The purpose of this thesis is to map out and investigate how the banking sector affects a customer’s willingness to change bank, and what the switching costs are for a customer when making these changes. A case study was performed through qualitative and quantitative questionnaires and interviews. The qualitative part was carried out to create hypotheses. The hypotheses was tested in a quantitative survey to be able to either accepted or rejected these them. When merging the hypotheses with the performed survey the authors came to the conclusion that there are two major switching costs that affect a customer’s willingness to change bank. These two are financial and non-financial costs, the financial cost can appear as good economical conditions provided by the bank and the non-financial cost through the relation between the bank and a customer. Further, the authors have created a tool to be used by a bank in order to achieve a high amount of quality and also in what dimension they have to interact with their customers’ needs in order to keep them loyal and satisfied. / Syftet med denna uppsats var att kartlägga vilka inträdes- och utträdesbarriärer som påverkar kundernas rörlighet på den privata bankmarknaden samt beskriva hur ban-ker kan agera för att erhålla och bibehålla nya kunder.Problemfrågan som lyder: ”Hur kan en bank öka tillflödet och bibehålla bankkunder genom att använda sig av inträdes- och utträdesbarriärer på den privata bankmark-naden?” framkom delvis genom diskussion med fallföretagets VD och delvis utifrån vetenskapliga artiklar. Både genom banker och också konsumentbankbyrån skall det vara relativt enkelt för kunderna att byta bank, dock tenderar bankkunderna till att stanna kvar på sin befintliga bank även då de skulle kunna erhålla bättre villkor och avgifter genom ett byte. Med anledning av detta så framkom det att det existerar bar-riärer på bankmarknaden som hindrar bankbyte för kunderna, med det som bank-grund ansåg vi det intressant att analysera om banken kan påverka dessa för egen vinnig.I teoridelen beskriver vi fyra olika teorier vilka vi använder som verktyg för att be-svara vår problemfråga. Den första teorin innefattar kundens beslutsprocess för att identifiera vilka steg kunden går igenom när beslut skall tas. Genom att göra detta kan vi se att många kunder redan har gått igenom flera av stegen i processen och de väntar på rätt tillfälle. Den andra teorin behandlar kundens bedömning av kvalitet och enligt teorin finns det tre olika dimensionen av kvalitet, dessa är teknisk, funktionell och image. Dessa tre dimensioner använder vi i en modell som vi skapat som slut-sats, modellen skall fungera som ett verktyg för banker för att uppnå nöjda kunder. Den tredje teorin behandlar kundlojalitet, denna teori hänvisar tillbaka till den förra då den illustrerar hur viktigt det är att kundens upplevda kvalitet stämmer överens med den förväntade kvalitén. Den fjärde teorin belyser inträdes- och utträdesbarriä-rer och även utifrån perspektiven finansiell och icke finansiell. Genom att dela in dem efter de perspektiven har det varit möjligt att ta fram två stora barriärer, en från varje perspektiv.Genom tre kvalitativa intervjuer med personer på olika positioner inom det valda fallföretaget samt en enkätundersökning riktad mot bankkunder har den empiriska delen skapats. Den information som intervjuerna genererat har vi använt oss av för att utveckla de hypoteser som illustreras i avsnittet 4.5. Dessa hypoteser prövade vi genom en enkätundersökning riktad mot 80 bankkunder.Vi kom fram till att om en bank vill öka tillflödet av bankkunder bör banken identifi-era de största inträdes- och utträdesbarriärerna. De två största barriärerna som vi identifierat är en finansiell barriär (bra villkor) och den andra var en icke finansiell barriär (relationen till banken). Dessa två stora barriärer är de som påverkar de got-ländska bankkunderna till störst del på marknaden i valet av bank. Ett annat intres-sant resultat var att lojalitet är ett diffust begrepp på bankmarknaden varken banken eller bankkunden kan definiera begreppet samtidigt visar resultatet från enkätunder-sökningen att majoriteten anser sig lojala mot sin bank men att de inte tjänar något på att vara lojal.

Aim of this paper is to describe and analyze why customers come back to the restaurants, what influence their decisions. During the research we formulate 2 hypotheses. Hypotheses 1 – most reasons of the restaurants’ customers retention can be associated with restaurants’ service elements adapted from the 8Ps of Service Marketing Model. Hypotheses 2 - retention and loyalty have unidirectional relation – loyalty means retention of the customer, but retained customer doesn’t mean loyal. The results of empirical research support both hypotheses. Also during the empirical research we have highlighted some interesting results which are visualized in Illustration 5.1, Illustration 5.2 and Illustration 5.3. In research qualitative and quantitative approaches are used. Data collection method is interview. One deep interview was conducted with restaurant manager in order to enhance the quality of results interpretation. The results of the research can be used by marketers especially in restaurant sphere in order to better understand what influence customers’ behavior and why they come back to the service provider. Also restaurants’ managers can use our findings as a tool to increase the retention rates by adjusting relevant restaurants’ service elements within their restaurant.

