There are numerous 100% continuous casting process steel making plants planning to build in the coming years, and therefore competitions in-between are to be more severe. To be competitive in the future , the on-the-time-being steel making furnace plant must be agile and responsive to changing market, yet also able to operate efficiently. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is necessary for the present enterprise to retain valuable customers and to acquire valuable potential customers rather than to merely achieve market share. In the data based marketing area, customer response model with characters of targeting and predicting customers is gradually important than the past. Further more, supply chain management (SCM) is another important competitive trend in industry, in which information is one of the active performance factors. The company of this case study has abundant transactions data and relies heavy on information communicating with customers. This study following the rule of CRM 10C model, gathering customers relationship data in the first place, distinguishing customers with customer¡¦s value and customer¡¦s response model, can hopefully extract customerized needs of implicit information sharing knowledge on the purpose of CRM by improving SCM efficiency. There are four distinct clusters from analyzing 414,651 customer¡¦s transaction data of two years which are ¡§The right Stuff¡¨ , ¡§ Fatal Attractions¡¨ ,¡¨Odd Couples¡¨ and ¡§Ghosts¡¨ , and clustering were verified by the ¡§K-means¡¨ method commonly used in Clustering analysis. By analyzing the questionaries collected from customers, subjected to the aspect of needs of information sharing levels, types , qualities and extents came out different cluster¡¦s needs vary in information levels, qualities and extents. As more study on information sharing and customer¡¦s loyalty, results of customer loyalty affected by information sharing were found and would be more dominant if trust is add in between information sharing and customer¡¦s purchasing will .

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has moved to the forefront of many firms' concerns and is defined as a firm taking into consideration the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of the firm's actions on all stakeholders: customers, employees, shareholders, communities at large, and the environment. This dissertation will look at several public announcements and examine not only the level of corporate social responsibility a firm has but also the effects these announcements have on not only firm value but also customers' reactions to them. The three samples examined in the paper are boycotts announcements, recall announcements, and negative social responsibility announcements. The announcements were separated into the three groups to allow me to better analyze the effects of individual announcements and distinguish between types of announcements. The first part of the study focused on market response, measured by stock reactions and shows that the three samples of event announcements produced inconsistent results. Each of the three events produced the negative short term effects expected, either for Day 0 or for the post event period (+1, +30). However, the significance varied and the control sample for both recalls and boycotts produced positive post announcement results, implying that competitors are positively affected by these announcements. With regards to the control samples, only the general announcements control sample produced negative post announcement implying market wide affects. These test also showed that recalls may be subject more often to leakage. The general findings of this test are as expected though the significance was not. The second part of the study focused on customer's reactions, measured by change in market shares, to the three announcements. I found that no significant effect existed due to any of the three types of announcements, negative CSR announcements, boycotts, and recalls. This can be interpreted as the lack of public response to the announcements studied. These results were then followed up with a regression analysis that put the market share as the dependent variable and `Sample" as one of the independent variables. The purpose was to see if the firms that were subject to an announcement affected market share significantly. With regards to the tests establishing the effects of variables on market share, it was found that the results in all three samples were similar. The Size variable was always among the most significant followed by whether the firm is in its growth stages or mature stages. The Sample variable is the most important variable in the regression and shows that the subject firms did not have the expected effect on market share. For all three samples the Sample variable was not consistently significant but was, in fact, positive. This implies that a negative announcement positively contributes to market share. The implication of these regressions is not necessarily contrary to the event study first completed since the stock market study is observing owners' responses while the market share analysis is studying the customers' response to the same announcements. The final portion of the study shows that KLD is relatively effective at ranking firms, both at the product and firm level. Effective ranking is determined as the firm's lack of need to reassess a firm after an announcement. I find that there is no significant or economic difference in the ranking provided by KLD in the years surrounding the event. However, the regression results in all samples tested did produce the negative reaction in the KLD ranking that was as expected. However, it was only significant in the boycott sample. I conclude that the market reacts minimally to poor CSR and that customer's barks' are worse than their bite.

