Background Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been an important concept for decades. Since then, it has gradually become one of the standard business practices. Due to a vast stream of amelioration about the concepts and practices, CSR has grown and expanded its focus to a global scope. The research study is particularly focused on coffee shop companies in Vietnam. It is stated that Vietnam is one of the two major coffee exporting countries in the world. Coffee is one of the traditional beverages in Vietnam as a consequence of the influence of the French colonial period. In the vortex of globalization, a lot of new concepts have raised, such as the CSR concept, sustainability. So, to keep pace with the changes in the world, Vietnam cannot be out of that growth circle.   Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to examine and identify the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility in developing the reputation of coffee shop companies in Vietnam. Method A Qualitative Research study was conducted in order to fulfill the purpose and research question of the study. The qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews. These interviews were carried out from both the customers and coffee shop companies in order to get the best results. Conclusion The findings from our research showed the series of advantages that CSR activities bring to a company, especially in terms of improving reputation in the industry of coffee shops. Even though this is seen as a new topic in Vietnam, many companies are adopting and putting more attention on it.

As sustainability becomes a more prominent part of people’s lives, firms that embrace sustainability can create more value for customers. Value has traditionally been seen as being determined by the provider. However, recent theorisations have conceptualised value as being created by the customer with interactions as a key component. The primary way for customers to interact with firms is through indirect interaction – such as when reading labels on product packaging or taking part in advertising. In extant literature, there is a lack of research on how customers’ value creation is affected by interactions with firms – and more specifically – by indirect interaction. The purpose of this study has been to explore how customers’ value creation is affected by providers’ communication of sustainability efforts through indirect interaction. To gain this insight, 12 interviews with customers have been conducted and analysed in four dimensions – general, sustainability, communication and the value creation process. The study found that sustainability efforts were mainly communicated through indirect interactions. Sustainability efforts affected all respondents’ lives and consumption process. Customers valued communication of sustainability efforts that they perceived as being honest, could understand and was presented to them at an appropriate time.

Background:  In recent years, Sweden’s micro consulting enterprise (MCE) industry has grown significantly. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the MCE business in Sweden continued to grow in a positive direction, while bigger consulting firms were heavily impacted, with around 48% of firms seeing negative growth. Because of the growth, there is a necessity for MCEs to distinguish themselves in the market as smaller consulting firms face stiff competition from larger enterprises. Due to today’s digital generation, MCEs are provided with an excellent opportunity to develop a digital communication strategy. Hence, a common strategy being used is content marketing which acts as a communication strategy to attract new customers. Problem:  After founding a MCE, there is an ambiguity in how to reach customers, as a cause of the small size of the company. The low amount of employees leads to lacking intangible assets, which instead induce word-of-mouth marketing. However, such marketing is rather uncertain and difficult to strategize. Meanwhile, there is a growth of MCE’s utilization of content marketing to increase sales. Previous researchers within the area have expressed the need for understanding MCE’s relation to content marketing, to evaluate how MCEs can apply content marketing to acquire new customers. Purpose: This thesis aims to develop knowledge on the possibilities for MCEs to strengthen their chances to acquire new customers through content marketing. Method: This qualitative research has been conducted through multiple-case study with six different cases, which includes organizational documents and semi-structured interviews. The sampling was based on the criteria of being a CEO of a MCE in Sweden, which must have a website and a LinkedIn-profile. The data analysis followed a thematic analysis to identify patterns of how MCEs use content marketing.   Results: The empirical findings presented homogenous answers aligned with the process of how to conduct successful content marketing. By identifying the four steps of ‘Awareness’, ‘Initiate Contact’, ‘Sales and Delivery’, and ‘Long-term Relationships’ the ‘MCE’s Content Marketing Model’ was established. By utilizing the model, MCEs could sustain a competitive advantage in the crowded market.

The purpose of the study is to understand the satisfaction of young customers living in Sweden for a long time with the packaging of chips and the impact of packaging on their chip purchase and to discuss corporate social responsibility in connection with environmental sustainability. In this study, theoretical analysis, interviews, and focus groups are used as the research methods. Through the analysis of collected data and combined with the theory to carry out a comprehensive analysis. Through the analysis, it is found that the color, picture, and shape of packaging in the chips market in Sweden are the main factors affecting customers' purchase. It is also found that young customers still attach great importance to the sustainable development of the environment and think that the company should be responsible for this. The findings of this study can be considered to provide customers with real ideas for companies who want to understand the Swedish chip market and help them develop the Swedish market. Due to the lack of research on the packaging market in Sweden, the researchers hope that this study can be helpful to the relevant research.

The socially responsible customer segment is growing. Increasingly, customers are concerned about social, political, and environmental issues. These concerns have been shown to affect their attitudes towards the quality of goods and services as well as their buying behaviors. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of empirical research in the service literature on socially responsible customers. This study investigates the role that social responsibility plays in measuring service quality. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used in this study. Focus group and in-depth interviews were conducted to develop a scale measuring the social responsibility dimension in the evaluation of service quality. Confirmatory factor analysis and a multiple regression method were then utilized to test four hypotheses postulated in the study. The social responsibility scale consisted of eight items and was shown to be highly reliable. This scale along with the 22 items from the perception part of SERVQUAL formed the Socially Responsible Customer (SRC) SERVQUAL instrument used in this study. A total of 803 respondents completed the survey. The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that social responsibility was a salient dimension of service quality and highly socially responsible customers used the concept of social responsibility more pronouncedly than the others when evaluating service quality. The social responsibility dimension alone significantly explained the variance in service quality. However, after accounting for the existing five SERVQUAL dimensions, the social responsibility dimension does not add a significant increment to the variance explained by the service quality regression model. / Ph. D.

