Abstract not available

"July 2003" / Bibliography: p. 161-170. / 170, [28] p. : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Builds a model of performance based on customer defined market orientation and which includes customer service (customer process) and customer retention (business performance). Examines the nature of market orientation and its impact on customer satisfaction and customer retention in the service sector. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, School of Commerce, 2003

Abstract: Background: Sweden is one of the biggest coffee consuming countries in Europe with the average annual coffee consumption per capita as high as 8.2kg. This mass consumption of coffee therefore creates high level of competition amongst coffee providers in the Swedish coffee market. There are numerous coffee shops and even some food chains and retail stores selling their own brand of coffee. This study will focus on Generation Y, as they will soon be the majority of consumers. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and analyze what factors affect Generation Y’s loyalty to coffee shops and examine what forms the basis of Generation Y’s loyalty for coffee shops. Methodology: In this thesis, the research method is based on a quantitative approach using a questionnaire to collect data. The findings are established by using both existing literature and primary data. The questionnaire consists of 432 respondents and 400 respondents’ data was used to answer the research question. The respondents consist only of Generation Y who has lived in Sweden for longer than six months. Conclusion: This study has shown that the most important factor that affects people of Swedish Generation Y to become loyal customers to coffee shops is being provided a comfortable and suitable environment. The second important factor is product quality. The third factor is service. However, for those who are students and unemployed Swedish Generation Y, price is also a factor that could influence their loyalty. Moreover, Coffee shops can use loyalty programs to get their customers’ higher customer loyalty. Key words: Coffee shops, Generation Y, Customer loyalty, Customer satisfaction

In Sweden today almost all people are connected to a bank in some way. It can range from loans, savings, shares, etc. They have a current account where salaries, student aid etc. is paid. Due to the large selection of banks, it has become more important for banks to be competitive in their services to their customers so they don’t change bank. This has led to that more and more banks are trying to get their customers to be more loyal to the bank by being more competitive. Loyalty is the result of several interrelated factors such as customer satisfaction and service. This leads to the purpose of this study to investigate if the demographic aspects have any influence on loyalty. Through a questionnaire survey, this study examined whether there is an influence of the demographic aspects on loyalty. The questionnaire consisted of questions based on previous research. It was distributed to people in Kristianstad on three different locations. Overall response rate to the questionnaires distributed gave us a participation of 110 respondents. The results were then statistically processed in order to test if there is a significant difference in loyalty within the various demographic aspects. According to this study, we could not find any differences in the demographic aspects. However, we were able to find small differences in the mean values ​​between the different groups in the demographic aspects / I dagens Sverige är i stort sett alla personer på något sätt kopplade till en bank. Det kan vara alltifrån lån, sparande, aktier m.m. Nästan alla personer i dagens Sverige har ett transaktionskonto dit lön, studiemedel m.m. utbetalas. På grund utav det stora utbudet av banker har det blivit viktigare för bankerna att vara konkurrenskraftiga i sina tjänster till sina kunder så att de inte byter bank. Detta har medfört att fler och fler banker satsar mycket resurser på att få sina kunder att bli lojala mot banken. Lojalitet är resultatet utav flera sammanhängande faktorer som exempelvis kundnöjdhet och service. Detta leder till uppsatsens syfte att undersöka ifall de demografiska aspekterna har påverkan på lojalitet. Genom en enkätundersökning har denna studie undersökt ifall det finns en påverkan av de demografiska aspekterna på lojalitet. Enkäten bestod av frågor som grundar sig på tidigare forskning. Den delades ut till personer i Kristianstad vid tre olika tillfällen. Totala svarsfrekvensen på de utdelade enkäterna gav oss ett deltagande på 110 respondenter. Resultaten har sedan bearbetats statistiskt för att testa ifall det råder signifikanta skillnader på lojalitet inom de olika demografiska aspekterna. Enligt denna studie kunde vi inte påvisa några skillnader inom dem demografiska aspekterna. Däremot kunde vi urskilja små skillnader i medelvärdena mellan de olika grupperna i de demografiska aspekterna.

