Along with increasing users and contents, the Internet has gradually become the main channel for customers to acquire information of products and services. Yet the development of the Internet has brought about information overload problems. When facing oversized information, consumers tend to solicit for others¡¦ help. Under such circumstance, reviewing systems and forums on the Internet are flourishing. With the popularization of Internet technologies, these Internet customer review systems have gradually become critical necessary information when consumers are making purchase decisions. This research took two experiments as the methodology used in examining the relation between Internet customer reviews and customers, tourism was selected as the condition of experiment. The first experiment discussed about general Internet customer reviews, including the dispersion of reviews, reviewing scores, number of reviewers and so on and examined the relation between different levels and customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. The second experiment examined the relation between personal risk attitude, perceived risk and customers¡¦ level of trust and willingness of purchase. Outcomes indicate that: 1.The lower dispersion of reviews, the higher the level of customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. 2.The higher review scores, the higher the level of customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. 3.The more reviewers, the higher the level of customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. 4.Dispersion of reviews, review scores and number of reviewers possess reciprocation relations with customers¡¦ trust in the reviews, and the level of influence is score > dispersion > number of reviewers. 5.Personal risk attitude and perceived risk play roles in explaining consumers¡¦ trust in reviews and willingness of purchase.

The invention of Internet affects human life style and also creates many innovations and applications of business models. Social Network Service, SNS, is an innovative application and business model in recently years. It changes the development and communication of current social network and gathers high-traffic viewers to create more business opportunities. However, what¡¦s value attracted users to use SNS. This study focuses the usages of SNS from the users of Taiwan area by empirical research. From the customer point of view, satisfaction and word-of-mouth could be relative to and affected by utilitarian value and hedonic value. Therefore, this study builds an applicable integrated model and uses Structural Equation Modeling, SEM, to analyze and approve the relations of constructs. The following is the conclusions of this study. (1) The theory of this study confirms fit indices in SEM, and cause and effect of each construct is very obvious to support it. (2) Utilitarian value can be measured by factors of sociality, convenience, and information availability; hedonic value can be measured by factors of adventure, escapism, and affiliation. (3) Utilitarian value and hedonic value affect customer satisfaction; customer satisfaction affects word-of-mouth. (4) Utilitarian value and hedonic value positively affect word-of-mouth, but providing a good customer satisfaction can enhance word-of-mouth. (5) Influence of hedonic value is higher than that of utilitarian value relative to customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth. It shows that the users prefer hedonic value in SNS. Therefore, this study can be the reference of business administration and academic research.

From 2006 to 2009, Taiwan's " Performance Workshop" staged the modern Chinese drama ¡¨ Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land¡¨ in various parts of China, and the tickets sold very well. In comparison, China's local performing groups, and even Chinese drama of little theater, but only a few people watch. What¡¦re the reasons for that? And why there are not just a few large-scale performances attract a huge audience, although it¡¦s ticket price significantly higher than general average fare as price reduce everywhere ? This study focused on the success factors of Taiwan¡¦s Modern Troupes in China, and take Taiwan's " Performance Workshop" for example as the case analysis to analyze the reason, why it can have the great box-office. And hope that the domestic and foreign performing groups can know the mainland China people's cultural consumption demands, help them enter the Chinese market of the performing arts. The results found that "income" and "consumer preference" is the most important factor; In addition, the Performance Workshop's drama¡¨ Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land¡¨ can be success is due to the combine of the ¡§high culture" and "mass culture" and use local well-known actors to create promo topic. In script, it performs the different custom of the cross-strait masses by drama. It makes the Chinese people feel curious and fresh, and because word-of-mouth and the reason of endogenisation of tastes, led to the great box-office.

