The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is one of the most important trade partners in the Middle East for the German machinery industry, which mainly comprises small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In Germany, these firms are named Mittelstand firms due to their distinctive characteristics. This study investigates the question, ‘How do German Mittelstand firms in the metal-forming machine tool sector (MFMTS) successfully enter the Saudi Arabian market?’ It further explores the challenges that occur during the entry and post-entry operations, and how they are overcome. Furthermore, the study investigates the success factors of these firms entering the Saudi Arabian market. The study follows an inductive research approach and uses the philosophical assumptions of social constructionism and interpretivism. Qualitative, primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews with relevant first-line practitioners from Mittelstand firms and support agencies. The results indicate that the clear link between ownership and management, flexibility to customer requests and product adaptation, and a still strong ‘Made in Germany’ claim are some of the most important success factors when entering the Saudi Arabian market. Major challenges are identified along the political and legal environments, including the labour nationalisation system and local partner enforcement. Additional obstacles are identified within the cultural and religious belief system and the special roles of women, families, relationships, and hierarchies. This study highlights that, in their initial steps to KSA, most Mittelstand firms act randomly and without structure, contrary to most of the theories and concepts. While there is evidence in the literature for the need of German Mittelstand firms to expand abroad, the theory-building approach to and knowledge about entry and post-entry operations in the Saudi Arabian market will close an existing gap in this literature by providing empirical insights. The study further reveals the partial relevance of the Resource-Based Theory and the network view for the Mittelstand firms’ expansion into the Saudi Arabian market.

This thesis reconceptualises Internal Marketing (IM) through multi-stakeholder perspectives, by exploring the experiences and opinions of those directly affected by IM, whether as policy-makers, implementers and transmitters, managers or ‘recipient’ staff. By recruiting participants from many industries and levels of seniority, it complements the predominantly organisation-level, top-down perspectives within extant IM literature, emancipating the voices of previously underrepresented actors. The study is intended to address recent calls for exploration of dyadic perspectives within IM research (Yang & Coates, 2010), and assess the applicability of key concepts from Channel Management (CM) literature, transposing them from the supply chain into an internal market context. It therefore explores the tacit, informal, unplanned, undocumented and often interpersonal transactions through which IM takes place, and may be considered relativistic, phenomenological and postmodernist in its concerns. An emergent concept is the phenomenon of Internal Demarketing (ID), in which accepted marketing strategies and techniques applied to the internal market reduce the attractiveness of the organisation to some or all staff. It is proposed that this may occur as an intentional, covert strategy, possibly with sub-strategies tailored to different organisational objectives and employee segments. These are taxonomized here. This qualitative thesis makes a methodological contribution by introducing a new form of member checking (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) in which participants prepare for interview by reflecting upon their own online and digital communications about the research topic, using that reflexivity to steer interviews and corroborate or challenge and amend the researcher’s subsequent analysis of those interviews.

This research sought to understand ways to change consumer food purchasing behaviour to become more environmentally sustainable. The literature review pointed to the influential yet understudied role of situational factors within the purchase decision making process, and the potential for labelling as a strategy for behaviour change. The launch of a carbon labelling trial of own-label products by the UK’s largest supermarket represented an opportunity to investigate and measure the potential role of carbon labelling in facilitating behaviour change. The research utilises an innovative mixed method case study approach. The first phase of the case study was exploratory focus groups, designed to provide an understanding of the reasons behind current food shopping habits and patterns and to gain an appreciation of current levels of awareness, understanding and use of carbon labelling. Results paved the way for phase two of the case study, a series of interventions both pre-store (working with schools) and in-store (various activities) designed to raise awareness and understanding of carbon labelling sufficiently to overcome unfavourable situational factors and convert into favourable situational factors, and create a more conducive environment to enable purchasing of a carbon labelled product. Results of the interventions were evaluated using several sources of evidence – teacher’s interviews, two questionnaires and, most significantly, using actual purchasing behaviour data through the use of supermarket loyalty card data. Results showed some impact on raising awareness, understanding and claimed behaviour, but no discernible impact on actual purchasing behaviour. This research highlights the importance of situational factors in the purchase decision making process, and the challenges associated with changing behaviour in the face of competing and often conflicting drivers of supermarket purchasing behaviour. It also highlights the benefits of mixed methods in understanding behaviour and evaluating impacts of targeted interventions, particularly in such complex contexts as sustainability, consumption and the supermarket shopping mission.

