Thesis (M.Com. (Information Systems))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2013. / This research study investigated the key factors that facilitate the adoption of technology by salespeople by building on previous studies in literature that have investigated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) acceptance. The research model was adapted by introducing a new construct, System Characteristics, along with Organisational, Social and Individual Factors to explain Sales Force Automation (SFA) tool acceptance, through the mediating influences of Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease-of-Use (PEOU). The results from 337 end-users of the Siebel CRM system in Bank A, in South Africa, found that in addition to PU and PEOU, Personal Innovativeness and Team Leader Support are significant independent drivers of User Acceptance of SFA tools. The model had an R2 of 0.480, which showed that a considerable portion of the variance could be explained through these factors. The research contributes to the current body of research by confirming the importance of personal innovativeness and team leader support towards system acceptance. The number of years the user has been working on the system was also shown to have a significant positive influence on acceptance. Practitioners, concerned with the acceptance of SFA tools, will find that organisational and social factors can significantly influence how users perceive a system to be easy-to-use and useful. The fact that these factors are all relatively easily implementable will be welcomed by IT practitioners facing similar challenges with their sales force. Technical characteristics of the system were found to be a construct that is recommended for future research, based on the findings from this study. Identifying specific aspects of the interface that change users’ perceptions about the software’s ease-of-use can be done by possibly Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with the e-S-QUAL model in future studies.

L’objet de cette recherche est d’améliorer la compréhension de la construction de la fidélité en fonction de son objet : à la marque et au programme relationnel, en étudiant leurs antécédents et leurs effets sur l’attitude. Les recherches sur l’efficacité des programmes de fidélité soulèvent la question de savoir si ces programmes améliorent la fidélité à la marque ou la fidélité au programme (Bolton et al., 2000 ; Meyer-Waarden, 2007 et 2012 et Bijmolt et al., 2010). L’étude de l’influence relative des deux facettes de la fidélité sur l’attitude se fait à partir de la préférence, de l’intention et de la résistance des clients. La méthodologie retenue commence par une étude de cas dans la phase exploratoire (entretiens avec les experts), se poursuit ensuite par une étude qualitative auprès des clients adhérents à ces programmes. L’interaction entre la littérature et l’étude exploratoire a permis d’enrichir le modèle conceptuel intégral par des variables explicatives. Finalement, elle repose sur une étude quantitative réalisée auprès d’un échantillon de clients adhérents au programme de fidélité bancaire (153 en phase exploratoire et 284 en phase confirmatoire) via un access panel. La validation du modèle par équations structurelles (SEM) met en évidence le rôle important de la fidélité à la marque dans le maintien de la relation client. Le poids de l’influence de la fidélité à la marque sur le bouche à oreille est supérieur à celui de la fidélité au programme relationnel. De plus, elle a des effets positifs sur la part du portefeuille client ainsi que sur l’intention à la fidélité, à l’inverse de la fidélité au programme qui n’a pas d’effet sur ces deux variables. / The purpose of this research is to improve understanding of building loyalty based on its object: the brand and loyalty program, by studying their antecedents and their effects on attitude. Research on the effectiveness of loyalty programs suggest the question if these programs improve loyalty to the brand or loyalty to the loyalty program (Bolton et al., 2000; Meyer-Waarden, 2007 and 2012 and Bijmolt et al. 2010). The study of the relative influence of the two types of loyalty to the attitude is done from the preference, intention and resistance. The methodology starts with a case study in the exploratory phase (interviews with experts), then continues with a qualitative study of members of these programs. The interaction between literature and the exploratory study has enriched the conceptual model with explanatory variables. Finally, it is based on a quantitative study with a sample of members to loyalty banking program (153 in the exploratory phase and 284 in confirmatory phase) via an access panel. The validation of the structural equation model (SEM) highlights the important role of brand loyalty in maintaining customer relations. The impact of brand loyalty on word-of-mouth is higher than that of the loyalty to loyalty program. Moreover, it has positive effects on the customer share-of-wallet as the loyalty intention, in contrast to loyalty to the loyalty program that has no effect on these two variables.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T17:38:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo4001_1.pdf: 1707662 bytes, checksum: 323a7d76ae2a2ab2b9f308fffae2e81f (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Inseridas num cenário altamente competitivo, as organizações primam pelo alcance de vantagem competitiva, embora para isto tenham que enfrentar desafios cada vez maiores. Nesse contexto, surge o Customer Relationship Management (CRM) como estratégia para sobrevivência e alcance de vantagem competitiva. Deve-se enfatizar, entretanto, a importância dos processos organizacionais, das tecnologias e das pessoas para o desenvolvimento desta estratégia, visto que eles compõem a empresa. Desse modo, esta pesquisa tem como objeto de estudo as práticas de CRM, apresentando como objetivo geral o desenvolvimento de um modelo de fidelização para clientes no setor de serviços de saúde. Este trabalho caracteriza-se como sendo uma pesquisa exploratória de abordagem qualitativa, utilizando a pesquisa bibliográfica como procedimento para alcance do objetivo geral. A partir da revisão bibliográfica foi desenvolvido um modelo capaz de contribuir para fidelização e a satisfação dos clientes de serviços de saúde. Para consecução do trabalho foi necessário estabelecer objetivos estratégicos para cada fase do modelo e incorporar ferramentas compatíveis com a proposta da pesquisa, tais como o SERVQUAL, o modelo de Kano, os Fatores Críticos de Sucesso, com a finalidade de auxiliar o processo de aplicação do Modelo Proposto. Este trabalho mostrou-se relevante uma vez que identifica junto aos clientes os atributos que para eles são mais importantes, além de guiar as empresas de serviços de saúde quantos aos rumos a serem seguidos

