There is a research about the essences and processes of Total Quality Management (TQM) implementation and its effects on organization performance. The results from the research report indicate that the adoption of TQM in China is extensive (Yusuf, Gunasekaran & Guo, 2007). Although many Chinese manufacturing firms began to implement TQM from 1978 onwards, China still lacks effective TQM systems and applications at the business level (Zhao, 1995). TQM is an effective method to improve business performance. It is expected that quality management will help quality people in manufacturing firms and industries, not only in China but also in other developing countries. This thesis aims to identify differences between Chinese and French companies regarding three of five cornerstones of TQM. They are customer focus, process focus and continuous improvement. The aim is to explain why differences exist and also examine how the companies are performing in TQM aspects as well. In this thesis the authors follow a research design and collect data from interviews and documentation to provide the theoretical framework and obtain empirical evidence for the thesis. Based on the findings, the authors compared the two companies regarding the three cornerstones. The reasons why there are the differences between the two companies are mainly social policies and the companies’ development stages. From the study, the authors raised some new ideas of cornerstones. Compared with Gauttam (2010), who gave an idea of The Four Pillars of TQM, the authors think that the processes are as significant as the customers. Thus, the authors made a new theory model to state their understanding of the relationship between TQM cornerstones, which is a contribution to theoretical framework.

This dissertation consists of five papers with specific objectives. The overall objective is, however, to seek a deeper understanding of the challenges of real estate management in the commercial real estate sector. The purpose of the first two papers is to provide a mapping of the industry and a better knowledge of the main organizational strategies of the companies and their view of customer relations. The third paper looks at the possibility that the online office market is a so-called lemons market, where primarily "bad" objects are marketed. The last two papers compares companies that outsource property management and companies that has property management in house. The first of the two (paper IV) address the question of incentives for effort and the second (paper V) address information for decision-making, both however consider how the real estate owner has created incentives and regulations to ensure that they are informed. From the first paper we learn that the commercial real estate industry in Sweden already before 2004 had made a shift from a product focus towards a customer/service focus. However we could not see an increased customer focus in the annual reports during the years 2004-2008. Paper II also conclude that regardless of organisational form of management, inhouse or outsourced, the executives state that the chosen form I to be able to deliver best service to the customer. In paper III a test of the online marketplace for offices in Malmö CBD was conducted to investigate if the market is a lemon market or not. Management form was one of the quality signals together with scale, existence of a local office and if the company has been involved in cases in the special court for rents (Hyresnämnden). The conclusion was that lemons hypothesis could not be rejected. The conclusions from paper IV and V pinpoints the occurrence of differences in how to build incentives for the real estate management organisation, if it is organised in-house or outsourced. As the management teams in the outsourced setting primarily is governed by the contract between the real estate owning company, and the service providing company, and there it is decided when and how they are to deliver in terms of service and information. The real estate management teams in the in-house setting instead act under a large freedom with responsibilities governing the outcome of their services and not any checklists or jobdescriptions. Regardless of how the management teams are governed they do not have monetary incentives tied to their individual performance. / <p>QC 20150929</p>

One of the components of customer focus in a company is voice of the customer (VOC). Companies use the VOC for guiding them in producing products and services that help meet customer needs.  There exists numerous VOC methods from literature for collecting VOC data, and it often recommends using multiple VOC methods to obtain better insight into consumer use, needs and problems.   In addition, the literature recommends companies to have a unified data collection process to effectively collect, integrate and understand the VOC. In this explorative case study, the authors investigate the VOC methods used by Company X and how VOC data collected from various methods are aggregated and employed at Company X.  Company X is a large bus manufacturing company with a global presence and annual revenue of 3.1 billion USD. The study intends to understand if the academic recommendations reflect VOC practices at Company X. The results from the study find that the criterion for choosing VOC methods at Company X is determined by the complexity of methods.  Elaborate methods, such as focus groups and ethnography that help in complementing more commonly used methods, such as interviews and questionnaires, to capture necessary customer information, are not preferred due to being time and resource intensive.   Furthermore the need for a structured process to aggregate VOC data from different sources is felt across the organization at Company X.  However, the high cost of implementing a VOC process, resource constraints and un-evident benefits of a structured VOC process are found to be the main reasons that work against implementation of a structured process.

