<p>This thesis is concerned with measuring the extent to which the market of mobile telephone companies is influenced by their brand reputation in international marketing. The analysis investigates the relative importance of brand reputation in the marketing of products in the mobile telephone industry. </p><p>The work comprises a study within the context of a quantitative survey of marketing information analysis. A survey is carried out by administering questionnaires on a sample of mobile telephone users within the ages of 18 and above from an international student environment at Halmstad University. Watching over your brand reputation is rationally the ideal means of benefiting from a companies brand equity management. </p><p>The findings provided useful information that may serve mobile telephone companies to strategically position themselves in the competitive international market, thereby improving their overall sales as well as market share. It can equally serve as decision guidelines to brand managers while making meaningful contributions to their companies.</p>

This thesis is concerned with measuring the extent to which the market of mobile telephone companies is influenced by their brand reputation in international marketing. The analysis investigates the relative importance of brand reputation in the marketing of products in the mobile telephone industry. The work comprises a study within the context of a quantitative survey of marketing information analysis. A survey is carried out by administering questionnaires on a sample of mobile telephone users within the ages of 18 and above from an international student environment at Halmstad University. Watching over your brand reputation is rationally the ideal means of benefiting from a companies brand equity management. The findings provided useful information that may serve mobile telephone companies to strategically position themselves in the competitive international market, thereby improving their overall sales as well as market share. It can equally serve as decision guidelines to brand managers while making meaningful contributions to their companies.

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Aim: The aim of this study is to identify how a professional ice hockey club with fans nationwide can position its brand successfully and to discover if this is in line with what the consumers think is important in the branding of the club. Method: A mixed method has been used for this case study, in the forms of interviews and a questionnaire. The interviews have been written out in essay form for presentation and analysis of the qualitative data. The quantitative data has been collected and processed with a questionnaire using APSIS and analysed with Microsoft Excel. Results / conclusions: This research has identified a framework containing all factors that influence the perception of the brand by consumers. Evidence was found for all these factors in this research. Furthermore, the most important factors of the branding of a professional ice hockey club with fans nationwide have been highlighted. Consequently, this research shows that the marketers of such an ice hockey club can position their brand by developing clear points-of-difference that stand out from the competition. Suggestions future research: Research into the perception of the sports branding by the younger target group is suggested, as well from people outside Gävle. Furthermore, the research could be conducted in other (ice hockey) clubs. Finally, the research could be conducted again in a few years. Contribution of thesis: This research fills the gap in the literature about the development of a successful brand of a professional ice hockey club with fans nationwide. The main contribution for managers is that brands can only be used to maintain fans, not to attract them.

Prior studies that examine audit quality and earnings management mostly separate discretionary accruals from total accruals and use discretionary accruals (or absolute value of discretionary accruals) to measure the magnitude of earnings management. Although most of those studies find audit quality is able to restrain the degree of earnings manipulation, few evaluate whether audit quality is capable of reducing the information risk faced by investors. Compared to discretionary accruals, accruals quality measured by the extent to which current accruals map into operating cash flow realization is more directly related to information risk. The purpose of this study is to examine the association between audit quality and information risk faced by investors, using accruals quality to proxy for information risk and adopting auditor brand name, audit-firm tenure, CPA tenure and auditor industry specialization as measures of audit quality. The study hypothesizes that auditor brand name, audit-firm tenure, CPA tenure and auditor industry specialization will contribute positively to reduce information risk faced by investors. The empirical results indicate (1) higher quality auditors (Big 4 auditors) are able to lower the information risk faced by investors, (2) the longer the audit-firm tenure, the lower the information risk faced by investors, (3) clients of industry specialist auditors have lower information risk than clients of non-specialist auditors, and (4) the relationship between audit-partner tenure and information risk is yet insignificant. Finally, the results further show that the divergence between control rights and cash flow rights will weaken the negative relationship between auditor brand name and information risk as well as the negative relationship between audit-firm tenure and information risk. However, it does not affect the negative relationship between auditor industry specialization and information risk; it may be because the industry specialist auditors can better resist the pressure from the controlling shareholders that can help alleviate the information risk faced by investors.