The goal of this study was to build a more holistic and comprehensive look of the effects of search and decision tools (collectively known as decision aids) on the traditional consumer decision process. Specifically, how it affects the information search and alternative evaluation stages. It combined multiple models and concepts from different areas of consumer decision behavior, decision support systems, technology acceptance and task-technology fit theory. It explores how consumers use five different decision aids that are commonly found in today’s marketplace: consumer reviews, social media and electronic-word-of-mouth, comparison matrices, filter agents, and virtual assistants. The effects of these different decision aids were compared in both the information search stage and alternative evaluation stage. In information search, a 5x2 within-subject factorial study was used to determine the effects of decision aids over time (present vs. ten years ago). Two-way repeated ANOVA found that the effects of decision aids in terms of perceived usage across all decision aids have increased from that of ten years ago. Also, consistent with task-technology fit theory usage between each decision aid differed based on how well the decision aid’s capabilities matched the stage’s need. In the alternative evaluation stage, three treatments were manipulated: decision aids, task complexity (high vs. low) and step within the alternative evaluation stage of the consumer decision process (screening vs. evaluation step) in a 5x2x2 within-subject factorial design. The treatments were compared by measuring its effects on four dependent variables proposed in technology acceptance literature: perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, trusting beliefs and intention to use. Three-way repeated ANOVA showed that consumers rely on a two-step process when faced with high task complexity, screening out alternatives based on a simple non-compensatory rule before more detailed evaluation of the remaining alternatives are evaluated. The results were also consistent with task-fit theory with decision aids differing based on how well their capabilities matched each stage. The study however couldn’t provide definitive proof of differences in the two steps within the alternative evaluation as the significance of the results varied.

This thesis examines how small green Swedish farm shops are using green marketing and why customers are buying from small green farm shops. To examine this, two farm shops were chosen based on specific criteria; Gudmundsgården and Skrea Ost. The owners were interviewed about their marketing strategies and a questionnaire were handed out to their customers, regarding their attitudes towards green products and farm shops, in order to collect data from two perspectives and compare the farm shops’ perspective to the customers’ perspective. Both interviews resulted in similarities and differences between the farm shops regarding different marketing strategies and approaches, where customer relationships were the most important one. From the customers’ perspective, it was concluded that if a product was considered green, the green customers did not care much about the location of the farm shop or the price of the product. They are willing to drive further and pay more if they know that there are no additives in the product and that it has lower environmental harm. The research contributes with new knowledge about small green farm shops in Sweden, their marketing strategies and the importance of relationships.

Prostitution, sex in exchange for consideration, has never been illegal in Canada; however, activities surrounding prostitution have been criminalized in the Criminal Code. These prohibited activities include: working indoors (s. 210 keeping a common bawdy house), providing services to sex workers (s. 212(1)(j) living off of the avails of prostitution), and communicating in public for the purposes of prostitution (s. 213). In 2007 two former and one current sex worker, Terri Jean Bedford, Valerie Scott and Amy Lebovitch challenged the constitutionality of the above laws, arguing that they increased sex workers’ vulnerability to harm. Six years later on June 13th, 2013 the Supreme Court of Canada heard the landmark case Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford. Prior to hearing the case, the Supreme Court Justices read the submitted factums outlining the arguments of the appellants, respondents, and their interveners. The final decision was released on December 22nd, 2013 and the unanimous decision to strike down all three laws was made. Using a discourse analysis inspired by Michel Foucault, this study ‘unpacks’ the meanings that are constituted within the factums submitted to the Supreme Court regarding the people who engage in sex work and the institution of prostitution. The convergences and divergences within the discourses are presented. Drawing on these findings, while applying the work of Wedeking’s (2010) strategic legal framing alongside the governmentality perspective of risk, the tensions surrounding risk and choice are further explored. In doing so, the relationship between risk (taking/avoiding) and choice (making) is teased out. In this thesis I argue that risk and choice are strategically framed in the submitted factums to demonstrate the (un)constitutionality of Canada’s prostitution laws. Furthermore, I argue that both the appellants and respondents agree that risk avoidance is an acceptable self-governance strategy for sex workers, however they diverge on what they consider to be acceptable risk avoidance measures. The conclusion of this study discusses the decision of Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford to strike down the three prostitution laws and the subsequent introduction of the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act.

