Abstract The importance of customer retention has become a major theme in the literature since the 1990s when empirical studies showed that retaining 5% of customers could lead to an increase in profits ranging from 25% to 85%. However, customer retention does not appear to have moved from the theoretical into the practical world. Specifically, there were few empirical studies which focused on customer retention and none were identified in the New Zealand accommodation sector. The travel and tourism industry contributes approximately 9% to New Zealand’s GDP, and 10% of all spending by travellers and tourists is in the accommodation sector. Impacts, such as seasonality, characterise the accommodation sector and many establishments have occupancy rates which can fluctuate from 90% to 30% in the off-season. With average annual occupancy rates for New Zealand hotels and motels hovering around 55%, retention is a strategy that owners and managers could implement in order to increase occupancy and profits. In this study the research question was based on a review of the literature and the a priori knowledge and experience of the researcher. To ensure the research question framing this study was answered in the most exhaustive and comprehensive manner a seven step research process based on work by Bourgeois (1979) was followed. Data was gathered using both deductive and inductive methods in order to nullify the two main research problems raised by Bourgeois (1979). First, that theories are cast at a high level which is removed from reality and second that empirical studies often result in just a description of the data. In the deductive phase of this study a survey was mailed to New Zealand accommodation establishments that provided accommodation and meals, and had a liquor licence. The main focus of this survey was to learn what owners and managers understood about guest retention and to answer the first research objective. It was discovered that New Zealand accommodation managers: actively work to retain their guests; know the value of guest retention; understand the links between guest satisfaction, loyalty and retention; understand the specific reasons behind guest defections; understand the importance service recovery; and understand how loyalty schemes lead to guest retention. The second phase was a case study involving three accommodation establishments. These findings added depth to the study and allowed for new knowledge to be extrapolated from the findings. It was discovered that in two establishments the focus was guest satisfaction and building relationships with customers. Whilst the resort hotel did have a strategy to encourage lapsed business to return this wasn’t measured or monitored. Thus the second research objective was answered. In the penultimate chapter an amended profit chain has been proposed which included ‘Building Customer Relationships’ as the link between satisfaction and profitability. This is based on the finding that the case establishments saw retention as a proxy for satisfaction and, therefore, focused on satisfying guests and building personal relationships as methods of guest retention. The research question framing this study can be answered by saying that the strategies used by owners and managers in New Zealand accommodation establishments to manage guest retention tend to be related to guest satisfaction and building personal relationships. However, this is not because they do not understand guest retention but see it as part of the bigger picture involving the building of relationships with guests.

Title: Strategies for competition – a study of the Swedish contact lenses market. Authors: Pernilla AArskog and Annika Lange. Background: As a market gets more mature and the competition increases, it is more important for a company to apply the right strategic perspective. There are four fundamental strategic perspectives for a service-oriented business: a core product-, a price-, an image- and a service perspective. This study is a about service management and take its point from the theories from the Nordic School about strategies for competition, customer value, perceived customer quality and customer loyalty. Purpose: The main purpose with this study is to analyze and evaluate how the actors at the Swedish market of contact lenses should compete to gain further competitive advantages. Method: The study includes four qualitative interviews with two traditional opticians and two Internet based businesses, but also a survey with 106 contact lens users is included. Analysis: In the analyse part of this thesis it was concluded that the traditional opticians conception about their customer not agrees with what the customer evaluate as important. Many of the customers have thought about changing their optician, and besides that do not recommend their optician, and can there for not be categorize as loyal customers. The Internet based businesses conception about their customer is more in line with the customer groups about the company and their service. These customers do recommend their optician. Result: In the result it can be concluded that the traditional opticians should change to a service perspective as their comprehensive strategic perspective, which means that the relation with the customer is the most important for the company. The Internet bases businesses should continue working from a price perspective since they have huge economy of scales. Keywords: Customer value, strategies for competition, perceived customer quality and customer loyalty. / Bakgrund: Allteftersom en marknad mognar och konkurrensen ökar blir det än viktigare för ett företag att välja rätt strategiskt perspektiv. Det finns fyra grundläggande strategiska perspektiv för ett tjänsteföretag, kärnprodukt-, pris-, image- och tjänsteperspektivet. Detta arbete handlar om service management och utgår från den nordiska skolan med teorier kring konkurrensstrategier, kundvärde, kundupplevd kvalitet och kundlojalitet. Syfte: Syftet med detta arbete är att analysera och utvärdera hur företag på den svenska kontaktlinsmarknaden bör agera för bli vara konkurrenskraftiga. Metod: Undersökningen bygger på fyra kvalitativa intervjuer med två traditionella optiker och två företag verksamma på Internet samt en enkätundersökning där 106 kontaktlinsanvändare medverkade. Analys: I analysen framkom att de traditionella optikernas uppfattning om sina kunder inte överensstämmer med vad kunderna uppfattar som viktigt. Många av dessa kunder har funderat på att byta optiker och de rekommenderar heller inte sin optiker, de kan därför inte heller anses lojala. Nätföretagens uppfattning om sina kunder överensstämmer bättre med vad kunderna tycker om företaget och dess service. Dessa kunder rekommenderar sin optiker. Resultat: I resultatet framkom att de traditionella optikerna bör ändra till ett tjänsteperspektiv som sitt övergripande strategiska perspektiv som innebär att relationen med kunden sätts i fokus. Nätföretagen bör fortsätta arbeta utifrån ett prisperspektiv eftersom de har stora skalfördelar.

