Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-09-25T13:15:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Irineu Lopes Trigo.pdf: 1407725 bytes, checksum: 698a65958d69240fd6a5a115ab3763db (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-25T13:15:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Irineu Lopes Trigo.pdf: 1407725 bytes, checksum: 698a65958d69240fd6a5a115ab3763db (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-14 / Relationship marketing has been the focus of studies and applications in several areas of business and theoretical convergence with others marketing references. However, the competitiveness, amount of offers and customer information level transformed exchange not continued insufficient for many markets. In this way, narrower relationships with customers and business partners have become drivers for the sustainable profitability of business relationships, and customer retention becoming a key concept that demands the identification of ingredients that contribute to its theoretical and practical improvement. Thus, through an exploratory research and statistical process to models that bring together non-measurable variables, this research proposed the empathy construct as relationship quality and commitment predictor and analyze its influences on customer retention. It should be emphasized that the proposed model seeks to fill a gap in relational marketing theory that has not been detected until nowadays in the academic bases. The research covered the relationship marketing literature review as well empathy, relationship quality, commitment and customer retention and the data treatment was done through the structural equation modeling by SmartPLS software. The results from analysis has shown model quality and accuracy suggesting that empathic abilities prove to be useful for managerial action in the presented context / O marketing de relacionamento tem sido foco de estudos e de aplicações em diversas áreas de negócios e de convergência teórica com outras referências do marketing. Todavia, a competitividade, a quantidade de ofertas e o nível de informação dos clientes tornaram a troca não contínua insuficiente a muitos mercados. Nesse contexto, relacionamentos mais estreitos com clientes e parceiros de negócios assumem o papel de direcionadores da rentabilidade sustentável das relações de negócios, com a retenção de clientes passando a ser um conceito-chave que demanda a identificação de elementos que contribuam para seu aprimoramento teórico e prático. Dessa forma, por meio de pesquisa exploratória e processo estatístico adequado à modelos que congreguem variáveis não mensuráveis, esta tese propôs a abordagem da empatia como construto preditor da qualidade do relacionamento e do comprometimento e suas influências na retenção de cliente. Destaque--se que o modelo proposto procura cobrir lacuna nos estudos do marketing relacional que não foram detectadas, até a presente data, junto às bases acadêmicas. A pesquisa abrangeu a revisão da literatura do marketing de relacionamento e dos construtos empatia, qualidade do relacionamento, comprometimento e retenção de clientes, com o tratamento dos dados sendo feito por meio da modelagem de equações estruturais com o emprego do software SmartPLS. Os resultados das análises demonstraram a qualidade e acurácia do modelo, sugerindo que habilidades empáticas se mostram úteis à ação gerencial no contexto apresentado

The goal of this thesis is to propose strategies that profitably stimulate repeat purchase behaviour of Solosso's customers, Solosso being an e-commerce start-up producing custom made dress shirts. In order to accomplish the stated goal, research has been conducted into the existing body of literature about the subject, models for managing customers for value have been presented and applied on Solosso's customer database. Additionally, customer survey has been conducted to better understand customers' behaviour. Based on the applied models and the findings from the survey, the thesis delivers a set of recommendations on how to improve the product, what customers to acquire and, finally, what strategies to employ in order to profitably stimulate repeat purchase behaviour of the four main groups of Solosso's customers. The methods and strategies are expected to generate substantial incremental profits and may be implemented in other businesses as well.

The purpose of this thesis is to explain how satisfaction, trust and commitment impacts customer retention and word-of-mouth communication within the industry of Speciality Stores. The study takes off from a historical perspective where the development of marketing is presented, which ultimately leads to customer relationship management (CRM). The study raises the components of customer loyalty and the difficulties of how to build successful customer relationships within the industry of Speciality Stores. A survey questionnaire is conducted and distributed digitally to respondents that are customers of an anonymous company within the industry under investigation. The main findings in this study are that companies within the industry of Speciality Stores can achieve word-of-mouth communication through customer satisfaction and trust. The study also finds that the features of customer satisfaction have a stronger impact on word-of-mouth communication than the features of trust. This means that it is these features of the ones treated in this study that companies within the industry of Speciality Stores should enact in order to best achieve word-of-mouth communication among its customers.

