本研究屬於探索性的研究，透過文獻探討並從兩家日本個案公司－JASCO與Origin實務做法之相似處，從中歸納整理並建構提案式經營之概念性模式。提案式經營必須同時具有市場導向與創業導向互相搭配之組織文化，且要有高階管理者的支持。在兩導向相輔相成的運作之下，組織將有能力發掘顧客心中潛在、未能清楚表達的新需求，同時發展滿足此新需求所需的新技術能力，因此能夠有效促進新需求與新技術之搭配以形成一新的產品/服務提案，並主動提供給未察覺此需求的顧客。由於提案是奠基於真正了解顧客心中的需求與所渴望的價值，並融入了與顧客互動，也因而能創造真正卓越的顧客價值、幫助顧客成功，不僅達到最高的顧客滿意，更讓顧客感動。提案式經營可透過卓越的顧客價值創造，為組織帶來價值創造、改變市場和領導地位的競爭優勢。提案式經營本質上即是一種驅動市場的組織運作，是市場導向新思維下顧客價值創造之道。 提案式經營的精髓在於新市場的開創，透過市場導向與創業導向文化相輔相成的運作之下，企業能有足夠的意願與能力去有效搭配新需求與新技術，進而開創一個新市場。能幫助廠商培養洞察新市場機會的眼光、看到未來的需求，並發展用以實現新市場機會所需的能力，因此能夠掌握到市場先機，能比競爭者更早一步進入新市場，獲得先進入者優勢。為了能在競爭激烈的環境下生存、掌握市場先機，台灣企業也應該實行提案式經營，以便能夠驅動市場並提昇在全球的競爭力，擺脫代工的命運、創造更高附加價值的產品。 / This study is an exploratory research. By reviewing literature and studying the two Japanese cases -JASCO and Origin, a conceptual framework of proposal-type management is constructed. Proposal-type management requires the alignment of market orientation and entrepreneurship orientation cultures, and must be supported by the top management. Under the coordination of the two cultures, the organization will have the abilities to discover the latent and unexpressed needs of the customers, and develop the necessary technologies, which can be used to meet the new needs, in good time. Therefore, the match of the cultures can catalyze the match of the new needs and the new technologies to generate a proposal, which can be further proposed to the customers. Because the proposal is based on thorough understanding the true needs and the desired value of the customers, it is affirmed to create superior customer value, achieve customer success, fulfill the highest customer satisfaction, and impress the customers. Through superior customer value creation, the firm will acquire the competitive advantages, including value creation, change, and leadership. Proposal-type management is a kind of market-driving organizational operation in nature, which inferred that it is a way of customer value creating under the new thinking of market orientation. The core value of proposal-type management lies in creating a new market. Under the cultural coordination of market orientation and entrepreneurship orientation, the firm has the will and capacity to match the new needs and the new technologies precisely and then create a new market. It can make the firm develop the insight into new market opportunity and the necessary abilities to fulfill it. Consequently, the firm can seize the market opportunity and gain the first-entry advantage by entering the new market in advance of the competitors. In order to survive in the intensive competition and to seize the new market opportunity, the firms in Taiwan should implement proposal-type management, which is helpful to drive market and acquire the globally competitive capabilities. It could also help the firms in Taiwan get rid of the fate of OEM and create high value-added products.

