Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2015-07-16T15:25:13Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Luciana Melloni Rocco de Oliveira.pdf: 1753157 bytes, checksum: f8f74b925cdb3cd341b73ee385c989b9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-16T15:25:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luciana Melloni Rocco de Oliveira.pdf: 1753157 bytes, checksum: f8f74b925cdb3cd341b73ee385c989b9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-20 / Clearly, the Brazilian education has grown in recent years occupying mainly from the 90, an important part of the services market in relation to the national economy. According to the school census conducted by the Ministry of Education in the years 2012 and 2013, the private school has increased its enrollment by 3.5 % while the public decreased 1.9 %. With this fact increased competition among educational institutions, with a significant increase in the number of institutions over long period. It became necessary to seek alternative services and invest in diversified and complementary activities that awaken the interest of their consumers. Thus favored the growth and development of extracurricular sports that are optional and extend the semester students. Analyzing these facts, this design for the dissertation aims to understand the impacts of the perceived quality of service of this kind of sport, adherence and compliance of the same from the view of parents. The research will be conducted in four private elementary and secondary education, the southern city of São Paulo. The method is quantitative with the use of the SERVQUAL scale of perceived quality. This analysis was statistics by multiple linear regression with SPSS 22 and Excel software. The sample is non-probabilistic convenience. The results show that the consumer has a positive perception of the quality of extracurricular sport service, is pleased with it and with the institution, but it is not fair or service and not the institution. / A educação brasileira cresceu nos últimos anos ocupando, principalmente, a partir da década de 90, uma parte importante do mercado de serviços em relação à economia nacional. De acordo com o Censo Escolar realizado pelo Ministério da Educação nos anos de 2012 e 2013, a rede privada de ensino aumentou seu número de matriculas em 3,5% ao passo que a rede pública diminuiu 1,9%. Consequentemente supõe-se a existência de uma concorrência entre as instituições de ensino particular. Logo, torna-se necessário buscar alternativas de serviços e investir em atividades diversificadas e complementares que despertassem o interesse, a satisfação e a lealdade de seus consumidores. Neste contexto, o esporte extracurricular enquanto serviço agregado e oferecido por instituições particulares de ensino, ganha certo destaque, na medida que pode ser um diferencial neste segmento educacional. Esta dissertação de mestrado tem como objetivo mensurar a qualidade do serviço esportivo extracurricular oferecido por instituições de educação básica, além de avaliar a lealdade e satisfação dos seus usuários, a partir da opinião dos pais. A pesquisa foi realizada em uma escola particular de ensino infantil, fundamental e médio, da zona sul da cidade de São Paulo. A metodologia utilizada foi quantitativa com a utilização da Escala SERVQUAL de percepção de qualidade. A análise realizada foi estatística através de regressão linear múltipla com auxílio do software SPSS 22 e Excel. A amostra foi não probabilística por conveniência. Os resultados demonstram que o consumidor tem uma percepção positiva da qualidade do serviço do esporte extracurricular, está satisfeito com o mesmo e com a instituição, porém não é leal nem ao serviço e nem a instituição.

At the moment, the largest amount of tissue paper products are consumed in East Asia (which includes China and Japan), Europe and North America, and between 2010 and 2023, consumption of tissue paper products is expected to grow by 3% with the largest growth rate in China. Meanwhile, toilet paper, kitchen towels and facial tissues, combined make up 85.2% of all tissue paper products consumed in 2018. While different factors can be named as responsible for this growth in consumption, it is quite difficult to isolate the product-related factors that contribute to the growth of consumption of tissue paper in different countries due to the fact that tissue products have limited uniform specifications between different suppliers. This means, tissue suppliers and tissue machine manufacturers, like Valmet, are left with the challenge of understanding customers’ motivations behind demand of different tissue paper products. This is the motivation behind this study, which is to investigate what qualities of toilet paper, facial tissues and kitchen towels, are customers in the US, China and Japan satisfied or dissatisfied with. This is compared with measurements of the qualities of these products, like softness, strength, thickness, to determine the ranges of values of the products’ qualities that customers are satisfied with. Online reviews of 34 different brands of tissue paper products are collected ethically from online retailer websites (Amazon US, Amazon Japan, Walmart, JD.com), and analysed using the thematic analysis methodology to identify the list of qualities of tissue products that customers are satisfied or dissatisfied with. Then, the Pareto rule was used to identify the top 20% most important qualities to customers. These 34 brands were also purchased from these online retailers and their different qualities were measured. The results and conclusion from the study revealed different insights, among which is that softness is a must-be quality for toilet papers in all countries studied, while water absorption is a must-be quality for kitchen towels. The study also revealed ranges of the numerical values of these qualities that are acceptable to end consumers. Valmet intends to use the conclusions from the study in engagements with tissue paper suppliers in the three countries regarding product strategies and choice of technology.

