I mitten av 1900-talet steg antalet kvinnor på arbetsmarknaden dramatiskt vilket fick tillföljd att debatten kring möjligheten till balans mellan arbete och fritid, work-life balance, tog fart på allvar. Det övergripande syftet med denna studie är att bringa en bredare förståelse kring kvinnor i förhållande till aspekter av arbete, som berör balansen mellan privatliv och yrkesliv. Intentionen är att tillföra personalområdet en djupare och bredare förståelse kringde villkor som kvinnliga arbetstagare dagligen måste förhålla sig till och därmed också arbetsgivare. Resultatet visar, utifrån kvinnornas berättelser, att samhälleliga förutsättningar för balans och integration, jämställdheten i parrelationen och dess betydelse för balans och integration samt kvinnornas egna strategier kring balans och integration är viktiga aspekter för kvinnorna i hur de balanserar och hanterar work-life balance. Det har även visat sig att förändringar i ovannämnda perspektiv av work-life balance är små mellan generationerna. I de samhälleliga förutsättningarna för balans och integration syns tydliga förändringar mellan generationerna. Politiska och organisatoriska förutsättningar har förändrats över tid. Nya hjälpmedel och möjligheter för individen har etablerats och den samhällsekonomiska situationen förändrats. Jämställdheten i parrelationen och dess betydelse för balans och integration förhåller sig till de samhälleliga förutsättningarna och har förändrats i takt med att förutsättningarna förändrats så som nya politiska beslut, lagar och omsorgsmöjligheter. Kvinnornas egna strategier kring balans och integration tycks däremot vara liknande över tid. Visserligen finns dessa i ett sammanhang som förändrats. Strategierna förhåller sig till de ovannämnda perspektiven och i och med det så påverkas kvinnorna av den tid de lever i. Men problematiken är fortfarande densamma som de försöker lösa.

Globally operating business organizations tend to use a global strategy by using a standardized strategy as a fixed format. However, this has developed to be very ineffective for the ability to compete in the different markets worldwide. The adaptation of local preferences hence, seems to be crucial but also very complex for multinational retailers. This study therefore, determines the complexity of considerations that a shift from a global to a transnational strategy includes. The decision making of which strategy is appropriate for multinational retailers to compete on a global market can be quite puzzling, as is can be seen in the bed textile segment. Therefore this research paper investigates, within a case study of IKEA’s bed textile department, if a shift from a global to a transnational strategy is of advantage for a multinational retailer like IKEA and to what extend cultural awareness has to be considered. The methods that were used for this study include a literature review in the mentioned focus area and a collection of primary data through a qualitative research design with an open questionnaire sent to the Sales Leaders of IKEA. The research has shown that market research is an important factor when it comes to cultural related differences between the countries. Also, when dealing with the concern of adaptation of the market relevant bed textile sizes to the product range, the Sales Leaders of IKEA have perceived different concerns. Therewith a full adaptation may not be the solution for all businesses, since this depends on the product and market preferences. The cultural preferences in each country and the right degree of standardization and local preferences are a big issue for the global bed textile industry and are hence perceived as the main challenges in this concern. Possible paths for future investigations are shown by the results of this study. Thus, an inclusion of other cases could enable the possibility of a generalization of the study’s findings. Also, the same case study could be expanded by including customers input in the individual markets; this would lead to a better understanding of the customer’s preferences and a higher validity of the study. Last but not least this study has shown that there is no simple answer given whether a shift from a global towards a transnational strategy is of advantage for multinational retailers; however interesting factors concerning the shift could be identified.

Arbetet handlade om vad sjöbefälsstudenterna på Sjöfartshögskolan i Kalmar prioriterade mest när de skulle söka sitt första jobb till sjöss. Samt även vilka drivkrafter som låg bakom för att studenterna skulle söka sig ut på den internationella marknaden. Syftet med arbetet var att genom en enkätundersökning ta reda på vilka prioriteringar som hade störst betydelse för studenterna. För att få ett överskådligt material att jobba med använde vi oss av en kvantitativ metod. Resultaten skilde inte mycket mellan klasserna. Samtliga respondenter ansåg att lönen var den viktigaste punkten när de skulle söka sitt första jobb. De övriga faktorerna som var viktiga för respondenterna visar på att de satte stort värde på det sociala livet ombord och möjlighet till kompetensutveckling och den fortsatta karriären.

