網際網路的普及造就了電子商務的蓬勃發展，在目前全台灣約兩萬五千家網路購物商家當中，lativ國民服飾在2007年成立後，因標榜其服飾產品為台灣製造，並以B2C經營方式提供高品質且平價的商品，享有「台版Uniqlo」的美稱，在2010單一年度的營收即達到15億，大約是一般平價實體成衣連鎖兩百家店面的營收總和。自2007年到2010年短短四年，lativ國民服飾就成為台灣網路休閒服飾的成功領導品牌之一。 本研究為探究lativ國民服飾的服務品質、知覺價值、顧客滿意度和顧客忠誠度之關聯性，運用量化研究方法的線上問卷調查法與質化研究方法的深度訪談法。在量化的線上問卷調查方面，共取得413 份有效問卷，以PASW Statistics 18進行資料統計分析與假設驗證；在質化深度訪談部分，訪談五位lativ國民服飾的使用者，整理訪談內容後再與量化統計結果相互對照佐證。透過質量並用的研究方法，希望能夠提供業者具體的行銷策略之建議，供未來營運做為參考。 本研究實證結果如下： 一、服務品質對顧客滿意度具有顯著關係 二、服務品質對顧客忠誠度具有顯著關係 三、知覺價值對顧客滿意度具有顯著關係 四、知覺價值對顧客忠誠度具有顯著關係 五、服務品質對知覺價值具有顯著關係 六、顧客滿意度對顧客忠誠度具有顯著關係 七、人口統計變項在服務品質、知覺價值、顧客滿意度與顧客忠誠度上僅部分達顯著差異性。 / It is the rapid popularity of the Internet that prospers e-commerce in the world. Online shopping, probably the most popular type of e-commerce, has become the main reason for people to use the Internet in daily life. Among the apporoximately 25,000 online shopping stores in Taiwan, “lativ”, a local Taiwanese clothing manufacturer online providing high quality MIT (Made in Taiwan) products at low prices through the mode of B2C, has carried on its business since 2007 and made a name for itself promptly. The single year revenue of lativ in 2010 has reached 1.5 billion, which is about the total single year revenue of the sum of 200 normal entity clothing stores. Now, lativ is one of the leading clothing brands in the arena of online shopping. Concerning its significance as an online shopping brand, lativ becomes the main case for this research to approach the complex relationship among the service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty of online shopping by using both quantitative and qualitative research methods: online survey and in-depth interview. In the part of online survey, this research adopts PASW Statistics 18 software to empirically analyze the 413 valid questionnaires retrieved from PTT, the largest bulletin board system in Taiwan. As for the part of in-depth interview, there are 5 participants included in this research. After analyzing, this research comes to the following conclusions: 1. A significant relationship exists between service quality and customer satisfaction. 2. A significant relationship exists between service quality and customer loyalty. 3. A significant relationship exists between perceived value and customer satisfaction. 4. A significant relationship exists between perceived value and customer loyalty. 5. A significant relationship exists between service quality and perceived value. 6. A significant relationship exists between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. 7. The obvious variations of service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are displayed only among some of the demographic variables.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to do a brand survey of Metro in Karlstad. The study will originate from the terms ”brand identity” and ”brand associations”, where the brand identity is the organization’s desired view of the brand, and the brand associations define the associations held by the consumers. Issues: What is Metro’s brand identity? What are the brand associsations of Metro in Karlstad? How well do the brand identity and the brand associations correspond? Theoretical framework: The study is done from the perspective of media and communication studies, where the theoretical terms are defined from literature regarding brands. Method: The study is carried out using a qualitative document analysis, interviews, and a quantitative survey. The document analysis was made on Metro’s own documents regarding values and target audience. The interviews were carried out with three interviewees from the organization of Metro. The survey was made as a group survey with 200 respondents where eight were removed as they did not qualify for the target audience. Results: The qualitative studies showed that the brand identity towards Metro’s readers is simple. Metro’s desire is that the the newspaper is seen as free, accessible, and that it summarizes the news. The survey showed that the readers of Metro in Karlstad choose Metro because it is free and accessible. They also gave Metro a good grade regarding summarizing of news. Conclusions: Metro keeps their brand identity towards readers simple, as the brand awareness is high