Background: With the emergence of smartphones being a novel and increasingly relevant occurrence, and both the Swedish and Japanese markets being highly prominent in smartphone usage and technological adoption, there exists an avenue of research that compares these two markets. This research examines the consumer value perception of smartphones in millennials, the first digital natives, comparatively between the two markets. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the consumer value perception in Swedish and Japanese millennials, to possibly identify any differences between them. This is done in order to create a greater understanding on possible differences in how consumers in these markets perceive value and motivate purchases, which can aid marketing practitioners in creating sufficient value propositions and marketing strategies for these markets. The possible findings of this research can possibly improve upon existing theories and concepts and serve as a foundation for further research. Method: This exploratory research was conducted qualitatively using the data collected from semi-structured interviews with 16 millennials, 8 from Sweden and 8 from Japan, paired with abductive reasoning as well as a thematic analysis approach. Conclusion: The results show that there are a number of differences between consumers in these two markets. Using the Perceived Value Model (Boksberger & Melsen, 2013), as well as the smartphone value perception categories (Andrews et al., 2012), four global themes were identified: Derived Value of Smartphones, Product Quality Assessment, Affects of Satisfaction and Motivation for New Purchases and their underlying categories. Through analysis, the authors identified differences in what value the consumers of both markets derive from smartphones, how the participants view price as a quality indicator, how they derive satisfaction and develop brand loyalty from their purchases as well as what values motivate new purchases.

Introduction: During the last years power have been passed from the producer to the consumer. Then, for any given firm, consumers play an increasingly important role. Firms sell not only within limits set by the price of competing products, but within limits set by buyers’ tastes as well. Both products and services have become more sophisticated and each individual customers value perception is important to recognize. In short, to stay competitive firms must put their main focus on the customer’s needs. When it comes to services producer and user must cooperate. Joint value creation process becomes a central part of the relationship between producer and user. The service production process in consulting-related services occurs during a relatively long period of time with various interchanges before the service ultimately is produced. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to understand how customers, in a business-to-business situation, perceive the value of a complex service over time. Focus will also be directed towards understanding how the producer can improve the knowledge of how the customers’ preferences change over time. Method: A qualitative case study was conducted, in which the customers of the case firm were interviewed. Conclusions: The major difficulty with the notion of value is that it is evaluated in the eyes of the beholder. That is, what it ultimately comes down to are subjective feelings and opinions of individuals. Nevertheless, this study shows that value perceived becomes more complex with time. That is, experiences from both the relationship and the joint value creation affect how customers perceive value. With time, customers are able to see more benefits, but at the same time more sacrifices. These tend to be relation-oriented.

<p>Introduction: During the last years power have been passed from the producer to the consumer. Then, for any given firm, consumers play an increasingly important role. Firms sell not only within limits set by the price of competing products, but within limits set by buyers’ tastes as well. Both products and services have become more sophisticated and each individual customers value perception is important to recognize. In short, to stay competitive firms must put their main focus on the customer’s needs. When it comes to services producer and user must cooperate. Joint value creation process becomes a central part of the relationship between producer and user. The service production process in consulting-related services occurs during a relatively long period of time with various interchanges before the service ultimately is produced. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to understand how customers, in a business-to-business situation, perceive the value of a complex service over time. Focus will also be directed towards understanding how the producer can improve the knowledge of how the customers’ preferences change over time. </p><p>Method: A qualitative case study was conducted, in which the customers of the case firm were interviewed. </p><p>Conclusions: The major difficulty with the notion of value is that it is evaluated in the eyes of the beholder. That is, what it ultimately comes down to are subjective feelings and opinions of individuals. Nevertheless, this study shows that value perceived becomes more complex with time. That is, experiences from both the relationship and the joint value creation affect how customers perceive value. With time, customers are able to see more benefits, but at the same time more sacrifices. These tend to be relation-oriented.</p>

