The subjekt of thesis is a proposal of communication mix for the company MOLČÍK Kipper a.s. The thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with the description basic terms of the marketing environment, analysis of the business environment, marketing mix and marketing communication. The second part of the thesis is a practical part. Practical part describes detailed analysis of the current state of the selected company. This part also shows the results of marketing research and creation of a concrete proposal for a new communication mix.

The interest in social robots has grown dramatically in the last decade. Several studies have investigated the potential markets for such robots and how to enhance their human-like abilities. Both of these subjects have been investigated in this thesis using the company Furhat Robotics, and their robot Furhat, as a case study. This paper explores how machine learning could be used to classify dialogue acts in human-robot conversations, which could help Furhat interact in a more human-like way. Dialogue acts are acts of natural speech, such as questions or statements. Several variables and their impact on the classification of dialogue acts were tested. The results showed that a combination of some of these variables could classify 73 % of all the dialogue acts correctly. Furthermore, this paper analyzes the market for social robots which are used for education, where human-like abilities are preferable. A literature study and an interview were conducted. The market was then analyzed using a SWOT-matrix and Porter’s Five Forces. Although the study showed that the mentioned market could be a suitable target for Furhat Robotics, there are several threats and obstacles that should be taken into account before entering the market. / Intresset för sociala robotar har ökat drastiskt under det senaste årtiondet. Ett flertal studier har undersökt hur man kan förbättra robotars mänskliga färdigheter. Vidare har studier undersökt potentiella marknader för sådana robotar. Båda dessa aspekter har studerats i denna rapport med företaget Furhat Robotics, och deras robot Furhat, som en fallstudie. Mer specifikt undersöker denna rapport hur maskininlärning kan användas för att klassificera talhandlingar i människa-robot- konversationer, vilket skulle kunna hjälpa Furhat att interagera på ett mer mänskligt sätt. Talhandlingar är indelningar av naturligt språk i olika handlingar, såsom frågor och påståenden. Flertalet variabler och deras inverkan på klassificeringen av talhandlingar testades i studien. Resultatet visade att en kombination av några av dessa variabler kunde klassificera 73 % av alla talhandlingar korrekt. Vidare analyserar denna rapport marknaden för sociala robotar inom utbildning, där mänskliga färdigheter är att föredra. En litteraturstudie och en intervju gjordes. Marknaden analyserades sedan med hjälp av en SWOT-matris och Porters femkraftsmodell. Fastän studien visade att den ovannämnda marknaden skulle kunna vara lämplig för Furhat Robotics finns ett flertal hot och hinder som företaget måste ta hänsyn till innan de tar sig in på marknaden.

This thesis explores the potential use and implementation of a revenuemanagement model for coworking operators. With a critical realism philosophyand abductive approach, a quantitative study using primary data from a coworkingoperator has been conducted. Based on a comprehensive literature review, wehave found that much research is done on revenue management in the airline andhotel industries. However, we found no research on revenue management modelsthat intend to optimize revenue for coworking operations. Hence, this thesis aimsto fill this gap in existing academic research. Features from revenue managementmodels used in the hotel and airline industries are identified and analyzed with theobjective of implementing these in the coworking industry to efficiently maximizerevenue. The paper proposes the use of multinomial logit (MNL) model in theprocess of market segmentation; this method allows one to determine whichfactors influence the different segments. Moreover, the MNL model is used todefine the demand function from which a probability (probable?) distributionof total demand can be separated into demands representing each product class.Furthermore, the demand is used to calculate protection limits according to theExpected Marginal Seat Revenue (EMSR) model, with the objective of allocatingcapacity to the highest-yielding customers.Results indicate that the MNL regression is an effective tool to analyze themarket segmentation