This thesis is about judging the value of a product from the perspective of a customer. The objective of this thesis was to determine if a firm judges the value of its product from the perspective of a customer and based on the acquired information propose potential changes. The theoretical part consists of demarcation of basic concepts and the methods used by a firm to determine the value of a product. The first part of the objective was examined in the practical part. That is to determine if a firm values its product from the view of a customer. The firm had shortcomings in judging the value of a product from the perspective of a customer. Therefore, as is mentioned in the second part of the objective, there are described methods in this thesis with examples as to how to improve the current situation.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-02T21:42:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lilian da Silva Almeida.pdf: 662358 bytes, checksum: 40ff05561666d1a0f2ac1b9b354b6f21 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-12 / Long term relationship is the key element for organizational success nowadays. In such a competitive market organizations develop strategies to better satisfy needs as well as add value for its customers. In order to do so, organizations are required to assemble a clear definition of customers and market perceptions oriented strategy. However, added value is not only defined by product quality, technology or infrastructure. It is also based on intrinsic values like competences. Therefore, companies must invest in front line professionals enabling them to develop skills towards satisfaction of customers needs. This study aims to demonstrate if collective competences, developed throughout social interaction in a group, arise some benefits to customer service regarding needs satisfaction and value creation promoting relationship marketing. The theoretical basis for this study converged competences, collective competences, knowledge management, customer satisfaction and value creation, and relationship marketing themes. However, it was not found in the literature any relation among collective competences and relationship market themes. In this context, the present study presents as general objective to analyze how development of collective competences of a sales team can influence customer satisfaction. Specifically searching to: (a) point out the main factors regarding the sales team which generate customer satisfaction; (b) analyze how sales team collective competences can influence customer satisfaction; and (c) identify the formation process of collective competences at the sales team. The qualitative approach was guided through case studies methodological procedures using interviews, direct observations, and records bracketing for data gathering. Two sales team of a multinational organization were interviewed. The organization belongs to credit analysis and protection service business. Both teams were composed by manager, three salesmen and a customer each. Observations were performed at two distinct meetings with both salesmen and customers. Records analyzed refer to shared goals and number of attended customers per month. Results show that collective competences can influence customer satisfaction although customers only perceive individual and organizational competences. Nevertheless, it was evidenced by salesmen and team managers that collective competences not only promote customer satisfaction but also aid the development of individual competences by the people involved at commercial area. / O relacionamento de longo prazo é atualmente o elemento-chave para o sucesso das organizações. Com um mercado tão competitivo, as empresas estão desenvolvendo estratégias que melhor possam satisfazer e criar valor para seus clientes. As empresas precisam definir muito bem as suas estratégias com foco na percepção de seus clientes e do mercado. Porém a criação de valor não advém apenas da qualidade de um produto, da tecnologia e da infraestrutura. Ela também tem base em valores intrínsecos como, por exemplo, as competências. Sendo assim, as empresas precisam investir nos profissionais de linha de frente para que eles desenvolvam competências e atendam às necessidades e desejos dos clientes. Este trabalho tem o intuito de demonstrar se as competências coletivas, desenvolvidas a partir da interação social de um grupo podem trazer algum(s) benefício(s) ou não para o atendimento ao cliente em termos de satisfação e criação de valor, promovendo o marketing de relacionamento. Em seu desenvolvimento, foram utilizadas como base as teorias de competência, competências coletivas, gestão do conhecimento, satisfação e criação de valor para o cliente e marketing de relacionamento. Porém, não foi possível encontrar na literatura qualquer relação entre os temas competências coletivas e marketing de relacionamento. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo geral analisar como o desenvolvimento das competências coletivas de uma equipe de vendas pode influenciar a satisfação do cliente. Especificamente buscou-se a) levantar quais os principais fatores ligados à equipe de vendas que geram satisfação nos clientes; b) analisar como as competências coletivas da equipe de vendas influenciam a satisfação do cliente; c) identificar como se formam competências coletivas em uma equipe de vendas. A partir destes objetivos, o procedimento metodológico de abordagem qualitativa foi orientado pelo método de estudo de caso, com procedimentos de análise de dados de entrevistas, observação direta e levantamento de registros. Foram entrevistadas duas equipes de vendas de uma empresa multinacional no segmento de serviços para análise e proteção de crédito, envolvendo o gerente, três vendedores e um cliente de cada equipe, atendidos por estes vendedores. As observações foram realizadas em duas reuniões de vendas envolvendo vendedores e clientes, e os registros analisados referem-se a metas e número de clientes atendidos no mês. Os resultados evidenciam que as competências coletivas podem influenciar na satisfação do cliente, embora estes só percebam as competências individuais e organizacionais. Mas ficou evidente, por parte de vendedores e gerentes de equipe, que as competências coletivas, além de promover a satisfação do cliente, auxiliam no desenvolvimento e na formação de competências individuais das pessoas na área comercial.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka kunders erfarenheter av och önskemål kring interaktionen med klädbutikers personal. Vidare undersöker studien på vilket sätt kunder vill att interaktionen ska ske samt inom vilka zoner och vid vilka tillfällen. Metod: Studien har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod och den empiriska datan är framtagen genom 15 semistrukturerade intervjuer med kvinnliga konsumenter. Studien har till en början en deduktiv ansats som sedan övergår i inslag av induktiv ansats inom vilka studien sedan växlar mellan. Slutsatser: Studiens resultat visar att kunder har önskemål om ett individanpassat bemötande under interaktion med personal samt att kunder lägger vikt vid personalens beteende och tillgänglighet. Studien visar även att kunders erfarenheter av interaktion med personal i klädbutiker inte överensstämmer med kunders önskemål kring detta fenomen. Många kunder har visat sig ha relativt låga förväntningar gällande denna interaktion men trots detta har det visat sig att personal i många fall inte lyckas leva upp till dessa förväntningar. Interaktionen med personal i klädbutiker har även visat sig vara av stor vikt för såväl kundens image av företaget som för kunders upplevelse av ett butiksbesök. Det framgår att denna interaktion har stor inverkan på kunders fortsatta beteende gentemot företaget vilket visar på att interaktionen utgör en viktig del av klädbutikers konkurrenskraft. / Purpose: The aim of this thesis is to examine customers' experiences and wants regarding the interaction with clothing store personnel. Furthermore, the thesis explores how customers would like this interaction to occur as well as in what zones and in which situations. Method: The study in this thesis follows a qualitative research method and the empirical data is gathered through semistructured interviews with 15 female consumers. Conclusion: The thesis' results show that customers have the desire for an individualized response in interaction with personnel, and that customers attach importance to the personnel behavior and availability. The thesis also shows that customers' experiences of interaction with personnel in clothing stores do not match customer wants concerning this phenomenon. Many customers have been shown to have relatively low expectations regarding this interaction, but in spite of this, it has been found that in many cases personnel fail to live up to these expectations. The interaction with personnel in clothing stores has also proved to be of great importance to both the customer's image of the company and the customer's experience of a shop visit. It appears that this interaction has a major impact on customers' continued behavior towards the company, which shows that interaction is an important part of clothing stores' competitiveness.

