The aim of this study is to understand the importance of public relations activity in non-profit organisations. The study emphasizes the bearing public relations activities can have on non-profit organisations in the contemporary world. This is especially true in an over communicated society where the vast majority of organisations compete to gain access to the scare media resources to put their message across to their potential clients, supporters and customers. Non-profit organisations generally have to depend on the donor agencies and therefore fail to attract a sizeable public relations budget. On the one hand, these organisations lack the resources to launch a successful public relations campaign and on the other the lack of knowledge and interest among general staff members makes it even harder for a public relations campaign to be developed or successfully launched. In this study, I used both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to collect and analyse data. The data were collected from two non-profit organisations based in New Zealand working in the area of child welfare. The primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews and survey questionnaires. A single semi-structured interview was conducted with each team leader of the two selected organisations. However, this was like skimming the surface and in-depth interviews would have helped me to collect richer data. On the other hand the data collected was sufficient for this research and it helped me to create a holistic understanding of the topic. The findings of the research highlight that most non-profit organisations working in the area of child welfare find it hard to market themselves due to a lack of funds and employee involvement. Although the findings from the study are significant; caution is necessary in applying the results to other scenarios and in making generalizations. One of the key findings from this research is that both organisations did not use public relations as a strategy. Most decision related to public relations was made on random basis and no long term strategic plan was made to adopt public relations as a core strategy to build creditability among their stakeholders.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD), / The confluence of a number of marketplace phenomena has provided the impetus for the selection and conduct of this research. The first is the so called value relevance of intangibles in determining share market performance of publicly listed companies. The growing gap between market and book values has been proposed as an indication of the impact of intangibles on share price values. A second related phenomenon is the increasing reliance on share price appreciation as the principal means for shareholder return as opposed to returns through dividends. This suggests that share prices are becoming an even more critical firm performance measure than traditional accounting-based firm performance measures like return on investment (ROI). A third phenomenon is the rapid growth in marketplace alliances and joint ventures, the number of which has grown rapidly over the past 30 years. The explanation for these phenomena may lie in the concept of corporate social capital (CSC) which, as an intangible asset (IA), has been proposed in several normative studies. CSC has been defined as “the set of resources, tangible or virtual, that accrue to a corporate player through the player’s social relationships, facilitating the attainment of goals” (Leenders & Gabbay, 1999, p3). However, constructs for CSC have only been loosely defined and its impacts on firm performance only minimally empirically tested. This research addresses this gap in the literature. The key aim of this research is to explore the impact of CSC on firm performance. Through the use of CSC as a lens for viewing a firm’s intangibles, several important sub-components of the CSC formulation are exposed. These include a firm’s market centrality (CENT), absorptive capacity (AC), internal capital (INC), human capital (HC) and financial soundness. Therefore, an extended aim for this research is to identify the differential impacts of the CSC sub-components on firm performance. Firm performance was measured as ROI, market-to-book ratios (Tobin’s Q) and total shareholder return (TSR). Overall, the research results indicate that CSC is a significant predictor of firm performance, but falls short of fully explaining the market-to-book value disparity. For this research an innovative computer-supported content analysis (CA) technique was devised to capture a majority of the data required for the empirical research. The use of a commercial news aggregation service, Factiva, and a standard taxonomy of terms for the search, allowed variables for intangible constructs to be derived from a relatively large sample of firms (n=155) from the global information technology services (ITS) sector from 2001 to 2004. Data indices for joint venture or alliance activity, research and development (R&D) activity, HC, INC and external capital (EC) were all developed using this CA approach. The research findings indicated that all things aren’t equal in terms of how the benefits of CSC accrue to different firms in the sector. The research indicated that for larger, more mature firms, financial soundness does not necessarily correlate with improved shareholder return. The inference is that these firms may have reached a plateau in terms of how the market is valuing them. In terms of market centrality, the research indicates that software firms could benefit from building a larger number of alliances and becoming more centrally connected in the marketplace. The reverse is true, however, for larger, more established firms in the non-software sectors. These companies can be penalised for being over-connected, potentially signalling that they are locked into a suite of alliances that will ultimately limit their capacity to innovate and grow. For smaller, potentially loss-making firms, the research indicates that investments in HC are potentially the only investment strategy that could result in improvements in profitability and shareholder return. Investments by such firms in R&D or INC developments are likely to depress shareholder value and therefore should be minimised in favour of HC investments. For larger, more established firms, investment in HC is beneficial for both ROI and TSR. Investments in areas like R&D and INC were found to be only beneficial to those firms who have the financial capacity to afford it. Firms that don’t appear to have the financial resources to support the level of investments they are making in R&D and/or INC were penalised by the market. Overall, the research provides specific insights into the links between firms and their performance, through appropriate investments in CSC. In terms of research practice, this research demonstrates the viability of computer-supported CA. Progress in the development of more intelligent search technologies will provide increasing utility to CA researchers, promising to unlock a vast range of textual source data for researchers that were previously beyond manual CA practices.

