A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Commerce Law and Management, University of Witwatersrand Business School, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg, 2015 / Arguably the most important function a business focuses on is revenue generation, which is ultimately achieved through immediate sales and the inculcation of future customer spend. For many businesses, notably in the business-to-business realm, salespeople are still required to form relationships with key customer buyers and to achieve or facilitate sales through this “dyadic” interpersonal relationship. Understanding what makes relationships and interactions between customer buyers and salespeople successful – from a sales perspective – remains an important concern for organisations and marketing theorists. In such sales relationships, the “success” of the sale and the longer term sales relationship can depend on aspects of the interpersonal relationships such as the ability of the parties to communicate well, come to agreement, and potentially even bond socially. The ability of parties to form productive and conducive interpersonal relationships in turn depends on factors such as personality and culture. This thesis argues that there is no particular “best” personality or culture for the formation of successful sales relationships, but that match between the personality traits of salespeople and customers as well as between their respective organisation’s cultures may facilitate success in sales. As indicated above, the thesis studies two main dependent variables, namely sales success and word-of-mouth. These variables are derived from the theory of customer equity management (Rust, Lemon, & Narayandas, 2005). The thesis argues that prior to generating income through either a sale or through word-of-mouth the organisation will need to have a relationship with the customer. Relationship marketing (Morgan & Hunt, 1994) provides a framework for understanding what constitutes a relationship. The current study aligns itself with prior literature arguing that relationship quality comprises three components specifically; trust, satisfaction and commitment. Personality research has remained at the heart of industrial research and managerial practise. Voluminous literature has used the Big Five personality traits for understanding customer’s interactions. The five personality traits include Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Openness to Experience (Soto & John, 2012). The current study argues that it is not the personality traits themselves which are important, but rather the similarities or differences between the customer and the salesperson. Organisation culture has been shown to affect several different arenas within the management field, but has not been much examined within the context of dyadic relationships. The specific relationship that the study addresses is the customer-salesperson relationship. In this thesis I argue that both the customer and salesperson to some extent embody and reflect their respective organisational cultures, and in addition, sales systems can reflect organizational cultures, for instance where bureaucratic organizational culture creates sales systems with high levels of formality. In turn, match or mismatch in organizational cultures may affect sales or relationship outcomes in various ways. The well-known organisational culture index (Wallach, 1983) will be used to capture the cultures from both the salesperson and customer. The three elements of organisational culture measured by the index include bureaucratic cultural aspects, innovative cultural aspects, and supportive cultural aspects. To test these relationships, the thesis presents an empirical study based on a cross-sectional, quantitative, survey of the SME market in South Africa. One hundred salesperson-customer dyads participated in the study, and data from each member of the dyad was surveyed separately. Statistical techniques such as partial least squares structural equation modelling and polynomial regression were used in the analysis of the data. A response surface methodology allowed for graphical representation of the polynomial regression results. These results then acted as inputs for a Bayesian Networks analysis (Charniak, 1991), which are used to improve the understanding of causality. Results of the empirical survey indicate that trust, satisfaction and commitment affect the level of word-of-mouth while only trust and commitment have an effect on sales. The analysis indicates that matches or mismatches in the personality traits of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness do affect dependent variables of relationship quality, sales success and word-of-mouth, and do so in differing ways. This thesis provides several unique contributions to sales theory and literature. First, although the salesperson-customer dyad has been studied before, the differences in personality traits have not been included. This is particularly true within the South African context. Secondly, organisational culture literature has been reviewed and studied but has neglected the role that organisational culture plays in the sales environment, specifically when interacting with a customer. Third, several theories are used to explain why the constructs came together; however certain aspects of these theories are questioned. Lastly, several practical applications are provided that allow organisations to improve the hiring process and implement training objectives for their sales force. Key Words: Dyad, satisfaction, trust, commitment, customer lifetime value, relationship marketing, relationship quality, organisational culture, bureaucracy, innovation, supportive, response surface, polynomial regression, Bayesian network, customer equity management. / MB2016