El sector de alimentos orgánicos es un nicho que está creciendo exponencialmente por el incremento de personas que se preocupan por mantener una alimentación saludable. Gracias a ello, apareció un nuevo concepto de minorista enfocado a los productos orgánicos, saludables y ecológicos. Estos se conocen como biotiendas o retails especializados de comida orgánica. El presente estudio abarca branding como tema de marketing. Por ello, se investigó la relación entre la lealtad que tiene el público hacia las biotiendas y los factores de la calidad percibida que inciden en ella. A partir de ello, se realizó un enfoque en dos factores: confianza y precio. Los descubrimientos a nivel cualitativo indican que estos factores podrían no incidir en la decisión de compra de la misma manera que sugiere la teoría, pues el público podría no tomar en cuenta los diversos aspectos que abarcan los factores mencionados al momento de elegir el retail al que desea acudir y frecuentar. Además, aparecen nuevos factores que podrían tener mayor incidencia en la lealtad debido al comportamiento de los consumidores en este sector en específico. / The organic food industry is a niche that is growing exponentially due to the increase of people who worry about maintaining a healthy diet. As a result, a new retail concept was developed, where it’s focus is on selling healthy, organic and ecological proucts. These new specialized stores are called biostores or organic food retails. The present study covers branding issues as a marketing field. Therefore, the relationship between the brand loyalty to biostores and the factors of perceived quality that affect it were investigated. The focus was made on two main factors: trust and price. The qualitative findings indicate that these factors may not affect the purchase decision in the same way suggested by the theory, since the target may not pay attention to the different aspects covered in each factor when making a decision to choose which retail they want to visit. In addition, new factors appear that could have a higher incidence in loyalty due to the behavior of consumers in this specific sector. / Trabajo de investigación

El presente trabajo de investigación pretende analizar la estrategia de precio utilizada en las tiendas de productos orgánicos. Además, conocer de qué manera esta estrategia se encuentra relacionada con la calidad que perciben los consumidores de dichos productos. Es importante recalcar que se desea averiguar si estas dos variables influyen en la intención de compra de productos orgánicos. Se han realizado dos focus group con personas pertenecientes al público objetivo primario y dos entrevistas a profundidad a expertos en Marketing y Nutrición, los cuales brindaron información relevante para el análisis posterior que se realizó. La investigación es de carácter no concluyente, el tipo de la investigación será correlacional y el enfoque que se le dará será mixto. / This research work aims to analyze the price strategy used in organic products stores. In addition, knowing how this strategy is related to the quality perceived by consumers of these products. It is important to emphasize that is desired to find out if these two variables influence the intention to buy organic products. It has been realized two focus with people that belongs to the primary target audience and two in-depth interviews with experts in Marketing and Nutrition, which provided relevant information for the subsequent analysis thar was made. The research is inconclusive, the type of research will be correlational and the approach that will be given will be mixed. / Trabajo de investigación

This study provides an integrated approach to understanding the relationship between destination branding and tourist behavior, and attempts to extend the theoretical and empirical evidence about the structural relationships among the following constructs: destination image, perceived quality, destination awareness (elements of destination branding), tourist satisfaction, and tourist loyalty (elements of tourist behavior) in the leisure tourism market. This study develops and empirically tests a destination branding model and its relevant components from the perspectives of tourists, so that it will help destination marketers to build more competitive tourism destinations. The destination brand model is based on relationship marketing theory, signaling theory, and brand equity theory. The model proposed four major hypotheses: 1) destination branding has a direct positive influence on tourist loyalty; 2) destination branding has an indirect positive influence on tourist loyalty through tourist satisfaction; 3) tourist satisfaction has a positive influence on tourist loyalty; and 4) the relationship between destination branding and tourist satisfaction is moderated by trip types. A sample population consisting of residents of Virginia was surveyed. A stratified sampling method and a random sampling method were used to select the sample. A total of 304 usable questionnaires out of 2,000 questionnaires were collected. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test hypotheses in this study. The results revealed that: 1) cognitive destination image and destination familiarity had a direct influence on tourist loyalty as well as an indirect influence on tourist loyalty through tourist satisfaction; 2) affective destination image had only an indirect impact on tourist loyalty through tourist satisfaction; 3) tourist satisfaction had a significant relationship with tourist loyalty; and 4) cognitive destination image, affective destination image, and destination recognition were moderated by trip types. This study can initiate the development of theoretical foundations for destination branding. Also, the implications of these findings can help destination managers and marketers build competitive strategies for destination branding in order to ensure long-term relationships between tourists and their destinations. / Ph. D.

