Background: A brand’s reputation can take many years to build up, although the value of the brand is not forever. Accidents, scandals or product safety incidents associated to a certain corporation can affect a brands reputation. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 led to much information being spread around regarding BP, the company behind the accident. The environment took damage and BP endured a lot of negative publicity. Purpose: To gain knowledge about the effects on a company suffering from negative publicity and how they could proceed in order to minimize the damage. Delimitations: This study is based on the company BP and their incident in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. The investigation was done in the United States of America on American customers with a population restricted to car owners as the study examines purchase behavior. Method: The research was conducted through a deductive quantitative approach. The data sources were collected by an archival analysis and an electronic questionnaire. Conclusion: If the information received from media and from word-of-mouth after an incident (like BP’s oil spill) is considered as negative towards the company, this leads to a decrease in positive attitudes among customers that in turn affects purchase behavior negatively. It is important to implement strategies in the company as a foundation against negative publicity. The study shows that the most influencing strategies on consumer attitudes were corporate social responsibility followed by brand positioning.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / O objetivo principal desta pesquisa à analisar as relaÃÃes e o possÃvel gap entre atitude, intenÃÃo e comportamento de compra de produtos verdes entre universitÃrios da Ãrea de gestÃo do Brasil e do CanadÃ. Buscou-se, tambÃm, contribuir para a consolidaÃÃo do modelo proposto por Chan (2001) referente à atitude, inteÃÃo e comportamento de compra de produtos verdes, com o acrÃscimo de fatores situacionais como disponibilidade, preÃo e qualidade percebidos sugeridos por Dinato e Madruga (1999), Bonini e Oppenheim (2008) e DâSouza et al. (2007). O estudo à de natureza quantitativa e à descritiva quanto aos seus objetivos. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de campo com a utilizaÃÃo da tÃcnica de Modelagem em EquaÃÃes Estruturais. Os resultados confirmaram que existe uma relaÃÃo positiva entre a atitude e a intenÃÃo de compra de produtos verdes, assim como a hà uma relaÃÃo positiva entre intenÃÃo e comportamento de compra, apesar de menos expressiva. A influÃncia da disponibilidade, preÃo e qualidade percebidos entre intenÃÃo e comportamento de compra tambÃm foi comprovada. Quanto Ãs diferenÃas entre os grupos, percebeu-se que os estudantes canadenses costumam encontrar produtos verdes com maior facilidade, assim como estÃo mais dispostos a despender dinheiro e a abdicar de produtos melhores em prol do meio ambiente. Apesar das diferenÃas entre as amostras, o preÃo percebido à uma variÃvel preponderante durante a transiÃÃo entre intenÃÃo e comportamento de compra de produtos verdes, demonstrando tambÃm haver semelhanÃas gerais entre as duas culturas. Espera-se contribuir para a geraÃÃo de debates e discussÃes acerca das vantagens e desvantagens na adoÃÃo de produtos verdes, auxiliar educadores da Ãrea da AdministraÃÃo que buscam desenvolver os currÃculos dos estudantes que assumirÃo funÃÃes associadas à gestÃo, estimular o desenvolvimento de novas pesquisas na Ãrea, alÃm de auxiliar na elaboraÃÃo de estratÃgias na Ãrea de Marketing com base no comportamento de seus consumidores.

The main goal of this diploma thesis is to prove whether there is a relationship between the willingness to buy and the user product reviews. Sectional questions are related to e.g. the willingness to pay more for the product with a better review, to a satisfactory number of stars in a rating or to what is crucial for customers when choosing a product. The readers are introduced to basic concepts related to the topic (such as the purchase behavior of customers and its influences, the willingness to buy, the customer satisfaction or the user product reviews) before the analysis. The interviewing method was chosen for primary data collection. Due to a quantitative nature of the research, the research questions were specified firstly. These questions were evaluated using descriptive statistics and tools of statistic reasoning.

The thesis focuses on the buying behavior of consumers at the dermocosmetics market in the Czech Republic with a main focus on consumers of brands Vichy, Bioderma, La Roche-Posay, Avene and Eucerin. The work is divided into two main parts, theoretical and practical. The first part is devoted to general theoretical knowledge in the field of shopping behavior of consumers, the buying decision process and its various stages. It also builds on the theoretical foundation of marketing research, its nature and process. In the practical part there is dermocosmetics market in the Czech Republic mapped together with the introduction of the above mentioned dermocosmetic brands. After secondary research follows the main part, which is the primary consumer research conducted through interviews with consumer of dermocosmetics, which is then compared with primary research of pharmacy staff selling democosmetics. The findings of the research are then formulated into practical recommendations given to the Active Cosmetics Division at L'Oréal.