Since the formal implementation of the All-out Defense Education Law, the Ministry of National Defense has actively organized relevant departments and bureaus to promote the ideas of All-out Defense Education policy through a diverse array of publicities and activities. Among these activities, the All-out Defense Military Summer Camp, organized every July and August by integrating the characteristics of all army services, is the most popular activity, and has received wide feedback from the youths. ¡§Actualization of All-out Defense Education policies and in-depth and grass-root work for Total National Defense¡¨ is the theme for the All-out Defense Military Summer Camp organized by the Ministry of National Defense. This study applied the perspective of marketing strategies, and investigated the students attending the ¡§2010 Amphibious Warriors Battle Camp¡¨ using questionnaires. It evaluated student backgrounds and motivation for participation, as well as the relationship with customer equity. Collected data is done through Descriptive Statistics Analysis, such as Independent t-test, One-way ANOVA, Pearson Product-moment Correlation. Conclusion is listed as below: ¡§The summer camp reaches the purpose of All-Out Defense Policy; participants¡¦ motivation is highly influenced by¡¥to become mature¡¦, customer equity is highly influenced by value equity; participants¡¦ motivation and customer equity are highly influenced by some different kinds of background; motivation and customer equity has a positive relationship; three dimensions of customer equity have a positive relationship¡Flots of students have great will to receive the information of army.¡¨ Based on the conclusions, some suggestions proposed as follows: 1. To consider the needs of different targets in detail demands using more accurate market segmentation, and by providing more diverse activities and courses; the activity can be combined with the promotion of the army recruitment policy to improve the many functions and value of combat camps. 2. In order to fully promote the brand of All-out Defense Education policies, ¡§same branding but different marketing targets¡¨ as well as ¡§same brands, different logos and slogans¡¨ can be used in combination with other marketing tactics to improve the understanding and support of citizens to All-out Defense Education policies. 3. To take advantage of social networking websites that many youths and students use to construct an electronic forum or communications platform allowing students from the annual Combat Camps to share their experiences and opinions. At the same time, special activities can be planned for students with exceptional participation to maintaining a strong bond with the customers of All-out Defense Education.

This study aims to extend previous research studies investigating drivers of customer equity in a business-to-business environment. The study also aims to address the role of relationship benefits on customer equity in a business-tobusiness environment beyond psychological, functional and social benefits. Furthermore the study focuses on the importance of building relationships influencing customer equity in organisations operating in a business-to-business environment. The study is based on two phases. Phase one consisted of face-to-face interviews with experienced professional individuals from three different industries. These industries covered financial services, utility services and property development within a South African demographic. The data gathered from these interviews was combined with literature to understand the drivers of customer equity and the role that relationship benefits play on customer equity. Data was also gathered from a 146 questionnaires and statistically processed. Significant findings made in the study reflect the importance of customer equity within business-to-business environments. Further focusing on the importance for organisations to build long-term relationships with their customers. this will finally explain the significant impact that relationship benefits have on customer equity beyond psychological, functional and social benefits for organisations in business-to-business environments. The study recognises that the individual customers and the organisation on its own will both benefit from developed customer equity, highlighting the fact that not one driver of customer equity is exclusive to the next. Contributions made for academic purposes include hypothesised variable on customer equity, with the main aim on relationships. This study will be beneficial for various departments in organisations that interact with customers and want to improve their customer relations, specifically organisations operating in a business-to-business environment. