Syfte: Att undersöka hur olika mindre och medelstora företag (SME-företag) använder sociala medier i sitt CRM-arbete (kundrelationshanteringsarbete) för att skapa nya men också vidareutveckla och bearbeta redan befintliga kundrelationer. Metod: Uppsatsen bygger på en kvalitativ metod med en deduktiv ansats, med fokus på dokumentstudier på webben. Undersökningen utfördes genom att studera fyra olika företag, tvåhandelsbolag och två tjänstebolag, som använder sociala medier som en del i deras arbete med CRM. Resultat och Slutsats: De företag som vi studerat använder sociala medier som ett verktyg i rättriktning för ett lyckat arbete med CRM. Det vi kommit fram till är att sociala medier underlättar arbetet med CRM samtidigt som det kär en effektiv marknadsföringskanal. Resultatet frånundersökningen visar att sociala medier bidrar till många fördelar för företaget, exempelvismöjlighet till feedback, viral marknadsföring, Word-of-Mouth-marknadsföring, personlig kontakt och direkt interaktion mellan företaget och kunden, samtidigt som det är kostnadseffektivt. Förslag till Vidare Forskning: Denna studie har lagt en grund till vidare forskning, där man genomintervjuer kan intervjua olika företag och nyckelpersoner inom dessa företagen. Genom att använda en kvalitativ metod med fokusgrupper eller semistrukturerade intervjuer kan man gå in djupare i ämnet för att förstå skillnaden och hitta likheter med tillvägagångssätten i strategier och metoder, som tjänstebolagen och handelsbolagen använder på sociala medier. Uppsatsen Bidrar med: Uppsatsen bidrar till ökad förståelse för hur handelsbolag och tjänstebolag använder sociala medier för att arbeta med CRM, samt vilka likheter och skillnader det finns i arbetet och hur detta påverkar deras CRM. Studien redogör för tidigare forskning, att ett företag som arbetar med sociala medier, direkt och indirekt, i sitt arbete med CRM kan skapa goda kundrelationer som bidrar till positiv tillväxt. / Objective: To investigate how different SMEs (SMEs) use social media in their CRM work(customer relationship management) to create new but also further develop and process existing customer relationships. Method: The essay is based on a qualitative method with a deductive approach, focusing on document studies on the web. The study was conducted by studying four different companies, two trading companies and two service companies, which use social media as part of their work with CRM. The study is written in Swedish. Result and Conclusion: The companies we studied use social media as a tool in the right direction for a successful work with CRM. What we found is that social media facilitates the work with CRM when used with an effective marketing channel. The results of the survey show that social media contributes with many benefits for the company, such as the opportunity for feedback, viral marketing, Word-of-Mouth-marketing, personal contact with the customers and direct interaction between the company and the customer, while being cost effective. Proposals for Further Research: This study has laid the foundation for further research, that can interview different companies and key people within these companies. By using a qualitative method of focus groups or semi structured interviews, you can go deeper into the subject to understand the difference and find similarities with the approaches in strategies and methods used by employees in different kinds of companies. The essay Contributes to: The essay contributes to increased understanding of how trading companies and service companies use social media to work with CRM, as well as what similarities and differences there are at work and how this affects their CRM. The study explains earlier research and that a company that works with social media, directly and indirectly, in its work with CRM, can create good customer relationships that contribute to positive growth.

Measuring brand equity is an important brand management function but, the appropriateness of brand equity measurement methods remain a concern. This study applied levels three of brand equity measurement approach to have an understanding of consumers’ brand perception. It is hoped that this understanding could give brand managers the necessary tool to develop and deploy effective and efficient brand management strategies and tactics. At Ceres Fruit Juices (CFJ), brand equity is used to improve competitive marketing actions, gain larger margins, intermediary co-operation and management support for brand extension. This study measures CFJ Brand equity to understand consumers’ perception so that this understanding can be used to develop responsive brand management strategies and tactics. Brand equity measurement methods and model found in the literature shows that measurement success depends on the suitability of the method used. However, customers’ perception is at the centre of brand equity measurement approach – level three used in this study. With merger and acquisition taking place at Ceres Fruit Juices, brand equity measurement emerged as an important brand management function to leverage real brand value. This would inevitably lead to an improvement in customer service through adequate understanding of customers brand perception. Understanding gives brand managers the necessary tool to deploy responsive and efficient brand management strategies and tactics to lessen the severity of the negative impact merger and acquisition may have on brand equity. Thus, this study found measurement model and method to be an essential element of brand equity measurement.

Thesis (MTech (Information Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2006. / This study investigates the impact that e-Ioyalty has on the business success of SMEs. E-Loyalty is defined as a customer's favourable attitude towards an on-line business which ultimately culminates in repeat purchasing behaviour. Eight factors (the 8Cs - customisation, contact interactivity, care, community, convenience, cultivation, choice, and character) have been identified as having a potential impact upon eloyalty. Trust and satisfaction play an important role in generating e-loyalty for electronic business, an aspect which will be elaborated upon within the ambit of the study. Although there is no universal definition of an SME, the definition given by the South African National Small Business Act (Act 102 of 1996) was adopted in this research. Furthermore, an indepth overview of business success was also presented. Business success can be described as more than profit-generation. A myriad of factors investigated influence the success of a business, more particularly; the study focuses on success factors pertaining to 'e-business'. An online survey was conducted on two SME e-business websites i.e., www.buycomputers.co.za and www.take2.co.za. Data collected from 176 online customers demonstrate that all these factors treated separately impact e-Ioyalty. However, when these factors are grouped together, only four of these constructs (i.e., 'Customisation', 'Choice', 'Cultivation', and 'Character') have a significant impact on e-Ioyalty. Furthermore, the data also returned that e-Ioyalty has an impact on two customer-related outcomes: 'word-of-mouth promotion' and 'willingness to pay more'. More specifically, the 'loyal' customer is 'less willing to pay more'. The high cost of attracting new customers on the Internet and the relative difficulty in retaining them make customer loyalty an essential asset for many online vendors.