Background: The banking industry is a classic service industry where companiesand customers meet and where their interactions take placedaily. There are many reasons why an unsatisfied customer canchange company to a competitor and the customers that are loyalchoose to stay for certain reasons. There is a competition betweenthe commercial banks and niche banks which makes the relationshipwith existing and new customers more essential for thebanks. It is important for banks today to have loyal customers andbuild up long term relationships. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to understand the difference in strategiesof developing loyalty in a traditional bank and a niche bank,based on customer relationship marketing and compare Swedbankto Länsförsäkringar Bank. Method: A qualitative research method has been used in the thesis by aninterview with Kenneth Åberg at Swedbank and with EdinParazik at Länsförsäkringar Bank. We have used secondary datafrom other studies and combined with our own empirical findings. Findings: It has become important to have a customer focus as thecompetition has increased in the banking market. The generalrelationship marketing has become more focused on thecustomer, as more companies value the relationship withtheir customers instead of only focusing on the product orservices. It is equally important for the twoLänsförsäkringar Bank and Swedbank to strive for customersatisfaction and good work environment which encouragesand strengthens the creation of relationships. It appears forus that there are no major differences between LänsförsäkringarBank’s and Swedbank’s strategies in creating loyalty.Both the niche bank and the commercial bank are aware ofhow their organizations are affected by customer relationshipsand they also have customer loyalty as a starting pointto grow more and to get more market shares.

Authors: Hugo van den Berg, Lina Lidfors Supervisor: PhD and senior lecturer, Rana MostaghelExaminator: Assistant professor, Dr. Sarah Philipson Title: The effect of perceived CSR on customer loyalty – Anempirical study into consumer behavior on the Swedishchocolate market. Background/Problem: Although research into CSR and consumer behavior isstill relatively young, there exists a growing interest instudying the links between CSR and marketing. Today,consumers more than ever expect companies to engagein CSR activities and at the same time do managersincreasingly see CSR as a marketing tool to help create acompetitive advantage. But what is the actual impact ofcompanies’ engagement in CSR on consumer behavior?In the Swedish chocolate industry, the topic of CSR ishighly relevant. Recently, child labor and bad workingconditions at the cocoa bean fields were (again) broughtto the surface, starting a fierce debate in Swedish societywhere strong critique was aimed at the companiesowning the chocolate production plants. The Swedishchocolate industry is therefore a suitable industry to testthe relationship between perceived CSR and consumerbehavior. Purpose: To examine how the perceived CSR activities ofcompanies influence customer loyalty in the Swedishchocolate industry. Theory: The first subchapter in the theoretical chapter consists ofa literature review describing the development of the4concept Corporate Social Responsibility, a definition ofthe concept and a brief overview of CSR activities. Inthe second subchapter the role of CSR in marketing willbe discussed. In the third and final subchapter, theeffects of CSR activities on consumer behavior will bereviewed where special attention is given to the effectson customer loyalty. After that, the chapter will godeeper into customer loyalty and the antecedents throughwhich we can measure it. Research question: How do perceived CSR activities influence customerloyalty on the Swedish chocolate market? Method: In order to identify and measure the effects of CSRactivities on customer loyalty, a quantitative approachwas used in a cross-sectional design. A web-basedsurvey was created as a method for data collection. Afterthe data collection a statistical data analysis wasperformed in the software program SPSS. Conclusions: Our results confirm a positive relationship betweenperceived CSR activities and customer loyalty on theSwedish chocolate market.

In the service economy, service has dominated economic development. Service industries in the face of the incessant and changing competition, companies not only continuing to create advantages of marketing strategy, but also still need to "service innovation" to create sustainable service advantage. This study aimed to explore the service using innovative services impact study for the Ministry of Economic Affairs premises to promote "innovative service technology projects" The YH-based resorts use the RFID technology creating customer value. From the science service point of view (Service science, management and engineering, SSME), use the latest technology improve service efficiency and customer satisfaction that create greater profits leap. The theoretical development framework Hertog (2000) proposed the "Service Innovation Model" as the main core of this study architecture theory. The results can be observed from the case analysis, YH resort in response to the use of innovative technology, hardware and software for the organizations have done thoroughly improved, but the analysis also pointed that the extent of staff training and attention is relatively scarce, companies only technological innovation is insufficient, and to a management innovation can be technological innovation to achieve the desired efficiency. On the other hand the Empirical results that service innovation and customer satisfaction is positively related to significant, and this can provide that service innovation affect customer satisfaction.

