The huge market potential of some fast growing markets attract many international organizations’ attention, especially China, as a huge automobile market is one of the most typical examples. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore how Volvo Cars increase brand equity in Chinese automobile market. To answer this question, a literature review about brand equity and marketing strategy is done to create an analytical framework which is the foundation of the empirical observation and research analysis. Furthermore, the study constitutes a valuable source of information of Volvo’s operated marketing strategy, as well as providing practical situation on customer perception on a brand through interviewing Volvo's owners in different countries. The results of analysis and discussion indicated that there are distinctive customer perceptions in China and the appraised the Volvo brand equity is not completely matching the strategic goals. In this case, in order to increase brand equity in China, Volvo should craft and execute the corresponding marketing strategy on brand for the distinctive Chinese customer perceptions. As such, this paper complements previous research through presenting the current situation of Chinese automobile market and comprehending how Volvo as global car brand operating and performing in China from brand equity perspective. In that sense, this paper can contribute and add some useful information in this study field for other further studies.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Master of Technology: Marketing, Durban University of Technology, 2012. / The aim of this study is to investigate service quality at retail banks, such as Standard Bank, ABSA Bank, First National Bank and Nedbank in Durban. The four objectives of this study are set as: Firstly, to identify the level of satisfaction with customer service received from different retail banks in Durban; Secondly, to identify customers’ expectations in terms of quality services provided by retail banks; Thirdly, to ascertain the perceptions of customers towards the service provided by retail banks in Durban; Fourthly, to measure the gaps between customer expectations and perceptions of service quality, using a modified version of the SERVQUAL model. The instrument used to assess the retail bank customer’s expectation and expectations of service quality, was the SERVQUAL questionnaire, measuring expectations and perceptions according to five quality dimensions. A total of 448 students were surveyed. Quota sampling was used in this study, in order to improve representativeness. Using quota sampling involves selecting the characteristics that are required in the sample and then sampling until enough representatives of each category are achieved. Although this is a form of non-probability sampling, a quota sample can provide a good approximation to a probability sample. It means that distributing questionnaires to a certain group would be stopped after the prescribed quota is reached. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Conclusions and recommendations were thereafter drawn from the literature and the findings of the study. The study shows that retail bank customer expectations of service quality exceeded their perceptions in the five service quality dimensions used in the SERVQUAL questionnaire. This study is also important because it will assist bank managers to convert negative perceptions to positive impressions. Consequently, customers will benefit from the improved, outstanding customer service.

<p>Marketing researchers have long relied on customer perceptions of service encounters to represent the "true" underlying quality. Researchers and practitioners in healthcare, on the other hand, have long dismissed customer perceptions as a credible measure of service quality. We built a quality framework designed to address this fundamental question: are customer perceptions of service encounters unique, redundant, or wholly flawed measures of actual service quality?</p><p>We consistently show customer perspectives reflect a measure of service quality that is both unique from, and complimentary to, the competence with which a service is provided. In fact, we found the explanatory power of either single dimension of process care is completely dependent on the state of the other as they relate to service encounter outcomes. This latter finding may require both management and policy makers to rethink how they approach managing and incenting a balanced approach to investments in improving process care dimensions.</p><p>Our research also provides evidence of factors both within, and indirectly outside, the control of management in improving healthcare service quality. In addition, government administrators face a particularly challenging roll in the system; their own policies - whether too punitive or too generous - have the potential to institutionalize lower quality healthcare for the very populations they are most trying to protect.</p> / Dissertation

