This is a study of the occurrence of loyalty within a formal organization. It does not purport to be an analysis of all forms of loyalty but rather it seeks to reveal a particular type of loyalty within a hierarchical organization. Putting it more sharply, this thesis investigates the occurrence of subordinate loyalty toward a superior. The object of the study was twofold: (1) to investigate the acceptability of the definition of loyalty within a theoretical scheme as proposed by Blau and Scott in their recent book Formal Organizations and (2) to attempt to isolate and investigate those conditions and factors which may be related to felt subordinate loyalty toward a superior. The method of investigation took the form of distributing a mail questionnaire to the employees of one of the divisions within a publicly owned electrical utility. The replies to the questionnaire were tabulated and are presented in the body of the thesis. The general conclusions reached were as follows: 1. The Blau and Scott definition of loyalty seems to be too narrow. 2. Superiors who command the felt loyalty of their subordinates are more likely than others to establish effective informal authority over them and thus to influence them. 3. The more that a superior perceives himself as maintaining emotional detachment, the greater is the felt loyalty of his subordinates. 4. A supervisor who is consistent in his enforcement of the working rules and practises will be more likely to gain the loyalty of his subordinates. The following hypotheses were not statistically supported. 1. The more independent a supervisor is from his superior, the more likely it is that he will have loyal subordinates. 2. Loyalty to superiors in a hierarchical organization tends to be pronounced on alternate levels. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Loyalty programmes, used as a tool to improve brand loyalty among consumers, have grown in popularity in the South African business environment. Loyalty programmes are essential in understanding customers and to keep customers involved while promoting a brand simultaneously. Although loyalty programmes are also being utilised in the pet food industry, information of the impact it has had on brand loyalty of pet food brands are limited. It is for this reason that the loyalty programme of a leading premium pet food brand, Eukanuba South Africa, has been chosen for the study, to establish how brand loyalty manifests itself in the pet food market. The aim of the study set out is therefore to establish what brand loyalty constructs are more important to loyalty programme members, assisting in tailoring the brand’s marketing methods to attract and retain loyal customers. Moolla and Bisschoff’s conceptual brand loyalty model and questionnaire were adapted and utilised to measure nine brand loyalty constructs through 38 questions. The nine constructs measured include brand relevance, perceived value, brand trust, involvement, family/culture, commitment, repeat purchase, brand affect and switching cost/risk aversion. The empirical study consisted of two independent groups, the Loyalty Programme members and the Breeders’ club members. A convenience sample of 1066 Loyalty Programme members were utilised, with 209 respondents. Access was granted to the entire database of breeders, consisting of 1047 breeders, of which 205 responded. The data was analysed utilising statistical calculations, including the Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin measure of sampling adequacy, the Bartlett’s test of sphericity, Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient, mean values and Spearman’s Correlation. The data was also subjected to a factor analysis with Varimax rotation, which resulted in two conceptual frameworks, one relating to Loyalty Programme members, the other to Breeders’ club members. The results indicate that there are variations from the nine factors adapted from Moolla and Bisschoff’s conceptual model, but that the new conceptual models are reliable. The new conceptual model consisting of nine factors could be established for the Loyalty Programme members, including brand relevance, brand trust, involvement, family/culture, commitment, repeat purchase, brand affect, switching cost/perceived value and risk aversion. These nine factors explain 66.61% of the cumulative variance, indicating that these nine factors are sufficient in explaining brand loyalty among Loyalty Programme members. The seven factors identified forming part of the conceptual model for the Breeders’ club members are brand relevance, commitment, involvement, brand trust, family/culture, repeat purchase and brand affect. These seven factors have also been found to be sufficient in explaining brand loyalty among Breeders’ club members, with a cumulative variance of 63.57%. It can be concluded that the Loyalty Programme members are not representative of the population due to the limited sample, whereas that of the Breeders’ club members are as the entire population formed part of the study. It is therefore recommended that a representative sample of Loyalty Programme members should be included in future research. This will also aid in the construction of a customer profile for both Loyalty Programme members and Breeders’ Club members that is accurate and reliable, aiding in future marketing endeavours. Managerial attention is also necessary to ensure adequate emphasis is given to different factors, as the two groups will respond differently to brand loyalty constructs. The study contributes to the body of knowledge relating to brand loyalty in the pet food industry, helping in understanding which brand loyalty constructs are vital in improving and maintaining brand loyalty. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Brand loyalty represents an important asset to any business. While a considerable amount of research focuses on brand loyalty, empirical tests on the brand loyalty influences in the agribusiness environment have not been conducted. The primary purpose of this study was to measure brand loyalty in the agribusiness environment by applying a validated model that measures brand loyalty for this environment. The brand loyalty influences were empirically validated, their reliability was determined and they were measured. Adaptions to this model were proposed to fit the needs of the agribusiness environment. Based on-the findings, conclusions and recommendations were presented. The measurement of brand loyalty in the agribusiness environment is based on Moolla's brand loyalty framework for the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) industry. The study aimed to determine whether Moolla's FMCG brand loyalty framework is applicable to the agribusiness environment. The twelve brand loyalty influences identified by Moolla include: customer satisfaction; switching costs; brand trust; repeat purchase; involvement; perceived value; commitment; relationship proneness; brand affect; brand relevance; brand performance and culture. The empirical study was conducted among 100 farmers in the North West region. The methodology included the sampling procedure, data collection, questionnaire development and statistical techniques used. Results were analysed with regard to the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (KMO), Bartlett's test of sphericity, Factor analysis, Cronbach Alpha coefficients and mean values. The results of this study concluded that the brand loyalty influences as identified by Moolla are important for measuring agribusiness brand loyalty. The importance of this study is the contribution_ of a brand loyalty framework to measure agribusiness brand loyalty which will aid agribusinesses in the strategic management thereof. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Loyalty programmes, used as a tool to improve brand loyalty among consumers, have grown in popularity in the South African business environment. Loyalty programmes are essential in understanding customers and to keep customers involved while promoting a brand simultaneously. Although loyalty programmes are also being utilised in the pet food industry, information of the impact it has had on brand loyalty of pet food brands are limited. It is for this reason that the loyalty programme of a leading premium pet food brand, Eukanuba South Africa, has been chosen for the study, to establish how brand loyalty manifests itself in the pet food market. The aim of the study set out is therefore to establish what brand loyalty constructs are more important to loyalty programme members, assisting in tailoring the brand’s marketing methods to attract and retain loyal customers. Moolla and Bisschoff’s conceptual brand loyalty model and questionnaire were adapted and utilised to measure nine brand loyalty constructs through 38 questions. The nine constructs measured include brand relevance, perceived value, brand trust, involvement, family/culture, commitment, repeat purchase, brand affect and switching cost/risk aversion. The empirical study consisted of two independent groups, the Loyalty Programme members and the Breeders’ club members. A convenience sample of 1066 Loyalty Programme members were utilised, with 209 respondents. Access was granted to the entire database of breeders, consisting of 1047 breeders, of which 205 responded. The data was analysed utilising statistical calculations, including the Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin measure of sampling adequacy, the Bartlett’s test of sphericity, Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient, mean values and Spearman’s Correlation. The data was also subjected to a factor analysis with Varimax rotation, which resulted in two conceptual frameworks, one relating to Loyalty Programme members, the other to Breeders’ club members. The results indicate that there are variations from the nine factors adapted from Moolla and Bisschoff’s conceptual model, but that the new conceptual models are reliable. The new conceptual model consisting of nine factors could be established for the Loyalty Programme members, including brand relevance, brand trust, involvement, family/culture, commitment, repeat purchase, brand affect, switching cost/perceived value and risk aversion. These nine factors explain 66.61% of the cumulative variance, indicating that these nine factors are sufficient in explaining brand loyalty among Loyalty Programme members. The seven factors identified forming part of the conceptual model for the Breeders’ club members are brand relevance, commitment, involvement, brand trust, family/culture, repeat purchase and brand affect. These seven factors have also been found to be sufficient in explaining brand loyalty among Breeders’ club members, with a cumulative variance of 63.57%. It can be concluded that the Loyalty Programme members are not representative of the population due to the limited sample, whereas that of the Breeders’ club members are as the entire population formed part of the study. It is therefore recommended that a representative sample of Loyalty Programme members should be included in future research. This will also aid in the construction of a customer profile for both Loyalty Programme members and Breeders’ Club members that is accurate and reliable, aiding in future marketing endeavours. Managerial attention is also necessary to ensure adequate emphasis is given to different factors, as the two groups will respond differently to brand loyalty constructs. The study contributes to the body of knowledge relating to brand loyalty in the pet food industry, helping in understanding which brand loyalty constructs are vital in improving and maintaining brand loyalty. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Brand loyalty represents an important asset to any business. While a considerable amount of research focuses on brand loyalty, empirical tests on the brand loyalty influences in the agribusiness environment have not been conducted. The primary purpose of this study was to measure brand loyalty in the agribusiness environment by applying a validated model that measures brand loyalty for this environment. The brand loyalty influences were empirically validated, their reliability was determined and they were measured. Adaptions to this model were proposed to fit the needs of the agribusiness environment. Based on-the findings, conclusions and recommendations were presented. The measurement of brand loyalty in the agribusiness environment is based on Moolla's brand loyalty framework for the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) industry. The study aimed to determine whether Moolla's FMCG brand loyalty framework is applicable to the agribusiness environment. The twelve brand loyalty influences identified by Moolla include: customer satisfaction; switching costs; brand trust; repeat purchase; involvement; perceived value; commitment; relationship proneness; brand affect; brand relevance; brand performance and culture. The empirical study was conducted among 100 farmers in the North West region. The methodology included the sampling procedure, data collection, questionnaire development and statistical techniques used. Results were analysed with regard to the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (KMO), Bartlett's test of sphericity, Factor analysis, Cronbach Alpha coefficients and mean values. The results of this study concluded that the brand loyalty influences as identified by Moolla are important for measuring agribusiness brand loyalty. The importance of this study is the contribution_ of a brand loyalty framework to measure agribusiness brand loyalty which will aid agribusinesses in the strategic management thereof. