Press Release

[Singapore, 13 August 2013 (Tuesday)] – For three days starting today, 30 trained SMU students will coach 3,000 first-year students from the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) in a financial literacy programme specially tailored to meet their needs.  The students will be taught the basics of personal finance, especially the key financial knowledge and skills applicable to their life stage.  Thirty teachers from ITE will also participate in workshops helmed by SMU’s faculty members so that they can go on to coach the remaining student population at the Instit

According to the Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) survey conducted by the Institute of Service Excellence (ISES) at SMU in the first quarter this year, customer satisfaction with the info-communications sector was at an all-time high, rising 2.6 per cent to achieve a score of 67.7 points. However, the survey found that longer-tenured customers are becoming less loyal to their service providers and more sensitive to price changes. ISES researchers suggested that this could be due to the fact that the telcos are “getting better at servicing their new customers”.

According to the latest Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) for the retail sector released earlier this month, satisfaction levels in service quality for supermarkets had exceeded that of product quality for the first time in the index’s seven-year history. The improved scores can be attributed to the supermarkets’ new emphasis on “in-store experience” such as staff’s familiarity with supermarket procedures, their professionalism and product knowledge as well as the stores’ product variety. The survey is conducted by the Institute of Service Excellence (ISES) at SMU.

Since 2007, the Institute of Service Excellence at SMU (ISES) has been polling customers of companies from the services sectors to find out how satisfied they are with the level of service delivered. Only the larger brands for whom ISES was able to gather, more than 250 survey responses had been individually scored on the Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) rankings.

The annual index compiled by the Institute of Service Excellence at SMU (ISES) showed that the retail sector notched up 72.2 points on the Customer Satisfaction Index, higher than last year's 67.2 and surpassing the scores it has had in previous years. Besides retailers (such as department stores, furniture outlets, petrol service stations and supermarkets), the info-communications sector also did well, scoring 67.7, a record for the sector.

The furniture segment's score on the annual Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) surged 7.2 points to a record high of 74.9, beating the wider retail sector's score of 72.2. Analysis conducted by the Institute of Service Excellence at SMU (ISES), which compiles the annual index for eight sectors - two in a quarter - showed that all drivers of customer satisfaction improved strongly. "We do note that perceptions of service quality improved by a larger margin than product quality," said ISES Academic Director Assistant Professor Marcus Lee.

Supermarkets’ service quality had shot up more steeply to match product quality's rating, driving the sector's Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) score to an all-time high of 70, out of a possible 100. Commenting on this trend, Institute of Service Excellence at SMU Academic Director Assistant Professor Marcus Lee said the improvement was “significant". He explained, “Traditionally, what has happened in the supermarkets industry is that they believe consumers only show up for the products.

[Singapore, 25 June 2013 (Tuesday)] – The Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Master of Science in Wealth Management (MWM) programme has been ranked second in the world by The Financial Times (FT) in its Masters in Finance Post-experience Ranking 2013, making SMU the top institution in Asia to be ranked.

[Singapore, 6 June 2013 (Thursday)] – The Institute of Service Excellence at the Singapore Management University (ISES) (卓越服务研究所) today released the 2013 first quarter (Q1) Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) results for the info-communications and retail sectors.

[Chengdu, April 15, 2013] – A senior delegation from the Singapore Management University (SMU) led by President Professor Arnoud De Meyer visited and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that provides a broad framework for academic exchange and  building of partnership in areas pertaining to education and research with Sichuan University in Chengdu.