Research ProblemToday, the great focus is on the organization’s place on different digital platforms as well as in the more traditional print world. A lot of research has been done on the factors that are included into an organization’s success; product quality, pricing, visitor satisfaction and availability, to name a few. However, a direct correlation has been identified between a company’s relationships and its success. Social media provides new opportunities for organizations to create and maintain relationships with individuals. However, previous research does not appear to have its focus on the relationship-building work made by destination organizations based on the growth of digitization. Purpose and research question The purpose of the paper is to investigate the Norwegian company Flåm AS communicative relation-building, before and after they were digitized, as well as looking at how their relationship strategy has changed since the digitization process. What does Flåm AS relationship-building work look like? • What has the digitization process looked like? • What characterized the relationship-building work before the digitization process? • What does the relationship-building work look like after the digitization process? MethodUsing a qualitative approach, this thesis has conducted three semi-structured telephone interviews. The respondents are all employed by Flåm AS. In addition to these, a qualitative analysis has been carried out, using documents belonging to the organization. Results There are significant differences to be observed in the relationship-building work done by Flåm AS before and after the organization was digitized. The differences are not only to be found in their distribution strategies but also in the type of recipient the organization has. With the changes in the behavior of visitors and their approach to travel, the organization has adapted its strategies in communicative relationship-building work. Research grants This paper offers an insight into how an organization has adapted its strategies to meet the perceptions and expectations of potential visitors. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of different types of relationship-building work done by an organization.

Relationship building is a fundamental component to develop successful businesses, although corrupt purchasing executives pay bribes in excess of $1.5 trillion dollars annually. The participants for this case study consisted of 10 national sales managers who have successfully implemented strategies to train suppliers in relationship building in a hotel in Greensville, South Carolina. The resource dependence theory grounded the study. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies a hotel owner in Greenville, South Carolina used to train managers on relationship building. Collection of data included 8 semi-structured telephone interviews and 2 video interviews that were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim, archived data, and field notes. Using a modified van Kaam method and methodological triangulation, 3 prominent themes were identified that included the appropriateness of relationship building activities to collect data critical to negotiations, the need to clarify unclear expectations, and developing an increased awareness of the gray areas for possible boundary violations between the vendor and the customer. The data from the results indicated the need for increased training to reduce the number of instances of unethical behavior perceived in relationship building activities. The implications for positive social change include the potential to increase the awareness of ethical issues in multicultural business settings on the part of national sales managers, which could decrease the rate of unethical behavior in the hospitality industry.

This thesis aims to describe how Swedish firms have established themselves on the Japanese market with help from their business network. This research has been conducted in the light of the economic recession and the complicated Japanese business networks. We have chosen to use a qualitative approach and by doing so we received the three respondents’ views of doing business on the Japanese market. We have focused this thesis on the importance of networks and relationships and have chosen to use new theories regarding business networks and business relationships for the base of our research and to link them with our empirical findings. The interviews conducted have been focused on three respondents who all have broad experience of the Japanese market. These three interviews have been compared to each other in our analysis and through this we have drawn our conclusions. We also give recommendations for Swedish firms who aim to establish themselves on this market.

Knowledge is nowadays ever-present and often described as an intangible asset, but in contrast to other assets; the consumption of it does not diminish the quantity left for others (Nonaka and Teece, 2001). Due to the importance of knowledge, the premise of this thesis is to identify, describe and analyze how a cluster can transfer knowledge. The methodology used was based on a single case study with a systematic combining approach. The case study within this thesis is about the cluster of Sustainable Sweden Southeast (SSSE) which contains personal interviews with several actors of the cluster of SSSE. The theoretical framework entails the fundament on which the study is based, including definitions of knowledge, knowledge transfer, the actors and the influence of relationships during the transfer of knowledge. There is an analysis done by linking the theoretical framework to the empirical findings on how SSSE can transfer knowledge within its actors. Additionally, there is a description about the barriers faced during the knowledge transfer and the influence of relationship building within this process. Finally the conclusion should provide the reader with valuable insights according to the knowledge transfer within clusters. It incorporates the relevance of special actors and their influence in the process, as well as the possible barriers that could be faced and the relationship building process within clusters. The thesis ends with recommendations and managerial implications for SSSE.

Satisfying customers’ needs and wants has for a long time been the main focus for many companies, and through this the idea of satisfying the employees’ needs and wants first in order to achieve this has appeared. This has led to a greater focus on internal marketing and thereby the internal customer. It has also in later years been found that internal marketing can be used to build strong internal relationships. Having strong internal relationships has been discovered to be of importance as employees who work with friends work harder, and the work environment becomes more motivating when the relationships between the parties are strong. Considering, that stronger relationships between employees and management as well as between one employee and another is beneficial for the company as a whole, as there is a need to nurture and develop these internal relationships. Therefore building relationships have been proposed as an alternative approach to internal marketing and that this may be the right way to explore the area, however this needs substantial further investigation. This would mean an investigation of how internal marketing can be used for building relationships within a company. It is on this problem that we base this dissertation and choose to raise the question:“How can a company use internal marketing to strengthen the relationships within?”In order to answer this question, literature focusing on internal marketing, relationship marketing and especially what types of factors that is important for building relationships are presented. Based on this literature we have built a proposed model that was tested in order to answer the research question for this dissertation. The model includes five internal marketing tools, which are communication, education and learning, leadership, motivation and recruiting. These were tested to see if they can be used as an aid to strengthen trust and commitment in the company and thereby build stronger relationships between the members. This through analyzing the theoretical framework and the proposed model with a qualitative case study made with Mediaprovider Scandinavia AB including participant observation as well as interviews with focus on the relevant subjects. It was established that companies can use internal marketing in a number of ways in order to strengthen the relationships within. These include using communication, education and learning, leadership, motivation and recruiting as tools that can be adapted in order to achieve this goal. The proposed model was therefore found to be a way of strengthening relationships, however it is beneficial to not only measure strengthened relationships by trust and commitment, as there are other elements that are of importance.

