Nowadays with the development of Internet, there is a shift from offline to online travel agencies. Challenges like customer loyalty go hand in hand with advantages such as fast speed and convenience. This paper aims to identify what are the determining factors that have an impact on customer loyalty to online travel agencies through an empirical study of Expedia, an online travel booking platform. According to the research of previous literature, this paper proposes seven factors that have an influence on customer loyalty in the environment of online travel agencies. Then a new framework is outlined and seven hypotheses are generated to address the research questions that are put forward. This study adopts an online questionnaire, a quantitative strategy, as the method to collect data. After analysis, the results support five outlined hypotheses and two are not supported. Finally, the findings will provide some managerial implications to improve the customer loyalty to Expedia and also be helpful for the whole online travel agency market.

Abstract Title: Customer Perceived Value of Credit Card Rewards - A study on Canadian Consumers Level: Final assignment for Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration Author: Lisa Smedley Supervisor: Jonas Kågström Date: 2013 - January Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate what influences Customer Perceived Value; where Canadian consumers’ preferences lie in terms of rewards in the Canadian credit card industry. Method: After researching previous studies and determining what constructs have been utilized prior on similar research topics, I implement a quantitative, and to some extend iterative, research approach. Through survey research, I investigate Canadian consumer preferences through a survey sample of 124 Canadian consumers in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Result & Conclusions: One finding in the study indicates that utilitarian benefits, which provide financial gain for the card holder, are perceived by respondents as the most valuable reward. Another finding is that inexperienced credit card holders see significantly greater value in symbolic benefits than experienced card holders do. The present study does not support the theory that customer involvement influences the customer’s perception of rewards. 2 Suggestions for future research: More extensive research is needed on the subject of whether Canadian consumers’ perceived value of rewards is influenced by their level of involvement in their credit card. Also, studies involving additional factors that could possibly determine a consumer’s perception of rewards, such as income and ethnicity should be investigated for a more well-rounded understanding of customer preferences. Contribution of the thesis: The present study contributes with new findings that can be of substantial significance for Canadian financial institutions as it provides insight into what credit card rewards Canadian consumers perceive as being valuable to them. Key words: Rewards programs, credit cards, customer loyalty, perceived customer value, timing of reward, type of reward, dimension of benefit, utilitarian, hedonic, symbolic

This research looks into the emerging trend of circular economy which is fairly young, but have still gotten a lot of recognition in the past few years. The purpose of the research was to identify bridging activities between circular business models and customer perceived value. This gap creates a great opportunity to find correlations between these areas to hopefully construct the missing bridge to connect the phenomena. A case study was applied on an organisation having a circular business model, where its customer network was used to collect data. Two types of data collection methods were used: (1)Quantitative data collection from potential customers using a questionnaire;and (2) Qualitative data collection from existing customers with semistructured interviews. The collected data was later analysed by connecting it to existing theory of customer perceived value. The data was categorised, ranked and later inserted in a contemporary matrix created by the authors, called the Business Model Matrix. The whole research was lastly presented as a conceptual model with the intent to generalize the methodology so it could be applied on other organisations. The model consists of five steps: (1) Research, (2) Data collection, (3) Translation, (4) Business Model Matrix and (5) Adaption.The authors conclude this research with: (1) It is difficult to quantify and make sense of value; (2) Standardised measurements for value has to be defined; and (3) Even though it might be difficult to interpret the business model matrix result, it might give a good overview of what the customers likes which can increase competitiveness in the long-term. Suggested future research lies in standardising value and looking into perceived value from other actors rather than customers as well.

How to price your offering is one of the main managerial decision issues today and is alarmingly often not grounded in necessary market and cost research. Pricing is a complex topic, dependent on a multitude of internal and external factors, which makes pricing practice and strategy alignment even more difficult. As a simplifying measure, pricing practices are commonly categorized into three categories: cost-based, competition-based and value-based pricing, of which value-based pricing is considered the superior practice by scholars. Consequently, the issue of how to adopt value-based pricing and how to actually price according to value is pertinent and a main focus of this thesis. What comprises perceived customer value, how a firm creates and captures value, and how a firm chooses to formulate the customer value proposition in order to communicate the generated value are all questions that this thesis investigates and attempts to answer. Furthermore, the effects of the customer-supplier relationship on pricing and change management aspects of a transition to value-based pricing are also investigated and analyzed. In order to answer the research purpose and accompanying research questions, a qualitative single case-study was conducted. The case company was a leading company in the TIC-market, who just recently had started discussing implementing value-based pricing and was therefore deemed as an appropriate case for this study. Empirical data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with the employees as well as the customers of the case company. The analysis of the empirical data in conjunction with the theoretical framework led to a revised analytical model that attempts to explain the relations and correlations of the different concepts discussed in this thesis, as well as conclusions regarding the aforementioned research questions. This study concludes that the common value drivers are Quality, Delivery reliability, Delivery time, Price, Geographical location, Relationship and communication, Customization. Additionally, the study concludes that the alignment of pricing practice and strategy is heavily dependent on internal and external awareness, and it is of utmost importance for a firm engaging in value-based pricing to know not only their customer and market, but also their own capabilities and strengths. Regarding how to formulate the customer value proposition, the study concludes that it should be customized for the specific customer and have a resonating focus with elements of points of difference. Lastly, the study details the challenges that a firm transitioning to a value-based pricing practice might encounter, and the suggestive solutions to these obstacles.