In today’s constantly changing, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) retail market environment, it is imperative that retailers should focus on creating a pleasant shopping experience to differentiate their stores in order to achieve a competitive advantage. One of the strategies to achieve competitive advantage can be human variables. This study focused on the influence of human variables on consumers’ shopping experience in FMCG retail stores in Ekurhuleni. Therefore, this study expands the existing knowledge of human variables in the FMCG retail environment. Human variables in the context of this study comprise other customers and sales associates. Each of these human variables is made up of sub-variables. The sub-variables of other customers include crowding and social relations. On the other hand, the sub-variables of sales associates are sales associates’ availability, physical attributes of sales associates and behavioural attributes of sales associates. This empirical study was conducted with 400 FMCG retail stores consumers of the ages between 18 and 60 who reside in Ekurhuleni. The study followed a descriptive research design and quantitative approach in order to address the research objectives. A convenience sampling method and a mall-intercept survey by means of self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted in which the Likert scale statements in question 2 - 6 (see Appendix B) measuring different sub-variables of other customers and sales associates were subjected to a Principal Axis Factoring with Oblimin rotation. The results of the final EFA involved 13 Likert scale items. The test were conducted to validate the measures of human variables. The Principal Axis Factoring revealed five factors. These factors were social relations, behavioural attributes, crowding, physical attributes and sales associates’ availability. Therefore, reliability tests were conducted on the final items measuring the human variables. The results of this research study indicate that social relations, sales associates’ availability, physical attributes of sales associates and behavioural attributes of sales associates influence consumers’ shopping experience in FMCG retail stores in Ekurhuleni. However, the consumers felt neutral with regard to crowding. The test results of a chi-square for equal proportion revealed that all the five hypotheses (H1, H2, H3, H4, and H5) were supported as the proportions of consumers with regard to the influence of these sub-variables on their shopping experience were statistically different. Furthermore, ANOVA and F-test results for testing whether there were differences between demographics indicated that H1a, H2b and H5c were supported because there were statistically significant differences between genders with regard to the influence of crowding, between age groups regarding social relations, as well as between racial groups with regard to the influence of behavioural attributes of sales associates on consumers’ shopping experience. / Business Management / M. Com (Business Management)

<p>Свакако да је квалитет један од пресудних<br />диференцирајућих фактора, те се зато све већа пажња<br />придаје његовом управљању. Квалитет представља<br />кључни елемент вредности услуге на основу које се<br />предузећа позиционирају на тржишту, обезбеђују веће<br />тржишно учешће, веће приходе и доприносе задовољству<br />особља и потрошача. Суштина оријентације ка квалитету<br />ресторатерског производа или услуге, има смисла једино<br />ако се уваже сви аспекти квалитета, односно уколико се<br />активности базирају на систему управљања тоталним<br />квалитетом.&nbsp; Највећа одговорност за управљање<br />квалитетом свакако је на руководству угоститељског<br />објекта. У раду су приказани најчешће коришћени модели<br />за истраживање задовољства потрошача и квалитета<br />услуге, а на појединим се базира и спроведено<br />истраживање, те су они шире објашњени. Такође,<br />приказана&nbsp; су&nbsp; истраживања која су за основ имала моделе<br />SERVQUAL или DINESERV.