products are diversified ranging from low end to high end compared with its big competitor that is Toyota. Ford's products are known as "full family of vehicles offering leading quality, fuel efficiency, safety, smart design and value" (Ford, np).

This big gap excites the researcher to evaluate the level of customer satisfaction of Ford Car users in Vietnam, explore what factors impact on this customer satisfaction by testing the relationship between marketing mix elements and customer satisfaction of Ford Car users in Vietnam. Beside some reasons above, marketing mix and customer satisfaction are two theories that researcher is very interesting to study. Finally, topic of research can be named as below:

"Exploring the relationship between marketing mix elements and customer satisfaction of Ford Car users in Vietnam"

1.2 Research objectives

The researcher intends to study on Ford auto customer satisfaction in Vietnam to evaluating the level of customer satisfaction and testing the relationship between marketing mix elements and customer satisfaction of Ford auto users with below objectives:

- To study the knowledge of marketing mix, its element and customer satisfaction concept.

- To examine the relationship between marketing mix elements and customer satisfaction of Ford auto in Vietnam

- To measure the level of customer satisfaction of Ford auto in Vietnam

- To recommend some effective solutions to improve the marketing mix to gain higher level of customer satisfaction.

1.3 Research questions

In order to have a clearly understand of all queries about the topic regarding to relationship between marketing mix and Ford users customer satisfaction. This research tries to answer below questions:

Is there possible relationship between marketing mix and customer satisfaction of Ford Car users in Vietnam?

What is the level of customer satisfaction of Ford auto in Vietnam

In what way is the marketing mix can be improved to enhance Ford's customer satisfaction in Vietnam.

1.4 The significance of study

Many academic research are conducted in testing the relationship between marketing mix and customer satisfaction in different areas, especially in service sector such as: Tourist, university, café, banking,..But a few of them are found the automobile industry. Moreover, most of academic research is out of Vietnam market.

Although the study result reflects somewhat the real situation of level of customer satisfaction on Ford users in Vietnam, but the target population is quite small and limited in small region, so that the research findings and result only is used for reference or partly apply in the customer satisfaction enhancement for Ford Motor Vietnam or suggesting for further research in future.

1.5 Boundary of the study

Auto market in Vietnam is quite huge, due to geographical dispersion and time constraint, the researcher only conducts the survey on customers who own Ford Car in Ho Chi Minh City. Furthermore, the respondents seem very busy with the things. The study focuses on 4 elements of marketing mix and their impact on customer satisfaction. So the result only presents partly for auto market in Vietnam.

1.6 The organization the study

…………………………..

Chapter 1, the introduction part of research including background of study, why the researcher choose this topic, the research aims and objectives is given, the research questions is identified, the significant of study is discussed, Finally how this research can be applied in practices, the boundary of study and structure of study are presented.

In the Chapter 2, the literature review related to marketing, marketing mix and its elements, customer satisfaction, the relationships between customer satisfaction and marketing mix, the recommended solutions for improving marketing mix elements in order to gain high level of customer satisfaction

The Chapter 3 provides the methodology and procedures which used to collect data for the study. The researcher will perform the surveys with the customers who are using Ford Car in Vietnam, by this survey, researcher will measure the level of customer satisfaction, to explore the relationship between marketing mix elements and customer satisfaction. By this study, the author will use quantitative method to design the questionnaires and use them during the surveys. These data will be the main data to support the answer of the second and third research question.

The researcher will conduct one survey which will be conducted with customers who are using the car of Ford to evaluate the level of customer satisfaction and explore the relationship between marketing mix and customer satisfaction. The purpose of this survey is to get the quantitative data to support the answer for the second and third research questions, whereby to give the best solutions for improving marketing mix effectively for Ford Vietnam in enhance its customer satisfaction.

In the chapter 4, Microsoft excel 2007 and SPSS 16 software will be used to input all the raw data of the respondents and do the analysis, statistic and present them using table, charts, or graphic. Then the researcher will analyse and discuss the findings base on the responses. And present the meaning and reason of the result as well as link with the knowledge in the literature review to support the answers for the research questions and achieve the research objectives.

Chapter 5 contains a summary of the findings of this research; providing the conclusions for the findings and discussion and suggest for further research.

The reflective statement will be in the Appendix A which provides the reflection on research results and personal development that the researcher had gained from this study. The following pages will present the chapter "Review of the Literature" that will review all existing literatures and knowledge to support data to achieve the objectives of this research.

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter Introduction

According to Saunders et al. (2007) A critical review of the literature review is critical part of any research. It is necessary to help the researcher to develop a thorough understanding of and insight to previous researches that related to research questions and objectives. By critically discussing, evaluating what are strengths and weakness, referencing works or studies that has already been undertake, drawing out key points and presenting them in logically argued way. To complete the literature reviewing, the researcher has not only the skill of search relevant knowledge but also appraise it.

Sharp et al. (2002 cited in Saunders et al. 2007) suggests that there are two major reasons exist for reviewing the literature:

Firstly, the preliminary search that help to generate and refine the research ideas.

Secondly, often referred to as the critical review or critical literature review,

Moreover, Saunders et al. (2007) emphasizes that any researches and finding will be judged in relation to others people's research and finding. Main purpose of literature review is to help researcher to develop a good understanding and insight into relevant previous research and the trends that have emerged.

