<p>Background</p><p>Globalization has opened up new possibilities for firms of all sizes to operate internationally. In that context, especially small- and medium sized companies often have limited resources and market power, which makes efficient relationship building with new intermediaries a key component when entering foreign markets. Therefore, approaching foreign companies and potentially engaging in new business relationships should be a strategic managerial issue.</p><p>Purpose</p><p>The main objective is to analyze how Swedish SMEs in the textile industry should approach German buyers in accordance to their preferences, taking cultural differences into account, as well as maintaining and developing the relationship. The focus will primarily be on the on the stages where the initial contact has been made, thus aiming at advancing in the development process. For this to be achieved, Swedish sellers must know what values to communicate to their counterpart.</p><p>Method</p><p>A qualitative approach has been used in order answer the purpose of the thesis. We have gathered our data from ten in-depth interviews; five with Swedish sellers and five with German buyers. The essential part of the data collection was done over telephone.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>The most critical components that are found to be vital in developing a successful buyer-seller relationship include trust, satisfaction and commitment with all their related aspects. It was found that the product offer plays a critical role in the Early Stage of the relationship development process. Communication is essential for the building of trust and satisfaction and supplements the actions of commitment shown by the parties. Having an understanding on what values the counterpart appreciates and when these are especially important in the respective stages of the relationship building enables the firm to adapt its relationship marketing to the buyers preferences in a cost efficient and successful way.</p>

Background Globalization has opened up new possibilities for firms of all sizes to operate internationally. In that context, especially small- and medium sized companies often have limited resources and market power, which makes efficient relationship building with new intermediaries a key component when entering foreign markets. Therefore, approaching foreign companies and potentially engaging in new business relationships should be a strategic managerial issue. Purpose The main objective is to analyze how Swedish SMEs in the textile industry should approach German buyers in accordance to their preferences, taking cultural differences into account, as well as maintaining and developing the relationship. The focus will primarily be on the on the stages where the initial contact has been made, thus aiming at advancing in the development process. For this to be achieved, Swedish sellers must know what values to communicate to their counterpart. Method A qualitative approach has been used in order answer the purpose of the thesis. We have gathered our data from ten in-depth interviews; five with Swedish sellers and five with German buyers. The essential part of the data collection was done over telephone. Conclusion The most critical components that are found to be vital in developing a successful buyer-seller relationship include trust, satisfaction and commitment with all their related aspects. It was found that the product offer plays a critical role in the Early Stage of the relationship development process. Communication is essential for the building of trust and satisfaction and supplements the actions of commitment shown by the parties. Having an understanding on what values the counterpart appreciates and when these are especially important in the respective stages of the relationship building enables the firm to adapt its relationship marketing to the buyers preferences in a cost efficient and successful way.

Purpose: To describe the Relationship Marketing and Guanxi practices of a western company in China, and to create an understanding regarding the interconnection of Guanxi and Relationship Marketing as the foundation of such practices. Method: The research is qualitative with an inductive relation between theory and the empirical findings. With the research design of a case study of the western business-to-business service company ChinaNetCloud. The empirical material was collected through five semi-structured interviews done in China, with influencing persons of the case study organization ChinaNetCloud. Conclusion: Guanxi should be used to facilitate things and should not be established with anyone. To establish relationships are taking more time and will require many activities to maintain them. Relationship Marketing should be used to target other targets than the bases for Guanxi. The relationship are in China based on already existing connections and it is important that the western company is aware of that the relationship are in some cases of more importance than the product or service.  Face-to-face meeting should be used in order to establish relationships in the best way. Trust and commitment are also important dimensions in the relationships. A western company should use Guanxi and Relationship Marketing since it is important for both survival and success in China.

Title: “SJ AB har kommenterat ditt inlägg”: En kvantiativ och kvalitativ studie om SJ AB:s kommunikation i sociala medier Writers: Fanny Fellman and Moa Grönroos Class, semester, year: Bachelor thesis, 15 HP, winter semester 2014 Number of words in the thesis: 13 566 Problem definition and purpose: Our purpose is to investigate how SJ communicate in social media in crisis. SJ AB is a Swedish train company with traffic across Sweden who may be affected by a variety of crises. Social media use has today grown and now uses just not the Internet for pleasure, but also to ask questions and get feedback. Social media leads us into a new communication scenery, which also applies to organizations to be present. Internet thus play a major role in the battle for the main communication arenas and may even have been one of the most important media to communicate through during a crisis - Internet helps to organize crises, whether you're talking about handling or solutions of crises. In that SJ has many followers in their social media, it puts them in a tight seat and forces them to act. Methods and material: The empirical data is collected through quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative and qualitative material has been collected through fifty posts from SJ's stakeholders in the organization's official pages on Facebook and Twitter. Our selection was due to the social networking SJ had the most activity and the selection of posts were posts that dealt with some form of crisis. Main results: What SJ is at the forefront with is to communicate with their stakeholders within short time. In the majority of posts you could see communication from the organization within an hour race. This suggests that SJ AB concentrates on answering its stakeholders quickly. What pervade their presence on both Facebook and Twitter is that they always, in any form, offers a solution and / or explanation of the situation. In contrast to vary the quality of the solution depending on the social medium terms and the type of crisis terms, and it results in SJ AB's attitude perceived as engaging but also passively. In many of the cases where they explain and offer a solution to the crisis shows they are also a good transparency by showing an openness to the interested about what happened and why. In the majority of the analyzed posts, SJ is confirming rather than taking distance to the crises and problems that stakeholders highlight of their consciousness. On the other hand, sometimes it occurs revulsion if it is felt justified, but then it’s explained closely. SJ strives to have an informal language when communicating via social media, and it's something that generally is consistently communicating on Facebook while on Twitter vary to a greater extent. In the communication via social media so not perceived stakeholder and SJ AB as unequal. The organization adapts to the stakeholder and try to engage in stakeholder's level, speaking not too formal but for dialogue as if it were in real life. Through dedication and simple language achieves SJ AB and stakeholder together with an understanding of the current crisis, and in this way they can together contribute to the crisis dissolves. Keywords: social media, crisis communications, crisis management, SJ AB, strategic communication, relationship building

