This study crafts a schema for understanding the relationship between what organisations say they do and the way they operationalise what they think: the premise-to-received practice. The study navigates its way through an exhaustive volume of relevant work on organisation and organising. The case is argued for adoption of the symbolic interpretive paradigmatic perspective. It is particularly suitable for investigating enacted premise and received practice contexts. A research design is applied in putting these paradigmatic assumptions into motion. The study reports on interpretations emerging from analysis of 'lived experiences' from the two organisational contexts under investigation.A focus for the study was the Public Sector (Western Australia) reform strategy, known as 'customer focus'. The study's title 'Customer Focus: Enacted premise and received practice', locates interest in the relationship between organisational intentions and actions using customer focus as the lens for grounding organisational experiences. This study investigates the apparent reified social construct of organisation though a customer focus lens.Similar studies have focused on interpretation schemata in order to understand key organisational events that support the methodology and assumptions used in this, study. Such studies owes allegiance to the constructivist ontology, based on the' belief of the existence of multiple realities whereby the research act is epistemologically interpretive, aimed at generating understanding.Following the tenets of constructivist and interpretive knowledge, a qualitative methodology was used. Viewing organising as explicitly communicative, the research strategy adopted a symbolic interpretive theoretical perspective. Consistent with hermeneutics and grounded theory principles (not methods), the study sought further understanding of the relationship ++ / between organisational intentions and actions. The research design emphasised an interpretive approach by eliciting data from individual points of view within the work setting. A sample of six organisations was selected, and sixty-one interviews were conducted. Focus interviews were conducted with Top Management Teams. Individual interviews were conducted with Workers.Two sets of meanings were construed. One, Top Management Teams, enacted involvement, commitment, communication and relationships. This was related to Top Management Teams practice of control. The other, Workers, enacted the same meanings in the customer focus strategy, involvement, commitment, communication and relationships. This was related to Workers received practice of equivocality.This study reports on two major findings. First, there was harmony in the enacted thinking on the meaning for customer focus across Top Management Teams and Workers. Second, the harmony in the enacted thinking on the meanings for customer focus across the two groups were discordant with the way respondents operationalise what they report they think. Top Management Teams were unaware of the discord between the way they say they think (involvement, commitment, communication and relationships) and the way they operationalise what they think (practices of control). The discord between premise and practice in Top Management Teams was received in practice by Workers as equivocality. Equivocality emerged as discordant with Worker premise taken for customer focus as meaning to create shared understanding.The study emerged a non-alignment between what organisations say they do (Top Management Team enacted premise) and the way they operationalise what they think (Worker received practice).

<p>The long-term goal of this project has been to help strengthen the customer focus at the product development department of Pergo. To achieve this a Kansei Engineering case study was performed, to provide information about the chosen customer group, the contract market. </p><p>Kansei Engineering is a Japanese methodology for gathering and analysing information about the relation between the customer’s impression of a product and the actual physical properties of that same product. </p><p>The results show clear differences between the flooring entrepreneurs and the architects in their average ratings. The factor analysis led to four factors that are important when this group of customers evaluates laminate flooring, namely Reliable and practical, Modern design, Classic style and Nice and solid. </p><p>The regression analysis was done both on the 17 Kansei-words and on the factors. The type of decor and surface were found to have most influence on the customer’s impressions. Among the surfaces matt oiled turned out to be most popular and for most of the Kansei-words, the unexpected combination of wood- like decor and tile-format was rated the most positive.</p>

Being customer‐focused is often considered to be a key success factor inproduct‐ or service development. This kind of approach may comprise manythings in practice, such as formal or informal methods and activities that arecarried out to identify and meet, or preferably exceed, customer needs andexpectations. The overall purpose of this thesis is to contribute to a greaterknowledge about the use and function of methods, activities and tools regardingcustomer‐focused product development in the outdoor industry.The thesis is based on three papers, all related to customer‐focused productdevelopment within the outdoor industry. Two empirical studies have beenconducted. In the first one, the outdoor companies’ own experiences of customerinvolvement in product development are examined. In the second study, the useand function of environmental labels as drivers of attractive quality within theoutdoor industry are explored.A new methodology for customer‐focused product development is alsopresented. It is aimed to be used as a hands‐on support for designing for thesatisfaction of customer needs at different levels in practice, especially those thathave been found to be important in the creation of attractive quality and customerloyalty.

