Arivia.kom was formed out of a merger of the information technology (IT) departments of Eskom, Transnet and Denel. The aim was to address skilled staff losses and to achieve economies of scale. Agreements were drafted ensuring arivia.kom business patronage for a period of five years. Arivia.kom's commencement was accompanied by problems, affecting its customers to the extent that they indicated dissatisfaction with performance. This study established the extent of those problems, and the reasons for their occurrence. A market analysis was conducted with specific focus on customer and competitor analysis. An investigation was conducted into the quality of service, overall customer impression of the organisation since its inception, as well as performance against competitors. The major findings indicated that performance problems were not isolated incidents but consistent across the organisation. These problems stemmed from poor organisational design, poorly evolved organisational culture, unclear positioning and poor competitor and customer intelligence capability. / Business Management / M. Comm. (Business Management)

Customer satisfaction, from the service quality perspective, has emerged as a new modus operandi for assessing customers’ perceptions and/or expectations of services in order to re-orient and regulate existing services. University library administrators in Sri Lanka, realising the necessity of complying with customer perception of high quality service, have begun to search for alternative ways to satisfy their clientele on the basis of service quality. This study therefore aims to meet this need by developing a model to assess the extent to which service quality indicators and other explanatory attributes may be used to predict customer satisfaction, from a service quality perspective. The research process used in the study was the “onion model,” which involved a combination of positivist and phenomenological inquiries that led to the use of qualitative and quantitative approaches in line with the purpose of the study, which was exploratory in nature and searched for causality. The design of the study involved two main stages: the exploratory stage and the main stage. In the exploratory stage, attributes and domain identification of service quality was carried out with a sample of 262 subjects. Based upon the exploratory study, four provisional models were constructed and tested in the main study, using a sample of 1840 subjects. The model based on the performance-only paradigm and the linearity assumption between the constructs was found to be the best parsimony model that provided for enhanced predictive performance, calibration and potential insight into attributes and domain relevance. Regarding overall satisfaction, responsiveness, supportiveness, building environment, collection and access, furniture and facilities, technology and service delivery as quality domains, involvement with the service, and knowledge of the customers as situational attributes and age, member category, university and gender as socio-demographic attributes were found to be significant. The final model may be used to design a simple measurement or monitoring process of library performance, and it may also be a useful tool for diagnosing service quality locally. This research further provides a keystone for other studies and may also stimulate the momentum of current research on service quality and/or customer satisfaction / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

Due to shortcomings in an information flow, waiting times arise within a raw material flow, that lead to delays in delivery to the producing unit, which in turn causes delays in delivery to end customers. The purpose of the study has been to reduce delays to the producing unit and towards the end customer. The aim of the study has been to provide a model for the information flow within the raw material flow that supports the work with lead times and continuous flows. According to quality theories, the customer and its needs should be the focus of production. Lean is a way of working with quality and development based on the customer's needs, which through communication in pulling, horizontal flows, controlling the work process and providing conditions for continuous flows, for deviations to surface and providing good conditions for keeping lead times. Observations of the flow showed that there is a vertical communication structure with meetings that do not strengthen continuous flows and problems do not surface. In order to increase the keeping of lead times, the flow for raw materials must work in a horizontal structure from a customer perspective, with a focus on deviations, to increase the delivery according to the customer's needs. In order to ensure that the work is carried out in accordance with Lean's principles and management's set goals, standardized working methods should be introduced together with digital tools, that with a signaling system, indicate when goods deviate from normal lead times. / På grund av brister i informationsflödet uppstår väntetider inom ett råmaterialflöde som leder till förseningar i leverans till den producerade enheten, vilket i sin tur orsakar förseningar i leverans till slutkunder. Syftet med studien har varit att minska förseningar till den producerande enheten och mot slutkunden. Målet med studien har varit att tillhandahålla en modell för informationsflödet inom råmaterialflödet som stöder arbetet med ledtider och kontinuerliga flöden. Enligt kvalitetsteorier bör kunden och dess behov vara fokus för produktionen. Lean är ett sätt att arbeta med kvalitet och utveckling baserat på kundens behov, som genom kommunikation i dragande, horisontella flöden, kontrollerar arbetsprocessen och förutsättningar för kontinuerliga flöden, för avvikelser till ytan och ger förutsättningar för att hålla ledtider. Observationer av flödet visade att det finns en vertikal kommunikationsstruktur med möten, som inte stärker kontinuerliga flöden och problem inte kommer till ytan. För att öka hållningen av ledtider måste flödet för råmaterial arbeta i en horisontell struktur med ett kundperspektiv och fokus på avvikelser, för att öka leveransen enligt kundens behov. För att säkerställa att arbetet utförs enligt Leans principer och ledningens uppsatta mål, bör standardiserade arbetsmetoder införas, tillsammans med digitala verktyg, som med ett signalsystem anger när varor avviker från normala ledtider.

