The document summarizes research conducted by an A-team on the influence of national culture on complaint handling processes within hotels. It describes the research agenda and methods used, which included deductive research through questionnaires and inductive research via observations and interviews. For deductive research, the team tested hypotheses about the relationship between power distance and quality of complaint guidelines. Results showed power distance is higher in the US than Netherlands but complaint guidelines quality is also higher in the US. Inductive research involved participative observations and interviews in Cleveland to discover cultural topics like empowerment and education. The team reflected on lessons learned from applying qualitative methods.

1. INTERNATIONAL PROJECT Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland June 15 2009 A-team

3. But first…our week in a nutshell

6. What have we done last Week? National culture Process of complaint handling Influence of national culture on the proces of complaint handling Obtain data Inductive Deductive Observations Interviews Intercontinental Interviews Intercontinental Questionnaires Fire department Questionnaires Intercontinental none

7. Deductive research Conclusions

8. Deductive research

10. Deductive research

16. Inductive research

22. And finally…