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A retail market in the Czech Republic has registred in last twenty years an unusual growth. A lot of retail companies were established here in our country and very significantly changed current sales network and a Czech shopping behaviour. This thesis is divided into three parts. First part describes elementary concept regarding to trade and retail marketing. Furthermore there is a description of historical evolution of retail in the Czech Republic and discount stores development in foreign countries. Second part is devoted to a Czech retail market and to an analysis in chosen retail chain stores, their marketing activities and key economic indicators. Third part includes a questionnaire research and a survey of in-store communication in a pastry area of retail units in Pribram. The thesis is ended up by a conclusion, results and observation.

The aim of this thesis is to make reader familiar with the company Aisin Europe Manufacturing Czech, s.r.o., descibe in details the relations between the comapny, its contractors and its customers and to give a number of recommendations needed to improve current situation of these relations.

Local authorities have experienced significant cuts in income whilst grappling with increased demand, an aging population and welfare reform. This pressing imperative has driven local authorities to challenge their sense of self and in doing so consider the participative role that customers can and do play. This study sought to examine practitioner perspectives of customers, their role, impact and constraining and enabling factors within the design and delivery of local government contact centre services. There is limited empirical research on practitioner perspectives of the role of customers within a local government environment. There are multiple terms used to describe the concept of customer but an absence of established approaches to examine the role that customers play within socially constructed phenomenon within local government demonstrating a gap in current academic thought. Whilst the rationale for involving customers in local governance is debated, the application of theory in to practice is limited thereby further constraining the opportunity for local authorities to leverage potential benefits afforded through participative approaches to the design and delivery of contact centre services. An interpretivist stance was adopted with qualitative techniques employed within the research. Using a priori codes developed through the review of extant literature, thematic analysis of forty-four customer service strategies spanning single tier, upper tier and metropolitan local authorities was undertaken. Themes were further developed through analysis of transcripts from seventeen semistructured interviews with managers responsible for the design and delivery of local government contact centre services. This research highlighted the differing and often contradictory practitioner perceptions of the concept of customer and the role that customers play in the design and delivery of local government services. Whilst organisations espoused a desire to progress participative principles due to the potential benefits afforded through such approaches, the extent to which these were operationalised by practitioners was limited and this coupled with a perceived sense of passivity on the part of customers resulted in little or no positive impact on current service performance. As extant literature and research is limited on the role of customers within local government, this study expands current academic thought providing particular insight on the practitioner perspective. The research findings provide a robust foundation on which theorists and practitioners in particular can formulate participative strategies and associated policies thereby providing meaningful opportunities for customers to co-design and co-deliver local government services and through which potential benefits, financial and non-financial, can be realised.

The Basel Accord regulates risk and capital requirements to ensure that a bank holds capital proportional to the exposed risk of its lending practices. Basel II allows banks to develop their own empirical models based on historical data for probability of default (PD), loss given default (LGD) and exposure at default (EAD). Brazil was among the first emerging market countries to release a timetable for the implementation of the Basel II Accord and aimed to apply it uniformly to all Brazilian financial institutions from 2005 to 2011. Within this context, the necessity arises of conducting research that could assist the financial institutions in improving the accuracy of their models. This thesis has three objectives. The first is to develop a macro-economic model to predict the behaviour of the aggregate delinquency in Brazilian consumer loans. The model consists in testing co-integrating relationships and then estimating a short run error correction model. The results based on monthly data from 2000 to 2012 show that the delinquency rate is particularly sensitive to shocks on GDP and to the variation of workers' income. The analysis then shifts to micro or account level to model the behaviour of borrowers and certain novel types of information that can be used for prediction. Second, customers fail to make loan repayments for a number of reasons, ranging from simple forgetfulness to deliberate attempts. For this reason, the second objective is to investigate the reasons for default and to explore ways of incorporating these variables into Recovery Rate (RR = 1 - LGD) models, since the standard approach overlooks real reasons for default and uses proxies for them such as marital status and length of employment. Customers who failed to repay their loans were interviewed in order to discover the causes for this failure. In addition, the interviews included questions aimed to measure the customer's personality traits and their financial knowledge in relation to the reasons for default. The empirical results show that the variables proposed in this study, namely, reason for missing payment, financial knowledge and risk taken, improve the prediction of the recovery rate. Thirdly, it is known that recovery depends on the debt collection process and on the different options or actions that collection departments can take. Yet there is practically no literature exploring the impact of the lender's collection actions on RR/LGD. This work fills this gap by investigating the role of different collection actions at the loan-level for a retail credit product, and by estimating LGD models using Panel Data regressions.

The thesis extends previous loyalty research by comparing the performance of brands in subscription markets, specifically financial services and insurance, on a cross-category basis. Large investments are made in these industries on cross-selling initiatives with the hope of bringing about brand growth through increased loyalty. This research found very little variation between the loyalty scores for major brands in each market, suggesting that cross selling attempts are likely to play only a minor role in brand performance. / thesis (MBusiness-Research)--University of South Australia, 2005.

