The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how Stockholm based travel agencies understand and use relationship marketing and how it is perceived by customers. Relationship marketing is defined by Grönroos as a building of relationships with customers to achieve mutual benefits. Four main objectives of relationship marketing were used to contextualise the term: service quality, personalisation, differentiation, and communica-tion.In order to answer the purpose, the authors have chosen to interview three travel agen-cies that focus on offering tailor made travel for different target groups. Sampling was used to find these travel agencies, as the total number of travel agencies in the Stock-holm area is too large to interview. Also, customers who have travelled with two of the travel agencies were interviewed. Further, several theoretical frameworks are presented in order to provide the reader with a view of relationship marketing, and were used in the design and the questions asked both companies and customers. From the interviews with the companies it was found that all of them have different views of what relationship marketing is, and that they have different ways of imple-menting it. The views of relationship marketing differ from building a strong brand im-age to managing actual relationships with customers. The main efforts of relationship marketing that the companies are involved in are delivering personalized travel and high service quality to customers.It was found in the interviews with customers that their view on what makes good ser-vice is similar to that of company views. What is most important to customers is that the perceived quality matches, or exceeds, the experienced one. There are several things that companies can do to attract and retain customers including having rewards clubs, sending out a moderate amount of newsletters, and providing a personal seller for customers.

As the title insinuate, this essay illustrate Event Marketing as a marketing instrument, and how it can be used as a tool to facilitate brandbuilding and improve relationships. We have come to the understanding that Event Marketing is in the course of constant development. It seems like Event Marketing as a marketing tool is starting to get its well-merited position in the marketing mix throughout the world, since companies and other organisations have realized that Event Marketing is a powerful tool for differentiation. We have also seen that Event Marketing in the business world lately has come to be more important for building and maintaining relationships, as well as carrying marketing messages. In this essay we discuss Event Marketing in three sections; brand, relationships, and customer experience. Among these topics, inter alia Integrated Marketing Communications, Sensory Marketing, and Service-dominant Logic are presented. The three sections are ultimatley supposed to establish a part of the entirety of Event Marketing. This essay is a commission from the building company Skanska in Sweden, with the purpose of throwing a new light on their customer-oriented event Skanskadagen in the south-east district of the Swedish market. We have performed eleven qualitative interviews; nine with management and personnel within Skanska, and two with event managers from two different bureaus in Sweden. As a complement to these interviews, we have studied literature, documents, and articles – with and without a scientific basis. The conclusions and recommendations are presented in chapter 8.

Aim: The aim of this study is to describe and analyse the factors that are important when entering a regional market, with a new brand name, within the technical consultant business in Sweden. Method: A qualitative research method has been applied to this study. Two interviews with key members of the chosen organisation have been performed. This is to bring a deeper understanding and together with my own experiences will be used as a base for the analysis of the present subject. Result & Conclusions: This study shows that the foundation of success when entering a new market with a new brand name is to focus on the long term building of relationships and personal networks. This has also shown to be a good strategy during an economical recession that recently has been over the last two years. To gain a competitive advantage in a market one has to be present and interact with the market. When competition increases with market threats from countries far away one has to stand out, be different, from your competitors. Relationship marketing and networking could for this reason be a good strategy because being local and visible makes the entry barriers higher for new entrants that are geographically located somewhere else in the world. 3 The downside of relationship marketing is that it‘s hard to use conventional advertisement because building a network of new relations with customers etcetera will take long time because a relation is build with personal interaction between two parties. One can say that when entering a market with a new brand the person that acts in a brand name is more important than the brand name itself because you have a relationship with persons not with brand names. Suggestions for future research: As years go by everything changes. Therefore the development of relationship marketing in the future could be an interesting case to study. When the economical situation now changes from recession to a positive trend this could be such a change to analyse in a study. Another interesting research might be to evaluate the situation in other countries. Is relationship marketing equally important as it is in Sweden today or does its‘ importance change in accordance to what country you analyze? At last, one can analyze if it is a different situation when entering a new market with a new brand if you work with traditionally employed personnel than it is when working with self-employed organizations. If one is to enter a market with traditionally employees are there other strategies that are successful or is relationship marketing important as well? Contribution of the thesis: This study could be useful for entrepreneurs that seek new ways of gaining success in a market. It has pointed out the advantages of relationship marketing and networking and has shown it could be really successful in practice. I strongly believe on the importance of building relationships within all business areas. Being part of a world that more and more goes toward virtual interaction and increased competition within all areas, both local and worldwide, relationships could be a key to success.