This study examines the strategies that guide the role of end-users in new product development (NPD) in UK consumer durable firms. NPD success factor literature identifies the involvement of the end-user and a focus on their needs as important contributors to product success. The predominantly scientific and industrial focus of these studies means that there is, however, little information on how companies in consumer markets involve users to achieve successful products. This study fills a gap by examining the role of product users in the development of successful consumer durable products in UK firms. The products were identified through the use of a success scale developed from Griffin and Page 1993, 1996, and the award of the Millennium Product marque. An inductive approach utilising both quantitative and qualitative methods was employed and the study identified discrete groups of users involved for specific purposes in the product development process. Two strategies were identified as guiding userinvolvement: in the Expediency strategy, employees or 'internal users' were involved for rapid testing of designs where speed-to-market was considered to be a key competitive factor. The Risk Reduction strategy involved both external and internal users when products were more complex and a focus on product quality and getting it 'right first time' were important. It was also found that the firms either developed products based on their own interpretation of the users' needs, 'consumer-driven', or driven by retailers' demands and suggestions, 'retailer-driven'. Following further testing with all sixty-five products, it was concluded that the perceived complexity of the product determined which strategy was chosen, and the level of market orientation in the firm established the driver. This thesis extends the NPD success-factor literature by establishing that the involvement of users is a contributor to successful consumer durable product development. It also identifies 'internal users' as a previously unrecognised group of users and relates the use of different groups of users to two distinct strategies. The Risk Reduction and Expediency strategies also extend the 'first-mover advantage' literature by concluding that products developed with the Risk Reduction Strategy were more successful than those that used an Expediency Strategy. Although these products were not usually first-to-market they benefited from being of superior quality.

In capital market research (CMR) studies of the value relevance of accounting numbers are founded upon the concept that, in equilibrium, the book values are equal to or have some long-term relationship with the market value and that market returns are related to book returns. This thesis seeks to resolve a gap in the CMR by examining 30 selected individual firms listed on the Australian stock market during the period 1950 to 2004, using equilibrium correction modelling techniques. Even these limited prior works used cross-sectional techniques rather than the long-run, time-series, analysis used in this study. Moreover, dynamic analysis in the CMR has tended to focus on indexes or portfolio data rather than using firm-specific case study data of the type modelled here. No prior research has taken this approach using Australian data. The results of this thesis indicated that an equilibrium correction relationship between market values and book values for firms listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) could be determined by using accounting and macroeconomic regressors. The findings of the thesis were consistent with the literature in terms of the variables suggested and important in the firm's valuation from the three main approaches, the analysts (industry) approach, the finance and accounting theory (textbook) approach and the CMR literature approach. The earnings, dividends and book value variables are significant in their relationships with the firm's market values. The models constructed were typically more informative and had an increased forecasting performance compared with the a priori models tested, based on theory and the literature.

Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to undertake theory development and testing particular to re-purchase intention in an experiential service context, specifically the cultural performing arts. Services researchers suggest implementing a multi-disciplinary approach to research that uses theories and methods from several of the management fields will advance the domain of services research. This thesis aims to contribute to the field of service research by drawing from methods and theories offered in both service operations and services marketing fields. To date, service research has been preoccupied primarily with consumer behaviour aspects of services marketing such as satisfaction but underestimates the importance of constructs such as re-purchase intention and the subsequent implications for strategy formulation and implementation. Further to this, the current approach to services research has overlooked the nexus between marketing and operations and the importance of the implementation of strategy to achieve objectives. It is argued that failing to integrate service operations both practically and theoretically into the re-purchase intentions research framework confines its potential effectiveness. In addition, the lack of specific service context application has been identified as a significant oversight in previous services research. Construct measurements and findings have been difficult to replicate across contexts and contextual examination of constructs and relationships has been suggested as a solution. One such context deserving of attention is that of the experiential services, specifically the performing arts. Therefore, using measures and theories developed specifically for this context, this thesis will offer a more comprehensive approach to re-purchase intention research in a performing arts setting. This thesis adopts a mixed method approach by implementing a series of three integrated studies, which amalgamates both