Despite the need for affordable housing, consumers have failed to recognize manufactured housing as a viable alternative to site-built housing. The decline in market share for manufactured housing and subsequent decrease in sales has threatened the sustainability of manufacturers, retailers, suppliers, and support organizations. The purpose of this correlational study was to determine the extent that respondents' demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, perceptions of manufactured home characteristics, and perceptions of manufactured home occupants and neighborhood characteristics predicted the acceptance of manufactured homes. The model of acceptance of manufactured homes provided the theoretical framework for the study. Data were collected from 2 surveys distributed among adult learners (n = 204) enrolled in a nontraditional degree-seeking program at university campuses in west Tennessee. One survey applied to single-section manufactured homes and another survey instrument applied to double-section homes. Correlation and multiple regression analyses techniques tested the hypotheses. Six of the 12 independent variables emerged as moderate predictors of manufactured home acceptance (R2 = .217), which were respondents' housing value, perceived manufactured home occupant behavior, perceived educational levels of manufactured home occupants, respondents' household size and composition, land-use mix, and respondents' neighborhood population range. The research findings may contribute to social change through providing a foundation for future research on variables that influence consumer perceptions about affordable housing choices.

<p>Since the late 2009, the famous vehicle manufacture Toyota has suffered a severe crisis due to unintended quality problems in its cars which had triggered Toyota’s largest officially recalls of its cars around the world. This crisis threatens the company’s previous reputation of good quality cars, as well as the brand image built up over time. This study aims to elaborate on the Toyota crisis in order to understand why Toyota faces this crisis and how they deal with the crisis; and investigate consumers’ perceptions of Toyota brand as the outcome of the crisis, with a focus on Swedish market. A qualitative research along with a number of face-to-face interviews with Toyota Swedish dealer and Swedish vehicle consumers is conducted. The findings reveal that the impact of the Toyota crisis in Sweden is not as serious as that in North America; there remain satisfied and loyal Toyota’s customers who are not swayed by the negative publicities; While Toyota should manage the crisis even in a better way in order to retain its good reputation.</p>

<p>AbstractThere is a great diversity in marketing strategies that brands can use to develop their name, image and products. The selection of the appropriate strategy is the basis of the image a brand wants to present and how it will be perceived by the market it attempts to approach.However when a brand aims at different segments of a market it has to adapt its marketing strategy to suit better the new segment compared to the first one. Hence in this thesis our interest has brought us to compare Volvo‟s marketing strategy in Sweden and in France as we study in the first country and we come from the second one. We tried to identify the similarities, the differences, and understand how Volvo manages to evaluate and adapt to the needs and expectations of the different consumers in those two countriesOne of the first things we noticed when arriving in Umeå was the number of Volvo cars in the street in contrast to what we are used to seeing in Paris. We understood that the brand was famous and even natural for the Swedes leaving here, whereas it seemed that the French were not truly aware about the brand‟s products. Thus to comprehend this difference we decided to carry our researches on what defines the brand in the consumer‟s mind: marketing.The method we used to conduct this study was based on the objectivist ontological position and on the positivist epistemological assumption combined to a deductive approach – implying a quantitative study in our case. We used secondary data to create our theoretical framework and then we distributed 100 questionnaires in both countries – 50 each.The observation and the analysis of the results have been divided into two parts in order to elucidate the similarities and differences between the two countries studied. These separated parts then lead to a cross-case observation and analysis.Our conclusion mostly corroborates our assumptions as we observed that the majority of our Swedish respondents had a good idea of what represents Volvo, whereas it is still seen as an outdated car manufacturer for our French sample which does not spot enough advertisement about the new models of the brand and which is more demanding on design. This is why, among other recommendations, we suggest Volvo to advertise more on certain values like ecology which is not well recognized and to focus more on some channels of communication, depending on the location.AbstractThere is a great diversity in marketing strategies that brands can use to develop their name, image and products. The selection of the appropriate strategy is the basis of the image a brand wants to present and how it will be perceived by the market it attempts to approach.However when a brand aims at different segments of a market it has to adapt its marketing strategy to suit better the new segment compared to the first one. Hence in this thesis our interest has brought us to compare Volvo‟s marketing strategy in Sweden and in France as we study in the first country and we come from the second one. We tried to identify the similarities, the differences, and understand how Volvo manages to evaluate and adapt to the needs and expectations of the different consumers in those two countriesOne of the first things we noticed when arriving in Umeå was the number of Volvo cars in the street in contrast to what we are used to seeing in Paris. We understood that the brand was famous and even natural for the Swedes leaving here, whereas it seemed that the French were not truly aware about the brand‟s products. Thus to comprehend this difference we decided to carry our researches on what defines the brand in the consumer‟s mind: marketing.The method we used to conduct this study was based on the objectivist ontological position and on the positivist epistemological assumption combined to a deductive approach – implying a quantitative study in our case. We used secondary data to create our theoretical framework and then we distributed 100 questionnaires in both countries – 50 each.The observation and the analysis of the results have been divided into two parts in order to elucidate the similarities and differences between the two countries studied. These separated parts then lead to a cross-case observation and analysis.Our conclusion mostly corroborates our assumptions as we observed that the majority of our Swedish respondents had a good idea of what represents Volvo, whereas it is still seen as an outdated car manufacturer for our French sample which does not spot enough advertisement about the new models of the brand and which is more demanding on design. This is why, among other recommendations, we suggest Volvo to advertise more on certain values like ecology which is not well recognized and to focus more on some channels of communication, depending on the location.</p>