L’objet de ces travaux de recherche est de recueillir auprès de clients leur appréciation et leurs ressentis, traduits par des attributs de produit, face à une innovation en cours de conception, c’est-à-dire sans la totalité des informations sensorielles et fonctionnelles normalement disponibles sur un produit fini.Les deux objectifs principaux sont de prendre en compte les avis des clients tôt dans le processus de conception d’une innovation et de pouvoir comparer plusieurs innovations entre elles ou une même innovation à plusieurs stades de développement, en vue d’aider la prise de décisions des concepteurs et des décideurs.Afin de répondre à ces objectifs, plusieurs démarches méthodologiques sont réalisées et vérifiées :• En vue de compenser le manque de caractéristiques sensorielles et fonctionnelles d’une représentation intermédiaire d’une innovation, nous avons mis en place un « descriptif sensoriel »,• En vue de faciliter les comparaisons d’évaluations de produit, nous avons mis en place un questionnaire standard d’évaluation des avis clients. En effet, sur la base d’une recherche bibliographique des attributs de produit de qualités hédonique et pragmatique intervenant dans l’évaluation d’un produit, nous avons créé une liste d’affirmations à noter,• En vue de valider ces outils méthodologiques, nous avons réalisé une démarche comparative de plusieurs jalons ou stades de développement. Au total, nous avons réalisé six évaluations clients d’une même innovation à différents jalons du processus de conception auprès de 302 évaluateurs.Les résultats d’évaluation obtenus sont ensuite étudiés et comparés. Le but est de valider la construction du descriptif sensoriel et du questionnaire et d’apporter nos conclusions quant à l’évaluation de représentations intermédiaires à différents stades du processus de conception.Le questionnaire standard d’évaluation nécessite d’être affiné mais permet déjà de s’enquérir d’attributs de qualités hédonique et pragmatique d’un produit du point de vue des clients. Le descriptif sensoriel facilite la projection des clients vers ce que sera le futur produit. / The purpose of this research is to obtain the appraisal and feelings of customers, translated by product attributes, about an innovative product during its design process, i.e. without all the sensory and functional features available like for a finished product. Two main goals are to inquire the customers’ ways of thinking early in the design process and to compare several products themselves or the same product at different stages in the process. The objective is to help the designers and managers decision.To meet these goals, we realized and checked several methodological approaches:• To offset the lack of sensory and functional features of an innovation’s prototype, we created a “sensorial brochure”,• To facilitate the product assessments’ comparison, we created a standard questionnaire to inquire customers. In fact, with a bibliographic research of the hedonic and pragmatic attributes involved in the assessment of a product, we created a list of statements,• To validate these methodological tools, we realized a comparative approach at several milestones or stages of the design process. In total, we realized six customers’ assessments at different stages of the design process with 302 respondents.Then we studied and compared the assessments’ results. The aim is to validate the construction of the sensorial brochure and the questionnaire and to conclude from the innovation’s prototype assessments at different stages of the design process. The questionnaire needs to be improved but it has already permitted to inquire the customers on their hedonic and pragmatic attributes in front of a product. The sensorial brochure helps customers to imagine the future product.