The long-term goal of this project has been to help strengthen the customer focus at the product development department of Pergo. To achieve this a Kansei Engineering case study was performed, to provide information about the chosen customer group, the contract market. Kansei Engineering is a Japanese methodology for gathering and analysing information about the relation between the customer’s impression of a product and the actual physical properties of that same product. The results show clear differences between the flooring entrepreneurs and the architects in their average ratings. The factor analysis led to four factors that are important when this group of customers evaluates laminate flooring, namely Reliable and practical, Modern design, Classic style and Nice and solid. The regression analysis was done both on the 17 Kansei-words and on the factors. The type of decor and surface were found to have most influence on the customer’s impressions. Among the surfaces matt oiled turned out to be most popular and for most of the Kansei-words, the unexpected combination of wood- like decor and tile-format was rated the most positive.

In Sweden two reforms were implemented in 2011 in order to delegate control to universities and improve the quality of tertiary education. Despite the efforts, Swedish universities are experiencing a quality crisis and the majority of students are receiving less than the recommended nine hours per week of tutor led education. The quality crisis, the low levels of student-teacher interaction and the reluctance towards marketization and customer focus within higher education, all provides cause for concern on how universities create value for their students. This study aims to examine the interaction students have with teachers, and how the interaction creates value for students. Interviews were conducted with students studying their third year of the business programme at Uppsala University. The result showed that the students thought interaction was important for their learning. Uppsala University was considered to offer sufficient amount of lectures and seminars, although with fluctuations in quality. Most notable in the study was the lack of feedback from teachers. The students showed strong discontent, as feedback would help them improve and learn, fulfilling their value creation.

The aim of the research is to identify, evaluate and develop service quality measures/dimensions – from the students’ point of view – at independent Colleges in the UK. The primary objective of the study is to determine whether private higher education providers in the UK meet student expectations. In order to achieve the primary objective, the research identified two secondary objectives as: what are the areas of service quality that are most important to students, when choosing to study at a private college in the UK; and does their chosen private college meet student expectations in all these areas? The research consists of three stages: 1) an extensive analysis of literature followed by discussions with industry experts to map recent developments within independent colleges in the UK, 2) an analysis of a student focus group discussions as well as an expert panel review, of the focus group findings, in order to develop the initial conceptual model and the development of the measurement instrument i.e., online questionnaire, and 3) the online questionnaire link was then promoted to qualifying participants internationally using the official website (www.service-quality.co.uk) as well as social media, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. In addition, links to the survey and the progress have been listed at several discussion groups as well as included in online press releases. The online questionnaire was made available from 1st June to 30th November 2013, to ensure sufficient time was given to promote the survey and attract a good number of responses. 12,775 completed questionnaires were gathered during the six months period. The sample data was analysed for the normality of distribution followed by assessment of validity and reliability, using parametric statistical analysis tools. Finally, the research concluded that students chose to study at independent colleges as they offered five service quality dimensions as: flexible, market driven, assurance, customer focus and focus practitioners. The participants also agreed that their chosen independent college either met or exceeded their expectations. The research findings were inconclusive in terms of the order of importance of these service quality dimensions. The service quality and performance model for independent colleges in the UK requires these three components: service quality dimensions, measures, and implementation points, to continuously refine and develop. Following such a model, the organisation will continuously identify and refine the service quality dimensions and measures to meet changing student expectations on a continuous basis, whilst sustaining positive service gaps, thriving to remove negative service gaps and by converting neutral areas to positive service gaps.