Целью исследования является развитие маркетингового подхода в организации и оказании государственных услуг в сфере социального обеспечения, а также разработка проекта по повышению качества предоставления государственных услуг, оказываемых Управлением социальной политики по Октябрьскому району города Екатеринбурга. Объектом исследования является маркетинговый подход в организации и оказании государственных услуг в сфере социального обеспечения. Методы исследования: анализ нормативных правовых актов, теоретической литературы, сравнительный анализ, статистический анализ, социологический метод. В процессе исследования проанализированы теоретические аспекты маркетингового подхода в организации и оказании государственных услуг в сфере социального обеспечения, проанализированы организация и оказание государственных услуг в сфере социального обеспечения в исполнительном органе государственной власти субъекта РФ, а именно, в Управлении социальной политики по Октябрьскому району города Екатеринбурга. Результатом работы стала разработка проекта «Повышение качества оказания государственных услуг в сфере социальной политики». / The aim of the study is to develop a marketing approach in the organization and provision of public services in the field of social security, as well as to develop a project to improve the quality of public services provided by the Department of Social Policy in the Oktyabrsky District of Yekaterinburg. The object of research is a marketing approach to the organization and provision of public services in the field of social security. Research methods: analysis of regulatory legal acts, theoretical literature, comparative analysis, statistical analysis, sociological method. In the process of research, the theoretical aspects of the marketing approach in the organization and provision of public services in the field of social security were analyzed, the organization and provision of public services in the field of social security was analyzed in the executive body of the government of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation, namely, in the Department of Social Policy for the Oktyabrsky District of Yekaterinburg. The result of the work was the development of the project "Improving the quality of public services in the field of social policy."

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att belysa i vilken omfattning medveten verksamhetsstyrning bedrivs i det mindre företaget. Under våra studier har vi läst mycket om olika styrmetoder och filosofier. Dessa är ofta i litteraturen beskrivna utifrån de större företagens synvinkel men sällan står det något beskrivet om hur det fungerar i de mindre företagen. Våra forskningsfrågor är: Hur kan verksamhetsstyrningen se ut i ett mindre företag? Använder de sig av medvetet valda metoder eller filosofier i sitt arbete med att styra det mindre företaget? Vilka olika metoder och filosofier skulle kunna hjälpa till att förbättra verksamhetsstyrningen? Metod: Vi har antagit ett aktörssynsätt och har anslutit oss till den hermeneutiska traditionen. Vi har gjort en fallstudie på ett mindre företag där vi utförde sex stycken kvalitativa intervjuer. Även sekundärdata såsom litteratur och tidigare forskning om ämnet har studerats. Denna information har sedan behandlats och analyserats och detta har mynnat ut i slutsatser. Resultat &amp; slutsats: Vi ser att traditionella metoder är vanligt förekommande i det mindre företaget och att det är ett medvetet val från ledaren, men att det kan finnas flera olika orsaker till detta. Vi anser att det mindre företaget skulle gynnas av att arbeta med moderna metoder som till exempel den strategiska kartan och kvalitetsstyrning. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vad händer med verksamhetsstyrningen i ett mindre företag vid ett generationsbyte? Vad händer med verksamhetsstyrningen när ett mindre företag växer? På vilket/vilka sätt har mindre företag som lyckats växa förändrat sin verksamhetsstyrning? Finns det några gemensamma nämnare? Uppsatsens bidrag: Det bidrag som uppsatsen gett är att vi har belyst hur verksamhetsstyrning kan se ut i ett mindre företag, för att öka medvetenheten om detta. Vi har även gett förslag på metoder som skulle kunna förbättra det mindre företagets styrning av verksamheten. Nyckelord: Mindre företag, verksamhetsstyrning, strategi, kundfokus, processer, kvalitetsarbete / Aim: The aim of this study is to highlight to which extent management control is conducted in smaller enterprises. During our studies we have read a great amount about different control methods and philosophies. These are often described in literature by larger enterprises’ point of view but it is rarely described how these work in the small enterprise. Our research questions are: How does management control appear in smaller enterprises? Do they consciously choose methods and philosophies in their work to control the smaller enterprise? Which methods and philosophies could help to improve management control? Method: We have adopted an actor’s view and have committed to the hermeneutic tradition. We have made a case study at a small enterprise where we performed six qualitative interviews. Secondary data such as literature and previous research about the topic has also been studied. This information