</p><p>Предмет&nbsp; изучавања&nbsp; докторске дисертације&nbsp; јесте<br />квалитет услуга у ресторатерству, управљање квалитетом<br />ресторатерског производа и задовољство потрошача,&nbsp;<br />односно корисника ресторатерских услуга. Реч је о вези<br />квалитета услуге и задовољства потрошача која настаје на<br />основу активности руководства ресторана. Зато је<br />предметом овог истраживања&nbsp; обухваћено испитивање<br />свих учесника (менаџери, особље и гости ресторана) који<br />утичу на квалитет, односно перцепцију квалитета услуге.</p><p>Циљ овог рада је да се утврди постојање и<br />интензитет јазова који се јављају у пословању<br />угоститељских објеката. Идентификација пет јазова и<br />увид у елементе на основу којих се јазови појављују,<br />основ је квалитетне анализе пословања и усмеравања<br />активности ка унапређењу квалитета услуге у<br />ресторатерству.</p> / <p>Svakako da je kvalitet jedan od presudnih<br />diferencirajućih faktora, te se zato sve veća pažnja<br />pridaje njegovom upravljanju. Kvalitet predstavlja<br />ključni element vrednosti usluge na osnovu koje se<br />preduzeća pozicioniraju na tržištu, obezbeđuju veće<br />tržišno učešće, veće prihode i doprinose zadovoljstvu<br />osoblja i potrošača. Suština orijentacije ka kvalitetu<br />restoraterskog proizvoda ili usluge, ima smisla jedino<br />ako se uvaže svi aspekti kvaliteta, odnosno ukoliko se<br />aktivnosti baziraju na sistemu upravljanja totalnim<br />kvalitetom.&nbsp; Najveća odgovornost za upravljanje<br />kvalitetom svakako je na rukovodstvu ugostiteljskog<br />objekta. U radu su prikazani najčešće korišćeni modeli<br />za istraživanje zadovoljstva potrošača i kvaliteta<br />usluge, a na pojedinim se bazira i sprovedeno<br />istraživanje, te su oni šire objašnjeni. Takođe,<br />prikazana&nbsp; su&nbsp; istraživanja koja su za osnov imala modele<br />SERVQUAL ili DINESERV.</p><p>Predmet&nbsp; izučavanja&nbsp; doktorske disertacije&nbsp; jeste<br />kvalitet usluga u restoraterstvu, upravljanje kvalitetom<br />restoraterskog proizvoda i zadovoljstvo potrošača,&nbsp;<br />odnosno korisnika restoraterskih usluga. Reč je o vezi<br />kvaliteta usluge i zadovoljstva potrošača koja nastaje na<br />osnovu aktivnosti rukovodstva restorana. Zato je<br />predmetom ovog istraživanja&nbsp; obuhvaćeno ispitivanje<br />svih učesnika (menadžeri, osoblje i gosti restorana) koji<br />utiču na kvalitet, odnosno percepciju kvaliteta usluge.</p><p>Cilj ovog rada je da se utvrdi postojanje i<br />intenzitet jazova koji se javljaju u poslovanju<br />ugostiteljskih objekata. Identifikacija pet jazova i<br />uvid u elemente na osnovu kojih se jazovi pojavljuju,<br />osnov je kvalitetne analize poslovanja i usmeravanja<br />aktivnosti ka unapređenju kvaliteta usluge u<br />restoraterstvu.</p> / <p>Quality is one of the&nbsp; key differentiating<br />factors, and therefore, more attention is given to<br />its management.&nbsp; It&nbsp; is a key element of the&nbsp; service<br />value&nbsp; that&nbsp; company&nbsp; uses to&nbsp; position&nbsp; itself&nbsp; in the<br />market, providing greater market share, higher<br />revenues and contribute to the satisfaction of staff<br />and customers.&nbsp; The orientation towards quality&nbsp; of<br />restaurant product or service makes sense only if<br />are&nbsp; taken&nbsp; into consideration all aspects of quality,<br />and if the activities are based on a system of total<br />quality management. The greatest responsibility<br />for quality control is&nbsp; certainly on&nbsp; the&nbsp; management<br />team&nbsp; of&nbsp; a&nbsp; restaurant. This paper presents the most<br />commonly used models for the study of consumer<br />satisfaction and service quality. Some models are<br />the&nbsp; base of&nbsp; conducted research, and they are<br />explained&nbsp; in more detail. Also,&nbsp; the thesis presents<br />studies&nbsp; based on&nbsp; SERVQUAL&nbsp; or DINESERV<br />model.</p><p>Subject of&nbsp; this dissertation is&nbsp; service<br />quality in&nbsp; restaurant industry, quality management<br />and customer satisfaction.&nbsp; It is about the<br />relationship of service quality and customer<br />satisfaction that arises from management<br />activities.&nbsp; For that reason,&nbsp; this study included the<br />examination of all participants (managers, staff&nbsp;<br />and restaurant guests) that affect the quality and<br />perception of service quality.</p><p>The aim&nbsp; of this study was to determine the<br />existence and intensity of the gaps that occur in<br />the&nbsp; restaurant&nbsp; business. Identification of five gaps<br />and insight into the elements&nbsp; that initiate the gap<br />appearance, is the basis of a thorough analysis of<br />business&nbsp; activities towards improvement of&nbsp; the<br />quality of services in restaurant industry.</p>