Customer satisfaction with the Information Technology Help Desk is the focus of this study. Technology in the workplace has increased exponentially. Therefore customers are more reliant on the Help Desk then ever before. This has raised the importance of the role that Help Desk plays in the functioning of an organisation. The fundamental aim of this study is to answer the questions below; 1. Is dissatisfaction truly present for individual problems, or is it a generalisation or "urban myth"? 2. Which of the five hypotheses are the most significant in causing dissatisfaction amongst customers? The five hypotheses focus on the areas of Communication, Solutions, Service, Knowledge (up-to-date), and Morale. A computer-based survey was used to query the customers. The survey questions linked back to the hypotheses. The customer was given the opportunity to make an optional comment to discover any sensitive issues that the survey did not address. The average "overall satisfaction" rating for the survey suggested the general population is more satisfied then dissatisfied with the services of the Help Desk. From the study I was able to conclude that dissatisfaction is present for individual problems, but the dissatisfied customer only accounts for 8% of the surveyed population. Having proven that customer dissatisfaction is present the next step was to determine the nature of the problem to provide useful information to reduce customer dissatisfaction. Investigating the surveys on the basis of problem category did this. The results indicated that customer dissatisfaction was most prevalent in calls concerning changes made to PCs and server interruptions. Therefore the Help Desk needs to re-evaluate the processes for handling problems of this nature. In contrast customers were most satisfied with assistance for problems relating to desktop software and hardware. Therefore dissatisfaction is not an "urban myth". Of all the five hypotheses, Help Desk morale stood out as producing more satisfaction than any of the other hypotheses including "overall satisfaction". Help Desk morale proved to be significantly different in nature when compared to the four other hypotheses. Therefore the moral of the Help Desk team is a fundamental ingredient for brewing a successful service. Get this wrong and all aspects of the team and the service will decline. The most important influence on "overall satisfaction" was "satisfaction with keeping up with technological change", and the least important factor was "satisfaction with ability to predict problems through good communication". This would indicate an up-to-date Help Desk is more likely to have satisfied customers.

Customer loyalty in services is the focus of the research. The research problem sought to determine both indirect and indirect effects of relational outcomes on customer loyalty, conceptualised as a psychological state. Relational outcomes are defined as: the thoughts, feelings, and relationships perceived by customers arising from the interaction with a service employee. This class of variable is differentiated from other relational factors such as the characteristics of the actors in the interaction and their behaviours. The effects of relational outcome antecedents were compared to service evaluation antecedents such as customer satisfaction, quality, and value. Customer loyalty was modelled as a psychological state and grounded in the unique characteristics of services. The pioneering work of Kingstrom (1983) was used as a basis for extending the literature. Customer loyalty is an important variable for both services marketing researchers and industry. Accordingly, the research was justified on both theoretical and managerial grounds. Four factors inspired the identification of the research gap: a lack of service loyalty research grounded in service characteristics, lack of studies that conceptualised loyalty as a psychological state, inadequacy of service evaluation measures to predict customer loyalty, and the perceived importance of social interaction to service outcomes. Data collection included pilot studies, re-analysis of published literature, and three major studies. In the first major study, 23 informants provided insights into the nature of three specific relational outcomes: friendship, social comfort, and social regard. The second study was a cross-sectional survey of 190 hair-dressing customers. The specific relationships between friendship, social regard, social comfort, value for money, service encounter satisfaction, perceived core service quality, and customer loyalty were established in this study. New scales were also developed for friendship, social regard, social comfort, and customer loyalty. A third study collected survey data from 406 customers of hairdressing salons, cafes, and naturopathic clinics. Hypothesised relationships were tested through three nested structural equation models. The results indicate that relational outcomes in general are important to customer loyalty. Their effects on loyalty as a psychological state are both direct and indirect. The strength of the effects of relational outcomes on loyalty compares favourably with the effects of service evaluation measures on loyalty. The construct of friendship between individual customer and service employee was found to be related significantly and positively with customer loyalty. The effect of personal friendship appears to have as strong an effect as perceptions of core quality and service encounter satisfaction. Another major finding was that the two relational outcomes of social comfort and social regard both had an indirect influence on customer loyalty. This effect was mediated through the service evaluation constructs of perceived core service quality and service encounter satisfaction. Social comfort affected both quality and satisfaction whereas social regard only influenced quality. However, the impact of social regard on core quality was substantial. Friendship was not found to have a significant relationship with either quality or satisfaction. These findings suggest that there is a temporal dimension to the influence of relational outcomes. Both social regard and social comfort appear to be more important in the early stages of customer-service provider interaction. It also appears that customers evaluate the core quality of everyday services such as hair salons, cafes, and naturopaths using social cues such as feeling well regarded. A further major finding was the lack of a significant relationship between value for money and psychological loyalty in both quantitative studies. Effects of quality, satisfaction, and friendship appear to be important to loyalty development whereas customer value is not. This finding suggests that value for money may be related directly to actual purchase behaviour or repurchase intentions rather than mediated through psychological feelings of loyalty. Hence, evaluations which reflect pricing considerations are less likely to be associated with psychological loyalty than more relationally oriented constructs. The findings indicate important implications for both marketers and researchers. Marketing strategists need to be clear about pursuing either a loyalty or a value for money strategy. The former may not result from the latter. Relational outcomes lead to psychological loyalty but their interactive effects operate differently. Friendship with a service employee provides a direct contribution to loyalty development. Whereas social regard and social comfort affect customers' evaluation of the service. Pursuing a relational strategy will have implications for the way frontline staff are selected and trained. Theoretical implications include: using the relational outcomes as a basis for middle range theory development, support for the linear-additive measurement approach, use of laddering techniques to determine relevant influencing variables, and additional explanatory power to the service recovery literature. In conclusion, a unidimensional construct of psychological loyalty, grounded in service characteristics, was developed, tested, and evaluated for wide application to service industries. Three specific relational antecedents: Friendship, social regard, and social comfort were found to be important to the development of customer loyalty. The research highlighted how these relational outcomes interacted with service evaluation measures to produce loyal customers. Accordingly, Kingstrom's (1983) work has been extended.

