Title: Advertising message and Customer Satisfaction A case of Lidl Sweden Problem: “Are the customers satisfied when they compare marketing message with services provided by Lidl grocery store?” Purpose: We aim to analyze the satisfaction level of customers at Lidl store and how effective messages delivered in the advertisement. Method: We used a primary research through the interviews of the managers in Lidl, and a survey questionnaire by the customers. We also used the secondary data from the website of Lidl and some qualitative information from textbooks and different sources. Conclusion: After the research, we conclude that the advertising messages of Lidl is clear and most of the customers feel satisfied with price and the quality of Lidl’s products. However, about the non-food products, the customers do not feel so pleasant and they do not have much knowledge about after sale services.

The student thesis deals with standardization and adaptation of a company’s website in the enhancement of customers’ online satisfaction in the case of Unilever Bangladesh & Adhuli. The aim of the study is to carry out a comparative study between Unilever’s Bangladesh website and Adhuli’s website and through comparing and contrasting, identify the level of adaptation and standardization that effects customer online satisfaction in a positive manner. Effectiveness of a website in our study context means the website’s ability to attract, retain and ultimately engage the customer in a buying behavior online or later in an offline context. Ultimately, the examination of the two websites in an OCS context will lead to some recommendations, which we hope can prove insightful for future online retailers within the confines of similar markets. Website is probably the best and most time and cost effective way for companies to engage their customers and entice them to buy online or in some cases connect with them for later offline 6/18/2013 iv engagement. It’s therefore essential for companies to standardize and adapt their websites according to the needs and tastes of their target customers for enhanced customer satisfaction. It’s significant to note that MNCs especially those like Unilever with an informational website often ignore the importance of adaptation of their webpage in accordance with the local tastes of their customers and thereby primarily rely on their technological knowhow often dictate by costs concerns minimized through standardization. Local vendors like Adhuli with a transactional website on the other hand often ignore the value of technologically sound webpages often blinded by the fact that their understanding of the local market and taste, to some extent handicapped by costs as well, can adequately cater for online customer satisfaction. Either strategies result in the design of a webpage which capacity to enhance customer satisfaction online is greatly diminished.

Customer loyalty is an important issue for the success and sustainability of an online business. Moreover, the concept of affiliate marketing online business has become well-known among online shoppers in the past several years. Nevertheless, there is little research investigating customer loyalty towards affiliate marketing websites, especially in China, where this kind of websites are known as ‘cash-back website’. Therefore, this research investigates customer loyalty towards cash-back websites (51fanli.com as the leading cash-back website) in the China market. Based on previous studies and interview, this research applies six factors (cash-back promotion, price comparison service, WOM in social community, quality web design, privacy and security, trust) as core and supplementary services which influence customer perspective in loyalty. This study aims to find out which factors in cash-back websites can influence customer loyalty in the China online market. In this research, questionnaires are sent to cash-back website users to collect quantitative data. A statistical analysis is used to verify the nine hypotheses to analyze the collected data. The result points to five factors in both core and supplementary services that support customer perspective towards loyalty, while only ‘WOM in social community’ has no correlation with Chinese customer perspective towards loyalty. After comparing the results of the two groups of customers, those used 51fanli.com and those who did not use 51fanli.com, the research discover that customers who used 51fanli.com have stronger opinions on ‘privacy and security’ factor. Customer perceived value has significant positive relations to customer satisfaction that may influence customer loyalty. Furthermore, managing the loyalty programme in order to maintain high switching cost is only applicable to customers who have high satisfaction towards the website. Finally, some managerial implications suggested cash-back websites to adapt unique strategies to gain more customers and cautiously use switching cost. Maintaining a good reputation on privacy and security is another key success factor of cash-back websites in China market.