Background: The emergence of mobile phones today and in history proves to beexceptionally unique in the consumer electronics market as well as the telecommunicationmarket. The reason behind the huge growth of the industry has been the exceptional evolutionof the technology used in the mobile devices in terms of performance and miniaturization. Purpose: The purpose of the research is to investigate the different stages within theconsumer decision making process and the influencing factors that have a grip overconsumers and shape the consumer behaviour towards smartphones. The study is aimed atexploring the main reasons that affect the buying decision of students regarding a specificcase, which is the iPhone product and its student users in the Swedish market. By focusing ona specific segment of the iPhone consumers, the research will present more accurate and clearresults. The theoretical perspective of the study will be using the traditional five-stagedecision-making model as a backbone thus putting the main focus of the analysis on theconsumer behaviour of the respondents. Method: Additionally, the paper will take the customers’ point of view in order to portray theinfluencing factors that exist within the consumers’ decision-making. For the purpose of thestudy, 12 iPhone users will be interviewed through semi-structured interviews and thegathered data would be analysed and coded in order to find and synthesize the results into aframework that will be developed specifically for the case. Conclusion: According to findings that were made regarding the iPhone case, there were afew factors that stood out as the most relevant when it comes to the students’ purchasedecision - brand loyalty, culture and society, perceived risk, financial influence, usage andproduct features. After the initial purchase of an iPhone which is mainly influenced by socialinfluences, it can be concluded that brand loyalty plays a key role in the repurchase behaviourof customers.

With the rise of social media platforms and the increasing popularity of short-form video content, TikTok has emerged as one of the dominant platforms for entertainment, information sharing, and commerce. This thesis aims to examine the influence of community commerce TikTok content on adult users, exploring the impact it has on their purchasing behaviors, perceptions, and overall engagement. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods in an online survey. The quantitative analysis of results involves assessing demographic data in addition to establishing a clear, unambiguous understanding of the participants including their exposure to community commerce content, motivations for engagement, and existing purchase behavior. In the analysis of qualitative data, open-ended and narrative responses are analyzed. These responses speak to personal realities and provide insight on distinctive opinions. The theories deployed in the design of the study are Social Influence theory, the Stimulus-Organism-Response Model (SOR), and Word of Mouth (WOM). The findings of this research contribute to existing literature on social media marketing, digital commerce, and consumer behavior. The outcome of the study revealed that users feel more inclined to make a purchase in response to TikTok content (compared to traditional marketing) when the content feels catered to their interests and multiple users on the platform attest to a product's value. This category of content is referred to as community commerce, which intersects community, shopping, and entertainment. The elements that make this content unique were revealed to have the power to influence someone who has never made a purchase from TikTok before to be more inclined to do so if the content is relevant enough.  As such, the conclusions of this thesis also imply several implications for society at large. These include a more authentic approach to future influencer marketing, the democratization of trend-setting, and leveling the opportunities for small businesses that are up against larger brands.

In 2016, it is no longer possible to deny the existence of global warming and its harmful effects on our planet and the environment. Not only experts, but also consumers, have become increasingly concerned about the environment. This increased awareness and concern has increased consumers’ interest in purchasing environmentally friendly food products, and has caused companies to focus on programs intent on reducing their environmental impact and helping the environment. Companies have introduced more environmentally friendly food products, accessible on a large scale, and have changed their communication to focus more on green products and green product attributes. Scandinavian countries have some of the largest numbers of organic food consumers in Europe and the world, with the Swedish organic food industry measuring the highest growth rate in organic food sales in 2015. Therefore, this study focuses on the Swedish green food industry. A major way for companies to make consumers aware of their available environmentally friendly food products is through green advertising. An increasingly frequent problem, however, is that consumers tend to distrust these green ads. They have knowledge of green washing practices and misleading information in green advertising. In this thesis, the relationships between green consumerism, green washing and green advertising skepticism were investigated. The potential relationship between demographic factors such as gender, age, income and level and area of study, and green advertising skepticism were tested as well. A research model with three main hypotheses was used in this thesis. The results showed a significant relationship between green consumerism and green advertising skepticism when green washing was a moderator. There was also a significant negative relationship between attitude towards green products and green advertising skepticism and a positive relationship between environmental concern and green advertising skepticism. There existed no significant relationship between the tested demographic factors and green advertising skepticism in the Swedish green food industry.