is processed and analyzed and this has resulted in conclusions. Result &amp; Conclusions: We find that traditional methods are common in smaller enterprises and that this is a choice by the leader, but that there may be different reasons for this. We believe that the small enterprise would benefit from working with modern methods such as the strategy map and quality management. Suggestions for future research: What happens to management control at a generational shift? What happens to management control as a small enterprise grows? In which/what ways have smaller enterprises, who have succeeding in growing, changed their management control? Are there any common denominators? Contribution of the thesis: The contribution of the thesis is that we have highlighted how performance management in a small enterprise can look like, in order to raise awareness of this. We have also given suggestions on methods that may improve management control of the smaller enterprise. Key words: Small enterprise, management control, strategy, customer focus, processes, quality management

When planning to implement a marketing tool such as Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) into ones company, marketers need to know what IMC means or is perceived to be in their environment. The definition of IMC is shown in the background chapter of this study and more definitions are stated in the theoretical frame chapter as well. Months of research lead to the conduction of a study, that is to test the perception of IMC in the Swedish market by sampling and sending questionnaires to Swedish marketers. Five Hypotheses were formed to test if each factor has a positive or negative relation with IMC. A questionnaire was formulated that tested all of the five main success factors (customer focus, targeted communication, customer-brand relationship, synergy and communication channels) in relation to IMC and how the Swedish marketers perceived each one of the factor’s connection to IMC. The marketers were chosen due to the fact that they would know most about IMC since it’s within the field of marketing.  It was found that Swedish marketers support 2 out of the 5 hypotheses. This means that the results showed that Swedish marketers perceive that there is a positive relationship between both channels of communication and IMC, and customer brand relationship and IMC, while targeted communication, customer focus and synergy were denied to be as positively related to IMC. This study would be of great help to a Swedish company trying to implement IMC because it gives directions to the Swedish perception of it, thereby making it more clear to know exactly what they are implementing, which help them find out in what way they should implement IMC, in order to avoid failures that could be very expensive.

Submitted by Marcia Silva (marcia@latec.uff.br) on 2017-03-31T18:26:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERT THIAGO MONTANARI MARINS.pdf: 2673940 bytes, checksum: 184eb2855214968e6bd2e9c3951be0c7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Biblioteca da Escola de Engenharia (bee@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-04-10T12:46:02Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERT THIAGO MONTANARI MARINS.pdf: 2673940 bytes, checksum: 184eb2855214968e6bd2e9c3951be0c7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-10T12:46:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERT THIAGO MONTANARI MARINS.pdf: 2673940 bytes, checksum: 184eb2855214968e6bd2e9c3951be0c7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / O empreendedorismo no Brasil tem se mostrado um tanto quanto desconexo aos preceitos mais básicos da ciência que o estuda, apresentando baixo grau de inovação e elevado grau de concorrência. Estes números refletem a ideia de que um dos grandes desafios a serem superados pela atividade empreendedora no Brasil é a carência de conhecimento e formação, para que o empreendedor possa ir além e inovar, descortinando novos mercados. Partindo do questionamento quanto ao grau de concordância do empreendedor brasileiro frente a um modelo que objetivasse contribuir para o desenvolvimento das suas atividades, este estudo propôs e testou um modelo de gestão do marketing de serviços com base na filosofia do foco no cliente. Desta feita, suportado por uma abrangente pesquisa bibliográfica, este modelo contou com critérios e requisitos devidamente suportados por estudos nesta área. Em seguida, um instrumento de pesquisa foi desenvolvido e aplicado a um grupo de empreendedores brasileiros, através de entrevista direta. Os resultados revelaram que todos as premissas dos requisitos do modelo de gestão do marketing de serviços proposto têm a concordância da grande maioria dos empreendedores entrevistados. Esta constatação sugere que o modelo conta com um potencial grau de adesão à realidade deste grupo, e pode auxiliá-lo a melhorar as suas práticas, permitindo acesso a uma base científica que, como foi verificado, hoje não está ao seu alcance / Entrepreneurship in Brazil has been somewhat disjointed to the most basic precepts of science that studies it, with a low degree of innovation and strong competition. These numbers reflect the idea that one of the great challenges to be overcome by the entrepreneurial