In a competitive environment, ensuring to provide high quality can be considered as one of the key objectives of the organizations. For guaranteeing that, the firms should communicate efficiently regarding quality, in order to influence the consumers´ perception towards quality. A high perception of quality requires a strong brand, which should guide the consumers in their choice and let them to refuse the competitors. Among the different strategies that can be put in place by the firms, co-branding is a joint strategy that is trying to combine the value of both brands in a synergy effect. Ingredient branding is a type of branding that entails the use of a component from one brand in a product of another brand, moreover these stimuli that are influencing the consumers´ behaviour. This stimulus will impact the quality perception of the brand and the consumers´ willingness of choosing the brand, therefore the brand would be preferred to other brands and make the consumer be loyal to the host brand. This study was conducted by employing a quantitative approach based on an experimental design with a focus on the automotive industry. A survey was distributed among students and young professionals, which are considered as actual or prospective car buyers. A total of 116 responses contributed to the sample of this research. The findings show that an ingredient brand with high perceived quality can increase the perceived quality of the host brand and that the increased quality of the host brand can lead to brand loyalty.

Syftet med examensarbetet var att få förståelse för användarperspektivet i fordonsbranschen och de tillhörandetekniska attributen som påverkar den upplevda kvaliteten. Denna kunskap bidrar till ett mer varierat sätt attutvärdera upplevd kvalitet samt hjälper företag att prioritera i produktframtagningsprocessen.Upplevd kvalitet handlar om hur mottagaren av en produkts signaler upplever produktens egenskaper och helhet.Det finns många teorier om hur man kan eller inte kan mäta upplevd kvalitet och inom dessa 20 veckor har dessateorier utvärderats.Med hjälp av en fallstudie på lastbilar och de kvalitativa metoderna semi-strukturerade intervjuer och participantdriven-photo-elicitation, samt kvantitativa metoden enkätundersökning, har de främsta nyckelfaktorerna sompåverkar den upplevda kvaliteten hos lastbilar att tagits fram.De faktorer som påverkar den upplevda kvaliteten av en lastbil visade sig vara utrymme, funktionalitet, pris,hållbarhet och extra saker. Nyckelfaktorerna som ur ett produktionsperspektiv kan vara intressanta var gnissel ocholjud, känslan i materialet, att delar sitter fast, den haptiska känslan i rörliga delar, delningslinjers storlek och attdelningslinjer är parallella, temperatur, lukt och färgskillnader. De övergripande områdena som definierades ochföreslogs som ett ramverk för de viktigaste aspekterna av upplevd kvalitet ur ett användarperspektiv var fastsättning,visuellt och taktilt, atmosfär, funktion och tankesätt.Förarna i undersökningen ser på kvalitet från alla olika perspektiv och avgränsar sig inte till ett smalt område när deska avgöra om något är kvalitet eller inte. Detta gör att det hela blir mer komplext att utvärdera och undersöka.Förarna i intervjuerna påpekar endast de kvalitetsproblem som existerar i nuvarande lastbilar och tänker därför intepå andra faktorer som skulle kunna vara viktigare om det var problem som existerade. Därför är det svårt att heltfrån denna undersökning förändra prioritet angående vilka faktorer som behöver extra fokus iproduktframtagningsprocessen. / The purpose of the master thesis was to gain understanding from the user perspective in the automotive industry andthe technical attributes that influence the perceived quality. This knowledge contributes to a more varied way toevaluate perceived quality and help companies to prioritize in the product development process.Perceived quality describes how the receiver of a product’s signals experience the properties and entirety of theproduct. There are many theories of how it is possible or not to measure the perceived quality and during these 20weeks, these theories was evaluated.Through a case study on trucks, and the qualitative methods semi-structured interviews and participant-drivenphoto-elicitation, and the quantitative method questionnaire, the key factors that influence the perceived quality ontrucks was found.The factors that affect the perceived quality of a truck was spaciousness, functionality, price, durability, and extraitems. The key factors were squeak and rattle, the tactile impression of the material, fixed parts, the haptic quality onmoving parts, gap sizes and parallel lines, temperature, smell and heterogeneity in colour. The overall categories thatwere defined and proposed as a framework for describing the most important aspects of perceived quality from aconsumer perspective were attachment, visual and tactile, atmosphere, function and mind-set.The drivers from the study view quality from different perspectives and does not limit their view to a narrow areawhen they are to decide if a product is quality or not. This makes the problem more complex to evaluate andinvestigate The drivers in the interviews only points out the quality issues that exists in existing trucks, and does notreflect on other factors that could be more important if they existed. Therefore, it is difficult to rely entirely on thisstudy when prioritising which factors that should be in focus during the product development process.