Globalization has influenced the grocery retail industry and the most impactful changes are the preferences and habits of consumers. The increased consumption of consumers is one of the habits that have created a demand for sustainable products. The sustainable products can be marketed towards consumers by the frontline employees. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how grocery retail store personnel can be used as ambassadors toward consumers that will result in sustainable purchase behaviour. To answer the research question, several interviews have been conducted. The interview with the grocery retail expert aided us in the formulation of interview questions. The four interviews with two ICA stores’ personnel provided us with the empirical data needed for reaching the conclusions. Findings reveal that the involvement of personnel in communication with the consumers has positive a positive outcome. In this way, they can be seen as CSR ambassadors and, therefore, efficiently market the organization. To achieve CSR ambassadorship, employees and consumers must enhance organizational identification. One conclusion is that consumers may reach sustainable purchase behaviour when CSR ambassadorship is developed in coherence with a grocery retail store.

In 2011 Sweden introduced tuition fees for citizens of countries outside the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland, choosing to study at Swedish universities. The purpose of this thesis has been to explore how institutions of higher education in Sweden has adapted to this change by studying the case of Lund University. Within Lund University we have studied both centrally placed functions and functions at the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Social Sciences, namely Graduate School. We have performed interviews with teachers as well as administrative staff on different levels. Our study is centred around organization pertaining to marketing and recruitment towards fee-paying students as well as services for fee-paying students during their time of study at Lund University. We have also been interested in finding out whether the relation between the university and the students has changed during the time passed and if there has been any adaptations of the offered education. Our study shows that the tuition fees contributed to a more focused attention on international marketing, the development of new practices within communication and service to international students and the creation of a wider range of international educational programmes. We have also found that administrative staff within the university, to a certain extent, think about students in terms of customers. / År 2011 infördes studieavgifter för studenter från tredjeland som valde att studera vid universitetet och högskolor Sverige. Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att utforska hur lärosäten i Sverige anpassat sig till denna förändring genom att studera fallet Lunds universitet. Inom Lunds universitet har vi studerat funktioner både centralt och på fakultetsnivå, vi har genomfört intervjuer med lärare samt med personer på olika nivåer inom administrationen. Vi har inkluderat både Lunds Tekniska Högskola, LTH, och Graduate School som driver ett antal internationella mastersprogram vid den Samhällsvetenskapliga fakulteten. I vår studie har vi fokuserat på̊ organisering som berör rekrytering av och marknadsföring mot betalande studenter till universitetet samt servicefunktioner riktade till betalande studenter under studietiden. Vi har även utforskat om relationen till studenterna har förändrats samt om det skett en anpassning av utbildningsutbudet. Vår studie visar att studieavgiftsreformen bidrog till ett ökat fokus på internationell marknadsföring och positionering, att nya praktiker inom kommunikation och service till internationella studenter utvecklats samt att antalet program med internationell rekrytering utökats. Studien visar även att tjänstemän inom universitetet i viss utsträckning tänker på studenter i termer av kunder.