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is now playing an imperative role in South Africa and globally, especially in the mining sector. This industry is expected to make profits while contributing towards a better society. Despite the industry‘s significant contribution to the economy, it also has a negative impact socially and environmentally. Over the past decades the mining sector has been seen as not mindful of its immediate stakeholders. Communities in close proximity to mines do not trust mining companies due to perceptions that mining companies fail to consider the environment within which they operate. Communities are often left with the impression that mines have simply degraded the environment without contributing to sustainable local development such as such as poverty, health, infrastructure, education and unemployment. The reputation of mining companies thus has declined, resulting in economic losses. Mining companies still interpret CSR as an environmental stewardship rather than a model for improving alignment with its stakeholders, as well as enhancing and building brand reputation. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of CSR on the mining industry's brand reputation. The study links the CSR efforts of Exxaro‘s Grootegeluk Mine and their ability to enhance the mine‘s reputation in areas of operation. Exxaro is among the top five coal producers in South Africa. The Grootegeluk Coal Mine is an open cast coal mine in Lephalale, Limpopo. A quantitative research methodology was applied using a face to face structured self-administered questionnaire to collect primary data from a sample of 330 participants. Descriptive statistical analysis was conducted with a view to condense the sample composition. The non-probability sampling was deemed appropriate for this study, particularly, the simple random sampling. Regression analysis was deemed suitable to for this study. The collected data was analysed using SPSS version 26.0. Research results have shown that CSR has a favourable association with brand reputation. The study found that community members are more aware of the mine‘s economic responsibility in relation to other dimensions of CSR. This finding implies that the community is more in-tune with aspects that have a direct bearing on their livelihood and are more inclined to seek opportunities and initiatives that improve their overall standard of living. Overall, the findings show that organisations that invest in socially responsible behaviour have higher levels of perceived reputation among the society. Philanthropic initiatives should be developed with the involvement of community members to ensure that their real needs will be determined. Poorly developed community projects do not benefit the mine or the community. The mines should look into sourcing the majority of its staff from the local community. In addition, mining organizations should look into aggressively training local community members who do not possess the required skills necessary for employment within the mining sector. Furthermore, communities should be made aware of all CSR initiatives which are relevant to them through community engagement initiatives because this action will lead to attitude and behaviour changes towards the mine. Previous studies have focused mainly on how CSR initiatives contribute to brand value, customer satisfaction, brand attitude, customer retention, and customer loyalty, and on the relationship between CSR and organization performance. This study highlights the importance of CSR measures on organizational reputation and advises policymakers, the mining industry and scholars.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is now playing an imperative role in South Africa and globally, especially in the mining sector. This industry is expected to make profits while contributing towards a better society. Despite the industry‘s significant contribution to the economy, it also has a negative impact socially and environmentally. Over the past decades the mining sector has been seen as not mindful of its immediate stakeholders. Communities in close proximity to mines do not trust mining companies due to perceptions that mining companies fail to consider the environment within which they operate. Communities are often left with the impression that mines have simply degraded the environment without contributing to sustainable local development such as such as poverty, health, infrastructure, education and unemployment. The reputation of mining companies thus has declined, resulting in economic losses. Mining companies still interpret CSR as an environmental stewardship rather than a model for improving alignment with its stakeholders, as well as enhancing and building brand reputation. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of CSR on the mining industry's brand reputation. The study links the CSR efforts of Exxaro‘s Grootegeluk Mine and their ability to enhance the mine‘s reputation in areas of operation. Exxaro is among the top five coal producers in South Africa. The Grootegeluk Coal Mine is an open cast coal mine in Lephalale, Limpopo. A quantitative research methodology was applied using a face to face structured self-administered questionnaire to collect primary data from a sample of 330 participants. Descriptive statistical analysis was conducted with a view to condense the sample composition. The non-probability sampling was deemed appropriate for this study, particularly, the simple random sampling. Regression analysis was deemed suitable to for this study. The collected data was analysed using SPSS version 26.0. Research results have shown that CSR has a favourable association with brand reputation. The study found that community members are more aware of the mine‘s economic responsibility in relation to other dimensions of CSR. This finding implies that the community is more in-tune with aspects that have a direct bearing on their livelihood and are more inclined to seek opportunities and initiatives that improve their overall standard of living. Overall, the findings show that organisations that invest in socially responsible behaviour have higher levels of perceived reputation among the society. Philanthropic initiatives should be developed with the involvement of community members to ensure that their real needs will be determined. Poorly developed community projects do not benefit the mine or the community. The mines should look into sourcing the majority of its staff from the local community. In addition, mining organizations should look into aggressively training local community members who do not possess the required skills necessary for employment within the mining sector. Furthermore, communities should be made aware of all CSR initiatives which are relevant to them through community engagement initiatives because this action will lead to attitude and behaviour changes towards the mine. Previous studies have focused mainly on how CSR initiatives contribute to brand value, customer satisfaction, brand attitude, customer retention, and customer loyalty, and on the relationship between CSR and organization performance. This study highlights the importance of CSR measures on organizational reputation and advises policymakers, the mining industry and scholars.

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No. of bitstreams: 1 Ivan_Rizzo.pdf: 2595347 bytes, checksum: 1586a46a8ae1843dc9e9692ee54c0dec (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-13 / Entidades esportivas tais quais clubes, federações, ONGs (Organizações Não Governamentais) e outras formas de organizações esportivas não lucrativas se tornaram organizações de interesse público mundial e não podem mais ser consideradas como fenômenos meramente locais, sendo reconhecidas tanto em mercados tradicionais (como Europa) ou mercados emergentes como Brasil, China e Índia e novas praças para o futebol como a América do Norte. Entre tanto, a grande disparidade entre clubes que pertencem aos principais mercados do futebol (chamados de “Big Five – Alemanha, Espanha, França, Inglaterra e Itália) representa um potencial de distanciar-se de equipes de outras ligas que pode afetar a capacidade de estes outros times investir além de seus mercados originais. O objetivo esta pesquisa é identificar os principais fatores para a internacionalização de uma equipe de futebol brasileira, por meio da abordagem teórica de redes estratégicas e visão institucional e identificar a dinâmica entre estes fatores, por meio da proposição de um modelo conceitual que descreve o desempenho de Organizações Esportivas Não Lucrativas. A revisão da literatura revela que os laços e conexões que permitem acesso a recursos inimitáveis, corridas de aprendizado e tornarse líder ou estar em posição estratégica em determinada rede estratégica são os principais fatores para a formação de uma rede visando a internacionalização de determinada entidade esportiva. Para atingir este objetivo, esta pesquisa foi realizada por meio de uma pesquisa exploratória qualitativa em estudo de caso único, utilizando a organização Sport Club Corinthians Paulista como objeto, com dados coletados via entrevistas semiestruturadas com 15 (quinze) atores-chave da organização (entre gestores e ex-gestores, jornalistas e parceiros de negócio). Os principais achados da pesquisa e o modelo proposto ao final desta pesquisa consideram a capacidade de aquisição de recursos de terceiros e as capacidades organizacionais internas como vetores do desempenho superior, além do tamanho da organização, sua imagem ou reputação além de fatores institucionais são fatores relevantes para a internacionalização de uma organização esportiva em redes estratégicas. Como contribuição teórica, organizações com marcas ou imagem superiores à média são fatores relevantes para a criação ou entrada em uma rede estratégica. Em relação à contribuição gerencial, destaca-se uma sequência de fatores que viabilizam a internacionalização de uma organização esportiva que visa audiência global. / Sports entities such as clubs, federations, NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), and other forms of nonprofit sports organizations (NPSOs) can no longer be considered as local