Abstract This study is concentrated on value creation in the context of the software business, especially the enterprise system solution business. The purpose of this study is to increase both theoretical and empirical understanding of value creation in this specific context through the integration of economic value creation theories and software development. The theoretical framework includes the perspectives of both the customers and the suppliers, and their interactions during the value creation process. For this study, the main perspective is that of the supplier. The customer, therefore, is like a mirror from which the requirement for action (on the part of suppliers) originates. The main focus is the understanding that the use period is important, which concretises the made-value offering and determines the future of the collaboration. The empirical material is collected through interviews of four software organisations. The research strategy is the qualitative case study, which is fulfilled with the narrative method. The interviews performed were quite expansive, and allowed interviewees to share examples and real-life stories. As a result of the empirical analysis, the use period is at the heart of the value-creation process, because the software’s success depends on the use experience. Understanding both the reason and the use purpose is the key to support customer’s use process. Learning from the customer’s use process is extremely important and increases everyday interaction. It is true, that the focus broadens from evaluating basic attributes of the relationship as a whole to include an evaluation of cumulative experiences. Satisfaction is strongly linked to behavioural outcomes. While use experiences have been researched widely, but their connection to economic theories (and value in particular) is not very well known. Theoretically, the challenge is to connect abstract value concepts to the more practical area of software business theories. This study finds connection by explicitly tying user experiences with the types of efforts that suppliers make (and the theories that inform these efforts) to create value. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimus keskittyy arvontuotantoon ohjelmistoliiketoiminta kontekstissa, erityisesti ratkaisuliiketoimintaan. Tutkimuksen tarkoitus on lisätä sekä teoreettista että empiirista ymmärrystä arvontuotannosta integroimalla taloustieteen arvontuotantoteorioita sekä ohjelmistoratkaisujen kehitystä ja käyttöä. Ohjelmistojen käytöstä syntyvää taloudellista arvoa on tutkittu todella vähän, vaikka käyttäjäkokemukset ovat keskeinen osa ohjelmistojen suunnittelua. Taloustieteen, erityisesti markkinoinnin, näkökulmasta arvoa on tutkittu laajasti, mutta tutkimukset keskittyvät asiakkaan ostopäätöksiin ja myyntiprosesseihin eivätkä tuotteen/ palvelun käytöstä saatavaan hyötyyn. Teoreettinen viitekehys sisältää sekä asiakkaiden että toimittajien näkökulman vuorovaikutuksen aikana arvontuotantoprosessissa. Päänäkökulma on toimittajan, joten asiakas on kuin peili josta vaatimukset saavat alkunsa ja jonka kautta tehdyt ratkaisut tulevat näkyviksi. Empiirinen materiaali on kerätty tekemällä haastatteluja neljässä ohjelmistoalan yrityksessä. Tutkimusstrategia on laadullinen tapaustutkimus, jota on täydennetty narratiivisella menetelmällä. Käyttöjakso on arvontuotantoprosessin sydän, koska ohjelmistoratkaisun menestys riippuu käyttökokemuksesta. Käyttötarkoituksen ymmärtäminen on avain asiakkaan käyttökokemuksen tukemiseen. Asiakkaan käyttökokemuksesta oppiminen on erittäin tärkeää ja osa vuorovaikutusta. Käyttökokemuksen arvioinnissa sekä hyvät että huonot kokemukset kasaantuvat ja saattavat aiheuttaa yllättäviä reaktioita. Tutkimus yhdistää käyttäjien käyttökokemukset ja toimittajan pyrkimykset vaikuttaa näihin kokemuksiin arvonluomiseksi. Käyttäjien kokemalla arvolla on merkitystä sekä ohjelmistoliiketoiminnan kannattavuuden ja kasvun että käyttäjäkeskeisen suunnittelun kannalta.