Existing literature about digitalization and business transformation in the manufacturing industry has mainly focused on understanding the supplier´s internal transformation of processes, the development of key capabilities, the relationship between suppliers and customers to co-create value and the transformation from product providers to service providers. The digitalization in essence is a new topic within this industry, then there is scant regard for how digitalization has transformed the perception of value from customers’ perspective in the energy industry. The understanding of value perception from customers perspective is relevant due to the growth and development of servitization as well as challenges regarding slow adoption of digital solutions in this industry.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T18:39:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 28 / Nenhuma / O aumento da concorrência faz com que as empresas se preocupem cada vez com a retenção de seus clientes. Um programa de fidelidade é uma das inúmeras estratégias utilizadas para envolver o cliente e buscar a lealdade à marca. Porém, algumas empresas ainda resistem na aplicação deste tipo de estratégia por terem dúvidas quanto aos resultados obtidos. O cliente percebe o valor de um programa de fidelidade? Um cliente compra um determinado produto ou serviço devido às vantagens que o programa de fidelidade lhe proporciona ou devido à sua lealdade à marca? Questões como estas foram analisadas nesse estudo para tentar compreender se os programas de fidelidade podem auxiliar na construção e manutenção da lealdade à marca. Para isso, foi realizado um quase-experimento, através de uma survey eletrônica com 243 consumidores de diversos estados brasileiros. O estudo analisou, através de um modelo conceitual proposto, três relações entre os diferentes construtos do modelo. A primeira relação analisou os efeitos dos e / The increase of competition make that companies worry about keep yours customers. A loyalty program is one of several strategies used to involve the customer and to search the brand loyalty. But, some companies still to hold on to apply this kind of strategy because they have doubts about the results got. The customer perceives the value of a loyalty program? The customer buy a certain product or service because the advantages that the loyalty program give to him or because he is loyal to the brand? Questions like this were analyzed in this study to try to understand if loyalty programs can to help to build and maintenance to the brand loyalty. It was carry out a quasi-experiment, through an electronic survey with 243 brazilian consumers from the several states of country. The study examined, through a conceptual model proposed, three relations between different constructs. The first relation analyzed the effects of reward schemes (types of rewards and timing of rewards) on the perception of value of a prog

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2015-07-01T14:03:39Z No. of bitstreams: 1 LeandroLumbieri.pdf: 886141 bytes, checksum: 6ee7275b847a2ca4bd72e6a1cbb6d145 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-01T14:03:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 LeandroLumbieri.pdf: 886141 bytes, checksum: 6ee7275b847a2ca4bd72e6a1cbb6d145 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Nenhuma / Esta dissertação teve por objetivo verificar a relação entre o nível de evidenciação de informações sobre o capital humano e a percepção de valor das empresas listadas na BM&FBOVESPA. O estudo foi conduzido à luz de duas teorias: agência e custo do proprietário. A teoria de agência pressupõe que a assimetria de informação entre as partes envolvidas numa relação contratual estabeleceria custos de agência. Essa perspectiva aponta a redução da assimetria através da evidenciação de informação como mecanismo de redução dos custos de agência. Em outra perspectiva, a teoria dos custos dos proprietários, ressalta que uma maior evidenciação poderia gerar custos para os proprietários, tais como: perda de mercado, à medida que torna pública as informações de caráter estratégico, possibilitando aos concorrentes reformularem suas estratégias e reconquistarem mercado, bem como os próprios custos de elaboração e divulgação destas informações. Considerando a revisão de literatura empírica realizada, este estudo difere dos demais, pois não foi encontrado nenhum estudo no Brasil referente ao nível de evidenciação do capital humano e sua percepção de valor pelo mercado. Também o presente estudo difere de qualquer pesquisa existente pelo fato de utilizar um novo índice de empresas da BM&FBOVESPA, que foi lançado em 02 de maio de 2011, denominado BRASIL AMPLO, com 153 papéis, com índice de negociabilidade de 99%, compondo o universo desta pesquisa. Desta população, foram selecionadas 21 empresas que disponibilizaram os relatórios anuais em suas páginas eletrônicas, no período de 2004 a 2010. O que resultou no total de 147 relatórios anuais analisados. A construção do nível de evidenciação dos recursos intangíveis de capital humano foi desenvolvida com base no modelo proposto por Macagnan (2005). A técnica de análise utilizada foi a de regressão linear múltipla com dados em painel. O principal resultado rejeita a hipótese de uma relação direta entre o nível de evidenciação voluntária do capital humano e a percepção de valor das empresas. O que confirma os pressupostos da teoria dos custos dos proprietários, em que uma maior evidenciação voluntária de informações representaria custos aos proprietários. Destaca-se, como contribuição para estudos futuros sobre nível de evidenciação de capital humano, a análise da importância deste capital para cada setor. Isso porque a percepção de valor do capital humano pode variar segundo o setor. / This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between the level of disclosure of information on human capital and the value perception of the companies listed on BM&FBOVESPA. The study was conducted under the light of the agency theory, which indicates that in an inefficient market, due to the informational asymmetry and greater disclosure would reduce the agency costs. In another perspective, the theory of the cost of the owners, points out that greater disclosure could generate costs for owners. Costs such as loss of market share, as the strategic information becomes public, allowing competing companies reformulate their strategy and conquer markets. The present study differs from any existing research because it uses a new index of BM&FBOVESPA companies which was released on May 2, 2011, called BRASIL AMPLO, with 153 papers with negotiability index of 99%, apart from the fact of not having found any study in Brazil regarding the level of disclosure of human capital and his perception of the market. The method driven by research is the deductive and to meet the goals proposed in this study must be carried out using descriptive research, this research has a quantitative nature and is classified as a documentary research. The sample consists of 21 companies in the period 2004 to 2010, the annual reports were collected from its websites. The construction of the level of disclosure of intangible resources of human capital was developed based on the model proposed by Macagnan (2005). The analysis techniques used were multiple linear regression with panel data.The main result rejects the hypothesis of a direct relationship between the level of voluntary disclosure of human capital and perceived value of companies. This confirms the assumptions of the theory of costs where owners of greater voluntary disclosure of information would cost to owners. Stands out as a contribution to future studies on level of disclosure of human capital, the analysis of the importance of capital for each sector. This is because the perceived value of human capital may vary according to sector.