The aim of this thesis is to develop a greater understanding of consumers' brand repertoires. This research is part of the brand choice literature, which involves the analysis of all parts of the brand choice process. While there is clearly a need for research on the size of consumers' repertoites, little research has been conducted on this topic to date. This thesis provides much needed descriptive knowledge in relation to repertoire size, as well as providing information about the potential influence of a selection of consumer characteristics on this measure. / Repertoire size is defined as the number of brands a consumer purchases over a specified period of time. It is not only seen as a measure of loyalty (the smaller the repertoire, the higher the loyalty), but also a measure of competitiveness in a market (the bigger the repertoire, the greater the competition). Although these areas are of considerable interest to marketing managers and researchers alike, this measure has rarely been emphasised in previous research (Colombo and Jiang 2002). / Thesis (BA(Hons)IndustrialandAppliedMaths)--University of South Australia, 2008.

This study attempts to validate the generalizability of Wang's five-component commitment model among 300 ICT professionals in Hong Kong. This was done by assessing the relationship between career development (one of the major antecedents of employee commitment) and employee commitment, and by determining the moderating role of the perceptions of career development opportunities within the organization. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2007.

The growth of the Internet has imposed a fundamental shift in business economics and is particularly true for the banking industry. Banks have been adopting more Internet banking services in order to remain competitive in the banking industry. Drivers of growth in Internet banking are a combination of convenience provided to those with easy Internet access, the availability of secure and high standard Internet banking functionality and the necessity of banking services to be efficient (ACNielsen, May 2002). / The convenience of banking via the Internet is allowing the growth of multiple banking relationships as customers learn to shop around and utilize one bank's specialized services while maintaining an everyday account with another bank. Denton and Chan (1991) defined this kind of multiple banking as being conducted where people employ two or more bankers to handle their personal financial affairs. Gerrard and Cunningham (1999) indicated that socio-economic characteristics can be used to identify a multiple bank user(s) from a single bank user. / According to Dick and Basu (1994), switching costs are a common strategy to maintain the loyalty. Switching costs have been identified as a factor contributing to maintaining a relationship (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). / While a large amount of literature has examined the issues of consumers' multiple bank behaviour in traditional non-Internet setting (Burnett and Chonko, 1981; and Chan, Ghee and Ho, 1993), few consumer behaviour studies have extended beyond traditional non-Internet settings into the context of Internet commerce. This research would be among the earliest attempt to study this issue in an Internet setting. / Based on a review of the literature, a research model linking customer satisfaction, loyalty, switching costs and split Internet bank behaviour was developed. The model has two main features. First, it examines the main direct effects of customer satisfaction, loyalty and switching costs on split Internet bank behaviour. Second, the model also examines the moderating role of socio-economic characteristics (income, education and positions) on the relationship between customer satisfaction, loyalty and switching costs - split Internet bank behaviour. / The empirical research was based on data collected by an Internet survey of adopters of Internet banking service in Hong Kong. Results from the statistical analyses indicate that customer satisfaction, loyalty as well as switching costs have a strong positive effect on split Internet bank behaviour. These analyses also examine the moderating role of socio-economic characteristics on the relationship between customer satisfaction, loyalty, switching costs and split Internet bank behaviour. / Implications for researchers and the banking industry are discussed which include factors that affect split Internet bank behaviour; socio-economic characteristics that could be used to distinguish a split Internet bank customer from a single bank customer; effective strategies to user retention and multiple banking relationships reduction. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2007.

This thesis is about how insights from double jeopardy can validly be applied to market dynamics. It has been stated that when a brand increases its market share it will tend to move up some conceptual double jeopardy (DJ) line, with its penetration increasing comparatively more than its purchase frequency for a given market share change. There remains a gap in this approach to dynamics that is academically and managerially relevant. The growth of a particular brand immediately implies a change in the market of some sort and that means the double jeopardy line is likely to move. Rather than riding up a static double jeopardy curve a growing brand could be thought of as taking up a position on a new curve. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2007.

True loyalty, which denotes customer's willingness to continue patronizing a firm over the long term, buying its goods and service on a repeated and preferably exclusive basis, and voluntarily giving word-of-mouth referrals to friends and associates, is an extremely valuable asset to the financial service providers - as the customer's motivation for switching to competitive alternatives is reduced. A conceptual model is developed in this paper to present the likely influence of customer relationship quality with the salesperson on the development of true customer service loyalty (dispositional dimension) to the associated financial service provider firm through personal capitalization on a customer's trust, satisfaction, commitment, affective conflict and reduced perceived risk with the salesperson (attributional dimensions) and a customer's positive perceived service quality of the firm (structural dimension). It is suggested that a strong customer relationship with a financial planning salesperson leads to true service loyalty to the principal, as positive attitudes towards the salesperson are transferred directly to the firm. In situations where a strong relationship develops between the customer and only one particular salesperson, true loyalty to the firm will be a consequential outcome of high personal loyalty and, therefore, rely on the continued availability of the salesperson. To assist managers in encouraging relationship development between their financial planning sales professionals and their customers, potential antecedents of relationship quality in the perspective of sales ethics and interpersonal selling behaviours are identified and discussed in this paper. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2006.