Agility is referred to as the ability of a firm to proactively or reactively adapt successfully to rapid changes within the business environment both internally and externally. The Post-Merger Integration (PMI) phase is characterized by rapid organizational changes which require new strategy methods that suit the nature of today’s fast paced business environments. Though characterized by changes, the PMI presents an opportune moment for the transformation of a business by exploring and exhausting the innovation potential of the integrating firms through the use of agile aspects that seek to identify risks and explore opportunities in a nimble manner. These aspects are several, but in this study, we delve into three namely, flexibility, adaptability and customer focus. The aspects of agility originated from fields of Software Development and are fairly new to the discipline of Business Administration but are considered to be evolving and popular across other fields of study. The current era is noted by scholars as the Scaled Agile Framework Development Era which is characterized by an emergence in agile frameworks that aid in large scale programs of an organization, such as the PMI in this case. This era represents a steppingstone to business agility, the future of agility that seeks to transform an organization to be adaptive to changes. The purpose of this study is to develop an agile framework drawing from empirical findings of the use of agility aspects in the context of a merger and acquisition, more specifically, the post-merger integration phase, to act as an innovation catalyst. To obtain insights and a better understanding on what we set ourselves to research, we explore an embedded single case study of a firm operating in a traditional industry, the maritime industry, in order to investigate the following research question:How can agility in the context of a Post-Merger Integration (PMI) contribute toinnovation? Eight semi-structured interviews with senior executives and senior managers of the case company were conducted in order to draw insights on their previous experiences with mergers and acquisitions. Empirical evidence was collected and coded in line with the Gioia methodology and with the aid of references to extant literature we began to build theory thereof. Our findings revealed that agile aspects may be adopted to complement and not necessarily replace existing hierarchical structures, procedures and processes within the PMI. Additionally, all three aspects of agility we sought to investigate prove to be useful to promote innovation in PMIs when adopted. The theoretical contribution of our study is the development of an agile framework that may be utilized in the PMI to identify, exploit and exhaust the innovation potential of the M&amp;A activity. Furthermore, the framework may be validated in a different company or setting other than the company under study.

The overall objective of this thesis work is to seek current and potential attractive quality of the career service of Library and Learning Resource in University college of Borås (HB), and try to make students know and experience the career service on their own initiative.First objective is the evaluation and assessment of the current quality work of career service. The main quality evaluation emphasizes on the career service awareness and its communication channels.After reviewing the current situation of the career service in the context of LLR in HB, identifying possible existing problems, and developing a Kano questionnaire to examine some question areas, the authors will offer some recommendations and suggestions for improvement. For this purpose, recommendation concerning communication channels and a specific PDSA approach will be developed with some detailed descriptions of items involved in this approach which will be reviewed.In order to reach to the objectives of this thesis work, the authors will use primary data in the form of interviews, and secondary data from literatures, scientific articles, and books and WebPages. In addition, the authors will use experiment methodology within this research and provide a PDSA solution which can facilitate LLR of HB to improve the quality of its career service.

Relationship marketing has become a fundamental concept within modern marketing thought. Some authors even suggest it is the fundamental concept. Its rise to prominence has seen it become a unifying force within the marketing discipline given its application to a whole range of areas. It promises benefits to organisations that can be distilled down to greater profits over the longer term, with less cost. The focus of relationship marketing is relatively simple. Rather than acquiring customers, the retention and development of customers is emphasised. Regrettably, the implementation of relationship marketing is not as straightforward as its definition. It requires at the very least a long-term outlook, an embracing of technology and a commitment to a customer focus. If relationship marketing is such a critical element in modern marketing, it follows that its application across industry sectors be examined. Sport is one such industry and has coincidentally emerged as a major business sector in the same time-frame as relationship marketing's maturity. As the markets for sport have grown, so too has the sophistication of the sport marketer. From amateur, myopic beginnings, sport continues to claim a strong grip on the cultural identity of countries such as Australia. Buoyed by strong media interest, attendance at sporting events continues to grow, albeit across a much larger choice-set. The road ahead is not necessarily bountiful however. Information presented in Chapter 1 of this thesis suggests that the frequency of individual attendance at major sports in Australia is declining, despite some positive overall attendance figures. In essence, it appears that loyal customers are being replaced by newer, less committed ones. While this might not be instantly damaging, it does require sport marketers to ensure that strong levels of identification with their products are developed. All of this is supported by the existing literature that has recognised that sport can likely benefit greatly from the implementation and application of relationship marketing, but is in urgent need of further study. These scenarios suggest a need to understand where relationship marketing in sport currently rests and this thesis answers the call and asks the following research questions: RQ1) To what extent do professional sporting organisations in Australia undertake relationship marketing; RQ2) what strategies do they employ and RQ3) what are the issues faced in implementing a relationship marketing approach? This thesis takes an organisational perspective, across multiple-cases in major professional sport and considers the sport-consumer relationship exclusively. It is the first study of its kind in this area and adds significantly to the body of knowledge, both within sport marketing and the broader concept of relationship marketing. It indicates that while relationship marketing is acknowledged and indeed welcomed as a concept by practitioners, their efforts at implementation have been primitive, largely unplanned and generally sporadic. More than often they reflect a reactive rather than proactive strategic approach. A range of barriers are presented and discussed as are some examples of organisations that have incorporated some parts of a relationship marketing philosophy into their structure. A conceptual model in the final chapter of this thesis synthesises the issues extracted from the various cases and existing literature. It depicts a challenging road ahead for professional sport organisations.