[pt] O desenvolvimento de produtos e a correta distribuição aos segmentos de mercado são fatores fundamentais no processo de elaboração da estratégia de marketing das empresas a fim de proporcionar uma vantagem competitiva. Para isso, é essencial o perfeito entendimento das necessidades e desejos dos consumidores. Nessa dissertação, aplica-se a teoria de análise conjunta, com o objetivo de apontar o conjunto de características consideradas desejáveis pelos consumidores para a aquisição de cartões de crédito. O desenvolvimento do trabalho é composto de duas etapas: escolha dos atributos a serem avaliados pelos respondentes e análise dessa avaliação. Para escolher o conjunto de atributos a serem julgados foram realizadas entrevistas em profundidade e grupo de foco. A formação desse conjunto de estímulos foi desenvolvida utilizando-se o software SPSS 11.0 versão Windows. Em seguida, realizou-se a coleta de dados por meio de questionários, os quais foram enviados por correio eletrônico, sendo que alguns foram entregues pessoalmente. Por fim, também com o auxílio do software SPSS 11.0 versão Windows, o estudo atingiu seu objetivo, identificando o conceito de produto considerado mais adequado, fruto da combinação de estímulos que gerou maior nível de utilidade. / [en] The new product development and correct market segmentation are fundamental to define marketing strategy in order to provide a competitive advantage. To do this, the perfect understanding of customer needs is essential, too. In this research, the conjoint analysis theory is used with the objective of showing the group of characteristics understood as desirable by consumers to buy credit cards. This work is composed of two main basic steps: the choice of the attributes to be evaluated by the respondents and the analysis of this evaluation. The group of stimuli to be evaluated was chosen based on in-depth interviews and one focus group. The group of stimuli was developed using SPSS 11.0 software for Windows. Data collection was implemented with questionnaires sent by email. Some of them were handled personally. In the last step, also using the SPSS 11.0 software for Windows, this study reached its objective, identifying the concept of product considered the most adequate, as a result of the stimuli combination, which generated the highest utility level.

Arivia.kom was formed out of a merger of the information technology (IT) departments of Eskom, Transnet and Denel. The aim was to address skilled staff losses and to achieve economies of scale. Agreements were drafted ensuring arivia.kom business patronage for a period of five years. Arivia.kom's commencement was accompanied by problems, affecting its customers to the extent that they indicated dissatisfaction with performance. This study established the extent of those problems, and the reasons for their occurrence. A market analysis was conducted with specific focus on customer and competitor analysis. An investigation was conducted into the quality of service, overall customer impression of the organisation since its inception, as well as performance against competitors. The major findings indicated that performance problems were not isolated incidents but consistent across the organisation. These problems stemmed from poor organisational design, poorly evolved organisational culture, unclear positioning and poor competitor and customer intelligence capability. / Business Management / M. Comm. (Business Management)

Customer satisfaction, from the service quality perspective, has emerged as a new modus operandi for assessing customers’ perceptions and/or expectations of services in order to re-orient and regulate existing services. University library administrators in Sri Lanka, realising the necessity of complying with customer perception of high quality service, have begun to search for alternative ways to satisfy their clientele on the basis of service quality. This study therefore aims to meet this need by developing a model to assess the extent to which service quality indicators and other explanatory attributes may be used to predict customer satisfaction, from a service quality perspective. The research process used in the study was the “onion model,” which involved a combination of positivist and phenomenological inquiries that led to the use of qualitative and quantitative approaches in line with the purpose of the study, which was exploratory in nature and searched for causality. The design of the study involved two main stages: the exploratory stage and the main stage. In the exploratory stage, attributes and domain identification of service quality was carried out with a sample of 262 subjects. Based upon the exploratory study, four provisional models were constructed and tested in the main study, using a sample of 1840 subjects. The model based on the performance-only paradigm and the linearity assumption between the constructs was found to be the best parsimony model that provided for enhanced predictive performance, calibration and potential insight into attributes and domain relevance. Regarding overall satisfaction, responsiveness, supportiveness, building environment, collection and access, furniture and facilities, technology and service delivery as quality domains, involvement with the service, and knowledge of the customers as situational attributes and age, member category, university and gender as socio-demographic attributes were found to be significant. The final model may be used to design a simple measurement or monitoring process of library performance, and it may also be a useful tool for diagnosing service quality locally. This research further provides a keystone for other studies and may also stimulate the momentum of current research on service quality and/or customer satisfaction / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

