Background: The consulting industry’s growth has continuously outpaced the gen- eral economy, leading to more new entrants and increased intra-industry competition. Thus, competitive practices must be revised to ensure existing consultancies’ market position. Since customer loyalty is today’s most prominent success factor for con- sultancies, this is what to increase. Customer loyalty’s most influential factor is the competitive practice of customer intimacy, which in turn consists of subgroups. The investigated subgroups are employee and business specific traits. Objectives: This master thesis aims to uncover what direct and underlying factors of customer intimacy increase customer loyalty and how they compare to each other. Methods: This paper will take a quantitative approach by utilizing the concept of Structural Equation Modeling. Surveys will gather primary data for the model and consist of a questionnaire aiming to retrieve valid and reliable answers from people with experience working with consultants. Results: The results show that most direct factors used in customer intimacy have a positive influence on customer loyalty while the underlying factors thin out. Busi- ness specific traits showed to have a significant impact on customer intimacy while employee specific traits did not. Conclusions: This study concludes that direct and underlying factors of customer intimacy help consultancies improve their competitive practices to increase customer loyalty.

The master thesis deals with the topic of customer intimacy in mobile telecommunications and describes how the concept of a value-based strategic approach called "customer intimacy" can be applied in telecommunications industry, illustrated on an example of a mobile operator customer relationship lifecycle model. The goal of the thesis is to evaluate mobile telecommunications industry potential for application of the value discipline of customer intimacy and illustrate a high-level framework of Customer Lifecycle Management model as the first transformational step towards customer-intimate organizational design. The thesis sets main hypothesis on the assumption that adoption of the strategy and principles of customer intimacy enable a mobile operator to capture ownership of positive customer experience and secure a sustainable competitive advantage, thereby presenting a powerful counter-measure against the zero-growth industry outlook. As a sub-hypothesis the author postulates the statement that CLM infuses highly-effective methods to capture additional customer value and positively affect mobile operators' profitability. The theoretical part defines characteristics and components of customer value in business relationships and describes truths featuring the new world of competition. This new paradigm of competition leads to the definition of rules for delivering superior value in the following subchapter. Consequently, three value-based strategic approaches towards market leadership (denoted as "value disciplines") are identified and characterized. The second part presents the goals and key principles of the value discipline of customer intimacy and adverts to distinctions in theory and business practice. The author identifies forces driving strategic initiatives focusing on customer value perception and expectations. In this part the opportunities for adoption of customer intimacy in consumer telecommunications industry are also assesses. The penultimate subchapter describes concept of customer experience cycle that will be leveraged in the practical part of the thesis. The last subchapter then examines the importance of service identity for telecoms' successful adoption of the discipline of customer intimacy. The third part is analytical and provides industry research of European telecommunications market. The individual subchapters describe trends in development of fundamental performance indicators. In the fourth, practical part, the author presents the topic of customer lifecycle management. It describes what basic set of expectation customers have towards the relationship with a mobile operator. Then, a conceptual framework of customer lifecycle model is composed and analyzed. The penultimate subchapter pinpoints measures of value based customer profitability, interprets their applicability for decision-making on market investments, and indicates their interlock to value for shareholders. In the last subchapter, a set of recommendations is provided to mobile operators considering infusion of customer intimate principles into their organization. With respect to the practical part and main hypothesis, the author regards the goal of the thesis as fully achieved and the sub-hypothesis of the practical part as confirmed as well. The author used the following methods of research: general research of corporate strategy, marketing and CRM literature, interviews with telecommunications professionals, analysis of corporate financial filings, collection and reading of market research papers and consulting reports, study of statistical data.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how Covid-19 affects international e-commerce firms. Covid-19 has been the source of changes in the international business environment across world from the beginning of year 2020. The effects on e-commerce firms are nearly unknown, therefore this research is unique. The aim of this study is to gain more knowledge on how international e-commerce firms are responding to the pandemic. By following a qualitative research method, the study will explore and conduct a deeper understanding on the e-commerce firms experience through a data collection. The literature review has been established, theories are mostly related to digital business environment and international value chain activities. The literature review has been summed up into a conceptual framework which illustrates the connections between the theories and Covid-19. Furthermore, the conceptual framework has been used to analyze the findings from the empirical data which was conducted in a multi-case study. The analysis chapter discusses similarities differences between the cases and connection to theory. Lastly, the conclusion chapter of this thesis concludes the findings and analysis, and it contains theoretical implications, recommendations, limitations and suggestions for future research.

The research for this thesis "Options for Developing a New Mid Micron Value Proposition for Consumers", is a part of a larger "New Mid Micron Products" project initiated by Mid Micron New Zealand Inc with the key goal of turning the Mid Micron Sector into a more vibrant and profitable one. The motivation for the project can be found in the dramatic fall in demand for New Zealand Mid Micron wool over the past decade. Two dominant causes for the fall in demand for Mid Micron wool were identified: the substandard skin comfort of final products made from Mid Micron wool, and a problem with the structure of the Mid Micron Sector. These problems are addressed in the "New Mid Micron Products" project that combines new product development and new marketing initiatives. Product development involved the use of new spinning technology to improve skin comfort quality and develop new products that are softer and prickle free. The aim is to extract more value for woolgrowers by having the wool converted into a higher value product. The new marketing initiatives, which were identified in this thesis research, Focusing On New Market Segments via E-Commerce and Reconfiguring The Value Chain, and concentrate on the operational issues of capturing the value from the newly developed Mid Micron products. Taking into account the nature of the overall Mid Micron Project and type of developed products, this research identified the Operational Excellence and Product Leadership models as alternative routes to develop a new Mid Micron Value Proposition for consumers. Operational Excellence, and the associated Cost Leadership strategy, is a low capital investment option, while Product Leadership and the associated Differentiation strategy is a high capital investment option. The models' principles and their elements, products, price and delivery to market, are evaluated in the context of the Mid Micron Business.