operations and marketing fields. This thesis aims to identify the aspects of a performing arts encounter that are relevant to the customer by conducting a two-staged set of qualitative interviews. This process is based on the operations technique Service Transaction Analysis (STA). First, consultant consumers and organisational personnel were used to formulate a consensus definition of a typical performing arts experience and, second, 26 in-depth interviews were conducted with potential future consumers of the performing arts based on this description of the offering. These two studies, coupled with extant literature, informed the research instrument designed for the main survey. This instrument was conducted on 273 potential future consumers of the performing arts. Qualitative work undertaken in Study 1 identifies the service experience description. Study 2 highlights the service management and marketing issues relating to re-purchase intention especially focusing on value, customer satisfaction, show experience and service quality and discloses a set of specific issues incorporated into the wording of the survey instrument. Study 3 measures and tests the key constructs of service quality, show experience, value, satisfaction and the significance of the hypothesised pathways to re-purchase intention. The proposed model is then analysed using the AMOS 5.0 Structural Equation Modelling package. This thesis is structured in the journal paper format with each of the chapters representing each of the five journal papers. In addition, an introductory and concluding chapter are appended with the concluding chapter providing an in-depth discussion of the contributions of this thesis. The papers are based on the progressive results of the research program and offer an integrated set of findings and discussions. The papers are not mutually exclusive but interrelated to comprehensively illuminate the central research theme of the thesis and discuss many aspects of marketing and operations significant to re-purchase intention. The entire thesis is drawn from the data set generated from the three integrated studies developed to address the overall research theme. The central research theme is to investigate the nature of re-purchase intention in an experiential setting using marketing and operations theories as platforms of analysis. Interestingly, the tested model of this thesis found empirically that the subjective and experiential aspects of the service, such as the emotional and artistic quality of the show, did not have a significant and direct relationship with re-purchase intention. This finding is of interest, in particular, to scholars of experiential consumption and marketing practitioners offering these types of services. Previous research has supported the desire to fulfil experiential needs as driving the initial purchase. Conversely, this finding suggests that the desire to visit again is driven by utility and value. As customer maintenance and repeat patronage are of utmost importance to practice, this is an exciting development. Offering further support, the tested model found service quality and show experience were mediated by value to satisfaction, with satisfaction inturn mediating the relationship between value and re-purchase intention. Collectively, these findings have lead to several developments and contributions for both scholarship and practice. The contributions to knowledge of this thesis highlight five main theoretical contributions and four main managerial implications. These encompass: · Advancing the ‘service management trinity’, specifically strengthening the importance of the relationship between service marketing and service operations. · Advancing service management theory by understanding the service offering more intricately and the importance of service description. · Clarifying the roles of experiential and utilitarian attributes of the service experience in an experiential setting extending knowledge related to re-purchase intention. · Particularizing and measuring the construct of re-purchase intention to the performing arts and clarifying the predictors of this construct in the context of experiential performing arts. . · Testing and clarifying the relationships of value and satisfaction to re-purchase intention extending the understanding of re-purchase intention in this field and elaborating the approach and understanding of this construct for future research. This thesis further contributes to knowledge by offering several managerial contributions. These incorporate: · Market segmentation and targeting strategies as critical for performing arts management. · Operations service design and creation strategies in the performing arts by including important aspects of the service experience as highlighted by customer driven research. · Specific recommendation for streamlining delivery through standardised mass customisation. · Offering value frameworks for creating value in service delivery and targeting customer perceptions of superior value. This extending the understanding of the customer perceived value equation. By contributing to the field of service management and advancing enquiry in the field of services marketing and service operations, this thesis offers a new perspective and practical approach to service marketing context analysis making a valuable contribution to scholarship. This approach is based on improving organisational performance in experiential services specifically by applying operations and marketing theory from a customer-perspective. By doing this, findings inform organisations of ways to better meet the needs and wants of consumers through design, delivery and marketing. Moreover, the findings assist researchers in further advancing the field of services research. This research positions the future research program to focus on continuing the advancement of service management by examining the higher order constructs of service quality and show experience and examining the impact of additional customer motivations such as emotional goal attainment and involvement in experiential settings.

Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to undertake theory development and testing particular to re-purchase intention in an experiential service context, specifically the cultural performing arts. Services researchers suggest implementing a multi-disciplinary approach to research that uses theories and methods from several of the management fields will advance the domain of services research. This thesis aims to contribute to the field of service research by drawing from methods and theories offered in both service operations and services marketing fields. To date, service research has been preoccupied primarily with consumer behaviour aspects of services marketing such as satisfaction but underestimates the importance of constructs such as re-purchase intention and the subsequent implications for strategy formulation and implementation. Further to this, the current approach to services research has overlooked the nexus between marketing and operations and the importance of the implementation of strategy to achieve objectives. It is argued that failing to integrate service operations both practically and theoretically into the re-purchase intentions research framework confines its potential effectiveness. In addition, the lack of specific service context application has been identified as a significant oversight in previous services research. Construct measurements and findings have been difficult to replicate across contexts and contextual examination of constructs and relationships has been suggested as a solution. One such context deserving of attention is that of the experiential services, specifically the performing arts. Therefore, using measures and theories developed specifically for this context, this thesis will offer a more comprehensive approach to re-purchase intention research in a performing arts setting. This thesis adopts a mixed method approach by implementing a series of three integrated studies, which amalgamates both operations and marketing fields. This thesis aims to identify the aspects of a performing arts encounter that are relevant to the customer by conducting a two-staged set of qualitative interviews. This process is based on the operations technique Service Transaction Analysis (STA). First, consultant consumers and organisational personnel were used to formulate a consensus definition of a typical performing arts experience and, second, 26 in-depth interviews were conducted with potential future consumers of the performing arts based on this description of the offering. These two studies, coupled with extant literature, informed the research instrument designed for the main survey. This instrument was conducted on 273 potential future consumers of the performing arts. Qualitative work undertaken in Study 1 identifies the service experience description. Study 2 highlights the service management and marketing issues relating to re-purchase intention especially focusing on value, customer satisfaction, show experience and service quality and discloses a set of specific issues incorporated into the wording of the survey instrument. Study 3 measures and tests the key constructs of service quality, show experience, value, satisfaction and the significance of the hypothesised pathways to re-purchase intention. The proposed model is then analysed using the AMOS 5.0 Structural Equation Modelling package. This thesis is structured in the journal paper format with each of the chapters representing each of the five journal papers. In addition, an introductory and concluding chapter are appended with the concluding chapter providing an in-depth discussion of the contributions of this thesis. The papers are based on the progressive results of the research program and offer an integrated set of findings and discussions. The papers are not mutually exclusive but interrelated to comprehensively illuminate the central research theme of the thesis and discuss many aspects of marketing and operations significant to re-purchase intention. The entire thesis is drawn from the data set generated from the three integrated studies developed to address the overall research theme. The central research theme is to investigate the nature of re-purchase intention in an experiential setting using marketing and operations theories as platforms of analysis. Interestingly, the tested model of this thesis found empirically that the subjective and experiential aspects of the service, such as the emotional and artistic quality of the show, did not have a significant and direct relationship with re-purchase intention. This finding is of interest, in particular, to scholars of experiential consumption and marketing practitioners offering these types of services. Previous research has supported the desire to fulfil experiential needs as driving the initial purchase. Conversely, this finding suggests that the desire to visit again is driven by utility and value. As customer maintenance and repeat patronage are of utmost importance to practice, this is an exciting development. Offering further support, the tested model found service quality and show experience were mediated by value to satisfaction, with satisfaction inturn mediating the relationship between value and re-purchase intention. Collectively, these findings have lead to several developments and contributions for both scholarship and practice. The contributions to knowledge of this thesis highlight five main theoretical contributions and four main managerial implications. These encompass: · Advancing the ‘service management trinity’, specifically strengthening the importance of the relationship between service marketing and service operations. · Advancing service management theory by understanding the service offering more intricately and the importance of service description. · Clarifying the roles of experiential and utilitarian attributes of the service experience in an experiential setting extending knowledge related to re-purchase intention. · Particularizing and measuring the construct of re-purchase intention to the performing arts and clarifying the predictors of this construct in the context of experiential performing arts. . · Testing and clarifying the relationships of value and satisfaction to re-purchase intention extending the understanding of re-purchase intention in this field and elaborating the approach and understanding of this construct for future research. This thesis further contributes to knowledge by offering several managerial contributions. These incorporate: · Market segmentation and targeting strategies as critical for performing arts management. · Operations service design and creation strategies in the performing arts by including important aspects of the service experience as highlighted by customer driven research. · Specific recommendation for streamlining delivery through standardised mass customisation. · Offering value frameworks for creating value in service delivery and targeting customer perceptions of superior value. This extending the understanding of the customer perceived value equation. By contributing to the field of service management and advancing enquiry in the field of services marketing and service operations, this thesis offers a new perspective and practical approach to service marketing context analysis making a valuable contribution to scholarship. This approach is based on improving organisational performance in experiential services specifically by applying operations and marketing theory from a customer-perspective. By doing this, findings inform organisations of ways to better meet the needs and wants of consumers through design, delivery and marketing. Moreover, the findings assist researchers in further advancing the field of services research. This research positions the future research program to focus on continuing the advancement of service management by examining the higher order constructs of service quality and show experience and examining the impact of additional customer motivations such as emotional goal attainment and involvement in experiential settings.

Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to undertake theory development and testing particular to re-purchase intention in an experiential service context, specifically the cultural performing arts. Services researchers suggest implementing a multi-disciplinary approach to research that uses theories and methods from several of the management fields will advance the domain of services research. This thesis aims to contribute to the field of service research by drawing from methods and theories offered in both service operations and services marketing fields. To date, service research has been preoccupied primarily with consumer behaviour aspects of services marketing such as satisfaction but underestimates the importance of constructs such as re-purchase intention and the subsequent implications for strategy formulation and implementation. Further to this, the current approach to services research has overlooked the nexus between marketing and operations and the importance of the implementation of strategy to achieve objectives. It is argued that failing to integrate service operations both practically and theoretically into the re-purchase intentions research framework confines its potential effectiveness. In addition, the lack of specific service context application has been identified as a significant oversight in previous services research. Construct measurements and findings have been difficult to replicate across contexts and contextual examination of constructs and relationships has been suggested as a solution. One such context deserving of attention is that of the experiential services, specifically the performing arts. Therefore, using measures and theories developed specifically for this context, this thesis will offer a more comprehensive approach to re-purchase intention research in a performing arts setting. This thesis adopts a mixed method approach by implementing a series of three integrated studies, which amalgamates both operations and marketing fields. This thesis aims to identify the aspects of a performing arts encounter that are relevant to the customer by conducting a two-staged set of qualitative interviews. This process is based on the operations technique Service Transaction Analysis (STA). First, consultant consumers and organisational personnel were used to formulate a consensus definition of a typical performing arts experience and, second, 26 in-depth interviews were conducted with potential future consumers of the performing arts based on this description of the offering. These two studies, coupled with extant literature, informed the research instrument designed for the main survey. This instrument was conducted on 273 potential future consumers of the performing arts. Qualitative work undertaken in Study 1 identifies the service experience description. Study 2 highlights the service management and marketing issues relating to re-purchase intention especially focusing on value, customer satisfaction, show experience and service quality and discloses a set of specific issues incorporated into the wording of the survey instrument. Study 3 measures and tests the key constructs of service quality, show experience, value, satisfaction and the significance of the hypothesised pathways to re-purchase intention. The proposed model is then analysed using the AMOS 5.0 Structural Equation Modelling package. This thesis is structured in the journal paper format with each of the chapters representing each of the five journal papers. In addition, an introductory and concluding chapter are appended with the concluding chapter providing an in-depth discussion of the contributions of this thesis. The papers are based on the progressive results of the research program and offer an integrated set of findings and discussions. The papers are not mutually exclusive but interrelated to comprehensively illuminate the central research theme of the thesis and discuss many aspects of marketing and operations significant to re-purchase intention. The entire thesis is drawn from the data set generated from the three integrated studies developed to address the overall research theme. The central research theme is to investigate the nature of re-purchase intention in an experiential setting using marketing and operations theories as platforms of analysis. Interestingly, the tested model of this thesis found empirically that the subjective and experiential aspects of the service, such as the emotional and artistic quality of the show, did not have a significant and direct relationship with re-purchase intention. This finding is of interest, in particular, to scholars of experiential consumption and marketing practitioners offering these types of services. Previous research has supported the desire to fulfil experiential needs as driving the initial