Gall et al (2002, quoted in Saunders et al.,2007) provides some other purposes of literature review such as:

To help researcher refine further the research question and objectives

To highlight research possibilities that has been overlooked implicitly in research to date,

To discover explicit recommendations for further research

To help researcher avoid simply repeating work that has been done already,

To sample current opinions in newspapers, professional and trade journals, thereby gaining insight in to the aspects of the research questions and objectives that are considered newsworthy,

Discover and provide an insight into research approaches, strategies and techniques which are appropriate to own research questions and objectives. It could be said that most of researches argue that the critical review is very necessary. Briefly, review the literature relates to: Searching academic research, theories which must be relevant to research questions and objectives. Profound understanding, critical review, give arguments, appraisal, evaluating, discussing, referencing… But it is not just descript and list down the any literatures.

Comment: the above paragraph is not necessary!

This chapter aims to provide a theoretical background bases on existing academic knowledge for research topic "Exploring the relationship between marketing mix elements and customer satisfaction of Ford auto in Vietnam". By doing this, the researcher could further refine three research questions and four research objectives which had been specified in Chapter 1 to highlight research possibilities that have been overlooked, discover explicit recommendations for further research. It helps to avoid repetition to sample current opinions, provide an insight into appropriate research strategies and methodologies. A good literature review expands on the reasons behind selecting a particular research question. Thus the researcher plans to find a strong theoretical foundation provided for the study from a wide range of sources which relates to previously published researches: Books, journals, some ideas in newspaper…, then assess the strengths and weaknesses of previous works, justifying arguments by referencing previous researches. The sources of literatures were cited following the required standard. In this Chapter, some hypotheses will be proposed for testing to answer research questions and archive research objectives in Chapter 1.

Marketing

Marketing is very critical for every business. Kotler, (2002) suggests that the scope of marketing relates to ten types of entities: Goods, services, experiences, events, persons, places, properties, organizations, information, and ideas. It shows that marketing gets involved to all activities of the business from identify the customers and customer needs, creating product and services, communicating to customers, sell its products to target customers, making its customers satisfied… The researches and studies regarding marketing are numerous. Below are some definitions about marketing concept.

An earliest definition of marketing "is the performance of business activities that direct a flow of goods or services from producers to consumers" (AMA,1935). This concept generally mentions about performance of activities, but these activities were not clarified, the concept is quite wide with simply mention about goods and services from producer to consumers. Since marketing becomes an interest topic that many scholars get involved to study. A lot of definitions were come up by researchers: Perreault & McCarthy (2002), Kotler P & Levy SJ (1969); Kotler et al. (2005) Another concept of marketing which get many opposed debates is that "Marketing is simply figuring out what you have to do to sell your product or service for a profit" Keefe (2004 p.17). Generally, the most accepted recently is the newest definition of AMA is that " Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large" (AMA,2007).

2.2 Marketing mix concept

The term of "marketing mix" firstly developed by Bornden (1964), the sources of his inspiration come from the concept of his colleague Jame Culliton (1948, cited in Borden, 1984) which described the business executive is a "mixer of ingredients", the marketing elements are the same with ingredients and marketing manager mixes some of these together to become the marketing mix strategy. Borden (1964) also identified twelve controllable elements of marketing mix: Product planning, pricing, branding, channel of distribution, personal selling, advertising, promotion, packaging, display, servicing, physical handling, fact finding and analysis. This is a list of elements or ingredients to make up a marketing program. Depending on each situation, the marketing manager will blend the number of these elements to constructing and formulating an appropriate marketing program to satisfy their customer needs and wants in target market. By this way, both company and customer's objectives are achieved.

McCarthy (1964) regroups twelve elements of Borden to four categories or usually called 4Ps now: Product, price, promotion, place. Each of these elements comprises some of 12 elements of Borden. And some research also suggested that if manage this mix properly, company will be successful. Mccarthy's concept of marketing mix rapidly began to appear in marketing text. Judd (1987) suggested one more new important P is People. Furthermore, Boom & Bitner (1981) extend 4Ps to 7Ps, he argues that product and service are different, so 4Ps is inadequate, so it is new marketing mix paradigm for service is: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, physical evident and process.

The later definition is that "marketing mix is the controllable variables the company puts together to satisfy its target group" (Perreault & MCCarthy, 2002). This definition is similar with definition is tha marketing mix is the set of controllable tactical marketing tools - product, price, place and promotion - that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market (Kotler et al., 2005). Both definitions mentioned about controllable factors to satisfy the customer in target market. Each mix element includes its factors as below

Product: Variety, quality, design, feature, brand name, packaging, service, warranty.

Price: List price, discount, allowance, payment period, credit term.

Place: Channel, coverage, assortment, location, inventory, transport.

Promotion: Advertising, promotion, personal selling, publicity.

Kotler et al. (2005) also suggested that: An effective marketing program blend marketing mix elements into a coordinated programme design to achieve the company's marketing objective. When marketing mix concept is introduced, there are many researches to evaluate and criticise on it. Constantinides (2006) identified two significant limitations of marketing mix is internal orientations and lack of personalization.

Both Gronroos (1989) and Popovic (2006) suggest that the 4 Ps and the marketing mix are production-oriented definitions, companies focus much on internal product, the market may be neglected. According to Möller (2006) marketing mix too focus internally instead of customer behavior. Many researches show that the limitations of marketing are on: Production-oriented or too focusing on internal instead of standing on customer point of view. Therefore, Kotler et al. (2005) recognizes that 4Ps represent seller's view of marketing tool available for influencing buyer, it is not from customer point of view. In fact that each marketing tool must deliver a customer benefit, company should view 4Ps as customers' 4Cs:

Product: Customer need and want,

Price: Cost to the customer,

Place: Convenience,

Promotion: Communication.

