<p>Aim of this paper is to describe and analyze why customers come back to the restaurants, what influence their decisions. During the research we formulate 2 hypotheses. Hypotheses 1 – most reasons of the restaurants’ customers retention can be associated with restaurants’ service elements adapted from the 8Ps of Service Marketing Model. Hypotheses 2 - retention and loyalty have unidirectional relation – loyalty means retention of the customer, but retained customer doesn’t mean loyal. The results of empirical research support both hypotheses. Also during the empirical research we have highlighted some interesting results which are visualized in Illustration 5.1, Illustration 5.2 and Illustration 5.3. In research qualitative and quantitative approaches are used. Data collection method is interview. One deep interview was conducted with restaurant manager in order to enhance the quality of results interpretation. The results of the research can be used by marketers especially in restaurant sphere in order to better understand what influence customers’ behavior and why they come back to the service provider. Also restaurants’ managers can use our findings as a tool to increase the retention rates by adjusting relevant restaurants’ service elements within their restaurant.</p>

Purpose: To explore how a company can make its marketing mix, the four Ps, greener. This is done with a case study of the Rockwool Group. Background: The Rockwool Group is the world’s leading producer of stone wool. It consists of twenty-one factories in three continents and its primary business area is within insulation. The Rockwool Group’s products improve the quality of life and helps to alleviate environmental problems, such as the greenhouse effect, smog and acid rain.   Problem: Today many companies want to improve their greenness. A way to do this is by greening the marketing mix. The current green marketing literature only touches upon certain aspects of the marketing mix, but there are no recognized studies that provide guidelines on how to green the marketing mix.   Methodology: The data collection consists of several semi-structured interviews with employees from different departments. The authors interviewed employees from three subsidiaries from different parts of the world – Scandinavia, North America and the Balkans. Conclusions: Through the case of the Rockwool Group the authors have explored how to green the marketing mix. This has shown that product, place and promotion have several factors that can be greened. However, this specific case study only shows how prices set a premium are greened. Another case focusing on standard prices can provide further suggestions to green the price.

The research explores the marketing strategies for Chinese local hotels after doing the comparative study and analyzing the operations of Accor and Jin Jiang based on the Marketing Mix theory. The improving strategies are varied, which includes the product, promotion, etc. Offering guidance for the whole Chinese local hotels are the ultimate objective of the research.

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Aim: This thesis has been conducted after approval of Swedbank, for comparing their services with those of Rabobank. The study aimed finding differences between Swedbank’s and Rabobank’s services. Within the subject services, the study has aimed towards finding the differences –and similarities between the services marketing mix of Swedbank and Rabobank. The study also focused on the activities held in order to support the services marketing mix. Method: The empirical findings were gathered by use of both written –and telephone interviews. Keywords were written down during the telephone interview and later constructed into full sentences. Data taken from the written interviews was viewed and re-written into complete sentences. The data has been analyzed with use of the literature review. Result &amp; Conclusions: Both Swedbank and Rabobank seem to have a highly similar services marketing mix. Small differences were found in marketing research, products, marketing communication, Human Resources Management and servicescape. In all these aspects it showed that Swedbank uses a more personal approach than Rabobank. Suggestions for future research: The thesis’ focus has been on the services marketing mix of Swedbank and Rabobank in general. This allowed the research to go more in-depth than other subjects in the services marketing mix. To get a more clear view on the supporting methods both Swedbank and Rabobank use to support its services marketing mix, future research could be focused on the historical development of both banks which has developed the bank’s ways of doing business, the price development methods in detail, the segmentation process, the marketing communication campaigns of both Swedbank’s –and Rabobank’s internet banking, service development process and corporate identity strategy. It would also be interesting to compare these banks with their competitors in order to discover why Swedbank and Rabobank stand out more than their competitors. Contribution of the thesis: This thesis compared two of the largest banks in both home countries and shows the implications of successful services marketing mixes. This thesis is useful for financial banks and other related financial service institutions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the consumers’ behaviours towards the distributors’ brands. The aim was to find out what were the most important criteria of the marketing mix for a consumer in his buying process that make him choose between a distributor’s brand and a leader’s brand. In order to achieve that, a theoretical framework has been established about the distributors’ brands, their different types, their management compared to the one of the leaders’ brands, then about the consumers, their relation towards the distributors’ brands, their personal implication in the brand, and their role, and also the theory of the marketing mix has been exposed. A quantitative research was applied. The questionnaire focused on every customer leaving, after purchases, from Carrefour and Casino in Montpellier. All economic and social status and lifestyles were interesting to study. 12 questions were asked to each customer, and 100 of them fully answered. The results of the study were that the price still is the most important criterion for the consumers in their buying decisions. The attractive price is the reason. But it was discovered that the quality became a real significant element for the consumers. The principal conclusion was that consumers still didn’t trust enough the products from the distributors’ brands, and that the price wasn’t anymore the only criterion to take into account. It was suggested that the distributors’ brands could reinforce their performances if they give more priority to the quality.