and demand allocation for coworking operators. Afterour successful analysis, we are prepared to argue with confidence that revenuemanagement models are applicable to coworking operations. / I denna uppsats undersöker vi den potentiella användningen och genomförandetav intäktsoptimeringsmodeller för coworking operatörer. En kvantitativ studiemed primär data från en coworking operatör har genomförts med en kritiskrealismfilosofi och ett abduktivt tillvägagångssätt. Det finns mycket forskningkring intäktsoptimering, framför allt inom flyg- och hotellbranschen, men ingensom behandlar intäktsoptimeringsmodeller med avseendepå coworking operatörer. Denna masteruppsats syftar till att bidra med kunskapför att fylla gapet kring revenue management för coworkingkontor, som saknas ibefintlig, svensk akademisk forskning idag.Vitala funktioner som utgör intäktoptimeringsmodeller ämnade för hotellochflygindustrin har identifierats och analyserats med målet att utforskamöjlig implementering för coworkingoperatörer. I uppsatsen genomförsen marknadssegmentering med hjälp av en multinomial regressionsanalys.Vidare görs en multinomial regressionsanalys med samtliga produktklasser somberoende variabler, för att få ut sannolikhetsfördelningen för vilka produkter somefterfrågas av den totala efterfrågan. Resultatet kan användas för att optimeratotala intäkterna genom att beräkna hur många platser som bör reserveras åthögt avkastande kunder, och hur många som kan hyras ut i tidigt skede. Förändamålet har vi tillämpat den så kallade Expected Marginal Seat Revenuemetoden, EMSR.Resultatet indikerar att multinomial logistisk regression är ett effektivt sätt attanalysera marknadssegment och styra efterfrågan till önskad produktklass. Samtatt användandet av rekommenderad revenue management modell är applicerbarpå coworking verksamheter. Alternativt: Resultatet indikerar att: i. multinomiallogistisk regression är ett effektivt sätt att analysera marknadssegment och styraefterfrågan till önskad produktklass. ii. användandet av rekommenderad revenuemanagement modell är applicerbar på coworking verksamheter.

The housing market segmentation could provide a reference for more targeted policymaking and investment strategies. Although there have been many studies, there are no consistent submarkets delineating methods because of a lack of theoretical support and subjective evaluation. In this paper, two market segmentation methods are introduced. The continuous spatial segmentation divides properties into submarkets according to their coordinates, while the discontinuous spatial segmentation creates submarkets according to the variable having the most significant impact on the price index, which is the construction year of properties. Two valuation methods, the hedonic price model and the XGBoost regression model, are applied to evaluate the overall Stockholm housing markets and the created. The results proved that both market segmentation methods could improve the valuation prediction accuracy compared to the valuation under the overall Stockholm housing market. The non-spatial continuous market segmentation approach delivers more improvement in valuation accuracy but also has greater volatility. As for the two valuation models, no single valuation method can be absolutely advantageous in any market context. / Segmenteringen av bostadsmarknaden skulle kunna utgöra en referens för mer målinriktade politiska beslut och investeringsstrategier. Även om det har gjorts många studier finns det inga konsekventa metoder för att avgränsa delmarknader på grund av brist på teoretiskt stöd och subjektiv utvärdering. I detta dokument presenteras två metoder för marknadssegmentering. Den kontinuerliga rumsliga segmenteringen delar in fastigheter i delmarknader utifrån deras koordinater, medan den diskontinuerliga rumsliga segmenteringen skapar delmarknader utifrån den variabel som har störst inverkan på prisindexet, vilket är fastigheternas byggnadsår. Två värderingsmetoder, den hedoniska prismodellen och XGBoost-regressionsmodellen, används för att utvärdera Stockholms bostadsmarknad och den skapade marknaden. Resultaten visade att båda marknadssegmenteringsmetoderna kunde förbättra värderingens prediktionsnoggrannhet jämfört med värderingen under den övergripande bostadsmarknaden i Stockholm. Den icke-rumsliga kontinuerliga marknadssegmenteringsmetoden ger större förbättringar i värderingsnoggrannheten men har också större volatilitet. Vad gäller de två värderingsmodellerna kan ingen enskild värderingsmetod vara helt fördelaktig i något marknadssammanhang.