Introduction: Service companies and its offerings on the market are becoming increasingly standardized, which makes it difficult for service providers to distinguish themselves from the amount. In many cases this leads to a price squeeze. Many service companies do not understand the importance of building a relationship with their customer, and how to maintain long-term partnerships to increase customer value. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate what aspects service-producing companies should take into account in order to achieve a high customer value and thus become more attractive in the market. Methods: In order to respond to the purpose of the study, a case study was conducted, where the approach consisted of both qualitative and quantitative data collection to test the existing theoretical reference frames and to generalize the study. The quantitative data collection consisted of a survey sent to the company's customer base, which consisted of different industries and sizes of companies, where the answers were then weighted in a model. The survey was also sent to the case company to find possible differences between their own opinion and the customers. The qualitative consisted of three deep interviews with leading actors in different industries to gain a deeper understanding. Results: The quantitative survey showed that quality is the most valued aspect with a supplier, followed by the price. The remaining questions showed that the customers and the case company shared a relatively even view of previous collaborations. The qualitative survey showed that all three respondents appreciated the same aspects of a service company; competence, customer focus and availability. They also agreed that the reputation of the relationship and service providers is valued very high. The relationship has been shown to be linked to several aspects such as flexibility, risk minimization and the quality of the work process. Customers have a greater tendency to choose service companies that are committed to trying to integrate long-term cooperation, which makes the customers feel priority and choose to place greater responsibility on the service company. Conclusion: Companies should not focus on trying to find added value to their customers, the focus should be on creating and developing a deep and committed relationship with their customers. The advantages of this are illustrated by further development of the model presented in the theoretical reference framework, in which important aspects to be considered are described. / Introduktion: Tjänsteföretag och dess erbjudanden på marknaden håller på att standardiseras alltmer vilket leder till att det blir svårt för tjänsteföretag att särskilja sig från mängden. Detta leder i många fall till en prispressning. Många tjänsteföretag förstår inte vikten av relationsbyggandet och hur de ska upprätthålla långsiktiga samarbeten för att även öka kundvärdet. Syftet: Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilka aspekter tjänsteproducerande företag ska beakta för att uppnå ett högt kundvärde och därmed bli mer attraktiva på marknaden. Metod: För att kunna svara på studiens syfte utgicks det ifrån en fallstudie, där angreppssättet bestod av både kvalitativ och kvantitativ datainsamling för att testa den befintliga teoretiska referensramen och kunna generalisera arbetet. Kvantitativa datainsamlingen bestod av en enkätundersökning som skickades ut till fallföretagets kundbas som bestod av olika branscher och storlekar på företag, där svaren sedan viktades i en modell. Enkäten skickades även ut till fallföretaget för att hitta eventuella differenser mellan deras egen uppfattning och kundernas. Den kvalitativa bestod av tre djupintervjuer med ledande aktörer inom olika branscher för att få en djupare förståelse. Resultat: Den kvantitativa undersökningen visade att kvalitet är det som värderas mest hos en leverantör, följt av priset. De resterande frågorna visade att kunderna och fallföretaget delade en relativt jämn uppfattning om tidigare samarbeten. Den kvalitativa undersökningen visade att alla tre respondenter värderade samma aspekter hos ett tjänsteföretag; kompetens, kundfokusering och tillgänglighet. De var även eniga om att relationen och tjänsteleverantörers rykte värderas väldigt högt. Relationen har visat sig vara kopplad till flera aspekter såsom flexibilitet, riskminimering och kvaliteten av arbetsprocessen. Kunder har en större tendens att välja tjänsteföretag som lagt vikt vid att försöka integrera ett långsiktigt samarbete, vilket gör att kunderna känner sig prioriterade och väljer att lägga större ansvar på tjänsteföretaget. Slutsats: Företag ska inte lägga sitt fokus på att försöka finna mervärden till sina kunder, utan fokusen ska ligga på att skapa och utveckla en djup och engagerad relation med sin kund. Fördelarna med detta illustreras med hjälp av en vidareutveckling av den modell som tas fram i den teoretiska referensramen, där viktiga aspekter som bör beaktas beskrivs.

