Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Kevin P. Gwinner / SiteOne Landscape Supply is the largest distributor of lawn care products for professionals of the landscape industry in U.S.A. and Canada. SiteOne is aware of the importance of customer satisfaction and it is interested on increasing satisfaction by improving customer service. There is a high concentration of Latino landscapers in Texas, whom customer service needs may differ from non-Latino customers. Therefore the purpose of this project was to study customer satisfaction of Hispanic and non-Hispanic landscapers considering the following thirteen service attributes: competitive prices, available stock, cleanliness of facilities, business follow up, timely assistance, timely deliveries, accuracy of orders, helpful staff, approachable staff, knowledgeable staff, Spanish-speaking staff, training in Spanish, and labels in Spanish. The data was collected throughout a survey which was presented to SiteOne customers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. A total of 224 surveys were collected. The methods used to analyze the data were importance-performance (I-P) and regression analyses. The major differences found in the I-P grids are related to the three Spanish language attributes. Spanish-speaking staff, training in Spanish and labels in Spanish are statistically significant more important to Hispanic than non-Hispanic landscapers. Available stock is the most important attribute for non-Hispanic, and it is the second most important for Hispanic customers. SiteOne has an opportunity to improve their stock availability, especially for nursery, fertilizers and pesticides. Other factors that are very important to customers and they perceive that SiteOne is doing an excellent job are: timely assistance, timely deliveries, accuracy of orders, and approachable, knowledgeable and helpful staff. The importance of competitive prices was rated as high as the previous six service attributes, however the mean of pricing performance was not as high as that group of attributes. From the multivariate regression analyses, it was found that pricing was the only variable with statistical significance to predict changes in customer satisfaction for the non-Hispanic group. No statistical significance was found in the regression model run for Hispanic clients. Some negative coefficients with statistical significance were found for stores #199 and #220 in the models run to analyze branch performance. It is recommended that these results be compared with other measurements to determine the nature of the issues that may be present in these locations.

Almost 50% of small businesses close within 5 years in part because of inadequate marketing strategies. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore how landscape industry small business owners have successfully used social media marketing to help ensure business viability. The population for this study was landscape industry small business owners in central Alabama, who have been successful in using social media marketing. The conceptual framework for the study included adoption theory to understand the successful implementation of social media as a marketing tool, and social exchange theory to explain how social behavior results from the exchange process within social media. Data collection included semistructured interviews with 4 small business owner from the landscape industry and content analysis of the social media for 4 landscape industry small businesses. Data were alphanumerically and thematically coded. Analysis revealed 4 themes: (a) marketing strategy adoption; (b) primary social media types used; (c) social media content including aspects such as service, education, and holiday posts; and (d) benefits and challenges such as social media as a low-cost marketing option for improved visibility, but with a trial-and-error learning curve. Results may be used by small businesses to improve their long-term viability through social media marketing strategies, and to improve citizens' quality of life and the local economy through increased tax revenues leading to more resources for schools, public safety organizations, and other institutions in the community.

From the 1880s, a new type of designed green space appeared in the industrial landscape in England and the USA - the factory pleasure garden or park. At the same time, industrialists began to enhance their office and factory buildings with landscaping and planting, and some opened allotment gardens for the children of factory workers. The making of gardens and parks around or near office and factory buildings, designed by professionals, was driven by belief in the value of gardens and parks to recruitment and retention of staff, to industrial welfare, and to advertising, corporate identity and public relations. The thesis will show how industrialists appropriated the historical, cultural and metaphorical meanings of gardens in a bid to redefine industry as progressive and responsible and to shift the image of factory labour from unhealthy and exploitative to healthy, caring, respectable and sociable. The thesis will argue that companies employed landscape professionals to contribute to a positive image of industry and industrial development in the suburban or rural landscape, and to harmonise industry and nature. It will show how the factory gardens and parks supported numerous and varied opportunities for outdoor recreation that in some districts would not have been so readily accessible to working people, particularly to women and young people. The thesis will show how companies exploited the social and cultural capital of gardens and recreation space through photography, illustration and film for promotional purposes. It will suggest that although the sporting and other outdoor recreational opportunities at factories were likely to be beneficial to many, the greater value to companies of factory pleasure gardens was in advertising and public relations. The thesis will build on existing research that highlights the valuable contribution of industry to sports and recreation provision in this period. It will also suggest that industry had more influence on gardens and gardening than is currently understood.