Arts festivals form a large part of the South African culture originally as many local communities began to share their culture with visitors by means of arts festivals. This has grown into a large industry that has tremendous financial gain for the hosting communities. With over 500 arts festivals each year in South Africa alone, visitors are certain to find a festival to satisfy their specific needs and wants. Therefore, with so many genres available, each festival has created its own niche market and loyal customer base. An extensive literature study was conducted for the purpose of this thesis and it was found that research of small to medium arts festivals has been neglected. This finding motivated the main theme of this research. As mentioned earlier, there are so many genres available that the festival organisers may experience difficulty when deciding what to offer and how many genres to offer in order to still be sustainable and attract a sufficient number of visitors. Furthermore, the large number of arts festivals organised each year makes it increasingly difficult for festivals to build a loyal client base. First-time visitors can be converted into repeat visitors if the marketing strategy is precise. Repeat visitors, as stated in the literature, results in a sustainable income for each festival. Another question that motivated the research was the location of the three arts festivals (Innibos, Vryfees, and Kierieklapper). Three arts festivals in three provinces makes an interesting study to determine whether there is a difference in the three types of visitors that they attract and the spending patterns at each festival. While addressing the problems stated above, this study produced the following three articles: * Article 1: ―Determinants of spending at Vryfees with a focus on genres‖. * Article 2: ―First-time versus repeat visitors at Innibos Arts Festival‖. * Article 3: ―Role of location in the attendance and spending of festinos‖. Article 1 investigates spending determinants that influence visitor expenditure on the different genres offered at the Vryfees Festival in Bloemfontein, based on a survey conducted in 2011. The research is based on the notion that different genres have different spending patterns. Article 2 focuses on the differences and/or similarities between first-time and repeat visitors at the Innibos Arts Festival as an alternative approach to market segmentation. Lastly, the third article focuses on three different arts festivals in three different locations in South Africa. The research was conducted by means of a visitor survey at the three arts festivals during the same year with questionnaires administered at Innibos (428), Vryfees (336), and Kierieklapper (202) respectively. The most significant contributions of this study can be summarised as follows: * the tourist spending behaviour in regards to the difference between first-time and repeat visitors is significant and can be considered an important spending determinant; * the tourist spending behaviour in terms of length of stay between first-time visitors and repeat visitors is significantly different, suggesting that familiarity with the destination (as the repeat visitors are) has an important impact; * different locations attract their own type of tourists and certain locations receive a higher economic injection than other provinces do because of the type of festival held. All three arts festivals attract mainly Afrikaans speaking attendees; and for the first time, a comparative study has been conducted on three arts festivals targeting the Afrikaans speaking community. Additionally, this is the first time a comparative study was conducted on three small to medium arts festivals located in three different provinces; and * the developed spending model described in the last chapter of this thesis can assist the festival organisers with future festival marketing to improve their income and marketing strategy. / PhD (Tourism Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Arts festivals form a large part of the South African culture originally as many local communities began to share their culture with visitors by means of arts festivals. This has grown into a large industry that has tremendous financial gain for the hosting communities. With over 500 arts festivals each year in South Africa alone, visitors are certain to find a festival to satisfy their specific needs and wants. Therefore, with so many genres available, each festival has created its own niche market and loyal customer base. An extensive literature study was conducted for the purpose of this thesis and it was found that research of small to medium arts festivals has been neglected. This finding motivated the main theme of this research. As mentioned earlier, there are so many genres available that the festival organisers may experience difficulty when deciding what to offer and how many genres to offer in order to still be sustainable and attract a sufficient number of visitors. Furthermore, the large number of arts festivals