Thesis (M.Hous.M.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-78) Also available in print.

Thesis (M. Hous. M.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-78).

Thesis (M. Hous. M.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-121).

Thesis (M. Hous. M.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-96).

Thesis (M.Hous.M.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-121) Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Hous.M.)--University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Hous.M.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-96) Also available in print.

The service sector in the world economy is growing and becomes increasingly important. It is widely recognised that the success and vitality of the service sector are the essential factors in measuring an economy’s progress, its quality and its future. Improving service quality is therefore considered an essential strategy for success and survival in today’s competitive economic environment. Small businesses are equally important for a country’s economy. They play an important role in the economic and social development of countries. The correct location for small businesses can contribute to their success and, many consider shopping centres as a good location for their businesses. The landlords however, have a huge impact on small business tenants’ success in shopping centres. Although landlords of shopping centres realise the importance of accommodating small independent businesses in their centres, it is argued that they are at a competitive disadvantage regarding the service they receive in comparison with that of bigger anchor tenants. There are several research studies on the measurement of service quality in several service sectors, but none has addressed the quality of service rendered by landlords of shopping centres to their small business tenants. The purpose of this study is to measure the perceived service quality that small business tenants in shopping centres receive from landlords. The study will also determine whether the existing SERVPERF and FAIRSERV service quality models will be suitable to measure the service quality that landlords render to small business tenants. The findings of the empirical study have revealed that small business tenants in shopping centres are in general dissatisfied with the service that they receive from their landlords. Factor analysis was done to determine the factors or dimensions of service quality that small business tenants deemed as important. From this study it became clear that small business tenants in shopping centres are concerned about mainly two aspects of the service they receive from landlords, namely intangible aspects as well as marketing and tangible aspects. This study has therefore proved that the five dimensions of SERVPERF and the one dimension of FAIRSERV cannot be applied directly to measure the perceived service quality that small business tenants receive from their landlords. The One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was also executed to illustrate statistical differences between various variables. The contribution of this study to the science, as well as its possible limitations and areas for future research, is also discussed. This study further shows that, although small business tenants are dissatisfied with the service they receive from landlords, they have indicated that they will stay on as tenants in the centres. The reason for this is that it is simply too expensive for them to move to another location and also because shopping centres are good locations for their businesses. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Business Management / unrestricted

Att företag arbetar med CSR blir mer och mer populärt och nuförtiden förväntar sig intressenter att företag arbetar med miljömässiga och sociala frågor. I takt med att CSR används flitigare har konceptet även spridits till kommunala bolag. Kommunala bostadsbolags arbete med CSR är relativt outforskat samtidigt som endast ett fåtal studier visar på hur CSR uppfattas av bolagets intressenter. Kommunala bostadsbolag finns till för att erbjuda bostäder till kommuninvånarna och är därför en viktig del av samhället.Syftet med studien är att få en förståelse för ett kommunalt bostadsbolags användning av CSR samt hur det uppfattas både internt och externt.MKB har valts ut som studieobjekt eftersom de är ett av Sveriges största kommunala bostadsbolag och arbetar aktivt med CSR. Den genomförda studien baseras på en kvalitativ metod i form av intervjuer. Respondenterna är anställda på olika nivåer inom MKB samt externa samarbetsparter och hyresgäster. Totalt genomfördes 11 semistrukturerade intervjuer samt 7 kortare och strukturerade intervjuer.De erhållna svaren från respondenterna har analyserats mot institutionell teori, intressentmodellen och legitimitetsteorin, och visar på att uppfattningen av CSR skiljer sig åt mellan de anställda och hyresgästerna. Skillnaderna beror främst på bristande kommunikation men även bristande intresse och språksvårigheter från hyresgästernas sida.Studien bidrar till en förståelse för hur ett kommunalt bolag arbetar med CSR samt hur det uppfattas av de anställda och hyresgästerna. Därutöver kan den ses som en inspiration för andra företag som arbetar med eller vill arbeta med CSR. / There is a growing interest to work with CSR among today’s companies and nowadays stakeholders expect companies to work with environmental and social issues. As CSR has become widely used, it has spread to municipal companies. Municipal housing companies work with CSR is a relatively unexplored field and only a few studies show how CSR is perceived by its stakeholders. Municipal housing companies provide homes for the local community, and is therefore an important part of society.The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of a municipal housing company’s use of CSR and also how it is perceived internally and externally.MKB was selected as the study object due to the fact that they are one of the largest municipal housing companies in Sweden who works with CSR. The study is based on a qualitative approach and is conducted through interviews. The respondents consisted of employees at various levels within the company and external cooperation partners as well as tenants. In all, 11 semi-structured interviews and 7 shorter and structured interviews were conducted.The respondents’ answers combined with Institutional theory, Stakeholder theory and Legitimacy theory, shows that the perceived image of CSR differs between the respondents. The differences mainly depend on lack of communication and lack of interest as well as language barriers from the tenants’ point of view.The study contributes to an understanding of how a municipal housing company works with CSR. In addition, it may be an inspiration for other companies work with CSR.

<p>This thesis is about some Swedish organizations that are connected to the labour movement and their actions to cope with the new hegemony around market liberalism. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 90-ties, the liberal order, meaning market economy and democracy reduced to the election of elites, has become totally domineering both in the western and in the former communist world. Even left wing oriented organizations have adopted their operations and activities accordingly, especially in their internal governing structure. The organizations that I have studied, mainly the Swedish Tenants organization at its local level of Stockholm, developed during the 70-ties and the 80-ties a participatorier member structure. The “Swedish model” of consensus/corporative decision-making and agreement, used by them on the national level for decades, was during that period introduced also on local and regional levels. In the 90-ties these organizations, according to earlier studies, have instead adapted a more costumer-oriented and elite-democratic way of operating and governing. These later changes could be seen as contradicting both the development of the 80-ties and the basic values of those organizations. My questions are therefore how these changes became possible and my aim is to study how the active members have contributed to this development. Using a constructionist theoretical perspective and discourse analysis, I am showing how this potential conflict between a participatory and an elite-democratic model can be reconciled by a discursive construction. The active members have in fact been able see these changes just as a modernization of their organization. From their point-of-view their organization still works in a participatory democratic way. My analysis shows how this ambiguousness and potential paradox became possible thru internal discourses and under influence from the liberal hegemony.</p>