This dissertation explores the symbolic structure of the metropolis, probing how neutral spaces may be imbued with meaning to become places, and tracing the processes through which the image of the city can come to be - and carry real consequences. The centrality of the image of the city to a broad array of urban research is established by injecting the question of image into two different research areas: crime and real estate in Washington, DC and the spatial structure of grassroots visual art production in Boston, Massachusetts. By pursuing such widely diverging areas of research, I seek to show the essential linkage between art and crime as they related to the image of the city and general urban processes of definition, distinction, and change. And yet, the research pursued here offers a mixed appraisal of strategies that pin urban prospects to image and image manipulation, from the great crime decline of the past two decades to the rise of the creative economy and application of urban branding campaigns. Across the analyses, I highlight tension between expectations of change and the essentially conservative forces of image. Far from rebranding the city, culture is shown to play a key role in locking in inequalities, undermining revitalization efforts, and generally explaining the reproduction and persistence of place over time, following the logic of the "looking glass neighborhood." Thus, culture is not nearly the tool to revalorize, relabel, and transform place so well depicted in studies nor do the buzz of cultural events shape markets and communities as effectively in "offcenter" cities. Place is not fixed for good, and can be "re-accomplished," albeit through decades-long demographic, cultural, and political processes. / Sociology

Companies providing digital news are today struggling with low purchase intentions among their consumers. Over the years, the Internet has become a vital part of how people consume news, and the growth in online consumption has led to a decline in printed circulation. Newspapers all around the world are earning only the minor share of their total revenue from digital operations. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of perceived ease-of-use, perceived usefulness, trust, reputation, word-of-mouth, and willingness to customize on consumer´s purchase intentions for digital news. This study aims to answer to the following research question:   What kind of effects do perceived ease-of-use, perceived usefulness, trust, reputation, word-of-mouth, and willingness to customize have on consumers purchase intentions for digital news?   In order to answer our research question, we have conducted a quantitative survey that was directed towards the subscribers of Resumé, the leading Scandinavian business magazine in the area of marketing and advertising. Currently, Resumé is struggling with earning money from their digital content and their practical problem provided us with a great opportunity to contribute to the field of research about digital purchase intentions.   Purchase intentions are an indicator of a consumer´s approach towards a purchase and prior studies demonstrates that perceived ease-of-use and perceived usefulness, which constitute the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989), are cornerstones in order to predict online consumer behavior. In our study, we also consider willingness-to-customize, which has been found to be an important decision-making factor regarding digital purchase intentions. People’s perceptions of the trust and reputation of a company are also proven to be relevant factors when predicting online consumer behavior, which in turn can be influenced by the word-of-mouth from other consumers, friends and family. Based on our literature review, we can conclude that there is a research gap related to the examination of the effects of these specific factors on consumer´s purchase intentions for digital news.   The findings of our regression analyses, based on 234 responses we received through the survey, demonstrate that perceived ease-of-use, perceived usefulness, and word-of-mouth have positive significant effects on consumer´s purchase intentions for digital news. Based on these results, we have developed a revised conceptual model that includes the three factors that were proven to affect digital purchase intentions. Our study makes a theoretical contribution to the research field about digital purchase intentions and online consumer behavior. The study also provides managerial implications concerning how companies can enhance the digital purchase intentions among their consumers. We suggest the practical recommendations directed towards managers in the digital news business in general, and for the managers of Resumé in particularly.

Green marketing has been a main topic of discussion for several years. Most studies conducted in this area have focused on the benefits of green marketing for a normal company. However, no studies have considered the effectiveness of green marketing by a negative brand like BP. This study aims to reveal the effectiveness of green marketing after pollution. An experiment was conducted to evaluate participants’ attitudes toward the marketing strategy. Although the results were not significant, some interesting findings were revealed and are addressed at the end of the paper. They imply that individuals with green awareness are less influenced by both green marketing and an economic-assistance strategy in BP’s case, compared to individuals with lower green awareness. Overall, all participants in this study preferred the economic-assistance strategy, which means that green marketing is not effective for a corporation involved in pollution issues. / text