Abstract The importance of product development in companies has increased, as competition in many industries has turned global and product life cycles have become shorter. Despite the rich literature and the significance of product development in businesses, many organisations still struggle to develop products that meet market and customer needs. Furthermore, product development for a large number of international customers involves various stakeholders with conflicting needs. Thus, product development is increasingly complex to manage. This doctoral dissertation aims to improve the outcome of product development by clarifying the factors that initiate product development in companies, the relations of different external and internal stakeholders to these drivers, and how the needs of key stakeholders are obtained. The study focuses on the early product development phases of new product development (NPD) intensive companies that are based in Finland, but have major international operations and large customer bases. The research was carried out by collecting and analysing data from companies representing product development practices in both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) markets. The experiences of managers across different industries are utilised. This dissertation adopts a qualitative research approach, and surveys and interviews are utilised as the main data collection methods. This dissertation shows that many significant drivers for product development exist in companies. In addition, these drivers differ significantly between projects, companies, and even individuals. Based on the results, companies should clarify their product development drivers and align them among the relevant stakeholders to enhance the decision-making and focus of product development efforts. The study also reveals the relations between different external and internal stakeholders and the product development drivers, and the key stakeholders for the individual drivers. The results indicate that companies should identify the most important stakeholders based on the project drivers and allocate managerial attention appropriately. As expected, the research findings support previous studies by identifying customers as the most important external stakeholders in product development. On the other hand, the significance of product management among internal stakeholders is highlighted in the results. This dissertation indicates that companies should enable product management to lead collaboration with stakeholders close to customers in product development projects. The role of product management involves leading customer definition, representation, and customer needs identification for R&D. However, product management must also collaborate with many customer-related stakeholders in product development efforts. The main implication of this dissertation is a new managerial framework that, if successfully implemented, can significantly enhance product development outcomes by providing appropriate focus on customers and reducing unnecessary complexities through the clarification of the project drivers, the key stakeholders, and customer needs. / Tiivistelmä Tuotekehityksen merkitys yrityksille on kasvanut globaalin kilpailun ja tuote-elinkaarien lyhentymisten myötä. Lukuisista tutkimuksista ja tuotekehitystoiminnan tärkeydestä liiketoiminnalle huolimatta useilla organisaatioilla on edelleen haasteita kehittää markkinoiden ja asiakkaiden tarpeita vastaavia tuotteita. Lisäksi tuotekehityksessä isolle, kansainväliselle, asiakaskunnalle on mukana useita erilaisia sidosryhmiä, joiden tarpeet ovat ristiriidassa keskenään. Tämän takia tuotekehityksen johtamisesta on tullut entistä monimutkaisempaa. Tämä väitöskirja pyrkii parantamaan tuotekehityksen tulosta selventämällä tekijät, jotka ovat syynä tuotekehityksen aloittamiseen yrityksissä, erilaisten ulkoisten ja sisäisten sidosryhmien suhteet näihin tuotekehitysajureihin sekä miten tärkeimpien sidosryhmien tarpeet selvitetään. Tutkimus keskittyy tuotekehityksen alkuvaiheisiin Suomessa toimivissa yrityksissä, joilla on voimakas panostus tuotekehitykseen ja lisäksi merkittävää kansainvälistä toimintaa sekä suuri määrä asiakkaita. Tutkimus tehtiin keräämällä ja analysoimalla tietoa yritysten tuotekehityskäytännöistä sekä tuotantohyödykemarkkinoilla että kuluttajamarkkinoilla. Tietoa kerättiin myös eri teollisuudenaloilta. Tämä väitöskirja perustuu laadulliseen tutkimukseen ja tutkimusaineiston keräämisessä on hyödynnetty kyselytutkimuksia sekä haastatteluita. Tämä väitöskirja osoittaa, että yritysten tuotekehitykseen löytyy useita merkittäviä ajureita. Tämän lisäksi nämä ajurit eroavat merkittävästi projektien, yritysten ja jopa yksittäisten henkilöiden välillä. Tulosten perusteella yritysten pitäisi selvittää, mitkä ajurit ovat niiden liiketoiminnan kannalta olennaisimpia ja tarkentaa niitä tuotekehityksen päätöksenteon ja painopisteen parantamiseksi. Tutkimus paljastaa myös ulkoisten ja sisäisten sidosryhmien suhteet tuotekehitysajureihin sekä tärkeimmät sidosryhmät yksittäisille ajureille. Tulokset osoittavat, että yritysten pitäisi tunnistaa tärkeimmät sidosryhmät projektien ajureiden perusteella ja ottaa ajurit huomioon sidosryhmäjohtamisessa. Tutkimuksen löydökset tukevat aikaisempia tutkimuksia osoittaen asiakkaiden olevan tärkein ulkoinen sidosryhmä tuotekehityksessä, kun taas sisäisistä sidosryhmistä nousee esille tuotehallinta. Tämä väitöskirja osoittaa, että yritysten tuotekehitysprojekteissa tuotehallinnan tulisi johtaa asiakkaita lähellä oleviin sidosryhmiin liittyvää sidosryhmäyhteistyötä. Tuotehallinnan tehtäviin kuuluu asiakkaan määrittely, edustus ja asiakastarpeiden tunnistaminen. Tuotehallinnan pitää myös tehdä yhteistyötä useiden asiakkaisiin liittyvien sidosryhmien kanssa tuotekehityksen aikana. Tämä väitöskirja tarjoaa uuden johtamisen viitekehityksen, joka oikein toteutettuna voi parantaa merkittävästi tuotekehityksen lopputulosta. Projektin ajurien, tärkeimpien sidosryhmien ja asiakastarpeiden selventäminen varmistaa oikeanlaisen keskittymisen asiakkaisiin ja vähentää tarpeettomia monimutkaisuuksia tuotekehityksessä.

