Supply chain management complexity is a growing challenge for a broad range of contemporary companies, which makes them turn to new and increasingly advanced IT-systems as a salvation. One of the currently most important system in a supply chain manager’s toolbox is the warehouse management system. As business challenges increases so does also the complexity in the investment processes surrounding the warehouse management systems, this paper explores value creation in these processes to understand the resource exchanges involved, the exchange actor’s different roles and the implications of interactions between the actors. This is conducted through a case study with a market leading warehouse management system vendor and a supply chain intensive customer. The findings indicate that value creation in a complex warehouse management system investment entails several intervened and ongoing processes of different resource exchanges, were the actors co-create value jointly by sharing, combining and utilizing the resources throughout these processes. In order to establish this essential value co-creation sphere, also social exchanges in the form of qualitative interactions between the actors have proven to be a fundamental factor.

This present thesis aims to contribute to a better understand about how to use value innovation to get competitive advantages and get leading position in the market.   This theoretical approach is supported by an empirical case study about IKEA in Nanjing, China. This case is based on a qualitative research method of in-depth interviews with the local customers, co-workers and managers. The outcome is IKEA uses a unique strategy execution in Nanjing, and it fits Nanjing’s market very well.   The competitive strategy of IKEA is based on its vision of “create better everyday life for many people”, combined with the value-based service culture, and use value innovation to create more value for both customers and company. This present thesis will show its unique strategy operation way together with value creation, which leads IKEA successful apply its Blue Ocean strategy in a foreign country and gets leading position in the market.   So far we have the opinion that IKEA has been successful in Nanjing by implementing a Blue Ocean strategy, which is crucially supported by good value innovation for both customers and company. It is quite a good example of successful Blue Ocean strategy operator in globally.

Integration through strategy of mergers and acquisitions have become popular all over the world thanks to globalization, technological developments, liberalization, and saturated competitive business environment. On The Journal published on www.globusz.com, it has been announced that the number of M&A corporations has reached 5000 mergers, and the total value of the companies acquired is of about $1.7 trillion in 2000. In USA, it was the period where the most important and largest M&As were ever announced, it was the year where AOL and Time Warner were merged. Most of researches conducted on M&A activities have recognized that firms prefer to enlarge their activity by merging or acquiring new businesses rather than enlarging organically. However, in some cases, results collected are not the ones expected. IBM has made about 800 strategic alliances, Hewlet Packard about 300, and AT with T about 400. This proves that those alliances either with strategic suppliers, or with competitor or partners, they are an effective and a prompt access towards capital increase, talents discovery, effective distribution channels and manufacturing productive designs or operations. According to a study conducted by Coopers and Lybrand, companies that form strategic alliances grow 20% faster and gain 11% more in sales than those who choose to rely solely on their own expertise (Segil 1998). The study also identified that two thirds of middle level firms have entered some form of alliance: 37% with their customers; 35% with their suppliers; 15% with competitors. The gaining from M&As is said to be a means of protecting the market share and of expanding growth domestically and internationally, because it leads to more beneficial using of resources and assets, to more efficient managеmеnt, and to еcоnomies of scale, etc.  Thus, the question to raise is: do results of M&As create real value for the shareholders of acquirers?

The celebrity status is seen in a wide variety of domains that ranges from entertainment, to sport, to politic communities. It operates as a way of providing distinctions and definitions of success within those domains (Marshall, 1997). The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the paradigmatic elements of celebrity negative information across different celebrity domains. The word paradigmatic is used because over the years we have seen celebrities killing their careers as consequence of their wild behavior. In the other hand we have also seen celebrities booming their careers. This thesis is an attempt to improve our understanding on which factors are of relevance when celebrities’ meltdown causing potential sources of troubles to stakeholders related with them. In summations the objective is finding patterns among the paradox and inconsistencies over the years of real life celebrity cases. We first analyze how the consumptions of celebrity offering yields different type of values to consumers that construct an OVP optimal value point. This OPV can be seen as a combination of enabling attributes and enhancing attributes. Enabling attributes such as “quality and efficiency” are a must for a human brand to even achieve celebrity status. The enhancing type of attributes such as “ethics or charity” bring that extra mile or added value not necessary to obtain success but beneficial to their overall image. In addition a discussion if celebrity negative information caused by illegal or immoral behavior can lead to value destruction affecting consumption patterns is presented whereas a qualitative study based on real life cases was carried out. The results showed that “consistency” with the celebrity previous behavior and image are crucial to anticipate how the consumers will react to a case of negative celebrity information. The celebrity “domain” revealed some tolerance bringing or blocking effect towards negative celebrity information. In conclusion this exploratory study is a good starting point to prove that not all negative celebrity information is negative to a celebrity and thus there is no general recipe to study these incidents. By bringing a framework like the one presented it is easier to isolate and study one case at a time. At the end of the paper we applied the framework and anticipated the response of Swedish consumer’s to a real drugs case scandal involving a singer.