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology. / This thesis is prompted by the discussions around Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the financial industry and life insurance companies in particular. The study seeks to gain better understanding of the influence that CRM has on Customer Loyalty in a selected South African life insurance company. While CRM has been approached by academics and practitioners from different perspectives, literature seems to be viewed as inconsistent and fragmented on this concept. The concept of CRM is a new approach by management in South Africa and it is due to this fact that there are not sufficient studies on it. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the influence of Customer Relationship Management on customer loyalty in Metropolitan. To achieve this purpose, a questionnaire was distributed amongst selected Metropolitan customer service offices nationally and a selected number of customers were approached to participate in the study. The findings show that Customer Relationship Management has an influence on customer loyalty and that Metropolitan does employ the principles of Customer Relationship Management.

Communication with an organisation’s customers has become one of the most important factors that play a role in doing business today. Organisations that supply their customers with correct and different kinds of information create customer loyalty. Dairy farmers are no exception to the rule, because of the ongoing planning that dairy farmers need to do on a daily basis. Dairy farming in South Africa is extremely price sensitive and therefore information that can help in decision making plays an important role in making the right decision at the right time. The Internet has become an essential environment where information is readily available to anyone who has access to the technologies, such as smartphones, computers and tablets. Thus, it will be beneficial for both the organisation and the dairy farmer to have relevant information available on the organisation’s website. The information that is made available to the dairy farmers on these websites needs to be updated on a daily basis. The information must be relevant to dairy farming and must provide additional information besides the information that the specific organisation specialises in. Information as a Service (IaaS) for Dairy Farmers in South Africa is the focus of this research. The purpose of the investigation is to provide a means of providing the information needed by dairy farmers in South Africa, to enable them to make the right decisions on an operational level. The empirical data were collected, analysed and interpreted. From these findings a proposed communications framework is created to assist organisations to better communicate with dairy farmers in South Africa. The purpose of this research study is to design a framework which will provide IaaS to dairy farmers in South Africa. The research determined the different ways in which organisations can communicate with dairy farmers and the best time period in which that communication should take place for each specific communication strategy. Therefore, the aim of the research study was to determine the best ways to communicate with dairy farmers. A clear knowledge of the technologies that dairy farmers use to manage information was determined by the research study. The required information that dairy farmers need to make the correct decisions suitable for the requirement of farming on a practical level was determined by the research study.The proposed framework on Information as a Service for Dairy Farmers could help organisations to supply dairy farmers with the right information at the right time. The proposed framework will assist organisations dealing with dairy farmers easier and will also assist farmers, because the information provided as a service will be relevant to dairy farming. The treatise is an exploratory, mixed method research study which consists of literature reviews, surveys and cross-sectional studies. Secondary resources was used to conduct literature studies to determine the information needed by dairy farmers. A questionnaire was compiled from existing questionnaires as well as from literature studies and was completed by the respective respondents in the dairy farming community. The survey also consists of questions that determine what dairy farmers think about the service they receive from the organisations that they deal with. A cross-sectional study was used to compare the information needed specifically by pasture-based dairy farmers in relation to total mixed-ration-based dairy farmers. Both Descriptive and Inferential Statistical methods will be used for the analysis of the data. The communication systems can vary from Self-Help Groups to Mobile Technology. The type of communication system will depend on the systems that the organisation have available for their customers. The timing of communication with dairy farmers needs to be convenient and depends, according to literature, on the type of social networking that the organisation might use. An organisation that deals with dairy farmers needs to decide which Social Media site is most suitable when it needs to communicate with dairy farmers. The technology used to access information consist of Laptops, Smart Phones, Tablets and Desktops. Agricultural organisations provide information which dairy farmers need, to give them the correct guidance in performing good farming practices in order to produce safe, high-quality milk. The study will conclude with the development of a proposed communications framework where agricultural organisations can provide information as a service to dairy farmers.

The role of internet and the digitalized world are more relevant than ever before. The new phenomena of digital marketing has created a paradigm shift of existing marketing with new ways to market. Social media plays a significant role in this change, since it allows businesses to easily engage with its customers and to maintain relationships. For small and local businesses, this change has created great opportunities to interact more with the local audience. However, not all such businesses have the sufficient knowledge to optimize the usage of social media. The focus of the study is to explore the current usage of social media in local businesses context. Furthermore, we will suggest social media marketing strategies that will help local business to improve its customer relations. The qualitative approach is applied in this study by using interviews and observations, which is the main source of primary data collection. The conclusion was that local grocery stores still rely much more on traditional marketing methods. However, local grocery stores still use and value social media, but most are unclear of the true benefits and strategies when using social media. Lacking strategies consist of planning the social media marketing strategies, but also lacks the formal management of critical situations on social media. Overall, local stores perform well in building relations with its customers using social media however, there is a scope of further improvements.

Prof. F. Herbst

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MSc (Interior Merchandise Management))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Consumer Science / unrestricted

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Technology: Information Technology, Durban Institute of Technology, 2005. / This thesis investigates the applicability of certain software testing methodologies as the basis from which the new field of Web-based application testing can arise. In particular, it concentrates on performance testing issues and Web application testing, as these are responsible for ensuring the survival of a business organization in the new global competitive age presented by the Web and Internet technology. / M

The impetus that informs the drive for developmental state that promotes growth and development centres on the local capacity of the local sphere of the government to effectively discharge its responsibilities. The essence of this study is to evaluate the training of officials in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality and assess the extent to which service delivery has impacted on the lives of the community within this area.