Doyle (2000) argues that marketing mix approach leads to unprofitable decisions, because it is coordinated with financial objectives such as: Increasing shareholder value. Kotler (1984) proposes two additional Ps of political power and Public Relation to the marketing mix to cover more factors that is important for business as well, those are Political power and Public Relation.

According to Schultz (2001) the 4 Ps are increasingly less relevant in today's market, despite of what they are still learned in marketing courses, academics write and res each about them

Since marketing becomes a vital role in success of any business. Many researches are conducted on marketing mix and its element, more extend elements are suggested, it is obviously that marketing mix or some researches show many limitations or debates, but marketing mix is still the practice model to deploy company strategies effectively. And up to date, there is no any new models can completely replace for marketing mix 4P.

2.3 Marketing mix elements

2.3.1 Product

A product as defined by Armstrong and Kotler (2005) that is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. The latter can be best understood in terms of the manner of delivery of the particular service. Ferrell (2005) opines that the product is the core of the marketing mix strategy where retailers can offer unique attributes that differentiates their product from their competitors. According to Borden (1984) product is characterized by quality, design, features, brand name and sizes

Also from Kotler et al.,( 2005) product can be divided into two categories: Tangible and intangible product, the tangible product is a merchandise that can be touched, hand, feel it, the intangible product or normally call service, which could not be touched or hand, unobservable. Product concept in this research refers to tangible product that is a car of Ford auto Vietnam. According to Kotler et al, (2005), product concept is including: Core product, augmented product and actual product.

Core product regarding to main problem solving benefit or core benefit that consumer really wants to buy. When they obtain, this product will resolve their problems. The main purpose of buying a car is for travelling, safety and protection for health.

The actual product is related to: Parts, features, design, product quality, styling, brand name and packaging or some more attribute that combined to core benefit of product. For a car, these attributes are most important for manufacturer attract and retain its customers

The augmented product which including: Additional consumer service or benefit build around the core and actual product: Solution, warranty and repair service, instruction how to install or using, help desk, call center, free delivery. In those attributes, customer service and repair is more important that auto manufacturing have to pay attention.

In order to satisfy the need of customer, the product designer have to consider all three components of product, because customer expect to buy three of benefit and they feel happy or satisfy when gain enough all the benefit. Many researches tried to find down the impacts of all above attributes of product to customer satisfaction.

Kotler et al. (2005) suggested that "Outstanding marketing companies go out of their way to keep their customers satisfied. Companies know that satisfied customers make repeat purchases and tell others about their good experiences with the product. Regarding to product quality and customer service factors in automotive industry in India, Asghar et al. (2011) found that the quality of products in Tata Motors Company enhances customer satisfaction, and also found that there is a positive relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the context of the Indian automotive industry. Product quality is one of factor of Product in marketing mix. The research shows that the more customers satisfied with quality of product, the more loyal they are with this product. And this may lead to the repurchasing company's product. Customer service is also a factor of Product element, since it becomes very important for any manufacturing company, especially in auto industry.

Bastos and Gallego (2008) also provide evidence that customer service quality directly affects satisfaction and satisfaction directly affects the positive behavioral intentions. Rodoula (2005) finds that consumers perceiving a product being of high quality are more satisfied with the product than consumers perceiving a product being of low quality. There are a positive relationship between perceived quality and customer satisfaction in Shoes industry. It is suggested by Lien-Ti and Yuching (2001) that there is a positive relationship between product quality and customer satisfaction on automotive industry. Yelkur (2000) also finds that the critical elements in the services marketing mix influence and positively effects customer satisfaction.

Moreover, the relationship between marketing and customer satisfaction is highly expressed among researchers (Zineldin & Philipson, 2007). Cengiz and Yayla (2007) find that marketing mix having a positive effect on satisfaction and loyalty on word of mouth communication from accounting offices in Turkey. Mohammad et all (2012) suggests that Product and tourists' Satisfaction are positively related to each other.

Although not all attributes of product such as: Quality, design… were tested if any relationship or impact on customer satisfaction, but at least, there are so many studies show that product generally positive impact on customer satisfaction, and quality of product, customer service were tested, especially in automotive industry.

So far there are no any research found that no any relationship between Product element or its factors with customer satisfaction. Or the negative impact of Product on customer satisfaction. So in this research the author tries to do the research the relationship between Ford's product which were sold in Vietnam market and its customer satisfaction. So the hypothesis will be proposed as below:

H1: There is a positive relationship between Ford's Product and its customer satisfaction.

2.3.2 Price

Price is one of very important element in marketing mix and the only element that produce the revenue to company. Price is very the most flexible element in mix, it can be change very fast to adapt with every stage of product life cycle, or to stimulate demand in short time, or can reduce to support selling of other product in production line or set to keep loyalty of customer. So that pricing may play an important role in helping to accomplish the company's objectives at many levels. (Kotler et al., 2005. p.668).

Price decisions must be coordinated with product design, distribution and promotion decisions to form a consistent and effective marketing program. The definion of price that "is the amount of money charged for a product or service, or the total values that consumers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service"(Kotler et al, 2005)

Similarly with Product element, Price also gets many scholars involved to study the relationship with customer satisfaction. A research of Oliver & Swan, (1989) shows that perceptions of price unfairness lead to dissatisfaction and the purchase intention is influenced by satisfaction. This was consolidated by later search of Campbell (1999) that perception of price unfairness may trigger consumers' negative emotions such as dissatisfaction, disappointment, and anger. So as a result, customers do not come back for repurchasing this product any more. Augene (1996) investigated the association between customer satisfaction and willing-to-pay or price tolerance, the finding shows that negative association between level of customer satisfaction provided by company and the degree of Price tolerance. In the telecommunication sector, Muzammil et al. (2010), also finds that both the factors Price fairness and customer service significantly contributed to explain customer satisfaction but comparatively price fairness had the larger impact on customer satisfaction than customer services.

