Abstract Title: Customer Perceived Value of Credit Card Rewards - A study on Canadian Consumers Level: Final assignment for Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration Author: Lisa Smedley Supervisor: Jonas Kågström Date: 2013 - January Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate what influences Customer Perceived Value; where Canadian consumers’ preferences lie in terms of rewards in the Canadian credit card industry. Method: After researching previous studies and determining what constructs have been utilized prior on similar research topics, I implement a quantitative, and to some extend iterative, research approach. Through survey research, I investigate Canadian consumer preferences through a survey sample of 124 Canadian consumers in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Result & Conclusions: One finding in the study indicates that utilitarian benefits, which provide financial gain for the card holder, are perceived by respondents as the most valuable reward. Another finding is that inexperienced credit card holders see significantly greater value in symbolic benefits than experienced card holders do. The present study does not support the theory that customer involvement influences the customer’s perception of rewards. 2 Suggestions for future research: More extensive research is needed on the subject of whether Canadian consumers’ perceived value of rewards is influenced by their level of involvement in their credit card. Also, studies involving additional factors that could possibly determine a consumer’s perception of rewards, such as income and ethnicity should be investigated for a more well-rounded understanding of customer preferences. Contribution of the thesis: The present study contributes with new findings that can be of substantial significance for Canadian financial institutions as it provides insight into what credit card rewards Canadian consumers perceive as being valuable to them. Key words: Rewards programs, credit cards, customer loyalty, perceived customer value, timing of reward, type of reward, dimension of benefit, utilitarian, hedonic, symbolic

The development and complexity of the e-commerce sector has increased the demand forcompanies to grasp and develop their business models, as well their credit risk managementfunctions, in order be profitable and create value. This thesis examines how credit riskmanagement can be integrated in a business model, in terms of a customer value proposition,profit formula, key processes and key resources. Theories about business models state that abusiness model should give a holistic view of the company and how it operates. Features for asuccessful model should include functions that create value and increase competitiveness, as wellas generating valuable cost and risk structures to ensure the company’s profitability. The empiricaldata was collected through interviews and secondary data at Klarna, a company that operates withpayment solutions in the e-commerce, a market where the risk of credit losses is high and to haveproper credit risk functions is a necessity. The result revealed that credit risk management is afundamental part of a business model in the e-commerce, since effective credit risk managementfunctions ensure that the elements of a business model are functional and complement each other.The study further found that there are certain prominent functions in each one of the four elementsthat enable the integration of credit risk management in the business model.

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Background and problem: The abolishment of the mandatory audit in Sweden resulted in a marketorientation in which the small sized enterprises gained a stronger position. Theaudit firms are faced with the challenge to better meet the clients need and todemonstrate the value of audit now when it is optional. In coherence with thisclient focus it is endorsed to implement a value-based pricing that primarilyconsiders the client’s value and willingness to pay. The value of audit andaccounting services to small sized enterprises is not yet fully investigated, whyit is difficult to implement a value-based strategy. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the value of audit and accounting servicesto the small sized enterprises through the study of which attributes theseservices consist of and which priority the small sized enterprises attach to thedifferent attributes. This study will result in the optimal combination ofattributes and levels of performance related to audit and accounting servicesthrough the eyes of the small sized enterprises. Method: In order to investigate the attributes of audit and accounting services, we haveconducted a qualitative pre-study including three interviews with small sizedenterprises about their perception of the value of these services. Thereafter aquantitative survey study has been realized through the function Conjoint Analysis in the Excel program named Marketing Engineering. The purpose is toinvestigate the preferences of small sized enterprises in order to present theoptimal combination. Results and conclusion: In addition to the presentation of the optimal combination, this study impliesthat the value of audit and accounting services partly consists of a functionaluse, where the utilization of these services solves the client’s problems. Partlythe services consist of more hedonic values, where the relationship with and theconsulting from the person who performs the service are highly valued by thesmall sized enterprises. In order to create additional value, the information aboutthese services needs to be improved. / Bakgrund och problem: Revisionspliktens avskaffande ledde till en marknadsorientering därsmåföretagarna har intagit en starkare position. Revisionsbyråerna står inför enutmaning att bättre tillgodose klientens behov och påvisa nyttan med revision dåden numera är frivillig för småföretag. I linje med denna klientfokuseringförespråkas en implementering av den värdebaserade prissättningen som utgårfrån klientens värde och betalningsvillighet. Småföretagarnas värde avrevisions- och redovisningstjänster är dock inte helt utrett varför det än så längeär svårt att implementera en värdebaserad prissättningsstrategi irevisionsbranschen. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka småföretagarnas upplevda värde avrevisions- och redovisningstjänster genom att studera vilka attribut dessa tjänsterbestår av och vilken prioritet småföretagarna fäster vid de olika attributen.Genom denna studie förmedlas en bild av den optimala kombinationen avattribut och prestationsnivåer relaterade till revisions- och redovisningstjänsterur småföretagarens synvinkel. Metod: För att kunna undersöka vilka attribut en revisions- och redovisningstjänst kanbestå av har vi genomfört en kvalitativ förstudie där vi intervjuat tre småföretagom deras uppfattning kring värdet av dessa tjänster. Därefter har en kvantitativsurveyundersökning genomförts på 20 företag med hjälp av Excel-programmet Marketing Engineering där funktionen Conjoint Analysis har tillämpats för attkunna undersöka småföretagarnas preferenser och slutligen presentera denoptimala kombinationen. Resultat och slutsats: Utöver presentationen av den optimala kombinationen framgår i denna studie attvärdet med revisions- och redovisningstjänster dels består av en funktionellnytta, där utnyttjandet av tjänsterna löser klienternas problem. Dels bestårtjänsterna av mer hedonistiska inslag, där relationen med och rådgivning fråntjänsteutövaren värdesätts av småföretagen. För att skapa ytterligare värde börfrämst informationen kring tjänsterna förbättras.

<p><strong>Problem: </strong>In bid to stay competitive in the industry, SMEs have to apply several  formal marketing techniques which will help them edge past their competitors regardless of the many operational challenges they are facing. Moreover, through the first questionnaire the authors realized that if the case company could appreciate the use of marketing techniques in the market, it would gain more market share hence realizing organic growth. However this entirely depends on the leadership and management teams which also have to be innovative in the market place which will eventually create value for the customers who tend to be loyal and as such purchase the service or product repeatedly. In addition, the management and leadership teams should seek cultural integration and talent which will enable the SMEs to achieve their vision hence survival in the business.</p><p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The issue under investigation during this research will be “the effect of differential pricing and promotion on the growth of SMEs which offer standardized services.” This research will add to the existing knowledge relevant to the SMEs in line with the marketing activities and growth. In addition, this research will help Snowhite Dry Cleaners in particular, to achieve growth if the managerial implications are put into consideration as highlighted in this thesis. For the authors, this thesis is a pre-requisite to the award of a masters‟ degree in marketing with a major in business administration once successfully completed.