Nowadays, marketing activities of HE institutions are increasingly important as they operate within their competitive and regulated environment. HE institutions have borrowed service industrial concepts to focus on the services they provide to students. They need to identify and implement tools to further understanding of the issues that impact on students' experiences. Apart from, focussing specifically on the learning experience in the sense of formal learning (where most of the past research has concentrated on), studies have also shown that support services are just as important in influencing students' learning experience. Hence, one of the support services, programme administration (PA) has become increasingly important due to the diversity of programmes offered and it contributes to the learning experience of students as well as indirectly impacting upon institutions' competitiveness. In order to enhance the learning experience of students and to manage the service encounter between students and programme leaders (PLs), it is argued that there must be an understanding of the service encounter behaviour (SEB) of the interacting parties and more importantly from a dyadic perspective since a service encounter is a two-way interpretive process. Thus, this research is set in the HE context, focussing particularly in PA, exploring the SEB (the situational definition and situational roles) of student-PL from a dyadic perspective (from student's and employee's perspective) to improve the management of service encounters as well as to enhance the learning experience of students. The conceptual framework is based on Czepiel et al. (1985) concept of a service encounter emphasising that it is purposeful where tasks need to be completed within a set of rules constrained by the nature of service and the behaviour bounded by roles assumed by the interacting parties. To manage a service encounter, the SEB of the interacting parties needs to be understood and from a dyadic perspective paying attention to roles represented by each participant. This research has borrowed literature from the social psychology discipline i.e. Mead (1934) SI perspective of role and McHugh's (1968) situational definition to further understanding of the dynamism of interactions to gain further understanding of the SEB (role expectations and role response of the interacting parties). Taking the social constructionist epistemology, this research seeks to understand the meanings student- PL construct when interacting and how these meaning have led to specific SEB. By adopting the interpretivists' paradigm embedded in symbolic interactionism, the researcher tries to interpret the underlying meaning of students'-PLs' SEB from a dyadic perspective. Qualitative case study methodology is employed using the critical incident technique (CIT) as a method to elicit student-PL experiences in service encounters, helping them to focus on specific situations when recounting their SEB. To make sense of these data, narrative analysis is used to interpret the constructions of students¬PLs in their interactions. The study has included 42 participants (26 students and 16 PLs) from 4 private colleges in Malaysia. It has yielded 63 service encounters categorised into 11 types of service encounter, covering most of the situations where a student would approach their PLs in a typical semester. The findings have indicated that defining a service encounter is significant and is functional in shaping the situational roles to be represented, thereby influencing the outcome of the situation. It has shown that even though service encounters can be similar, different situational roles can lead to different outcomes. These key findings are evidenced in a SEB guide, giving a bundle of possible situational roles in identified service encounters. These outcomes have implications for students, PLs and the management as well as future research.

This study investigates male consumer behaviour in the spa consumption context. With increasing attention to physical appearance in the postmodern era, contemporary men are becoming an appropriate focus for the attention of the beauty and wellbeing industries. Nevertheless, men’s body aestheticization and wellbeing practices have rarely been the topic of academic discussion in the marketing field. Hence, this study unveils the rationale behind male customers’ decisions to consume various spa services, known as enhancers of physical appearance and wellbeing.

No description available.

