In this chapter, research topic, rationale, objective and importance of the research are discussed. Overall structure of the thesis also presented.
1.1.Research Background
Along with the international economic integration trend, the economy of Vietnam has seen remarkable achievements. To maintain the development momentum of the country, the Vietnamese government has issued many policies to keep pace with the rapidly changing business environment. As an important part of the government, the customs system is not excluded from this trend. The customs system is tasked with two important objectives: (1) preventing commercial frauds and smuggling; (2) offering convenient conditions for export-import businesses. As a public service department, businesses are customers to the customs offices. Without those customers, there is no reasons for the existence of the customs system. As previously mentioned, Vietnam is increasingly integrating into the world economy with economic ties spread all over the world. Thus, the export-import activity plays a significant role to the development of the country. As the managing entity of this activity, constantly reviewing and offering better services to businesses better has become an important task for the customs system in Vietnam.
Registration is the very first step of the export-important activity management procedure. Whether or not the following phases of the customs management are completed smoothly and conveniently depend a lot on the registration step. The registration step also create the first impression of business upon the customs office. The first impression may come from various factors such as professionalism, attitude, empathy or appearance of service provider. For a service office, the first impression may form the a lasting perception of customers on that office. It will also influence their expectation, satisfaction and decision of customers. Besides, it is very difficult to change the first impression in the customer’s mind. Thus, it can be said that it is very important for the customs system to constantly review and offer good registration service quality.
The customs system usually receives complaints about its unsuitable policies, unnecessary procedures or the uncooperative attitude from customs officers that lead to the waste of money and time of businesses, the loss of business opportunities, the dissatisfaction toward customs authorities and limiting the competitiveness and attractiveness of business.
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Thus, evaluating the satisfaction of business toward the customs service quality, and especially the registration phase, is a significant research that provides insights of service quality in the customs office. Through this research, the customs authorities can have updated information on the opinions of business and make suitable solutions to improve the quality of customs service. As Vietnam is integrating into the world economy and is bind by many international commercial rules, the customs system of Vietnam is the sector that requires reorganization the most. Within the reorganization of the customs system, the simplification and the proper procedures of customs are two most important changes that Vietnam is committed to fulfill as a part of Kyoto Protocol in 1997.
The above situation of the customs systems had encouraged the author to pick the research topic “A study on business’s satisfaction on export-import registration in the Department of Customs in Ba Ria – Vung Tau”. The author aimed to explore the satisfaction level of businesses at the registration phase, and then proposed several solutions improve the service quality of the customs department of Ba Ria – Vung Tau.
1.2. Research Purposes
- Identifying the satisfaction level of businesses toward the general registration phase and every factor related to this phase
- Identifying the significance of every factor to the satisfaction of businesses - Comparing the satisfaction of different business groups.
- Proposing several solutions to improve the satisfaction of businesses in the registration phase at the Department of Customs in Ba Ria – Vung Tau.
1.3. Research Scope
This research was conducted to evaluate the satisfaction level of business on the registration phase of the customs department of Ba Ria – Vung Tau and find out factors influencing the satisfaction. The research target was representatives of businesses coming to do the registration of export-import activity at the customs department of Ba Ria – Vung Tau. The study was conducted from July, 2015 to November, 2015.
1.4. Research Methodology
The author applied the quantitative method into this research. A survey was conducted with 150 questionnaires delivered to customers coming to the customs department of Ba Ria – Vung Tau to do the registration.
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Collected data were analyzed by the statistical software SPSS 18 with the different analytical methods including T-test, ANOVA, and regression analysis.
1.5. Research Questions
Question 1: What factors can contribute to the quality of the customs registration phase ? What are the level of significance of each factor influencing the business’s satisfaction?
Question2:Are businesses satisfied with the quality of the customs registration at the Department of Customs of Ba Ria – Vung Tau? What factors should be improved to increase the customs registration quality?
Question3:What are the effective solutions to improve the customs registration quality at the Department of Customs of Ba Ria – Vung Tau ?
1.6. Research Significance
This study provided insights of the satisfaction level of businesses toward the customs registration quality, as well as factors influencing their satisfaction. From these insights, leaders of the customs departments, including the customs department of Ba Ria – Vung Tau, can have better understanding about the current situation of the registration phase and make suitable solutions to improve the satisfaction of businesses.
The findings of this research can also serve as the references on future studies on the business’s satisfaction on registration quality of the customs department of Ba Ria – Vung Tau.
1.7. Structure of the Research
The thesis was divided into 5 chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Literature Review Chapter 3: Research Methodology Chapter 4: Results and Analysis
Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations
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