organised each year makes it increasingly difficult for festivals to build a loyal client base. First-time visitors can be converted into repeat visitors if the marketing strategy is precise. Repeat visitors, as stated in the literature, results in a sustainable income for each festival. Another question that motivated the research was the location of the three arts festivals (Innibos, Vryfees, and Kierieklapper). Three arts festivals in three provinces makes an interesting study to determine whether there is a difference in the three types of visitors that they attract and the spending patterns at each festival. While addressing the problems stated above, this study produced the following three articles: * Article 1: ―Determinants of spending at Vryfees with a focus on genres‖. * Article 2: ―First-time versus repeat visitors at Innibos Arts Festival‖. * Article 3: ―Role of location in the attendance and spending of festinos‖. Article 1 investigates spending determinants that influence visitor expenditure on the different genres offered at the Vryfees Festival in Bloemfontein, based on a survey conducted in 2011. The research is based on the notion that different genres have different spending patterns. Article 2 focuses on the differences and/or similarities between first-time and repeat visitors at the Innibos Arts Festival as an alternative approach to market segmentation. Lastly, the third article focuses on three different arts festivals in three different locations in South Africa. The research was conducted by means of a visitor survey at the three arts festivals during the same year with questionnaires administered at Innibos (428), Vryfees (336), and Kierieklapper (202) respectively. The most significant contributions of this study can be summarised as follows: * the tourist spending behaviour in regards to the difference between first-time and repeat visitors is significant and can be considered an important spending determinant; * the tourist spending behaviour in terms of length of stay between first-time visitors and repeat visitors is significantly different, suggesting that familiarity with the destination (as the repeat visitors are) has an important impact; * different locations attract their own type of tourists and certain locations receive a higher economic injection than other provinces do because of the type of festival held. All three arts festivals attract mainly Afrikaans speaking attendees; and for the first time, a comparative study has been conducted on three arts festivals targeting the Afrikaans speaking community. Additionally, this is the first time a comparative study was conducted on three small to medium arts festivals located in three different provinces; and * the developed spending model described in the last chapter of this thesis can assist the festival organisers with future festival marketing to improve their income and marketing strategy. / PhD (Tourism Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

因應Web 2.0 的關鍵技術及應用發展，傳統行之多年的行銷思維及作法開始面臨極大挑戰。過去沒有人可以想像消費者能在網站上公開評價商品，或直接發表對特定品牌的體驗；也無法想像主題式社群網站能集結社群、部落格的心得文可以影響消費者行為；品牌的行銷活動比過去更多元且富創意，為的就是吸引消費者的眼球注意力；企業甚至願意花時間經營網站社群，為這群利基消費者發展新品牌及產品線。這些現象的背後，反映出我們所處的行銷環境已大不如前，而消費者、企業與品牌之間的關係改變，無疑地，Web 2.0是促成改變的關鍵原因之一。企業面臨網路科技所帶來的思維轉型，該如何有效因應，並調整其行銷思維及作法，是本研究欲探討的重點。 由於現有文獻或研究多半以Web 2.0 對企業單一構面的影響，或是針對特定產業的深入研究，缺乏全面性且多元的比較研究。因此本研究採用探索性研究法的個案研究法，以文獻探討內容為本，並透過深度訪談法獲取第一手資訊，以發展出行銷 2.0 與傳統行銷的比較命題。 經過文獻探討與個案分析後，本研究歸納出九個命題： 1、Web 2.0 平台有助企業體現市場導向思維。 2、Web 2.0 時代的消費者握有行銷研究的主導權，並由他們決定如何建立關係。 3、Web 2.0 時代下，網路使用者因應共同的興趣及目標聚集形成社群，而企業也開始將主題式社群作為市場區隔的依據。 4、Web 2.0 網站平台較能幫助企業有效評估區隔。 5、Web 2.0 網站平台有助廠商蒐集並了解消費者意見，共同打造符合需求的市場定位。 6、Web 2.0 增加企業與消費者的接觸點，也增加 7P 行銷組合的內涵及作法。 7、行銷2.0 不再是企業單方面由上而下決定品牌內涵，而是由企業與消費者共同打造品牌體驗與價值。 8、Web 2.0 平台強化消費者角色本質的轉變，由孤立變為聯合、由無知變為資訊靈通、由被動變為主動。 9、Web 2.0 平台將傳統單向線性的消費者決策模式，轉變為完整迴圈式的流程。 研究發現，Web 2.0 平台賦予消費者十足的空間及舞台，在商業體系中扮演更積極主動的角色，他們不再一味接受企業透過大眾傳媒所傳遞的訊息，反而開始握有行銷研究的主導權，主動調查有興趣的產業及品牌。而消費流程也不再是單次決策，其購後評價及心得也透過Web 2.0 平台反饋，繼續影響其他消費者的購物行為。Web 2.0 在企業與消費者之間扮演的中介角色，不僅讓雙方在對等的平台上良性互動外，也化解過去因為資訊不對稱所造成的誤解及無效率。而消費者行為的種種轉變，對於企業未來在決定市場區隔、目標市場以及行銷組合7P 等均有決定性的影響。 企業不只要妥善經營實體環境的公共關係，虛擬網絡世界的關係也得花心思好好打理，尤其必須掌握科技及網絡世界的溝通經驗，讓網路使用者中的意見領袖發揮其影響力和說服力，為品牌發言也為品牌形象加值，在每個接觸點都不能放過與消費者互動的機會，因為他們也是共同打造品牌體驗的重要角色。未來的行銷是接觸點戰爭，能夠在與消費者的接觸點出奇制勝、良性互動並獲得有利情報的企業，才有機會扭轉劣勢，力創新局。 / In recent years traditional marketing concepts have been evolving and encountering great challenges due to the online applications commonly described as Web 2.0 or social community websites. No one had foreseen that consumers would evaluate products or services directly after purchase on the thematic social media and publish their brand experience openly through Internet. No one had expected that the thematic social media or Blogs could appeal and gather so many members and opinions towards specific topics, which might influence consumers’ decision. Nowadays, marketers are rushing to integrate various forms of social media into marketing planning and are highly motivated to initiate more attractive and creative events to appeal the consumer's eyes. Some enterprises