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / zkgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Return on marketing investment has received attention for a long period of time. On the other hand, customers and the value that they bring to a company have enjoyed increased attention lately. Concepts like customer obsession, customer life time value, customer delight, customer equity and other topics have been researched by a number of scholars. Customer equity as a marketing concept is the latest in marketing research. The concepts purport that management of a company should be able to calculate the value added to the company by its current and future customers. Such value is then discounted using the appropriate discount rate i.e. weighted average cost of capital (WACC). This research focused on the possibility of using Customer Equity to calculate enterprise value. The purpose was to determine whether any variance between results of the two methods is statistically significant and whether or not a relationship between CE based enterprise value and discounted cash flow (DCF) based enterprise value exist. From the analysis conducted it was concluded that no statistically significant variance existed between Customer Equity based enterprise value and DCF enterprise value. It was also noted that a relationship exist between customer equity and an enterprise value calculated using the DCF model. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

O moderno conceito de marketing, visto como filosofia empresarial, defende que a empresa deve ser centralizada no cliente, ou seja, ter todas as suas atividades integradas e alinhadas para entregar valor superior para seus consumidores. Até o final da década de 1990 havia uma clara lacuna entre o moderno conceito de marketing e as métricas existentes. Assim, as métricas de customer equity foram concebidas na tentativa de superar esse conflito entre filosofia e realidade prática de marketing. Customer equity pode ser definido como o valor monetário dos clientes enquanto um ativo da empresa, e foi apontado pela literatura como possível responsável pelo aumento da capitalização de mercado em algumas empresas. Esse estudo busca identificar a relação de causalidade entre customer equity, calculado pelo modelo de Gupta et al (2003), e a capitalização de mercado das empresas do setor de comunicação do mercado brasileiro utilizando uma série de modelos. Primeiramente rodou-se um modelo de regressão em painel com efeito aleatório, seguido de uma análise de causalidade Granger. Os resultados, em geral, não convergem com a literatura relacionada. Por fim foram discutidas as implicações gerenciais, limitações e sugestões para pesquisas futuras. / The modern concept of marketing, seen as business philosophy, holds that the firm must be customer centered, that is, all the activities must be integrated and oriented to deliver superior value to its customers. There was a clear gap between the modern concept of marketing and the existing metrics until the end of the 1990’s. Thus, the customer equity metrics were developed trying to overcome the conflict between philosophy and the managerial reality of marketing. Customer equity can be defined as the value of customers as an asset of the firm, and was held as a possible responsible for increasing the market capitalization of several companies. This study aims to identify the causal relationship between customer equity, using the approach proposed by Gupta and Lehmann (2003), and the market capitalization of several Brazilian communication companies. First it was conducted a panel regression analysis with random effects, then a series of Granger causality tests were made. The results, at large, do not converge with the related research. Finally, the limitations, managerial implications and recommendations for future research were discussed.

Em um ambiente em que o marketing busca formas de avaliar os impactos de suas ações, Vogel, Evanschitzky e Ramaseshan (2008) sugerem que o uso do customer equity (CE), como uma medida do comportamento futuro de clientes de uma empresa, é um ativo estratégico que exige um gerenciamento efetivo com monitoramento tanto para detectar sinais de erosão neste valor, como para adequar programas para melhorá-lo. Vogel et al. (2008) associaram os condutores de CE, proposto por Rust, Zeithaml e Lemon (2000) e vendas futuras, contribuindo, em especial, com um modelo que inclui um construto de lealdade e foca na predição de vendas futuras, dado que valor de vida do cliente (CLV) é um difícil conceito para ser medido e está fora do alcance da maior parte das empresas. Diante da contribuição que essa técnica traz tanto para o avanço acadêmico da área de marketing metrics quanto para a prática empresarial, esta dissertação tem como enfoque a aplicação do modelo de Vogel et al. (2008), no B2B. Suas principais contribuições são: primeiro, adaptar e utilizar o modelo no contexto de serviços no B2B, estendendo a sua verificação a um universo mais amplo; segundo, testar se o modelo adaptado poderia produzir resultados tão consistentes quanto os encontrados pelos autores; terceiro, sugerir recomendações para a aplicação do modelo em outros segmentos. Para realização do estudo foram selecionadas duas empresas de segmentos diferentes que possuem outras companhias como clientes, uma delas do ramo de serviços ao varejo e outra uma distribuidora de medicamentos que permitiram acesso a um total de 253 de seus clientes. Para a empresa de serviços ao varejo identificou-se resultados em direção e magnitude semelhante ao estudo de Vogel et al. (2008), sugerindo que o modelo poderia ser aplicado no universo B2B; para a distribuidora, entretanto, os achados não demonstraram associação entre as variáveis, sinalizando uma fragilidade do modelo na predição de vendas futuras. Os resultados sugerem que o modelo adaptado poderia ser empregado