AbstractThere is a great diversity in marketing strategies that brands can use to develop their name, image and products. The selection of the appropriate strategy is the basis of the image a brand wants to present and how it will be perceived by the market it attempts to approach.However when a brand aims at different segments of a market it has to adapt its marketing strategy to suit better the new segment compared to the first one. Hence in this thesis our interest has brought us to compare Volvo‟s marketing strategy in Sweden and in France as we study in the first country and we come from the second one. We tried to identify the similarities, the differences, and understand how Volvo manages to evaluate and adapt to the needs and expectations of the different consumers in those two countriesOne of the first things we noticed when arriving in Umeå was the number of Volvo cars in the street in contrast to what we are used to seeing in Paris. We understood that the brand was famous and even natural for the Swedes leaving here, whereas it seemed that the French were not truly aware about the brand‟s products. Thus to comprehend this difference we decided to carry our researches on what defines the brand in the consumer‟s mind: marketing.The method we used to conduct this study was based on the objectivist ontological position and on the positivist epistemological assumption combined to a deductive approach – implying a quantitative study in our case. We used secondary data to create our theoretical framework and then we distributed 100 questionnaires in both countries – 50 each.The observation and the analysis of the results have been divided into two parts in order to elucidate the similarities and differences between the two countries studied. These separated parts then lead to a cross-case observation and analysis.Our conclusion mostly corroborates our assumptions as we observed that the majority of our Swedish respondents had a good idea of what represents Volvo, whereas it is still seen as an outdated car manufacturer for our French sample which does not spot enough advertisement about the new models of the brand and which is more demanding on design. This is why, among other recommendations, we suggest Volvo to advertise more on certain values like ecology which is not well recognized and to focus more on some channels of communication, depending on the location.AbstractThere is a great diversity in marketing strategies that brands can use to develop their name, image and products. The selection of the appropriate strategy is the basis of the image a brand wants to present and how it will be perceived by the market it attempts to approach.However when a brand aims at different segments of a market it has to adapt its marketing strategy to suit better the new segment compared to the first one. Hence in this thesis our interest has brought us to compare Volvo‟s marketing strategy in Sweden and in France as we study in the first country and we come from the second one. We tried to identify the similarities, the differences, and understand how Volvo manages to evaluate and adapt to the needs and expectations of the different consumers in those two countriesOne of the first things we noticed when arriving in Umeå was the number of Volvo cars in the street in contrast to what we are used to seeing in Paris. We understood that the brand was famous and even natural for the Swedes leaving here, whereas it seemed that the French were not truly aware about the brand‟s products. Thus to comprehend this difference we decided to carry our researches on what defines the brand in the consumer‟s mind: marketing.The method we used to conduct this study was based on the objectivist ontological position and on the positivist epistemological assumption combined to a deductive approach – implying a quantitative study in our case. We used secondary data to create our theoretical framework and then we distributed 100 questionnaires in both countries – 50 each.The observation and the analysis of the results have been divided into two parts in order to elucidate the similarities and differences between the two countries studied. These separated parts then lead to a cross-case observation and analysis.Our conclusion mostly corroborates our assumptions as we observed that the majority of our Swedish respondents had a good idea of what represents Volvo, whereas it is still seen as an outdated car manufacturer for our French sample which does not spot enough advertisement about the new models of the brand and which is more demanding on design. This is why, among other recommendations, we suggest Volvo to advertise more on certain values like ecology which is not well recognized and to focus more on some channels of communication, depending on the location.