<p>Vårt syfte med denna studie var att förstå fenomenet marknadskommunikation som småföretag i Jönköping har använt sig av. För att belysa detta fenomen har vi utgått ifrån teorierna marknadskommunikationsmixen, kommunikationsplaneringen och word of mouth. Vi har prövat våra valda teorier genom att jämföra våra empiriska resultat med vår valda teoretisk ram.</p><p>Vi har i denna studie använt oss av en kvalitativ ansats. Vi har genomfört samtalsintervjuer med ägarna till fyra olika småföretag. Det rör sig i samtliga fall om ägarna till nyöppnade butiker i Jönköping. Våra resultat visar att samtliga företag på något sätt, medvetet eller omedvetet, har använt sig av de olika stegen som vi utgått ifrån i vår teoretiska ram.</p><p>Våra slutsatser i denna fallstudie är att småföretag använder sig av de olika stegen i teorierna gällande marknadskommunikationsmixen, word of mouth samt kommunikationsplaneringen. Momenten som ingår i marknadskommunikationsmixen, word of mouth samt kommunikationsplaneringen har tillämpats på något plan av ägarna till företagen. Dessa teorier är alltså tillämpbara på den marknadskommunikation de företag som ingått i studien har använt sig av för att nå ut med sitt budskap på marknaden.</p>

<p>Som människa i dagens samhälle blir man, varje dag, exponerad av ett mycket stort antal marknadsföringsbudskap i form av annonser och reklam, ett antal som är omöjligt för en enskild individ att ta in. Företag har därför svårt att nå ut till sina segment utan att spendera stora resurser på sin marknadsföring. Word-of-mouth (WOM) kan beskrivas som det in-formella rykte vilket förmedlas mellan konsumenter och som innehar en större trovärdighet och genomslagskraft än den traditionella marknadsföringen. Om företag skulle kunna på-verka och kontrollera WOM så skulle detta kunna leda till en viss konkurrensfördel. Kun-der inom servicesektorn, som till exempel hotellindustrin, är speciellt påverkade av denna informella information i deras val av hotell och tjänster. Därför har hotellindustrin fungerat som utgångspunkt för denna studie av fenomenet WOM och hur det kan kontrolleras av företagen. Hotellen som ingår i studien är geografisk belägna inom Jönköpingsområdet.</p><p>Syftet med studien och uppsatsen är att försöka undersöka om och hur WOM är påverkat av de utvalda hotellen i studien och observera de olika metoder som kan har en inverkan på WOM.</p><p>Metoden för insamlandet av primär data är av kvalitativ natur. Där någon från de utvalda hotellens administrativa personal har blivit intervjuad för att svara på frågor som berör denna studie över fenomenet WOM. Sekundär data har samlats in från relevanta artiklar och böcker för att bidra till en så trovärdig analys som möjligt. Teorin behandlar WOM, service och relationsmarknadsföring.</p><p>Författarna avslutar med slutsatsen att det finns en medvetenhet hos respondenterna om WOM och dess betydelse för företaget. Det verkar finnas en större medvetenhet av att ak-tivt försöka minimera negativ WOM än att aktivt försöka influera den positiva WOM. Det fanns indikationer på att hotellen på något sätt använder metoder som man tror generera positiv WOM. Problemet verkar vara svårigheten att utvärdera vad som egentligen är skill-naden mellan relationsmarknadsföring och WOM marknadsföring i några av de metoder som hotellen tror kan genera positive WOM. Hotellets storlek/finansiella resurser verkar också ha en viss betydelse för om hotellen säger sig använda eller vara beroende av WOM. Så även om det fanns vissa åtgärder som kan generera positiv WOM så finns det en passiv attityd hos respondenterna mot att man verkligen kan kontrollera det. Men genom att skaf-fa sig större insikt om hur WOM och de nuvarande marknadsmetoder som används hör samman, tror författarna att hotellen kan bli mer effektiva i sin marknadsföring.</p> / <p>Since a normal person of today is exposed to a vast number of marketing messages from conventional marketing methods like advertising campaigns and commercials, the con-sumer will have to make a choice from all these offers conveyed through promotional ef-forts. Word-of-mouth (WOM) is the informal communication about a service or product between consumers. This can be said to serve as a credibility filter for the consumer be-cause of its perceived independence and trustworthiness. Gaining control of WOM from the company’s point of view could create a competitive advantage over competitors in the market place. Service industries, such as the hotel industry, are highly affected by WOM and therefore hotels were chosen in the Jönköping region in order to study the company awareness and ability to control the WOM phenomenon.</p><p>The purpose of the thesis is to investigate if WOM is a factor which is controlled by the hotel firms and to detect and describe how this is done and what kind of the marketing methods that are being used.</p><p>The method chosen by the authors of the thesis in order to gather primary data was of a qualitative nature were interviews were conducted together with appropriate hotel manag-ers of hotels in the Jönköping region in order to study their view on the WOM phenome-non. Secondary data was collected from relevant theoretical articles and books in order to carry out the analysis of the primary data. The theoretical framework consists of theory concerning WOM, service and relationship marketing.</p><p>The authors of the thesis conclude that there is awareness among the respondents about the power of WOM and its importance for the business. However, there seem to be a greater consciousness of using actions for minimizing negative WOM than consciously in-fluence the spread of positive WOM. Some actions taken by the hotels are indeed believed to generate positive WOM but there appears to be a thin line between creating relationship and actually influencing the spread of positive WOM, this perhaps due to the problem of the WOM evaluation of the actions taken. Size/financial mean also seem to be important factors on the hotels dependence on WOM the action taken to try to generate positive WOM. Even though some methods were detected that were thought to harness WOM, there is still a rather passive attitude among the respondents towards actually being able to influence WOM to its full extent. By gaining more insights of WOM and the marketing methods currently used, the authors of the thesis believe that hotels studied would become more efficient in their marketing efforts.</p>