activity in Brazil is the lack of knowledge and training, so that the entrepreneur can go further and innovate, unveiling new markets. Starting from the question which considers the level of agreement of the Brazilian entrepreneurs about a model that has the goal to contribute to the development of its activities, this study proposed and tested a services marketing management model based on customer focus philosophy. Supported by a literature research, this model featured criteria and requirements duly supported by studies in this area. Then, a survey instrument was developed and applied to a group of Brazilian entrepreneurs through direct interview. The results revealed that all the assumptions of the requirements of the proposed services marketing management model have the agreement of the majority of entrepreneurs interviewed. This finding suggests that the model has a potential degree of adherence to the reality of this group, and can help it to improve their practices, allowing access to a scientific basis, that is not available to this group nowadays

Verksamheter som bedriver effektivt Systematiskt Arbetsmiljöarbete (SAM) har visats ha friskare och nöjdare arbetstagare, bättre anseende, och större monetära framgångar, än verksamheter som inte gör det. Det saknas emellertid förståelse för vilka arbets- eller förhållningssätt som bidrar eller leder till att vissa verksamheter lyckas bedriva SAM effektivt. Hitintills har fallstudier fokuserat på hur SAM bedrivs i sin helhet eller på vilka brister som finns, oavsett om företaget bedriver SAM effektivt eller inte. Kort sagt saknas relevant underlag. I detta arbete studeras en verksamhet inom äldrevården (ett yrke med överlag bristande arbetsmiljö och stort behov av effektivt SAM) som bedriver effektivt SAM, i syfte att förstå hur och varför de har lyckats. Intervjuer utfördes med arbetstagare på alla nivåer för att få en insikt i vad deras yrkesroll innebär och hur det relaterar till SAM, varefter en analys av intervjumaterialet gjordes för att identifiera SAM-främjande arbetsmetoder och beteenden. Ur dessa utkristalliserades ett antal huvudkomponenter – nycklar till framgång. Nycklarna var (1) fokus på patientens välmående, (2) engagerat ledarskap, och (3) öppen kommunikation. Även om SAM ser olika ut i olika branscher och verksamheter, är nycklarna generella nog för att kunna ge arbetsgivare en ledtråd om vad de behöver arbeta med för att lyckas bättre med SAM. / Companies engaged in Systematic Work Environment Management (SWEM) have been shown to have healthier and more satisfied workers, better reputation, and greater monetary success than companies that do not. There is however a knowledge-gap about what approaches or attitudes companies with successful SWEM utilize, that lead to this success. Up to date, the focus of case studies have been how SAM as a whole is conducted in companies, or what flaws there are, regardless of the companies’ level of success. In short, there is a lack of relevant research. This work is a study of an eldercare unit (eldercare being a profession with over-all poor working environment) that conducts SWEM efficiently, the goal being to understand the reasons to their success. Employees of all levels were interviewed in order to gain insight into what type of work they do and how that relates to SWEM, after which an analysis of the interview-transcriptions was made to identify what practices and behaviours promote efficient SWEM. From these, a number of main components emerged – keys to success. The keys were (1) a focus on patient well-being, (2) keen leadership, and (3) open communication. Although work environment management may differ between different industries and companies, the keys are general enough to give employers a clue about what they need to work on in order to promote SWEM.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att skapa en förståelse för hur svenska företag kan använda sig av omnikanal för att skapa en sömlös shoppingupplevelse för sina kunder genom att analysera hur företag kan integrera traditionella och digitala försäljningskanaler, vilka fördelar och nackdelar som integrationen medför, samt hur företag kan använda sig av innehållsmarknadsföring i sitt omnikanalsarbete för att förmedla personliga budskap till sina konsumenter. Med koppling till syftet har vi valt följande forskningsfråga: Hur kan företag inom detaljhandeln använda sig av omnikanal för att skapa en sömlös shoppingupplevelse för sina kunder? Denna uppsats är baserad på en kvalitativ forskningsmetod då vi ville skapa en djupare förståelse kring ämnet omnikanal. Under uppsatsen gång har vi arbetat parallellt med teori och empiri, vilket innebär att vi har haft ett växelspel mellan induktion och deduktion. Informationsinsamlingen har skett genom primärdata och sekundärdata där det empiriska materialet samlades in genom fem semistrukturerade intervjuer. Genom uppsatsens gång har vi insett att digitaliseringen av detaljhandeln är ett obestridligt fenomen. Dock får man inte glömma bort den fysiska butikens viktiga roll, i synnerhet som en marknadsföringskanal för dagens detaljhandlare. Konsumenter har blivit allt mer pålästa och förväntar sig idag en enhetlig shoppingupplevelse som rör sig genom samtliga försäljningskanaler. För att