Abstract Title: Customer Perceived Value of Credit Card Rewards - A study on Canadian Consumers Level: Final assignment for Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration Author: Lisa Smedley Supervisor: Jonas Kågström Date: 2013 - January Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate what influences Customer Perceived Value; where Canadian consumers’ preferences lie in terms of rewards in the Canadian credit card industry. Method: After researching previous studies and determining what constructs have been utilized prior on similar research topics, I implement a quantitative, and to some extend iterative, research approach. Through survey research, I investigate Canadian consumer preferences through a survey sample of 124 Canadian consumers in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Result & Conclusions: One finding in the study indicates that utilitarian benefits, which provide financial gain for the card holder, are perceived by respondents as the most valuable reward. Another finding is that inexperienced credit card holders see significantly greater value in symbolic benefits than experienced card holders do. The present study does not support the theory that customer involvement influences the customer’s perception of rewards. 2 Suggestions for future research: More extensive research is needed on the subject of whether Canadian consumers’ perceived value of rewards is influenced by their level of involvement in their credit card. Also, studies involving additional factors that could possibly determine a consumer’s perception of rewards, such as income and ethnicity should be investigated for a more well-rounded understanding of customer preferences. Contribution of the thesis: The present study contributes with new findings that can be of substantial significance for Canadian financial institutions as it provides insight into what credit card rewards Canadian consumers perceive as being valuable to them. Key words: Rewards programs, credit cards, customer loyalty, perceived customer value, timing of reward, type of reward, dimension of benefit, utilitarian, hedonic, symbolic

This study develops two researches to examine the influence of green concept on performance. The research I focuses on firm level. The research II focuses on consumer level. In the research I, the results show that (1) green learning-orientation is positively associated with proactive green innovation capability, (2) green learning-orientation is positively associated with firm performance, and (3) proactive green innovation capability is positively associated with firm performance. Thus, companies that are pioneers in green learning have the ability to enhance their innovation capability in terms of processes, products, and services and increase their performance. Additionally, proactive green innovation capability is also an important source of performance. In the research II, the results show that (1) green product quality is positively associated with green customer satisfaction and green customer loyalty; (2) green corporate image is positively associated with green customer satisfaction and green customer loyalty; and (3) green customer satisfaction is positively associated with green customer loyalty. The results indicate that green product quality can bring about green customer satisfaction and green customer loyalty. Additionally, green corporate image can contribute to green customer satisfaction and green customer loyalty.