and thereby don’t need a complex brand identity. The readers choose Metro because it’s free and accessible, and also think that Metro summarizes the news well. This is exactly what Metro wants to accomplish, and do so by keeping the brand identity simple. The correspondence between brand identity and brand associations is strong, and thereby contributes to a strong brand for Metro. Keywords: Metro, free newspaper, brand survey, brand identity, brand associations, brand, customer perceived value, brand positioning, brand equity, brand awareness. / Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att göra en varumärkesundersökning på gratistidningen Metro i Karlstad. Undersökningen sker utifrån profil och image, där profilen är ledningens syn på hur varumärket ska se ut och imagen hur publiken uppfattar varumärket. Frågeställningar: Hur ser profilen ut för Metro? Hur ser imagen ut för Metro i Karlstad? Hur väl stämmer profil och image överens? Teoretiskt ramverk: Undersökningen genomförs ur ett medie- och kommunikationsvetenskapligt perspektiv, där begreppen profil och image definieras utifrån litteratur om varumärken. Metod: Undersökningen har genomförts genom en kvalitativ dokumentanalys, samtalsintervjuer samt en kvantitativ enkätundersökning. Dokumentanalysen gjordes på Metros egna dokument rörande värderingar och målgrupp. Intervjuerna skedde med tre respondenter från Metros organisation. Enkätundersökningen genomfördes som en typ av gruppenkät med 200 respondenter där åtta plockades bort på grund av att de inte tillhörde målgruppen. Resultat: De kvalitativa undersökningarna visade att Metro har en enkel profil mot sina läsare. De vill att tidningen ska ses som gratis, lättillgänglig och nyhetssammanfattande. Enkätundersökningen visade att Metros läsare i Karlstad väljer tidningen för att den är gratis och lättillgänglig. Läsarna gav också ett bra betyg gällande nyhetssammanfattandet. Slutsatser: Metro håller profilen mot läsare enkel, då de har en hög varumärkeskännedom och inte behöver någon komplex profil. Läsarna väljer Metro för att den är just gratis och lättillgänglig och tycker även att tidningen sammanfattar nyheter bra. Detta är just det Metro vill åstadkomma och gör det genom att hålla profilen enkel. Överensstämmelsen mellan profil och image är därför stark och bidrar till ett starkt varumärke för Metro. Nyckelord: Metro, gratistidning, varumärkesundersökning, profil, image, varumärke, customer perceived value, positionering, brand equity, varumärkeskännedom.

Purpose - The purpose of this thesis was to develop a method for how practitioners can utilize value-based pricing of smart services. In order to fulfill this purpose, the following research questions were addressed: RQ1) How can firms identify value drivers for their smart services in order to understand customer perceived value? RQ2) How can firms match the perceived value of their smart service and what type of revenue model to use (i.e., how to price and how much to price)? RQ3) How can firms use value-based pricing for calculating the optimal price of their smart service? Method - This thesis adopts a mixed method. This is done by collecting data through interviews and surveys. This data is then analyzed and utilized to develop a method for value-based pricing of smart services.  Findings - Based on the insights gathered through the explored methods for identifying and measuring value drivers, concluding customers’ willingness to pay, matching it with revenue and pricing mechanisms and finally deriving an optimal price a holistic and structured process that connected these different activities has been proposed (see Appendix S). Theoretical contribution - The major theoretical contribution is the synthesis of three different literature streams (i.e., VBP, revenue model design and smart service commercialization). These areas have, to our knowledge, previously never been integrated in one study. In addition, the developed method successfully addresses identification of value drivers, which previously has been labeled as the biggest barrier for B2B firms wanting to transition towards VBP (Liozu et al., 2012).  