On the 6 of October 2009 the European Court of Justice came with a preliminary ruling in the PAGO case concerning the geographical extent for a Community Trade Mark with reputation within the European Community. The judgment has given rise to a lot of questions. The fact that the ECJ, the Advocate General and Lawyers have different opi-nions on the geographical extent and on the outcome of the case creating big discus-sions on the topic of the necessity of Community Trade Marks. This has given rise to the purpose of this thesis which is to investigate the requirement for having a reputation in the Community according to Art 9.1 (c) CTMR, and analyze the legal consequences and possible threats to the Community Trade Mark system and proprietors of trade marks after the judgment of the PAGO case. This investigation has shown that there are four possible consequences for the CTM system after the judgement. Small countries, such as Luxembourg, are now might seen as a substantial part of the Community, PAGO is now protected within the European Community even in those countries where no one has heard about the brand, companies can obtain injunction in a country without proving reputation there and companies can put all their marketing effort into one country and thereby get protection in the whole Community. The outcome of this case is positive for proprietors of CTMs since it makes it easier for them to gain protection against other actors on the market. The biggest threat for the CTM system is the fact that unclear terms and judgements dis-rupt the Countries within the Community and destroys the harmonization, which the TMD, CTMR and the CTM is trying to build up.

This thesis explores how the legitimacy and reputation of firms that have experienced severe crises can be restored through the means of crisis management and crisis communication strategies. Our focus is on the airline industry, analyzing how three European airlines have communicated and acted towards important shareholders during and following a fatal airline accident. The airlines that have been compared are Air France, Spanair and SAS; an analysis of their press releases, press conferences, annual reports and websites has been conducted. We found that Air France and SAS communicated more information compared to Spanair and also showed that they had a clear strategy to uphold their legitimacy through the crisis. When dealing with a crisis many stakeholders have a high demand for information and if the airline satisfies this need in a satisfactory way they live up to the stakeholders expectations and gain legitimacy. Communicating a clear strategy as to how the airline is working towards improving flight safety can be seen as an important part of upholding the airline's legitimacy and reputation after an airline accident, something that especially Air France has done through clear safety communications through their annual report and website.

Patients are the key stakeholders in health care providers and it is extremely important to increase their satisfaction level. Patient satisfaction is a subject of great interest to the health care providers and researchers alike. As there are a lot of factors related to health care providers that causes patient selection and rejection. Since competition has increased in recent years, this exerts more pressure on health care providers to render more improved service quality in addition to build trust and gain high reputation. Improved quality of service has now become an important aspect of patient satisfaction, building trust is now a crucial milestone and gaining high reputation is considered the key for any health care provider. In practice and theory it has been proven that service quality dimensions, trust and reputation is related to patient satisfaction. For this, we took 5Q model of the service quality combine with trust and reputation, and how it affects patient satisfaction is the main theme of the study. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate that how 5Q model of the service quality, trust and reputation can effect patient satisfaction in health care sectors, for this study we researched Umeå hospital. This research is focused towards exploring the perceptions of patients who consume or undertook Umeå hospital services. It also provides an effective model for health care organization in practice and the study also contribute to literature from educational point of view.  Method: In this study hypothesis developed to investigate how 5Q model of the service quality, trust and reputation can effect patient satisfaction. For service quality 5Q model was used while several attributes were taken for trust and reputation to investigate the patient perception. Quantitative research strategy was adopted and convenience sampling technique was used to collect quantitative data from patients of Umeå hospital to get their satisfaction levels. Hypotheses were tested by using multiple regression analysis to the obtained data in SPSS. Findings: The study revealed interesting results for patient satisfaction regarding the 5Q model of the service quality, trust and reputation. Meanwhile 5Q model was used for service quality, which composes quality of object, quality of process, quality of infrastructure, quality of interaction and quality of atmosphere. Out of five dimensions, two gave positive effect and three gave no effect result by the patient for their satisfaction from the Umeå hospital. Trust gave no effect result, whereas reputation gave positive effect result by the patient for their satisfaction from the Umeå hospital. Implication/Contribution: The findings imply that 5Q model of the service quality is not the only factor that could lead to patient satisfaction in health care sectors but trust and reputation are also factors of great importance. Organizations need to improve every dimension of service quality, creating trust and achieve high reputation to gain high level of patient satisfaction. This study contributes to existing theories by confirming or adding value that have positive effect on patient satisfaction. 5Q model is a comprehensive model and it needs to be implemented in health care sector but with additional factors i.e. trust and reputation.  Key words: Patient satisfaction, Service quality, 5Q model, Trust, Reputation, Health care providers.