In another study of Herrmann et al.,(2007) on automobile concludes that customer satisfaction is directly influenced by price perceptions while indirectly through the perception of price fairness , demonstrate the influence of perceived price fairness on satisfaction judgments, Buyers' price perceptions positively influences their perceptions of the fairness of price offers. Price is an important element in consumers' purchases; therefore it has a large influence on consumer satisfaction judgments. Homburg et al., (2005) investigates the effects of price increases at an individual level, the authors argued that customers react to price increases are strongly driven by two factors: the magnitude of the price increase and the perceived fairness of the motive for the price increase.

Soedijati & Pratminingsih (2011) indicated that marketing mix has significant and positive relationship with students' decision making for selecting a university for marketing mix. Another research of Muala & Qurneh (2012) on Tourist sector shows that product, place, personnel and process significant impact on tourist satisfaction. It is less impact of Price on customer satisfaction, or it could be said that there is no any relationship with customer satisfaction. Because the tourists usually expect more on quality of tourist, instead considering price carefully. Martin Consuegra (2007) finds price fairness influences price acceptance indirectly through customer satisfaction and loyalty.

According to Cheng et al (2011, consumers' perceived price has a negative impact on customer satisfaction, which is that the higher the fast food industry product price is, the more it will reduce customer satisfaction. This result is consistent with the study result of Dargay (2007), and Hopkins (2007). Moreover, Cheng and Wu (2011) finds that when price increase reduces customer satisfaction in the global service market. Price increases as same as customer's perceived price increase, it means that price fairness reduces. As a result, customers become dissatisfied with company goods or service. Kotler and Lane (2009) also proposed that there is a positive relationship between perceived price fairness and satisfaction. The more consumers perceive a price as gain, the higher their satisfaction. These findings also supports the idea that higher price may reduce customer satisfaction or consumption capacity. Martin-Consuegra et al. (2007) asserts that decision of customers to accept particular price relate directly to satisfaction level.

Research on how price impact on customer satisfaction is very huge, most studies show that having the strong impact of Price and customer satisfaction in many areas, and this is the positive relationship. The more customer perceived fairness (or less customer perceived price), the more increase in customer satisfaction. The hypothesis will be tested at below:

H2: There is the positive relationship between price of Ford auto and its customer satisfaction.

2.3.4 Place

According to Kotler et al.,(2005) Place related to all the company activities that make the product or service available to target customers. Place refers to channel, coverage, assortment, location, inventory, transport. In the service sector, "Place decisions refer to the ease of access which potential customer to a service such as location (distance to services sites) and distribution (e.g., home delivery, 24-hour availability)" (Hirankitti et al., 2009). As same as with Product and Price, there are many previous researches to test the relationship between Place and customer satisfaction. Cheng et al., (2011) found that convenience has a positive impact on fast food industry customer satisfaction. It indicated that the more convenient, the more customer satisfaction will increase. This study result has corresponded with the study conclusion of Mahon et al. (2006) and Martinez-Ruiz et al. (2010). Gilaninia et al. (2012) also finds that the supply chain management has direct relationship with customer satisfaction. Mohammad et all (2012) points out that Place and customer satisfaction are positively related to each other. According to Kotler and Amstrong (2010) when channel is used in marketing system that maximizes efficiency, effectiveness, maximizes costs and delivers the great customer satisfaction for companies, because the channel is link between producers and final consumers. Palmer (2000) also believes that physical distribution (order processing, warehousing, inventory, transport) affect on customer satisfaction. Ryu & Han (2009) proposed that customer's perception of physical environment factors: facility aesthetics, lighting, layout, and social factors had significant effects on disconfirmation and disconfirmation directly influence to customer satisfaction.

It is difficult to find any research shows that Place has no impact on customer satisfaction. In this study, researcher also tries to explore the relationship between Place and customer satisfaction of Ford customers in Vietnam. The Place of Ford in this research refers to distribution channel, number of show room available, facilities at showroom and customer service and maintenance center, how the showrooms decorated, how the layout…So, the hypothesis can be proposed:

H3: there is positive relationship between Place and customer satisfaction of Ford customers.

2.3.5 Promotion

Promotion is defined as sales promotion, advertising, personal selling, public relations and direct marketing (Borden, 1984). Later Kotler et al., (2005) defined Promotion is that the activities communicate the product or service and its merits to target customers and persuade them to buy. Kotler et al.,( 2005) also defines the Promotion mix or company's total marketing communication mix which one replace for Promotion. Promotion mix includes: Advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relation and direct marketing tools. Company uses this promotion mix to pursue advertising and marketing objectives. Promotion is a selling technique to succeed in any marketing program. Promotion is very important as it provides information, advices, and its persuasion to the target market. There are number of researches on Promotion theories and relationship between Promotion to customer satisfaction in many sectors and industries were tested. As a whole, Promotion positively impact on customer satisfaction. This is affirmed by the result of many researches as below:

Mohammad et al. (2012), Muala and Qurneh (2012) investigated on tourist sector and finds that the promotion and tourists' satisfaction are positively related to each other. The better of Promotion, the more customers satisfied in term of Tourist or service sectors. Cengiz et al (2007) suggests that advertising efficiency has positive effect on customer satisfaction. Advertising is one of factors of Promotion or Promotion mix. Koes Soedijati & Pratminingsih (2011) indicated that marketing mix or four Ps of marketing mix has significant and positive relationship with students' decision making for selecting a university.