高科技產品要打動消費者的心，已不能如同過去只強調其功能價值，要在激烈競爭環境中脫穎而出，無形價值更顯得重要。本研究引用Park, Jaworski and MacInnis (1986)的研究，將品牌帶給顧客的價值分為功能性、象徵性、體驗性價值。根據研究結果，在消費者心中重視的是高科技品牌的功能性與象徵性價值，因此廠商在推出高科技產品時，除產品本身功能要能具吸引力外，在行銷手法上須建立與其他品牌區隔的象徵意義，使消費者能將該產品視為自我身份象徵的徽章(badge)。另一方面，消費者在選購此項產品的涉入程度普遍都很高，而目前市面上產品功能是大同小異，廠商要能使其產品出奇制勝，同樣要以無形價值下手，以增加對消費者的吸引力。此外，本研究發現消費者購買高科技產品時，根據的並非自己的真實特性，而可能是消費者理想的自我。至於，國家文化與品牌聯想之顧客價值的關係在本研究中並不顯著。 / Nowadays, the functional value of the high-tech products is not attractive enough to the consumers. For consumers, they want more values of high-tech products, especially the intangible values. According to Park, Jaworski and MacInnis’ (1986) research, the brand value from customer's point of view could divide into the functional, symbolic and the experiential value. In this research, the consumers more care the functional and symbolic value of high-technology brands. Therefore, the merchants must emphasize on its products’ symbolic value to distinguish from the other brands, especially there is no big difference on the functional side. The customers would like to make the high-tech products as their badge. On the other hand, the consumers feel highly involvement with the high-tech products. The merchants must clothe its high-tech products with more intangible value to defeat the other brands. In addition, this research discovered the consumers might not follow their real characters but ideal self when they purchased the high-tech products. Furthermore, there is no significant relation between the national culture and the brand value in this research.

人口老化帶動居家照護需求興起，使許多的健康照護服務因應而盛，居家照護者與照護服務產業分別面臨，從市面上存在種類眾多而數量龐大的服務資源中，獲取與提供適切服務之困難狀況。要能夠幫助居家照護找到需要的服務，必須了解其需求與重視之價值面向，制定包含能媒合供給面與合理評估服務品質的機制與流程，以有效的舉薦適合的照護服務供做服務選擇之決策參考。 　　本研究以服務本體論(Service Ontology)之服務價值(Service Value)作為建置顧客價值構面之結構。使用者需求內容採用巴氏量表(Barthel Index)進行生理功能的量測；服務品質與使用者願意付出之成本則以台灣服務滿意度模型(Taiwan Customer Satisfaction Index, TCSI)做為內容。本研究並以本體論依顧客價值構面，制定使用需求與照護服務提供之描述媒合機制，透過取得居家照護者生理功能須支援之需求，以及同區隔之使用者對服務的滿意度評價，媒合服務經營者對服務內容的描述，即可找出適合的服務。 　　最後以服務導向架構(Service Oriented Architecture, SOA)結合顧客價值之供需媒合機制，並建置雛型系統以驗證概念。 / As the growing home-caring market, demanders have faced problems that it is difficult to choose the right caring services for themselves from large numbers of services base. To help them find suitable services, we need to know what they need and how they evaluate services. In that case, we must develop a mechanism to match supply and demand to effectively recommend services to users. The research refers Service Value of Service Ontology as the structure of Customer Value and uses Barthel Index and Taiwan Customer Satisfaction Index (TCSI) to be the content of Customer Value. We know the situation of users, body function through Barthel Index and their satisfaction to the services through TCSI. The research establishs the supply and demand matching mechanism based on Customer Value. Requiring customers, needs from body function evaluation and customers, satisfaction via TCSI, the mechanism would match the needs and the description of services offering. In the end, it would present the suitable services for customers. The research builds up a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) prototype to proof the concept of supply and demand matching mechanism.