This study empirically examines the impact of IT capability on firms' performance and evaluates whether firms' IT capabilities play a role in improving employee capability, customer value, customer satisfaction, and ultimately business performance. The results were based on comparing the business performance of the IT leader companies with that of control companies of similar size and industry. The IT leader companies were selected from the Information Week 500 list published annually from 2001 to 2004. For a company to be selected as IT leaders, it needed to be listed at least twice during the period. Furthermore, it had to be listed in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) so that its customer satisfaction level could be assessed. Standard & Poor's Compustat and the ACSI scores were used to test for changes in business performance. The study found that the IT leaders had a raw material cost measured by cost-of-goods-sold to sales ratio (COGS/S) than the control companies. However, it found no evidence that firms' IT capability affects employee capability, customer value, customer satisfaction, and profit. An important implication from this study is that IT becomes a commodity and an attempt to gain a competitive advantage by overinvesting in IT may be futile.

Finansiell rådgivning är en tjänst som karaktäriseras av att det är en aktivitet som ett företag utför för att möta kundens behov. Interaktionen mellan den finansiella rådgivaren och kunden är därmed betydelsefull. Då en interaktion består av två parter är det även relevant att studera den finansiella rådgivarens perspektiv. Syftet med studien är att bidra med förståelse för de utmaningar som finansiella rådgivare upplever i det digitala rådgivningsmötet. För att kunna uppfylla syftet med studien har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod använts. Det empiriska materialet bestod av sju semistrukturerade intervjuer med finansiella rådgivare. Studiens resultat visar att de finansiella rådgivarna upplever att det digitala rådgivningsmötet fungerar relativt väl. Dock upplever de finansiella rådgivare som har intervjuats att det finns vissa utmaningar i det digitala rådgivningsmötet. Resultatet visar att det uppstår olika utmaningar i de olika faserna i rådgivningsprocessen. / Financial advice is a service that is characterized by the fact that it is an activity that a company performs to meet the customer's needs. The interaction between the financial advisor and the client is thus significant. As an interaction consists of two parties, it is also relevant to study the financial advisor's perspective. The purpose of the study is to contribute with an understanding of the challenges that financial advisors experience in the digital advisory meeting. In order to fulfill the purpose of the study, a qualitative research method has been used. The empirical material consisted of seven semi-structured interviews with financial advisors. The results of the study show that the financial advisors feel that the digital advisory meeting works relatively well. However, the financial advisers who have been interviewed experience that there are certain challenges in the digital advisory meeting. The results show that different challenges arise in the different phases of the counseling process.