Under the four forces of opening up of domestic telecommunication market, breakthroughs in information and communication technology, changes in consumer demand, and supplier¡¦s race for economic efficiency, industry structures have transformed. What used to be three distinct industries of divergent directions of development ¡V network service (computers), telecommunication (telephones) and cable television (television), are interacting. The market is growing rapidly with combined digital flow of the three industries. Broadband internet played a key role in such transformation. ADSL broadband internet service has prospered in recent years. As the internet population approach maturity, the market has changed focus from quantity to quality. There are two major challenges to fixed network internet service providers are: To increase market share by attracting more customers to its service base, and retain customers to minimize loss of customers. Telecommunication service providers attract new customers by offering special prices with gifts, they retain customers by elevating switching cost and long term contracts. But the result of price-cutting competition was erosion of profit margin. Customer loyalty is also swayed by low prices met by competitors. Under such intense competitive environment, service providers are actively developing digital content and making investment in fiber optic broadband to mitigate loss. It is hoped that richer internet content and faster speed broadband can attract more customers and increase customer revenue contribution. The subject of this study are ADSL broadband internet users in the greater Kaohsiung area, the regions surveyed include Kaohsiung County and Kaohsiung City. A questionnaire was used as the data collection tool. The survey was conducted on a convenient sample. Data was analyzed using SPSS statistical software. The influence of customer¡¦s expected future benefits, overall customer satisfaction and marketing strategies on customer retention were investigated. Furthermore, the interaction effects were also reviewed. The results of the study are: I.The most important factor in influencing customer retention is overall customer satisfaction, followed by marketing strategy and customer¡¦s expected future use. Further results are derived from analysis: 1.Overall customer satisfaction, customer¡¦s expected future use and marketing strategy showed significant positive influence on customer retention. 2.The influence of overall customer satisfaction, customer¡¦s expected future use and marketing strategy on customer retention vary in strength. 3.Marketing strategy showed significant positive influence on overall customer satisfaction and customer¡¦s expected future use. 4.With respect to the degree of influence on customer retention, overall customer satisfaction showed greater influence than marketing strategy and customer¡¦s expected future use. II.Customers exhibit high expectations for future use¡C Telecommunication service provider satisfying the following ¡§customer¡¦s expected future use¡¨ will significantly enhance customer retention. 1.Provide value-adding services. 2.Provide more value-adding application content. 3.Offer better prices. 4.Exchange fiber optic with ADSL in the future at free of charge

The purpose of this thesis is to find if the Swedish Generation Y is more brand loyal to cell phones compared to other consumerelectronic, and to find out if some set factors of loyalty affects Generation Y's loyalty more than other.  The conclusion of this thesis is that Generation Y is more loyal to their cell phone brand compared to other consumer electronics, and that the set factors presented are affecting their brand loyalty to different extent.

With the significant shifts and upheaval in the marketplace due to digitalisation, and evolving customer behaviour, it is becoming increasingly imperative for businesses to build and maintain strong connections with their customers. This new business setting causes major implications for companies’ formulation of strategies. Therefore, this thesis aims to map out points-of-parity and points-of-difference with regards to how two companies leverage customer emotion, customer engagement and customer loyalty in order to achieve growth, which is defined as the stages of customer acquisition, customer development and customer retention. In addition, the purpose is to explore advocacy and its role for igniting further growth. The study is conducted in the form of a comparative case study of two digital B2C companies: the media company Freeda and the food delivery service Deliveroo. The Framework for Customer Growth and the Cycle of Advocacy-Ignited Growth guide the analysis. The main findings include that companies’ core propositions determine their emotional strategy as well as personalisation being considered the most significant aspect of customer engagement. Moreover, the role of advocacy can be taken on by various stakeholders and is not limited solely to customers.