Article 15(1) of the Community Trade Mark Regulation states that the Community Trade Mark holder has to put the mark into genuine use in the Community within five years from registration. Even though the regulation does not deal with the extent of use necessary, the Joint Statements uphold that genuine use within one country is enough. However, recent case law from national offices have ruled in the opposite direction, resulting in legal uncertainty concerning how much use that is needed. The courts claimed that use within merely one Member State is not use in a substantial part of the Community and therefore not genuine.This paper shows that it is not satisfactory to define genuine use in the Community by way of analogy to the term substantial part of the territory. The latter derives from the test of reputation concerning a different case entirely. Instead, most indicators point towards a market-oriented approach where national frontiers do not matter. Focus should be on the extent of use being made compared to the market concerned in the entire EU. A case-by-case assessment is required, where all relevant circumstances are taken into consideration.

Geros reputacijos palaikymas ir apsaugojimas nuo krizių yra svarbus kompanijų, siekiančių konkurencinio pranašumo, uždavinys. Baigiamojo darbo problema: kaip suvokiama reputacijos svarba ir kaip valdoma reputacijos rizika Lietuvos telekomunikacijų sektoriaus įmonėse. Darbo tikslas – išanalizuoti reputacijos svarbą, reputacijos rizikos atsiradimo veiksnius ir jos valdymo praktiką Lietuvos telekomunikacijų sektoriaus įmonėse ir palyginti su praktika užsienio įmonėse. Darbe atsakoma į klausimus: kaip suvokiama reputacijos svarba, kokie reputacijos riziką įtakojantys veiksniai ir kaip reputacijos rizika valdoma Lietuvos telekomunikacijų sektoriaus įmonėse. Darbą sudaro įvadas, literatūros apžvalga, empirinio tyrimo eigos ir rezultatų aprašymas, apibendrinimai, išvados, praktinė interpretacija vadovams. Literatūros apžvalgoje išnagrinėta mokslinė literatūra. Šioje dalyje nagrinėjama reputacijos vieta tarp kitų sąvokų, pateikiamas suinteresuotų asmenų sąvokos paaiškinimas ir jų daromos įtakos kompanijos reputacijai analizė. Akcentuojama korporacinės reputacijos svarba kompanijos veiklos kontekste, analizuojami skirtingų autorių požiūriai į reputacijos rizikos atsiradimo šaltinius bei autorių įžvalgos kaip reikėtų valdyti reputacijos riziką. Siekiant atsakyti į darbe iškeltus klausimus, atliktas kiekybinis tyrimas Lietuvos telekomunikacijų sektoriaus įmonėse. Tyrimo duomenys apdoroti naudojant SPSS statistinės analizės programinį paketą. Siekiant interpretuoti tyrimo rezultatus... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The maintaining of a good reputation and its protection from crises is an important task for companies seeking competitive advantages. The issue of this final thesis is to explore the level of perception of the importance of reputation and the ways of reputation risk management in the Lithuanian telecommunications sector companies. The goal of the thesis – to analyze the importance of reputation, factors contributing to the occurrence of reputation risk and its management practice in the Lithuanian telecommunications sector companies, and to compare it with practice in foreign companies. The thesis provides answers to the following questions: How is the importance of reputation perceived? What are the factors influencing reputation risk? How is this risk managed in the Lithuanian telecommunications sector companies? The thesis consists of the following parts: Introduction, Literature Review, Description of the Process of an Empiric Research and its Results, Summing-Up, Conclusions, and Practical Interpretation for Leaders. The Literature Review provides an analysis of scientific literature. This part explores the place of reputation among other concepts, provides a definition of the concept of stakeholders and analysis of the influence they have on the company’s reputation. Stress is laid on the importance of corporate reputation in the context of business activities. This part of the thesis also contains an analysis of the views of different authors on the sources of... [to full text]