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong> An inductive approach has been used through out this thesis while we adopted a case study design. In order to fulfill the purpose of this thesis, three unstructured questionnaires were sent to the director of operations of the case company.</p><p><strong>Theories: </strong>The theoretical areas  that were used in this thesis consisted of theories regarding; Competitive strategy,  Pricing of services,  Promotion of services,  Services marketing management, Business growth, Marketing management etc</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The authors came to a conclusion that promotion strategies induce trial of product or service hence organic growth in the long-run. They also impact on customer choice of product or service and service provider which leads to increased demand hence organic growth. As well, value-adding promotions for services increase the demand and market share arising from less competitor activity due to fear of adverse price wars. In addition, promotions increase perceived customer value which results into repeated purchases of a product or service hence organic growth. However, value-increasing promotions are recommended for product firms otherwise they will have a negative impact on sales save for objectives like margin reduction or tarnishing the competitors‟ image. Notably, if value adding promotions are run for a long time, they risk becoming obsolete to the customers who seek value on a daily basis. In addition, differential pricing has no effect on sales growth for a service firms which offer standardized services  like laundry but rather, it is likely to have a positive impact on firms which sell tangible products as a primary objective and treating the services offered as peripheral.</p>

Customer loyalty has been investigated in years, and its importance to corporate is understood by managers. The purpose of this paper is to find out what kinds of specific and concrete operational factors have an important impact on Chinese mobile telecom customer loyalty. Firstly, a model was established to represent the relationship between customer loyalty and its influencing factors (customer satisfaction, perceived quality, customer value, switching cost and corporate image). 11 specific and concrete operational factors were found according to Chinese mobile telecom industry which were never been studied by the pre-researchers. Secondly, a survey of questionnaire has been conducted which help to found out that the 9 factors (call quality, coverage of area, SMS quality, the convenience and reliability of Inquiring phone fee system, service quality of service center and hotline, rating price of given quality, customer’s worry of troubles after change cell phone number, social responsibility, advertisements about corporate image) have an important impact on customer loyalty on Chinese mobile telecom industry. Thirdly, separating these 9 factors into 3 groups through investigate the performance of customer loyalty in China Mobile. At last, some recommendations were given to China Mobile

隨著這幾年大環境趨勢的變動下，台灣美髮業的產業結構正逐漸轉變中。 首先，民眾在美髮產業的消費型態正產生變化，未來的消費者只會愈來愈趨向 兩種極端的消費模式，意即高單價與低單價的消費型態。這種現象對於採取以 中價位為定價策略的店家而言，顯而易見地，將會是一大威脅。除此之外，在 大環境變遷下，現代消費者對於服務品質的要求已愈來愈挑惕。因此，以服務 為導向的美髮業正是處於一種服務競爭的時代，如何改善消費者服務體驗過程 以提升消費者的感知是現在台灣美髮業者所需致力的方向。 為因應上述大環境下所造成的美髮消費型態改變，本研究將選取現正以中 間路線為發展策略的 L 美髮公司為研究個案。為能深入分析 L 美髮公司目前運 行現況，並提供 L 公司改善方案以有效解決所面臨的顧客價值和服務創新之瓶 頸，本文採用「個案研究法」進行研究探討。藉由「服務創新」與「顧客價值」 文獻並結合 L 公司的經營現狀分析，以擬定出 L 公司基於顧客價值為導向的服 務創新策略，重新挖掘其競爭優勢。 透過本研究針對 L 美髮公司所處的產業環境分析與消費者間的價值落差分 析後，本研究提出「建立個人化服務網站」以及「顧客關係管理系統」來解決 現存的價值落差議題。前者可提供消費者「一對一的個人化服務」；後者利用 資訊科技技術建構顧客關係管理系統，達到顧客及商情收集分析。藉由這兩項 解決方案將可推動 L 公司美髮消費者的個人化服務，以提供差異化的服務提升 顧客價值並達到滿足美髮消費者需求之效，而增進顧客滿意度與忠誠度，建立 「以顧客為中心」的經營模式。