Market globalization and steep competition are increasing the need for more efficient and effective strategies in meeting evolving market demands. Adopting a more integrated approach to supply chain relationship management has been increasingly viewed as a way of meeting changing customer needs. This thesis work explores lean and agility frameworks as tools for achieving supply chain integration. Different aspects of the concepts of lean and agility and their applications in the supply chain are presented based on theoretical literature. Thus, this thesis seeks to point out the impact that the concepts of lean and agility can have on the supply chain as a whole. Four companies have been investigated in connection to the level of awareness, perception, and practical application of these tools in their supply chain. To this end, information was collected in a survey questionnaire from these four companies and supported by an interview. The results show that lean and agility are important tools to achieve supply chain integration, but respondents are yet to fully achieve the transition to lean/agile enterprise. It could be said that lean/agile supply chain is still more in theory than in practice. The level of awareness to market changes is high but there seem to be no specific way in achieving integration in the supply as there is wide variation in the way one company achieves it with respect to another. Generally, respondents are implementing lean/agile principles in cooperation and collaboration with suppliers and customers, demand pull system, and using combination of strategies. However, it is clear that adequate market information is required when trying to fit lean/agile principles into supply chain strategy. Furthermore, all respondent recognise the need for change to satisfy customer need, but the respond to change vary from one company to another. Also, there is a gradual shift from traditional focus solely on cost and profit to customer relation relationship management and customer satisfaction. Consequently, companies are organizing themselves around the customer who pulls goods and value from the producer of the goods.

Today, firms compete with services rather than goods. Large service organizations are beginning to use Six Sigma as continuous improvement tool. An important part of the Six Sigma methodology is the calculation of number of defects in the process, i.e. points outside the specification limits. Unlike goods quality, which can be measured objectively by number of defects, in service goods the setting up of specification limits is a complicated issue because it is marked by the use and expectations among the different customers. As Six Sigma was originally created for manufacturing, this crucial fact is not contemplated in the Six-Sigma roadmap Define- Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC). The aim of this thesis is to develop a new model to help the Service Division, Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB to set the specification limits according to the customer expectations. A review of relevant literature is used to develop a new integrated model with ideas from the Kano model, SERVQUAL, Taguchi loss function, Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) and a new model, the ”Trade-Off Importance”. A survey was carried out for 18 external customers and internal stakeholders. The model has demonstrated its robustness and credibility to set the specification limits. Additionally it is a very powerful tool to set the strategic directions and for service quality measurement. As far as we know, this thesis is the first attempt to create a roadmap to set the specification limits in services. Researchers should find a proposed model to fill the research gap. From a managerial standpoint, the practical benefits in Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB, suggest a new way of communicating to customers.

Globalization creates for companies’ new opportunities for business development, as well as new challenges. One of the most prevailing challenges is the ability to create new products and services in accordance to diverse customer needs and requirements, as well as implementation of new technologies in future lines of products. Therefore, companies realize the importance of the Marketing and Sales (M&S) and Product Development (PD) departments. The interface between those two departments plays a decisive role in realization of customer needs and requirements, and application of the right technologies in new products. The speed and accuracy with which the information between the M&S and PD department is exchanged directly influences success of one’s products on the market. Consequently, companies strive to achieve greater level of cross-functional integration within the interface, by overcoming barriers to integration, and improving the quality of internal services by utilizing computer based Information Systems (IS). The role of IS in supporting cross-functional work environment is growing, thus companies of all size make investment in IS. Nonetheless, these investments very often fail or not bear expect results, due to lack of alignment of the investment with the business. This thesis documents a diagnosis undertaken for the Case Company. In recent years the Case Company experienced rapid international expansions and fast growth, which in turn exposed a whole new range of problems. The existing work routines turned out to be inadequate to maintain international expansion and growth. A great deal of these problems was enrooted directly in the interface between the M&S and PD departments. Therefore, the company realized a need to isolate and eliminate them, and further foster the cross-functional integration and information flows within the interface by implementation of a computer based Information System. The purpose of this thesis is to enhance the understanding of the integration and communication process within the M&S and PD departments at the Case Company. In order to fulfil the purpose the Enterprise Knowledge Development modelling technique was employed. This allowed tracing the problems to their roots, by mapping business processes, goals, rules, actors, as well as clarification of concepts. As a result an objective snapshot of the current cross-functional integration between the M&S and PD departments was created. Further, this snapshot was compared against a great body of literature in the field of Product Development and Management and Process Management. The comparison made it possible to indicate areas for potential future improvements. The proposed change needs aimed at enhancing the internal customer satisfaction. Last but not the least in deep analysis of the current cross-functional relations within the interface made it feasible to suggest (with literature assistance) initial vital functions of a computer based Information System to enhance the integration and information flows within the studied interface at the Case Company. The proposed functionality corresponds to the current, as well as anticipated needs of the interface that has been derived based on requirements of the actors to fulfil goals and satisfy organizational processes.

