A Methodology for Comparing Service Policies Using a Trust Model

The rapid growth of the Internet and associated technologies has created a new business environment. Ecommerce can offer personalization, high quality customer service and improved supply chain management. The success of e-commerce strongly depends on building and maintaining trusted customer relationships. The retention of customers is extremely important to the longevity of an organization. Companies that do a better job of maintaining their customers generate superior financial results. The cost of acquiring a new customer is significant in most industries in terms of advertising, promotion, closing, and initial setup. E-consumer trust can reduce the perceived risk of an on-line transaction. This allows electronic consumers to consider a more manageable service providers based on their service behaviors. From the standpoint of a firm that is offering eservices online, increasing market-share depends heavily on the way it manages e-consumer trust. The present concern is to achieve competitive superiority for attracting and retaining the online customer community. Entrepreneurs are in need of a methodology to compare the performance of their policies that serve customers with widely differing risk attitudes. This thesis offers a methodology that permits comparison of service policies for managing a customer base and the available resources. This methodology relies on an experience based