Bazaar and pawnshop: etnography at the interface of formal and informal economy Abstract: In this paper I deal with the issue, regarding what actually constitutes bazaar-pawnshop and what this facility means for different groups of customers. Basic research method is auto- ethnography, because best suits in the situation, where I am myself the owner of such shop and during field research I use my own memories and perform both as a direct participant-owner as well as an anthropologist, examining the environment of bazaar. In the empirical part, I offer a brief characterization of different types of customers, depending on the way how they use the bazaar-pawnshop. By describing and analyzing relationships and interactions occurring in the course of business negotiations in the bazaar-pawnshop, I try to show what this type of economy, often referred to as informal or marginal, means for different groups of customers. In particular, I focus on the question how marginalized groups perceive bazaar-pawnshop and how they incorporate it into their lifestyle. On the basis of collected data I infer that they regard the bazaar- pawnshop as a standard economic facility and as an almost necessary part of their everyday life. Keywords: bazaar-pawnshop, purchase, sale, pawn, loan, used goods, customers, marginalized groups

El presente trabajo de investigación tiene como finalidad la creación de un aplicativo móvil cuyo objetivo principal es incentivar la moda sostenible mediante la venta de prendas de segunda mano en buen estado a bajo costo. La aplicación Chance App también adoptará la figura de un Marketplace pues permitirá a vendedores ofrecer prendas de manera sencilla para llegar a más clientes potenciales. Esta aplicación ha sido diseñada luego de identificar el aumento de interés por los consumidores de NSE B y C por la moda sostenible y el avance sustancial de las soluciones digitales. Chance App cuenta con la propuesta de valor de “Viste y vende moda sostenible”, al ser un aplicativo móvil amigable, fácil de usar y confiable para el usuario o vendedor. Buscamos que la gran variedad de prendas ofrecidas en el aplicativo haya pasado por un debido control de calidad antes de ser ofertadas para así asegurarnos de que el cliente esté satisfecho con su compra. La principal finalidad del aplicativo móvil es reducir el impacto ambiental de las industrias textiles Fast Fashion y generar consciencia sobre el impacto que estas generan. / The purpose of this paper is to create a mobile application whose main objective is to encourage sustainable fashion through the sale of second-hand clothes in good condition at low cost. The Chance App will also adopt the shape of a marketplace as it will allow sellers to offer their garments in a simple way in order to reach more potential customers. This application has been designed after identifying the increased interest by socioeconomic level B and C consumers for sustainable fashion and the substantial advancement of digital solutions. Chance App has the value purpose of "Dress and sell sustainable fashion", as it is a friendly, easy-to-use and reliable mobile application for the user or seller. We seek that the wide variety of clothes offered in the application go through strong quality control before being offered in order to ensure that the customer is satisfied with their buy. The main purpose of the mobile application is to reduce the environmental impact of the Fast Fashion textile industries and to raise awareness about the impact they generate. / Trabajo de investigación

DeCasa es una empresa de servicios de mantenimiento en el hogar que brinda soluciones referentes a servicios de limpieza, gasfitería, pintura, cerrajería y decoración de interiores para usuarios de Lima Metropolitana. Dentro de las investigaciones realizadas por nuestro equipo de trabajo, encontramos información relevante que nos sustenta la importancia y necesidad de la sociedad por encontrar soluciones a problemas técnicos en el hogar a través de un aplicativo móvil formal; sin embargo, aún existe una alta dependencia por la demanda de técnicos que trabajan de manera informal.  Asimismo, existe desconfianza por parte de los usuarios para contratar un técnico, ya que no se conoce cuál es el precio adecuado para cada servicio. Por esta razón, hemos diseñado una plataforma digital amigable y confiable que brindará soluciones a problemas domésticos en diferentes áreas, bajo el nombre de DeCasa. Esta aplicación móvil estará disponible para clientes con dispositivos móviles conectados a internet, quienes podrán descargar la aplicación y registrarse para solicitar o programar sus servicios. Al mismo tiempo, los técnicos estarán disponibles para solucionar los requerimientos de los usuarios a tiempo. Dentro de nuestra aplicación los clientes encontrarán referencias y comentarios de otros usuarios para elegir al técnico de su preferencia; es decir, podrán visualizar el historial de calificaciones para conocer los trabajos realizados por el técnico. Asimismo, podrán encontrar información de precios sobre nuestros servicios; en ese sentido,  nuestros clientes podrán tomar una decisión previa  para la elección de nuestros especialistas. / DeCasa is a home maintenance services company in Lima. We are specialists in cleaning services, plumbing, painting, locksmithing and interior desing. Following the research by our team, we have found important information that show us that society requires and need to find solutions to their technical problems at home through a mobile application (app). Even though, we know that people have high demands for the informal work, our interviews has shown that the population needs, an innovation solution for problems at home domestic service.  