are even willing to develop new product line or sub-brand to fulfill the customer’s needs. Therefore, due to the emergence of Web 2.0, the current marketing environment is quite different than what we are accustomed to. The relations and power structure between customers and brands have been changing. This research focused on how the enterprises reacted to the Web 2.0 technology and changed their mindset, especially marketing concepts and practices. Since there exists no generally accepted definition and demarcation of the term Web 2.0, the majority of studies have been focusing only on changes in certain industries or specific effects that Web 2.0 has brought to marketing. Therefore, we adopted a more general perspective based on previous results and conducted case studies to gather first-hand information and real practice from the industry. Further, we developed and concluded 9 points and made a comparison table (traditional marketing concept versus marketing concepts in Web 2.0 era) to clarify the differences of marketing concepts between traditional and Web 2.0-driven marketing. The key results of the research are: 1. Web2.0 helps enterprises to better form their marketing strategy and because all the departments within the organization can gather valuable information from each interaction point with the customers. Therefore, the consensus and responsiveness is achieved more easily, which means the Market Orientation concept could be realized. 2. Consumers in Web 2.0 era are capable of initiating market research and it is the consumer, rather than the enterprise, that decides how and with which company relations are built up. 3. Web users form communities due to common interests and objectives in Web 2.0 era, and the industries have begun to segment the market based on the different communities. 4. Web 2.0 applications help the enterprises efficiently evaluate if the market segmentation is effective and worthy of investment. 5. Web 2.0 mechanism support the enterprises to gather information and know more about the consumer insights, and also enables the two parties (enterprise and consumers) to collaborate and create the right market positions. 6. Web 2.0 not only increases the interacting points for enterprises and consumers, but also enriches the insights and possibilities of marketing-mix 7Ps (Product/Price/Place/Promotion/People/Physical environment/Process). 7. In Marketing 2.0 era the enterprise could not decide the essence of brands top down, but have to co-create the value and experiences of brands with the customers. 8. Web 2.0 platform enhance the change of the consumer inner character and behavior, from isolation to union, from ignorant to well-informed, from passive to proactive. 9. Web 2.0 platform transformed the traditional consumer decision-making from one way process to completed circles, where individual experience as valuable feedback influences the decisions of other consumers via Web 2.0 applications. As a consequence, the Web 2.0 is affecting not only the field of technology development but also the domains of business strategy and marketing practice. The Web 2.0 platform empowers the consumer and enables them to play more proactive and aggressive roles in the business system. The consumers do not just accept the message from mass media any more, but initiate marketing research themselves, investigating the brands and industries which they are interested with. The purchase decision making is not single and one way process as the personal comments that are disseminated and discussed on the Web 2.0 platforms keep on influencing other consumers’ behavior. The intermediate role that Web 2.0 plays between enterprises and consumers enables new and equal interactions, diminishing the misunderstanding and inefficiency resulted from the past asymmetric information that was mostly dictated by the enterprises. What comes along with the changing consumer behavior is a revolution in market segmentation, target, position and marketing-mix (7Ps). As Web 2.0 is not a clear-cut concept, some researchers have been regarding it as a mere temporary phenomenon that has emerged with new technology. However, its effects on marketing and wide public acceptance suggest that Web 2.0 is here to stay. Indeed, Web 2.0 has a substantial effect on consumer behavior and has contributed to an unprecedented customer empowerment. Therefore in the future, marketers have to pay more attention and put more effort to co-exist and communicate with a powerful customer instead of old-fashioned pushing marketing. Especially the enterprise should capitalize on the experience gained from the Web 2.0 platforms, utilizing the influences and convictions that web opinion leader possess to advocate for the brand. They should not disregard the many interaction points that could build up the brand experience with the consumers. Only those who could capitalize on Web 2.0 applications to gain more insight on consumer behavior, could win the ultimate victory and survive in the extremely competitive marketing war.

