Winners of the Korea Service Grand Prix 2014 pose for a group photo afer receiving the awards from
the Korean Standardization Association (KSA) at an award sceremony at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul on July 10. (photo: KSA)
Most market leaders put excellent products and services on the market. They continue to analyze their clients’ changing tendencies and come up with new products and services. If they fail to do so, they fail to make money. Nokia, which once rose to a global leader and fell to a failure is a good example. Nokia, Finland’s representative company, the subject of benchmarking for other companies, rested on its laurels as the market leader and was tossed from its throne due to a failure to adjust to a changing market and clients’ needs.
Korean companies are no exception. If they’re not going to follow in the footsteps of Nokia and Kodak, the icons for the bitterest losers, they have to be armed with a mindset of serving clients one by one.
The Korean Standardization Association (KSA) held a ceremony at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul on July 10 to award the Korea Service Grand Prix 2014 prizes for establishing customer-oriented service management systems and making prominent achievements by conducing activities to innovate service quality in overall management.
The Korea Service Grand Prix 2014 nominations in each category were selected based on 2013 sales amounts, market share, and service quality levels, as well as from recommendations from specialized organizations and experts.
A panel of judges from the Korea Service Management Society, the Korean Society for Quality Management, and the Korean Production and Operations Management Society selected finalists in each field. A final screening committee determined the 21 Korea Service Grand Prix 2014 winners in consideration of evaluation outcomes, social esteem, and other factors.
The evaluation of the Korea Service Grand Prix 2014 winners was focused on overall service management systems capable of improving companies’ values and performances. It is a Korean version of the United States’ Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, corresponding to the standards of the domestic service industry. The U.S. quality evaluation method is widely used in Europe, South America, Japan, Singapore, and Australia.
A look at the Korea Service Grand Prix 2014 prizewinners indicates that they devote themselves to enhancing customers’ value and engage in trust-building with clients as well as building a customer-oriented management system.
In the finance service sector, Samsung Card, Dongbu Insurance, Hanwha Life Insurance, Shinhan Card, Aju Capital, Shinhan Life Insurance, and Korea Credit Guarantee Fund grabbed the grand prizes overall for several years in a row. In particular, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, a public entity for offering comprehensive support to SMEs, accomplished the feat of offering improved support services by proactively participating in the evaluation of the Korea Service Grand Prix as part of its efforts to improve quality services to SMEs.
In the distribution service field, Hyundai Home Shopping, Lotte Mart, and Lotte Department Store won the grand prize five years, four years, and three years in a row, respectively. GS Retail rose to the top for the second straight year.
Lotte E&C and KT Rental walked away with the grand prize for a 13th and 12th consecutive year, respectively. Master Motors became a grand prize winner for the second straight year despite its status as an SME. Lotte World Adventure, Kumho Buslines, and Hyundai Motor became triple grand prize winners in succession. Lotte Hotel, who grabbed the Customer Satisfaction Grand Prize in 2013, won the grand prize for 2014 in the hotel category. KT became a grand prize winner for the first time.
Kumho Resort, which won the grand prize for the 12th consecutive year, and Shinsegae Department Store, who grabbed the grand prize for a sixth straight year, were inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. They bring to nine the number of companies inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Inauguration of Service Design Award
The KSA and the Korea Service Management Society inaugurated the Service Design Award and presented awards for the six excellent practices at the Sheraton Seoul D Cube City Hotel in Seoul on June 10.
The inaugural grand prize went to Lotte Department Store in recognition for improving customers’ experiences in using baby carriages.
