1. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT (IJM)–
International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976
6510(Online), Volume 3, Issue 3, September- December (2012)
ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print)
ISSN 0976 – 6510(Online)
Volume 3, Issue 3, September- December (2012), pp. 131-138 IJM
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WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN BEAUTY CLINIC INDUSTRY IN
TAMILNADU
Mrs.M.Chitra , Assistant Professor, School of Management,
SRM University, Kattankulathur, Chennai, India.
E-mail: chitramuthuraman@gmail.com,Chitra.m@ktr.srmuniv.ac.in
Dr. Kalpana, Assistant Professor, School of Public Health,
SRM University, Kattankulathur, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India.
E-mail: kalpax4@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
This paper aims to identify the problems faced by women entrepreneurs in beauty parlors and
also analyze the customer satisfaction level. The study was conducted in Tamilnadu with a
sample size of 350 beauty parlor for women and about 450 customers. The factors included are
qualities for success, general management of parlor, stress, pricing, hygiene, qualities of service
etc. Multiple regression, rotated component matrix and factor analysis were used. The study is
focused on women owned parlours.
Key words: hygiene, pricing, customer satisfaction, facilities, quality service.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Changing cultural environment and increasing educational trends leads the women to explore
their personal skills. In rural areas female participation to generate income was not viewed in
right angle. (Dube & Pariwala, 1990).But, the success of entrepreneur depends mainly upon her
imagination, vision, innovativeness and risk-taking ability. Current entrepreneurship is mainly
focused on creative thinking and the development of new ideas. Garland J.W., Hoy, Boulton and
GarlandJ.A.C(1984), and Stewart, Watson, CarlandJ.C and CarlandJ.W (1998) have made it very
clear that small business women are mainly concerned with securing an income to meet their
needs than to lineup with innovative strategies. A liking for people of all ages, a friendly,
confident approach, tact, courtesy an attractive, well groomed appearance , good skin, cool dry
hands, good health , a sense of cleanliness and hygiene business sense and the ability to express
oneself easily is most required for women entrepreneurs. Beauty and health care professional can
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2. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 –
6510(Online), Volume 3, Issue 3, September- December (2012)
find employment in salon or beauty parlor, a cosmetic manufacturing company, a health club or
gym, television or film and also self-employment. Beauty parlor is also called as aunty shop.
There is a wide scope for beauty industry in India. In country like India, the beauty industry has
significantly developed in terms of manufacture, promotion and marketing of different beauty
products.
2.0 Objectives of study
1. To identify the obstacles in the conduct of Beauty clinics.
2. To analyze the customer satisfaction level in beauty clinics.
3.0 Methods of Data Collection
The data was collected both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected by
using 2 types of questionnaire. First questionnaire was framed exclusively for the beauticians and
the second questionnaire was focused on the customers of the parlors. Information from
secondary sources. The study was conducted in Tamilnadu with a sample size of 350 women
owned beauty parlor and about 450 customers. Tools used to study are Chi-square test, weighted
average method, factor analysis and multiple regression analysis.
4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Factor Analysis:
In order to identify the factors which determine the success of entrepreneurs in beauty clinics,
factor analysis was performed. Table 1 contains the result regarding the sample adequacy and
sphericity of the sample.
Table : 1 KMO and Bartlett's Test
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .582
Bartlett's Test ofApprox. Chi-Square 200.515
Sphericity Df 45
Sig. .000
To identify the factors which influence the success of entrepreneurship in beauty clinics, 10
factors were selected from the questionnaire and used in the Factor analysis. The results
revealed that the first three components alone explain more than 72% of the variance. This
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3. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 –
6510(Online), Volume 3, Issue 3, September- December (2012)
implies the three components consist of a number of factors which have to be concentrated on to
improve the success of the beauty clinics. For this purpose the varimax rotated component
matrix is studied.