It was Thomas Babington Macaulay who once stated that “… logicians may reason about abstractions. But the great mass of men must have images”. Recent research on visualization within the manufacturing industry has been focusing around the notion of how to improve performance measures, such as the effectiveness and efficiency of completing a task. Consequently, this led to the dimension of user experience in regard to a visualization becoming relatively neglected. Furthermore, it is mentioned that concepts which are created based on how they are perceived by the customer, have shown to be of significance when creating customer value. Consequently, the purpose of this thesis was to shine light on both of the dimensions of visualization, user performance and user experience, and to study their influence on customer perceived value (CPV) in a business-to-business (B2B) relationship.This thesis was designed as a single case study of a Swedish low-volume, process oriented manufacturing company. Moreover, the case study included two units of analysis, representing current clients involved in two different projects with the company at which the case study was conducted. It is stated that one of the application areas of visualization lies in communication and it can be utilized in order to effectively convey certain information. The information which was in focus in the focal study was the information which is collected during quality control activities performed during the manufacturing process.The findings of the thesis suggest that certain aspects of visualization can have an influence on the functional and emotional dimensions of CPV in a B2B relationship. The conceptually proposed model provides an expanded view on the dimensions of visualization and helps to demonstrate how they stand in relation to the dimensions of CPV, as well as the dimensions used to measure relationship strength in a B2B context. Hereby, the evidence collected during the case study demonstrates that certain relationships between visualization and CPV are suggested to be eminent empirically as well. Thus, suggesting that visualization is an important factor to consider for practitioners in their communication with the customer. / Det var Thomas Babington Macaulay som en gång sa att ”… logiker må resonera kring abstrakta koncept. Den stora massan dock behöver bilder”. Senaste forskningen kring visualisering inom tillverkningsindustrin har fokuserat kring hur man kan utöka användarnas prestanda genom att mäta effektiviteten av nyckeltal så som precisionen av en utfört arbetsuppgift och tiden det tar att utföra uppgiften. Det har således lett till att den andra dimensionen av visualiseringar som syftar på användarnas upplevelse har blivit relativt försummad. Därutöver har det visats att för att skapa värde för kunden bör utvecklaren av ett koncept ha i åtanke hur konceptet uppfattas av kunden. Följaktligen är syftet med det här arbetet att belysa båda aspekterna av visualisering, användarens prestanda och upplevelse, för att studera hur dessa påverkar kundens uppfattade värde (KUV) i ett business-to-business (B2B) förhållande.Examensarbetet var upplagt som en fallstudie på ett svenskt process-orienterad tillverkningsföretag som producerar i låga volymer. Dessutom inkluderade fallstudien två av företagets klienter som är involverade i två olika pågående projekt med det företaget som var del av fallstudien. Ett utav områden inom vilka visualiseringar kan appliceras ligger inom kommunikation och litteraturen har därutöver påvisat att visualiseringar kan användas för att effektivt förmedla information. Informationen som var i fokus under fallstudien är den information som genereras i samband med kvalitetskontrollsaktiviteterna som genomförs under tillverkningsprocessen.Resultatet av examensarbetet antyder att visualisering kan ha en påverkan på den funktionella och emotionella dimensionen av KUV i ett B2B förhållande. Den teoretiskt föreslagna modellen expanderar dagens perspektiv på båda aspekterna av visualisering samt demonstrerar hur dessa aspekter står i relation till dimensionerna kopplade till KUV. Dessutom visas hur visualisering kan påverka de dimensionerna som används för att mäta relationsstyrka i en B2B miljö. Den empiriska data som samlades in som del av fallstudien hjälpte att antyda att vissa relationer mellan visualisering och KUV även kan fastställas i praktiken. Detta indikerar således att visualisering är en viktig faktor för företag att ta hänsyn till i deras kommunikation med kunden.

Objective: The objective of the study is to learn how the customer’s willingness pay after a price increase differs given different product conditions. Specifically, how it differs between high and low involvement products and hedonic and utilitarian products. The objective is also to understand what value drivers it is that affect the customers willingness to pay after a price increase. Methodology approach: An online survey was distributed through social media. The research study was conducted using multiple linear regression and one-way ANOVA using data from 270 participants. Research limitation: The survey used in the study uses scales that have been revised. This means that other important value dimensions that were a part of the original scales have been neglected. Results/conclusion: No significant difference was found between the different product groups. The variables; product quality, service quality were both found to have a positive impact on the outcome variable customer’s willingness to pay after a price increase. The variable transaction cost had on the other hand a negative impact on the outcome variable. Future recommendations: The results of the study indicate that lowering the transaction cost can increase customer’s willingness to pay after a price increase. It also indicates that increasing the product quality and service quality can increase the customer’s willingness to pay after a price increase. Previous research has showed the significant profitability firms can make when they adapt to value-based pricing. Therefore, further studies to investigate the customer’s willingness to pay after a price increase may be of interest.