[pt] A construção da oferta de produtos e serviços representa um ponto de enorme relevância na elaboração da estratégia de marketing das empresas. Tratando-se de marketing de serviços, pode-se dizer que esse processo passa a ser ainda mais importante. Seu papel em garantir que o cliente perceba, ou não, a diferenciação e a vantagem competitiva, se torna ainda mais crítico. Por essa razão, garantir que haja total entendimento das necessidades e desejos dos clientes é a prioridade máxima de qualquer estratégia. Esta dissertação tem como principal objetivo entender os fatores que influenciam a contratação de serviços de consultoria estratégica no mercado de telecomunicações. As teorias de marketing de serviços e análise conjunta sustentam a base teórica. O trabalho está dividido em três etapas principais: a primeira identifica os atributos e níveis por meio de entrevistas em profundidade; a pesquisa de campo compõe a segunda etapa; e a última abrange a análise dos resultados e conclusões. Os seguintes atributos e respectivos níveis foram identificados : Tipo de firma (Big 5 ou Não Big 5), Presença e experiência na indústria (Global ou Local), Afinidade cultural com o cliente (Alta ou Baixa), Experiência anterior com o cliente (Sim ou Não), Capacidade de apoiar a execução do plano estratégico (Sim ou Não) e Flexibilidade contratual e comercial (Sim ou Não). A fase final de análise dos resultados identificou o seguinte mix com os maiores níveis de utilidade : Tipo de firma (Big 5), Presença e experiência na indústria (Global), Afinidade cultural com o cliente (Alta), Experiência anterior com o cliente (Sim), Capacidade de apoiar a execução do plano estratégico (Sim) e Flexibilidade contratual e comercial (Sim). Capacidade de apoiar a execução do plano estratégico (Sim) e Afinidade cultural com o cliente (Alta), apareceram em primeiro lugar, mostrando uma tendência do mercado a querer mais que apenas às tradicionais recomendações. / [en] Building offers and services portfolio are significant challenges, and for sure, represent important tasks in the marketing strategy activities of all major companies. In services marketing, due to its intrinsic subjective environment, this process becomes even more sensitive and key for achieving expected results. Its role in ensuring customer’s perception in regards to differentiation and competitive advantage is even more important. In conclusion, making sure customer’s needs and desires are fulfilled becomes a priority within overall strategy and marketing components. The main objectives of the dissertation are identifying and understanding the factors influencing the choice for strategy consulting services in the telecommunications market. Both services marketing and conjoint analysis sustain the theoretical basis. This dissertation is composed of three main phases: the first identifies the attributes and levels by using interviews; the field research at the second phase; and the last (third phase) takes care of the result analysis and conclusions. The following attributes and related levels were identified: Type of firm (Big 5 or Non Big 5), Presence and experience with the industry (Global or Local), Cultural alignment with customer (High or Low), Previous experience with the customer (Yes or No), Capability of supporting the execution of the strategic plan (Yes or No) e Contractual and commercial flexibility (Yes or No). And the final phase of result analysis identified the following mix for the highest utilities levels : Type of firm (Big 5), Presence and experience with the industry (Global), Cultural alignment with customer (High), Previous experience with the customer (Yes), Capability of supporting the execution of the strategic plan (Yes) e Contractual and commercial flexibility (Yes).