From table 3, it is clear that the first component has totally 4 factors are heavily loaded, viz.,
handling stress, commitment, optimizing entrepreneurial skills and performance. This means the
entrepreneurs have to develop methods for managing stress in their day to day activities. They
should ensure that the workers in the clinics are well trained in every aspect of the trade and
motivate them in different ways [monetary and non-monetary ways] to improve their
commitment. As regards performance, the entrepreneurs should realize that the service rendered
is highly personal and customized. So what is offered to one customer is not relevant or
applicable to others. In such a case, they have to understand the customer’s requirements well
and translate it appropriately and design the package of service which would enhance the
customer satisfaction. As these four factors are heavily loaded every positive improvement in
these four factors would improve customer satisfaction and also business success.
The second component has four more factors heavily loaded, viz., years in the field, better in
problem solving, general management skills and managing others. It could be noted that the
second, third and fourth factors are completely dependent on the first one. As is often said
‘practice makes a person perfect’ the entrepreneurs have to learn from their experience and also
carefully understand the experience of the others in the field. Added to this is the necessity to
retain the employees who are trained and oriented and this call for the ability to manage others.
Years in the field and calculated risks are heavily loaded factors in the third component. This
means, apart from the experience in the business, the entrepreneurs need to understand the risks
posing challenges to their business. These could be business related, customer related or other
external factor related.
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4. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 –
6510(Online), Volume 3, Issue 3, September- December (2012)
Table : 2 Total Variance Explained
Component Extraction Sums of Squared Rotation Sums of Squared
Initial Eigenvalues Loadings Loadings
% of Cumul % of Cumulative % of Cumulative
Total Variance ative % Total Variance % Total Variance %
1 3.520 35.203 35.203 3.520 35.203 35.203 3.29732.973 32.973
2 2.400 23.998 59.201 2.400 23.998 59.201 2.42824.282 57.254
3 1.332 13.324 72.525 1.332 13.324 72.525 1.52715.271 72.525
4 .928 9.282 81.807
5 .773 7.732 89.539
dimension
6 .361 3.605 93.144
7 .272 2.721 95.866
8 .228 2.279 98.144
9 .110 1.104 99.248
10 .075 .752 100.000
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis
Multiple Regression analysis
In order to examine the factors influencing the customer satisfaction, a number of variables were
selected and a multiple regression analysis was performed. The general form of linear regression is :
Y = [ X1, X2, X3, X4, X5……….Xn ] Where X1 – Xn are the independent variables. The
independent variables included are : X1 location of the beauty clinic, X2 frequency of visit, X3
pricing strategy, X4 punctuality of clinic employees, X5 quality of work, X6 quality of service in
treatment, X7 internal facility and X8 parking facility., Y = satisfaction index
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5. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 –
6510(Online), Volume 3, Issue 3, September- December (2012)
Table : 3 Rotated Component Matrixa
Component
1 2 3
Years in this field .319 .596 .587
Qualities for success .265 .305 .115
Calculated risk .076 -.083 .963
Better in problem solving .204 -.628 -.276
handling stress -.806 .313 -.032
General management skills .383 .843 -.191
Commitment .860 .290 .210
Optimizing entrepreneurial skills .876 -.186 -.098
Performance -.804 -.258 -.212
Managing .359 -.765 .168
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis, Rotation Method : Varimax with Kaiser
Normalization ,a. Rotation converged in 5 iterations
The result indicated a very high R2 value of 0.900, implying that the factors included for the
analysis together explain 90% of the fluctuations in the Customer satisfaction. A statistically
high F value [31.499] implied that the regression equation is fit for both interpretation as well as
prediction.