Generation Z has been in a high-pressure environment for a long time, whether studying or working, and everyone is in a fast-paced attitude of life. The online world, especially video software, is very popular among the Generation Z crowd because these video software can provide fast, convenient, and decompressed content. And when browsing videos, one thing that has to be mentioned is the advertisements. The frequent presence of ads has led to the rapid growth of membership on various platforms. However, YouTube is the most popular video sharing platform in the world. This paper investigates the attitude of the Generation Z user group towards online video ad placement on YouTube. Also, this paper studies and analyzes the value perceptions of Generation Z users. Also, this paper investigates whether users are equally influenced by the experience of ads on similar video software platforms and whether they have common influencing factors. This paper focuses on the impact of three ad delivery methods on Generation Z users' experience, including skippable ads, non-skippable ads, and five-second skippable ads. This paper will use qualitative research methods to conduct one-on-one interviews with respondents to study and analyze the results.

Abstract Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration. Bachelor of Science with Specialization in Marketing – Main Field of Study: Business Administration. School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University, Course Code 2FE21E, 2018 Title: From Bags to Boxes: A Study of the Consumers Perception of Value in Online Fashion Retail Sales Authors: Nadine Bolm, Betty Hartigan Supervisor: Michaela Sandell Examiner: Åsa Devine Background: Online retail sales has been growing steadily since the late twentieth century. Fashion, as a segment of the online marketplace, is the largest market in cyberspace and as new companies are combined with old ones who want to establish a presence online, competition is stifling. As more companies offer fashion in the online world consumers behavior evolves with this new reality and customer-perceived value shifts as the consumers values in their transactions shifts. In order to gain and maintain a strong consumer base companies need to know what the variables are that make up customer-perceived value in hopes of affecting it. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explain the relationship between values of utilitarian nature, those being; monetary savings, convenience, product variety, product information, and customer-perceived value in online fashion retail and to explain the relationship between values of hedonic nature, those being; adventure, gratification, best deal, idea, and customer-perceived value in online fashion retail. Methodology: The research conducted here was an explanatory study to determine how different independent variables related to a single dependent variable. The study was deductive in nature and used a quantitative approach. Independent variables were studied with the use of a convenience sample and self-reporting survey posted online. Statistical analysis was conducted with data collected from 142 valid responses and through the use of validity and reliability methods the data was determined statistically meaningful and valid to test the hypothesis as accepted or rejected.   Findings: The findings of this study show that a new theoretical model was needed to better demonstrate the direct connection between variables that consumers identified as valuable to them in online fashion shopping, had with consumer-perceived value. By examining data collected through online survey it was determined that of the 8 variables, seen as valuable by research into consumer perceived value, 4 would be accepted as such. These 4 variables would become the basis for a new model that explained how consumers develop customer-perceived value. Conclusion: The research explains the relationship the 8 variables selected by previous research for their effect on customer-perceived value. It also provides a model for future research activities or for development of marketing plans with exceptional efficiency and effectiveness in mind. In directly relating each variable to customer-perceived value on its own merit it was found that the variables respondents valued most were of the more practical or utilitarian in nature aside from one, adventure, which possessed the highest level of value of the 8 variables.     Keywords: Customer-perceived value; Utilitarian value; Hedonic value; Online retail; Online fashion retail; Ecommerce; Monetary savings; Convenience; Product variety; Product information; Adventure; Gratification; Best deal; Idea

Value is fundamental in business-to-business marketing, where marketing revolves around the term value. Understanding the value of offering through customers' eyes is important for business success. Due to the subjective nature of value, it's imperative to understand the value based on the customer's individual interpretation. In this context, perceived value plays a central theme for this study, and analyzed in the terms of benefits and sacrifices. But to capture the broader picture of customers' value functional, social, and emotional perceived values were considered. The research questions were formed to investigate the kind of values that customers perceive, and another question was framed to investigate the multidimensionality of values. In order to answer the research questions, a qualitative descriptive approach was applied and through judgmental sampling, respondents were chosen. The five potential customers were interviewed through semi-structured technique. The authors applied the model “value hierarchy” to investigate the customer's perceived value which consists of three layers: attributes, consequences and objects; it shows correlation among the three layers. The laddering technique was used in connection with hierarchy, through this technique authors understood how consumers were able to perceive value in each layer. The tangibilization strategy was used to provide cues that helped build mental construct of services in customer’s minds. Customers assess the services by evaluating its value. The value from the consequences were perceived multidimensionally by customers depending on the attributes. Customers perceived functional value in aspects of saving time and ease of workload. They were able to perceive value socially, when some features helped manage stress among the employees and through provision of these services to end customers saw an increase in firm awareness in the market. Customers also felt a feeling of happiness when using certain attributes especially among the end customers thereby bringing emotional value into the picture. All the different values perceived helped reach their respective end-goals.  The model found useful to investigate the customer value sequentially, also evaluating current customer’s needs. The study revealed that the attributes aren't chosen without a purpose. Customers perceive some benefits from the attributes that help achieve their specific needs. The study was confirmation about integrating the model with different value dimensions helped determine the connection of these dimensions with customer value. The study ends with presenting managerial, theoretical and practical implications and provides ground for future research in exploring other framework of values, followed by limitations of the study.

