To date, limited means of accurately measuring the communal organisational public relationships between an organisation and its various publics have been developed. Researchers and practitioners have acknowledged the need for a more accurate measurement tool. Previous analysis of communal relationships has typically been done in an anecdotal or non-quantifiable way. This study explores a new method of quantifying the relationship between an organisation and its publics and identifies the key themes and components that are important to a successful organisation-public relationship (OPR); this method allows organisations to more accurately measure their OPRs, diagnose their strengths and weaknesses and quantify changes in the relationships over time. In so doing, organisations will be able to improve their relationships with their stakeholders and work more effectively to achieve mutually beneficial goals. The study's findings contribute to defining the components that can be used to develop a tool that can be used by the public relations profession to more accurately reflect the status of communal relationships, and, perhaps more importantly, the changes in the status of the relationships over time. Increased objectivity in reflecting the status of the relationships between an organisation and its publics is likely to enable the profession to elevate its perceived status by providing a better service to organisations and their publics. This, in turn, will allow senior management teams to see clearly the value that public relations can provide to maximise the success of the organisation. The data obtained from this research provide insights into the priorities and expectations that external stakeholder groups have of organisations and how these expectations can be grouped into three key areas - how they are treated, the value that the relationships represent to them and how effective the communication is. The results provide practitioners with a valuable insight into ways of improving these OPRs, which in turn could assist organisations in achieving their goals.

To date, limited means of accurately measuring the communal organisational public relationships between an organisation and its various publics have been developed. Researchers and practitioners have acknowledged the need for a more accurate measurement tool. Previous analysis of communal relationships has typically been done in an anecdotal or non-quantifiable way. This study explores a new method of quantifying the relationship between an organisation and its publics and identifies the key themes and components that are important to a successful organisation-public relationship (OPR); this method allows organisations to more accurately measure their OPRs, diagnose their strengths and weaknesses and quantify changes in the relationships over time. In so doing, organisations will be able to improve their relationships with their stakeholders and work more effectively to achieve mutually beneficial goals. The study's findings contribute to defining the components that can be used to develop a tool that can be used by the public relations profession to more accurately reflect the status of communal relationships, and, perhaps more importantly, the changes in the status of the relationships over time. Increased objectivity in reflecting the status of the relationships between an organisation and its publics is likely to enable the profession to elevate its perceived status by providing a better service to organisations and their publics. This, in turn, will allow senior management teams to see clearly the value that public relations can provide to maximise the success of the organisation. The data obtained from this research provide insights into the priorities and expectations that external stakeholder groups have of organisations and how these expectations can be grouped into three key areas - how they are treated, the value that the relationships represent to them and how effective the communication is. The results provide practitioners with a valuable insight into ways of improving these OPRs, which in turn could assist organisations in achieving their goals.

The competitive market of today is characterized by globalization, increased demands from customers and similarities of products and services. High demands are thus put on organizations ability of differentiating themselves from competitors acting on the same market. Within this area, the customer relationship itself has turned out being an efficient tool. In addition, a high quality customer relationship is considered as an important factor when creating loyal customers, growth, profitability and competitive advantages. In order to reach high quality customer relationships, an ability of identifying and validate actions aimed for relationship quality improvements is needed as well as clear guidelines and managerial support regarding creation of value adding activities supporting such process. This thesis is supposed to, by the creation of a model, make improvement processes of customer perceived relationship quality in a B2B context possible. The model consists of actions and tools aimed for measurement of customer perceived relationship quality and identification of value adding activities from a customer perspective. The developed model is encapsulated by three steps, take-off, investigation and action/evaluation. The developed model was tested in a case study and it turned out to be practically applicable. It had a positive effect on the customer perceived relationship quality and additionally on the dyad´s transaction costs. / Dagens konkurrensutsatta marknad karaktäriseras av globalisering, ökade kundkrav och likheter mellan aktörers produkter och tjänster. Stora krav ställs således på företags förmåga att differentiera sig själva gentemot konkurrenter på samma marknad. Inom detta område har själva kundrelationen och dess kvalité visat sig vara ett effektivt verktyg. En högkvalitativ kundrelation anses vara en viktig faktor i skapandet av lojala kunder, tillväxt, lönsamhet samt konkurrensfördelar. För att driva en organisation i en riktning mot högkvalitativa kundrelationer krävs förmågan att identifiera och validera förbättringsåtgärder samt tydliga riktlinjer för skapande av värdeskapande aktiviteter i ett sådant syfte. Den här rapporten syftar till att genom skapandet av en modell, möjliggöra mätning av den kunduppfattade relationskvalitén samt genomföra förbättringsprocesser av den kunduppfattade relationskvalitén via identifiering av värdeskapande aktiviteter utifrån ett kundperspektiv. Tillvägagångssättet är uppdelat i tre steg med en förberedande fas, följt av en undersöknings samt en implementering/utvärderings – fas. Dess praktiska relevans är testad genom en fallstudie där processen visade sig vara tillämpbar. Vid modellens test visade den sig ha positiv effekt på den kundupplevda relationskvalitén samt även relationens transaktionskostnader.