<p>Syfte: Anledningen att vi valt CRM som uppsatsämne är att det de senaste åren blivit en trend bland företag att använda sig av detta verktyg. Det som gör ämnet ännu mer intressant är att undersökningar visar att många företag misslyckas i sina försök att implementera CRM. Den svenska banken Swedbank är ett företag som dock borde ha förutsättningar att lyckas. Syftet med denna uppsats att öka kunskapen om CRM genom att undersöka hur Swedbank implementerat och använder sig av CRM. Vi har även haft som ambition att undersöka vilka fördelar implementeringen och användningen av CRM har givit Swedbank.</p><p>Metod: Utifrån syftet med denna promemoria har vi valt att utföra intervjuer på Swedbank. Syftet med denna typ av analys skapar grund för att få en djupare förståelse om hur intervjuobjekten uppfattar bankens sätt att arbeta med CRM. Källor som vi övrigt använt oss av för att samla in vår data är litteratur och Internet.</p><p>Resultat & slutsats: Intervjuobjekten beskriver generellt implementeringen av CRM med en positiv ton, vilket återkommer i samtliga intervjuer. Även om korrespondenterna är partiska i frågan är vår övertygelse att svaren återspeglar de verkliga förhållandena inom organisationen. Utifrån den teori som ligger till grund för uppsatsen har vi dragit slutsatsen att Swedbank har lyckats väl med sin implementering av CRM. En annan slutsats är att CRM är mer än ett marknadsföringsverktyg för Swedbank. CRM kan även implementeras för att användas som ett organisations- eller ekonomistyrnings verktyg.</p><p>Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Eftersom att CRM- systemet uppfattas på olika vis i olika företag är det svårt att få en god bild av det hela genom att endast undersöka ett företag. För att få en bra bild av hur CRM implementeras och används, bör fler företag inom bankbranschen undersökas. Vi tycker också att det vore intressant att undersöka och jämföra CRM- systemet mellan olika kontor inom samma bankföretag.</p><p>Uppsatsens bidrag: Denna uppsats skulle kunna ligga som ett stöd vid en kartläggning om hur ett företag ska gå till väga då man önskar att implementera CRM som verktyg. Uppsatsen pekar även på risker och problem som företag kan stöta på vid implementeringen.</p>

