This study investigates the marketing of software products and services in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Due to the nature of software products' intangibility and the high failure rate of small high tech organisations, the study incorporates the concept of Relationship Marketing (RM) and Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). These concepts are especially pertinent to organisations within highly competitive and innovative markets as they attempt to build market share by delivering fast, high quality and innovative solutions. The methodology combines qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative methods include two case studies of SMEs in the Welsh software industry and in-depth interviews with their customers and employees. The researcher was also able to employ participant observation of the marketing activities and development of relationships within the SMEs. Content analysis and text mining analysis was conducted on the in-depth interviews to establish customer perceptions of the dyadic relationships and customers' general expectations of software organisations. Adaptive Conjoint Analysis (ACA) was subsequently employed as a quantitative method to investigate the trade-offs organisations make when making software purchase decisions. The findings indicate that development of long-term relationships with customers is valuable within the software industry, and such long lasting relationship has to have roots in important attributes especially `Software Quality', 'Understanding of customer requirements' and `Professionalism' of the software supplier. The importance of service quality as well as product quality is evident in the ACA findings and the constructs are presented in a model, which can be used by high tech SMEs as a guide to managing customer expectations and improving their Relationship Marketing activities. Important facets of high tech marketing are also included in the model as critical success factors for SMEs in the software industry. These factors include forming alliances, and developing Integrated Marketing Communications as a tool supporting RM.

Developing countries like Tanzania experience challenges towards utilization and acceptance of ICT; calling for a need to further research on the concept. Open Source (OS) usage is a potential strategy for addressing such challenges. However, the success of this strategy strongly relies on the strength of the promotional efforts. The study, therefore aims at assessing the OS promotional efforts in relation to ICT acceptance challenges in Tanzania. This study entailed a descriptive, mixed-methods research. A literature analysis, document analysis and observations of OS community activities were conducted in order to list the ICT acceptance challenges. The results formed a basis for survey and interview questions. The findings obtained were triangulated to determine the existing OS promotional activities and assess the effectiveness of the promotional efforts in addressing ICT acceptance challenges in Tanzania. The study also makes recommendations on how OS promotional efforts should be changed to improve their effectiveness. / Computing / (M.Sc. (Information Systems))

Developing countries like Tanzania experience challenges towards utilization and acceptance of ICT; calling for a need to further research on the concept. Open Source (OS) usage is a potential strategy for addressing such challenges. However, the success of this strategy strongly relies on the strength of the promotional efforts. The study, therefore aims at assessing the OS promotional efforts in relation to ICT acceptance challenges in Tanzania. This study entailed a descriptive, mixed-methods research. A literature analysis, document analysis and observations of OS community activities were conducted in order to list the ICT acceptance challenges. The results formed a basis for survey and interview questions. The findings obtained were triangulated to determine the existing OS promotional activities and assess the effectiveness of the promotional efforts in addressing ICT acceptance challenges in Tanzania. The study also makes recommendations on how OS promotional efforts should be changed to improve their effectiveness. / Computing / M.Sc. (Information Systems)