This thesis is focused on the derivation of a new approach to business. Emphasis is put on organizations contributing to both economic success as well as social progress.  This dual financial and social value creation is referred to as social entrepreneurship. Increased attention and inclusiveness of the concept has led to confusion regarding the means of organizations acting within the recited phenomenon. Organizations are met with skepticism and are questioned in the matters of legitimacy. Differences of opinion centralize on whether companies invest these resources because it is demanded, because it strengthens the brand or simply because it is the responsibility of the corporation. The perception of legitimacy is dependent on the support the organization receives from its different constituencies. To explore social entrepreneurship, a case study was conducted. This case study was executed through a consumer perspective, seeing as legitimacy is upheld by the perception of the organizations immediate audience. The case company used, GodEl, operates using traditional business models with the purpose of maximizing profits. However, 100% of their earned dividend is donated to various charity organizations. This study is set out with the ambition to gain an understanding of a corporation operating within social entrepreneurship. The conclusions imply that the customers of GodEl legitimize their choice through diverse legitimizing dimensions. The findings indicate that pragmatic legitimacy is a stronger legitimizing dimension than moral legitimacy. These conclusions imply that larger emphasis is given to consumer self-interest, rather than the consequences and judgment of the organizations accomplishments. The ways in which customers legitimize their choices, may also be argued as the same factors affecting GodEls legitimacy regarding their operations.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Aleksan Shanoyan / In recent years across the United States, product sales have seen a downward trend when compared to the robust sales figures posted around the 2010 time period across the major players in the product manufacturing space. Due to depressed commodity prices, large product sales have caused a lot of the dealers to shift in its prioritization of sales from a predominant large product business model, to a more diverse large product and small product strategy portfolio to stay profitable amidst economic headwinds. This study will look into ways that the Company A dealer channel could pivot their internal processes around targeting customers who are engaged in the purchase funnel of purchasing small products and how Company A could change the way the company equips their trusted dealer channel to combat competition in this segment. This study will examine new strategies that may be executed through the Company A dealer network and their subsequent retail showrooms to increase sales by focusing on key product differentiating characteristics, unique technical selling points, dealer facility positioning in high potential Metropolitan Statistical Areas, and new retail digital marketing technologies that should be leveraged throughout the sales process to improve market share. Company B is considered to be the primary rival competitor in this small product market, as this firm is one of the fiercest competitors to Company A’s quest for total product sales superiority. This study conducted a mixed method survey to ascertain what areas of marketing and promotional assistance should be prioritized by Company A, to outfit the company’s existing dealer channel with the right tools to combat Company B and other competitors in the U.S. small product market. Additionally new retail showroom technologies and strategies were based upon existing market research studies, focused on which customer’s and product characteristics were the most impactful for positively impacting small product sales in the United States.

Sustainability has fast evolved in business practices, and yet its meaning is often elusive and ambiguous. The component of sustainability is playing an important role in the company’s brand positioning. The popularity and the importance of sustainability in business operations and business representation are still rapidly growing. The linkage of the branding and sustainability messaging has a strong correlation with the consumer’s perception. Moreover, the brand messaging construction with the right terminologies’ selection is one of the brand communication activities. However, the aspect of “sustainability manufacturing” caught great attention in recent years. Therefore, our study project is based on comprehending the authentic brand positioning with the right sustainability terminology usage aiming to deliver strong sustainability messaging. More precisely, the project's primary aim has been to investigate and explore the impact of sustainability terminology used by manufacturing companies in Sweden on consumer perception. For this aim, we conducted a mono-method quantitative study with a specially developed questionnaire based on gathered secondary data from the 21 annual reports of the manufacturing companies in Sweden from the year 2020. We have selected ten terminologies from the reports and conducted the questionnaire with 100 participants. Based on these results, regular consumers were surveyed to get a quantitative number of the importance, ambiguity, and credibility of the sustainability terminologies. The literature review attempted to link the fields of the study from a top-down design with manufacturing companies at the top, creating these sustainable goods. Manufacturing companies were using terms like ‘waste management ‘materials efficiency ‘employee health and safety’ and ‘community relations’ as a branding mechanism to display their commitment toward a long-term sustainability goal. These concepts are further discussed with universal definitions of corporate social responsibility while the final concept is based on theoretical knowledge of the consumers themselves and their perceptions as they are the end consumer of these ‘eco-friendly’ products. The sustainability literature foundation was smoothly interconnected with the branding and the consumer’s perception theories. To conclude, the results of our study with regards to the consumer importance, customer's privacy does have a significant influence on the sustainability aspect of businesses. In the case of the aspect of ambiguity, the sorted terminologies are as follows: product and service safety and waste management. In the case of the credibility aspect, water management, energy management, employee health and safety, and ecological impacts are bringing the most credibility from the consumers' perception. This study contributes to business sustainability while attempting to link manufacturing companies with the end consumers. It allows both parties to share a similar perception between terminologies. Overall, the research study helps to comprehend the right utilization of sustainability terminologies based on the consumers’ perception in order to increase the sustainability branding credibility and trustworthiness in the business operations.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:45:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Antonieta Christovam.pdf: 545293 bytes, checksum: 392714c1398a2ae647aaa0a494819805 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-11-09 / The purpose of this study was to discuss the technique of qualitative research known as mystery shopper as a mean to decrease the biases shown by other qualitative techniques. As an specific goal, this work brought the possibility to overview all the other techniques in comparison to mystery shopper. The theory brought in this study supported an historical context to social research and its appliance to corporate field, mainly to marketing area. Also was discussed the definitions of quantitative and qualitative research, deeply of the last one applied to marketing research. An exploratory research was made, a case study, aiming to verify the possibility to apply a model originated from the theoretical research. This study contributed to verify the possibility of using mystery shopper technique in any type of company. This research brought the possibility to access customers´ perspective, helping in a closer analysis of an expected pattern and to lower the biases because of the possibility this technique gives to reanalyze all collected material / Este trabalho teve por objetivo a discussão do uso da técnica conhecida por cliente oculto como forma de minimização dos vieses apresentados por outras técnicas de pesquisa, em particular as de caráter qualitativo. Como objetivo específico, este trabalho teve ainda o intuito de abrir a possibilidade aos interessados em pesquisa qualitativa de terem acesso a um panorama geral sobre as mais conhecidas técnicas em comparação à técnica cliente oculto. Por meio da revisão teórica buscou-se trazer um apanhado da história da pesquisa social e a entrada em cena desta na área corporativa, mais especificamente mercadológica. Também foram discutidos conceitos de pesquisa quantitativa e qualitativa, além de se trazer uma análise desta última na área de marketing. Por meio de uma pesquisa empírica exploratória, do tipo estudo de caso único, buscou-se verificar a aplicabilidade do referencial teórico exposto e do modelo advindo do estudo. Este trabalho contribui para verificar a possibilidade de aplicação da técnica de cliente oculto em qualquer tipo de empresa. Essa pesquisa trouxe à tona a possibilidade de ter-se uma gama de informações sob a perspectiva do cliente, contribuindo para uma análise mais próxima aos modelos esperados pelas companhias e a minimização de eventuais biases pela possibilidade de reanálise do material coletado