There is myriad research that explores the nature of marketing generally, and more specifically within SME (small to medium sized enterprise) contexts. Most of this research, however, focuses upon orthodox and relational marketing. Recently, it has also been argued that the literature fails to pay adequate attention to the role that critical studies might take in helping to understand marketing. Moreover, qualitative approaches to researching SME marketing have recently gained favour. This thesis takes the opportunity to employ a qualitative approach to researching SME marketing while at the same time exploring the implications for education, training and development (ETD). This research explored how the subjective individual can make sense of particular social arenas. Adopting a social constructivist approach involving the researcher and participants, this research offers some clarity to the SME marketing ETD context. To illuminate new ways of seeing, this research looked to both SME and ETD participants to be part of a study located in the North East of England. The study employed a semi-structured interview that, when transcribed, provided research texts that were then analysed through a Discourse Analysis lens. This allowed discourses to emerge from the texts that illuminated aspects of marketing in a SME context, as well as aspects of ETD. It is clear from the research that the extant nature of orthodox marketing’s central model, known as the 4Ps, is for the SME participants obvious and in the background. For the ETD participants this model is still central to how they see marketing ETD for SMEs in their role as educators, trainers and developers. However both SME and ETD perspectives include relational components, particularly networking. Critical components, in the light of Critical Theory and the turbulent business environment, can also be seen in the discourses of this thesis. The standpoints that the participants of this study combine, adapt, juxtapose or shape to fit conditions to their everyday lives, were exposed. The research texts contain metaphoric and other references that negotiate key tensions leading to confrontation and resistance to the dominant orthodox marketing form. This thesis explores the ways that participants use marketing-related discourse to inscribe their behaviours in a complex ideological system, immersed in social worlds. Marketing realities are found to be more critical than at first assumed. A schema is developed that portrays the relationships between these actors and this social arena. I therefore assess themes that emerge from the narratives of participants and within each theme discourses are used to describe participants’ world views. This thesis provides a new way of seeing marketing and develops the relational, orthodox and critical (ROC) schema of SME marketing, applied to ETD. This schema informs thinking on a range of issues such as flows of information, relationships, network coordination and specific competencies. The schema should be considered carefully before the design and delivery of any form of SME marketing ETD programme and any materials are devised. The findings of this thesis suggest that the ROC schema is potentially applicable to other marketing contexts.

The main purpose of this study is to examine how a dyadic trust perspective can support effective development of key account relationships. The need for Key Account Management in the UK Mortgage Industry is investigated, factors for effective key account relationship management are identified and a trust/Mortgage Lender and Intermediary perspective of Key Account relationship effectiveness is analysed. The results of this study have been achieved through a mixed methods research strategy and these have been discussed in relation to Key Account Management and Trust theory. This study responds to concerns about the lack of research in this area, challenging and building on existing Key Account Management theory, integrating trust theory and applying this to a new context. A survey instrument to assess the effectiveness of Key Account relationships has been devised and can be applied to different contexts. Results show that demonstrations of trustworthiness leads to better key account performance but there is not a strong association of perceptions of higher trust with performance. Mortgage Lenders and Intermediaries have different perspectives of key account effectiveness and Mortgage Lenders lead the way in Key Account Management initiatives but there is evidence of various degrees of interdependence and willingness to achieve mutual gains. Key account relationships are not locked in to integrated Key Account Management programmes and exit from these relationships is quite easy. An important aspect of this research in the context of the UK Mortgage Industry has been the perceived positive role of the Key Account individual and that of different types of trust throughout relationship development, compensating for the perceived negative role of organisational culture aspects that may influence those involved in key account development within and between organisations. The contribution of this research is to show the relevance of Key Account Management as a business model providing market conditions are appropriate for Key Account Management development and that it is based on mutual learning and a format that suits the orientation of supplier and buyer, their own organisational design and culture and resources available as well as the environment in which they operate. This research suggests that fully integrated Key Account Management is not a realistic expectation and dependence on a few suppliers or customers as Key Account Management theory suggests, is not sensible. This study contributes to KAM practice in that it shows it is the management of trustworthiness rather than trying to manage trust that leads to a satisfactory Key Account relationship format for both supplier and buyer in the UK Mortgage Industry. This does currently rely heavily on the `intrapreneurial' skills of key individuals. In understanding how trustworthiness is demonstrated (through concern and benevolence, expertise, communication, intrapreneurial skills, commitment, organisational culture and KAM organisation) leads to more appropriate actions and behaviours to facilitate a relationship that works best for particular seller and buyer organisations given the particular circumstances. Organisations need to work on improving trust that is placed in the institution by for example developing effective marketing communications effort internally as well as externally and knowledge based trust, relating in particular to the exchange of confidential and strategic information. The identified factors for key account effectiveness presented in the survey can serve as useful guidelines for managing key accounts as they also demonstrate signals of trustworthiness. These factors can be used specifically to add to the limited range of performance criteria of key accounts currently adopted by the industry. Further research is suggested that may consider a key account manager or client's disposition towards trust, an examination of perceptions of supply chain t...