Business decisions are increasingly being made in the higher education institution (HEI) based on their impact to university rankings, sometimes to the detriment of the HEI mission. HEIs are not homogenous, and rankings are inadequate on their own in capturing HEI excellence. This dissertation took a three-pronged approach in addressing quality and excellence in the HEI. First, a case study adapted the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) for a Financial Aid office in a public HEI, illustrating that, with a few modifications, the BSC is an appropriate and holistic approach to addressing quality in the HEI. The primary modification was to place mission at the top of the BSC, reflecting that each of the strategic objectives should be made with mission in mind. Next, survey methods were used to gain insight from upper administrators at public four-year HEIs regarding perceived quality factors. According to survey results, respondents rated Graduation and Retention as the most important indicator of quality. These results were further used to calculate weights of importance for each quality factor, further comparing these weighted factors to methodologies of three rankings systems, and found that the perceived quality factors identified by the respondents did not align with rankings methodologies. Finally, historical data was used to consider which HEIs moved most in their U.S. News and World Report (USNWR) rankings and peer scores. Higher-ranked HEIs were found to have less movement, and lower-ranked HEIs had more movement. Peer scores were found to be variable, although only by incremental amounts. Multiple regression analysis was used to compare USNWR rankings and objective data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and Top American Research Universities (TARU) publication, finding graduation rate to have the strongest relationship with rankings. Ultimately, the wise HEI will find an appropriate mix of aiming for higher rankings and a focus on its mission, and ideally both would be in alignment.

Background: Brand loyalty is a rather old concept and has become a central part of everybrand and there are many factors that need to be considered when choosing strategies in orderto achieve this. However, even though the concept itself is rather set-in stone the research onhow brands archive this in different contexts is constantly in motion, for instance it has beenshown that a brand's Country-of-Origin has effects on consumers purchase intent and attitudeswhich are crucial factors within Brand loyalty.  Purpose: The Purpose of this paper is to explain what effect COO has on brand loyalty of Swedish consumers. Methodology: For this research a quantitative method was used. The research wasexplanatory, and a cross-sectional research design was chosen. After this a questionnaire wasconstructed and shared through two platforms in order to collect the data that was needed forthe research. Findings: Both our hypotheses from the proposed model were rejected, therefore theresearcher could conclude that Country-of-Origin has no effect on brand loyalty of Swedish consumers. Conclusion: Even though both hypotheses were rejected, did the research contribute withknowledge that COO has no significant effect on brand loyalty since such research has notbeen done before. However, the research also contributes with knowledge towards previousresearch, where it has been shown that perceived quality from a country has an effect onconsumers' purchase intent and attitudes. Whereby, our test showed that it also has an effecton brand loyalty when tested alone without the country image.

Yes / This paper presents research into perceived quality of vehicle body split lines / gaps. The survey based methodology combined direct attribute evaluation and choice experiments with multiple test cases, based on static images generated from parametric CAD virtual prototypes of a specific vehicle. The study systematically tested for perception without and with awareness and the Hawthorne bias, showing significant effects. Statistical analysis provided clear evidence of the user preference for smaller gap size, and as such supports target and tolerance setting for the body gap.