Society today faces unprecedented social and environmental challenges that are both complex in nature and require immediate and severe action. The financial system is a complex system that has an important impact on the sustainable development of society. Currently, however, the role of the finance system in sustainability is ambivalent, as it invests both in the causes of the sustainability challenge as well as its potential solutions. As the finance system is a complex system collaboration is needed to make change possible. Relationships are a key component of collaboration, and this research looks closer at how relationship building can enable effective collaboration aimed at finance systems change. Research draws on Literature, and a case study of the Finance Innovation Lab including 19 qualitative interviews. In order to build collaborative relationships for a sustainable finance system the results point to: 1) the importance of the individual being present in the initiative rather than the organization they represent, and the importance of connecting on personal level; 2) the complexity of relationship building, with different processes and key elements interrelating; and 3) collaborative relationships being only one part of systemic transformation, requiring also a diversity of people and a clear structure and common strategy to be effective in achieving their goals.

Navigating complexity for change toward sustainability in large companies is best done using a systems perspective, a principled vision of success and a step-wise planning process, as espoused for instance by the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development. Many large companies have a significant contribution to un-sustainability and stand to benefit from such a transition. However, the human factor of the undertaking is as of yet underdeveloped in extant literature. Seeking insights into experiences of sustainability change-agents in large companies, the authors conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with sustainability change- agents in large companies. Using a relational view as an analytical lens, they examined the dynamics of social interactions involving these change-agents and thereby gained a greater understanding of the place held by these individuals in the broader company system. The 11 relational categories that emerged permitted to draw links between structural, behavioural and personal facets of advancing sustainability in large companies and highlighted the human aspect of strategic planning as well as the strategic nature of building relationships, teams and coalitions. Overall, the authors believe that consideration by the change-agents of relational aspects may help foster commitment and collaboration in the transition toward sustainability

While the uptake of cultural safety initiatives is increasing in professional environments, literature on cultural safety lacks reference to the lived experiences and demands of facilitating Indigenous cultural safety training. Using a qualitative and Indigenous approach, this study examined the various challenges and successes involved in facilitating Indigenous cultural safety and anti-racism training from the perspective of facilitators. The diverse sample comprised of 11 facilitators and included those who identified as Indigenous, non-Indigenous or mixed; those who identified as male or female; and those who have worked in post-secondary, healthcare and/or private sector environments. Findings indicate that facilitators, typically highly skilled and perceptive individuals grounded in their identity and critical race analyses, used affect and affective activities that challenge participants to interrogate the ways that power and privilege influence their everyday interpersonal and professional relationships. Affect theory describes the ways in which our bodies have the potential to be creative and respond in new ways; affect and affective activities in Indigenous cultural safety training increased the likelihood of a bodily emergence among participants, which is a necessary and critical turning point to create new relationships to land, others and self. Furthermore, the findings suggest that cultural safety training represents potentially risky spaces, as facilitators must constantly assess and manage the risks of harm, emotional distress and/or taxation for participants and themselves. Finally, the findings reveal possible supports necessary for facilitators to continue this important work. Overall, the findings demonstrate how affect and emergence is foundational to decolonialization and sustainable social change. / Graduate / 2021-04-22