The purpose of this research is to study the influence of different bonding strategies for customer relationship management on customer loyalty in online shopping. In particular, the research is focused on the mediation effect of relationship quality. ¡@¡@More Specifically, this study examines the following issues¡G(1) the relationship between relationship bonding strategies and relationship quality; (2) whether relationship bonding strategies will influence customer loyalty; and (3) the influence of relationship quality on customer loyalty. An online survey received 311 useful responses. The results include (1) social bondings had a positive effect on customer loyalty, but financial and structural bonding had no direct correlation with customer loyalty, (2) with respect to different dimensions of relationship quality, financial and structural bondings had a positive effect on customer satisfaction, trust and commitment. Social bonding had partial correlation with relationship quality; (3) Customer satisfaction, trust and commitment in relationship quality showed positive connection to customer loyalty. The effect of customer satisfaction was weaker than those of trust and commitment; and (4) Relationship quality is a moderator between bonding strategies and customer loyalty. A complete mediating effect has been observed.

Due to the more and more fierce competition in today’s business, many companies are required to build long-term profitable relationship with customers and to achieve customer loyalty. Therefore, relationship marketing has become more and more important since last decade of 20th century, especially in service industry. There are many different relationship marketing tactics implemented for retaining customer. However, some of those tactics did not affect customer loyalty effectively, and switching behaviors frequently occur among most of targeted customers. Therefore, this study is aimed to investigate the impact of relationship marketing tactics on customer satisfaction and trust, which in turn increase customer loyalty, by focusing on Swedish mobile telecommunication sector. A analytical model is developed as a guildline to test the relationships between relationship marketing tactics, relationship quality (trust and satisfaction) and customer loyalty. a quantitative method with deductive approach are chosen in this research. In order to collect primary data, a self-completed questionnaire is designed and randomly sent out by email to the students in Halmstad University. The SPSS for windows is used to process the primary data. The findings shows that Service Quality, Price Perception, and Value Offers have impact on customer loyalty indirectly via the customer satisfaction and trust. Brand image is positively and directly related to customer loyalty. However, switching costs is found to be less correlation with customer loyalty, as well as satisfaction and trust in Sweden telecommunication industry.

Background: The background shows that since the consumption patterns constantly are changing and the Internet usage is growing it creates more opportunities for the companies to interact through new media. There are two ways to go for companies that intend to use social media as a marketing strategy, to be in the possession of their own information or get help from a third party. Problem definition: What factors are important in the long term survival of the companies when choosing a social media? Objective: The objective of this essay is to analyze and evaluate the personal blog and the company blog as an information technology strategy. Method: The essay will have a hermeneutic and quantitative approach in the form of a survey. Theories: Consumer Behavior, The Buying Decision Process, Involvement Theory, Business Concept, Branding, Total Communication Theory, Word-of-mouth/web and Service Profit Chain. Empiric: The empiric will consist of the results from the survey. Results: The result shows that the blog is effective as an information technology strategy however the companies should adapt their choice of blog to the products that they sell. Conclusion: Important factors for companies that seek long-term survival are involvement, communication and loyalty. It is also important to use a relationship marketing approach.

Relationship marketing represents a trend in marketing to focus on mutual value creation and consumer retention by strengthening the connection between an organization and its customers. With the growing popularity of online social networks such as Facebook and Twitter as communication platforms, the networks have gained attention as tools that organizations can use to address current and potential consumers. To utilitize these networks, it is crucial for organizations to understand how consumers use the net-works, what attracts them towards communicating with organiza-tions on online social networks and what drives them to maintain these relationships in the long run. This study examines the willingness of students, the dominant user base of online social networks, towards the  initiation of relation-ships with organizations on the networks Facebook and Twitter, and the drivers behind the relationship. The  study was performed through a mixed method approach consisting of a quantitative survey study and a qualitative focus group discussion conducted at Jönköping University. The survey addressed the topics of usage patterns and adopter motivations, while the focus group attempted to explain and motivate the data gathered during the survey study. Both studies targeted Swedish and international students. The students tended to be long-term users of the networks, and were positive towards communicating with organizations through the networks. However, the majority of respondents had not adopted relationship marketing through online social networks at this point in time. The respondents favored access to information and communication channels with peers as value offerings that would attract them to form relationships with organizations. Ulti-mately, relationship marketing on online social networks is com-pletely dependent on the consumer’s consent and wishes, and marketers must focus entirely on satisfying the concerns and re-quirements of its targeted users.

