The increased use of social media has enhanced the way consumers make their everyday purchasing decisions. This has increased the importance of e-commerce companies to be present on social media. E-commerce companies that now use the capabilities of social media have led to the emergence of social commerce. Social media gives mutual gain for customers and companies but has also increased the amount of interactions e-commerce companies need to manage their customer experience (CE) in. As social media gives more control over the CE to the customer themselves it now becomes a challenge in maintaining the seamless CE that is demanded by the customer.  Customer experience management (CEM) is becoming a priority for managers and one of the most promising marketing approaches. CEM is about using customer insight to achieve long term customer loyalty. To gain competitiveness on the market and increase profitability e-commerce companies now need to provide a memorable CE in social media. Despite this, most companies have failed to implement CEM initiatives. There is moreover a lack in research on the combination of the topics of social commerce and CEM. This makes it highly relevant to conduct a study with the intention of answering the following research question: How can Swedish e-commerce companies work with their customer experience management on social media? This study conducted a multiple case study on Swedish e-commerce companies to investigate how Swedish e-commerce companies use CEM on their social media and what challenges and opportunities that exist. The study uses an inductive research approach with an element of deduction where the theoretical framework presents theories in the field of social media, social media marketing strategy (SMMS) and CEM. The study conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews with seven marketing managers. The respondents' answer showed that feelings and company culture worked as strategic directions when creating CE that in turn created engaged customers that through two-way interactions gave valuable insight for the company to use for improving their CEM. Challenges for the management was the decreased attention span of customers and an ever-changing context on platforms while there were opportunities in social listening software and the possibility to forecast upcoming trends using the data gathered from social media.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the value differentiation in the polymer industry in South Africa by rating the polymer customers’ experience in this regard. This study is important in the light of increasing polymer competition worldwide. No records of similar studies in this industry in South Africa have been found. As such this study could make a contribution that could spur polymer manufacturers and suppliers in improving their competitive advantage by offering value-added services to enhance the customer experience and, as a result increase customer satisfaction levels. The type of research conducted was a descriptive research applying the quantitative research methodology. The non-probability quota sampling method was employed. The study population consisted of a select group of customers from a South African polymer manufacturer and supplier. A questionnaire was e-mailed to the select group of polymer customers, many of whom purchase polymer locally and abroad. A response rate of 74% was obtained from a sample of 68 customers approached. The survey results show statistically that a positive satisfaction level was attained, but also highlighted some areas where certain value drivers such as company image, supply and distribution, and information lack attention. Polymer suppliers could gain the competitive advantage by focusing on the drivers that many customers value to ensure that customer satisfaction levels are sustained or improved on. More importantly, polymer suppliers should focus on the low scoring satisfaction levels recorded from the survey, from which they could build by enhancing the total value proposition. Limitations of the study were identified. Recommendations for future research were made. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the value differentiation in the polymer industry in South Africa by rating the polymer customers’ experience in this regard. This study is important in the light of increasing polymer competition worldwide. No records of similar studies in this industry in South Africa have been found. As such this study could make a contribution that could spur polymer manufacturers and suppliers in improving their competitive advantage by offering value-added services to enhance the customer experience and, as a result increase customer satisfaction levels. The type of research conducted was a descriptive research applying the quantitative research methodology. The non-probability quota sampling method was employed. The study population consisted of a select group of customers from a South African polymer manufacturer and supplier. A questionnaire was e-mailed to the select group of polymer customers, many of whom purchase polymer locally and abroad. A response rate of 74% was obtained from a sample of 68 customers approached. The survey results show statistically that a positive satisfaction level was attained, but also highlighted some areas where certain value drivers such as company image, supply and distribution, and information lack attention. Polymer suppliers could gain the competitive advantage by focusing on the drivers that many customers value to ensure that customer satisfaction levels are sustained or improved on. More importantly, polymer suppliers should focus on the low scoring satisfaction levels recorded from the survey, from which they could build by enhancing the total value proposition. Limitations of the study were identified. Recommendations for future research were made. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Frågeställning:   Hur kan DHL Freight i Eskilstuna genom inkrementella innovativa lösningar leverera ett högre kundvärde samt bättre kundupplevelse i den del av logistikprocessen som skapar kundvärde för privatpersoner? Syfte: Syftet med denna undersökning är att undersöka och ge förslag på hur DHL Freight i Eskilstuna kan generera kundvärde och kundupplevelse för DHLs privata kunder genom innovationstänk. Metod: En kvalitativ metod har använts genom studien som också är en samproduktion med DHL Freight i Eskilstuna. Det empiriska materialet samlades in genom semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer, deltagare för intervjuerna var två respondenter på DHL i Eskilstuna med befattningarna platschef och administratör, samt intervjuades åtta kunder som fått leveranser från DHL. Ansatsen har varit induktiv. Slutsatser: För att ett logistikföretag som DHL Freight i Eskilstuna ska generera högre kundvärde och bättre kundupplevelser behöver företaget öka möjligheterna till inkrementell innovation. I dagsläget är innovationsgraden lokalt nästan obefintlig. Det är nödvändigt för ett företag att vara förberedda på att identifiera kunders efterfrågan och behov som ligger till grund för de innovativa lösningarna. Aktiviteter behöver utvecklas för att detta ska vara möjligt. För att kunna skapa tjänsteinnovation finns fyra viktiga punkter att ta hänsyn till. Att ändra kunders uppfattning om företaget är svårt men inte omöjligt, dock behöver företaget ta fram en verklighetsbild för att kunna utgå från denna. Kundens roll är den väsentligaste att utgå ifrån och därför är den realistiska verklighetsbilden viktig. / Research question: How can DHL Freight in Eskilstuna, by applying incremental innovations generate a higher customer value and customer experience in the part where the logistics process creates customer value for individuals? Purpose: The purpose with this study is to do a research and generate suggestions to as how DHL Freight in Eskilstuna can generate, by using innovation customer value and customer experience for DHL’s private customers. Method: A qualitative method has been used in this study, this study is also a co-production with DHL Freight in Eskilstuna. The empirical material has been collected by doing semi-structured qualitative interviews, the individuals who have participated in the interviews are two respondents from DHL in Eskilstuna. These two has the roles of ‘Site manager’ and ‘administrator’. Eight individuals, who’s affiliated with DHL as customers have also participated in the interviews. The study has used an inductive method. Conclusions: If a logistics company such as DHL Freight in Eskilstuna wants to generate a higher customer value and customer experience, the company has to increase the possibilities for incremental innovations. The levels of innnovation within the local sites are almost non existent. It is neccessary for for a company to be prepared to identify customers’ demands and needs which can be used as a base for innovative solutions, activities needs to be developed in order to make it possible. In order to be able to create service innovation, four important factors has to be considered and adapted to. To change customers’ perceptions regarding the company is challenging but not impossible, the company has to acquire a reality based picture in order to be able to utilize and proceed with it. The customer’s role is the most suitable factor to proceed from. Therefore, the realistic picture of reality is important.

It is widely acknowledged that value can be regarded as interactively formed by customers through the integration of a variety of resources. However, it is difficult to find service research that takes these concepts seriously in empirical studies. Consequently, the aim of this thesis is to present an empirically grounded understanding of how customer resource integration takes place in practice and how customers experience their resource integration. By collecting data of public transport customers through qualitative diaries, interviews, and video recordings of situated action in addition to a survey, the thesis draws on script and practice theory. The main contribution of the thesis is an empirically grounded model of customer experience of resource integration, which can be summarized in six propositions: (a) customers can acquire four different types of scripts: generic, incongruent, rigid, or transformative; (b) the script types are implicit parts of interactive value practices, which emerge as navigating and ticketing in the empirical context of public transport; (c) the interactive value practices are constellations of the resource integration activities of identifying, sense-making, and using, which customers focus on to varying extents, depending on their acquired script; (d) during or after interactive value formation customers potentially update their scripts; (e) customer processes, other customers, the physical environment, contact personnel, provider processes, and the wider environment all form the context of the service, but can also be resources that the customer integrates; and (f) the customer experience is a holistic evaluation of the interactive value formation and can be understood as consisting of three dimensions: a cognitive evaluation and two affective evaluations, positive activation and positive deactivation. As such, I reframe the notion of the servicescape in order for it to be more attuned to the perspective of interactive value formation and resource integration.