Since the late 2009, the famous vehicle manufacture Toyota has suffered a severe crisis due to unintended quality problems in its cars which had triggered Toyota’s largest officially recalls of its cars around the world. This crisis threatens the company’s previous reputation of good quality cars, as well as the brand image built up over time. This study aims to elaborate on the Toyota crisis in order to understand why Toyota faces this crisis and how they deal with the crisis; and investigate consumers’ perceptions of Toyota brand as the outcome of the crisis, with a focus on Swedish market. A qualitative research along with a number of face-to-face interviews with Toyota Swedish dealer and Swedish vehicle consumers is conducted. The findings reveal that the impact of the Toyota crisis in Sweden is not as serious as that in North America; there remain satisfied and loyal Toyota’s customers who are not swayed by the negative publicities; While Toyota should manage the crisis even in a better way in order to retain its good reputation.

The rapid growth of the Internet has provided tremendous opportunities for laptop companies to offer quality of customer service. The prime drivers and motivations for offering such customer service through the web are to reduce service costs and to provide efficient and effective service to customers. In the business of laptop RANGS electronics Limited (REL) is a new company which aims to achieve business excellence through quality product by satisfying customer expectations. But what are the marketing media essential for building a successful customer service operation in REL business? This paper addresses this specific issue by isolating the essential elements from the available literature, and assessing them individually from interviews to obtain better insights and understanding. The respondents were Swedish, Chinese and Bangladeshi students studying in Orebro and Karlstad University. In order to find a suitable media for the REL marketing of laptop, the data gathered was analyzed and compared groups of concepts related to the purpose and the research question. The result suggests that online service delivery has greater charm to customers for its low or limited levels of complexity. The three important concepts to establish the service into customers mind are developing speedy service, increasing customer affiliation through networking and engaging customer into product marketing. This could help REL to design and develop robust foundations on which to build successful customer service operations. The foundations between the service and e-business were sometimes confusing. This paper clarifies some of these opacities.