no B2B, porém não é robusto. Desta forma apenas pode ser aplicado apenas sob condições específicas que precisam ser verificadas antes da aplicação. / In an environment where marketing seeks ways to assess the impacts of their actions , Vogel , and Evanschitzky Ramaseshan (2008) suggest that the use of customer equity (CE), as a measure of future customer behavior of a company, is a strategic asset that requires effective management with both monitoring for signs of erosion in this figure , as to tailor programs to improve it . Vogel et al. (2008) associated drivers from EC , proposed by Rust , Zeithaml and Lemon (2000) and future sales, contributing in particular to a model that includes a construct of loyalty and focuses on the prediction of future sales, since customer lifetime value (CLV) is a difficult concept to be measured and is beyond the reach of most companies . Given the contribution that this technique brings both academic advancement in the area of marketing metrics and for business practice, this dissertation focus on the application of Vogel et al. (2008), in the B2B. His main contributions are: first , to adapt and use the model in the context of B2B services, extending the verification to a broader universe; Second, to test whether the adapted model could produce results as consistent as those found by the authors; thirdly, to suggest recommendations for the application of the model in other segments. To conduct the study, two companies from different segments that have other companies as clients were selected , one of them in the service industry to retail and a distributor for drugstores that allowed access to a total of 253 clients. For services company was identified similar results, in direction and magnitude, toward the study of Vogel et al. (2008) , suggesting that the model could be applied in the B2B universe; for the distributor , however, the findings did not show association between the variables, indicating a weakness of the model in predicting future sales. The results suggest that the adapted model could be employed in B2B, but it is not robust. Thus, it can be applied only under specific conditions that must be verified before application.

A capacidade de o marketing mensurar e comunicar o valor de suas atividades e investimentos tem sido uma das prioridades de pesquisa na área nos últimos anos. Para atingir esse objetivo, a capacidade de mensurar adequadamente os ativos de marketing, como o Customer Lifetime Value e, de forma agregada, o Customer Equity, torna-se essencial, pois esses ativos são considerados os elementos capazes de traduzir em valores monetários o resultado dos diversos investimentos realizados pela área de marketing. Diante da mensuração desses valores, é possível o planejamento e a realização de ações mais precisas por parte dos profissionais de marketing. Sendo assim, no presente estudo objetivou-se construir e aplicar um modelo de estimação de Customer Lifetime Value no modo bottom-up (individual por cliente) em uma amostra de clientes de uma empresa do setor de serviços financeiros. O modelo bayesiano hierárquico aplicado, com três regressões estruturadas conforme o modelo Seemingly Unrelated Regressions (SUR) (ZELNER, 1971), foi construído a partir dos trabalhos de Kumar et al. (2008), Kumar e Shah (2009) e Cowles, Carlin e Connet (1996). Os resultados evidenciaram (1) que o modelo foi capaz de estimar com consistência o valor futuro de 84% dos clientes analisados; (2) que esse valor estimado traduz o potencial de rentabilidade que pode ser esperado futuramente para cada cliente; (3) que a base de clientes pode ser segmentada a partir do Customer Lifetime Value. Diante do conhecimento do valor futuro de cada cliente, se vislumbrou possibilidades de ações que tragam melhorias para gestão de clientes tradicionalmente utilizada, principalmente no que diz respeito à alocação dos recursos de marketing. / The marketing capacity to measure and to communicate the value resultant of its activities and investments has been one of the area top research priorities in the last few years. In order to achieve this objective, the capacity to appropriately measure the marketing assets, as the Customer Lifetime Value and, in aggregate form, the Customer Equity, has been pointed out as essential, because this assets are considered elements capable of translating the result of marketing investments into monetary values. Given the measurement of those values, marketers become able to plan and take more precise actions. Thus, the objective of present study is to build and test a bottom-up Customer Lifetime Value estimation model to a sample of customers from a company of finance services. The bayesian hierarchical model, composed of three regressions structured according to the Seemingly Unrelated Regressions (SUR) model (ZELNER, 1971), was built from the works of Kumar et al. (2008), Kumar and Shah (2009) and Cowles, Carlin and Connet (1996). The results show that (1) the model was capable to estimate with consistency the future value of 84% of the analyzed customers; (2) this estimated future values indicate the potential profitability of each customer; (3) the customer base can be segmented from the Customer Lifetime Value. Given the knowledge obtained about the future value of each customer and the segments established, several actions that can bring improvements to the traditional way of managing customers were suggested, in special those concerning marketing resource allocation.