purchase. Conversely, this finding suggests that the desire to visit again is driven by utility and value. As customer maintenance and repeat patronage are of utmost importance to practice, this is an exciting development. Offering further support, the tested model found service quality and show experience were mediated by value to satisfaction, with satisfaction inturn mediating the relationship between value and re-purchase intention. Collectively, these findings have lead to several developments and contributions for both scholarship and practice. The contributions to knowledge of this thesis highlight five main theoretical contributions and four main managerial implications. These encompass: · Advancing the ‘service management trinity’, specifically strengthening the importance of the relationship between service marketing and service operations. · Advancing service management theory by understanding the service offering more intricately and the importance of service description. · Clarifying the roles of experiential and utilitarian attributes of the service experience in an experiential setting extending knowledge related to re-purchase intention. · Particularizing and measuring the construct of re-purchase intention to the performing arts and clarifying the predictors of this construct in the context of experiential performing arts. . · Testing and clarifying the relationships of value and satisfaction to re-purchase intention extending the understanding of re-purchase intention in this field and elaborating the approach and understanding of this construct for future research. This thesis further contributes to knowledge by offering several managerial contributions. These incorporate: · Market segmentation and targeting strategies as critical for performing arts management. · Operations service design and creation strategies in the performing arts by including important aspects of the service experience as highlighted by customer driven research. · Specific recommendation for streamlining delivery through standardised mass customisation. · Offering value frameworks for creating value in service delivery and targeting customer perceptions of superior value. This extending the understanding of the customer perceived value equation. By contributing to the field of service management and advancing enquiry in the field of services marketing and service operations, this thesis offers a new perspective and practical approach to service marketing context analysis making a valuable contribution to scholarship. This approach is based on improving organisational performance in experiential services specifically by applying operations and marketing theory from a customer-perspective. By doing this, findings inform organisations of ways to better meet the needs and wants of consumers through design, delivery and marketing. Moreover, the findings assist researchers in further advancing the field of services research. This research positions the future research program to focus on continuing the advancement of service management by examining the higher order constructs of service quality and show experience and examining the impact of additional customer motivations such as emotional goal attainment and involvement in experiential settings.

This study began with the observation that international marketing research (IMR) lacked a human face. A literature search confirmed this view. The review was thus widened to include international marketing (IM) studies of culture, cognition, and communication, since they were thought to underpin all human interactions. This step, it was believed, would help clarify marketing scholars' understanding of these encounters. Analysis established that not only were there few studies in these areas, but they also focused on dyads, prediction, and control. To establish how this research had evolved in this way and how it could best be extended, an exploration of how knowledge is created followed. This culminated in my understanding that the culture in mainstream marketing circles was responsible for the lack of development of IM relationship research. A decision was therefore made to study this area from an alternative perspective to the positivist approach typically adopted. An interpretive study of small business in a developing country and their overseas buyer was undertaken to that end. In total, more than eleven months fieldwork was conducted in Indonesia. The resulting interpretation was compared to the existing IM relationship research. The literature was then again extended to examine non-marketing studies that may help explain field findings that could not be explained by existing IMR. It was suggested that IM scholars needed to question whether the values and assumptions underlying their research, are appropriate in a global context.

Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to undertake theory development and testing particular to re-purchase intention in an experiential service context, specifically the cultural performing arts. Services researchers suggest implementing a multi-disciplinary approach to research that uses theories and methods from several of the management fields will advance the domain of services research. This thesis aims to contribute to the field of service research by drawing from methods and theories offered in both service operations and services marketing fields. To date, service research has been preoccupied primarily with consumer behaviour aspects of services marketing such as satisfaction but underestimates the importance of constructs such as re-purchase intention and the subsequent implications for strategy formulation and implementation. Further to this, the current approach to services research has overlooked the nexus between marketing and operations and the importance of the implementation of strategy to achieve objectives. It is argued that failing to integrate service operations both practically and theoretically into the re-purchase intentions research framework confines its potential effectiveness. In addition, the lack of specific service context application has been identified as a significant oversight in previous services research. Construct measurements and findings have been difficult to replicate across contexts and contextual examination of constructs and relationships has been suggested as a solution. One such context deserving of attention is that of the experiential services, specifically the performing arts. Therefore, using measures and theories developed specifically for this context, this thesis will offer a more comprehensive approach to re-purchase intention research in a performing arts setting. This thesis adopts a mixed method approach by implementing a series of three integrated studies, which amalgamates both operations and marketing fields. This thesis aims to identify the aspects of a performing arts encounter that are relevant to the customer by conducting a two-staged set of qualitative interviews. This process is based on the operations technique Service Transaction Analysis (STA). First, consultant consumers and organisational personnel were used to formulate a consensus definition of a typical performing arts experience and, second, 26 in-depth interviews were conducted with potential future consumers of the performing arts based on this description of the offering. These two studies, coupled with extant literature, informed the research instrument designed for the main survey. This instrument was conducted on 273 potential future consumers of the performing arts. Qualitative work undertaken in Study 1 identifies the service experience description. Study 2 highlights the service management and marketing issues relating to re-purchase intention especially focusing on value, customer satisfaction, show experience and service quality and discloses a set of specific issues incorporated into the wording of the survey instrument. Study 3 measures and tests the key constructs of service quality, show experience, value, satisfaction and the significance of the hypothesised pathways to re-purchase intention. The proposed model is then analysed using the AMOS 5.0 Structural Equation Modelling package. This thesis is structured in the journal paper format with each of the chapters representing each of the five journal papers. In addition, an introductory and concluding chapter are appended with the concluding chapter providing an in-depth discussion of the contributions of this thesis. The papers are based on the progressive results of the research program and offer an integrated set of findings and discussions. The papers are not mutually exclusive but interrelated to comprehensively illuminate the central research theme of the thesis and discuss many aspects of marketing and operations significant to re-purchase intention. The entire thesis is drawn from the data set generated from the three integrated studies developed to address the overall research theme. The central research theme is to investigate the nature of re-purchase intention in an experiential setting using marketing and operations theories as platforms of analysis. Interestingly, the tested model of this thesis found empirically that the subjective and experiential aspects of the service, such as the emotional and artistic quality of the show, did not have a significant and direct relationship with re-purchase intention. This finding is of interest, in particular, to scholars of experiential consumption and marketing practitioners offering these types of services. Previous research has supported the desire to fulfil experiential needs as driving the initial purchase. Conversely, this finding suggests that the desire to visit again is driven by utility and value. As customer maintenance and repeat patronage are of utmost importance to practice, this is an exciting development. Offering further support, the tested model found service quality and show experience were mediated by value to satisfaction, with satisfaction inturn mediating the relationship between value and re-purchase intention. Collectively, these findings have lead to several developments and contributions for both scholarship and practice. The contributions to knowledge of this thesis highlight five main theoretical contributions and four main managerial implications. These encompass: · Advancing the ‘service management trinity’, specifically strengthening the importance of the relationship between service marketing and service operations. · Advancing service management theory by understanding the service offering more intricately and the importance of service description. · Clarifying the roles of experiential and utilitarian attributes of the service experience in an experiential setting extending knowledge related to re-purchase intention. · Particularizing and measuring the construct of re-purchase intention to the performing arts and clarifying the predictors of this construct in the context of experiential performing arts. . · Testing and clarifying the relationships of value and satisfaction to re-purchase intention extending the understanding of re-purchase intention in this field and elaborating the approach and understanding of this construct for future research. This thesis further contributes to knowledge by offering several managerial contributions. These incorporate: · Market segmentation and targeting strategies as critical for performing arts management. · Operations service design and creation strategies in the performing arts by including important aspects of the service experience as highlighted by customer driven research. · Specific recommendation for streamlining delivery through standardised mass customisation. · Offering value frameworks for creating value in service delivery and targeting customer perceptions of superior value. This extending the understanding of the customer perceived value equation. By contributing to the field of service management and advancing enquiry in the field of services marketing and service operations, this thesis offers a new perspective and practical approach to service marketing context analysis making a valuable contribution to scholarship. This approach is based on improving organisational performance in experiential services specifically by applying operations and marketing theory from a customer-perspective. By doing this, findings inform organisations of ways to better meet the needs and wants of consumers through design, delivery and marketing. Moreover, the findings assist researchers in further advancing the field of services research. This research positions the future research program to focus on continuing the advancement of service management by examining the higher order constructs of service quality and show experience and examining the impact of additional customer motivations such as emotional goal attainment and involvement in experiential settings.