Social entrepreneurship is a promising approach in addressing social issues, however, it is still relatively new to consumers. There is an increase in demand for products that have a positive social reputation. In order to reach consumers, social enterprises need promotion.  It is crucial for social enterprises since they are competing for public awareness of the company itself and its social mission. Social enterprises are addressing social issues and striving to reach their missions through different activities. There is  little research available of perceptions and purchase decisions of different consumer groups regarding social entrepreneurial activities. The purpose of the thesis was to examine how consumers perceive social entrepreneurship activities within the fashion industry and consequently, how consumers’ purchase decisions are affected by these activities. To fulfil this purpose, existing literature was reviewed and an online questionnaire was conducted. Total amount of 235 people living in Sweden participated in the questionnaire.    Promoted social entrepreneurship activities were observed through the Social Entrepreneurship Map and the results showed that activities related to ‘Job creation’ and ‘Help focus’ sector were the ones represented in the fashion industry. It was discovered that the promoted social entrepreneurship activities within ‘Job creation’ sector were triggering more positive associations than ‘Help focus’ activities. Despite the positive overall perception of the activities, the majority of consumers had not purchased products from social enterprises. The results showed that overall consumers were willing to purchase products from companies engaging in social entrepreneurship activities. Additionally, a positive correlation was found between purchase decisions and willingness to buy in the future. The more consumers had purchased products before, the more willing they were also to purchase in the future.

Submitted by Anderson Rodolfo de Lima (anderson.hbo@gmail.com) on 2018-07-26T15:19:55Z No. of bitstreams: 1 AndersonRodolfo_PGAD_TUPA_Fevereiro2018.pdf: 3753318 bytes, checksum: c85e8bfcbee0616329a5b2677f271b3b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Eliana Katia Pupim (katiapupim@tupa.unesp.br) on 2018-08-07T18:53:40Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 lima_ar_me_tupa.pdf: 3753318 bytes, checksum: c85e8bfcbee0616329a5b2677f271b3b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T18:53:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 lima_ar_me_tupa.pdf: 3753318 bytes, checksum: c85e8bfcbee0616329a5b2677f271b3b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-22 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Como meio de diferenciar os atributos de produtos orgânicos frente aos produtos convencionais, os selos orgânicos começaram a ser utilizados na década de 1990. Os selos orgânicos são emitidos por instituições certificadoras credenciadas e independentes, as quais atestam que determinado produto é orgânico. No entanto, a identificação e a compreensão das informações agregadas aos produtos orgânicos pelos selos podem não ser facilmente percebíveis aos consumidores. Diante desse contexto, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo avaliar a percepção dos consumidores no que se refere aos atributos dos alimentos com certificados de orgânicos no Brasil. Para tanto, os dados foram coletados por meio da aplicação de um survey, utilizando como instrumento de coleta questionários semiestruturado. A aplicação do instrumento foi feita por meio da internet com 148 consumidores em dezembro de 2017 que reconhecem o selo de produto orgânico do Brasil. Os dados coletados foram analisados por meio de estatística descritiva e da Análise Fatorial Exploratória. Os resultados encontrados nesta pesquisa apontaram que o consumidor percebe 24 atributos relevantes no selo orgânico do Brasil (dentre 26 atributos), quando desenvolvida a análise estatística descritiva dos dados. Além disso, a análise multivariada considerou que a percepção dos consumidores sobre o selo orgânico considerou três grandes fatores, “Respeito ao trabalhador”, “Respeito ao meio ambiente” e “Bem-estar animal e associativismo”. / As a means of differentiating the attributes of organic products from conventional products, organic labels began to be used in the 1990s. Organic labels are issued by accredited and independent certifying institutions, which attest that a particular product is organic. However, identification and understanding of the information aggregated to organic products by labels may not be easily perceived by consumers. In view of this context, the present study aims to evaluate consumers' perceptions regarding the attributes of foods with organic certificates in Brazil. To do so, the data were collected through the application of a survey, using semi-structured questionnaires as a collection instrument. The application of the instrument was done through the internet with 148 consumers in December 2017 who recognize the Brazilian organic product label. The collected data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and the Exploratory Factor Analysis. The results found in this research indicate that the consumer perceives 24 relevant attributes in the Brazilian organic label (among 26 attributes), when the descriptive statistical analysis of the data was developed. In addition, the multivariate analysis considered that the perception of consumers on the organic label considered three major factors: "Respect for the worker", "Respect for the environment" and "Animal welfare and associativism".