Large multi-national corporations experience more and more pressure to maintain good relationships with their stakeholders, including employees. Concurrent with this, the focus of Corporate Communication management has shifted from pure communication management to relationship management. Lonmin Platinum, a mining company within the South African mining and minerals sector is no exception in this regard. In fact, due to the apartheid legacy and government regulations that are aimed at safety and equity, it is especially difficult to manage employee relationships in the mining industry. Apart from historical and environmental factors, Lonmin Platinum's task is further complicated by its diverse work-force. At the time of the study the work-force of approximately 20 000 employees consisted of literate, semiliterate and illiterate employees. In addition, the company comprised five business units, each with their own corporate identity. In order to manage relationships effectively, a company needs to understand the nature and quality of its relationships as well as which factors might influence its stakeholder relationships. Studies have already indicated that a company's corporate identity can contribute to the stakeholders' images of the company. Over time, the image impacts on the company's reputation and consequently on the stakeholders' relationships with the company. In the case of a company such as Lonmin Platinum, with an endorsed corporate identity, it can be expected that corporate identity will also play a role in the nature and quality of relationships, including employee relationships. Previous studies have investigated the link between corporate identity and relationships focussing on communication, and on behaviour elements of identity. Up until now, no examples of research of the possible influence of symbolic corporate identity elements on relationships in the South African mining industry could be traced. Against this background, the following research question was asked: What is the relationship between employees' perceptions of symbolic corporate identity elements and employer-employee relationships at Lonmin Platinum? Semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews and quantitative questionnaires were applied as data collection methods. The results confirmed that Lonmin Platinum did not have a good relationship with its employees in general. The lack of trust was seen as one of the most apparent problems. It also seemed that the employees did not understand the company's endorsed corporate identity. They, for example, did not understand the company structure and identified themselves more with the symbolic corporate identity of their respective business units than with the company itself. With regard to the correlation between symbolic corporate identity and relationships, this study indicated a relationship between employees' perceptions of how effective the company reached it objectives and the quality of its employee relationships. Company objectives, such as a safe working environment, a healthy working environment, socioeconomic empowerment and accountability, as well as a company that unites its workforce and creates a family feeling amongst the employees impacted most on employee relationships. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Šiandien vis garsiau kalbama apie augantį poreikį kryptingai, sistemiškai ir apgalvotai valdyti organizacijos reputaciją. Tad šio darbo siekiamas tikslas: ištyrus UAB „Sabelijos prekyba“ darbuotojų požiūrį į reputacijos valdymo svarbą ir aktualumą, pasiūlyti įmonei strateginį reputacijos valdymo modelį. Darbe ne tik analizuojamos mokslinės literatūros šaltinių teorinės nuostatos apie organizacijų reputacijos formavimo modelių aspektus, tačiau, remiantis projekto „Gerbiamiausia Lietuvos įmonė 2008“ vertinimo metodika, atliekamas ir UAB „Sabelijos prekyba“ darbuotojų požiūrio į reputacijos kūrimo ir valdymo svarbą vykdant kompanijos veiklą tyrimas. Gauti rezultatai rodo, jog UAB „Sabelijos prekyba“ netaiko atskiros, konkrečios strategijos įmonės reputacijos kūrimui, o nuolat kintantis įmonės personalas yra silpnoji grandis kuriant teigiamą kompanijos reputaciją. Tad trečioje darbo dalyje, remiantis viešojo sektoriaus organizacijų veiklos tobulinimusi, taikant įsivertinimą pagal Bendrąjį vertinimo modelį (BVM), siūloma pastarąjį adaptuoti ir pritaikyti strateginiam UAB „Sabelijos prekyba“ reputacijos valdymo modelio sudarymui, kuris suteiktų organizacijai galimybę įsivertinti ir tobulinti savo veiklą norint suformuoti teigiamą kompanijos reputaciją. / Strategical management and control of corporte reputation plays a big role in all over the world. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to analyse the employees attitude of JSC „Sabelijos prekyba“ to the importance of controlling company reputation and propose the strategic corporate reputation management model. This paper reviews the conceptual development of the corporate reputation process and also analyses the employees attitude of JSC „Sabelijos prekyba“ to the importance of controlling company reputation. The findings shows that JSC „Sabelijos prekyba“ heavily has any strategy how to manage and control it‘s corporate reputation. For this reason, in the third part of this study the new strategic corporate reputation management model is proposed which is based on Common Assessment Framework (CAF) model, developed by European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) for the public service institutions in the EU Member States.