In order to grow and survive, a firm must create value with consumers in ways that both fit in with consumer demands and stand out from competitors. Focusing on and understanding consumer and firm assessments of value and creation of value has become a central scope in the contemporary strategic management and marketing literature for understanding and explaining firm survival and success. Consequently, the overall aim of this thesis is to provide a conceptually and empirically grounded understanding of consumers’ and managers’ value assessments and behavior in value creation. This thesis draws on a consumer experience perspective and theories on social construction, organizational identity, self-congruence, and the theory of attractive quality, and combines multiple qualitative and quantitative studies. The findings in this thesis shed light on the interplay between consumers, firms, and contextual structures in value creation. Contextual structural, cultural, and political forces are shown to affect and be affected by the shared and individual cognitions of value creation that firms and consumers use in their assessment and creation value. The results of the study enhance the understanding of how firms can adopt various strategic schemas or organizing logics to optimize different types of use value creation when choosing between opposing and contradictive demands in their value creation. Furthermore, the thesis provides a deeper understanding of the hierarchical nature of consumer judgments of value that can be used to enhance the effectiveness of firm prioritizations and as a foundation for future value-creating strategies.

Šiandieninėje ekonominėje situacijoje, pasauliui išgyvenant globalios finansų krizės padarinius, stiprėjant konkurencijai rinkose, kai konkurentai dėl rinkos dalies griebiasi nesąžiningų kovos priemonių, tokių kaip kainų dempingavimas ir pan., kiekvienas įmonės vadovų sprendimas turi būti vertinamas ekonominio efektyvumo aspektu, t.y. ar bus pasekoje sukurta papildoma vertė įmonei. Tradiciniai įmonės finansinę situaciją apibūdinantys grynojo pelno bei pardavimų rodikliai neatskleidžia tikrosios situacijos. Tuo tarpu ekonominės pridėtosios vertės EVA rodiklis skatina įmones efektyviai panaudoti ne tik skolintą, bet ir nuosavą kapitalą. Viena didžiausių problemų ta, kad dauguma Lietuvos įmonių vadovų, pasirinkusių įmonės vertinimui naudoti EVA, praktiškai nežino, kaip teisingai apskaičiuoti šį rodiklį, kaip teisingai nustatyti įmonės valdomo kapitalo kainą, nesugeba identifikuoti vertei darančių įtaką veiksnių ir susieti sprendimų priėmimo su bendru įmonės tikslu – kaip didinti EVA. Tyrimo objektas – vidutinio dydžio gamybinė įmonė UAB „TECA“. Šio darbo tikslas – atskleisti įmonės vertės kūrimo ekonominę prasmę ir svarbą, išanalizuoti rodiklio EVA koncepciją, jo pritaikymą ir diegimą Lietuvos įmonėje. Šiam tikslui pasiekti iškelti šie svarbiausi uždaviniai: • Atskleisti vertės sampratą ir vertės nustatymo problemą; • Pristatyti ekonominio pelno – EVA rodiklio – koncepciją, palyginti su tradiciniais pelnu pagrįstais įmonės veiklos vertinimo rodikliais; • Išanalizuoti EVA... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / In today‘s economical situation, when world suffers from the consequences of global financial crisis, when competition increases in the markets, when competitors take unfair means of rivalry for the part of the market, such as price dumping and similar, when each decision of companies’ heads should be evaluated at the aspect of economical efficiency, i.e. whether consequently is going to be created an additional value for the company. Traditional indicators, defining financial situation of the company, of net profit and sales do not reveal real situation. Meanwhile economic value added EVA index motivates companies to efficiently use both not only the borrowed but also own capital. One of the biggest problems is that most Lithuanian companies’ heads, who for the evaluation of company choose EVA, practically do not know how to calculate this index correctly, how to determine correctly the price of company‘s controlled capital, are not able to identify factors, influencing value and to interconnect taking decisions with general aim of the company – how to increase EVA. Object of the research – medium manufacturing company UAB “TECA”. The aim of the thesis – is to reveal economical meaning and importance of creation of company value, to analyze the conception of EVA index, and its application and implementation in Lithuanian company. For the achievement of the aim there are being set the following most important tasks: • To reveal the concept of value and the problem of value... [to full text]