phenomenon to become organizations known broadly all over the world and public interest and awareness can be perceived not only in Brazilian market, as in traditional markets (such as European audience) and on emerging markets as China and India, new markets to football such as North America. However, the great disparity among clubs that belong to the called “Big Five” (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish Leagues) has potential to develop such a great distance to teams from other leagues that can have an effect on these teams capacity to invest beyond their original markets. The objective of this research is to identify the main factors for Brazilian football team internationalization by strategic networks and institutional view approaches by proposing a conceptual model which describes NPSO’s performance. Literature review reveals that ties and connections to inimitable resources, learning races and being a leader or to be in an important position in network are main factors for network formation in order to achieve internationalization. For that purpose it was adopted a qualitative exploratory research in single case study, with a Brazilian NPSO, Sport Club Corinthians Paulista – in this research called Corinthians, data was collected by in depth-interviews with fifteen key respondents. These depth-interviews were conducted with Corinthians’ management, business partners, as well as sports management journalists from major Brazilian media companies. At the end of this research it is proposed a performance model for nonprofit sports organizations, which considers the resource acquisition capacity, internal capabilities as antecedents to its performance. Main findings revealed that resource acquisition capabilities, organization`s size, brand and image reputation, in addition of institutional environmental are relevant factors for internationalization by networks. As a theoretical contribution, firms having strong brand and image reputation with resources that will strength network are an important factor for a firm entering a network or to form one. Regarding managerial perspective, a main contribution is to propose a sequence of factors for sports organizations aiming to achieve global audience.

Consumers’ purchase decisions typically involve two brands: the manufacturer brand (the “what brand to buy” decision) and the retailer brand (the “where to buy” decision). While extant research suggests that consumers’ product evaluation is affected by both, much less is known about how the two brands jointly affect consumers’ preferences. Building upon prospect theory and mental accounting principles, I hypothesize that the joint effect of the two brands on consumers’ evaluation of different products depends on the reference point evoked, and whether each of the two brands is perceived as a gain or loss relative to the reference point. Five lab experiments provide empirical support for the hypothesized effects. Study 1 reveals that the joint effect of manufacturer and retailer brands depends on the reference product in a manner consistent with prospect theory and mental accounting principles. The results of Study 2 and 3 show that the majority of participants use a reputable brand sold at a reputable retailer as their reference product. For this group, there is a positive interaction effect of the manufacturer and retailer brands on consumers’ willingness to pay. Study 4 extends the results of Study 3 by testing the theoretical framework using a non-price measure of consumers’ product evaluation (i.e., attitude toward the offer). The results provide converging support for H1 and H2 and demonstrate the mediating role of gain and loss feelings, thus providing preliminary evidence for the proposed cognitive process. Finally, Study 5 provides supporting evidence for the predictions through the use of a priming method. This research contributes to the literature on behavioral decision theory and branding by extending the study of mental accounting from quantitative information (e.g., money, time) to qualitative information such as that derived from brand reputation. The findings have prescriptive implications as they can help managers understand how their brands can be leveraged, how consumers react to reference products available in the marketplace, and how to best price products across different outlets depending on the reputation of their brands and the reputation of the outlets.

Green marketing has been a main topic of discussion for several years. Most studies conducted in this area have focused on the benefits of green marketing for a normal company. However, no studies have considered the effectiveness of green marketing by a negative brand like BP. This study aims to reveal the effectiveness of green marketing after pollution. An experiment was conducted to evaluate participants’ attitudes toward the marketing strategy. Although the results were not significant, some interesting findings were revealed and are addressed at the end of the paper. They imply that individuals with green awareness are less influenced by both green marketing and an economic-assistance strategy in BP’s case, compared to individuals with lower green awareness. Overall, all participants in this study preferred the economic-assistance strategy, which means that green marketing is not effective for a corporation involved in pollution issues. / text