The relation between after-sales services and entrepreneurial opportunities: Case study of Iran-Khodro Company

摘要

Nowadays, increasing competition is forcing car manufacturers to pay much attention to satisfying customers, by providing strong after-sales services. After-sales services are a potential source of competitive advantage for car manufacturers. It is noteworthy to point out that after-sales services play a key role in supporting marketing activities to enhance customer loyalty, and thus to increase profitability in the long term. Therefore, many huge companies including car manufacturers also utilized it as an entrepreneurial opportunity for more profitability. On this basis, the main purpose of this paper is to study the effect of technical and electronic after-sales services on entrepreneurial opportunities (that is, cost leadership, market development, product development, diversification and differentiation). This study is a descriptive research that typically uses the data derived from questionnaires (a researcher-made questionnaire for collecting of information). The population of this study comprised all?Soren?car owners in Tehran, who bought their cars in 2009.?Soren?is a new model of Samand (unveiled in 2008), and Samand is an?Iranian car?brand manufactured by?Iran Khodro?(IKCO) using local manufacturers for its parts. The results of this study show that technical after sales services in Iran-Khodro Company is effective on entrepreneurial opportunities based on market and product.