Background: The concept of value perception is widely discussed in scientific literature and it is well-known, that channels deliver value to the customer. However, so far there has been no research about the efficiency of channels, especially the consumer´s perception of channel efficiency. Therefore, this study contributes to the current literature in channel management and it fills an existing research gap. The authors establish a definition of the term 'channel efficiency' and they develop a measuring instrument. For this thesis, the three criteria (1) shopping enjoyment, (2) interpersonal service quality and (3) price level are taken into consideration for the efficiency calculation. The two channels of interest are physical retail stores and the Internet. The target group is university students. Purpose: To measure and compare the efficiency of the channels 'physical retail store' and 'Internet' from the consumer´s view and thus, to find general patterns of rated channel efficiency. This will be achieved by investigating the individual channel value perception of certain channel specific criteria and by exploring the respective relevance of these criteria.   Research Questions: 1. What is the general channel efficiency of the channel physical retail store? 2. What is the general channel efficiency of the channel Internet? Method: A quantitative study in form of an online questionnaire has been conducted with German and Swedish students. 1 995 persons participated in the survey. The analysis has been carried out by using the computer software SPSS. Thus, the collected data could be edited with respect to the verification of the proposed hypotheses, the calculation and comparison of the respective channel efficiencies and additionally, the identification of patterns for gender and age groups. Research findings: The analysis of the collected data has shown that the three regarded criteria are of diverse importance and they are perceived differently for the channels physical retail stores and the Internet. Hence, the efficiency of those two channels is also unequal; physical retail stores reach a mean value of 46.8% and the Internet in turn achieves an average of 43.1%. This shows that both channels hold potential for improvement. When looking at patterns between gender and age groups, the authors could also identify interesting differentiations.

O Brasil ocupa, atualmente, posição destacada no cenário mundial como produtor e exportador de carne de frango, gerando empregos e a permanência do homem no campo. Pesquisas demonstram que o consumo da carne de frango, em escala mundial, cresce a taxas maiores que o das outras carnes, porém ainda sendo suplantado pelo consumo de carne bovina. Porém, apesar da crescente demanda e do grande fluxo de valores que envolvem a cadeia avícola, a percepção dos consumidores sobre a carne de frango ainda carece de atenção por parte dos pesquisadores. Desta forma, buscou-se neste trabalho verificar quais os atributos componentes da imagem da carne de frango, qual a imagem central deste produto, quais as percepções de valor do consumidor sobre este tipo de carne e quais as dimensões determinantes para a compra do produto. A metodologia utilizada foi classificada como pesquisa exploratória, com abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa. Os resultados evidenciam que o consumidor percebe a carne de frango como um produto saudável, de preço acessível, versátil e leve. Porém, aspectos negativos levantados pelos consumidores, tais como a crença na presença de hormônios merecem atenção por parte de pesquisadores e fabricantes. Em relação à intenção de compra, o trabalho mostra que as dimensões da imagem configuradas como racionais, funcionais, sensoriais e físico-materiais são as mais significativas para a intenção de compra do produto. Percebeu-se, assim, a multiplicidade de atributos e dimensões envolvidas na constituição da imagem e na intenção de compra do produto avaliado, o que remete à possibilidade de atuação dos profissionais do marketing e da cadeia avícola em variáveis específicas, influenciadores ou inibidoras do comportamento de compra do consumidor de carne de frango. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-04-29T11:56:58Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Ricardo Antonio Reche.pdf: 1754550 bytes, checksum: 5ea72dfba854ff8e7ef19024993c12e6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-04-29T11:56:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Ricardo Antonio Reche.pdf: 1754550 bytes, checksum: 5ea72dfba854ff8e7ef19024993c12e6 (MD5) / Brazil is currently featured at an important position on the world market as a chicken meat producer and exporter, what generates jobs and the permanence of man living on farms. Research shows that the consumption of chicken meat worldwide is growing at rates higher than other kinds of meat, but still being supplanted by the consumption of bovine meat. However, despite the growing demand and the large money flow that involves the poultry chain, the consumer perceptions about chicken meat still needs attention from researchers. Therefore, this study sought to determine which are the attributes contituent of the chicken meat image, what is the central image of this product, what are the consumer’s value perceptions about this kind of meat and what are the determining factors to buy the product. The methodology used was classified as an exploratory research, with a qualitative and quantitative approach. The results show that the consumers perceive the chicken meat as healthy, affordable, versatile and easy-digestive option. However, negative aspects raised by consumers, such as the belief in the presence of hormones, deserve attention from researchers and producers. In relation to the purchase intent, the work shows that the dimensions of the image set as rational, functional, sensorial and physico-material are the most significant for the intention of buying the product. It was noticed, thus the multiplicity of attributes and dimensions involved in setting up the image and intention to purchase the product assessed, which refers to the possibility of action of professionals of marketing and of the poultry chain in specific variables, influencing or inhibiting behavior consumer purchasing of chicken meat.

