Abstract Date: 2020/06/09 Level: Master Thesis in Business Administration, 15 credits. Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University. Authors: Yi Wei (85/01/01) & Jiaying Zhu (95/10/27)  Title: Factors Affecting Consumers’ Purchase Intention towards The Smartphone of The Chinese Brands  Tutor: Professor Ulf R Andersson Keywords: Country-of-Origin, Perceived Brand Quality, Chinese Brands, Subjective Knowledge, Price Sensitivity Research Question: How do the factors of perceived brand quality on COO cues, price sensitivity, and subjective knowledge of product influence consumers’ purchase intention towards the smartphones of the Chinese brands?  Purpose: This study aims to investigate factors related to the purchase intention towards smartphone of the Chinese brands in the developed market and provide managerial suggestions for Chinese smartphone firms. Method: This empirical study is conducted by the quantitative research method with an online survey for data gathering. Conclusion: It concludes that the purchase intention of western consumers towards Chinese smartphones is positively influenced by two factors: perceived brand quality on COO cues and subjective knowledge of product. The price sensitivity has no impact on purchase intention. Therefore, the lower price strategy of smartphone should not be adopted by Chinese firms. The Focus should be on brand management to convey the superior quality performance of smartphone of Chinese brands.

The purpose of this thesis is to find if the Swedish Generation Y is more brand loyal to cell phones compared to other consumerelectronic, and to find out if some set factors of loyalty affects Generation Y's loyalty more than other.  The conclusion of this thesis is that Generation Y is more loyal to their cell phone brand compared to other consumer electronics, and that the set factors presented are affecting their brand loyalty to different extent.

Background: The study explores the impact of brand equity on brand loyalty intention within the accounting services sector in Finland. The study uses four dimensions of brand equity, which include perceived brand quality, perceived brand value, perceived brand uniqueness and perceived corporate credibility. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the applicability and the impact of customer-based brand equity and its dimensions in the field of accounting. Method: The current research applies known conceptual frameworks and theories on the dimensions of customer-based brand equity in business-to-business context and investigates causal relationships between the CBBE dimensions and brand loyalty intention. A self-administered survey was conducted and a total of 93 responses was collected from businesses that use external accounting services. Conclusion: All hypotheses have been supported and the findings conclude that brand quality, brand value, brand uniqueness and corporate credibility have positive correlation with brand loyalty intention. Findings of the study are relevant for marketers and researchers, as well as for managerial implications in the building of brand equity. The paper provides valuable insights into the dimensions of customer-based brand equity in the business-to-business context and offers a solid foundation for future research on brand loyalty and brand equity and offers practical help for businesses to enhance their customers’ loyalty.

Sponsorship is an essential part of marketing communications within sports (Biscaia et al., 2014). Congruence, or the degree to which a sponsor and an event mesh, is one of the main factors influencing sponsorship memory accuracy (Evans, 2019). It is found that, within women’s sports, demand for research on how to maximize the efficiency of sponsorships exists.The research aims to find if sponsors and sponsees could look towards sponsorships with more external congruence to increase the value of the sponsorship to both the sponsor and sponsee. The study uses a survey to find correlations between the amount of external congruence and the degree to which sponsorship objectives are reached. The External Sponsorship Congruence Scale (ESCS), developed by Evans (2019), is used as a basis for measurement of external congruence. The key finding is that the perceived quality of a brand seems to correlate with having a sponsorship that is high in external congruence. Furthermore, both areas of brand awareness and brand image could possibly see some correlation to external congruence. However, those areas were not found to be statistically significant in this study. These findings are important to develop the concept of external congruence and find possible ways of measuring external congruence. For instance, it is found that the ESCS and its constructs seem to be useable in the field of women’s and niche sports. On a theoretical level, changes to the ESCS’s geographical congruence are proposed and a revised ESCS is presented. Moreover, managers within women’s and niche sports, as well as sponsors of those, can use the findings of this study to improve the chances of finding successful sponsorships.