Thesis (M.S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Family Studies and Social Work, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 20-22).

When it comes to how the team members build trust three themes were found; knowledge sharing, expectations and shared values and relationship building. Further on when it comes to the challenges five bigger themes were found which are; distance, culture decisions from above, knowledge and other challenges. Furthermore, the study also explored how difficult it is to build trust due to its complexity as several challenges were identified. Some suggestions have been made on how to face these challenges and it has been concluded that you need to take into account many different aspects when it comes to building trust in agile teams.

Background The emergence of the Internet, and in particular social network sites, has led to the appearance of new powerful actors, i.e. Social Media Influencers, with the power to persuade their audience. This introduced a middleman in the company-consumer relationship and a new stakeholder to build relationships with. Small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) marketing activities differ from traditional practices. SMEs need to be more creative when engaging in Influencer Marketing given their resource constraints. The presence of a relationship can help SMEs to increase and improve their brand image, support the launch of new products and most essentially avoid large investments of Influencer Marketing. Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the methods Swedish SMEs use in their relationship building activities with influencers, as well as the underlying dimensions related to those methods. Method An inductive research approach is utilized, with the aim to extend the current knowledge available about relationship building with influencers. The use of a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews allowed the exploration of how SMEs build relationships with influencers from a management perspective. Conclusion This thesis indicates that Swedish SMEs’ relationship building activities are influenced by certain underlying dimensions. These are adherence to brand values, timeline of the collaboration, nature of the product, paid and earned forms of collaborations and the types of relationships SMEs establish: formal and informal. The means used by SMEs when building relationship with influencers were identified as communication, events, feedback and gifts. Further, resource constraints did not appear to influence how SMEs build relationships with influencers but instead the type and number of influencers they work with.

Since we both are studying to become upper secondary school teachers we are bound to encounter students with some form of neuro-psychiatric diagnosis. We chose to conduct our study around Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD, because of its commonness among students. We base our project within what different methods and strategies a teacher may use to maximize the potential of the student with said diagnosis. The project is heavily influenced of an inclusion-perspective and how to minimalize exclusion. The result is divided in four subchapters for better clarity, all treating different parts of ADHD and the teacher’s role within these. The writing of this paper has shown the importance of relationship building between teachers and their students, especially the ones with some form of neuro-psychiatric diagnosis. Other practical strategies that have turned out good for students are color oriented folder for students to easier organize their schoolwork and giving them the ability to stand up and stretch during class hours. Technology based equipment that have shown positive effects on not only students with ADHD, but all students in the class, are the usage of Smartboards and different learning encouraging applications as World Atlas. We also found that collegial learning and having a common goal within the teaching staff is of great importance when working with students that hold a ADHD diagnosis. Small parts like giving the students a small two-minute break during class can boost a student’s academic performances by a lot.

The purpose of this study was to replicate a study on consultation skills, done by Knoff, Hines, and Kromrey (1995) while expanding the sample base to include teaching assistants and parents. The Consultant Effectiveness Scale (CES), a questionnaire consisting of 75 consultant skills and characteristics, was used to survey the perceptions of 75 consultants and consultees (18 consultants, 23 teachers, 17 teaching assistants, and 17 parents) regarding the degree to which they believed each skill was important to the effectiveness of consultation. Results were examined for differences across groups, for consistency with the factor structure obtained by Knoff, Hines, and Kromrey (1995), and to determine the impact of demographic variables. A follow-up telephone interview was conducted with 2 consultants, 3 teachers, 3 teaching assistants, and 3 parents to verify questionnaire results. The ratings of respondent groups were compared and contrasted across the top 15 ranked items and several consistencies were found to exist across groups. Parents were found to have rated all items generally lower than consultants or teachers. A factor analysis was completed using the 52 items from the original four factors (Knoff, Hines, & Kromrey, 1995) and resulted in a high degree of consistency with the original factor structure generated by Knoff, Hines, and Kromrey. A one-way ANOVA was conducted and significant differences were found on three of the four factors with the consultants rating the items higher than the parents (p <.05). No significant differences were found across demographic variables. The results of the telephone interviews were consistent with the high ratings of many of the interpersonal and relationship-building skills and content skills identified in the questionnaire responses. Recommendations are made calling for future research to further validate the scale, and to confirm differences between respondent groups. The value of the scale and its contents are highlighted in the context of preservice and in service training for consultants. / Graduate