In that context, customers don't trust to employ a specialist because they don't know which is the correct price for each service. By our research, we have developed a digital, friendly and trustable platform that will provide solutions to domestic problems in different areas. Our app will be available for users who have mobile devices connected to the internet, they will download the App and register for request our service. They will could schedule the specialist service that will be available to approach in time to solve a technical problem, also knowing the price before the specialist arrive. Finally, inside of our app, the customers will find the score of our specialist, recommendation of other customers and rate service. / Trabajo de investigación

This doctoral thesis deals with the aspects of evaluation of balance and optimality of corporate information systems. The initiative for this specialization was given by the increasing importance that is being laid on the perception of information systems from the point of view of a business company. More and more resources are being invested in the domain of information systems, but afterwards, it is not always ascertained that the information system is such a system, one could characterize as balanced and optimal for the company today as well as in the future. Often this is because there does not exist for the company an available and easily applicable methodic how to evaluate the system. As one of the main starting points of this doctoral thesis I have chosen the methodic HOS8 that was published 5 years ago on our faculty. The newly proposed methodic HOS2009 is trying to clear up the weak points of the original HOS8 methodic that were discovered during its practical use. This is done mainly by using the information feedback from the applicants of the methodic. Within the scope of this thesis the factors influencing the level of the particular areas of the system and the influence of these areas on its general balance are being examined. With regard to the evaluation of the balance and optimality of the information system, in this thesis the problematic of determination of a balanced and optimal state of information system for a company nowadays as well in the future are being examined. As a part of the methods output the thesis presents also charts representing the general state of the system, the imbalance of the particular parts of the IS and the relationship between the areas of hardware and software. Based on the evaluation of the current state and its comparison to the balanced optimal state for the present day as well for the future, the new possible directions and strategies of further development of the IS in the company are being proposed. I see the best exploitation of the methodic HOS2009 in the company in the support of managerial decisions with impact on: the discovery of potentially problems within the scope of IS of the company, the design of a possible course of development useful for their solution, but also the usage of the methodic as a simple control mechanism.

There has been an increasing demand for commercial organisations to foster real-time interaction with customers, because harnessing customer competencies has been shown to be a major contributor towards various benefits, such as growth, innovation and competition. This may drive organisations to embrace the development of multimodal interaction and complement Electronic Customer Knowledge Management Systems (E-CKMS) with metaphors of audio-visual nature. Although the implementation of E-CKMS encounters several challenges, such as lack of trust and information overload, few empirical studies were devoted to assess the role of audio-visual metaphors, and investigate whether these technologies can be put into practice. Therefore, this thesis describes a comparative evaluation study carried out to examine the implication of incorporating multimodal metaphors into E-CKMS interfaces on not only usability of E-CKMS, but also the user¿s trust, knowledge and acceptance. An experimental E-CKMS platform was implemented with three different modes of interaction: Visual-only E-CKMS (VCKMS) with text and graphics, Multimodal E-CKMS (MCKMS) with speech, earcons and auditory icons and Avatar-enhanced multimodal E-CKMS (ACKMS). The three platforms were evaluated by three independent groups of twenty participants each (total=60) who carried out eight common tasks of increasing complexity and design based on three different styles. Another dependent group of forty-eight participants (n=48) was instructed to interact with the systems under similar usability conditions by performing six common tasks of two styles, and fill a questionnaire devised to measure the aspects of user acceptance. The results therein revealed that ACKMS was more usable and acceptable than both MCKMS and VCKMS, whereas MCKMS was more usable than VCKMS, but less acceptable. Inferential Statistics indicated that these results were statistically significant.