Det finns i huvudsak tre väletablerade prissättningsstrategier; kostnadsbaserad,konkurrensbaserad och värdebaserad. Den värdebaserade prissättningsmetoden bestämmer ettpris baserat på produktens värde för användaren. I litteraturen anses den värdebaseradeprissättnings vara överlägsen de två andra prissättningsstrategierna, trots det använder sig deflesta företag av den kostnads- eller konkurrensbaserade strategin.Teoretikerna inom området anser att det finns svårigheter vid implementeringen avvärdebaserad prissättning som gör att företag väljer kostnads- eller konkurrensbaseradprisstrategi. Vi finner det därför intressant att undersöka varför ett företag väljer att frångå sinredan etablerade prissättningsstrategi och prissätta sina produkter utefter värdet som kundenuppelever. Med detta som grund valde vi att undersöka vilka bakomliggande faktorer som kanligga till grund för att adoptera värdebaserad prissättning samt vem eller vilka som styr ensådan organisationsförändring.Vår teoretiska referensram förklarar vad värdebaserad prissättning innebär samt vad somkrävs för att metoden effektivt ska implementeras. Vi har kopplat vår studie till signalteorioch institutionell teori. Empirin utgörs av material från intervjuer och observation som hargenomförts på Volvo Cars. Då Volvo Cars precis har börjat implementera värdebaseradprissättning på sina produkter har vi undersökt vad som gjorde att de valde att bytaprissättningsstrategi, vilka svårigheter de har haft, vilka som är delaktiga i processen samt ifallderas lönsamhet har ökat på grund av en ny prissättningsstrategi. Vi har genomfört vår studiegenom semistrukturerade intervjuer med personer som arbetar aktivit med prissättning hosVolvo Cars. Vi har även genomfört en observation genom att ta del av ett revenue forum däralla prissättningsfrågor presenteras och beslutas.I analysen har vi bearbetat empiri och teori som vi har samlat in under studien. Från våranalys bygger vi våra slutsatser som indikerar på att företag väljer att bytaprissättningsstrategi eftersom att de vill bli mer effektiva eller att deras tidigare prisstrategiinte är kompatibel i och med att företaget exempelvis genomgår produktförbättrinarg. Attlönsamheten ökar i takt med att företaget byter prissättningsstrategi behöver inte endast beropå att företaget har en ny prissättningsstrategi. I Volvo Cars fall har lönsamheten förbättrats ikombination av värdebaserad prissättning och bättre produkter. För att lyckas medvärdebaserad prissättning krävs det att företaget har förmåga att skapa medvetenhet om vilkafaktorer som kunderna värdesätter. / There is mainly three well established pricing strategies: cost based, competitor based andvalue based. The value based pricing strategy decides a price on the product based on thevalue for the user. In the litterature the value based princing strategy is considered to besuperior to the other two pricing strategys, even thoug a majority of companies use the costbased or competitor based strategy.Theorists in the field consider two difficulties with implementing value based pricing thatmake companies to choose cost based or competitor based pricing strategy. Therefore we findit interesting to investigate why a company choose to abandon their established pricingstrategy and price their products based on the value for the customer. On this bases wechoosed to investigate which underlying factors there might be for adopting value basedpricing and to study who controls this kind of organizational change.Our theoretical framework explains what value based pricing is and what is necessary to makethe implementation of the method effective. We have made a connection between our studyand signalling theory and insitutional theory. The emperical data is based on material from theinterviews and observations that we have made at Volvo Cars. Since Volvo Cars just recentlystarted implementing value based pricing on their products, we have studied what made themchange pricing strategy, what difficulties they have had, who are involved in the process andif their profitability has increased due to the new pricing strategy. We have made our studywith semi structured interviews with people who activly works with pricing at Volvo Cars.We have also made a observation by participating in a ”revenue forum” where all pricing arepresented and determined.We have combined the emperical data and the theoretical data in the analysis. From ouranalysis we build our conclusions that indicates on that a company choose a different pricingstrategy because they want to be more effective or that the previous pricing strategy doesn’tmatch with for exampel a company’s new product strategy. That the profitability exceeds atthe same time as the company change pricing strategy doesn’t have to be a effect of the newpricing strategy. At Volvo Cars the higher profitability is a result of the value based pricingcombined with better products. For a company to be successfull with value based pricing it isimportant that they have the ability to create awareness of which factors that the customervalues.