Em um ambiente em que o marketing busca formas de avaliar os impactos de suas ações, Vogel, Evanschitzky e Ramaseshan (2008) sugerem que o uso do customer equity (CE), como uma medida do comportamento futuro de clientes de uma empresa, é um ativo estratégico que exige um gerenciamento efetivo com monitoramento tanto para detectar sinais de erosão neste valor, como para adequar programas para melhorá-lo. Vogel et al. (2008) associaram os condutores de CE, proposto por Rust, Zeithaml e Lemon (2000) e vendas futuras, contribuindo, em especial, com um modelo que inclui um construto de lealdade e foca na predição de vendas futuras, dado que valor de vida do cliente (CLV) é um difícil conceito para ser medido e está fora do alcance da maior parte das empresas. Diante da contribuição que essa técnica traz tanto para o avanço acadêmico da área de marketing metrics quanto para a prática empresarial, esta dissertação tem como enfoque a aplicação do modelo de Vogel et al. (2008), no B2B. Suas principais contribuições são: primeiro, adaptar e utilizar o modelo no contexto de serviços no B2B, estendendo a sua verificação a um universo mais amplo; segundo, testar se o modelo adaptado poderia produzir resultados tão consistentes quanto os encontrados pelos autores; terceiro, sugerir recomendações para a aplicação do modelo em outros segmentos. Para realização do estudo foram selecionadas duas empresas de segmentos diferentes que possuem outras companhias como clientes, uma delas do ramo de serviços ao varejo e outra uma distribuidora de medicamentos que permitiram acesso a um total de 253 de seus clientes. Para a empresa de serviços ao varejo identificou-se resultados em direção e magnitude semelhante ao estudo de Vogel et al. (2008), sugerindo que o modelo poderia ser aplicado no universo B2B; para a distribuidora, entretanto, os achados não demonstraram associação entre as variáveis, sinalizando uma fragilidade do modelo na predição de vendas futuras. Os resultados sugerem que o modelo adaptado poderia ser empregado no B2B, porém não é robusto. Desta forma apenas pode ser aplicado apenas sob condições específicas que precisam ser verificadas antes da aplicação. / In an environment where marketing seeks ways to assess the impacts of their actions , Vogel , and Evanschitzky Ramaseshan (2008) suggest that the use of customer equity (CE), as a measure of future customer behavior of a company, is a strategic asset that requires effective management with both monitoring for signs of erosion in this figure , as to tailor programs to improve it . Vogel et al. (2008) associated drivers from EC , proposed by Rust , Zeithaml and Lemon (2000) and future sales, contributing in particular to a model that includes a construct of loyalty and focuses on the prediction of future sales, since customer lifetime value (CLV) is a difficult concept to be measured and is beyond the reach of most companies . Given the contribution that this technique brings both academic advancement in the area of marketing metrics and for business practice, this dissertation focus on the application of Vogel et al. (2008), in the B2B. His main contributions are: first , to adapt and use the model in the context of B2B services, extending the verification to a broader universe; Second, to test whether the adapted model could produce results as consistent as those found by the authors; thirdly, to suggest recommendations for the application of the model in other segments. To conduct the study, two companies from different segments that have other companies as clients were selected , one of them in the service industry to retail and a distributor for drugstores that allowed access to a total of 253 clients. For services company was identified similar results, in direction and magnitude, toward the study of Vogel et al. (2008) , suggesting that the model could be applied in the B2B universe; for the distributor , however, the findings did not show association between the variables, indicating a weakness of the model in predicting future sales. The results suggest that the adapted model could be employed in B2B, but it is not robust. Thus, it can be applied only under specific conditions that must be verified before application.