Banker har i stor utsträckning övergått från traditionella interpersonella leveranser till digitala alternativ, genom användandet av självbetjäningsteknik (SST) (Johns &amp; Perrot, 2008). Detta har medfört minskning av antalet bankkontor, framförallt i Norden (Dallerup et al. 2018; Svenska Bankföreningen, 2020). Samtidigt visar forskning att företagskunder önskar en nära och personlig relation vid anskaffandet av komplexa tjänster (Chalmers &amp; Stubs 2019). Studien adresserade därför detta genom att öka kunskapen om företagskunders uppfattning av tjänstekvalitet vid nyttjandet av banktjänster och interaktioner med deras bank genom följande forskningsfrågor: FF1: Hur kan företagskunders förväntningar på banktjänster beskrivas? FF2: Hur kan företagskunders upplevelser av banktjänster beskrivas? Metoden som nyttjades för detta var en deduktiv kvalitativ ansats med kvantitativa inslag, där semi-strukturerade intervjuer genomfördes baserade på SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al., 1985) och SSTQUAL (Radomir och Nistor, 2012) kvalitetsdimensioner, följt av en tematisk analys. Studiens resultat pekade på följande faktorer som viktiga för hög tjänstekvalitet i banksektorn: God, tillitsfull och personlig relation Tillgänglighet och snabba beslut/handläggning Lokal närvaro/kontor Vidare sågs digital självbetjäningsteknik (SST) som ett fundamentalt behov hos företagskunderna och påverkade upplevd tjänstekvalitet vid banktjänster i liten utsträckning. Konklusionen är därför att det idag är svårt att fullt ut ersätta ansikte-mot-ansikte interaktioner med digitala SST-tjänster för företagskunder. Vid de tillfällen lokala bankkontor stängts ned uppfattade samtliga av studiens respondenter det som negativt och har som en följd antingen bytt bank eller funderar på att göra det. Banker rekommenderas att anpassa sin verksamhetsstyrning i linje med de viktigaste faktorerna för upplevd tjänstekvalitet hos företagskunder.  Framtida studier rekommenderas att undersöka; (1) Om väsentlig ökad utbredning av videomöten under 2020-2021 över tid kan ersätta behovet för lokal förankring och fysiska möten, (2) Huruvida bankers leveransmodell mot företagskunder behöver anpassas och bli mer proaktiv, för att överbrygga de få interaktioner som finns i dagens digitala värld. Detta för att bygga upp de nödvändiga relationerna och tilliten som värdesätts så högt. / Banks has largely shifted from interpersonal service deliveries to digital alternatives through the  use of self-service-technologies (SST) (Johns and Perrot, 2008). This has led to a reduction of bank branches, especially in the Nordic countries (Dallerup et al. 2018; Svenska Bankföreningen, 2020). Simultaneously research shows that banks B2B-customers wants a close and personal relationship as well as interpersonal meetings, especially in the procurement of complex services (Chalmers &amp; Stubs 2019). The study addressed this by increasing the knowledge of B2B-customers perceptions of service quality when using bank services and interactions with their bank through the following research questions:  RQ1: How can B2B-customers expectations of banking services be described? RQ2: How can B2B-customers perceptions of banking services be described?  The method used was a deductive qualitative approach with quantitative elements. Semi-structured interviews based on the quality dimensions of SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al., 1985) and SSTQUAL (Radomir and Nistor, 2012) were conducted, followed by a thematic analysis. The study’s results deemed the following factors as important for high service quality in the banking sector:  Good, trusting, and personal relationship Availability and quick decisions/processing Local presence/branches  Furthermore, digital self-service-technologies (SST) was seen as a fundamental need among the B2B-customers and affected their perceptions of service quality in banking services to a small extent. The conclusion is that its difficult to fully replace face-to-face interactions with digital SST services for B2B-customers. At the times when local bank branches were closed, the study’s respondents perceived it as negative, and as a result they have either changed their bank or were considering doing so. It is recommended for banks to adapt their managerial strategy in line with the most important factors for perceived service quality among B2B-customers. Future studies are recommended to investigate the following: (1) If the significant increase of digital meetings during 2020-2021 over time can replace the need for local presence and physical meetings, (2) If banks delivery model towards B2B-customers needs to become more proactive to increase the number of interactions between the bank and its B2B-customers. To enhance the necessary relationships and trust that they highly value.