<p>I den här kandidatuppsatsen undersöks storytelling som kommunikationsform på Volvo Personvagnar. Studien presenterar organisationsberättelser som karaktäriserar företaget samt dess funktioner och betydelser. Vidare lyfter studien fram storytelling som verktyg för att påverka en publiks uppfattningar. Inspiration till ämnet inhämtas från nutida forskare och storytelling relateras till kommunikativa uttryck och meningsskapande.</p><p>Studiens empiri består av intervjuer av anställda på Volvo samt pr-konsulter med inblick i företaget. Empirin innefattar även en semiotisk analys av reklamannonser. Målsättningen är att svara på studiens övergripande problem: <em>Hur arbetar Volvo Personvagnar med storytelling som kommunikationsform för att skapa relationer med sina kunder?</em></p><p>Resultatet av studien visar på hur man förhåller sig till storytelling på Volvo, vad man berättar om sig själv samt hur man vill påverka kundernas uppfattning av varumärket. Berättelserna som analyseras i studien beskriver volvoandan, volvokunden, företagsidentiteten och Volvos vilja att förändra varumärket. Vidare analyseras Ycc-projektet, ett initiativ där man aktivt arbetade för att skapa uppmärksamhet och påverka kundernas uppfattningar av varumärket.</p><p>Slutligen sätts organisationsberättelserna i ett vidare perspektiv där deras trovärdighet och betydelse diskuteras. Studien argumenterar för vikten av att förvalta de värderingar som man tror på och som man vill att andra ska förknippa med organisationen. Vidare diskuteras den problematik som kan uppstå när man som Volvo vill förändra sitt varumärke.</p><p> </p><p> </p>

Background: To understand the consumers’ motivation to write online reviews is of importance, especially for companies since a large number of reviews have a positive influence on sales. Previous research has been done regarding what motivate consumers to provide user generated content, online word of mouth and also, to some extent, online reviews. However, these studies have primarily been adopted in a quantitative manner. To explore, from customers’ own perspective, the motivation to write online reviews is therefore valuable to add depth to the existing literature. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore customers’ motivation to write online reviews. Research question: What factors motivate customers to write online reviews? Methodology: The design of the research is a case study where the data collection method was conducted by semi-structured interviews. Conclusion: The result of this study shows that customers’ motivation to write online reviews is due to a variety of situations. The customers are motivated to write to enhance their selfimage, helping both customers and companies, and in some situations to even harm companies. Also, customers were motivated to write to obtain economical incentives. The features of the platform are important, where easiness and the opportunity to be anonymous were preferred.

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.