Research has revealed that more Americans than ever are turning to the World Wide Web as their primary source for news and information instead of legacy media outlets such as printed newspapers and magazines and broadcast news. As more and more people rely on the Internet as a primary source for news, it is important to analyze the characteristics and content of online news to expose and correct problems associated with the practices that inform its production and presentation. There are several longstanding practices in the American journalistic tradition that have been adapted to the online news environment. The practices of market segmentation and gatekeeping are two such practices. To date, few studies have explored how internet news coverage differs when the same story is altered to address the perceived interests of specific target audiences. This goal of this study was to collect and examine the characteristics of news stories presented on the homepages of three news websites—the Huffington Post, Huffington Post Black Voices and News One—to arrive at conclusions about the similarities and differences in how news content is reported to a general audience and to an African-American audience. This exploratory study used both Web sphere analysis and qualitative analysis to examine the collected homepage news stories. It used the results of the analyses to explore the possible effects continued market segmentation and selective exposure online could have on discourse in the public sphere. The study found that the legacy media practice of market segmentation was evident when online news reporting on targeted and untargeted news website homepages was compared. The study also revealed that the traditional role of the Black Press in legacy media has been resurrected in new media and is evident on news websites produced by African-Americans, for an African-American audience. Additionally, a qualitative examination of online news coverage of President Barack Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address and the death of Trayvon Martin revealed that the targeted audience influences the editorial slant through which news websites report stories.

In dieser Arbeit wird untersucht, wie eine theoriegeleitete Bewertung der Auslagerungseignung von Geschäftsprozessen erfolgen kann und welche Ansatzpunkte für profitables Wachstum von Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)-Anbietern in Deutschland sich aus der Nutzung einer entsprechenden Methodik ableiten lassen. Dazu wird in drei Schritten vorgegangen. In einem ersten Schritt wird ein theoretisch-konzeptionelles Bewertungsmodell zur Bestimmung der Auslagerungseignung von Geschäftsprozessen entwickelt. In einem zweiten Schritt werden Möglichkeiten einer konzeptionellen Übertragung dieses Modells auf Praxisanwendungen geprüft. Im abschließenden dritten Schritt wird gezeigt, wie die Verwendung des in dieser Arbeit entwickelten Bewertungsmodells im Rahmen der Marktbearbeitungsaktivitäten von BPO-Dienstleistern einen Beitrag zum profitablen Wachstum dieser Anbieter leisten kann. / In this thesis it is studied how a theory-based assessment of business processes regarding their adequacy for outsourcing can be carried out and what starting points for profitable growth of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) providers in Germany can result from the application of such a methodology. For this purpose a three step approach is taken. As a first step a theory-based concept of an assessment model to determine the adequacy of outsourcing business processes is developed. As a second step possibilities for transferring the concept of this model to real life applications are examined. In a final third step it is shown how the assessment model developed here can be used as part of the marketing activities of BPO companies to contribute to their profitable growth.