The thesis will provide a description of the previous Swedish NRT marketing mix, a description of the present plans of Swedish NRT marketers for the marketing mix of their products, and the present marketing mix of the previously deregulated pharmacy markets in Finland and Norway. The purpose is to develop conclusions on how marketers of NRT products could change their marketing mix in response to the deregulation of the Swedish pharmacy market.    This thesis relies on a descriptive method. Interviews are used as the source of primary data. This is because some of the information sought after is not readily available and cannot be found through secondary data. Markets are mature only in the minds of the actors on the market. Due to the deregulation the market seems to be a window of opportunity for any innovative, aggressive marketing entrepreneur who wants to radically change his or her position in the market. NRT marketers could attempt to design a new, more aggressive strategy and work with the remaining Ps to unhinge what seems to be regarded a mature market. NRT marketers should work more actively to create an effective market feedback loop. NRT marketers should consider using the Internet to sell their products to consumers, thus opening a new channel.

Purpose: The purpose of this studie is to map and describe the marketing strategies of professional sport organizations and examine in what extent and how they apply the 7P’s of the Marketing mix. Method: We have used an abductive approach in this study. The research was conducted as a two case study, the studied objects are AIK Ishockey AB and Djurgården Hockey AB. A qualitative method has been used. The empirical content was collected by triangulation in form of interviews, telephone interviews, studie of webpages and participating observation. The theory was collected via scientific articles and literature. Result &amp; Conclusions: The result indicates that both studied objects use all 7P´s of the Marketing mix, but in shifting extent. For example they both use a variety of different pricing strategies, but none of them to it’s full potential. Further on we have seen that some parts from different theories are being used but no overall strategy. The marketing strategy rather seems to focus on the individual P´s from the Marketing mix and especially on the parts they think they could influence. The unusual character of the sports industry and the scarce resources makes marketing difficult. The organizations express that they would like to be more effective when it comes to marketing but they feel restricted for several reasons.   Suggestions for further research: There´s a demand within the sports industry for a dynamic pricing model, research in this area could contribute to increasing revenues from spectators. Research on whether marketing efforts result in higher revenues for sports organizations would be valued. It would also be interesting if someone executed the same study as us but studied different objects.

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Title:Marketing mix in banking in the time of global financial crisis. Purpose:The purpose of this study is to gain better understanding of banks‟ marketing mix in the time of a global financial crisis. Theoretical framework:The theoretical framework presents a review of selected theories of marketing mix and crisis management, the focus on marketing mix in banking and marketing mix in the time of a crisis. Method:This is a qualitative research, with a deductive approach. The research has a form of multiple case study. Empirical Framework:The empirical data have been obtained through interviews and secondary data research. Analysis:The empirical data have been compared with the theoretical framework. The changes of marketing mix trough those phases are analyzed – separately for Sweden and Estonia, by doing two within-case analysis. This is followed by a cross-case analysis. Findings:The global financial crisis resulted in a two-stages crisis for Swedbank. Marketing mix has been used actively by the company while overcoming the impact of the crisis. Depending on the type of the crisis, different marketing mix elements can contribute to the battle against the crisis. The marketing mix changes over different stages of the crisis, because of both internal and external factors.