This dissertation looks at U.S. public diplomacy practices in a country that until twenty years ago was controlled by a hard-line Communist regime: Romania. The study investigates the relationship management approach to public diplomacy employed by U.S. diplomats in Romania and it is the first to empirically test the application of relationship management theory of public relations to public diplomacy. Through in-depth interviews with six former U.S. diplomats who served in Romania during 2001-2009, we learn how diplomats must find various ways to build and maintain relationships with the civil society to which they are assigned. The findings reveal that U.S. diplomats’ main role in Romania was to engage in direct relationships with members of the civil society and facilitate bilateral relationships between members of the two countries. In addition, this study found a new role of diplomats abroad, that of building communities of like-minded people in the society in which they operate. This study expands the theoretical framework in public diplomacy by proposing two new models for public diplomacy practice. First, under the relational paradigm, this study establishes the goal of public diplomacy as the management of long-lasting relationships between members of two countries, with the aim to create hubs of networks in the countries of interest. Under the relational paradigm, the newly proposed model for the relationship management process provides an in-depth understanding of how U.S. diplomats engage with members of the Romanian civil society in order to accomplish the public diplomacy goal. Second, to better understand the uniqueness of the relationship management process between any two countries in the world, this dissertation proposes a framework of public diplomacy built on seven relational dimensions identified here as image, reputation, trust, credibility, communication, dialogue, and relationships. Testing the relationships management theory in public diplomacy is an important undertaking, which could broaden the scope of public diplomacy and can provide a framework for a comparative line of research between public diplomacy and public relations.

Syfte: Anledningen att vi valt CRM som uppsatsämne är att det de senaste åren blivit en trend bland företag att använda sig av detta verktyg. Det som gör ämnet ännu mer intressant är att undersökningar visar att många företag misslyckas i sina försök att implementera CRM. Den svenska banken Swedbank är ett företag som dock borde ha förutsättningar att lyckas. Syftet med denna uppsats att öka kunskapen om CRM genom att undersöka hur Swedbank implementerat och använder sig av CRM. Vi har även haft som ambition att undersöka vilka fördelar implementeringen och användningen av CRM har givit Swedbank. Metod: Utifrån syftet med denna promemoria har vi valt att utföra intervjuer på Swedbank. Syftet med denna typ av analys skapar grund för att få en djupare förståelse om hur intervjuobjekten uppfattar bankens sätt att arbeta med CRM. Källor som vi övrigt använt oss av för att samla in vår data är litteratur och Internet. Resultat &amp; slutsats: Intervjuobjekten beskriver generellt implementeringen av CRM med en positiv ton, vilket återkommer i samtliga intervjuer. Även om korrespondenterna är partiska i frågan är vår övertygelse att svaren återspeglar de verkliga förhållandena inom organisationen. Utifrån den teori som ligger till grund för uppsatsen har vi dragit slutsatsen att Swedbank har lyckats väl med sin implementering av CRM. En annan slutsats är att CRM är mer än ett marknadsföringsverktyg för Swedbank. CRM kan även implementeras för att användas som ett organisations- eller ekonomistyrnings verktyg. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Eftersom att CRM- systemet uppfattas på olika vis i olika företag är det svårt att få en god bild av det hela genom att endast undersöka ett företag. För att få en bra bild av hur CRM implementeras och används, bör fler företag inom bankbranschen undersökas. Vi tycker också att det vore intressant att undersöka och jämföra CRM- systemet mellan olika kontor inom samma bankföretag. Uppsatsens bidrag: Denna uppsats skulle kunna ligga som ett stöd vid en kartläggning om hur ett företag ska gå till väga då man önskar att implementera CRM som verktyg. Uppsatsen pekar även på risker och problem som företag kan stöta på vid implementeringen.

The study aimed to explore the relationship among outsourcing decision factors, customer relationship management, and operating performance in the translation market. Surveys were undertaken from translation agencies in Taiwan. 50 questionaires were released to each region including the northern, central, southern, and Hualien and Taitung Counties. In this research, 200 questionnaires were issued and 175 were returned. We received 162 valid returns with 13 invalid ones. copies of effective samples were returned, yielding a return rate of 81%. After the reorganization, the Pearson product-moment correlation, descriptive statistics, One-way ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The results of the study included: 1. Translation agencies of different capital showed significant difference on outsourcing decisions factors, among them the intraindustry trust showed significant difference. 2. Translation agencies of different numbers of company showed significant difference on outsourcing decisions factors, among them the responsibility of translation showed significant difference. 3. Translation agencies of different responsible translation unit showed significant difference on outsourcing decisions factors, among them the responsibility of translation and professional ethics showed significant difference. 4. Translation agencies of different responsible translation unit showed significant difference on customer relationship management, among them the enhancement strategy and establishment strategy showed significant difference. 5. Translation agencies of different capital showed significant difference on operating performance, among them the organization expansion showed significant difference. 6. Translation agencies of different numbers of company showed significant difference on operating performance, among them the organization management showed significant difference. 7. Translation agencies of different responsible translation unit showed significant difference on operating performance, among them the organization expansion and organization communication showed significant difference. 8. There were both positive and negative correlations among outsourcing decision factors, customer relationship management, and operating performance of translation agencies. In addition, both outsourcing decision factors and customer relationship management can effectively predict the operating performance. The study provided the following suggestions based on the above findings: 1. To carefully estimate the outsourcing businesses to enhance operating performance. 2. To conduct the customer relationship management well to improve the customer interaction. 3. To pay attention to operating performance to enhance the entire profits.