I takt med den ökade globaliseringen har konkurrensen tilltagit på marknaden och påverkat förutsättningarna för de traditionella tillverkningsföretagen. Att utöver produkter sälja tjänster har blivit ett vanligt sätt att differentiera sig från andra aktörer och höja det värde som erbjuds mot kunderna. Denna lösning kallas tjänstefiering och är en växande trend inom tillverkningsindustrin.  Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera vad som är av vikt att fokusera på för företag som tillverkar konsumtionsvaror vid utformning av tjänstefierade erbjudanden till restauranger. Genom att samla in material har vi utformat praktiska rekommendationer till företag som tillverkar konsumtionsvaror kring vad som är av vikt att tänka på vid tjänstefiering. Tidigare forskning inom tjänstefiering har utförts främst i en kapitalvarukontext, detta trots att det visat sig både i praktik och teori att tjänstefiering är lönsamt även för andra typer av tillverkningsföretag. Forskningen har även främst utförts ur ett företagsperspektiv, trots att kundens viktiga roll i tjänstefiering är vida känt. Litteraturområdet som belyser tjänstefiering kopplat till konsumtionsvaror ur ett kundperspektiv anses därav vara begränsat. Studien har därför utförts i en restaurangkontext då restauranger köper in olika typer av konsumtionsvaror vilket ansågs bidra till en bredd i studien. För att undersöka detta område har studien därför haft för avsikt att besvara frågeställningen: Vad värdesätter restauranger vid utformning av tjänstefierade erbjudanden av konsumtionsvaror? För att besvara denna fråga har vi genomfört sju kvalitativa intervjuer med personer som arbetar på olika restauranger med en sådan position att de har insyn kring köp av tjänstefierade erbjudanden. Inför intervjuerna skapade vi en teoretisk referensram med relevant forskning för vår studie gällande tjänstefiering och kundvärde. Referensramen har sedan använts som stöd vid utformning av intervjuguiden som använts vid genomförandet av intervjuerna samt använts vid analys av den insamlade datan.  Resultatet från studien visar att restauranger värdesätter flera faktorer vid utformning av tjänstefierade erbjudanden av konsumtionsvaror från alla dimensioner av kundvärdet. Relationer och den personliga kontakten, möjlighet till att påverka erbjudandet och delta i utvecklingen samt ekonomi visade sig vara värdeskapande aspekter där den personliga kontakten var något som visade sig vara en avgörande faktor för restaurangerna.

The content of this diploma thesis is to propose a business strategy for the newly established company, which will operate on the Czech market. The subject of the business is the operation of a special gastronomic facility created by combining two concepts of café and tea room with a focus on differentiation. The business strategy focuses on establishing a new company that defines its competitive behavior within the three-year horizon. Suggestions are focused on building a successful business and doing business to bring it a competitive advantage. On the basis of the analyzes conducted, they have computed competing enterprises, customers or internal business factors and will propose an appropriate company development strategy that will ensure its profitable prosperity. My goal is to create a unique, competitive and profitable business that meets all the requirements of its customers.

The content of this master’s thesis deals with competitiveness of the accommodation establishment „Jacob Brno“ through its brand. The current situation of the company is dismantled according to theoretical knowledge. Based on the value chain theory, the value creation process for the customer is further dismantled and compared to competing company. According to the variety of analyses, it is proposed to extend the supply of the accommodation establishment to ancillary services. This includes services such as a conference facility or an improved way to accommodate guests.

The thesis is dealing with proposals in order to strengthen competitiveness of a small Ecuadorian company which is producing detergents and other cleaners. Proposals are focused on strenghts‘ development and development of the keys’ activities that bring value to the customer.