Work chair is considered as an important element for the users to improve comfort in work environment. An ergonomic chair design and engineering is therefore considered very important for its usability and comfort view of point for the users. The aim of the thesis is to improve the mobility and ergonomics of the existing chair in all aspects. Ergonomically designed chairs are important for long time seated workers to increase their productivity and also to reduce low back injuries which arise due to the poor design chairs in ergonomic aspects. In addition, ergonomically designed chairs help to increase the seating comfortability of the chair users. QFD and waterfall model was followed for the work execution. In this paper, we discuss a design of an ergonomically efficient chair with simple adjustments which gives more comfortability. This will give us a better likelihood to stay in a neutral position. The Ergonomics of the chair is improved in various steps. This thesis focuses on many ideas in which some of them are implemented and evaluated.

Följande examensarbete har genomförts inom Högskoleingenjörsutbildningen i Maskinteknik, Industriell Ekonomi och Produktion vid Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, Institutionen för Hållbar Produktionsutveckling. Studien har utförts på uppdrag av Alfa Laval Lund AB, vid enheten Business Unit GPHE, under vårterminen 2019. Målet med detta arbete har varit att utföra en kartläggning av intressenter i det digitala ekosystemet, identifiera kundbehov och aktörer på marknaden inom området prediktivt underhåll och uppkopplade produkter samt att definiera möjliga affärsmodeller. Alfa Lavals förväntningar av projektet har varit att resultatet skall understödja uppfyllelse av kundernas behov samt att bolaget skall erhålla en överblick av det digitala ekosystem som idag växer fram. Under genomförandet har metoder såsom research av intressenter samt intervjuer varit centrala. Efterforskningar av bolag har skett med avsikten att utforma en kartläggningsmodell. Intervjuer med aktörer och slutkund har varit till stöd för att undersöka i vilka fall uppkoppling skapar kundvärde samt för att få en helhetssyn kring andra spelares strategier inom digitaliseringen. Litteraturstudier har omfattat information beträffande Internet of Things, Connectivity, Industri 4.0, prediktivt underhåll samt affärsmodellering. Resultatet har visat att de mest förekommande kundbehoven är statusmonitorering av utrustning, prediktivt underhåll och högre produktivitet med flera, vilka alla har anknytning till att kunden vill minska sina kostnader. För det digitala ekosystemet kan det konstateras att det aktuella läget är ganska splittrat samt att det ständigt dyker upp nya lösningar och spelare som försöker positionera sig på marknaden. Studien visar likaledes att uppkopplingen till internet bidrar till uppkomst av nya erbjudanden i form av tjänster, varför det förekommer ett ökat behov av att implementera nya serviceinriktade affärsmodeller med nya intäktsströmmar baserade på prenumerationer. / This thesis degree project has been submitted for the degree program in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Business Administration and Manufacturing, at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Sustainable Production Development. The study has been carried out on behalf of Alfa Laval AB, Business Unit GPHE, during the spring term 2019. The goal of this thesis has been to perform a survey of interests in the digital ecosystem, identify customer needs and market players in the field of predictive maintenance and connected products, along with suggesting on possible business models. Alfa Laval’s expectations have been to receive anover view of the currently emerging digital ecosystem and that the project should support the fulfillment of customer needs. Interviews and research of stakeholders have been central methods during the implementation. In the project an investigation was made of different companies to design a mapping model. The study included in-person interviews with market players and end customers to support the survey on cases in which connectivity creates customer value and also to get an overview of strategies used by different market players in digitization. The literature studies have covered topics regarding Internet of Things, Connectivity, Industry 4.0, predictive maintenance and business modelling. The result has shown that the most common customer needs are asset status monitoring, predictive maintenance, higher productivity and others, all of which are related to the customer’s desire of achieving cost reduction. For the digital ecosystem, it can be stated that the current situation is fragmented and that there is a constant emergence of new solutions with quick implementations and new players trying to position themselves in the market. The study also shows that connectivity contributes to the development of new types of services, thus causing an increased need of implementation of new service-oriented business models with new revenue streams based on subscriptions.