The main aim of the study was to determine which measurement tool, existing or adapted, would be able to determine the levels of customer centricity within the sales channels of a specific organisation, operating in the South African financial industry. A literary study showed that in order to determine the levels of customer centricity, customer experience should be measured. Six questionnaires were administered, namely, EXQ, NPS, CES, Customer satisfaction, Word-of-Mouth and Behavioural loyalty intention. The data showed a statistical significance and a positive relationship between all the constructs within all the questionnaires except with that of CES. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Internet and Social Networking Services have made accessing information as easy as lifting a finger and consumer can easily ‘Google’ the cheapest airlines, find reviews and opinions online or look up the restaurant whose name was on the tip of their tongue (Sparrow et al., 2011). Organisations must focus on developing methods of reaching and servicing customers that appeal to a new generation and utilise the advantages of new media (Moutinho et al., 2011). Social networking services, (mobile) websites, location-based services, and group bargaining are among the most recent forms of brand building and reputation management used by organisations to appeal to their stakeholders. Considering reputation management as a strategic necessity of building and sustaining competitive advantage, this thesis applies the discourse of the postmodern branding, Integrated Marketing Communications and Brand Tribalism within the context of online tourism and hospitality. No previous study has covered and combined the fractured knowledge of reputation management, brand tribes and integrated marketing communications within the hospitality industry, and therefore this work is an original and systematic study of the possibilities and pitfalls of the research area. Combining non-participant netnographic method and semi-structured management interviews, 164 hotels and 43 restaurants from seven countries were studied with the aim to find evidence on four different problem settings; (a) the general challenges found in the hospitality SNS presence and activities; (b) the formation of an online tribe within the hospitality context; (c) the effect of peer reviews, tribal activism, and entertainment provision in SNS, and (d) the means and effects of managing SNS’s interactions and implementation of IMC into the reputation management process. The findings of this study suggest that the management of the hospitality reputation is continual, and requires resources and well-articulated integration to overall strategy and vision of managing strategic relationships. The study concludes that by adapting the recommended Ambient Reputation Management framework it is possible to expand the exposure, and enhance the general feelings towards the company and its products and services. Furthermore, the study postulates that providing entertainment and non-factual conversation topics, besides responding to customer needs, are the most effective stimuli in the brand-related engagement enhancement process. These findings enable management to define the service brand’s promise in terms of how the practical and emotional tenets should be blended to grow brand personality in the minds of potential stakeholders. Finally this study accentuates the generation of brand awareness through the growing rapport between the brand and the consumers towards the formation of a brand tribe, and materialisation of an active tribal loop; and that taking advantage of the web analytics from the actions to measure the resultant brand awareness is a key element of Ambient Reputation Management.

Syfte Vårt syfte är att utreda och analysera vad som karaktäriserar filmmusik samt klarlägga musikens betydelse för film. Forskningsfrågor På vilket sätt kan film och musik influera varandra och hur kan samspelet mellan dem se ut? Hur kan musik användas som ett verktyg för att påverka helhetsupplevelsen av film?   Metod Vår studie är av en kvalitativ karaktär grundad i ett växelspel mellan en induktiv och en deduktiv ansats. Empirisk data baseras på sju semistrukturerade intervjuer.   Slutsats I studien har vi kommit fram till att filmmusik har stor betydelse för kundens slutgiltiga upplevelse av en film. Filmmusik kan fungera i ett sätt att guida konsumenten genom filmen och ta till sig det uttryck som vill förmedlas. För att musiken ska få sin ultimata kraft bör det finnas en fin balansgång i samspelet mellan komponenterna. Det finns ingen mall att följa när det kommer till musiksättande i samband med film, sammanhanget är det som spelar roll. De båda medieformerna kan vid rätt balans sinsemellan höja och även dra fokus till varandra. / Purpose          Our purpose of this study is to investigate and analyse what characterises film music and what makes the music significant for film.   Research questions In what way can film and music influence each other and how can the interaction between the two take form? How can music be used as a tool to influence the general experience of the film? Method Our method in this study is based on a qualitative approach with an interplay between an inductive and deductive hypothesis. Empirical data is based on seven semi structured interviews.   Conclusion Our study has shown that film music has great impact on the customer's experience of a film. Film music can work as a way to guide the consumer through the movie and absorb the expression that is transmitted. For the music to reach its full potential there should be a balance in the interaction between the components. There is no specific right or wrong when it comes to putting music into films, it is the context that matters. With the right balance both forms of media can accentuate and market each other.