<p>The study empirically investigated the effects of consumer price perception dimension and reputation dimension on attitude toward private label brands among young Swedish consumers. Consumer price perception dimension includes value consciousness, price consciousness, and price-quality association factors. Reputation dimension includes retailer’s reputation, existence of word-of-mouth (WOM), positive WOM, and negative WOM.</p><p>Previous studies have found that factors under the consumer price perception dimension have an impact on attitude toward private label brands. The current study argues, based on theoretical framework, reputation dimension could also be considered as having an impact on attitude toward private label brands but that this has not been investigated before.</p><p>Measurement scales for consumer price perception dimensions were taken from Baltas (1997) and Burton et al. (1998). New measurement scales were developed for factors under the reputation dimension. The reliability and validity of all the factors used in the study have been discussed.</p><p>A multiple regression analysis was conducted where the private label attitude was the dependent variable and all factors under the two dimensions investigated in the study were the independent variables. The results of the analysis showed that value consciousness and price consciousness factors under the consumer price perception dimension have significant relationships with attitude toward private label brands. Similarly, retailer’s reputation, positive WOM, and negative WOM under the reputation dimension have significant relationships with attitude toward private label brands. Specifically, these three reputation dimension factors were found to have more influence on attitude toward private label brands among young Swedish consumers than the two factors found significant under the consumer price perception dimension.</p><p>The major implication for the Swedish retailers is that they should put more emphasis on their own reputation (retailer’s reputation factor) and on positive WOM to develop favorable attitude toward private label brands among young Swedish consumers. They should also fight any negative WOM about their private label brands. In addition, the Swedish retailers should try to promote the quality aspect of their private label brands to the young Swedish consumers as value consciousness was found to be a significant determinant across the most of the demographic variables studied here.</p>

No description available.

<p>Since the late 2009, the famous vehicle manufacture Toyota has suffered a severe crisis due to unintended quality problems in its cars which had triggered Toyota’s largest officially recalls of its cars around the world. This crisis threatens the company’s previous reputation of good quality cars, as well as the brand image built up over time. This study aims to elaborate on the Toyota crisis in order to understand why Toyota faces this crisis and how they deal with the crisis; and investigate consumers’ perceptions of Toyota brand as the outcome of the crisis, with a focus on Swedish market. A qualitative research along with a number of face-to-face interviews with Toyota Swedish dealer and Swedish vehicle consumers is conducted. The findings reveal that the impact of the Toyota crisis in Sweden is not as serious as that in North America; there remain satisfied and loyal Toyota’s customers who are not swayed by the negative publicities; While Toyota should manage the crisis even in a better way in order to retain its good reputation.</p>

<p>All around the world companies spend huge amounts of money on sponsorship, and during the past decades sponsorship has experienced a significant growth, and is also predicted to play an even more significant part as a marketing tool in the future. However, previous research on sponsorship has in general emphasized its effects on individuals. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation is to explore sponsorship’s effect on business relation development, and in particular to study its effect on business to business relation development.</p><p> </p><p>This dissertation has an abductive research approach and an exploratory research design which is useful in this sparse investigated subject. Furthermore, to be able to thoroughly explore the subject and be adaptable, the primary data is collected using a case study with qualitative interviews in a semi-structured manner.</p><p> </p><p>The findings indicate sponsorship to affect trust, sincerity, and reputation in the business to business relation development, and also assess commitment and credibility to some extent be affected by sponsorship. However, the findings are only a minor contribution to this uninvestigated field, which needs further investigation. Suggestion for future research could be to do a similar investigation on a larger scale, and with a bigger sample.</p><p> </p><p>Since sponsorship is a growing and complex phenomenon, and this dissertation is limited to how sponsorship affects business to business relation development, the findings can be of interest for companies active in the business to business sphere. Hence, marketers may benefit from the knowledge of how to implement appropriate sponsorship programs, in order to increase the number of relations and to gain competitive advantage.</p>

All around the world companies spend huge amounts of money on sponsorship, and during the past decades sponsorship has experienced a significant growth, and is also predicted to play an even more significant part as a marketing tool in the future. However, previous research on sponsorship has in general emphasized its effects on individuals. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation is to explore sponsorship’s effect on business relation development, and in particular to study its effect on business to business relation development.   This dissertation has an abductive research approach and an exploratory research design which is useful in this sparse investigated subject. Furthermore, to be able to thoroughly explore the subject and be adaptable, the primary data is collected using a case study with qualitative interviews in a semi-structured manner.   The findings indicate sponsorship to affect trust, sincerity, and reputation in the business to business relation development, and also assess commitment and credibility to some extent be affected by sponsorship. However, the findings are only a minor contribution to this uninvestigated field, which needs further investigation. Suggestion for future research could be to do a similar investigation on a larger scale, and with a bigger sample.   Since sponsorship is a growing and complex phenomenon, and this dissertation is limited to how sponsorship affects business to business relation development, the findings can be of interest for companies active in the business to business sphere. Hence, marketers may benefit from the knowledge of how to implement appropriate sponsorship programs, in order to increase the number of relations and to gain competitive advantage.