Som människa i dagens samhälle blir man, varje dag, exponerad av ett mycket stort antal marknadsföringsbudskap i form av annonser och reklam, ett antal som är omöjligt för en enskild individ att ta in. Företag har därför svårt att nå ut till sina segment utan att spendera stora resurser på sin marknadsföring. Word-of-mouth (WOM) kan beskrivas som det in-formella rykte vilket förmedlas mellan konsumenter och som innehar en större trovärdighet och genomslagskraft än den traditionella marknadsföringen. Om företag skulle kunna på-verka och kontrollera WOM så skulle detta kunna leda till en viss konkurrensfördel. Kun-der inom servicesektorn, som till exempel hotellindustrin, är speciellt påverkade av denna informella information i deras val av hotell och tjänster. Därför har hotellindustrin fungerat som utgångspunkt för denna studie av fenomenet WOM och hur det kan kontrolleras av företagen. Hotellen som ingår i studien är geografisk belägna inom Jönköpingsområdet. Syftet med studien och uppsatsen är att försöka undersöka om och hur WOM är påverkat av de utvalda hotellen i studien och observera de olika metoder som kan har en inverkan på WOM. Metoden för insamlandet av primär data är av kvalitativ natur. Där någon från de utvalda hotellens administrativa personal har blivit intervjuad för att svara på frågor som berör denna studie över fenomenet WOM. Sekundär data har samlats in från relevanta artiklar och böcker för att bidra till en så trovärdig analys som möjligt. Teorin behandlar WOM, service och relationsmarknadsföring. Författarna avslutar med slutsatsen att det finns en medvetenhet hos respondenterna om WOM och dess betydelse för företaget. Det verkar finnas en större medvetenhet av att ak-tivt försöka minimera negativ WOM än att aktivt försöka influera den positiva WOM. Det fanns indikationer på att hotellen på något sätt använder metoder som man tror generera positiv WOM. Problemet verkar vara svårigheten att utvärdera vad som egentligen är skill-naden mellan relationsmarknadsföring och WOM marknadsföring i några av de metoder som hotellen tror kan genera positive WOM. Hotellets storlek/finansiella resurser verkar också ha en viss betydelse för om hotellen säger sig använda eller vara beroende av WOM. Så även om det fanns vissa åtgärder som kan generera positiv WOM så finns det en passiv attityd hos respondenterna mot att man verkligen kan kontrollera det. Men genom att skaf-fa sig större insikt om hur WOM och de nuvarande marknadsmetoder som används hör samman, tror författarna att hotellen kan bli mer effektiva i sin marknadsföring. / Since a normal person of today is exposed to a vast number of marketing messages from conventional marketing methods like advertising campaigns and commercials, the con-sumer will have to make a choice from all these offers conveyed through promotional ef-forts. Word-of-mouth (WOM) is the informal communication about a service or product between consumers. This can be said to serve as a credibility filter for the consumer be-cause of its perceived independence and trustworthiness. Gaining control of WOM from the company’s point of view could create a competitive advantage over competitors in the market place. Service industries, such as the hotel industry, are highly affected by WOM and therefore hotels were chosen in the Jönköping region in order to study the company awareness and ability to control the WOM phenomenon. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate if WOM is a factor which is controlled by the hotel firms and to detect and describe how this is done and what kind of the marketing methods that are being used. The method chosen by the authors of the thesis in order to gather primary data was of a qualitative nature were interviews were conducted together with appropriate hotel manag-ers of hotels in the Jönköping region in order to study their view on the WOM phenome-non. Secondary data was collected from relevant theoretical articles and books in order to carry out the analysis of the primary data. The theoretical framework consists of theory concerning WOM, service and relationship marketing. The authors of the thesis conclude that there is awareness among the respondents about the power of WOM and its importance for the business. However, there seem to be a greater consciousness of using actions for minimizing negative WOM than consciously in-fluence the spread of positive WOM. Some actions taken by the hotels are indeed believed to generate positive WOM but there appears to be a thin line between creating relationship and actually influencing the spread of positive WOM, this perhaps due to the problem of the WOM evaluation of the actions taken. Size/financial mean also seem to be important factors on the hotels dependence on WOM the action taken to try to generate positive WOM. Even though some methods were detected that were thought to harness WOM, there is still a rather passive attitude among the respondents towards actually being able to influence WOM to its full extent. By gaining more insights of WOM and the marketing methods currently used, the authors of the thesis believe that hotels studied would become more efficient in their marketing efforts.