E-handel är i nuläget ett etablerat fenomen som växer för varje år. I samband med att e-handen breder ut sig och försäljningen mellan olika länder ökar bidrar det även till en ökad returgrad. Returgraden inom e-handel är den högsta i jämförelse med övriga försäljningskanaler och är ett hot för många företags överlevnad. För att vända returen till någonting positivt kan returprocessen användas för att stärka kundlojalitet och kundvärde genom segmenterade lösningar.  Syftet med rapporten är att identifiera de steg en konsument går igenom i en returprocess och om dessa aktiviteter kan skapa lojalitet och kundtillfredsställelse som stärker relation mellan konsument och företag. För studien utformades det en enkätundersökning för konsumenter som returnerat en produkt på Etonshirts.com. Från enkätundersökningen framgick det att stor andel av respondenterna var mycket nöjda med företagets returprocess men även att det fanns områden som kan utvecklas. För att bekräfta vilka steg en konsument går igenom under en returprocess gjordes en flerfallstudie av fem svenska e-handelsföretag. Studien bekräftar vilka steg som finns och att de kan skilja sig mellan företag. En observationsstudie utfördes i syfte med att identifiera företagets steg i en returprocess, detta för att bekräfta vilka steg ett företag har och hur det i sin tur påverkar kundens process.  För att en återförsäljare ska kunna generera kundnöjdhet måste återförsäljaren förstå sina konsumenters beteende och en returprocess bör anpassas beroende på segment och marknad. Kundnöjdheten kan nås genom effektivitet, bekvämlighet och noggrannhet som bidrar till lojala kunder. Beroende på hur företaget presenterar information på webbplatsen, om köpet, retursedel och returpolicy bidrar det till hur kunden upplever returprocessen och i vilken utsträckning en konsument returnerar. Den totala upplevelsen av köp och retur är viktig för att stärka relation mellan kund och företag. / E-commerce is an established phenomenon that grows for each year. As the e-commerce expands and sales between different countries increase, it also contributes to an increased return rate. The return of e-commerce is the highest in comparison with other sales channels and is a threat to many online companies. In order to turn the return into something positive, the return process can be used to strengthen customer loyalty and customer value through segmented solutions. The purpose of this report is to chart the activities a consumer goes through in a return process and investigate if these activities can create loyalty and customer satisfaction that strengthen consumer / business relationship. For the study, a survey was conducted for consumers who returned a product on Etonshirts.com. From the survey, it was found that a large proportion of respondents were very pleased with the company's return process, but also that there were areas that could be developed. To confirm what activities a consumer is going through during a return process, a multivariate study was conducted at five Swedish ecommerce companies. The study confirms which steps exist and that they can differ between companies. An observation study was conducted to map the company's steps in a return process, to confirm what activities a company has and how it affects the customers return process. In order for a company to generate customer satisfaction, they must understand the behaviour of their consumers and a return process should be customized depending on segment and market. Customer satisfaction can be achieved through efficiency, convenience and accuracy that contribute to loyal customers. Depending on how the company presents information on the website, the purchase, return and return policy, it helps to understand how the customer experiences the return process and to which extent a consumer returns. The overall experience of purchase and returns is important in strengthening relationships between customers and companies.

Because of the digitalization that takes place today, the retailing field has changed dramatically. Customers buy online, mainly because of its convenience. Consequently, brick-and-mortar stores are facing competition from online companies leading to that some brick-and-mortar stores have to file for bankruptcy. The literature states that brick-and-mortar stores now have to focus on what happens inside the store in order to generate a pleasant experience. In this context, three different concepts are crucial namely, omni-channels, retail customer experience and customer value.  A concept that has emerged in order to provide a superior customer experience is Mash-up, which focuses on a mix of offerings in one store. The research question focuses on examining how Mash-up influences retail customer experience and customer value in order to see how Mash-up combined with omni-channels can influence store attractiveness. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews from customers who visited the retail stores O:Hedd and AB Småland. The results show that Mash-up tends to influence retail customer experience and customer value positively. A series of various integrated activities tend to not only have a positive impact on the retail customer experience, but it also tends to satisfy both hedonic and utilitarian value. It also emerged that omni-channels, in terms of click-and-collect, are highly valued by the customers and it indicates that the digitalization has to be taken into consideration. Thus, Mash-up combined with omni-channels will influence store attractiveness positively. Thereby, by adopting Mash-up and considering omni-channels, brick-and-mortar stores will still stand a chance against online companies.