Since the late 2009, the famous vehicle manufacture Toyota has suffered a severe crisis due to unintended quality problems in its cars which had triggered Toyota’s largest officially recalls of its cars around the world. This crisis threatens the company’s previous reputation of good quality cars, as well as the brand image built up over time. This study aims to elaborate on the Toyota crisis in order to understand why Toyota faces this crisis and how they deal with the crisis; and investigate consumers’ perceptions of Toyota brand as the outcome of the crisis, with a focus on Swedish market. A qualitative research along with a number of face-to-face interviews with Toyota Swedish dealer and Swedish vehicle consumers is conducted. The findings reveal that the impact of the Toyota crisis in Sweden is not as serious as that in North America; there remain satisfied and loyal Toyota’s customers who are not swayed by the negative publicities; While Toyota should manage the crisis even in a better way in order to retain its good reputation.

The study empirically investigated the effects of consumer price perception dimension and reputation dimension on attitude toward private label brands among young Swedish consumers. Consumer price perception dimension includes value consciousness, price consciousness, and price-quality association factors. Reputation dimension includes retailer’s reputation, existence of word-of-mouth (WOM), positive WOM, and negative WOM. Previous studies have found that factors under the consumer price perception dimension have an impact on attitude toward private label brands. The current study argues, based on theoretical framework, reputation dimension could also be considered as having an impact on attitude toward private label brands but that this has not been investigated before. Measurement scales for consumer price perception dimensions were taken from Baltas (1997) and Burton et al. (1998). New measurement scales were developed for factors under the reputation dimension. The reliability and validity of all the factors used in the study have been discussed. A multiple regression analysis was conducted where the private label attitude was the dependent variable and all factors under the two dimensions investigated in the study were the independent variables. The results of the analysis showed that value consciousness and price consciousness factors under the consumer price perception dimension have significant relationships with attitude toward private label brands. Similarly, retailer’s reputation, positive WOM, and negative WOM under the reputation dimension have significant relationships with attitude toward private label brands. Specifically, these three reputation dimension factors were found to have more influence on attitude toward private label brands among young Swedish consumers than the two factors found significant under the consumer price perception dimension. The major implication for the Swedish retailers is that they should put more emphasis on their own reputation (retailer’s reputation factor) and on positive WOM to develop favorable attitude toward private label brands among young Swedish consumers. They should also fight any negative WOM about their private label brands. In addition, the Swedish retailers should try to promote the quality aspect of their private label brands to the young Swedish consumers as value consciousness was found to be a significant determinant across the most of the demographic variables studied here.

Consumers’ purchase decisions typically involve two brands: the manufacturer brand (the “what brand to buy” decision) and the retailer brand (the “where to buy” decision). While extant research suggests that consumers’ product evaluation is affected by both, much less is known about how the two brands jointly affect consumers’ preferences. Building upon prospect theory and mental accounting principles, I hypothesize that the joint effect of the two brands on consumers’ evaluation of different products depends on the reference point evoked, and whether each of the two brands is perceived as a gain or loss relative to the reference point. Five lab experiments provide empirical support for the hypothesized effects. Study 1 reveals that the joint effect of manufacturer and retailer brands depends on the reference product in a manner consistent with prospect theory and mental accounting principles. The results of Study 2 and 3 show that the majority of participants use a reputable brand sold at a reputable retailer as their reference product. For this group, there is a positive interaction effect of the manufacturer and retailer brands on consumers’ willingness to pay. Study 4 extends the results of Study 3 by testing the theoretical framework using a non-price measure of consumers’ product evaluation (i.e., attitude toward the offer). The results provide converging support for H1 and H2 and demonstrate the mediating role of gain and loss feelings, thus providing preliminary evidence for the proposed cognitive process. Finally, Study 5 provides supporting evidence for the predictions through the use of a priming method. This research contributes to the literature on behavioral decision theory and branding by extending the study of mental accounting from quantitative information (e.g., money, time) to qualitative information such as that derived from brand reputation. The findings have prescriptive implications as they can help managers understand how their brands can be leveraged, how consumers react to reference products available in the marketplace, and how to best price products across different outlets depending on the reputation of their brands and the reputation of the outlets.