The main aim of this thesis is to analyse actual development of company in tourist trade sector and focus on threats and risks of business in this field. The theoretical part is focused on the tourist trade area and at the same time it reports common information about crisis management. It also defines methods of analysis, which can be used in order to achieve better immunity and preparedness of company against any criris. Afterwards in practical part the thesis describes surveyed hotel Krystal and with the help of SWOT analysis and another three methods discloses threats, which are actual for the hotel. From results of all analysis follows that the hotel is going strong in crisis management field. Despite it I tried to draw up some proposals and recommendations, which can level the current crisis immunity and preparedness of the hotel up.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att öka förståelsen för SME:s företagsledares val att tillämpa CSR med fokus på kundmotivet och affärsmotivet. Metod: Studien utgår från ett socialkonstruktivistiskt och hermeneutiskt perspektiv, med en abduktiv forskningsansats. I studien används en kvalitativ undersökningsmetod, med anledning av att den empiriska datainsamlingen genomförs med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Den teoretiska referensramen baseras på tidigare forskning och det empiriska materialet är grupperat efter kategorier som uppkommit vid intervjuerna. Resultat & slutsats: Studien tyder på att ekonomin och finansiella resultat inte är den främsta faktorn till att SME:s företagsledare tillämpar CSR på sina företag, utan att deras beslut att tillämpa CSR är grundat i icke-finansiella anledningar, såsom medarbetarnas trygghet och kundernas önskemål. Vi fann även att en vanligt förekommande faktor var att man gjorde det för att man hade ett genuint intresse för det som berörs av CSR. Uppsatsens bidrag: Ur ett teoretiskt perspektiv bidrar studien med att fördjupa förståelsen för vikten av icke-finansiella faktorer vid SME:s implementering av CSR. Ur ett praktiskt perspektiv föreslås att SME:s bör sträva efter att ha en tydlig, långsiktig struktur, då studien tyder på att det ger konkurrensfördelar och kan vara viktigt ur ett medarbetarperspektiv. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vi ser ett behov av att vidare undersöka effekten CSR har på individer samt det inflytande individer har på utformningen av CSR. Vi föreslår även att vidare forskning angriper CSR i SME:s ur både medarbetares och företagsledares perspektiv, för att kunna belysa likheter och skillnader mellan dessa två gruppers upplevelser. / Aim: The aim of this study is to create an understanding of why SME:s’ decision-makers choose to incorporate CSR in their business, focusing on the customer motive and business motive. Method: The study assumes a social constructivist perception of reality and builds on the hermeneutic research tradition, with abduction as the approach to analyzing the empirical findings. Semi-qualitative interviews were conducted to collect the empirical evidence. The theoretical framework of reference builds heavily on previous research, and the empirical evidence has been categorized appropriately. Results & conclusion: The study indicates that financial performance is not a major factor for why SME:s decision makers’ engage in CSR. Rather, our findings show that the decision to implement CSR is motivated by non-financial reasons, such as employee security and customer demands and expectations. We also found that SME:s engage in CSR because they have a genuine interest in the issues within CSR. Contribution of the thesis: From a theoretical standpoint, this study contributes by further highlighting the importance of non-financial factors in the way SME:s implement CSR. From a practical standpoint, we suggest that SME:s should aim towards achieving a clear long-term CSR-structure, since our findings suggest that it provides companies with competitive advantages and may be important from an employee point of view. Suggestions for future research: There is a need to further examine the effects of CSR on individuals as well as the influence individuals have on how CSR is implemented. We also suggest that future research studies CSR in SME:s from both employees’ and management’s point of view, to be able to explore the similarities and differences between their experiences.

This thesis is focused on processing of the entrepreneurial purpose with the aim to establish a new restaurant. The work has been divided into two parts. The theoretical part deals with general conditions, which an entrepreneur have to comply with before starting doing his own business. There is also a specific method that should the entrepreneur follow in order to draw up his plan correctly including all the requirements. The practical part is engaged in the implementation of the entrepreneurial plan itself where there is a detailed description of entrepreneurial activities with a few analyses. Viability of the chosen intention is assessed on the basis of these analyses.