[pt] Devido à quantidade cada vez maior de dados armazenada pelas instituições, a área de mineração de dados tem se tornado cada vez mais relevante e vários métodos e métodos têm sido propostos de maneira a aumentar sua aplicabilidade e desempenho. Esta dissertação investiga o uso de diversos métodos e técnicas de mineração de dados na modelagem e solução de problemas de Marketing. O objetivo do trabalho foi fazer um levantamento de alguns métodos e técnicas de mineração, avaliar seus desempenhos e procurar integrá-los na solução de problemas de marketing que envolvessem tarefas de agrupamento ou classificação. O trabalho consistiu de quatro etapas principais: estudo sobre o processo de descoberta de conhecimento em bancos de dados (KDD - Knowledge Discovery in Databases); estudo sobre Marketing e alguns problemas de Marketing de Banco de Dados (DBM - Database Marketing) que envolvessem tarefas de agrupamento e classificação; levantamento e estudo de métodos e técnicas de Inteligência Computacional e Estatística que pudessem ser empregados na solução de alguns desses problemas; e estudos de caso. A primeira etapa do trabalho envolveu um estudo detalhado das diversas fases do processo de KDD: limpeza dos dados; seleção; codificação e transformação; redução de dimensionalidade; mineração; e pós-processamento. Na segunda etapa foram estudados os principais conceitos de Marketing e de DBM e a relação entre eles e o processo de KDD. Pesquisaram-se alguns dos tipos de problemas comuns na área e escolheram- se para análise dois que fossem suficientemente complexos e tivessem a possibilidade de se ter acesso a alguma empresa que fornecesse os dados e validasse a solução posteriormente. Os casos selecionados foram um de marketing direto e outro de segmentação de mercado. Na terceira etapa, foram estudados os métodos de Inteligência Computacional e Estatística usualmente empregados em tarefas de agrupamento e classificação de dados. Foram estudados: Redes Perceptron Multi-Camadas, Mapas Auto- Organizáveis, Fuzzy C-Means, K-means, sistemas Neuro-Fuzzy, Árvores de Decisão, métodos Hierárquicos de agrupamento, Regressão Logística, Fuções Discriminantes de Fisher, entre outros. Por fim, na última etapa, procurou-se integrar todos os métodos e técnicas estudados na solução de dois estudos de caso, propostos inicialmente na segunda etapa do trabalho. Uma vez proposta a solução para os estudos de caso, elas foram levadas aos especialistas em Marketing das empresas para serem validadas no âmbito do negócio. Os estudos de caso mostraram a grande utilidade e aplicabilidade dos métodos e técnicas estudadas em problemas de marketing direto e segmentação de mercado. Sem o emprego dos mesmos, a solução para muitos desses problemas tornar-se-ia extremamente imprecisa ou até mesmo inviável. Mostraram também a grande importância das fases iniciais de pré-processamento dos dados no processo de KDD. Muitos desafios persistem ainda na área de mineração de dados, como a dificuldade de modelar dados não lineares e de manipular quantidades muito grande de dados, o que garante um vasto campo para pesquisa nos próximos anos. / [en] The Data Mining field has received great attention lately, due to the increasing amount of data stored by companies and institutions. A great number of Data Mining methods have been proposed so far, which is good but sometimes leads to confusion. This dissertation investigates the performance of many different methods and techniques of Data Mining used to model and solve Marketing problems. The goal of this research was to look for and study some data mining methods, compare them, and try to integrate them to solve Marketing problems involving clustering and classification tasks. This research can be divided in four stages: a study of the process of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD); a study about Marketing problems involving clustering and classification; a study of some methods and techniques of Statistics and Computational Intelligence that could be used to solve some of those problems; and case studies. On the first stage of the research, the different tasks (clustering, classification, modeling, etc) and phases (data cleansing, data selection, data transformation, Data Mining, etc) of a KDD process were studied in detail. The second stage involved a study of the main concepts of Marketing and Database Marketing and their relation to the KDD process. The most common types of problems in the field were studied and, among them, two were selected to be furthered analyzed as case studies. One case was related to Direct Marketing and