Recently, Khan, Hussain and Yaqoob (2012), on the research of fast food industries, findings that there is a significant positive relationship between the Promotion, Service quality, Customer expectations, Brand, Physical Environment, Price, and Taste of the product to customer satisfaction. All of these factors are determinant of customer satisfaction. In a research about air service, Kurniawan (2010) suggests that promotion of product or service helps in the best way to builds relationship with customers, because everyone is looking for the best suitable deal for them. It is very hard to find any researches that finding there is no any relationship between Promotion or Promotion mix to customer satisfaction. Especially, researcher could not find any previous academic studies on the relationship between Promotion and customer satisfaction in automotive industry. Such a big auto company as Ford, promotion mix is one of important strategy to communicate with its customers in term of new products, price, selling information or any promotion campaign… So, a hypothesis to check the impact of Promotion on Ford customer satisfaction in Vietnam marketing can be proposed as below:

H4: There a positive relationship between Promotion and customer satisfaction of Ford Vietnam.

Customer satisfaction -> wrong numbering this part?

Kotler et al (2005) defined that marketing is the delivery of customer satisfaction at a pro¬t and the marketing's purpose is to attract new customers by promising superior value, and to retain current customers by delivering them satisfaction.

It is clearly that, customer satisfaction is very important for survival of any organization. To explore the relationship between customer satisfaction and its antecedents or evaluate the impact of customer satisfaction on company performance and profit, many researches were conducted on these for last several decades. Firstly, some definitions of customer satisfaction will be discussed.

The earlier definition were given by Oliver (1999) that customer satisfaction as an "evaluation of the perceived discrepancy between prior expectations and the actual performance of the product". Another later definition by Kotler et al (2005) that customer satisfaction is the outcome felt by buyers who have experienced a company performance that has fulfilled expectations. The expectation of customer are met then they are satisfied, furthermore, if their expectations are exceeded, they will be delighted. And many definitions for this concept were given during last many years but almost of them mentioned that the satisfaction only occurs by comparison and feeling after customer experience products or services provided by company. If no any experiences, there are no feelings of customer satisfaction. Kotler et al. (2005) also argued that satisfied customers will remain loyal longer, they will buy more.

To evaluate the importance of customer satisfaction, a research were pointed out by Heskett et al., (1994) that customer satisfaction leads to repurchase, loyalty, positive word of mouth and increase long term profitability. Later, many researchers also studies and found that there is positive impact of customer satisfaction on repurchasing, loyalty, customer retention,…(Tennig-Thurau and Klee, 1997); Bowen and Chen (2001); Singh, (2006). There is also a positive connection between customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention. Therefore, customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention are all very important for an organization to be successful. Eshghi, Haughton and Topi (2007) said that satisfaction of the customers can help the brands to build long and profitable relationships with their customers. This statement also confirmed that satisfaction effect positively with customer loyalty and retention.

For survival or being successful, any companies have to focus on needs and wants of their customers. That is the reason why many researchers and scholars have continuously emphasized on the importance of customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention. Customer satisfaction is important because many of researches have shown that customer satisfaction has a positive effect on an organization's profitability. It is obviously that there is so much beneficial when customer satisfied with company, conversely, what happens when the customers do not satisfy. To more understanding all aspects of customer satisfaction, Hoyer and MacInnis (2001) provided some consequences when customer dissatisfaction: Stop buying, complain or may be return the goods product or doing some negative word of mouth communication.

Ford was established more than 100 years ago. It is very famous in car manufacturing. During last ten year, Ford Vietnam was known with many advantages: Very good performance product, true feeling of driving a car, it is good to possess a US car brand, good customer service, all of these are considered as Ford strength in Vietnam. On the other hand, Ford also got some negative evaluation from Vietnam customer: High gasoline consumption due to high performance. Moreover, the cost for repair and maintenance is very high in compared with other brand, especially in comparison with Japanese and Korean auto brand such as: Toyota, Nissan or Mazda. The reason causes high part cost price is that Ford is not flexible in part replacement policy. Due to culture and low average income of Vietnam customers, so they tend to choose a car with low gasoline consumption or low cost for repair and maintenance for money saving. This will become the opportunities of Ford competitors such as Toyota or some Korean car brand. Recently, Ford changes its strategy to apply technologies and do the innovation to its product, quality is quite high, gasoline consumption is now much better. And even the price is lower than its competitors in the same range of product. But the market share is still very low as mentioned in chapter 1. By this research, author tries to evaluate the level of Ford customer satisfaction and explore the influences of marketing mix elements to customer satisfaction. From this result, recommendations will be proposed to enhance customer satisfaction. The final hypothesis related to the level of customer satisfaction will be tested to check how Ford's customers in Vietnam satisfied on Ford car.

H5: The customers relatively satisfied with Ford auto Vietnam on overall

Chapter summary

To sum up, this chapter provides some definition of marketing-related concept such as: Marketing, marketing mix, marketing mix elements, customer satisfaction and its role in any business for survival and development. After researching, discussing and evaluating the literatures on many earlier researches which are relevant to the research objectives and questions. It have been found that many scholars get involved in this topic, many researches show that the positive relationship between marketing mix elements and customer satisfaction in many sectors. Finally, five hypothesizes were proposed as below, the researcher will try to study and test for five hypothesizes to answer the 3 research questions and achieve four given objectives identifying in chapter 1.