Titel: Intern Marknadsföring och Kundrelationer – hur förhåller sig dessa till varandra? Sökord: Intern marknadsföring, kundrelationer, relationsmarknadsföring Problem: Hur förhåller sig ett företags interna marknadsföring till dess kundrelationer? samt: Hur förhåller sig företagets kundrelationer till dess interna marknadsföring? Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att förstå och förklara hur företaget Leine & Linde AB:s interna marknadsföring samt deras kundrelationer förhåller sig till varandra. Metod: Uppsatsen bygger på teori kring intern marknadsföring och kundrelationer samt en kvalitativ fallstudie med undersökning på ett svenskt företag, Leine & Linde AB. Slutsats: Slutsatserna från studien visar att den interna marknadsföringen och kundrelationerna förhåller sig till varandra genom påverkan mellan olika faktorer för de olika ämnesområdena. Förhållandet kan även ses börja från kundrelationerna, då fallföretaget Leine & Linde inte gjorde något utan ett kundbehov. / Title: Internal Marketing and Customer Relations - How do they relate to each other? Words for search: Internal marketing, customer relations, relationship marketing Problem: How does a company’s internal marketing relate to their customer relations? and: How does the company’s customer relations relate to their internal marketing? Purpose: The purpose with this thesis is to understand and explain how the internal marketing and the customer relations in the company Leine & Linde AB relate to each other. Method: This thesis is built on theories about internal marketing and customer relations together with a qualitative casestudy with an examination with interviews at a Swedish company, Leine & Linde AB. Findings: The findings from this thesis shows that the internal marketing and the customer relations relate to each other through how the different factors in the subjects effect each other. The relation between internal marketing and customer relations begins from the customer relations, seen to that the case company Leine & Linde did not do anything without a need from the customers.

Aim: After discussing marketing issues with representatives from a number of companies established on the Chinese market, we came to the conclusion that it would be interesting and useful to further investigate relationship marketing models from a Swedish perspective when doing business in China.   The aim of the study is to highlight, by examples and experiences from firms dealing with or on the Chinese market, what makes up successful marketing between Swedish and Chinese businesses.   Research question: Is relationship marketing with a dash of guanxi the recipe of success for Sino-Swedish businesses?   The result of successful relationship marketing is a marketing network and it is an important asset for companies today. Competition is not between single business units or entities any more but between marketing networks (Kotler et al., 2006).   To get a full view of relationship marketing between Sweden and China, we have also studied the Chinese culture context.   Method: We interviewed 10 firms in various industries. Common for all respondents is an extensive experience of over 5 years of doing business in China. A questionnaire was used as a foundation for the interviews.   In the analysis findings regarding how the respondents have handled their internationalization process are highlighted. Also how they handle the relationship marketing on a market, where guanxi have been a dominating way of doing business.   Result and conclusions: Relationship marketing with a dash of guanxi is the road that most companies take already today and should take if not yet doing so. As we can see from the study, China is not under as strong influence of guanxi as it used to be. Our respondents offer insights and examples of that Chinese businessmen and women are adapting a more global approach to business negotiations. Operating on the Chinese market requires a relationship marketing approach although it is more personalized to better suit the Chinese culture context.   Suggestions for future research: * Relationship marketing in China and corruption: how is it handled, avoided, viewed. * Relationship marketing in Sweden by Chinese firms: How can Chinese firms succeed on the Swedish market? * Deeper research into relationship marketing strategies for Swedish companies in China. * Study Swedish firms on the Chinese market today and how they experience the paradoxes mentioned by Fang and Faure (2008).   Contribution of the research: The study offers insights in the actual marketing strategy implementation and how firms with extensive experience from China and the Chinese market approach it.