Since its establishment as an emerging area of research in strategic management over a decade ago, business model research has had little consensus towards adopting a single definition or common language for this rapidly growing management concept.  However, strong agreement as to the relevance of value creation within organizations underlies existing business model literature. Moreover, applications of business model frameworks outside the private sector have been limited. Recent literature has identified business model innovation and design as a critical tool in effective implementation of organizational strategy, and empirical research in business models from new and alternative perspectives may reveal linkages between strategic management issues and effectiveness in creating value in public and citizen sector organizations.  Nevertheless, existing academic literature has not yet explored applications of traditional business model frameworks within a public sector context, nor has the need for empirical research linking the business model concept with public sector management been addressed. The main purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of how business models can be defined, redefined, and applied in city economic development agencies for application as a strategic public management tool. An analysis of how the business model of a prominent city economic development agency has been employed and how value is created within this model will be undertaken.  This empirical study also aims to determine conceptual linkages between business model applications in city economic development and to contribute a theoretical foundation towards development of future research.   Given the multi-faceted applications of the business model concept, the authors have conducted exploratory research targeting the application of current business model concepts and frameworks to a city economic development agency representing an influential global center of finance and commerce, the City of New York. The significance of conducting empirical studies on city economic development agencies is due to the influence in which these organizations have on industrial cluster growth, national economic competitiveness, and citywide and regional transformation. In considering this context, The New York City Economic Development Corporation is the primary economic growth engine for the City of New York, and strives to create and deliver value to citizens, businesses, and other stakeholders of New York City.   Findings from this study suggest that economic development professionals have not adequately clarified the term ‘business model’ for promoting common language between strategists, project managers, consultants, and executives to support strategic business model design within city economic development agencies.  The authors conclude that equally relevant to framing and applying theoretical foundations grounded in the business model concept, is the identification of value-creating activities within economic development agencies and development of citizen-focused value propositions.  This empirical study aims to define, clarify and explore the former, while calling upon a need for future research of the latter.

<p><strong>Purpose:</strong>The purpose of this study is to investigate the most important factors for creating customer loyalty, which contribute to competitive advantage in the DMP industry.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Background: </strong>The emergence of the digital music industry in recent years has resulted in a competitive situation with new digital music portals (DMPs) entering the market. A DMP can be defined as ‘<em>an e-business whose core service is to legally offer digital music by means of stream and/or download’.</em> The industry has experienced rapid developmental changes on the online platform with an outcome of a steady growth in online sales. Customers can choose from a large music assortment and DMPs function as intermediaries between right holders and end-consumers, and customers can easily switch between rivals at low costs. <em> </em></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Method: </strong>The research strategy used in this thesis was a qualitative research strategy. Data was collected from eleven interviews, from people working within the DMP industry, using semi-structured questions. The sample was selected through a combination of convenience and snowball sampling. The collected data was later interpreted and analysed. Coding was used as an analysis method, where the authors selected relevant data and created groups of themes related to the purpose and the research questions.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The analysis results show that DMPs have to focus on performance, explicitly performance competing strategies for creation of customer loyalty, which overlaps value and trust creation activities. The most important factors for creating customer loyalty contributing to competitive advantage in this industry are gathered under three concepts: developing innovative new transaction structures, increasing customer affiliation through usability and editorials and to engage the customer in the portal’s service.</p>