The PhD research is concerned with investigating the communication aspect of relationships. In particular, the research focuses on the impact of marketing communications on customer relationships. The communication aspect of customer relationships is an empirically under-researched area. Two disciplines which are relationship marketing research and marketing communications research were drawn together in order to present insight into the investigation, and hence to build on the limited existing knowledge. The banking sector was used as the context of the investigation. The context of the research is the UK banking sector. Adopting a primarily qualitative approach, data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with bank customers. Research participants were recruited through advertising and snowballing methods. The analysis was guided by the principles of content analysis. This research offers three main contributions. Firstly, the current research has extended the work on service provider and customer relationships by presenting an insight into the nature of customer relationships and their underlying dimensions. In particular, four relationship types were identified which can represent various types of relationships customers may establish with financial institutions: (1) faltering, (2) functional, (3) interactive and (4) affective. Secondly, the research presented empirical evidence on the potential of advertising, corporate sponsorship and direct marketing to promote various types of relationships. Thirdly, this research provides an enhanced understanding about the aspects of service encounters, that are likely to promote (or threaten) the development of certain relationship types.

With the increasing expansion of companies into the global markets, Relationship Marketing (RM) has become more significant than ever, drawing to it the interest of scholars and the attention of practitioners. One aspect of the subject, which this research addresses, is the need to understand the nature and importance of relationships across cultures, since such understanding is critical to organizational expansion. The focus of this research is B2B relationship marketing, with cross-cultural marketing as a major component of analysis. Building on and extending relevant cross-cultural theories, this research investigates B2B relationship marketing in a Middle-Eastern telecom company, Saudi Telecom Company (STC), a company that is well placed for providing fertile illustrations of the mechanism of B2B relationship marketing. It is, furthermore, a key company in Saudi Arabia with hundreds of partners worldwide, and its economic importance to the country is second only to SABIC, the state-owned national oil company. Adopting a case study research strategy, the research explores how a growing organization absorbs cultural awareness into its B2B relationships. Data are garnered by interviewing 35 STC managers, 29 STC Small Medium Enterprise SME business partners, and three of STC’s Major Enterprise partners, as well as accessing and analysing secondary data from the company. The findings to date suggest that as the company grows it needs to develop B2B cross-cultural awareness at local and global level. This research extends cross-cultural models which have been developed in a business-to-consumer (B2C) context such as cross-cultural marketing theories proposed by Hall and Hofstede to understand cross-cultural theory in a B2B context. By exploring the role of culture in B2B relationships in the telecom industry in the Middle East in general and Saudi Arabia in particular, in light of a case study conducted on a specific and major company, STC and its global partners, and by investigating and assessing how it conducts its B2B relationships, this research aspires to extend the understanding of cultural awareness in B2B relationship and thereby to make a useful contribution to scholarship.