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Title The impact of gender and age on customer loyalty – a quantitative study of Swedish customers’ experiences of a loyalty program Authors Sara Follin & Viktoria Fransson Background Building customer relationships could be done by using loyalty programs; programs which involves activities for enhancing customer loyalty (Ou, Shih, Chen & Wang, 2011). To use loyalty programs as relationship marketing tactics has become popular and it is frequently used in the grocery retailing industry (Noble & Phillips, 2004). Customer loyalty differences might be influenced by customers’ gender and age (Kuruvilla, Joshi & Shah, 2009; Patterson, 2007). It is expected that females tend to be more loyal than males, and that older customers tend to be more loyal than younger generations (Patterson, 2007; Ndubisi, 2007). Purpose The purpose of this study is to describe the impact of gender and age on customer loyalty in the grocery retailing industry. Theory & Concepts Relationship marketing, Loyalty program, Customer loyalty, Gender differences in customer loyalty, Age differences in customer loyalty Methodology This is a descriptive study with a quantitative and deductive research approach. The research strategy was survey, and data was collected from 216 respondents through a questionnaire. Data was collected around the loyalty program Willys+, which formed the sample of this study. Conclusion Customers’ gender could be one variable influencing and impacting customer loyalty, however age is not. Gender impacting customer loyalty, could be explained by potential differences in how females and males choose to shop in store as well as by the fact that the majority of the members in the loyalty program were females. Loyalty among customers belonging to different age group did not have any significant differences.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration, Durban Institute of Technology, 2004. / This thesis describes and analyses the integration process of mergers and acquisitions, which is often blamed for the failure of such undertakings. It explains the status quo for internal branding in general and in the environment of mergers and acquisitions. The two aspects are integrated in such a manner as to develop an internal brand strategy that resolves many of the common integration problems. Since the traditional focus on branding is on the external environment rather than the internal environment, the objective of this thesis is to emphasise the employee rather than the customer. As the writer believes that through the development of internal brand awareness and loyalty, the net effect is that the overall effectiveness of the entire merged organisation will increase exponentially. In this thesis, a meta-analysis approach is utilised to develop theory, thus this study is exclusively a qualitative styled study. The strategy developed in this thesis is not a once off fix, but is a continuous process that must be maintained and implemented by the management and shareholders of the organisation to ensure the success of the brand and the new merged organisation. / M

L’objet de cette recherche est d’améliorer la compréhension de la construction de la fidélité en fonction de son objet : à la marque et au programme relationnel, en étudiant leurs antécédents et leurs effets sur l’attitude. Les recherches sur l’efficacité des programmes de fidélité soulèvent la question de savoir si ces programmes améliorent la fidélité à la marque ou la fidélité au programme (Bolton et al., 2000 ; Meyer-Waarden, 2007 et 2012 et Bijmolt et al., 2010). L’étude de l’influence relative des deux facettes de la fidélité sur l’attitude se fait à partir de la préférence, de l’intention et de la résistance des clients. La méthodologie retenue commence par une étude de cas dans la phase exploratoire (entretiens avec les experts), se poursuit ensuite par une étude qualitative auprès des clients adhérents à ces programmes. L’interaction entre la littérature et l’étude exploratoire a permis d’enrichir le modèle conceptuel intégral par des variables explicatives. Finalement, elle repose sur une étude quantitative réalisée auprès d’un échantillon de clients adhérents au programme de fidélité bancaire (153 en phase exploratoire et 284 en phase confirmatoire) via un access panel. La validation du modèle par équations structurelles (SEM) met en évidence le rôle important de la fidélité à la marque dans le maintien de la relation client. Le poids de l’influence de la fidélité à la marque sur le bouche à oreille est supérieur à celui de la fidélité au programme relationnel. De plus, elle a des effets positifs sur la part du portefeuille client ainsi que sur l’intention à la fidélité, à l’inverse de la fidélité au programme qui n’a pas d’effet sur ces deux variables. / The purpose of this research is to improve understanding of building loyalty based on its object: the brand and loyalty program, by studying their antecedents and their effects on attitude. Research on the effectiveness of loyalty programs suggest the question if these programs improve loyalty to the brand or loyalty to the loyalty program (Bolton et al., 2000; Meyer-Waarden, 2007 and 2012 and Bijmolt et al. 2010). The study of the relative influence of the two types of loyalty to the attitude is done from the preference, intention and resistance. The methodology starts with a case study in the exploratory phase (interviews with experts), then continues with a qualitative study of members of these programs. The interaction between literature and the exploratory study has enriched the conceptual model with explanatory variables. Finally, it is based on a quantitative study with a sample of members to loyalty banking program (153 in the exploratory phase and 284 in confirmatory phase) via an access panel. The validation of the structural equation model (SEM) highlights the important role of brand loyalty in maintaining customer relations. The impact of brand loyalty on word-of-mouth is higher than that of the loyalty to loyalty program. Moreover, it has positive effects on the customer share-of-wallet as the loyalty intention, in contrast to loyalty to the loyalty program that has no effect on these two variables.