Presented dissertation is involved in the issue of marketing communication within the framework of relations among supplier/producer of materials – producer of clothing – retailer and customer in the outdoor clothing segment in the Czech Republic. A specific role of the customer is considered in the context of the value co-creation concept with the emphasis on the development and increase of perceived value. A primary objective of the dissertation is the identification of new approaches to the marketing communication with customers within the framework of mentioned relations with the stress on the determination of the synergistic effect of mentioned relations in the influence of various forms of communication to the customers. Partial objectives are defined in link with this objective. The dissertation objectives and individual hypotheses, in which submitted dissertation is interested in, are defined on the basis of the analysis of theoretical starting points and secondary data. Conducted primary research then combines qualitative and quantitative approaches aiming at the analysis and description of the individual parts. Results of research are presented both in the form of partial conclusions characterizing the individual spheres and in the form of summary conclusion. In the formulation of conclusions a strong emphasis is put on the visualization in the form of schematic illustrations of identified principles. The dissertation contains conclusions and recommendations offered to the individual involved parties. The dissertation conclusion summarizes contributions to science and research, practical as well as educational applications. A complex philosophy of the exploration of the theme is completed with an introduction of restrictions of carried-out research and incentives for further research studies in this particular field.

Building upon previous research around value drivers, the purpose for this study was to review what value-drivers the SMEs within the Swedish steel industry find most important in their suppliers and how the industry as a whole can evaluate this information in a value-based selling approach. In today's literature regarding customer perceived value, the focus has been towards service related industries, and mainly within a B2C context. Indicating that there is a need to investigate this aspect further within a B2B setting in other industries than only service related industries. Especially from the customer perspective of SMEs since there is limited research around them and their perceived value in a B2B context. To answer the purpose, this research used a deductive approach applying a previous framework and exploring its application in a new industry. This research was qualitative in design and explorative, interviewing 8 SMEs  operating in the Swedish steel industry. Using semi-structured interviews, transcribing audio recorded data before a thematic analysis was used to interpret the findings. The findings showcased that the SMEs within the Swedish steel industry valued the following attributes regarding their suppliers the most; Reliability, Trust, Product Quality, Price, Solidarity, Responsiveness, Time/Effort/Energy. These value drivers represent the supplier's ability to create long-term and beneficial relationships based on trust, reliability, solidarity and being responsive, as to put in the time and effort needed. Furthermore being able to perform according to their promises with special care towards correct product quality and delivery precision which resulted in becoming a prioritized supplier. Concluded is that the framework used from previous study is in need of adjustments depending on what industry is being explored. Furthermore this study's findings only touch upon the initial relationship building phases of value-based selling. / Baserat på tidigare forskning kring värde attributer var syftet med denna studien att utvärdera SME inom den svenska stålbranschen och sammanställa vilka attribut de värdesätter mest hos deras leverantörer. Samt hur branschen kan använda denna information för att utvärdera värdebaserad försäljning. I dagen litteratur angående kunders upplevda värde ligger fokus på service relaterade industrier inom en B2C kontext. Vilket indikerar att finns utrymme för forsknings kring ett B2B perspektiv inom andra industrier än enbart service relaterad. Speciellt utifrån perspektivet små och medelstora företag (SME), eftersom det finns limiterade studier utifrån kundens upplevda värde från detta segment inom B2B. För att besvara syftet användes ett deduktivt tillvägagångssätt, där tidigare forsknings ramverk kring värde attributer användes för att undersöka dess applicering i en ny kontext och ny marknad. Denna studie var av kvalitativ design och explorativ där åtta stycken SME företag inom den svenska stålbranschen intervjuades. Användandet av semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes där materialet transkriberades innan en tematisk analysmetod användes för tolkningen av datan. Resultatet påvisade att företagen värderade följande attributen hos deras leverantörer högst; pålitlighet, trovärdighet, produkt kvalité, pris, solidaritet, lyhördhet samt tid/energi/ansträngning. Dessa värde attribut representerar leverantörernas förmåga att upprätthålla relationer över tid och bygga relationer baserat som grund av pålitlighet, trovärdighet, solidaritet och lyhördhet att anstränga sig inom relationen. Speciell omsorg nämndes för produktkvalité och leveransprecision för att bli en prioriterad leverantör. Studien konkluderar att ramverket som användes från tidigare forskning behöver uppdateras för att matcha vilken industri som studeras. Resultaten av studien behandlar även enbart de initiala faserna av relationsskapande inom värdebaserad försäljning.