The purpose of this thesis is to describe how the factors influence the level of adaptation and standardization of a marketing strategy and subsequently analyze how the factors influence the level of adaptation and standardization of Swedish MNCs’ in the German market. The relevant factors for the decision towards standardization and adaptation are found out using a framework composed by Viswanathan & Dickson (2007). The factors chosen are homogeneity of customer response to the marketing-mix, transferability of competitive advantage, homogeneity of economic freedom and decision variables.   This thesis does so in a deductive and qualitative approach using Swedish retailer Clas Ohlson as a case study. Underlying this is a contextualized and interpretivist point of view. Data was collected through focus group interviews with German and Swedish students and complemented through data mining.   An analysis of the empirical data shows a high homogeneity of customer response to the marketing-mix, the possibility of transferring the competitive advantage and a high homogeneity of economic freedom was discovered. When applying the frame of reference on the empirical data, Swedish MNCs, especially Swedish retailers, are recommended to choose a high degree of standardization for their IMS in the German market. It was discovered that the used framework does to some extent not cover a wish proposed by the German participants calling for a partial adaptation of the international marketing strategy. This disproves the assumption underlying the frame of reference as the majority of factors suggest standardization, yet from a consumer perspective, there is the wish to partially adapt. In the conclusion managerial implications, limitations and research implications are mentioned as well.

Lyxvarumärken har en status att erhålla, som är en utmaning, speciellt i ett samhälle somutvecklas snabbt genom teknologi. Därmed befinner sig lyxvarumärken på en marknad medhög efterfrågan. För att kunna hålla sig väsentlig i dagens samhälle är det viktigt förlyxvarumärken att vara medveten om sina marknadsföringsstrategier. Till följd av detta harlyxvarumärken behövt omvärdera sina marknadsföringsplaner, och ett sätt somlyxvarumärken marknadsför sig idag är genom sociala medie marknadsföringsaktiviteter(SMMA). Denna studie undersöker hur SMMAs dimensioner kan bidra till en förbättradkundlojalitet för lyxvarumärken. Genom en kombination av empirisk forskning och teoretiskaperspektiv analyseras SMMAs olika dimensioner: Underhållning, Interaktion, Trendighet,Anpassning och eWOM för att kartlägga dess roll i att skapa och stärka kundens anknytningtill lyxvarumärken. För att uppnå dessa mål genomfördes en kvalitativ intervjuundersökning där respondenterdelade sina upplevelser av att följa och interagera med lyxvarumärken på sociala medier.Dessutom användes en teoretisk ram för att kontextualisera och förstå resultaten i förhållandetill befintlig forskning och teori om marknadsföring och kundlojalitet. Genom att även observera sambandet mellan SMMA och kundrespons har studien kunnatmed detalj se hur konsumenters kundlojalitet påverkas. Resultatet betonar att Underhållning,Interaktion och eWOM identifieras som de mest inflytelserika aspekterna för att skapaintresse och engagemang hos kunderna med lyxvarumärken. Dessa insikter kan vara enavgörande betydelse för utformning av effektiva marknadsföringsstrategier förlyxvarumärken. Genom att tillämpa SMMA på ett korrekt sätt kan lyxvarumärken skapapositiva upplevelser för sina kunder och därmed förbättra kundlojaliteten. / Luxury brands have a status to sustain, which is a challenge, especially in a society that develops fast with the help of technology, thus luxury brands find themselves in a market with high demand. In order for luxury brands to stay relevant in today's society, it is important for luxury brands to reflect about their marketing strategies. This leads to luxury brand shaving to be aware of their marketing plans, for example through social media and throughso-called social media marketing activities (SMMA). This study explores how the dimensions of SMMA contribute to enhanced customer loyalty for luxury brands. Through a combination of empirical research and theoretical perspectives analyze SMMA's different dimensions: Entertainment, Interaction, Trendiness, Customization and eWOM to map its role in creatingand strengthening the customer's connection to luxury brands. To achieve these objectives, a qualitative interview study was conducted where respondents shared their experiences of following and interacting with luxury brands through social media. Additionally, a theoretical framework was used to contextualize and understand the results in relation to existing research and theories on marketing and customer loyalty. By examining the relationship between SMMA and customer response, the study has been able to see in detail how consumer loyalty is impacted. The results emphasize that Entertainment, Interaction, and eWOM were identified as the most influential aspects ingeneration interest and engagement among customers with luxury brands. These insights can be crucial for developing effective marketing strategies for luxury brands. By implementing SMMA correctly, luxury brands can create positive experiences for their customers, thereby enhancing customer loyalty.