This thesis used ACSI model as a theoretical basis, which is a cause-and-effect model, to measure the quality of goods or service that starts from “customer expectations” to “customer satisfaction”. The purpose of this thesis is to find a suitable model for developing the customer satisfaction of No.2 bus service, by examining the relationships between perceived quality, customer expectation, perceived value and customer satisfaction in ACSI model. According to the data from survey of the international students in Gävle University, who lives in Sätra of Gävle of Sweden, this thesis used the partial least squares (PLS) regression to estimates the ASCI model. As a result, the coefficients of each variable and R-square statistics indicate that the relationships between PQ, CE, CS and PV are very weak; PV should be ignored in the case. Therefore, the ACSI model in this case had been revised, and the conclusion can be drawn: the ACSI model was unsuitable for No.2 bus case, furthermore, this study presents a new model for No.2, which is “customer expectation—perceived quality—customer satisfaction”. Consequently, the X-traffic Company should know the customers expectation and provide the service which can meet customer needs. By expanding previous research and based on ACSI model, the study empirically examines the relationships between three customer satisfaction dimensions.

In today's society there are a lot of offers towards consumers, where they actively have to choose the most appealing offer. In order for an offer to be attractive it must add value in line with the customers demand. Also, it requires that the offer provides a sufficient level of attraction so that the customer selects the particular product/service over another. Furthermore, each offer must exceed the expectations of the visitors to an event, so they feel that the event is something "extraordinary". We have chosen to study how LHC (Linkoping Hockey Club) works with marketing in order to improve the overall customer experience. LHC was founded as a sports club whose aim was to achieve success in ice hockey. Ice hockey clubs are today big business which points toward that the sport is so much more than just ice hockey. The clubs needs to be successful and result oriented both within sports and business. Today LHC experiences difficulties in attracting and engaging its spectators in the hockey games and events that they host, the support fluctuates and the relations with both supporters and visitors are poor. There are many ways for how an organization can enhance the overall customer experience which means that sports clubs need to focus more on what the market demands which is to deliver a total experience. A total experience must be created so that the visitors feel an added value. From LHC:s point of view this means that they need to put a lot of effort in to their hosting events but also strive to strengthen the brand with the aim to capture market shares.From the above discussion this essay will answer the following questions: Why has LHC not been able to attract and engage its audience despite sporting success? How does LHC work today and how should they work in order to improve the overall customer experience? In order to answer and analyze the above questions, we have analyzed and used the theories which include the area of Marketing, Sports Marketing, Marketing Mix and the so called "experienceroom". The empirical data consisted of a series of interviews with supporters and LHC:s organization. This study shows that LHC tends to focus too much on how many visitors they had and how much revenue each event gives in return, contrary to this LHC needs to focus more on the demand. It has also emerged that LHC has a poor relationship with their fans and visitors, and if this is improved, it would mean that the involvement of the fans would likely be increased. This would contribute to the club's financial and sporting performance increases. It is also of great importance for LHC to create good atmosphere in and around the ice hockey games, this would involve the audience and supporters more in every hosting event. LHC should not only focus on events that are related to ice hockey but rather strive to deliver a total customer experience. This can then be a part of the overall marketing strategy, which should have incentives to deliver experiences and added value for the visitors. Something that also is important to consider is the staff who works with each individual event, i.e., that they have passion and dedication to add value for visitors in the experience room and service meetings that occur.This will then contribute to the situation where LHC will strengthen its brand, which in return creates a basis for attracting new customers in the form of sponsors, investors and ultimately more visitors. / I dagens samhälle finns det mängder av olika erbjudanden som konsumenter ställs inför genom olika marknadsförningskanaler, där de aktivt måste välja det erbjudande som är mest tilltalande. För att ett erbjudande ska vara tilltalande så måste det ge ett mervärde i form av upplevelser. Det krävs även att erbjudandet ger underlag att skapa en tillräcklig attraktion så att kunden väljer just den produkten/tjänsten framför ett annat. Vidare bör även varje enskilt erbjudande överträffa besökarnas förväntningar, för att på sätt leverera något ”utöver det vanliga”. Vi har valt att studera hur LHC (Linköpings Hockey Klubb) arbetar med marknadsföring för att öka den totala kundupplevelsen. LHC startades som en idrottsförening vars syfte var att nå framgång inom ishockeyn, men ishockey handlar dock så mycket mer än om själva idrotten. Ishockeyklubbarna är idag stora företag vars syfte är att vara resultatrika, både sportligt och företagsekonomiskt. Idag har LHC svårigheter med att attrahera och engagera sin publik, stödet fluktuerar och relationerna med både supportrar och besökare är undermåliga. Det finns många olika sätt för hur en organisation ska kunna öka den totala kundupplevelsen. LHC arbetar mycket med sina evenemang för att stärka sitt varumärke, målet är även att ta marknadsandelar och på så sätt öka antalet besökare. I dagens Idrotts-Sverige går oftast idrottsliga framgångar och ekonomiska medgångar hand i hand, vilket medför att idrottsklubbarna måste lägga stort fokus på vad marknaden efterfrågar. En helhetsupplevelse måste skapas för att besökarna ska känna ett mervärde, dvs. att fokus inte enbart bör ligga på det sportsliga evenemanget. Utifrån ovanstående diskussion förväntas denna uppsats svara på följande frågor:Varför har LHC inte lyckats attrahera och engagera sin publik trots idrottliga framgångar? Hur arbetar LHC idag och hur borde de arbeta i framtiden för att öka den totala kundupplevelsen? För att svara och analysera på ovanstående frågor har vi tagit hjälp av den teori som föreligger inom ämnet marknadsföring där bland annat Sports Marketing, relationsmarknadsföring och upplevelserum studerats. Det empiriska materialet har bestått av ett antal intervjuer med supportrar och nyckelpersoner inom LHC:s organisation och detta material har vidare analyserats genom den kvalitativa metoden. Denna studie visar på att LHC tenderar att fokusera för mycket på hur många besökare de haft, samt hur stora intäkterna varit vid varje enskilt evenemang istället för att koncentrera sig på att möta efterfrågan. Det har även framkommit att LHC har en undermålig relation till sina supportrar och besökare och om detta skulle förbättras så skulle engagemanget hos publik och supportrar sannolikt öka. Detta skulle troligtvis även göra att klubbens ekonomiska och sportliga resultat ökar. För övrigt så spelar varumärket en stor roll och det är vikigt att LHC ständigt arbetar för att stärka och bibehålla varumärkets status. Det även av stor vikt att skapa en delaktighetskänsla hos publik och supportrar för att skapa en god atmosfär i och kring ishockeymatcherna. De bör således inte bara fokusera på evenemangen som är relaterade till ishockeyn, utan snarare sträva efter att leverera en total kundupplevelse som inkluderar alla evenemang. Detta kan sedan vara en del i den totala marknadsföringsstrategin vilket bör ha incitamenten att leverera upplevelser och mervärde för besökarna. Något som även är viktigt att beakta är personalen som arbetar med varje enskilt evenemang, dvs. att de känner engagemang och dedikation för att skapa ett mervärde för besökarna i de upplevelserum och servicemöten som förkommer. Detta kommer sedan att bidra till att LHC stärker sitt varumärke, vilket i sin tur skapar underlag för att attrahera nya kunder i form av sponsorer, investerare och slutligen fler besökare.