Research structure

Figure xxx : The research structure of study

H1: There is a positive relationship between Product of Ford and its customer satisfaction in Vietnam.

H2: There is a positive relationship between Price of Ford and its customer satisfaction in Vietnam.

H3: There is a positive relationship between Place of Ford and its customer satisfaction in Vietnam.

H4: There is a positive relationship between Promotion of Ford and its customer satisfaction in Vietnam

H5: The customers relatively satisfied with Ford auto Vietnam on overall.

Chapter 3 - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Chapter Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss, evaluate and chose the theory of methodology including research philosophies, research method, research approaches, research strategies, data sources, data collection method, ethical issues and limitation of the research. In order to answer the research questions and achieve the research objectives, Research briefly describes and discusses which one will be most appropriate to present and analysis the chosen topic: Exploring the relationship between marketing mix elements and customer satisfaction".

Research philosophy

According to Saunders et al (2007), the term of research philosophy is regarding to the development of knowledge and the nature of that knowledge. Each of research philosophy contains an assumption about the way that researcher view the world, this assumption will underpin the research strategy and method. Making a choice of which research philosophy to be used is very important, because it influence the development of the research. There are four philosophies using in business management research: Positivism, realism, interpretivsm and pragmatism.

The two most popular philosophies that using usually for research is Positivism and Phenomenology. Potivism related to the philosophy stance of the natural scientist, or woking with an observable social reality and that the end product of such research can be law-like generalizations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists, Remenyi et al. (1998). In Positivism, the research is undertaken in a value-free way and researcher is external to the process of data collection. The researcher is independent, "does not affects or is affected by the subject of research"(Remenyi et al. 1998)

In this philosophy, research use the existing theory to develop the hypothesis, then this hypothesis will be tested and confirmed or rejected. And furthermore, It is frequently advocated that the positivist researcher will be likely to use a highly structured methodology in order to facilitate replication (Gill and Johnson, 2002 cited in Saunders et al. 2007).

In constrast, phenomenology is defined as "a theorical point of view that advocates the study of direct experience taken at face value; and one which sees behavior as deternimated by the phenomena of experience rather than by external, objective and physically describled reality" (Cohen & Manion, 1989). The phenomenologist does not consider the world as a objective reality, but they focus on the primacy of subjective consciousness (Remenyi et al, 1998). In the phenomenology research, the researcher is dependent of what being researched.

Both of philosophies have the positive and negative aspects, the research chose the Positivism as research philosophy for this work. Because the author would like to view this research as physical and natural science. And researcher also stands independent and external to process of data collect to get objective result, furthermore, four hypothesises have been developed in chapter two need for testing.

Research approach

According to Saunders et al (2007), research approaches were classified into two main approaches: Deduction and induction. Depend on the selected research philosophy, research objectives, the research approaches will be deductive or inductive.

Saunders et al (2007) explains that deduction is to test the theory. Deduction owns much to what researcher thinks of as scientific research. Deductive approach develops a theory and hypothesis, after that testing this hypothesis. Deduction goes from generalisation to specific. Suggested by Robson (2002) that the list of five sequential stages through which deductive research will progress:

Deducing a hypothesis from theory

Expressing the hypothesis in operational terms which propose a relationship between two specific concepts or variables,

Testing this operational hypothesis

Examining the specific outcome of the inquiry

Of necessary, modifying the theory in the light of the findings

From this view, research questions and objective and discussion in chapter 2, the choice of research approach tends to deduction. But research continues with further study the inductive approach to confirm the selection is appropriate for this research.

Also from Saunders et al (2007), induction is about building a theory, the research uses inductive approach is likely to be particularly concerned with the context in which such events were taking place. Inductive approach will collect the data first and from this data analysis, the theory will be developed, from the observation and data analysis, then develop a theory. This process may take longer time than deduction. Induction goes from specific to generalisation.

Researcher admits deduction as research approach due to some convincing reasons as below:

Deduct research can be quicker to complete

A rich of academic literature on the topic of marketing mix and customer satisfaction, so that it is appropriate to develop hypothesises and testing.

Saunders et al. (2007) suggests that deduction is related to deduction and quantitative data

Research Method

According to Saunders et al. (2007), there are two main research methods: Quantitative and qualitative, both of them is about the technique of data collection and analysis, Quantitative using the numeric data and qualitative using the non-numeric data, Both method is widely using in business and management research. Quantitative related to use the questionnaires and analyzing by statistical techniques, to determine if the predictive generalisation theory is true or not. Qualitative related to an interview, to understand social and human problems from multiple perspectives. Both of them have the strengths and weakness (Smith, 1975 cited in Saunders et al. 2007), the selection of which methods used is important because it is influent to question asked.

Table xxx: Comparison of qualitative and quantitative research methods (Gordon and Langmaid, 1988 cited in Baker, 2003) the marketing book

Due to research philosophy of positivism and deduction research methodology, quantitative method is quite appropriate and will be used for data analysis to support research question and objectives.