Syfte: Syftet med vår studie är att utreda och analysera hur två kommunala bostadsföretag arbetar med kundorientering idag jämfört med för tio år sedan. Vårt mål är att utifrån en uppföljande studie redogöra för hur kundorienteringstankarna har utvecklats under den senaste tioårsperioden. Arbetar de kommunala bostadsföretagen mer kundorienterat idag jämfört med för tio år sedan? Vi vill även öka kunskapen kring kundorientering och belysa vilka fördelar som finns att vinna hos de kommunala bostadsföretag som väljer att arbeta kundorienterat.   Metod: För att genomföra studien har vi samlat information från litteratur och från två intervjuer. Intervjuerna har utförts personligt på respektive respondents kontor. Intervjuerna spelades in på band. Därefter har materialet analyserats och bearbetats.     Slutsats: Vi anser att de två kommunala bostadsföretag vi granskat har utvecklat sin kundorientering mycket, särskilt de fem senaste åren. De kan därmed ses som kundorienterade i en högre utsträckning idag jämfört med för tio år sedan. Bostadsföretagen utgår mer från kundernas behov och önskemål när olika beslut tas och använder sig dessutom av omfattande kundundersökningar.   Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Förslagsvis kan man utföra fördjupande studier inom området, t.ex. mer ingående analysera hur en ökad kommersialisering av kommunala bostadsföretag påverkar deras kundorientering. Vi föreslår även att man utför jämförelser med ett större urval av kommunala bostadsföretag. Det vore också av stort intresse att utföra studier som jämför skillnader mellan kommunala bostadsföretags kundorientering gentemot ett kommersiellt fastighetsföretag.   Uppsatsens bidrag: Vi tror att den här studien kan vara till nytta för andra studenter som läser till fastighetsekonomer, och för andra kommunala bostadsföretag för att se hur de kommunala bostadsföretag vi undersökt arbetar med kundorientering. Vi tror dessutom att andra företag med liknande eller andra produkter och tjänster som är relaterade till fastighetsbranschen kan använda sig av vår studie för att utveckla sin kundorientering. / Purpose: The purpose with our study is to analyze and conduct an inquiry of how two municipal housing companies work with customer focus today compared to ten years ago. We also want to pay attention to how the thoughts of costumer alignment have been developed during the last ten years with a follow up study. Do the municipal housing companies work more with customer alignment today than a decade ago? We also want to increase knowledge about customer alignment and illustrate the benefits that could be done by municipal housing companies who choose to work with customer alignment. Method: In order to implement this study we have gathered data from literature and from two interviews. The interview has been personally performed at each respondents´ offices. The interviews were also recorded on tape. The material we gathered was analyzed and processed to this thesis. Conclusions: We consider that the municipal housing companies in Sweden have developed their customer alignment very much, especially during the last five years. They are thereby customer alignmented in a higher extent today compared to ten years ago. The companies are using a lot of extensive customer surveys and work on the supposition from costumers when making various decisions.   Suggestions for future research: We consider that it could be of interest to carry out continued studies within the area. As a suggestion, one can carry out deepening studies within the area but also how an increased commercialization of the municipal housing companies influences their customer alignment. We also suggest that one can carry out comparisons with a bigger selection of the municipal housing companies. We also consider that it could be of interest to carry out studies that compare differences between the municipal housing companies´ customer alignment compared with a commercial real estate company.   Contribution of the thesis: We think that this study can be useful for other real estate economist students, also for other municipal housing companies in order to see how a non-profit real estate companies carries out their customer alignment. We also believe that other companies with similar or other products and services that are related within the real estate sector can use our study in order to develop their customer alignment.