The technological progress the world is experiencing has also changed the way banking is done in Sweden today. One tough challenge for the banking industry is the moderately homogenous products and services they offer, which make banking particularly exposed and sensitive to customers and their switching behaviour. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what the role of Facebook is in relationship marketing within banking, a case study in SEB, Sweden. The theoretical framework is focusing on three major parts for this paper. Bank marketing involves ways of marketing and segmenting a bank, furthermore relationship marketing includes theories on building long-lasting relations with customers, and finally service related technology contains technological developments and strategies of social media This thesis is done according to an explanatory technique as material has been collected by qualitative interviews and the findings have been textual data. The study has been designed into a single case study of SEB. Interviews has been conducted to understand the way a Swedish retailing bank is using social media to enhance their customer relation. It was found that SEB is seen as a personal and rather modern bank with good accessibility according to the respondents. Furthermore, customers are kept satisfied and maintained through trust, loyalty, and proactive acting. Also, the Facebook service is a good communication tool that gives fast replies and is available to use anytime. The role of Facebook within banking is multiple in association to relationship marketing. For instance, it brings along a fast communication tool and a great flexibility. SEB is rather innovative in their operation by rapidly adopting new means of technologies. The bank’s brand image as a personal and proactive bank can further be strengthened through Facebook. Additionally long term relations can be stimulated through the increased communication, collaboration, and trust that Facebook builds. SEB operates proactive relationship marketing and Facebook is one of their latest proactive approaches. What has been realised is the role of Facebook to enhance customer satisfaction and relations in the long run.

This study can be used by Posten Sweden and China Post to understand their situation and the facts regarding service quality and the difference between the two. This study will also provide useful information for other post or logistic institutions