3.4 Research strategy

According to Saunder et al (2007), the main research strategies are: experiments, survey, case study, action research, grounded theory, ethnography, and archival research. Some of them belong to deductive approach, some belong to inductive approach. The choice of research strategies will be directed by research questions and objectives, the extent of existing knowledge, time available, philosophy, approach, method…. Saunders et al (2007) also suggested that survey strategy is usually associated with the deductive approach. It is popular and common strategies in business and management research, and also suggested that survey strategy allows us to collect quantitative data, data collected by survey strategy can be used to suggest possible reasons for particular relationship between variables and to produce models of these relationships.

Source of data,

The source of data can be classified into two categories: Primary and secondary data, it depends on the research question and research objective, time and data availability. Researcher will choose the appropriate source.

3.5.1 Primary data

Primary data is collected from researcher, primary data is necessary when the researcher using the quantitative method. Primary research is used for firsthand observation and investigation. The primary research can come from own experience and observations. The popular ways to collect the primary data are survey and interview

3.5.2 Secondary data

Secondary data could be collected from different sources. The research consist data from different sources such as electronic and printed journals, books, reports, etc. It is not from original source. The secondary research is used to gather secondary information which had been documented by other researchers. The researcher can find this information in the libraries and internet, statistical or market research companies, company reports...

There are some advantages of secondary data: Saving time and money (Ghauri and Gronhaug (2005) cited in Saunders et al, 2007). Get the data quickly, comparative and contextual data, it can be resulted unforeseen or unexpected discoveries, permanence data. On the other hand, the disadvantages are that the available data is not met the researcher purpose. In this research, data provided by Ford Vietnam website about marketing share and number of sale, revenues and customer satisfaction program as well will be used to further discuss and consolidate the research, mostly this data were used in chapter two, literature review and in Ford company introduction profile.

3.6 Sampling plan

3.6.1 Target population

As the definition of target population is "the complete group of objects or elements relevant to the research project" (Hair et al., (2003). To answer above research question and achieve the research objectives, target population are identified as customers who are using a Ford car. Due to limitation of geography and time, researcher only contact with those customer at Ford service centre in Ho Chi Minh City.

3.6.2 Sampling technique

There are two sampling techniques: Probability and non-probability, and the choice of sampling technique is dependent on research questions and objectives (Saunders et al 2007), Probability sampling is selected if research questions and research objectives need to estimate statistically the characteristics of population from a sample. Non-probability sampling is selected when the research questions do not require such generalisations. In this research, the author uses the non-probability sampling technique.

3.7 Data collection method

3.7.1 Questionnaires

Questionnaires are used widely in business and management research for descriptive or explanatory (Saunders et al, 2009). There are two types of questionnaires: Self-administerd and interviewer-administered questionnaires, self-administered questionnaires are usually completely by the repondents. On the other hand interviewer-administered quetionnaires are recorded by interviewer. The interviewer-admistered tends to have higher response rate.

Due to below many advantages which were stated by Brymand and Bell (2007), the researcher choose the self-administered questionnaires to collect the primiary data: Cheaper and quicker, honest reponses and avoid the bias answer. Morever, it overcomes the geographically dispersion and the respondent can answer the questionnaires at any convenient time, but those two advantages are not significant in this research, because the population are customers who bring the Ford Car to service center and the questionnaires were delivered by hand to respondents.

3.7.2 Questionnaires content

The questionnaires are designed to gather the data to support the answer for research questions and objectives which were developed in Chapter one. And in order to test five hypothesises that being derived from literature review part that "Is there a positive relationship between four elements of marketing mix and customer satisfaction of Ford Car product in Vietnam and how is the level of this customer satisfaction

The questionnaires includes with 33 closed-questions as attached in the Appendix 1. By this approaches, the researcher uses quantitative methods to design these closed-questions. For question 1 to 8, the researcher would like to gather the data to test H1 "is there positive relationship between Product and Ford Car's customer satisfaction". This information is very important for the researcher to discuss the findings how customer express their satisfaction on Ford Vietnam company in term of product and test the hypothesis H1.

The question 9 to 16, the researcher would like to gather the data to test the second hypothesis "is there positive relationship between Price and customer satisfaction" in Ford Vietnam company, this information is very important for the researcher to discuss the findings how customer express their satisfaction on company in term of price and test the hypothesis H2.

The question 17 to 24, the researcher designs to gather the data to test the third hypothesis: "is there a positive relationship between Place and customer satisfaction". This information is very important for the researcher to discuss the findings how customer express their satisfaction on Ford company in term of place and test the hypothesis H3.

The question 25 to 32, the researcher aims to gather the data to test the hypothesis four "is there positive relationship between Promotion and customer satisfaction". This information is very important for the researcher to discuss the findings how customer express their satisfaction on Ford Vietnam company in term of promotion and test the hypothesis H4

The final question 33, the researcher would like to gather the data about the evaluation of customer satisfaction level of on Ford Car in Viet Nam in overall to test the hypothesis H5.

In order to get responses for above questionnaires, the researcher will go directly to customer service centre of Ford in Ho Chi Minh City. If the questionnaires are simply sent by email randomly at any place normally, it is very difficult to find customers who own and experience a Ford car or Ford customer service. So, the result of survey is not significant for further analysis. The hardcopy of questionnaires are delivered by hand to customers who willing to respond and immediately collect after customer finishing. Customers are mentioned in this research are those who bring their car to Ford service centre for the repair or maintenance. The researcher will also inform the respondents at that time that the researcher is on the MBA dissertation part fulfilment of degree and it is safe for the respondent to answer this survey as the researcher promises to keep their responses in the confidential.