skapa förutsättningar för omnikanaler behöver företag ta till en kundcentrerad strategi där de satsar tid och resurser på strukturella förändringar och tekniska investeringar. Vi ser vidare att företag som inte väljer att anpassa sig till den moderna konsumenten och inte kan erbjuda en sömlös shoppingupplevelse riskerar att hamna på efterkälken. / The purpose of this study has been to create a deeper understanding of how Swedish companies can use omnichannel to create a seamless shopping experience for their customers by analyzing the integration between traditional and digital sales channels, the advantages and disadvantages the integration induce, as well as how companies can use content marketing when working with omnichannel to convey personalized messages to their consumers. In relation to the purpose, we have chosen the following research question: How can companies within retail use omnichannel to create a seamless shopping experience for their customers? This study has a qualitative research methodology due to the fact that we wanted to create a deeper understanding of the subject omnichannel. We have during the process of the study worked in parallel with our theoretical and empirical information, which has led to interplay between induction and deduction. The information has been collected through primary and secondary sources and the empirical material has been collected by conducting five semi-structured interviews. We have, in our analysis, pointed out that while the digitalization of the retail industry is an indisputable phenomenon, there is a need to emphasize that physical stores still play an important role for retailers today, particularly in acting as a marketing channel for their brand. Customers are getting smarter with more access to information and the modern customer expects a seamless shopping experience across all sale channels. To create conditions for an omnichannel outlook, companies need to take on a customer-centric strategy where they invest time and resources in structural changes and technical investments. We also emphasize that companies risk falling behind if they choose not to adapt to the modern customer and are unable to offer a seamless shopping experience.

Nos últimos anos, as organizações enfrentam um mercado com alta competitividade e, obrigatoriamente, buscam vantagem competitiva. Diante desse cenário, o foco no cliente é apontado como solução para o alcance da vantagem competitiva sustentável. E, conseqüentemente, a filosofia do marketing Itol é inserida nesse contexto. Paralelamente, o grande desenvolvimento da tecnologia de informação aparece como uma variável ímpar nesse cenário, agravando a concorrência no mercado e, simultaneamente, viabilizando a filosofia do marketing Itol. Desse modo, surge o CRM (Customer Relationship Management) como estratégia de negócio. Este trabalho, baseado na pesquisa bibliográfica e no estudo de caso exploratório, propõe um conjunto de soluções de CRM para uma empresa do setor sucroalcooleiro. Ao longo desse estudo, procurou-se analisar os principais conceitos, ferramentas, condições propícias e obstáculos inseridos nesse assunto e, sobretudo, identificá-los e contextualizá-los na realidade empresarial pesquisada. Sendo assim, após esse estudo de caso, conclui-se que a concepção do CRM precisa ser uma necessidade organizacional e coerente com o respectivo contexto. Entretanto, percebe-se a pertinência das principais condições propícias e dificuldades para a implantação do CRM, que foram observadas e discutidas no decorrer da revisão bibliográfica. Finalmente, ressaltam-se a individualidade organizacional e a peculiaridade do respectivo mercado de atuação. Portanto, pode-se afirmara necessidade de personalizar cada estratégia de CRM. / In recent years, the organizations have being faced a very competitive marketplace and they must seek for a competitive advantage. According to the scenery, the focus on clients is pointed out as the solution to reach a sustainable competitive advantage. Consequently, the conception of the marketing one to one appears in this context. Moreover, the huge development of the information technology represents an important factor, which aggravates the competition in the marketplace and, at the same time, it enables the conception of the marketing one to one. In this case, the CRM (customer relationship management) surges as a business strategy. This dissertation, which is based on the bibliographic research and the case study, proposes a set of solutions of CRM for a company of the sugar alcohol industry. During this study, some aspects were analyzed such as main concepts, tools, good conditions and obstacles inside of this subject and, especially, defining them in the reality of this researched organization. To make a summary, after this study, it is possible to conclude that the conception of CRM should be a company necessity and coherent with its context. However, it is also possible to realize the relevance of the major suitable conditions and the difficulties to set up of the CRM, which were discussed in the bibliographic review. Finally, it must emphasize the organizational individuality and the peculiarity of the respective market. Therefore, it confirms the needof personalizing each strategy of CRM.