The premise of this thesis is to conduct a research regarding the connection of brand image, brand identity, brand positioning with brand adapting management. The significant purpose of this thesis is for better understanding how a Chinese auto corporation can effectively manage and adapt an acquired foreign brand in Chinese market. In order to reach this purpose, a case study of Geely/Volvo’s acquisition has been carried out which entailed company visit (Volvo Brand Experience Center), interviews with Volvo brand specialists, Volvo dealer and Chinese market expert. The Theoretical Framework describes the general concepts of brand, brand management, company acquisition and three brand adapting concepts of brand image, brand identity and brand positioning. The Empirical Data Collection deals with the Volvo’s brand identity and value proposition, Chinese customers’ perceptions on Volvo brand image and Geely’s brand positioning strategy on Volvo. The Analysis related the theory framework with the empirical results. It discussed and analyzed how Geely can adapt Volvo in Chinese automotive market through dealing with Volvo’s core values, brand image and brand positioning. The Conclusion summarized the Chinese auto corporation needs to concern on three factors for adapting an acquired brand: value proposition of acquired brand, Chinese customers’ perceptions on acquired brand image and brand positioning strategy. Finally our recommendation presents the limitations of this study, suggestions for future research in this field, and managerial implications for the case company.

Purpose: The aim of the study is to gain a holistic understanding of the reflection ofemployee empowerment practiced in the customer's perception of service quality in serviceencounters. Research Method: Exploratory research method based on a single case study Results: Through the analysis of both primary and secondary data, it has been found thatemployee empowerment practice is reflected in customer perception of service quality through improved service delivery provided by empowered frontline employees. Research limitations: This is a single case study, which is confined to the activities of onesmall company related to the health industry in Mexico. The choice of conducting theresearch only focusing on one company ignoring others can not open a true reflection of theentire problem. Practical implications: The results may be applicable for companies which in some extenthave similar retailing and services activities. Originality/value: This research makes a contribution to the existing literature on employeeempowerment by adding relevant qualitative data.

Background:  In recent years, the Swedish furniture industry has recorded many significant successes and increased its influence in the world furniture market with a high proportion of products being used for export purposes and the intensifying popularity of Sweden-originated furniture brands. Among these, IKEA is the most renowned company. Currently, the company plans to grow further in South-East Asia (IKEA, n.d) and Vietnam is a potential market for this expansion due to the shortage of furniture supply in the domestic market. However, nothing can assure that IKEA’s overall success in the oversea market would simplify their way of penetrating the Asia market. Learning from the past, the company has faced many failures in different markets such as China, Japan, and India. Considering this, the authors of this paper believe that it is important to understand how Swedish furniture companies’ product values, IKEA in particular, could affect customer consumption values, which significantly shape their perception. Based on this, the company can better in making predictions on their market penetration, thereby minimizing risks or unprofitable investments.  Purpose:  The purpose of this paper is to understand whether IKEA’s product values have a significant effect on Vietnamese furniture consumption values and shape their perception or not. Therefore, the thesis will be drawn on the question of “What are the potential preferences that make Swedish furniture attract Vietnamese consumers? – IKEA as a case study”. Method:  This paper is based on the quantitative research method with a positivistic paradigm. A survey was conducted for collecting primary data with a sample size of 200 Vietnamese furniture consumers. The collected data were analysed using the SPSS Statistics 28 software.  Conclusion:  The results showed that Swedish furniture firms like IKEA obviously could receive potential growth in Vietnam since all of IKEA’s product values are tested to have positive effects on Vietnamese consumption value, which have a strong correlation with their buying perception. This paper can be used as a premise for further research on customer perceived values when IKEA’s products are officially experienced by Vietnamese consumers.