Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1977. / Includes vita Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-131). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-61). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-61). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / Relationship marketing is still in its infancy as a mainstream marketing concept, although it has established itself as an underlying paradigm in modern services marketing. Its importance is recognised to a growing extent with a call for organisations to move from a short-term transactional approach to a long-term relationship one (Kotler, 1992; Grönroos, 1994). From the interviews, it is clear that the directors support the findings in respect of the literature review that service marketing should be centred on the key concept that quality should form an integrated component of every step of the development and delivery of a service bundle and should be based on long-term customer relationship development. From the literature review, and with specific reference to the seven P’s marketing mix and relationship marketing approach, it can be delineated that service marketing practices are the combination of service-bundle development, pricing, process, promotion, place, people, physical evidence and the management of the relationship with the customer through the various relationship marketing practices. This conceptual framework will enable the Firm to categorise its marketing objectives and also to provide a clear description of how the marketing objectives identified will be achieved within a stated timeframe. Therefore, quality within the conceptual framework of marketing is measured through the perception of the customer primarily during two occurrences. The first is during any contact session between the customer and service provider or with one or more of the service provider’s employees and the second is when the service bundle is utilised. In the first instance referred to above, customer contact sessions provide the service provider with the opportunity to engage the customer by way of an interactive process in a social context, thus enhancing social bonds through relationship marketing. It has been accepted in the marketing industry that the relationship component is firmly underpinned by mutual trust. Where a service provider maintains strong trust relations with their customers, the relationships involved generally culminate both in the retention of the customer and in long-term profitability. The second determinant of service-bundle quality (product quality) requires from the service provider the skill and ability not only to develop a service bundle that meets the quality expectation of the customer, but which further extends to the ability of the service provider to ensure the recruitment of employees with the appropriate interpersonal skills, aptitude and service knowledge and to provide them with continuous training, leadership, coaching, development programmes and communication to ensure that they retain the skills and expertise to develop a professional service-bundle offering that meets the customers’ expectations. Consumers make judgements and deliver perceptions of the service provided based on that which is provided by those employees with whom they interact. Consequently, employees drive service value which, in turn, drives customer satisfaction and loyalty, resulting in increased revenue and profit (Hanna & Newman, 2007). It is, therefore, submitted that relationship marketing and quality control in development of the various service bundles by the professional service provider are essential if the Firm wants to obtain a form of competitive advantage over its competitors.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-135). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-135). Also available on the Internet.

Organisations are increasingly under pressure to meet financial and other objectives in dynamic and competitive markets, that are being driven more by services than by products. Marketing as a function needs to become more accountable with respect to the marketing investments that are made and the returns generated from these programmes, and hence to increase shareholder value. Intangible assets are comprising a growing proportion of this shareholder value, to the extent that 75% of the value of the organisation is currently made up of intangibles such as Human Equity, Brand Equity and Customer Equity. Thus the marketer needs to build the marketing-based intangible assets of Brand Equity, the inherent value of the brand, and Customer Equity, the sum of the lifetime values to the organisation of its current and future customers. To be able to monitor and manage marketing’s contribution, these assets need to be measured, and the effectiveness of marketing programmes needs to be determined ideally in financial terms, e.g. ROMI – Return on Marketing Investment. The purpose of this research study was to develop and test a framework of Customer Equity in the financial services sector, to guide marketing spend so that shareholder value is built by leveraging the marketing intangibles. Consequently, the objectives were to develop a model of Customer Equity, to calculate Customer Lifetime Value of customers in a segment, to determine the value drivers and the elasticity relation of Customer Equity, and finally to provide guidelines to organisations to improve their Customer Equity. The first area of research was in the field of Marketing metrics, the set of measures that helps organisations to understand their marketing performance. The recommendation for organisations is to develop a marketing dashboard, or range of key marketing indicators, which would include short-term performance measures, e.g. market share or customer satisfaction, as well as long-term planning measures, e.g. Brand Equity and Customer Lifetime Value. Brand Equity was then reviewed as a valuable intangible asset. Various models have been developed to explain the different sources, components and outcomes of ii Brand Equity, as it is a multidimensional construct. The measurement and valuation of Brand Equity was also researched, and its link to shareholder value. Customer Equity, an alternative market-based intangible asset that can be a driver of shareholder value, was also reviewed. The conclusion from a review of the models is that there are two schools: the Blattberg, Gupta and colleagues school, which tends to focus on internal analysis as typically used in direct marketing applications; and the Rust and colleagues school, which tends to focus externally on the customer and the competition. Both schools have something to contribute: the internal school, on accurate understanding of Customer Lifetime Value, and the external school, on the relative importance of the drivers of Customer Equity. This research also makes a contribution to the Brand Equity / Customer Equity debate, analysing similarities and differences, and developing a model to explain the trade-off between the two concepts. A combination of the two schools was used to develop a model of Customer Equity, including supply side inputs (for accurate CLTV calculations) and demand side inputs (for determining drivers and their elasticities). Using input from the databases of a financial institution, Customer Lifetime Value and Customer Equity for customers in the SME market sector were calculated. A convenience sample of 251 SME’s was interviewed on the demand side using a structured questionnaire, to develop data on the drivers of their importance and the relative performance of banks. A statistical model was then developed, using Principal Components Regression (PCR) analysis, to determine the drivers of Customer Equity, the factors influencing these and the relative sensitivities. A key contribution of this research was the development of the Probability of Defection as a measure of the dependent variable in the multiple regression. The model was tested by determining the ROI of two marketing programmes from the financial institution, to guide their marketing spend. Finally, a Customer Equity Management Process was developed to assist organisations in implementing a Customer Equity focus. / Prof. Chris Jooste