<p>The private equity (PE) industry has been growing over the recent years and a large amount of capital is invested in Nordic private equity funds. Buyouts which are focusing on a leverage effect, known as the leverage buyout (LBO), have transformed public companies into private equity owned portfolio companies. The purpose of this report is to describe and analyze the current state of the leverage buyout transaction in the Nordic market, with focus on the factors which are affecting the value creation process.</p><p>Through an abductive approach, data has been collected from interviews with representatives from PE companies and banks with experience of LBO transactions in both the Eu-ropean and the Nordic market. The objective was to examine the factors which are affect-ing the value creation process and to examine why LBO transactions in the Nordic PE market has generated higher EBITDA multiples than in the European market.</p><p>The study shows that PE companies operating in the Nordic market tends to appreciate operational and organizational value rather than multiple values. Nordic PE companies have in general exercised longer investments in the portfolio companies compared to European PE companies. The long term investments implementation has enabled the Nordic PE companies to accomplish entrepreneurial actions in a further extent. Nordic PE companies have also been successful in their streamlining process of the organ-ization structure, which partly explains the greater EBITDA multiples generated in the Nordic market. Another significant factor is the favorable tax regulation in Sweden which has been beneficial for the whole Nordic PE market. The current financial condition has affected both the activity and the transaction structure of LBO’s in the Nordic market. The equity proportion has increased, while unsecured loans such as mezzanine loans and second lien loans have decreased. Nordic PE companies have also stopped using syndicated loans, as it has been too risky to renegotiate debt re-payments with several banks. The study concludes that Nordic PE companies will in the nearest future change their geo-graphical focus more too emerging markets, while turn-a-rounds strategies will be used more frequently in the Nordic market.</p>

Research Questions: Environmental consideration has influenced managerial decisions and has required from firms to develop an organizational culture that focus on the environmental issues. Despite the importance of adopting a business philosophy that take into account the ecological concerns few studies have examined the relationship between market orientation and environmental practices. This thesis contributes to fill this gap by addressing the following questions: 1) Does the introduction of the environmental facilities help firms towards green innovation? 2) Is Green marketing strategy of firms positively associated with the augment in performance? 3) Does green marketing communication affect positively corporate image? Research Objectives: My aim is to investigate if firms´ green strategy can encourage innovation; enhance corporate reputation and increase overall performance. Research approach and methodology: The assesment of companies green initiatives and the effects on their performance have been achieved through the content of annual and sustainability reports as well as interviews with business managers. Findings: The investigation indicates that when implementing an effective green strategy firms will improve their managerial and organizational performance and such improvements can contribute positively to their financial outcome. The better use of the resources via the introduction of the environmental facilities by firms indeed can help them towards green innovation. Add to that, communicating environmental practices also seems to be an important tool to enhance brand reputation. Thus this study agrees with some authors who affirm that integrating environmental issues into business activities firms´ can increase efficiency and competitiveness while reducing environmental impact. Concluding remarks: The core lesson learned from this scientic work is that the response of the firms in prioritizing the implementation of eco-friendly practices is linked with their perception of current environmental trends. The most firms reinvent themselves by adopting more reuse, recycle, reduce, re-design, green training, green marketing, etc more eco-oriented they seems to be.

The purpose of this study is to examine the value generated to shareholders due to the announcement of mergers and acquisitions (M&amp;A) in different industries. Only deals between firms in the OECD member countries over the period 2004-2014 are analysed. The value is measured by calculating the cumulative abnormal return for event periods close to the announcement date. Cumulative abnormal returns is often used for measuring the impact of events on a stock price and reflect what investors believe will be the value from resulting synergies to shareholders. Only transactions between target and acquiring companies that are operating in the industrials, financial services, information technology and consumer staples industry are examined. Previous research is used to determine industry conditions affecting value creation and the expected value creation for each of the four industries is determined. This study find that returns for acquirers are distributed around zero percent. The mean cumulative abnormal returns for acquirers are negative for three of the four industries examined. The only positive abnormal return for acquirers is found in the financial services industry. Target firm shareholders receive positive returns in all industries. Target firm shareholders in the consumer staples and industrials industries receive on average statistically significant results above zero percent for a significance level of 5%. These industries have also the highest target returns.