The service sector of many developing countries is playing an increasingly significant role in terms of its contribution to both revenue and labour employment. As for Thailand, it contributed to approximately 53 per cent of GDP in 2003 and is growing every year. The performance of service firms is, therefore, of much interest to both executives and academics. While most empirical research in service firms in Thailand has focused mostly on service quality or customer satisfaction, other aspects of the important factors for the firms' success such as the relationships of customer satisfaction/loyalty and employee satisfaction/loyalty to the firm, performance have not received adequate academic attention. / Most of the research work on the relationships between key stakeholders of service firms has been conducted in developed countries, particularly the USA and the UK. The three key stakeholders of firms normally include customers, employees, and shareholders. Quite surprisingly, relatively little empirical research to study the links between those stakeholders has been carried out in Asia and Thailand in particular. This research is probably the first academic attempt in Thailand to address this gap by empirically examining the three constructs, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and firm preference that have been found in past research to have positive associations. The private hospitals which are located in Bangkok and listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) were the sample population. Four hospitals agreed to take part in this study. / This study used secondary data that were already available from the four hospitals. The data include patient satisfaction surveys they regularly conduct and financial performance measures, such as revenue, profit, and return on assets, which are publicly available in their annual reports and the SET's online database. The data were processed and examined using correlation analysis method. The three variables studied were processed and examined using correlation analysis method. The three variables studied were patient satisfaction, patient loyalty, and hospital performance. The data on patient surveys and other relevant data were given with written consent from the four hospitals. The data on patient satisfaction and loyalty were derived from scores in the patient surveys. As for the hospital performance measures, they were derived from the financial data in the annual reports from the four-year period of 2001-2004. The data of the four hospitals was studied by two methods. The first method was processing all data of the four hospitals as a whole and then analysing them in one aggregate. A major limitation of this study is that the data of the four hospitals on patient loyalty was not complete. / Based on correlation analyses, the results from both methods reveal that some of the hypotheses were supported. Specifically, the results from the first method show that patient satisfaction was positively associated with the two measures of patient loyalty, referrals and repeat visits. However, significant relationships between patient satisfaction and hospital performance and between patient loyalty and hospital performance were not found. As for the second method, the results reveal that there were some positive relationships between variables of three hospitals. Only the results of one hospital show no significant associations between all the three variables. The findings were analysed in detail and implications for researchers and practitioners were also given. Based on the results of this exploratory research, more empirical studies with complete data in the private hospital market are warranted to be able to obtain more conclusive results. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2006.

This thesis evolves around image and its significance while developing customers' loyalty and increasing company's competitiveness in a highly competitive market. The topic is studied in-depth from the organisational perspective and delves into the differing motivations of hotel operators towards shaping favourable image as well as examining how the hotel's image affects customer loyalty and helps the company to increase its competitiveness. Finally, it analyses and compares which public relations tools are the most effective in the process of image creation and developing customer loyalty. From this perspective image becomes a central issue impacting company's future growth, performance and finally success. The research was conducted on the Auckland international hotel chains. Auckland hosts numerous conferences and events that drives demand for accommodation and in a way, creates a conducive environment to hotel operators for future expansion. Thus, hotels compete strongly with one another constantly looking for a competitive advantage by growing their customer base. My thesis outlines the hotels' management efforts and analyses their strategies in the context of changing customers' demands and market trends.With respect to methodological issues, my thesis is based on a qualitative approach and follows an interpretivist paradigm. The research background has been delineated as have been my respondents' profile to provide additional information about the organisation they represent. The research findings described at the end of this thesis document how important image is for a modern hotel and what initiatives should be followed to ensure success. Image and loyalty are closely interrelated as positive image affects customers' loyalty. In order to achieve a balance between sustaining a competitive advantage and increasing loyal customer base a number of managerial implications have been discovered. Detailed analysis of these findings may help the companies to establish a more favourable position in the global market and create mutually beneficial relationships which further help the organisation to grow.Having aimed at exploring the importance of image as a medium that affects company's competitiveness and customers' loyalty towards brand, this study has provided some useful indications for hotel companies as to what should be undertaken to gain loyal customers and improve company's performance on the market.

This study attempts to validate the generalizability of Wang's five-component commitment model among 300 ICT professionals in Hong Kong. This was done by assessing the relationship between career development (one of the major antecedents of employee commitment) and employee commitment, and by determining the moderating role of the perceptions of career development opportunities within the organization.