Due to globalization, international business competition has become keen in recent years. Enterprises have to face different challenges from all over the world, from inside Taiwan to the whole globe. Consequently, enterprises start to consider what management they can put into practice in order to increase organizational niche and improve business competitiveness and performance. Numerous theories and empirical studies suggested that the prime method to increase business competitiveness and performance is to connect management activities and strategies with customers. It can achieve remarkable success in business innovation and economy. Based on this, business philosophy nowadays turned into customer-oriented instead of cost or efficiency-oriented. There are lots of literature referring customer knowledge management and customer relationship management; most of them focus on the impact of these two factors on business performance. The linkage between knowledge management and customer relationship management are less discussed. As a matter of fact, customer knowledge management is the intervening variable when enterprises do customer relationship management, affecting the outcome of customer relationship management a lot. This study mainly aimed to to measure how customer knowledge management and customer satisfaction influence customer relationship management. On the other hand, the influence of customer satisfaction on customer knowledge management and customer relationship management are included as well. According to the analysis of literature and in-depth interview with the case company, the findings were as followed: 1.Customer knowledge management in software industry is beneficial for the predictability of the Customer relationship management. 2.The customer satisfaction is very important for software industry. Customer satisfaction is beneficial to enrich the intension of Customer knowledge management and maintain a good relationship with customers.

Business Market is like battlefield. In order to occupy the market quickly, good merchandise with definite brand position and marketing strategy is essential. Brand managers must think how to obtain customers and keep customers, which also means that how to evaluate target, select target and obtain target from customers by using limited resources in the shortest time. The object of this research is a fashion brand represented by a Japanese company. The purpose is to discuss how a transnational fashion brand promotes its popular brand to other countries. How to utilize marketing strategies and customer relationship management to maintain brand position under keen competition in internationalized and liberalized Taiwan market is the research data. Analysing the consumption data to select target customers and analysing the transaction frequencies of customers are the research method. Customers are differentiated from ages respectively and the market strategy is driven based on Marketing 4P combination analysis. This method helps to develop brand management and brand development strategy, also expects to clarify brand position of each brand, keep target customer and know customer growth.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship among service quality, brand image, customer relationship management, and customer satisfaction for ¡§T company¡¨ of semiconductor raw wafer agent. The differences of the above constructs in terms of official position, service department, and size and production categories were also evaluated. This study selected samples from the semiconductor industries and enterprises in Taiwan. Out of the 8 firms, 76 questionnaires were sent, 76 valid questionnaires were returned from 8 firms, resulting in a valid response rate of 100%. The statistic software SPSS were applied for the data analysis and major findings of this study were as follows: 1.The service quality in terms of ¡§tangibles¡¨, ¡§reliability¡¨, ¡§responsiveness¡¨,¡§empathy¡¨ and ¡§ total¡¨ had significant and positive effects on customer relationship management, brand image, and customer satisfaction. Moreover, the effect of the ¡§total¡¨ was the most significant one; on the contrary, the effect of the ¡§tangibles¡¨ was the least significant one. 2.The customer satisfaction of ¡§T company¡¨of semiconductor raw wafer agent had significant and positive effects on the customer relationship management and brand image. Among the customer relationship management and brand image, the former was more significant than the latter. 3. According to the results of diverseness analysis, there were no significant differences between service department, size and production categories and service quality, customer relationship management, brand image, and customer satisfaction. 4. Small-scale-size firms tended to have higher rate than large-scale-size firms on service quality, customer relationship management, brand image, andcustomer satisfaction.