Banks, like most businesses in todayÆs ôglobal economyö are faced with a customer community that has before it many choices with respect to how it can choose to conduct its banking business and relationships. Technology leverage is utilized by the banking industry to help in the achievement of competitive advantage. As such, banks invest heavily in information technology such that their customers can enjoy a ôvalue-addedö experience as well as ôcutting-edgeö service (ôDBS and virtual banking,ö 2003).
Generally speaking, customers whether individuals or businesses, view banks as providers of a unique service. As such, creating an environment that incorporates and practices a ôsense of caringö will always be an important element in the banking environment. From a general survey of the literature available, it appears that The Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) has followed most of its major competitors in making this a priority. HSBC is considered a ôlocalö bank and has the distinction of being the first bank in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) to absorb overseas investment. Today it stands within the PRC as the bank with the largest number of foreign investors and the highest proportion of foreign ownership shares (Xuan, 2002).
Given the myriad of choices available to consumers today, the issue of customer service and customer management is probably more important than ever before within the banking community. Customer service quality implies consistently anticipating and satisfying the needs and wants of the customer.
Today, the following perceptions and needs exist within the customer community (Herbig, 1997) as it applies to the banking community:
Bank service quality is deteriorating.
There is an increased demand for ôadd-onö value to the service(s) provided by the bank.
There are greater expectations for services that are ôcustomizedö for the specific company and/o...