[pt] O atual ambiente organizacional está marcado por uma alta competitividade, elevada turbulência e por mudanças rápidas e descontínuas no macro ambiente das empresas. O cenário exige foco no cliente e estratégias voltadas para manutenção de um relacionamento profícuo para ambas as partes (cliente e empresa), com visão de longo prazo. Esta dinâmica de mercado é o foco principal desta pesquisa, que está centrada na retenção de clientes, como estratégia competitiva para aumento de valor para empresa. O objetivo, então, é desenvolver uma ferramenta que auxilie na definição do perfil de clientes mais propensos a romper o relacionamento (churn), permitindo que a empresa antecipe-se a este acontecimento, tornando-se mais próativa, e assim, sendo mais eficiente nos seus processos de negócio. Com este propósito foi feita uma revisão bibliográfica sobre comportamento do consumidor, marketing de relacionamento, retenção de clientes, segmentação de mercado e churn em telecomunicações. Depois do embasamento teórico e direcionamento oferecido pelas obras consultadas, foi realizada a aplicação prática de uma ferramenta estatística na base de dados disponível de uma empresa de telecomunicações, utilizando regressão logística binária para o modelo de propensão de cancelamento. O resultado alcançou uma taxa de acerto geral de 79,2%, composto por 13 variáveis que podem facilitar a identificação do perfil de clientes com maior probabilidade de cancelamento, indicando ainda, que apenas 8% da base apresentam mais de 80% de chance de serem cancelados. Estes resultados demonstram a possibilidade e importância da identificação de clientes propensos ao churn, assim como daqueles que a empresa deve atrair e reter para ser capaz de desenvolver práticas eficientes e lucrativas. / [en] The current organizational environment is marked by a high competitiveness, high turbulence and rapid and discontinuous changes in companies’ macro environment. Scenario requires focus on customers and strategies geared towards maintaining a fruitful relationship for both parties (customer and company), with long-term vision. This dynamics of this market is the main focus of this research, which focuses on customer retention as a competitive strategy to increase value for companies. The objective then is to develop a tool that assists in defining the profile of customers most likely to break the relationship (churn), allowing the company forward to this event, becoming more pro-active, and thus being more efficient in their business processes. In this regard was a comprehensive literature review on consumer behavior, relationship marketing, customer retention, market segmentation and churn in telecommunications. After the theoretical basis and guidance offered by works consulted, the practice was performed by a statistical tool based on data available from a telecommunications company, using binary logistic regression model for the propensity of cancellation. The result achieved an overall success rate of 79,2%, composed of 13 variables that may facilitate identification of the profile of customers most likely to cancellation, further indicating that only 8% of the database have more than 80% chance to be canceled. These results demonstrate the possibility and importance of the identification of customers likely to churn, as well as those that the company must attract and retain to be able to develop efficient and profitable practice.

In order for firms to be able to compete on the market, it is of importance for them to create value for their customers. Value is not only the outcome from providing the customer with a product of high quality, since value co-creation can occur when firms interact with their customers and create strong relationships with them. Therefore, relationship quality is of interest for any firm that want to succeed with their sales proposals. However, although firms work with value creation for their customers, there is always a risk for the defection of customers. Firms need to gain knowledge about the reasons why customers decide to switch to another supplier. The aim of this study is to investigate why Swedish firms that operate in the industrial business-to-business (B2B) sector’s customers switch to another supplier, despite the supplying firms’ efforts in working with value creation. This is a qualitative study, where in-depth interviews have been conducted with employees at two different industrial, manufacturing companies. It was found that the aspects that have been stated as valuable for customers in business relationships; product quality, delivery, service, price, communication and distance, are also reasons why customers decide to leave a cooperation. Meaning that these aspects can create value for customers, however, when it is not managed properly there is a high risk that customers will switch suppliers since the value the firm created for the customer is not enough. In addition to this, factors that can be hard for firms to control, such as distance, time differences and language can have a great impact on customer value and retention.

No description available.

The outbreak and global spread of the coronavirus took the world by storm and beyond the evident threat it is to the human well-being, it is also impacting the health of businesses. In Finland it was only a matter of weeks after the government the 16th of March started to implement efforts to limit the spread, that a large marketing agency, among other firms, was forced to file for bankruptcy. The seemingly sudden crisis gave rise to a curiosity and interest in how Finnish marketing agencies are handling the situation and what implications it has for the way they do business and subsequently also marketing. Reviewing the academic literature on crisis management, the lack of integration fields between became evident; crisis management has gained most attention within management studies, meanwhile studies with an integrated marketing perspective is lacking. The realisation that the breakdown of relationships is a major threat in a crisis, meanwhile marketing agencies’ business model essentially is built upon agency-client relationships, their particular view on and approach to maintaining and strengthening client relationships during the crisis became a key interest for this thesis. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to gain insight into how Finnish marketing agencies approach crisis management and nurture client relationships in the current covid-19 crisis. A qualitative research approach was taken as the interest and purpose of the study lies in gaining rich insight into the situation and its context, rather than statistically proving a point. Eight semi-structured interviews with professionals from different marketing agencies in Finland was consequently conducted, after which the data was organised and interpreted through a thematic analysis. The results from the study implicates that marketing agencies are relatively unprepared for crises of any type and have adopted a reactive approach when dealing with the covid-19 crisis. Further, the situation is characterised by feelings of support and solidarity both within and among the marketing agencies, their clients, consumers and society at large, which has been expressed to be one of the upsides to the otherwise very dark and serious situation. From marketing agencies’ side, it has also given rise to a more attentive and sensitive tone in communication towards both clients and consumers.