To an ever greater extent, customers desire experiences that are highly emotional, personally designed and memorable. Today’s customer has an increasing need to be entertained and often searches for pleasurable offerings of hedonic value. Many academics also argue that commercial experiences deliver a higher customer value than goods and services. More research regarding the character of the commercial experience is needed to understand the needs of the customer and what creates value to the customer. However the existing tools and methods for measuring customer value and customer satisfaction seldom contain the elements pointed out as important to customers in a commercial experience. Is it enough to focus on values, methods and tools developed within for instance Total Quality Management (TQM) or is there a need for further development to include the offering of a commercial experience?  The overall purpose of this thesis has been to explore the field of commercial experiences and establish new knowledge on how customer value is created when delivering commercial experiences. Within the overall purpose the research also intended to contribute to the area of quality development. In order to fulfill the overall purpose three research questions were asked and three case studies and one validation study were conducted. In the first case study, focus was on exploring the commercial experience sector and searching for best practices as regards how to create value to the customer. One organization was studied and empirical data was collected by site visit, direct observation, participant observation, open seminars, follow-up interview questions and documentation. In the second case study the aim was on how organizations were working to create customer value in commercial experiences. Empirical data was collected at eight organizations where top managers were interviewed. In the third study the aim was to develop a method or tool to measure customer value in a commercial experience. A validation study and a case study were conducted. In the validation study a questionnaire was developed as a measuring tool for commercial experiences and later tested on customers in the third and last case study.  The findings in the three case studies presented in this thesis contribute to expanding earlier research concerning commercial experiences and how customer value is created when delivering them. From the findings of research the commercial experience is defined as “a memorable event that the customer is willing to pay for” and identified as a unique business offering providing hedonic customer value. Further the findings describe the commercial experience by three vital factors: strong engagement, highly emotional and being memorable. To additionally describe the characterizing elements of the commercial experience, the research identified these factors as important to customers: having fun, novelty, surprise, learning, a challenge, co-creation, the unexpected, storytelling, being in control, the venue for the experience (or the room of the experience), personal contact with staff and emotions creating strong engagement. Using the theory of attractive quality by Kano is suggested as one way to recognize elements of high customer value and to identify and deliver the unexpected, novelty and surprise the customers.  Further findings of the research revealed that existing tools and methods developed for measuring customer value and satisfaction do not sufficiently consider or measure the effect of customer emotions or the characterizing elements of the commercial experience. As a consequence, a questionnaire was developed and tested to identify and measure elements of value to customers in a commercial experience. From the results, a new instrument for measuring variables of value in a commercial experience is proposed. One of the conclusions is that a specific tool for measuring customer value in commercial experiences is both required and needed. It was also concluded that there is a shortage of well-known and applied methods for measuring customer value in commercial experiences and that further research of this area is needed.  The research presented in this thesis also proves that successful organizations delivering commercial experiences have a strong organizational culture built on core values. The conclusion was that working according to the core values of TQM is also a successful approach for these organizations, even though this does not seem to be enough. The characterizing element “co-creating” the experience between the customer and the provider was identified as a vital factor of business success. Giving the customer the power to affect the outcome within certain limitations and an opportunity to enhance the customer value meant that the experience becomes more personal and delivers a higher customer value than other offerings. Further identified ways of working to enhance customer value in the offering were: to recruit and select co-workers not only on competence and skills but also based on the core values; to stimulate creative thinking among co-workers and to further enhance the offering with storytelling and theming. These ways of working were categorized as specific and more unique or necessary in the experience industry and can therefore be vital in the competition between