The engineering consulting industry in South Africa witnessed an overwhelming growth before the 2010 Fifa World Cup. The country had a lot of infrastructural development that needed the services of consulting engineers. A lot of people saw the challenge as a business opportunity and started their own consulting engineering companies. The demand for consulting engineering services was high before the 2010 Fifa World Cup; this changed after the completion of projects that were due for the world cup and some had to close or retrench staff due to scarcity of projects. The completion of 2010 Fifa World Cup projects is not the only challenge faced by the engineering consulting sector; government policies such tendering and procurement procedures that do not acknowledge performance, lack of funding etc. It is therefore important that companies look for better ways of gaining competitiveness in order to get more projects. These companies must not only rely on government projects but do marketing on the private sector as well. The purpose of the research is to assess and develop a marketing strategy for Company X Consulting engineers. A literature study on most successful marketing strategies employed by other service oriented companies was conducted. The literature study also comprised of the perception of marketing amongst consulting engineering companies. From the literature study mentioned above; questionnaires were drawn towards the development of a marketing strategy for Company X consulting engineers. The findings of the questionnaires were analysed and recommendation were made for the development of a marketing strategy for Company X.

University of Macau / Faculty of Business Administration / Department of Management and Marketing

Qualidade em serviços tem sido assunto frequentemente estudado na literatura de marketing de serviços, uma vez que conhecer os fatores que fazem com que os clientes permaneçam adquirindo produtos ou consumindo serviços, permite à empresa direcionar os esforços de marketing, a fim de atingir suas expectativas, maximizando os resultados e promovendo a retenção. Assim sendo, o propósito central deste estudo foi identificar as dimensões e os atributos relacionados à qualidade percebida dos serviços prestados por uma escola de idiomas franqueada, a Wizard, em relação à satisfação dos seus clientes (alunos). Para tanto, após a revisão bibliográfica sobre o tema em estudo, foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa, com caráter exploratório, utilizando-se entrevistas pessoais em profundidade com abordagem semi-estruturada. Em seguida, foi conduzida uma pesquisa quantitativa, com caráter conclusivo, por meio de um survey, utilizando-se as técnicas estatísticas como a análise fatorial, a regressão linear múltipla e a ANOVA. Através da análise fatorial foi possível obter 7 dimensões da qualidade de serviços: (i) professor; (ii) estrutura para ensino; (iii) atendimento; (iv) imagem; (v) material didático; (vi) relação custo versus benefício; e (vii) aparência do ambiente / equipamentos. Além disso, por meio da regressão linear múltipla foi possível explicar 56,9% da satisfação geral em função de apenas seis atributos. Os resultados encontrados possibilitaram a identificação das dimensões da qualidade percebida, assim como, o grau de satisfação dos clientes (alunos). / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-06-04T17:44:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Graciane Donadello.pdf: 2076808 bytes, checksum: 38874265643afad9d66288bff725e0de (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-04T17:44:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Graciane Donadello.pdf: 2076808 bytes, checksum: 38874265643afad9d66288bff725e0de (MD5) / Service quality has been a subject frequently studied in the service marketing literature, since knowing the factors that make customers remain purchasing products or consuming services. It allows companies to target marketing efforts to achieve their expectations, maximizing results and promoting customer retention. The purpose of this study was to identify the dimensions and attributes related to perceived service quality provided by a franchised language school, Wizard, in relation to their customer satisfaction (the students). Therefore, after the literature review on the subject, an exploratory qualitative survey was conducted, through in-depth personal interviews with semi-structured approach. Next, a conclusive quantitative research was handled through a survey, using statistical techniques like factor analysis, multiple linear regression and ANOVA. Through the factor analysis it was possible to obtain 7 service quality dimensions: (i) teacher, (ii) learning framework, (iii) service, (iv) image, (v) didactic material, (vi) cost versus benefit relationship and; (vii) appearance of the environment / equipments. Furthermore, by the multiple linear regression, it was possible to explain 56.9% of the overall satisfaction on the basis of six attributes. Therefore, the obtained results allowed the identification of the perceived quality dimensions, as well as the students´ satisfaction degree.