O Brasil ocupa, atualmente, posição destacada no cenário mundial como produtor e exportador de carne de frango, gerando empregos e a permanência do homem no campo. Pesquisas demonstram que o consumo da carne de frango, em escala mundial, cresce a taxas maiores que o das outras carnes, porém ainda sendo suplantado pelo consumo de carne bovina. Porém, apesar da crescente demanda e do grande fluxo de valores que envolvem a cadeia avícola, a percepção dos consumidores sobre a carne de frango ainda carece de atenção por parte dos pesquisadores. Desta forma, buscou-se neste trabalho verificar quais os atributos componentes da imagem da carne de frango, qual a imagem central deste produto, quais as percepções de valor do consumidor sobre este tipo de carne e quais as dimensões determinantes para a compra do produto. A metodologia utilizada foi classificada como pesquisa exploratória, com abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa. Os resultados evidenciam que o consumidor percebe a carne de frango como um produto saudável, de preço acessível, versátil e leve. Porém, aspectos negativos levantados pelos consumidores, tais como a crença na presença de hormônios merecem atenção por parte de pesquisadores e fabricantes. Em relação à intenção de compra, o trabalho mostra que as dimensões da imagem configuradas como racionais, funcionais, sensoriais e físico-materiais são as mais significativas para a intenção de compra do produto. Percebeu-se, assim, a multiplicidade de atributos e dimensões envolvidas na constituição da imagem e na intenção de compra do produto avaliado, o que remete à possibilidade de atuação dos profissionais do marketing e da cadeia avícola em variáveis específicas, influenciadores ou inibidoras do comportamento de compra do consumidor de carne de frango. / Brazil is currently featured at an important position on the world market as a chicken meat producer and exporter, what generates jobs and the permanence of man living on farms. Research shows that the consumption of chicken meat worldwide is growing at rates higher than other kinds of meat, but still being supplanted by the consumption of bovine meat. However, despite the growing demand and the large money flow that involves the poultry chain, the consumer perceptions about chicken meat still needs attention from researchers. Therefore, this study sought to determine which are the attributes contituent of the chicken meat image, what is the central image of this product, what are the consumer’s value perceptions about this kind of meat and what are the determining factors to buy the product. The methodology used was classified as an exploratory research, with a qualitative and quantitative approach. The results show that the consumers perceive the chicken meat as healthy, affordable, versatile and easy-digestive option. However, negative aspects raised by consumers, such as the belief in the presence of hormones, deserve attention from researchers and producers. In relation to the purchase intent, the work shows that the dimensions of the image set as rational, functional, sensorial and physico-material are the most significant for the intention of buying the product. It was noticed, thus the multiplicity of attributes and dimensions involved in setting up the image and intention to purchase the product assessed, which refers to the possibility of action of professionals of marketing and of the poultry chain in specific variables, influencing or inhibiting behavior consumer purchasing of chicken meat.

The masters' thesis introduces theoretical basis to value-based pricing and the process of price creation. It demonstrates the implementation of theory upon real business case identifying the sources of value and price perception of a big Czech bank. Moreover, the thesis describes, how customer perceives the value and price, what factors influence his perceptions, how to effectively measure these perceptions and how to create value-based pricing through segmentation and communication. Application chapter describes the identification process of sources of value and price perceptions by providing desk research, qualitative and quantitative market research - concretely in-depth interviews and derived importance of attributes method, which quantifies the strength of product and price drivers on customer's perception. The thesis makes a list of the most important "value for money" drivers of unnamed Czech bank, which struggles with clients' churn to direct banks. The thesis proposes solutions to stop this churn and to improve bank image on the market among both clients and non-clients.