different organizations to deliver superior customer value. / I en allt större utsträckning letar kunder efter att konsumera upplevelser som berör på ett emotionellt plan, är personligt utformade och minnesvärda. Dagens kunder har ett växande behov av att underhållas och letar allt oftare efter erbjudanden enbart för nöjes skull. Flera forskare är överens om att kommersiella upplevelser handlar om att leverera ett högre kundvärde än för varor och tjänster. Det behövs mer forskning kring vad en kommersiell upplevelse innehåller för viktiga egenskaper som skapar värde för kunden samt att öka förståelsen kring kundens behov. De befintliga metoder och verktyg för att mäta kundvärde och kundnöjdhet innehåller få av de egenskaper som utpekas som vitala för en kommersiell upplevelse. Räcker det att arbeta med de värderingar, metoder och verktyg som utvecklats inom till exempel offensiv kvalitetsutveckling (TQM) eller behövs det ytterligare utveckling för att även inkludera den kommersiella upplevelsen?  Det övergripande syftet med den här avhandlingen har varit att utforska området av kommersiella upplevelser och öka kunskapen kring hur kundvärde skapas när en kommersiell upplevelse levereras. Inom ramen för det övergripande syftet fanns även ett fokus att forskningen skulle bidra till ämnesområdet kvalitetsutveckling. För att uppfylla det övergripande syftet har tre forskningsfrågor ställts och tre fallstudier och en valideringsstudie genomförts. I den första fallstudien var syftet att utforska området av kommersiella upplevelser, inhämta kunskap och leta efter goda exempel för att skapa förståelse för hur kundvärde skapas inom kommersiella upplevelser. En utvald organisation studerades och besöktes. Empirisk data insamlades genom flera olika datakällor såsom direkt observation, deltagande observation, insamling av dokument, öppna seminarier och uppföljande intervjufrågor. I den andra fallstudien var syftet att studera hur organisationer arbetar med att skapa kundvärde i en kommersiell upplevelse. Den empiriska datainsamlingen insamlades via intervjuer med högsta ledningen i åtta olika organisationer. I den tredje och sista studien var syftet att utveckla ett sätt att mäta kundvärdet i en kommersiell upplevelse. Studien delades in i två delar, en valideringsstudie för att utveckla ett sätt att mäta och en fallstudie där mätverktyget testades bland kunder i en kommersiell upplevelse. Resultatet av de tre fallstudierna som presenteras i avhandlingen bidrar till en vidareutveckling av tidigare forskning om kommersiella upplevelser och hur kundvärde skapas när en kommersiell upplevelse levereras. Som ett resultat av forskningen definieras en kommersiell upplevelse som “en minnesvärd händelse som kunden är beredd att betala för” och identifieras som ett unikt erbjudande som innehåller ett hedoniskt kundvärde. Vidare visar forskningsresultaten på att den kommersiella upplevelsen utgörs av tre viktiga faktorer för kunden såsom att vara djupt engagerande, starkt känslomässigt berörande och minnesvärd. För att ytterligare beskriva upplevelsens karaktärsdrag har ett flertal egenskaper identifierats som ett resultat av fallstudie tre. En användning av Kanos teorier om attraktiv kvalitet föreslås som ett sätt att fortsätta arbetet med att identifiera egenskaper som dels kan skapa ett högre kundvärde men också för att kunna överraska, leverera något nytt och ge kunden det oväntade som ofta efterfrågas. Forskningsresultaten påvisar en brist bland befintliga mätverktyg och metoder för kundvärde och kundnöjdhet att mäta effekten av ett känslomässigt värde och de övriga egenskaper som utpekas viktiga för kommersiella upplevelser. Som en följd av det utvecklas en enkät för att identifiera och mäta viktiga egenskaper av värde för kunden i en kommersiell upplevelse. Från resultaten föreslås ett nytt mätinstrument för att mäta värdefulla egenskaper i en kommersiell upplevelse. En av slutsatserna är att mätverktyg specifikt utvecklade för att mäta kundvärdet i kommersiella upplevelser behövs. Erkända och tillämpade metoder för att mäta kundvärdet i en kommersiell upplevelse identifieras som en brist och mer forskning behövs inom området. Forskningen i avhandlingen visar att framgångsrika organisationer som levererar kommersiella upplevelser har en stark organisationskultur som bygger på värderingar. En av slutsatserna var att arbeta enligt kärnvärderingarna inom offensiv kvalitetsutveckling är en framgångsrik metod, även för organisationer som erbjuder kommersiella upplevelser. Men det verkar inte vara tillräckligt. En annan viktig framgångsfaktor som identifieras är att samskapa (co-create) upplevelsen mellan kund och leverantör. Det ger kunden möjligheten att påverka resultatet av upplevelsen inom vissa begränsningar och därmed en chans att förstärka kundvärdet, bli mer personlig och leverera ett högre kundvärde än andra erbjudanden. Vidare identifierade arbetssätt för att öka kundvärdet i erbjudandet var: rekrytera och välj medarbetare baserat på kompetens, färdigheter och värderingar; stimulera kreativt tänkande bland medarbetare; samt förstärk erbjudandet genom användningen av storytelling och tematisering. Dessa arbetssätt kategoriseras som specifika och mer unika eller nödvändiga inom upplevelseindustrin och kan vara avgörande i konkurrensen mellan olika organisationer för att leverera ett högre kundvärde.