The Internet is one of the most advanced technologies of modern times and it is diffusing at an exponential rate amongst business-to-consumer and business-to-business organisations. This has resulted in it becoming an irrevocable and an unstoppable trend, thereby making it vital for companies to incorporate it into their businesses. The Internet, Internet technologies and Internet services, particularly the Web, are widely acknowledged to have had and to continue to have a considerable impact on the practice of marketing. The adoption of the Internet and the Web is an independent variable influencing two interrelated aspects of the marketing function, namely the company’s conceptualisation of its marketing activities and the definition of its markets, which together directly influence the creation of greater customer value. Although research studies regarding the Internet’s impact on marketing conducted in the past in different countries and at different times produced quite similar trends in responses, advances in information technology (IT) and the increased Internet usage since the late 1990s necessitated reinvestigating marketers’ perceptions as to the changes in market practices brought about by the Internet. This study sought to determine the changes arising from the Internet in the conceptualisation of marketing activities, the definition of markets and the creation of greater customer value, based on a literature review and on empirical evidence founded on the opinions of South African marketing practitioners. The purpose of this study was to determine the South African marketing practitioners’ perceptions of the Internet’s influence on the practice of marketing. Five focal questions were asked and answered by the study: 1. How has the Internet changed the way that companies conceptualise their marketing activities? 2. How has the Internet changed the way that companies define their markets? 3. How has the Internet changed the way that companies create value for their customers? 4. To what extent have South African marketers’ perceptions of the influence of the Internet on marketing changed from the late 1990s to 2011? 5. To what extent do South African marketers’ perceptions of the influence of the Internet on marketing differ to those in studies conducted in Australia in 2001(Leong, Ewing & Pitt, 2003) and in Iran in 2007 (Ghazisaeedi, Pitt & Chaharsooghi, 2007)? For this study, the target population comprised South African marketing practitioners. The sampling frame consisted of the top 200 South African companies of 2009, ranked according to turnover, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), as published by the Financial Mail (2009). A non-probability, judgment sample of the 100 of these top South African companies was taken in April 2011. The study was conducted without replacement sampling. The telephone directory was used to obtain the telephone numbers of these companies so that the secretaries could be contacted to obtain the particulars of the marketing managers or marketing directors of the companies and permission to forward the questionnaire to the respective individuals. A structure self-administered questionnaire was then be emailed to those respondents from whom telephonic permission had been obtained. The questionnaire requested respondents to indicate on a five-point Likert scale their perceptions as to the extent to which the Internet influences the marketing practices within their company on 31 items divided into the three constructs of re-conceptualising marketing activities, changing market definition and creating greater customer value. In addition, the respondents were asked to provide certain demographic data. The findings indicate that the Internet has changed the way companies conceptualise their marketing activities, define their markets and create value for their customers in a variety of ways. When comparing this study against the results of the other three studies it is evident, that between the 1997 and the 2011 South African study and the 2001 Australian study and the 2011 South African study, the respondents did not vary significantly in their perceptions towards the items in each of the three constructs and the overall scale. Hence, the differences between the mean scores of the two studies concerning the three constructs and the overall scale are both statistically and practically non-significant. When comparing the 2005 Iranian study against the 2011 South African, the results show that for both the first construct and the overall scale there is a significant statistical difference at p < 0.05. Concerning to Construct 1, the extent to which the Internet has changed the way that companies conceptualise their marketing activities, a significant statistical difference exists between the two studies, with p = 0.002 < 0.05. Furthermore, with regard to the overall scale, the Internet’s influence on the marketing activities of companies, a significant statistical difference exists between the two studies, with p = 0.046 < 0.05. With the exception of Construct 1 and the overall scale, there is no significant statistical difference between the 2005 Iranian and the 2011 South African studies on Construct 2 and Construct 3. These results indicate that the respondents from the two studies conducted in Iran in 2005 and more recently in South Africa in 2011 did not vary significantly in their perceptions towards items in the second construct and the third construct. In order to assess whether there was a significant practical difference in the item means between the two studies, Cohen’s D-statistic was used. There is a small effect, moving toward practical significance on Construct 1 (D = 0.422) and the overall scale (D = 0.268). From this, it is evident that all main areas of marketing are being significantly influenced by the Internet. Therefore, Internet marketing has become a business imperative owing to it being an irrevocable and an unstoppable trend and, as a result, companies must make a concerted effort to collaborate the technologies available to them to avoid failure in the new digital business environment. / MCom, Marketing Management, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012