Practical implications - This thesis supports management in commercialization of smart services by providing a holistic and systematic process for identifying and measuring value drivers, concluding customers’ WTP, matching it with revenue and pricing mechanisms and finally deriving an optimal price based on VBP. The final developed method is presented in Appendix S. / Syfte - Syftet med detta examensarbete var att utveckla en metod för hur praktiker kan utnyttja värdebaserad prissättning av smarta tjänster. För att uppfylla detta syfte togs följande forskningsfrågor upp: RQ1) Hur kan företag identifiera värdedrivare för sina smarta tjänster för att förstå kundens upplevda värde? RQ2) Hur kan företag matcha det upplevda värdet av sin smarta tjänst och vilken typ av intäktsmodell de ska använda (dvs hur man prissätter och hur mycket prissätter man)? RQ3) Hur kan företag använda värdebaserad prissättning för att beräkna det optimala priset för sin smarta tjänst? Metod - Detta exjobb använder en blandad metod. Detta görs genom att samla in data genom intervjuer och enkäter. Denna data analyseras sedan och används för att utveckla en metod för värdebaserad prissättning av smarta tjänster. Resultat - Baserat på de insikter som samlats in genom de utforskade metoderna för att identifiera och mäta värdedrivande faktorer, utnytja kundernas betalningsvilja, matcha den med intäkts- och prissättningsmekanismer och slutligen härleda ett optimalt pris har en holistisk och strukturerad process som kopplar samman dessa olika aktiviteter presenterats (se Bilaga S). Teoretiskt bidrag - Det största teoretiska bidraget är syntesen av tre olika litteraturströmmar (dvs VBP, intäktsmodelldesign och kommersialisering av smarta tjänster). Dessa områden har, såvitt vi vet, tidigare aldrig integrerats i en studie. Dessutom tar den utvecklade metoden framgångsrikt in på identifiering av värdedrivare, som tidigare har stämplats som den största barriären för B2B-företag som vill gå över till VBP (Liozu et al., 2012). Praktiska implikationer - Det här examensarbetet stöder ledning i kommersialisering av smarta tjänster genom att tillhandahålla en holistisk och systematisk process för att identifiera och mäta värdedrivare, avsluta kundernas WTP, matcha den med intäkts- och prissättningsmekanismer och slutligen härleda ett optimalt pris baserat på VBP. Den slutligen utvecklade metoden presenteras i Bilaga S

För att förbättra servicekvaliteten är kartläggning och mätning av kundupplevelse en viktig del av förbättringsarbetet. Detta är mestadels studerat ur den externa kundens perspektiv, och inte lika ofta ur den interna kundens. Syftet med denna studie var att utforska förekomsten av olika dimensioner av intern kundupplevelse inom en organisation och undersöka deras relation till andra mått på kundupplevelse. Dessutom syftade studien till att utforska de interna kundernas perspektiv på kvaliteten på den levererade servicen. Fokus för studien var eftermarknadsavdelningen i den svenska delen av ett globalt företag inom tillverkande industri. En kvalitativ metod användes och data samlades in med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer och analyserades med en induktiv tematisk ansats. Resultatet visar sex dimensioner som påverkar den interna kundupplevelsen: Kommunikation, Beteende, Systemstöd, Personlig kontakt, Teknisk kompetens och Fungerande processer. Denna studie ger insikt i viktiga faktorer för att möta interna kunders behov och förväntningar. Även om det finns vissa skillnader, kan dessa dimensioner jämföras med andra dimensioner av kundupplevelse och servicekvalitet. Resultaten indikerar att befintliga mätverktyg utformade för extern kundupplevelse också bör kunna tillämpas i interna sammanhang. Denna studie bidrar till att utöka den begränsade kunskapen om intern kundupplevelse. / In order to improve service quality, mapping and measuring customer experience is a vital part of improvement efforts. This is however mostly studied from the external customers point of view, and studies on internal customer experience are scarce. The aim of this study was to explore the existence of different dimensions of internal customer experience within an organisation and examine their relationship to other measures of customer experience. In addition, the study aimed to explore the internal customers’ perspectives on the quality of the service delivered. The focus of the study was the after sales department in the Swedish branch of a global manufacturing company. A qualitative method was used and the data was collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed by an inductive thematic approach. The result shows six dimensions that affect the internal customer experience: Communication, Behavior, System support, Personal contact, Technical competence and Functional processes. This study provides insight into significant factors in meeting internal customer needs and expectations. Although there are some differences, these dimensions compares with those found in other studies on customer experience and service quality. The results indicate that existing measurements of external customer experience should also be applicable to internal settings. This study contributes to expanding the limited knowledge of internal customer experience.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics / Chihyung Ok, Deborah D. Canter / This study sought to apply the concepts of ‘perceived value’ and ‘customer share’ (of visits) to full-service restaurant settings for the first time. Given the strong ‘experiential nature’ of foodservice, the perceived value concept adopted in this study involved an ‘experiential view’ of the dining experience. Further, the customer share concept was expected to have implications for the foodservice context, given the multi-loyalty nature of restaurant customers. With the first conceptual model, this study sought to verify the effect of perceived value on customer share of visits in a full-service restaurant context, using a dimension-level value approach and positing customer satisfaction and brand preference as mediators between them. The conceptual model was tested based on responses from 299 general U.S. full-service restaurant customers, using a confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The test results revealed that among four value dimensions, excellence (in food and service) and customer return on investment had dominant effects on customer satisfaction and brand preference whereas playfulness had a significant moderate effect only on brand preference; aesthetic appeals did not have significant effects on either. Affected by perceived value, customer satisfaction significantly enhanced brand preference and in turn brand preference contributed to customer share of visits and fully mediated the effect of customer satisfaction on customer share of visits. In essence, the findings highlight the significant antecedent role of perceived value in customers’ satisfaction and brand preference formation, and the pivotal role of customer brand preference in customers’ purchase decision process. With the second conceptual model, this study sought to reveal the direct effect and/or moderating effects of contingency variables in relation to customer share of visits in a fullservice restaurant context. The hypotheses included in the conceptual model were tested based on responses from 291 general U.S. full-service restaurant customers, using a confirmatory factor analysis and a series of (moderated hierarchical) regression analyses. The test results indicated that the direct effects of social switching costs, lost benefits costs, procedural costs, and intrinsic inertia were positive whereas that of intrinsic variety-seeking was negative on customer share of visits. In addition, consumer involvement and perceived brand heterogeneity were found to enhance the effect of brand preference on customer share of visits. The effects of the contingency variables appear to work by influencing the number of brands in customers’ consideration sets and/or leading customers to allocate a greater share of visits to a particular brand in a given number of brands in consideration sets.

We examine the antecedents of customer satisfaction in the restaurant sector, paying particular attention to perceived value and price level. Using Latent Dirichlet Allocation, we extract latent topics from the text of Yelp! reviews, then analyze the relationship between these topics and satisfaction, measured as the difference between review rating and user average review rating.