Purpose – The purpose of this report is to find out how to design a social media strategy with the purpose of increasing the number of followers and exposure of a mobile restaurant on selected platforms. Two different campaigns have been designed and the effects between them have been compared. Method – In order to answer our research questions, two comparative studies and a survey have been conducted. The first comparative study processes an analyzis of past viral campaigns to find common feautures for their successes. The second comparative study processes the selected variables on the client’s profiles on their social media againts their competitors. The survey has been conducted to get an understanding of which of the platforms, Facebook or Instagram, produced most customers to the restaurant. Findings – The result of this report designed a marketing strategy on social media for the client. In addition, two video campaigns was also produced. A social media strategy is in need of several essential components, and its success depends on continuous optimization because of the fact that social media is forever changing. Furthermore, the two campaigns showed that emotions influenced the impact on people. There are also other various features that may lead to greater opportunities for the campaigns to spread on social media. However, we cannot forget that a clear branding is essential in order to value the campaigns successfulness for the specific organization. Implications – The consequences the work should have led to indicate that the client's social media were faced with continued steady growth in terms of followers and engagement. This, assuming they will follow the report results. Limitations – The main limitation work has been affected by was time. We believe that the studies result could have been more refined if the extent of work was enlarged. It would also be interesting to apply the strategy to the client early on and evaluate the result for a better optimization. Furthermore, we did not have a complete control of the client’s social media, which led them to upload their own posts without our / Syfte – Syftet med arbetet är att ta reda på hur man skapar en strategi för marknadsföring på sociala medier med avsikten att öka följarantalet och exponering av en mobil restaurang på utvalda plattformar. Till detta kommer två olika kampanjer att utformas för att mäta och jämföra effekten mellan dem. Metod – För att besvara frågeställningarna har vi genomfört två jämförande studier samt en enkätundersökning. En jämförande studie av tidigare virala succéer för att hitta gemensamma faktorer för deras framgång samt en av ett antal utvalda variabler på uppdragsgivarens profiler på sociala medier gentemot deras konkurrenter. Enkätundersökningen har genomförts för att få en uppfattning om vilken av plattformar, Facebook eller Instagram, som bidrog mest till att användarna kom till restaurangen. Resultat – Arbetet resulterade i en strategi för sociala medier för arbetets uppdragsgivare samt två kampanjer i form av video. En social mediestrategi är i behov av flera väsentliga komponenter och dess framgång är beroende av ständig optimering eftersom sociala medier ständigt förändras. Resultatet kring de två kampanjerna visade att känslor spelade en stor roll för kampanjernas inverkan på människor. Det finns även egenskaper som kan leda till större möjligheter till att kampanjer sprids på sociala medier. Det som dock inte fick glömmas var att en tydlig varumärkeslänk är avgörande för om kampanjen kan ses som framgångsrik för det specifika företaget. Implikationer – De följder vi kunde arbetet bör ha lett till talar för att uppdragsgivarens sociala medier stod inför fortsatt stadig tillväxt när det gäller följare och engagemang förutsatt att de följt arbetets resultat. Begränsningar – Den största begränsningen arbetet har påverkats av är tiden. Undersökningarnas resultat anser vi hade kunnat förfinas om deras omfattning hade förstorats. Det hade även varit intressant att implementera strategin och bedöma dess resultat samt optimera den utefter det. Ännu en begränsning var att vi inte fick fullständig kontroll av uppdragsgivarens sociala medier vilket medförde att uppdragsgivaren publicerade egna inlägg. Det orsakade även att

The question of what type of purchase (i.e., experiential vs. material) typically advances more happiness has been answered (Van Boven and Gilovich, 2003). This dissertation employed three different manipulation methods across six studies to investigate what underlies this effect. A consistent pattern of results demonstrated that verbal sharing (i.e., telling others) helps explain the superiority of experiential purchases in advancing happiness. Moreover, I found that people's greater inclination to share about their experiential (vs. material) purchases is driven by their expectation of being more highly regarded by their listeners. Taken together, these findings shed light on a behavioral (i.e., sharing) and psychological process (i.e., expected regard) that help us understand why experiences make people happier than do material objects.