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

A wide range of Human Resources (HR) processes and information can now be managed and devolved to line managers and employees using e-HRM (‘electronic Human Resource Management’). E-HRM has been defined as “An umbrella term covering all possible integration mechanisms and contents between HRM and information technologies, aiming at creating value within and across organisations for targeted employees and management.” (Bondarouk & Ruel, 2009, p.507). Contemporary e-HRM technologies contain powerful functionality that can support organisations in reducing the cost and improving the quality of Human Resource service delivery, as well as enabling higher productivity and providing strategic capability. The aim of this dissertation is to explore why the development of e-HRM has been relatively immature, given that organisations tend to take an ‘automating’ approach that focuses primarily on administrative efficiency. The central thesis is that future development of e-HRM depends on two factors; firstly, that stronger links between e-HRM and competitive advantage at the organisational level must be defined and exploited; and secondly that shared frames of reference with regard to technology are critical to gaining the support of investors in e-HRM. The dissertation explores the wider context of e-HRM and its relationship to contemporary themes such as HR transformation, service delivery models, the growth of the internet and changing employee and managerial workplace expectations. Various definitions of e-HRM are explored, together with a literature review that categorises and summarises e-HRM literature over a twenty-one year period, concluding that there has been inadequate focus on understanding how e-HRM creates value. The dissertation makes a key contribution to practice through the e-HRM Value Model, a framework for defining, understanding and articulating how e-HRM creates organisational value. Its focus is on the outcomes of e-HRM rather than its characteristics, proposing that only three forms of outcomes can be derived from e-HRM: Operational HR cost reduction, improved people management / productivity and increased strategic capability. It represents a means of defining not only the value outcomes of e-HRM, but also the linkages between value potential, value conversion and value outcomes, providing a practical framework for defining the linkages between e-HRM and competitive advantage, as well as the basis for a diagnostic tool. The dissertation makes a contribution to knowledge through the analysis and subsequent synthesis of a wide-ranging literature review and interviews with fortysix managers and line managers across fifteen organisations that were planning for or had implemented e-HRM. It concludes with a series of proposed reasons for the slow progress towards greater strategic use of e-HRM, based on a technological frames approach with regard to the Nature of Technology, Technology in Use and Technology Strategy. The dissertation argues that unless HR professionals are themselves able to make sense of e-HRM and articulate the benefits in terms of competitive advantage, e-HRM development is likely to remain immature. Further research opportunities to develop and test the model are identified, together with an assessment of the implications for e-HRM management.

Empresas de todo o mundo enfrentam um difícil desafio para planejar e implementar uma estratégia inovadora num mundo de negócios complexo e globalizado. A Internet abriu uma série de oportunidades para desenvolver um novo posicionamento estratégico, mas também aumentou as ameaças na forma de novos competidores, além de tornar mais fácil a cópia de soluções baseadas numa tecnologia de plataforma aberta. No Brasil, a Internet pode trazer novas possibilidades para as empresas bem como pode impulsionar a inserção da economia brasileira no mercado global. O objetivo desta pesquisa é verificar: (a) a possibilidade de desenvolver uma posição estratégica inovadora baseada em diferenciação no Brasil; (b) o papel relevante da Internet para gerar vantagem competitiva integrando a cadeia de valor no Brasil; e (c) se as questões a e b forem verdadeiras, a Internet está gerando uma posição estratégica única para as empresas brasileiras analisadas nos estudos de caso. / Companies all over the world face a difficulty challenge to design and implement an innovative strategy in a globalised and complex business environment. The Internet has opened a lot of new opportunities to deploy a new strategic position, but also increased the constraints to the form of new competitors, besides making easier to copy the solutions based on an open platform technology. In Brazil, the Internet can bring new possibilities for companies and also can potentially help the national economy to foster its insertion in the global market. The aim of this research is to verify: (a) the possibility of deploying a strategic positioning based on differentiation in Brazil, (b) the relevant role of Internet to generate a competitive advantage by integrating the value system in Brazil, (c) if the issues a and b were truth, the Internet is generating an unique strategic positioning for Brazilian companies, analysed on a case study.