3.7.3 Translation

The survey is conducted in Vietnam with the population are the customer who are using the Ford Car. So, the questionnaires must be in Vietnamese. The English version will be translated in to Vietnamese to make that the respondents understand the content well (Appendix 1)

3.7.4 Technique of data analysis

Researcher uses excel 2007 to key in the survey data and using the SPSS 16 to statistic and analysis the data. In order to check the internal consistence between variables, the Cronbach's alpha is tested. Factor analysis test will be done to retain the correlated variables for further analysis. The main objective of this research is to assess the strength of a relationship between one dependent is that customer satisfaction and four independent variables are four elements of marketing mix, Saunders et al (2007) suggests that researcher should use the regression analysis.

Research design in step by step -> what do you mean here?

3.8.1 Research Proposal (Appendix 2)

With above chosen research methodology, the researcher had started this dissertation by writing the research proposal. The researcher had submitted the research proposal and received suggestion from the dissertation supervisor to enhance the dissertation. The original research proposal is enclosed in the Appendix 2.

3.8.2 The Literature Review

The literature review is very critical in any dissertations. Therefore the researcher has to read a lot of books, journals, articles to gather relevant primary data and secondary data to support this chapter. The researcher has able refined and streamlined these theoretical backgrounds bases on existing academic knowledge for chosen Research Topic "Exploring the relationship between marketing mix and Ford auto customer satisfaction in Vietnam". The researcher finds if any gaps between the theoretical backgrounds, frameworks, concepts which were studied by may researcher earlier to contemporary in order to have valuable data to support three research objectives in Chapter 1.

3.8.3 Analyze and discuss the findings

Data collected from the survey, the researcher will use Excel to do the data entry and using SPSS for appropriate statistic and analysis. The output data of SPSS is presented visibly in table, charts, and graphic. (Appendix 3). After that, the researcher will analyse and discuss the findings to explore the implication and meaning of the result and also link to the knowledge in the literature review to support the answers for the research questions and objectives.

3.8.4 Conclusion and recommendation

A summary of what the research findings and analysis above will be emphasized briefly again. The limitation of research also is confirmed and suggestion of recommendation and further research.

3.9 Ethical issues

According to Saunders et al (2007), research ethics refer to the appropriateness of researcher behaviour in relation to the rights those who become the subject of work or are affected by the work. In this research, the secondary data were collected from public sources such as: Ford Vietnam and others website, the primary data is collected only based on questionnaires. The researcher commits that the collected data is legal and it will be kept as private and confidentially. This data is used for the purpose of this research only. All the respondents voluntarily answer the questionnaires. All the information and data obtained from the study including statistical data, findings and discussions will only use for academic research.

3.10 Limitations and potential problems

With plan to deliver 100 questionnaires, the researcher expects to receive about one hundred percent of their respondents, because the questionnaires are delivered by hand directly if participant agrees to respond. All the target participants are identified as customers using the Ford Car and being at Ford customer service centre. In reality, although the participant is chosen at the time they look free, but many of them reject to answer the question, so that the researcher receives only 50 responses.

The experience in designing the questionnaires of researcher is limited, so that, this may make respondents not understand the question well. As a result, it takes quite long time to explain for respondents. Moreover, many respondents are not familiar with such survey by questionnaires although researcher directly explains in detail how to answer and what is meaning of each question in the questionnaires.

Due to the limitation of time and geography, the survey only is conducted in Ho Chi Minh City, so the result can not present for whole national market.

Chapter summary

In summary, firstly, the positivism research philosophy is chosen for development of knowledge. As a result, the deductive method is followed to test the hypothesis being developed in chapter 2 through quantitative approach. Then, survey research strategy and self-administered questionnaires are employed for primary data collection. The secondary data is used as well for literature review and in section of company profile introduction. Moreover, the researcher accepts non-probability as sampling plan. Target population is identified. The content and purpose of questionnaires also is discussed. SPSS 16 and Microsoft excel 2007 are selected to do the data entry and analysis. Finally, the research ethics and limitation are discussed at the end of chapter.

Chapter 4: FINDINGS, DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

Chapter Introduction

Using excel 2007 to enter the primary data which were collected from questionnaires. By support of SPSS.16 researcher can analysis and finding these data with the aims is to find evidences to answer the research questions given in chapter one, and solve the hypothesis in chapter 2 through the reliability test of Cronbach's alpha coefficient factor, factor analysis, linear regression and one sample T test.

50 hard copied of questionnaires were delivered by hand to respondents randomly at three Ford service centers in Ho Chi Minh City. One hundred percent of them were collected, two of them were consider as invalid due to wrong responses, so 48 questions will be analyzed.

4.1 Overview of Ford in Vietnam

………………………………………………

4.2 Analysis of background information

The main purpose of this part is to identify the back ground information of respondent who answer the questionnaire, on this part, the responded information will be on demographic regarding to gender, age, income, type of the car that customers are using, who make decision of purchasing, who is using the car. The questionnaires are hardcopy which handover to car-user randomly at Ford care service. Car-users drive car to customer service center for maintenance, Ford service center is a quite comfortable place and sufficient time for respondents complete the survey, and the respondents are explained carefully before answer the survey questions, so that most the responses are correct and can be used for analysis.

Gender

From the responses of survey, the variety of Ford Car are distributed regularly from cheap, medium to advanced with high price product of Ford Car: From Fiesta to Mondeo. These support for testing the overall experience of customers on all product of Ford Car.

Reliability Test

Reliability refers to consistency. Test for reliability is test if the questionnaires are reliable or not.

Michell (1996, quote in …P367) there are three common approaches to test the