This thesis answers how a circular economy-based offering can be designed for increased value creation and decreased environmental impact, compared to a current offering. The study concerns a case company and their current offering of a fire safety solution, namely a 6 kg powder fire extinguisher. The concept Product-Service Systems is used as a base for the research and a foundation of the result.Throughout the study, the method Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used as a tool to evaluate and compare the current and the suggested solution in the sense of environmental sustainability amongst different impact categories. It provides a holistic perspective within the study which has been proven by theory to be an important factor when providing a circular economy-based offering. Another important factor is customising the offering to the specific case. This is attended to through an investigation of the company characteristics, the current offering and provider and customer values to find opportunities for the suggested solution. Opportunities found was e.g. a demand for an environmentally sustainable solution and existing infrastructure which can create valuein the future.The process includes, apart from the LCAs, interviews, a workshop at the case company and a survey addressed to end users. The use of visualisation tools such as actors map and Product-Service Blueprint benefits the understanding of both current and suggested solution and provides insights, evaluation and possible improvements. A cost calculation is made to evaluate if the solution is financially making business sense to the provider. Through this thesis, a circular economy-based solution which designs out waste is found. It is proven through the study and LCAs that this solution decreases the investigated environmental impact categories compared to the current existing solution. The suggested solution is based on a refilling process for circulating material which is established through the thesis to be theoretically feasible, hence needs consideration in order to be implementable in reality and make business sense to the provider. / Den här studien svarar på hur ett erbjudande baserat på cirkulär ekonomi kan designas för att öka värdeskapande och sänka miljöpåverkan i förhållande till ett existerande erbjudande. Studien baseras på ett företagsfall och deras nuvarande brandsäkerhetslösning, nämligen en 6 kg pulversläckare. I studien involveras teori om Product-Service Systems som en bas för forskningen och en grund för resultatet. Genom studien har metoden Livscykelanalys (LCA) använts som ett verktyg för att utvärdera och jämföra den nuvarande lösningen med den föreslagna i ett miljömässigt sammanhang och med flera olika påverkanskategorier. Detta skapar ett holistiskt perspektiv, vilket teorin visar är en viktig faktor under utvecklingen av ett erbjudande baserat på cirkulär ekonomi. En annan viktig faktor är att anpassa designen av erbjudandet till ett specifikt fall. Detta uppmärksammas genom en undersökning av företagets egenskaper, det nuvarande erbjudandet och leverantörs- och kundvärde för att finna möjligheter till en föreslagen lösning. Sådana möjligheter var till exempel en efterfrågan på miljömässigt hållbara lösningar och en existerande infrastruktur som kan gagna företagets värdeskapande i framtiden. Processen inkluderar, förutom LCA, intervjuer, en workshop, och en kundundersökning adresserad till slutanvändare. Användandet av visualiseringsverktyg, sådana som aktörskarta och Product-Service Blueprint, gynnar förståelsen för både den nuvarande och den föreslagna lösningen och skapar insikter kring utvärdering och möjliga förbättringar. En kostnadskalkyl görs för att utvärdera om lösningen är finansiellt bra för företaget. Genom denna avhandling upptäcks en cirkulär ekonomi-baserad lösning. Studien visar att denna lösning minskar miljöpåverkan för de valda påverkanskategorierna jämfört med den nuvarande lösningen. Den föreslagna lösningen är baserad på att återfylla brandsläckare och därigenom cirkulera material vilket är teoretiskt genomförbart. Dock behövs ytterligare övervägande för att lösningen ska vara implementerbar och för förföretaget realiserbart.