In Sweden today almost all people are connected to a bank in some way. It can range from loans, savings, shares, etc. They have a current account where salaries, student aid etc. is paid. Due to the large selection of banks, it has become more important for banks to be competitive in their services to their customers so they don’t change bank. This has led to that more and more banks are trying to get their customers to be more loyal to the bank by being more competitive. Loyalty is the result of several interrelated factors such as customer satisfaction and service. This leads to the purpose of this study to investigate if the demographic aspects have any influence on loyalty. Through a questionnaire survey, this study examined whether there is an influence of the demographic aspects on loyalty. The questionnaire consisted of questions based on previous research. It was distributed to people in Kristianstad on three different locations. Overall response rate to the questionnaires distributed gave us a participation of 110 respondents. The results were then statistically processed in order to test if there is a significant difference in loyalty within the various demographic aspects. According to this study, we could not find any differences in the demographic aspects. However, we were able to find small differences in the mean values ​​between the different groups in the demographic aspects / I dagens Sverige är i stort sett alla personer på något sätt kopplade till en bank. Det kan vara alltifrån lån, sparande, aktier m.m. Nästan alla personer i dagens Sverige har ett transaktionskonto dit lön, studiemedel m.m. utbetalas. På grund utav det stora utbudet av banker har det blivit viktigare för bankerna att vara konkurrenskraftiga i sina tjänster till sina kunder så att de inte byter bank. Detta har medfört att fler och fler banker satsar mycket resurser på att få sina kunder att bli lojala mot banken. Lojalitet är resultatet utav flera sammanhängande faktorer som exempelvis kundnöjdhet och service. Detta leder till uppsatsens syfte att undersöka ifall de demografiska aspekterna har påverkan på lojalitet. Genom en enkätundersökning har denna studie undersökt ifall det finns en påverkan av de demografiska aspekterna på lojalitet. Enkäten bestod av frågor som grundar sig på tidigare forskning. Den delades ut till personer i Kristianstad vid tre olika tillfällen. Totala svarsfrekvensen på de utdelade enkäterna gav oss ett deltagande på 110 respondenter. Resultaten har sedan bearbetats statistiskt för att testa ifall det råder signifikanta skillnader på lojalitet inom de olika demografiska aspekterna. Enligt denna studie kunde vi inte påvisa några skillnader inom dem demografiska aspekterna. Däremot kunde vi urskilja små skillnader i medelvärdena mellan de olika grupperna i de demografiska aspekterna.

¡§Loyalty Programs¡¨ is a necessary and important step in the formation of relationship marketing. However, not only been applied in practice but also been researched by academia, there are still some gaps because of lack of a complete frame to analyze the vales of the loyalty programs. Therefore this research aims to fill-in the gaps that past practice and academics have failed by providing a conceptual frame by studying related literatures of loyalty programs and takes advantage of the frame to analyze the relationships among those values, relationship quality and customer loyalty in the telecom industry. The results of this study find that four values of nine values in the frame, including ¡§economic value¡¨, ¡§choice of redemption options¡¨, ¡§relevance¡¨ and ¡§social benefits¡¨ will influence relationship quality and customer loyalty in the telecom industry. However, customers still care more about economic value and relevance. The corporations in the industry can increase customer loyalty by designing high level of economic value and relevance. But if those would like to build higher level of relationship with the customers, they have to take advantage of social benefits through which to build strong and long customers loyalty. Therefore through this frame, the corporations can realize which value they should attach importance to. The results also prove the effectiveness of the loyalty program conceptual frame.