As the Chinese luxury market has become one of the biggest in the world, this thesis seeks to investigate the relationship between the luxury perception of Chinese consumers and their willingness to buy under the price reduction. Drawing from Wiedmann’s concepts of luxury values, we propose a framework to measure the luxury value perception of Chinese consumers through the functional, individual, and social dimensions.   We conduct a quantitative research and collect 315 valid questionnaires from Chinese luxury consumers. In questionnaires, we ask them to rate the perception of luxury goods and their willingness to buy when the price is reduced by 20% and 40% respectively. We perform multiple linear regression with SPSS. The results show the value perception in the individual dimension has positive impact on the willingness to buy, and the more price is reduced, the more impact it will have, whereas, the value perception in the functional dimension is not significantly related to the willingness to buy under both price reductions. The value perception in the social dimension is positively related to the willingness to buy when the price is reduced by 20%, but there is no significant relationship when the price is further reduced by 40%.

Storytelling är ett sätt att utforma reklam på där en historia berättas i syfte att förbättra konsumenters uppfattning av ett företag eller varumärke. Storytelling möjliggör för företag att skapa en helhetsbild av sitt koncept, gestalta sitt varumärke och ge sina konsumenter en upplevelse. Teorier om storytelling tar upp många fördelar men belyser få nackdelar. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur storytelling i reklamfilmuppfattas av unga konsumenter. För att göra detta har semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med unga konsumenter som tillhör generation Y. Med generation Y menas personer som är födda på 1980- och 1990-talen. Totalt intervjuades 10 studenter på Uppsala Universitet Campus Gotland. Den teoretiska referensramen innehåller teorier om hur reklamfilmer med storytelling bör vara uppbyggda, samt vilken påverkan storytelling har på unga konsumenter inom generation Y. Viktiga byggstenar som bör finnas med i storytelling är bland annat budskap, konflikt, rollfördelning och handling. En lyckad reklamfilm med storytelling väcker känslor, är intresseväckande och skapar en positiv bild av det bakomliggande varumärket. Detta kan leda till en djupare och gynnsam relation mellan konsument och företag. Konsumenter tolkar reklamfilmer olika, bland annat utifrån upplevelser, preferenser och ekonomiska förhållanden. Denna studie visar att unga konsumenter ofta har en mer positiv inställning till reklamfilmer med storytelling jämfört med traditionella reklamfilmer. Detta beror bland annat på att de uppfattar storytelling som roligare och mer intressant. Hur en reklamfilm uppfattas kan dock skilja en hel del mellan olika individer. Storytelling har inte enbart positiva effekter, till exempel finns det en risk att varumärket blir otydligt och missas i berättelsen. Det är även möjligt att det blir ett överflöd av reklamfilmer med storytelling, då de allra flesta företag använder sig av detta idag. Unga konsumenter tittar mer sällan på TV och kommer därför inte i kontakt med reklamfilmer på samma sätt som tidigare, vilket kan skapa nya utmaningar för marknadsförare. / Today, consumers are constantly exposed to advertising and therefore companies are forced to stand out. One way to do this is to make commercials that contain storytelling. Storytelling is a way of designing commercials, where a story is told in order to improve consumer perception of a company or brand. Theories about storytelling address many advantages but highlight very few disadvantages. The purpose of this study is therefore to explore how storytelling in commercials is perceived by young consumers. In order to do this, interviews were conducted with young consumers (generation Y). The theoretical frame of reference contains theories about how commercials with storytelling should be constructed, as well as the impact storytelling has on young consumers. This study shows that young consumers often have a more positive attitude towards commercials with storytelling than traditional commercials, as they perceive storytelling as more fun and more interesting. However, how a commercial is perceived can differ a lot between different individuals. Storytelling does not only have positive effects, for example, there is a risk that the brand becomes unclear and lost in the story. There is also a possibility that there will be an abundance of commercials with storytelling, as most companies use this today.