台灣近年來逐漸可以看到互動媒體整合設計的應用，然而此類服務仍屬於發展中的產業，顧客使用互動媒體整合設計產品的需求亦尚未明確。本研究以價值創造的角度，探討在顧客價值尚未明確的情況之下，互動媒體整合設計公司(1)創造何種價值，(2)如何創造價值，以及(3)廠商活動與廠商資源的關係。本研究發現，(1) 互動媒體整合設計公司能同時創造資訊功能、互動功能、情境塑造功能之「整合」價值，(2) 互動媒體整合設計公司以建造模組、經營社群網絡、視顧客為開發團隊的方式創造價值，(3) 互動媒體整合設計公司會應用自身廠商資源進行價值創造，每一次專案所進行的廠商活動，也會影響廠商獲取之資源。 / In recent years, the application of interactive design in Taiwan has boarden. Still, the customer value remains implicit, while consumer needs stays unclear. In this situation, this rescearch explains: (1) What value do interactive design companies create? (2) How do interactive design companies create value? (3) When creating value, what is the relationship between firm’s activity and firm’s resourses? The findings of this research demonstrate: (1) Interactive design companies create the intergrated value of information function, interactive function, and sensorial fuction. (2) Interactive design companies use methods in the process of value creation such as module building, network managing, and incorporate customers into develop team to achieve the consensus of customer value. (3) Interactive design companies utilize its’ recourses in the process of value creation, while the process of value creation also influence its’ recourses.

The progress in the field of technology is often described as massive and its development has had a great impact on the social development (Vetenskapsrådet, 2012). As a result of the digital evolution, there has been a change in the way customer and company interact (Normann, 2011). The traditional way for players to interact with each other required an interaction human to human (ibid), a mode of interaction that now can be replaced or supplemented by todays technology and often Internet-based solutions (Salomonson et al., 2013). These technological solutions, the technical interaction, are often referred to as self-service systems. These systems enables the customer to carry out the tasks previously performed by the company (Hilton and Hughes, 2013). A growing number of Swedish companies are implementing these self-service solutions, particularly in matters relating to telephony and mobility, in order to complement or replace existing support (Gustafsson, 2012). Earlier research shows that both companies and customers can benefit from the implementation of self-service systems, however there are other contributions to the field of research that paradoxically advocates that the meeting in person, the human interaction is important for the competitiveness of a company (Normann, 2011). The purpose of this thesis is to create an understanding about how customer value is created in the interaction between customers and companies in both human and technological interaction. As data collection method, this study has applied qualitative interviews in order to enhance understanding of existing phenomena. In order to help analyse the study’s results the thesis theoretical framework consists of theories concerning services, interaction, value creation, service logic and service quality linked to the discipline service management. The results of the study indicate that the creation of customer value in the interaction between customer and company occurs in the same way in human interaction and technological interaction. The factors that create customer value are expressed in different ways by human and technological interaction.

現今服務業的在產業的比重已經越來越高，而服務業生產與消費不可分割的特性導致了顧客參與成為服務流程中不可避免的一件事情。Bitner, Faranda, Hubbert, and Zeithaml (1997)亦認為顧客在服務流程中扮演服務品質、價值與滿意度的貢獻者。本研究整合各學者對顧客參與服務流程的價值創造觀點，並加入顧客參與前因之探討，發展成一個整合的模型。透過對婚紗攝影顧客的問卷調查，得以驗證本研究模型之理論。 　　本研究結果證實了Chan, Yim, and Lam (2010)的觀點，發現顧客參與並無法直接對顧客滿意度產生影響，而是需要透過服務品質的提升與關係的建立，才能進一步提高顧客之滿意度。並發現產品客製化、顧客控制以及經驗價值對於顧客滿意度的提升則不顯著，顯示即使是對顧客有利的價值創造，亦不見得能轉換為顧客滿意度。最後，本研究在顧客參與前因的部分，發現顧客知覺支持不僅對於顧客參與有增強的作用，並且會直接影響到顧客滿意度。顧客自我效能感對於顧客參與也有好的預測效果。顧客角色明確在理論中對於顧客參與有正面之影響，在本研究中的效果卻不顯著。 　　本研究根據研究結果對高顧客參與類型的服務廠商提出以下幾點建議。首先，企業應將顧客視為服務品質、價值與滿意度的貢獻者。第二，服務廠商在資源分配上，應著重資源於服務品質的提升以及與顧客建立關係上。第三，服務廠商在服務生產開始之前能夠提供越完整的資訊越好，適時地在顧客參與過程中給予激勵，並且展現對顧客的重視，都有助於顧客參與程度的提升。最後，服務人員在服務流程中扮演重要的角色，服務廠商在人才的培育上應不遺餘力。 / The proportion of the service sector in the industry today has become increasingly high. And because the production and consumption of many services are inseparable, customer participation in the service process is an inevitable issue. Bitner, Faranda, Hubbert, and Zeithaml (1997) also consider that customers play roles in the service delivery system as contributors to their own satisfaction and the quality and value which they receive. This study integrates views of the value creation of customer participation in the service process from past researches. Using data collected from customers who bought wedding photography services, this study examines how customer participation drives customer satisfaction through customer values; moreover, this study examines the antecedents of customer participation. 　　