In today's business, organizations are working with external stakeholders to develop a better product. Customers are one such stakeholder with whom organizations collaborate to develop a product fulfilling their needs. This process of Co-Creation facilitates organizations to get closer to their customers. Also in the study made in the year 2016 for the 19th annual global CEO survey, 90% of the CEOs have claimed Customers to be their main priorities. Further in the literature has also debated the process of customer co-creation being complex and studies have been made to understand the Ups and Downs of the process. Problem Background: Based on the opportunity in the field of Co-Creation growing rapidly and literature arguing on both Success and failure of the process, we in our thesis aim to address the gap of identifying the factors that influence the Customer Co-Creation Process. The Purpose of our thesis was to Identify the Factors for Organizations that Influence the process and suggest to imply those factors during the process of Co-Creation for a better result.  To answer our research question we chose a qualitative approach by interviewing a total of 5 members from different organizations and different businesses in a semi-structured interview format. We chose to do research from both Customer and Organizational perspective, we formed 2 cases out of the 4 interviews and one as an expert in the field of New Product Development. The main findings of our research shows 6 Main Influencing Factors and 12 Sub Factors within 6 main factors that enrich the process of co-creation. The factors are Communication (Feedback & Highlighting the need to Customer), Management (Environment, Relationship Management, Flexibility /Exploratory, Leadership, Rewards/Incentives, Selection of Customer), Transparency, Commitment & Trust (Secrecy Concern, Sharing of IP), Consistency, Training (Employee and Customer). Our research shows the factors on the application during the co-creation process can influence the process to a better output. We have suggested the organizations in our Organizational Implications on how these factors can influence the process to a better output. Thus, answering our research question.

En la actualidad, los negocios en los aplicativos móviles son unos de los servicios más usados para la vida cotidiana, ya que las nuevas generaciones han cambiado su estilo de compra, el cual es a través de despóticos móviles como smartphones o Tablets. Esto se debe a que se quiere ahorrar más tiempo para la realización de más actividades en el día. La idea de negocio que se está presentando trata de un aplicativo de reservas de mesas, el cual sirve de intermediario entre restaurantes y comensales. El aplicativo lleva el nombre de ROT365, y tiene funciones innovadoras que empieza con la reserva, luego puede pasar a la elección del pedido y por último puede hacer el pago a través de sus dispositivos móviles. Mientras que a los restaurantes se les está bridando un sistema integrado, en el cual se pueda observar hábitos de sus consumidores. Esta idea de negocia busca brindar facilidades para el procesos de reserva, aumentar la calidad del servicio y ahorrar el tiempo de ambas partes. Para ello, se ha desarrollado evaluaciones comerciales, operacionales y financieras para determinar la viabilidad de implementar el proyecto en el mercado. A continuación, se presenta el proyecto de negocios ROT365, un aplicativo intermediario entre restaurantes y comensales para la reserva de una mesa, elección de platos y pago online. / Currently, business and mobile services are more used services for everyday life, new generations have changed their style of purchase, which is through mobile phones such as smartphones or tablets. This is due to what you want to save more time for carrying out more activities on the day. The idea of a business that is being presented is a table reservation application, which serves as an intermediary between restaurants and diners. The application is called ROT365, and has innovative functions that begin with the reservation, then you can move to the choice of the order and finally you can make the payment through their mobile devices. While the restaurants are using an integrated system, which can observe the habits of its users. This idea of negotiation seeks to provide facilities for booking processes, increase the quality of service and save time for both parties. For this, it has developed commercial, operational and financial evaluations to determine the viability of implementing the project in the market. Next, we present the business project ROT365, an application intermediary between restaurants and diners for the reservation of a table, choice of dishes and online payments. / Trabajo de investigación

The research study focuses on the Factors influencing Consumer Purchasing Behavior of Organic Skin Care Products in Sri Lanka. The researched has carried out a quantitative study using a structured questionnaire taking the sample size as the customers who are in the Western Province of Sri Lanka.Customer knowledge and value have an association on purchase intent, according to the study. As a result, it's clear that product knowledge, prior experience, environmental awareness, and health awareness all play a role in customers' decisions to buy organic skincare products in Sri Lanka. The study's findings aid top executives in setting strategic goals while concentrating on new product positioning areas that improve financial performance. As a result of this research, organic products can be tailored to meet the needs of customers, encouraging them to adopt a more organic lifestyle.

Through in-depth interviews with 14 restaurant servers who worked in "casual dining" restaurant chains, this study explores service work and servers' perceptions of restaurant culture. Interactions between servers and customers are examined through the lens of servers' personal experiences. The analysis of interview data focus on how servers understand their role, how "casual dining" restaurant chains try to avoid the appearance of fast food outlets, and how "the customer is always right" slogan affects servers and customers. As a response to difficult and inflexible structural conditions present in restaurant work, servers establish short-lived camaraderie with each other through games, harassment, and deriding low-status customers to get through their shifts. The thesis closes by examining possible ways to combat the effects of this exploitative industry on servers.

Scholars have documented the ways in which the influence of neoliberal ideology, and particularly the extension of free-market logic, has resulted in meaningful changes within colleges and universities in the United States. However, largely omitted from these discussions is the impact of neoliberal ideology on college students. Concurrent with the discussion concerning neoliberalism and higher education, a separate dialogue focusing on the rise of the conceptualization of students as customers has been occurring amongst higher education scholars. Such an understanding of college students is consistent with free-market logic, as the relationship between students and their institutions become defined in economic terms. While many scholars have lamented about the rise of this new approach towards education, few have connected it with larger changes in higher education or with the influence of neoliberal ideology. More importantly, researchers have yet to measure reliably the extent to which students actually express a customer orientation. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide the first measure of a customer orientation, and in the process help describe the impact neoliberal ideology, and freemarket logic in particular, has had on college students.