The world has been ageing fast. In the major of the countries, mature consumers grow faster than ever before. There are two reasons to explain this: first is the increase of life expectance and on the other hand, the decrease of born ratio. The combination of these two facts has produced a gray planet. Learning how to deal with this will be a challenge in the next decades, once the mature market is attracting the attention of both academic researchers and businessmen all around the world due to their importance as a consumer group. A strong characteristic of this group is its heterogeneity, that suggests the existence of several important subgroups for marketers. This study employs a segmentation technique based upon lifestyles, purchase behavior and demographics characteristics to subdivide the consumer market composed of people aged 49 plus living in the Uberlândia and Uberaba, important cities in Minas Gerais State. The analysis of the data sample was based on multivariate statisticals techniques. Factor Analysis was used to identify the major important groups of variables that compose the purchase behavior and the lifestyle of mature consumers. Then, Cluster Analysis was applied to identify and to characterize the segments. Results indicated the existence of five clusters: elderlies reserved, retirees not worried, secure workers, balanced active, well-educated youngers. This study contributes to the knowledge of the mature consumer, helping future researches about this subject. Besides, it provides information to marketers directing and positioning their products, better fitting them to the lifestyle and purchase behavior of the mature market. / O mundo passa hoje pela maior revolução demográfica de sua história. Em um grande número de países, a proporção de consumidores mais idosos cresce a um ritmo jamais visto no passado. O envelhecimento é fruto do aumento da expectativa de vida e da queda na taxa de natalidade: a combinação desses dois fenômenos está produzindo um planeta grisalho. Aprender a lidar com este fato é um dos grandes desafios nas décadas que vêm pela frente, pois o mercado maduro vem atraindo a atenção de pesquisadores e de homens de negócios em todo o mundo por conta da crescente importância que vem assumindo como grupo consumidor. Uma das mais fortes características desse grupo é sua heterogeneidade, o que faz supor a existência de diversos subgrupos de importância para marketing. Assim, o presente trabalho adota a segmentação segundo perfis de estilos de vida, comportamentos de compra e características demográficas para subdividir o mercado dos consumidores com mais de 49 anos de idade residentes nas cidades de Uberlândia e Uberaba - MG. Com uma abordagem quantitativa, foram utilizadas técnicas estatísticas multivariadas para analisar os dados levantados junto a uma amostra desses consumidores. A Análise Fatorial foi utilizada para identificar as variáveis mais representativas do comportamento de compra e estilo de vida dos consumidores maduros. Posteriormente, a Análise de Agrupamentos permitiu separá-los em clusters, identificando-se cinco segmentos: idosos reservados, aposentados despreocupados, trabalhadores seguros, ativos equilibrados e jovens instruídos. Este estudo aprofunda o conhecimento do consumidor maduro nas cidades de Uberlândia e Uberaba, contribuindo para futuras pesquisas, além de proporcionar às empresas informações para melhor direcionar e posicionar seus produtos aos consumidores maduros, segundo seu estilo de vida e comportamento de compra. / Mestre em Administração

The diploma thesis deals with the analysis of the influence of Mary Kay brand on purchase behavior of customers B2C markets thanks to the model customer-based brand equity and the model ColourMind using colour-word association method CWAT. Its aim is to evaluate perception of the brand and factors influencing behavior of customers. Theoretical part is focused on B2C markets, brand politics, customers and their attitude to shopping. Practical part deals with identification of Mary Kay company, analysis of determinants and evaluation of their influence on purchase behavior of customers.

Rapporten undersöker vilka faktorer i influencers sponsrade inlägg på Instagram som påverkar studenters attityder gentemot influencers. Vidare undersöks hur influencer marketing påverkar studenters köpintentioner. Vald metod för undersökningen är en kvantitativenkätundersökning med 72 respondenter bestående av studenter på Högskolan i Borås. Resultatet visar att faktorer som påverkar studenters attityder gentemot influencers är hur ofta sponsrade inlägg publiceras, vilken typ av produkt eller tjänst som marknadsförs och om förmåner som rabattkoder inkluderas i det sponsrade inlägget. Vidare visar resultatet att studenters köpintentioner påverkas positivt om om det inkluderas rabattkoder i det sponsrade inlägget och om produkten eller tjänsten marknadsförs på ett tilltalande sätt enligt konsumenten. Därtill påverkas studenters köpintentioner positivt genom att de via sponsrade inlägg på Instagram lägger märke till produkter de tidigare inte haft kännedom om. Slutligen väljer studenter att köpa av influencers sponsrade inlägg då de litar på influencerns omdöme och förväntar sig därför att produkten eller tjänsten är bra. / This report examines the effects of influencer marketing on student attitudes and purchase intentions. The study focuses on the effects of influencers sponsored posts on their Instagram account. Its purpose is to identify the factors in sponsored Instagram posts that affect students attitudes towards influencers as well as to identify how it affects consumer purchase behaviours. The method used was a quantitative survey with 72 participants consisting of university students attending University of Borås. The results showed that factors affecting student attitudes towards influencers was frequency of posting, the type of product being advertised and different benefits included in the offer, such as discount codes. The results also showed that students purchase behavior is mainly affected by discounts and by how the product is being advertised. Students also claimed that their purchase behaviour is affected by the fact that the sponsored posts makes the consumer aware of a product that they did not know of previous to seeing the post. Lastly, consumer purchase behaviour is also affected positively because consumers claim to trust the influencers judgement and therefore believe that the product will hold a certain level of quality or standard. This study is written and conducted in Swedish.