This Diploma Thesis describes marketing strategy of RunCzech Running League and is focused on the analysis of customer's satisfaction and on comparison of organizer's and customer's opinions. The goal of this Diploma Thesis is to analyze present marketing activities of the Running League. This paper is divided into six parts: Theory of marketing, sports marketing, marathon as sport, marketing strategy of RunCzech, research and evaluation of the research. First part aims at basic characteristics of marketing that are necessary for the paper. Second explains connection between sport and economics. Third part describes development of marathon until the present. The previous knowledges are applied on the Running League in the fourth chapter. Fifth and sixth parts aim at the explanation of the research, implementation and on the evaluation. Conclusion of the thesis includes summary of the research and recommendations for improvements of RunCzech's marketing activities.

The main aims of this diploma thesis were to analyze the biscuits market at in-store area and to give some recommendations to Kraft Foods company, how to communicate in this media type in future. The diploma thesis consists of theoretical and methodological part and practical part. In the theoretical and methodological part, there are described terms related to the market, analysis of the market, customers' behaviour - its types, process and influencing factors. Also in this part the in-store communication, the subject, process and methods of marketing research are explained. The practical part is based on the theoretical and methodological part. It includes information about the biscuits market, Kraft Foods company, their competitors and customers. The Nielsen, Admosphere, MML, U&A data analyzes and author's own research, were realized and their results are summarized in this part. Author's own research was done by monitoring in-store areas in 6 hypermarkets and supermarkets. The results of all analyzes and of author's own research are summarized in the chapter Conclusion. Also the recommendations for Kraft Foods company are to be found there.

Orientador: Maria Carolina de Azevedo Ferreira de Souza / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecanica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-31T20:49:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Eleuterio_SueliAparecidaVarani_M.pdf: 5504418 bytes, checksum: 11ac464165928edb6748b99d5c569d3a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2001 / Resumo: A importância do setor de serviços na economia de diversos países desperta nas empresas o interesse pela qualidade em serviços, em busca de um melhor atendimento aos seus clientes como um fator de diferenciação competitiva. Nesse contexto, devem ser inseridos os serviços externos e os serviços internos, esses últimos caracterizados pela relação cliente-fornecedor interno. Este trabalho aborda a importância das empresas dedicarem maior atenção à qualidade na prestação dos serviços internos fornecidos aos próprios funcionários. Subsidiado por um referencial teórico e com base no Modelo Conceitual da Qualidade de Serviços (Modelo de Gap), foi realizada uma avaliação, utilizando a escala SERVQUAL, com um grupo de clientes internos, sobre a qualidade dos serviços que recebem de um departamento de apoio computacional de uma empresa da região de Campinas. A análise dos dados permitiu observar que, do ponto de vista dos usuários, não há qualidade satisfatória dos serviços prestados pelo departamento. Algumas recomendações foram apresentadas ao departamento, de forma que a empresa possa reavaliar seus processos e prestar serviços com qualidade aos seus funcionários, para que estes, conseqüentemente, possam oferecer excelente atendimento aos clientes externos / Abstract: The importance of service economy in several countries leads the companies towards to service quality, which search to improve the ability of satisfying its customers needs as a competitive differentiation factor. We can inc1ude in this context external and internal services, these last ones characterized by the internal provider-customer relationship. This work is an approach about the importance of companies in dedicate more attention to quality in internal services delivery which have been provided to its own employees. Based on theoretical references and on the Conceptual Model of Service Quality (Gap Model), was carried out an evaluation applying the SERVQUAL instrument with a internal customers group, about the service quality they receive from a technical support department of a company located in the Campinas region. Data analysis have allowed to observe that, by the internal customer point of view, the quality of services provided by the department is not good. Some recommendation were presented to the department, in order to allow it an evaluation of its processes and provide services with quality to its customers and those consequently providing good services to the external customers / Mestrado / Gestão da Qualidade Total / Mestre Profissional em Engenharia Mecanica