A capacidade de o marketing mensurar e comunicar o valor de suas atividades e investimentos tem sido uma das prioridades de pesquisa na área nos últimos anos. Para atingir esse objetivo, a capacidade de mensurar adequadamente os ativos de marketing, como o Customer Lifetime Value e, de forma agregada, o Customer Equity, torna-se essencial, pois esses ativos são considerados os elementos capazes de traduzir em valores monetários o resultado dos diversos investimentos realizados pela área de marketing. Diante da mensuração desses valores, é possível o planejamento e a realização de ações mais precisas por parte dos profissionais de marketing. Sendo assim, no presente estudo objetivou-se construir e aplicar um modelo de estimação de Customer Lifetime Value no modo bottom-up (individual por cliente) em uma amostra de clientes de uma empresa do setor de serviços financeiros. O modelo bayesiano hierárquico aplicado, com três regressões estruturadas conforme o modelo Seemingly Unrelated Regressions (SUR) (ZELNER, 1971), foi construído a partir dos trabalhos de Kumar et al. (2008), Kumar e Shah (2009) e Cowles, Carlin e Connet (1996). Os resultados evidenciaram (1) que o modelo foi capaz de estimar com consistência o valor futuro de 84% dos clientes analisados; (2) que esse valor estimado traduz o potencial de rentabilidade que pode ser esperado futuramente para cada cliente; (3) que a base de clientes pode ser segmentada a partir do Customer Lifetime Value. Diante do conhecimento do valor futuro de cada cliente, se vislumbrou possibilidades de ações que tragam melhorias para gestão de clientes tradicionalmente utilizada, principalmente no que diz respeito à alocação dos recursos de marketing. / The marketing capacity to measure and to communicate the value resultant of its activities and investments has been one of the area top research priorities in the last few years. In order to achieve this objective, the capacity to appropriately measure the marketing assets, as the Customer Lifetime Value and, in aggregate form, the Customer Equity, has been pointed out as essential, because this assets are considered elements capable of translating the result of marketing investments into monetary values. Given the measurement of those values, marketers become able to plan and take more precise actions. Thus, the objective of present study is to build and test a bottom-up Customer Lifetime Value estimation model to a sample of customers from a company of finance services. The bayesian hierarchical model, composed of three regressions structured according to the Seemingly Unrelated Regressions (SUR) model (ZELNER, 1971), was built from the works of Kumar et al. (2008), Kumar and Shah (2009) and Cowles, Carlin and Connet (1996). The results show that (1) the model was capable to estimate with consistency the future value of 84% of the analyzed customers; (2) this estimated future values indicate the potential profitability of each customer; (3) the customer base can be segmented from the Customer Lifetime Value. Given the knowledge obtained about the future value of each customer and the segments established, several actions that can bring improvements to the traditional way of managing customers were suggested, in special those concerning marketing resource allocation.

O moderno conceito de marketing, visto como filosofia empresarial, defende que a empresa deve ser centralizada no cliente, ou seja, ter todas as suas atividades integradas e alinhadas para entregar valor superior para seus consumidores. Até o final da década de 1990 havia uma clara lacuna entre o moderno conceito de marketing e as métricas existentes. Assim, as métricas de customer equity foram concebidas na tentativa de superar esse conflito entre filosofia e realidade prática de marketing. Customer equity pode ser definido como o valor monetário dos clientes enquanto um ativo da empresa, e foi apontado pela literatura como possível responsável pelo aumento da capitalização de mercado em algumas empresas. Esse estudo busca identificar a relação de causalidade entre customer equity, calculado pelo modelo de Gupta et al (2003), e a capitalização de mercado das empresas do setor de comunicação do mercado brasileiro utilizando uma série de modelos. Primeiramente rodou-se um modelo de regressão em painel com efeito aleatório, seguido de uma análise de causalidade Granger. Os resultados, em geral, não convergem com a literatura relacionada. Por fim foram discutidas as implicações gerenciais, limitações e sugestões para pesquisas futuras. / The modern concept of marketing, seen as business philosophy, holds that the firm must be customer centered, that is, all the activities must be integrated and oriented to deliver superior value to its customers. There was a clear gap between the modern concept of marketing and the existing metrics until the end of the 1990’s. Thus, the customer equity metrics were developed trying to overcome the conflict between philosophy and the managerial reality of marketing. Customer equity can be defined as the value of customers as an asset of the firm, and was held as a possible responsible for increasing the market capitalization of several companies. This study aims to identify the causal relationship between customer equity, using the approach proposed by Gupta and Lehmann (2003), and the market capitalization of several Brazilian communication companies. First it was conducted a panel regression analysis with random effects, then a series of Granger causality tests were made. The results, at large, do not converge with the related research. Finally, the limitations, managerial implications and recommendations for future research were discussed.