the other to Market Segmentation. These two cases were chosen because they were complex enough and it was possible to find a company to provide data to the problem and access to their marketing department. On the third stage, many different methods for clustering and classification were studied and compared. Among those methods, there were: Multilayer Perceptrons, Self Organizing Maps, Fuzzy C-Means, K-Means, Neuro-Fuzzy systems, Decision Trees, Hierarquical Clustering Methods, Logistic Regression, Fisher`s Linear Discriminants, etc Finally, on the last stage, all the methods and techniques studied were put together to solve the two case studies proposed earlier. Once they were solved, their solutions were submitted to the Marketing Department of the company who provided the data, so that they could validate the results in the context of their business. The case studies were able to show the large potential of applicability of the methods and techniques studied on problems of Market Segmentation and Direct Marketing. Without employing those methods, it would be very hard or even impossible to solve those problems. The case studies also helped verify the very important role of the data pre-processing phase on the KDD process. Many challenges persist in the data mining field. One could mention, for example, the difficulty to model non-linear data and to manipulate larges amounts of data. These and many other challenges provide a vast field of research to be done in the next years. / [es] Debido a la cantidad cada vez mayor de datos almacenados por las instituiciones, el área de mineración de datos há ganado relevancia y varios métodos han sido propuestos para aumentar su aplicabilidad y desempeño. Esta disertación investiga el uso de diversos métodos y técnicas de mineración de datos en la modelación y solución de problemas de Marketing. EL objetivo del trabajo fue hacer un levantamiento de algunos métodos y técnicas de mineración, evaluar su desempeño e integrarlos en la solución de problemas de marketing que involucran tareas de agrupamiento y clasificación. EL trabajo consta de cuatro etapas principales: estudio sobre el proceso de descubrimiento de conocimientos en bancos de datos (KDD - Knowledge Discovery in Databases); estudio sobre Marketing y algunos problemas de Marketing de Banco de Datos (DBM - Database Marketing) que incluyen tareas de agrupamientoy clasificación; levantamiento y estudio de métodos y técnicas de Inteligencia Computacional y Estadística que pueden ser empleados en la solución de algunos problemas; y por último, estudios de casos. La primera etapa del trabajo contiene un estudio detallado de las diversas fases del proceso de KDD: limpeza de datos; selección; codificación y transformación; reducción de dimensionalidad; mineración; y posprocesamento. En la segunda etapa fueron estudados los principales conceptos de Marketing y de DBM y la relación entre ellos y el proceso de KDD. Algunos de los tipos de problemas comunes en la área fueron investigados, seleccionando dos de ellos, por ser suficientemente complejos y tener posibilidad de acceso a alguna empresa que suministrase los datos y evaluase posteriormente la solución. Los casos selecionados fueron uno de marketing directo y otro de segmentación de mercado. En la tercera etapa, se estudiaron los métodos de Inteligencia Computacional y Estadística que son empleados usualmente en tareas de agrupamiento y clasificación de datos. Éstos fueron: Redes Perceptron Multicamada, Mapas Autoorganizables, Fuzzy C-Means, K-means, sistemas Neuro- Fuzzy, Árboles de Decisión, métodos Jerárquicos de agrupamiento, Regresión Logística, Fuciones Discriminantes de Fisher, entre otros. En la última etapa, se integraron todos los métodos y técnicas estudiados en la solución de dos estudios de casos, propuestos inicialmente en la segunda etapa del trabajo. Una vez proposta la solución para el estudios de casos, éstas fueron evaluadas por los especialistas en Marketing de las empresas. Los estudios de casos mostraron la grande utilidad y aplicabilidad de los métodos y técnicas estudiadas en problemas de marketing directo y segmentación de mercado. Sin el empleo de dichos métodos, la solución para muchos de esos problemas sería extremadamente imprecisa o hasta incluso inviáble. Se comprobó también la gran importancia de las fases iniciales de preprocesamiento de datos en el proceso de KDD. Existen todavía muchos desafíos en el área de mineración de datos, como la dificuldad de modelar datos no lineales y de manipular cantidades muy grandes de datos, lo que garantiza un vasto campo de investigación