Consumer trust research has principally developed from established psychological-based research. This conception of consumer trust largely draws from research pertaining to interpersonal trust. This study combined existing theories from both sociological and psychological research in developing a consumer trust model specifically for banks. Partly because of their historical position in society and also because of their government-protected position, banks, bank branches and bank managers have traditionally held a respected, and trusted position in Australian communities. Because of this reputation and position in communities, banks were seen to display institutional attributes. These attributes were defined in this study as local community focus, local availability and visibility, relationship power symmetry and social obligation fulfilment. This study explored the notion of institution-based trust in an Australian retail banking context. Institution-based trust was a measure of the levels of consumer trust in various defined institutional attributes. It was contended that through the diminishment and divestment of its institutional attributes banks were impairing their institutional cachet. The process was termed 'deinstitutionalisation' and was postulated to have a negative impact on consumer trust. The hypothetico-deductive methodological framework was employed throughout the study, with a mail-based consumer survey used as the main means of primary data collection. 468 useable questionnaires from adult bank customers were yielded and the data analysed. These data were analysed and used to test twenty-three research hypotheses of which nineteen were supported. From the results, it was concluded that perceived local community focus, perceived social obligation fulfilment and perceived relationship power symmetry were antecedents to consumer trust in banks. Also, reasonable availability of conventional bank branch services was found to be an important component of perceived community focus of their banks, thus having an indirect relationship to institution-based consumer trust in banks. Community Banks were found to be exhibiting and promoting many of these institutional attributes. Consumers were found to be less likely to need bank branches for transactional or functional purposes, but branches were seen to be symbolically important. Also, consumers were found to be more likely to identify with intangible elements of their bank, principally bank brand, than with tangible attributes such as the bank branch. Importantly, consumers were found to be trusting of their banks, however they were more likely to believe that banks were less trustworthy now than they were in the past.

The following dissertation is an exploratory case study of a telecommunications organisation�s call centres. Specifically, it was focused on investigating internal service quality issues that related to the frontline employee role, a clearly underdeveloped area of study in services marketing literature. The study involved firstly identifying the internal services delivered to frontline employees, and then gaining their perceptions of the service quality dimensions most important to them within each workplace situation. This in turn provided an indication of how internal services could be customised and classified to best meet frontline employees� work requirements and therefore increase their job effectiveness. In addition, the case study explored frontline employees� overall perceptions of the quality of delivery of each internal service, which helped provide further insights into their work needs. Frontline employees� perceptions were also sought regarding the importance of each internal service to them, in terms of increasing their ability to generate revenue for the organisation. This provided an indication of how different internal services impacted upon their exchanges with external customers. Twelve internal services and seven internal service quality dimensions were identified through conducting extensive observation and undertaking interviews with frontline employees at one of the call centres. The information obtained helped inform a web-based online survey that was implemented to address the three focal research questions. The online survey was successfully completed by 301 frontline employees. The results showed that while all twelve internal services shared some similarities in their demand characteristics, some groups of internal services were distinctly different to others. As a result of these similarities and differences, the internal services were classified into four categories: trainingintensive internal services; communication-based internal services; real-time-based internal services; and, performance-related internal services. While the four classification categories can provide a solid guide for internal suppliers about how to approach groups of internal services, it was apparent that frontline employees had unique needs in each of the twelve internal services. This emphasised the need for the classification scheme to be used only as a guide, whereby internal suppliers should methodically identify all the quality attributes most important to frontline employees in each individual internal service situation. The results also showed that frontline employees perceived some internal services as more important than others, in terms of increasing their ability to generate revenue for the organisation. As a result, it was suggested that internal services could also be classified according to their �importance� levels, as this could help managers in their allocation of organisational resources. The case study provided a valuable insight into frontline employees� needs, and other internal service quality issues related to their roles. Because the results and conclusions were specific to a particular case, it is essential that this area of research be extended further in future.