Customer loyalty as a concept is a critical strategic option in today’s competitive environment. It is no surprise therefore that managers and researchers have increased their study and understanding of the concept as a strategic marketing imperative over the past decades to capture market share and improve profitability. Indeed the theoretical perspective is that competitive pricing as well as company image and reputation contribute to customer satisfaction and that service quality along a number of pathways drives customer loyalty and profitability thus: service quality--> customer satisfaction--> customer loyalty --> market share --> profitability. A few empirical studies have found these linkages to be true. However these factors differ in importance based on the cultural setting. We investigate (1) whether these relationships exist and (2) which of these factor(s) is/are important in motivating consumer loyalty from the perspectives of retail banking customers in Ghana. The study draws on customer behaviour and attitude premised on the SERVQUAL and SERVPERF models originated by Parasuraman et al., (1988), Cronin and Taylor (1992), and Brady and Cronin (2001) respectively as well as other researches based on the literature on customer satisfaction and loyalty. We used both quantitative and qualitative research approaches in our study and have drawn from both primary and secondary sources of data. We made use of a 7 point likert scale to develop indexes for the main constructs measured in this study and applied correlation, chi square (χ2) and regression analyses to evaluate the hypothesised relationships. Further we qualitatively analysed aspects of the data hinging on explanatory aspects of our research. The results among other things reveal that whilst service quality (especially empathy and reliability) and bank image and reputation are important instigators of customer satisfaction and loyalty, competitive pricing showed a weak linear relationship with customer satisfaction and loyalty (r < 0.5). On the other hand, increased market share was found to influence banks’ profitability. Finally we discuss the management implications of the study in terms of customer retention and profitability strategies for the banks in Ghana. We emphasise that management strategies that are service quality conscious, use person-organisation fit approaches to recruitment and effectively communicate strategies could help institutionalise a culture that is customer relation centred, help banks survive the competition, retain their customers and in the long run increase their profitability.

Customer loyalty has been investigated in years, and its importance to corporate is understood by managers. The purpose of this paper is to find out what kinds of specific and concrete operational factors have an important impact on Chinese mobile telecom customer loyalty. Firstly, a model was established to represent the relationship between customer loyalty and its influencing factors (customer satisfaction, perceived quality, customer value, switching cost and corporate image). 11 specific and concrete operational factors were found according to Chinese mobile telecom industry which were never been studied by the pre-researchers. Secondly, a survey of questionnaire has been conducted which help to found out that the 9 factors (call quality, coverage of area, SMS quality, the convenience and reliability of Inquiring phone fee system, service quality of service center and hotline, rating price of given quality, customer’s worry of troubles after change cell phone number, social responsibility, advertisements about corporate image) have an important impact on customer loyalty on Chinese mobile telecom industry. Thirdly, separating these 9 factors into 3 groups through investigate the performance of customer loyalty in China Mobile. At last, some recommendations were given to China Mobile

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera hur företag kan använda sig av event marketing som ett sätt att skapa nya och stärka befintliga kundrelationer. Metoden som användes för att undersöka dessa ämnen var en kvantitativ enkätundersökning. Uppsatsens teoretiska referensram utgår från ämnet event marketing och leder in på kundrelationer och upplevelserummet. Den empiriska datan är insamlad genom en enkätundersökning med 50 respondenter på Öl- och Whiskymässan på Svenska Mässan i Göteborg. Studiens slutsats kan kort sammanfattas som följande; Event marketing är en marknadsföringsmetod som företag använder sig av för att uppnå kommunikativa mål, det är ett optimalt sätt att skapa en interaktion med konsumenten under själva eventet. Företaget bör ta reda på målgruppens behov för att skapa en så personlig upplevelse som möjligt för konsumenten. Denna upplevelse ska skapa eller förstärka bilden av ett företag och på så sätt skapa goda kundrelationer. / The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how companies can use event marketing as a tool to create new and strengthen existing customer relations. The method used to examine these subjects was a quantitative study in form of a questionnaire. The thesis’ theoretical framework is based on the subject event marketing and leads into customer relations and event design. The empirical data is collected through a questionnaire given to 50 respondents on a Beer and Whiskey exhibition in Gothenburg in Sweden. This thesis’ conclusion can be summarized as following. Event marketing is a marketing method which organizations use to reach communicative goals; it’s a good way to create an interaction with consumers during the event. Companies should determine the needs of their target group to create an experience for the consumer which is as personal as possible. This experience should create or reinforce the image of an organization and thereby create good customer relations. This thesis is written in Swedish.