With the high competition of prosperous catering industry motivated by the mammoth population of dining out, the business model is on the way to diversity. How to meet customer¡¦s need and build up customer loyalty has been playing an essential role to manage catering industry in the near future. According to the literature, customer loyalty is vitally associated with service quality, brand image, service value and customer satisfaction as opposed to the connection between relationship quality and customer loyalty. Consequently, the study attempts to explore whehter service quality, brand image and relationship quality have a certain impact on customer loyalty, and whether mediating effect occurs among them. The study utilizes linear structure relationship model along with service perceived value by Petrick (2002) to build up the relationship model among service quality, brand image, relationship quality and customer loyalty with a view to comprehending the effects existing among them. Based on SERVQUAL brought up by Parsuraman (1988) as well as overall evaluation of product effectiveness referring to SERV-PERVAL, it comes to the result- twelve observed variables. Data analysis is particularly divided into two parts ¡V Fundamental Analysis and Mode Analysis, which respectively undergoes the analyses with SPSS12.0 and AMOS. The subjects of this study are aimed at the customers from well-known chain hot pot restaurants in Kaohsiung. Six hundred questionnaires are given out and three hundred sixty five collected; the overall response rate is 60.8% in which there are eleven questionnaires are invalid and three hundred fifty four instead. The finding of empirical analysis indicates that service quality has an obvious impact on relationship quality and so does relationship quality to customer loyalty. Only the value in brand image can¡¦t make a remarkable impact on customer loyalty. The part of result seems fairly differs from empirical analysis. According to the accounts of some experts¡¦ interviews, the researcher points out certain impact truly exists in brand image and customer loyalty, which is taken as an evidence to modify the data of the questionnaires. Ultimately, to improve service quality, brand image, relationship quality and customer loyalty, we provide the suggestions.

In the global economic development, mostly, the output values of the service industries in advanced countries have accounted for more than 60% of the GDP. In recent years, owing to the prosperous development of the service industry in Taiwan, according to the statistics of Directorate General of Budget Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, in 2002, the GDP of service industry has accounted for 67.0% of that of the entire industries. This speaks for the importance of service industry in national economic development. According to the analysis of the World Tourism Organization for 2000, ¡§tourism¡¨ has become the primary source of many countries in earning foreign exchange. In terms of the foreign exchange earnings of the countries over the world, tourism income has accounted for 8% of the said earnings. This indicates that the tourist hotels industry which provides the functions such as accommodation, food & beverage, recreation, and entertainment could be considered the service industry with great developmental potentiality. The guests of Guan-zi-ling Toong Mao Spa Resort were invited to participate in this research survey for investigating the customer satisfaction towards the room service quality of resort hotels. Totalizing 440 questionnaires were sent out, and 233 returned (a response rate of 52.96%), from which 222 were valid (a valid response rate of 50.46%). After analyzing the data with reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, difference analysis, and correlation analysis, the following findings were concluded: (1)Room service is taken by the guests as the major factor in choosing resort hotels, among which the cleanness of bed sheet, blanket, and pillow; the cleanness of guestrooms environment and facilities; the facilities functions of guestrooms and baths; the cleanness of bath environment and facilities; and the neatness and sufficiency of guestrooms and baths facilities are especially valued. (2)There are significant differences in the expected service valued by various guests towards different dimensions: the guests of various education levels, occupations, and family incomes towards the operator; the guests of various ages, family incomes, and places of dwelling towards room reservations; the guests of various ages, occupations, and places of dwelling towards front desk service; the guests from various places of dwelling towards service center; and the guests of various occupations, family incomes, and places of dwelling towards room service. (3)There are significant differences in the perceived satisfaction of various guests towards different service dimensions: the guests of various ages and places of dwelling towards the operator; the guests of various education levels and family incomes towards room reservations; the guests of various occupations towards front desk service; the guests of various occupations, family incomes, places of dwelling towards service center; and the guests of various ages and places of dwelling towards room service. (4) There are significant differences in the guests of various ages, occupations, and places of dwelling towards the entire satisfaction of service quality; and in the entire customer loyalty of the guests of various ages, education levels, occupations, and family incomes. (5) There are significant relations between the customer satisfaction and customer loyalty of Guan-zi-ling Toong Mao Spa Resort. Finally, concrete suggestions were proposed as the references for the business, administrative organizations of tourism, and follow-up researches.

¡§Loyalty Programs¡¨ is a necessary and important step in the formation of relationship marketing. However, not only been applied in practice but also been researched by academia, there are still some gaps because of lack of a complete frame to analyze the vales of the loyalty programs. Therefore this research aims to fill-in the gaps that past practice and academics have failed by providing a conceptual frame by studying related literatures of loyalty programs and takes advantage of the frame to analyze the relationships among those values, relationship quality and customer loyalty in the telecom industry. The results of this study find that four values of nine values in the frame, including ¡§economic value¡¨, ¡§choice of redemption options¡¨, ¡§relevance¡¨ and ¡§social benefits¡¨ will influence relationship quality and customer loyalty in the telecom industry. However, customers still care more about economic value and relevance. The corporations in the industry can increase customer loyalty by designing high level of economic value and relevance. But if those would like to build higher level of relationship with the customers, they have to take advantage of social benefits through which to build strong and long customers loyalty. Therefore through this frame, the corporations can realize which value they should attach importance to. The results also prove the effectiveness of the loyalty program conceptual frame.