The result shows that customer participation does not cause customer satisfaction directly, but rather through the upgrading of service quality and relationship building, which supports the view of Chan, Yim, and Lam (2010). The study also finds that product customization, customer control, and experience value do not have significant help for increasing customer satisfaction. At the part of antecedents of customer participation, the study shows: (1) perceived support for customers not only enhances the level of customer participation, and has a direct impact on customer satisfaction; (2) customer self-efficacy is a good predictor of customer participation behavior. The effect of customer role clarity for customer participation is not significant in this study, but we should still consider the effect to be positive due to past researches. 　　The findings have several implications for firms that need high level of customer participation. First, companies should not see customers only as productive resources, but as contributors to service quality, customer value and customer satisfaction. Second, service firms should allocate resources to focus on enhancing service quality and building relationships with customers. Third, the service firms should provide as complete information as possible before the service production starts, encourage customers during the service process, and let the customer feel valued, in order to increase the degree of customer participation. Finally, the service personnel play an important role in the process of service delivery, so that service firms should spare no effort to nurture service talents.

Lean production determine the appropriate way to better workplace organization based on the elimination of various types of wasting, which only increase costs without adding customer value. It isn't important only implementation of lean production methods, but especially maintenance of lean principles and creating an atmosphere of continuous improvement. Lean production is the philosophy, which must be accepted by all em-ployees inside every company. It is the way to successful business in the 21st century. This thesis deals with the application of lean production in the selected company. The practical part describes the selected company, its history and manufacturing program. The next part is focused on description of the production center and its production layout. The result of this thesis is creating the product layout plan depending on the material flow and additional proposals for improvement.

The basic purpose of this study was to examine the influence of service quality on customer satisfaction, perceived customer value and behavioral intentions, in three, four and five star hotels in Ethiopia. Additionally, an attempt was made to assess the differences pertaining to these constructs across customer profile (e.g., gender, nationality etc.) and hotel characteristics (e.g., star ratings etc.). A quantitative survey approach was used to obtain primary data from the respondents (hotels’ guests/customers) by administering the structured questionnaire. The original SERVPERF dimensions and related items were modified to best fit with hotel sector, by using desk review and preliminary interviews with manager, consultants and corporate clients of the hotels. A pilot study was carried out with 35 hotel customers to test the initial reliability and validity of the instrument. The final questionnaire was distributed to 440 respondents from 44 hotels (under three, four and five star categories), by using stratified (proportionate) random sampling. Of the distributed questionnaires, 435 were collected back (over 98% return rate), as completely filled, and used for the purpose of analysis. Descriptive statistics (mean score and standard deviation) were used to examine the customers’ perceptions of service quality, customer value, satisfaction and behavioral intentions. To identify the key service quality dimensions in the Ethiopian hotel sector, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was employed. The results revealed six underlying factors, namely: Assurance, Reliability, Responsiveness, Empathy, Room Tangibles and Food & Beverage Tangibles. Regression analysis was carried out to examine the relationship between the study constructs, whereby perceived service quality was found to be maintaining significantly (p<0.05) positive influence on customer value, satisfaction and behavioral intentions (measured as customer revisits and word-of-mouth recommendations) in the Ethiopian hotel sector. Moreover, both customer value and satisfaction were observed to be partially mediating the influence of service quality on behavioral intentions, with higher contribution from satisfaction than perceived value. Finally, the respondents’ nationality, gender, visit purpose, length of stay, hotel location and star category were found to be determining their perceptions of overall service quality. However, further research is needed before generalizing these relationships to other sectors/contexts. / Business Management / D.B.L.