Magistro darbe yra iškelta bankų teikiamų paslaugų kokybės problema. Darbe išanalizuota ir susisteminta įvairių tiek Lietuvos, tiek ir užsienio autorių publikuota medžiaga bei atlikti tyrimai, susiję su paslaugų kokybe, klientų lojalumu. Darbe išsamiai išanalizuota paslaugų koncepcijos esmė, lojalumas ir jį įtakojantys veiksniai, stadijos. Darbe plačiai analizuojama paslaugų kokybė teoriniu aspektu, atlikta paslaugų kokybės modelių analizė, analizuojamas lojalumas, kas jį įtakoja, lojalumo stadijos ir lojalumo klientų kategorijos. Atlikta bankų teikiamų paslaugų kokybės ir klientų lojalumo analizė pagal komercinių bankų klientų lojalumo formavimo modelį. Nepasitvirtina autorių suformuluota hipotezė, kad bankų teikiamų paslaugų kokybė, netenkina daugelio klientų poreikių. / In this master's work analyze the quality of service in the bank’s problem. The material of the foreign authors and Lithuanian ones has been analyzed and structured. However, the research, involving service, quality and loyalty of customer is made. Has been analyzed the essence of the service conception, loyalty, and its influencing factor stage. Moreover, the paper theoretically analyzes the quality of the service, and there is maid the analysis of the service quality modals analyses of the loyalty of customers, who it affects, the stage of loyalty and categories of customer loyalty. There was performed the analysis of the banks of the quality of accommodation services and loyalty of customers provided by commercial banks and the forming of the model of customer loyalty. There does not prove a hypothesis formulated by the authors that the quality of accommodation services provided by banks does not satisfy the needs of most clients.

Kurs: 2FE73E, Examensarbete i företagsekonomi med inriktning marknadsföring, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet. Författare: Johanna Liikamaa & Erika Gustafsson Handledare: Leif Marcusson Examinator: Richard Owusu Uppsatsens titel: Förtroendeskapande mellan företag och kunder: en kvalitativ studie om hur sex svenska företag ser på förtroendeskapande gentemot kunder. Forskningsfråga: Hur arbetar svenska tjänsteföretag med förtroendeskapande gentemot kunder och potentiella kunder? Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att bidra med en undersökning kring förtroendeskapande gentemot kunder. Vi har två delsyften, vilka är att klargöra och analysera hur företagen arbetar med kundrelationer och lojalitet. Metod: Studien baseras på kvalitativ metod, datainsamlingen har skett genom öppna telefonintervjuer med sex företrädare från företag.   Resultat: Genom studiens intervjuer och dess resultat har vi kommit fram till att företag är beroende av förtroende från deras kunder. Våra informanter har återgett att förtroendeskapandeåtgärder är värt mycket och att utan förtroende kommer man inte långt i sitt arbete. Detta beror troligen på att det inte enbart är produkten eller tjänsten som står i fokus utan ”hela paketet” i form av service och förtroendeskapande åtgärder med mera. Det gäller därför att företagen lyckas nå fram till kunden och skapa ett förtroende hos dem. / Title: Trust between companies and customers: a qualitative study of how six Swedish companies think about trust creation towards customers. Authors: Johanna Liikamaa & Erika Gustafsson   Course: Business Administration III Marketing, Degree Project (Bachelor), Linnaeus University, 15 credits. Tutor: Leif Marcusson   Examiner: Richard Owusu Aim: The aim of this thesis is to examine how Swedish service companies work with trust towards customers. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to research on trust and how our informants work with it towards their customers. The aim is decomposed into two specific aims of this study, which are to clarify and analyze how the companies are working with customer relationships and loyalty. Methodology: The research is based on qualitative method; data collection was done through open telephone interviews with six representatives from companies. Conclusion: Through the study's interviews and their results, we concluded that companies are depending on trust from their customers. Our respondents have stated that confidence building is worth a lot and with no trust; the company would not be long in his work. This is probably because the focus is not just on the product or service today, in fact it´s the "full package", in terms of service and confidence-building measures and more. It is therefore important that companies manage to reach the customer and create a confidence towards them.