Šiandieniniame pasaulyje prekės ženklų gausa yra begalinė, ir norint išlikti privalu išsiskirti. Užtikrinti vartotojo suvokiamą vertę yra vienas pagrindinių kiekvienos organizacijos tikslų. Baigiamojo darbo tikslas – sukurti vartotojo suvokiamos prekės ženklo vertės didinimo modelį, remiantis prekės ženklo įvaizdžiu, bei atskleisti kaip tą įvaizdį įtakoja antropomorfizmas. Teorinėje darbo dalyje analizuojama, kaip žmogiškųjų savybių integravimas į prekės ženklą veikia prekės ženklo įvaizdį, ir kaip šis įvaizdis veikia vartotojo suvokiamą vertę. Analitinėje baigiamojo darbo dalyje pateikiami ir analizuojami atlikto kiekybinių duomenų tyrimo rezultatai, kurie buvo gauti atliekant anketinę apklausą Vytauto didžiojo universitete ir UAB „Jumana“ konferencijų salėje. Projektinėje darbo dalyje suformuotas vartotojo suvokiamos vertės didinimo modelis. Atliktos baigiamojo darbo dalys atskleidžia pagrindinius vartotojo suvokiamos prekės ženklo vertės sudedamuosius elementus, bei išanalizuoja kaip antropomorfinis prekės ženklo įvaizdis juos veikia. / In today’s world, there are abundance of brands, and in order to survive – you must stand out. To guarantee customer - based value is one of main goal to every organization. The main purpose of this paper – prepare customers perceived value improvement model, based on brands image, also to reveal how anthropomorphism affect that brand image. The theoretical part of this paper analyzes how integration of human characteristics affect brand, and how that brand influences customers perceived brand value. The analytical part of this paper presents and analyzes the research results, from the questionnaire, which was made in Vytautas Magnus University and Jumana company. In project part of this paper, the customer perceived value enhancement model is made. All parts of this masters thesis reveal the main elements of customers perceived brands value, and how anthropomorphic brand’s image influence those elements.

Den snabba teknikutvecklingen har lett till att allt fler fysiska butiker läggs ner eller backar i vinstsiffror, vilket lett till att de klassiska mellanhänderna har hamnat i en problematisk situation. Butikschefer har märkt av denna förändring och även ledningsfunktioner inom större koncerner som exempelvis H&M. Därför har denna studie som mål att analysera varför butikskedjor i högre grad inte ställt om till Internethandel, samt hur butikschefer ser på framtiden för de fysiska klädbutikerna.Tidigare forskning har visat att många faktorer påverkar en konsuments shoppingvanor i dagens konsumtionssamhälle och hur dessa vanor ändras över tid. Forskare påstår även att en djupt rotad företagskultur kan göra nödvändiga organisationsförändringar svåra om det är nödvändigt. Vi har valt att göra intervjuer med butikschefer för att sedan tolka och analyserahur dessa bemöter förändringen inom klädbranschen på grund av utvecklingen med ehandel. Totalt intervjuades 8 butikschefer vars respons på intervjufrågorna analyserades.Slutsatsen är att butikscheferna har hög tilltro till sin egen verksamhet trots utvecklingen med e-handeln, då butikscheferna anser att e-handeln inte kan konkurrera med kundvärdet som servicen ger i butik. Vårt antagande är att även organisationerna som helhet har levt med denna tro, och att detta kan vara anledningen till att mellanhänderna inte ställt om till e-handel tidigare. / The rapid technology advancement has led to more and more physical stores closing down or backing in profit figures. In turn, this has led the classical intermediaries into a problematic situation. Store managers have noticed this change of events, and also top management within larger groups, such as H&M, are aware of this. Therefore, this study aims to find out why stores have not changed to e-commerce to a greater extent, and how store managers look to the future of the physical clothing stores.Previous research has shown that many factors affect a consumer’s shopping habits in today's consumer society, how these shopping habits change over time, and how a deeply rooted corporate culture can make necessary organizational changes difficult. In this study, we have done in-depth interviews with store managers, and then interpret and analyze whatthese managers said, to get a good overview how these store managers deal with the changes that are occurring in the clothing industry due to e-commerce. In total, 8 store managers were interviewed and whose responses were analyzed with an analysis model formed in a thematic order in contrast with the theories we used in the study.We can conclude that the store managers have high faith in their own business despite the development of e-commerce. The store managers firmly believe that e-commerce cannot compete with the value that services provides in stores. Our assumption is that the organizations as a whole have lived with this belief, and that this may be the reason why the intermediaries have not switched to e-commerce earlier.