During the past two decades, increasingly powerful and capable information technologies have made information more accessible and valuable so that it has become the prime resource for business; ahead of the traditional resources of land, labour and capital. Improved information acquisition, usage and distribution has also driven and enabled globalisation. The emergence of the virtual enterprise (VE) is one consequence of changed market conditions and advanced information communications technology (ICT). VE s are characterised by various configurations of networks of collaborating partnerships and intensive ICT linkages. As ICT has become more pervasive, businesses have become increasingly reliant on it for their effective operation so now the question for business strategists is how to create value and sustainable competitive advantage in a virtual world? This thesis offers an answer to that question.This thesis uses rational arguments drawn from a wide variety of research from both the business and ICT disciplines to examine the theoretical foundations of value creation. It explores the development of corporate strategy and value driven sources of competitive advantage from the viewpoints of industrial organisation (IO), the resource based view (RBV) of the firm, innovation, transaction cost economics, network theory and value and supply chains. However, these established strategy theories, whose origins often predate the internet, do not adequately accommodate the expanded roles that information and digital technologies play in creating value in an increasingly digital environment. Alternately, Information Systems research, which is rich in information technology, struggles to accommodate the notion of value as legitimate information systems goal. Virtual organisation (VO) is a new strategic paradigm that is centred on the use of information and ICT to create value. VO is presented as a meta-management strategy that has application in all value oriented organisations. Within the concept of VO, the business model is an ICT based construct that bridges and integrates enterprise strategic and operational concerns.The Virtual Value Creation (VVC) framework is an innovative and novel business model that draws on the concept of virtual organisation. The VVC’s objective is to provide enterprises with a framework to determine their present and potential capability to use available information to create economic value. It owes its inspiration to Porter and Drucker, both of whom emphasised value creation as the legitimate focus for enterprise activity and the source of sustainable competitive advantage. The VVC framework integrates existing and emerging theories to describe the strategic processes and conditions necessary for the exploitation of information in a commercial setting.The VVC framework presently represents a novel and valuable tool that enterprises can use to assess their present and potential use of information to create value in a virtual age.

<p><strong><em>Research Question</em></strong><strong><em>:</em></strong> Can organizations truly create value for all its stakeholders simultaneously, without a significant trade-off from one group to another? And what role does current ICT infrastructure play?<strong> </strong></p><p><strong><em>Purpose:</em></strong> This study is aimed at determining how organizations create value simultaneously for stakeholders without a trade-off, and also examine the role of ICT (Information and communication technologies) in balancing responsibility in trying to satisfying all stakeholders (customers, suppliers, society, environment, employees and shareholders) in complex ICT environments.</p><p><strong><em>Methodology:</em></strong> The study involves business organizations in Sweden. A research questionnaire was sent to one thousand five hundred top level management executives in Swedish based business organizations, to collect data.  Business organizations were carefully selected to cut across many industry sectors.</p><p><strong><em>Findings:</em></strong><strong> </strong>Some of the findings includes: that many companies in Sweden still have a hard time satisfying all stakeholders simultaneously without trade-off, even with the huge ICT infrastructures. We discovered that although companies invest a lot on ICT, but the combination of strategy which will bring corporate partnership and create value for all without “robbing Peter to pay Paul” is still lacking.</p><p><strong><em>Research Limitations:</em></strong><strong> </strong>First, the study was limited to Sweden because of lack of resources to conduct interviews in many countries. Thus, there is the need to exercise caution in generalising these findings. Second, the number of respondents was limited, because it was difficult to get very busy top management executives from different companies to respond to our questionnaire.  <strong></strong></p><p><strong><em>Originality:</em></strong> This research work provides insight to understand and interpret balanced stakeholder value creation in companies, identify attributes for simultaneous value creation, as well as the role information and communication technology play in achieving this objective.</p><p><strong><em>Keywords:</em></strong> Stakeholder, Value Creation, Information and communication technology, Sustainable Value, and Stakeholder Analysis</p>

<p><p><strong>Research Questions:</strong> 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?</p><p><strong>Research Objectives:</strong> My aim is to investigate if firms´ green strategy can encourage innovation; enhance corporate reputation and increase overall performance.</p><p><strong>Research approach and methodology:</strong> 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.</p><p><strong>Findings:</strong> 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.</p><p><strong>Concluding remarks:</strong> 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.</p></p>

Purpose: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.   Background: 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 ‘an e-business whose core service is to legally offer digital music by means of stream and/or download’. 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. Method: 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. Conclusion: 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.

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. 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. 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.