Table : 4 ANOVAb
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Regression 953.028 8 119.129 31.499 .000a
Residual 105.895 28 3.782
Total 1058.923 36
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6. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 –
6510(Online), Volume 3, Issue 3, September- December (2012)
Table : 5 Coefficients a
Model Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta t
1 (Constant) 108.874 2.175 50.048
Location of the parlor .061 .362 .014 .169 .867
Frequency of visit .250 .439 .044 .570 .573
Pricing strategies -2.830 .862 -.370 -3.283 .003
Punctuality of clinic Members .600 .308 .000
4.585
2.752
Quality of work 1.376 .527 .229 2.612 .014
Quality of service in treatment .827 .329 .001
3.804
3.145
Internal facility 1.931 .545 .286 3.543 .001
parking facility 1.140 .295 .297 3.866 .001
a. Dependent Variable: Satisfaction index
The regression equation developed is given below:
Customer satisfaction index [Y] = 108.874 +0.61ns X1 + 0.250ns X2 – 2.83* X3 [t=3.283] +
2.752 * X4 [t=4.585] + 1.376* X5 [t=0.14] + 3.145* X6 [t=3.804] + 1.931 *X7 [t=3.543] +
1.140 * X8 [t=3.866]
From the above equation it is clear, that X3, X4, X5, X6, X7 and X8 are statistically significant
which means customer satisfaction index in a significant manner. As pricing strategy of the
beauty clinic holds the key for improving customer satisfaction. Any price difference between
clinics for any service is bound to affect the customer response and customer satisfaction. With
very 1 unit reduction in price, the satisfaction would go up by 2.83 units. The presence of
negative sign with the coefficient clearly implies that by suitably developing a pricing strategy,
the satisfaction of the customer can be improved. Appointment is given to a customer by the
clinic; it should be honored without fail. So this adherence to the appointment can improve
customer satisfaction. Every one point improvement in punctuality among the employees can
improve the customer satisfaction by nearly 2.752 points. For this to happen, the employees
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7. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 –
6510(Online), Volume 3, Issue 3, September- December (2012)
should be stress free, well supported and motivated by the entrepreneur. Another statistically
significant factor is the quality of work. That is, every work done by the employee in the clinic
should be of high quality. As is clear from the equation every unit improvement in the quality of
work turned out the customer satisfaction would go up by 1.376 units. The next factor is quality
of service in treatment. The equation points out that every unit increase in the quality of service
adds to the customer satisfaction by 3.145 units. A very important expectation among the
customers is a good internal environment. By addressing this in a professional manner, the
customer satisfaction is bound to increase as shown by this equation. To be specific every unit
improvement in the internal facility would increase the customer satisfaction by 1.931 units.
Similarly, customers who come to the clinic by their own conveyance would expect hassle free
parking facility. This is an external factor which has nothing to do with the way the customer
service is rendered. But this is equally important as no customer would leave the vehicle on road
unprotected. So the beauty clinics can provide some reserved parking facility for customer
satisfaction. Every unit support in providing parking facility would improve the satisfaction by
1.14 units.
5.0 CONCLUSIONS
Key for achieving a higher customer satisfaction lies with the entrepreneur. Every satisfied
customer will not only visit again, but also would spread the message among others. When the
constituent of demographic profile of the respondents was studied with customer satisfaction, it
was found only age has a significant relationship with customer satisfaction. A very important
lesson from this, the entrepreneurs should give very high priority while dealing with each
customer depending upon the age. Always the youngsters come to the clinics only to fine tune
their beauty and the clinic should rise up to their expectations. Similarly middle aged and elderly
women visit the clinic with specific requirements and expectations. The clinic should address
this on a case to case basis so that each customer is satisfied.
6.0 REFERENCES
1. Aaker, D.A & Day, G.S, (1990) Marketing research, 4th edition, New York: John Wiley
and Sons.
2. Akter, S (2008). The Business of Beauty. The Daily Star.
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8. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 –
6510(Online), Volume 3, Issue 3, September- December (2012)
3. Bebko,C.P (2000). Service Intangibility and its Impact on Consumer Expectations of
Service Quality: Journal of Service Marketing, 14(1), 9-26
4. Carman, J, (1990) Customer Perceptions of Service Quality: An Assessment of
SERVQUAL Dimensions. Journal of Retailing, 66(Spring),33-55.
5. Garvin, D. (1982). Quality on Line. Harvard Business Review, 61 (September –
October0, 65 - 73
7. Goldman, W.& Lewis , P. (1977). Beautiful Is Good: Evidence that the physically
attractive are more socially; skillful. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13, 125-
130.
8. Grons, C. (1984). A service Quality Model and its Marketing Implications. European
Journal of Marketing, 18(4), 36-44
9. Service marketing ,The Indian context,R Srinivasan, Prentice-hall of India Private ltd,
New Delhi ,2004 pp -202.
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