Este trabalho de pesquisa apresentará uma aplicação metodológica para a medida do valor percebido na prestação de serviços de hospedagem. Conhecido o valor percebido, será possível compará-lo com os custos do serviço, bem como com os preços ofertados e, a partir daí, fornecer ao administrador uma base para o planejamento das ações de melhoria e para a priorização das atividades que oferecem maior valor, segundo a visão de cliente. O modelo pretende estimar o valor percebido que os consumidores formam no ambiente de serviços; focado no desempenho dos serviços e considerando valor um constructo relacionado com os atributos característicos do serviço que influenciam a preferência, e, como conseqüência, a escolha do consumidor. A modelagem proposta será ilustrada por meio de um estudo de caso contemplando um hotel de categoria econômica no interior de São Paulo, devendo ser tratado segundo o método de análise conjunta, técnica de estatística multivariada de análise de dados. Esta técnica busca atribuir a importância relativa que os consumidores (hóspedes) associam a um conjunto de características particulares na prestação de serviços, e o grau de utilidade percebida de diferentes níveis destes atributos / This study presents a methodology application for perceived value in hospitality industry. The knowledge of perceived value will help managers to compare these consumer preferences with operational costs, and also with price strategies, and then will give the managers a tool to their improvement actions planning, and also to choice the most important attributes to improve value for customers. This model intends to get the perceived values from a qualitative and quantitative research in service industry, focused on the services performance, considering value as a construct of attributes that explain service and influence the customer stated preference, and customer’s choice as a consequence. The empirical research will take place in a budget-hotel, located in the countryside of São Paulo State, and based on a multivariate conjoint analysis. This technique aims to give the relative importance which consumers (guests) associate to a group of particular characteristics in hospitality industry, and the degree of perceived utility of different levels of those attributes

O grande crescimento da comunicação boca a boca, principalmente após a popularização da internet e redes sociais, aumentou a circulação de opiniões sem que o indivíduo tenha consumido, utilizado ou até mesmo tido algum tipo de contato com o produto. Por isso, é necessário que as empresas entendam melhor quais características devem promover em suas marcas para aumentar o valor percebido pelo cliente, proteger-se do boca-a-boca negativo e estimular o positivo. Assim, o objetivo do trabalho é analisar as inter-relações entre personalidade de marca, valor percebido e atitude e seus efeitos preditivos sobre o boca-a-boca entre os consumidores antes da compra. Neste estudo descritivo foram obtidas 1.156 respostas on-line para a utilização de modelagem de equações estruturais. Foram aplicadas ferramentas estatísticas preparatórias, que validaram os dados para aplicação do método PLS, permitindo estimar uma série de relações de dependência entre variáveis latentes. Foi confirmado que uma cadeia de eventos anterior à compra, formada pelos construtos sob análise e moderada pela familiaridade com a marca e envolvimento com o produto, resulta na intenção do consumidor realizar o boca-a-boca, especialmente o positivo. Quando percebidos, a competência da marca e os atributos emocionais do produto tendem a se sobressair ao preço e influenciar com maior relevância a atitude do consumidor para estímulo ao boca-a-boca. / As internet and social media usage expands, significant growth in word-of-mouth communication has increased consumers\' opinion-sharing about products and brands, regardless they ever having used, consumed, or been in contact with such products. For this reason, it is crucial for companies to better understand the cognitive and emotional aspects of such consumer behavior in order to protect their brands from negative word-of-mouth and stimulate positive mentions. Therefore, this work aims at analyzing the interrelations between brand personality, perceived value and attitude, as well as their predictive effects in word-of-mouth communications between customers before the purchase. In this descriptive study, 1,156 self-administered questionnaires data was subjected to Structural Equation Modeling analysis. Statistical analysis validated the data for PLS path modeling which, in turn, allowed estimation of several dependent interrelationships between latent variables in a model developed from literature. Results suggest that a chain of events, comprised by the analyzed constructs and moderated by brand familiarity and product involvement, results in customer\'s intention to engage in predominantly positive word-of-mouth prior to the purchase. When actually perceived, brand competence and emotional attributes overweight price perception in influencing customer\'s attitude toward word-of-mouth behavior.