The field of technological subscription-based services are growing, and more organizations are using this strategy to provide their customers with products and services. Even though the market is growing the theories concerning the perceived value of their customers are not. The perception of value is an important part of a company’s strategy and the need for validated aspects concerning this is important to formulate. Customer-perceived value is a complex area and the gap in the theoretical understanding of this in the technological subscription-based products and services needs to be filled. The aim of this research is to explore this field and to gain a better understanding of what situational factors of the perceived value is. The situation studied in this research lies within the visitor-centered organizations perception of value of subscription-based multi-media guides. After an extensive literature review in this area data has been collected through eight semi-structured interviews. This has resulted in the findings of factors that affect both the beneficial and costly domains of the customer-perceived value. It was also clear that the situation plays a big role in the perceived value. The factors that was mentioned most of the respondents were seen as the most influential and these has been presented in a list in the end of the study. The results can be used as a base for future studies to gain a deeper insight in the area and also to conduct more studies to see if different situations have a bigger affect. The results can also be used as a guideline for practitioners within the field as they develop their products and services to increase value for their customers. / Företag som erbjuder tekniska prenumerationsbaserade lösningar blir fler, och allt fler företag använder sig av denna strategi för att förse sina kunder med produkter och tjänster. Även fast denna marknad växer saknas fortfarande teorier som rör området kring vad deras kunder har för upplevt kundvärde. Upplevt kundvärde är en viktig del av ett företags strategi och behovet av validerade teorier kring vilka aspekter som påverkar detta är viktiga att formulera. Upplevt kundvärde är ett komplext område och gapet i den teoretiska förståelsen kring detta inom området som erbjuder tekniska prenumerationsbaserade produkter och tjänster behöver fyllas. Syftet med denna rapport är att undersöka detta område för att få en bättre förståelse för vilka de situationsbaserade faktorer som påverkar det kundupplevda värdet är. Situationen som har studerats i denna rapport ligger i besöksorienterade organisationers upplevda värde av prenumerationsbaserade multi-mediaguider. Efter en omfattande litteraturstudie inom detta område har data samlats in med hjälp av åtta semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Tack vare det insamlade materialet har denna studie resulterat i en lista på faktorer som påverkar både de fördelaktiga samt kostsamma domänerna av det upplevda kundvärdet. Det var även tydligt att situationen spelar en stor roll i det upplevda kundvärdet. De faktorer som nämndes mest av respondenterna har ansetts haft störst påverkan och det är dessa som presenteras i en lista i slutet av rapporten. Resultatet kan användas som bas för fortsatta studier för att fördjupa sig inom området samt för att genomföra fler studier för att se om olika situationer har mer inverkan. Resultatet kan även användas som en riktlinje för de som praktiserar inom fältet när de utvecklar sina produkter och tjänster för att höja värdet för sina kunder.

Manufacturing companies are increasingly serving customers through valuebased offers by adding and integrating more services in their businesses. Although, manufacturers mainly still use cost-based pricing, many are reconsidering their pricing strategies to capture a fair share of the value they create through value-based offers. Therefore, adopting to value-based pricing (VBP) becomes a necessity when competing value-driven. This study explores the barriers to VBP among servitising industrial manufacturers. Related concepts to VBP, such as value-based selling (VBS) and service-dominant logic (SDL) are also discussed in this thesis. The study implemented a qualitative multiple-case study. The case companies provided insights to their VBP journey and the barriers they face, where contextual factors are an important aspect to consider. In the findings, the discovered barriers are divided into internal and external barriers. It is evident that companies should work with SDL and VBS as means for overcoming barriers as they affect the outcome of VBP. Hence, this thesis contributes to the emerging research on VBP, and provides guidance to companies that are on their VBP journey.