This study deals with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) of a department of an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of trackless mining equipment. The study was done from the service deliverer's perspective. The aim of the study was to determine an effective Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) in order to assist the OEM to deliver superior satisfaction to its customers in the Aftermarket service delivery environment. It also aims to determine what the OEM needs to do to meet the customers' demands in order to develop a meaningful relationship for both the customer and the service provider. The gap in the perceptions of the customers and the perceptions of the managers of the OEM's Aftermarket service contracts were identified, to reveal the Key Performance Areas (KPAs) for improvement. In order to reveal these KPAs, a literature study was conducted, as a first part of the study. The literature study also helped to create a better understanding of CRM, superior customer value and satisfaction in the service environment. The second part of the study consisted of an empirical investigation. Customers and managers of the OEM's Aftermarket service contracts had to complete questionnaires. Completed questionnaires were received from the total population of the customers and managers. The analysis of the database that was compiled from the questionnaire's responses was done by using Microsoft's ® Office 2007 Suite, supported by Levine, Stephan, Krehbiel and Berenson's textbook Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft ® Excel. The analysis identified a significant difference in seven out of the seventy-eight aspects, in the responses from the customers' perceptions versus the perceptions of the OEM's managers. The analysis also provided a base for the CSI. The combination of these aspects and the CSI exposed five KPAs which need to be improved by the service provider to meet the customers' demands. Improvement of the exposed five KPAs will assist to develop a meaningful relationship for both the customer and the service provider. This study recommended that the OEM develops an action plan based on the climate survey that was done in 2008 in the company and that the OEM improves the communication to the customers related to the OEM remuneration strategy. Furthermore, it was recommended that the importance of the information provided is emphasised by changing the reporting lines, that the defects with regard to the service exchange components' repairs are reported according to the ISO9001 system. A further recommendation is that the benefits to the customer to promote the OEM's service contracts should be communicated to the customer. Lastly, training to the OEM's managers to manage a service level agreement (SLA) successfully was recommended. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This study deals with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) of a department of an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of trackless mining equipment. The study was done from the service deliverer's perspective. The aim of the study was to determine an effective Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) in order to assist the OEM to deliver superior satisfaction to its customers in the Aftermarket service delivery environment. It also aims to determine what the OEM needs to do to meet the customers' demands in order to develop a meaningful relationship for both the customer and the service provider. The gap in the perceptions of the customers and the perceptions of the managers of the OEM's Aftermarket service contracts were identified, to reveal the Key Performance Areas (KPAs) for improvement. In order to reveal these KPAs, a literature study was conducted, as a first part of the study. The literature study also helped to create a better understanding of CRM, superior customer value and satisfaction in the service environment. The second part of the study consisted of an empirical investigation. Customers and managers of the OEM's Aftermarket service contracts had to complete questionnaires. Completed questionnaires were received from the total population of the customers and managers. The analysis of the database that was compiled from the questionnaire's responses was done by using Microsoft's ® Office 2007 Suite, supported by Levine, Stephan, Krehbiel and Berenson's textbook Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft ® Excel. The analysis identified a significant difference in seven out of the seventy-eight aspects, in the responses from the customers' perceptions versus the perceptions of the OEM's managers. The analysis also provided a base for the CSI. The combination of these aspects and the CSI exposed five KPAs which need to be improved by the service provider to meet the customers' demands. Improvement of the exposed five KPAs will assist to develop a meaningful relationship for both the customer and the service provider. This study recommended that the OEM develops an action plan based on the climate survey that was done in 2008 in the company and that the OEM improves the communication to the customers related to the OEM remuneration strategy. Furthermore, it was recommended that the importance of the information provided is emphasised by changing the reporting lines, that the defects with regard to the service exchange components' repairs are reported according to the ISO9001 system. A further recommendation is that the benefits to the customer to promote the OEM's service contracts should be communicated to the customer. Lastly, training to the OEM's managers to manage a service level agreement (SLA) successfully was recommended. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.