M.Tech (Public Relations Management, Faculty of Human Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / It is of utmost importance for non-governmental organisations not only to use social media when it suits them but also learn to incorporate social media into their communication strategy. This study is focused on the use of social media as a dialogue tool by an NGO in Gauteng province in South Africa, namely, The Teddy Bear Clinic/Foundation (TTBC/F). Data was collected through ten semi-structured interviews with the participants being six full time employees and four volunteers who work in the marketing, public relations and fundraising department and manage the online communication for the organisation. The results of the study revealed that the NGO’s social ties are of primary importance for assuring active donor and stakeholder commitment whilst guaranteeing continued stakeholder engagement, therefore social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter should be treated as an invaluable communication tool. Therefore, an NGO that incorporates social media in its communication strategy influences the participation of the stakeholders in the various support, fundraising and activities that promote its cause. The results of the study also revealed that although the NGO operates several social media platforms, (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) for dialogue and relationship building and nurturing with the stakeholders. It is significantly dependent on Facebook and Twitter. The majority of its employees also believed that the NGO was using social media strategically by sending key messages to the public thereby prioritising and greatly facilitating the exchange of ideas as well as understanding the position of others, so focusing on mutuality and relationships rather than on self-interest.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att få en djupare förståelse för hur utvalda praktiker i kommunikationsbranschen i Karlstad upplever anpassningen av sociala medier och dess roll för relationsskapande genom strategisk kommunikation.  Huvudfrågeställning: Hur upplever de utvalda praktikerna i den bransch som borde vara i framkant inom kommunikation anpassningen av det strategiska skiftet som sociala medier medfört?  o Hur upplever praktikerna sociala mediers roll i den strategiska kommunikationen för relationsskapande?o Hur kan praktikernas upplevelser av relationsskapande genom sociala medier som kommunikationsväg förklaras genom Social Information Processing Theory?o Hur kan praktikernas upplevelser av relationsskapande genom sociala medier som strategisk kommunikation förklaras genom Relationship Cultivation Strategies? Teorier: Social Information Processing, Relationship Cultivation  Metod: I denna studie har vi använt oss av metoden kvalitativa intervjuer och genomfört undersökningen på nio praktiker verkande i byråer inom kommunikationsbranschen. Praktikerna hittades genom Karlstads företagsregister och kontaktades sedan via mejl vid rekrytering. Efter att vi genomfört intervjuerna bearbetades materialet i NVivo där vi med hjälp av resultatet kunde kategorisera olika teman. Genom resultatet analyserade och diskuterade vi fram slutsatser. Slutsats: Inledningsvis kan vi efter våra kvalitativa intervjuer dra slutsatsen att sociala medier möjliggör för olika syften vilket resulterar i att rollen i den övergripande kommunikativa strategin skiljs åt beroende på praktikernas skilda upplevelser. Vi kan även dra slutsatsen att sociala medier främst upplevs som en kommunikationsväg för att intensifiera och integrera relationer, snarare än att initiera relationer, vilket betyder att upplevelserna till viss del kan förklaras genom Social Information Processing Theory. Vi kan också dra slutsatsen att praktikernas upplevelser av relationsskapande i sociala medier kan förklaras genom de flesta kommunikativa insatserna från Relationship Cultivation Strategies, med ett undantag (networking). Dock kan vi också se att strategierna inte alltid appliceras i relationsskapande syfte utan kan grundas i andra motiv. Avslutningsvis kan vi antyda att praktikernas verkan inom kommunikationsbranschen (som bör vara i framkant gällande strategisk kommunikation för relationsskapande) inte förhindrar att praktikerna tampas med att efterleva det de själva predikar. / Purpose: The purpose of the study is to gain a deeper understanding of how selected practitioners in the communications industry in Karlstad experience the adaptation of social media and its role for relationship building through strategic communication. Research question: How do the selected practitioners in the industry who should be at the forefront of communication experience the adaptation of the strategic shift that social media has brought about? o How do the practitioners experience the role of social media in the strategic communication for relationship building? o How can the practitioners experiences of relationship building through social media as a means of communication be explained through Social Information Processing Theory? o How can the practitioners experiences of relationship building through social media as strategic communication be explained through Relationship Cultivation Strategies? Theories: Social Information Processing, Relationship Cultivation Method: In this study, we have used the method of qualitative interviews and conducted the survey on nine practitioners working in agencies in the communications industry. The interns were found through Karlstad's business register and were then contacted via email when recruiting. After we conducted the interviews, the material was processed in NVivo, where we could use the results to categorize different themes. Through the result we analysed and discussed our way to conclusions. Conclusion: Initially, after our qualitative interviews, we can conclude that social media enables different purposes, which results in different roles in the overall communicative strategy depending on the different experiences of the practitioners. We can also conclude that social media is primarily perceived as a communication path to intensify and integrate relationships, rather than initiating relationships, which means that the experiences can to some extent be explained through Social Information Processing Theory. We can also conclude that practitioners' experiences of relationship building in social media can be explained by most communicative efforts from Relationship Cultivation Strategies, with one exception (networking). However, we can also see that the strategies are not always applied for relationship building purposes but can be based on other motives. In conclusion, we can suggest that the practitioners' occupation within the communication industry (which should be at the forefront of strategic communication for relationship building) does not prevent practitioners from struggling to live up to what they preach.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka socialsekreterares och familjebehandlares professionella möte med klienter. Det professionella mötet studeras och analyseras i studien utifrån tre huvudteman: bemötande, allians- och relationsskapande samt rollkonflikter. Studien är av kvalitativ metodansats och grundas i åtta stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer varav fyra med socialsekreterare och fyra med familjebehandlare. Beträffande bemötandet går det att urskilja olika centrala delar av bemötandet. Dessa är lyhördhet, respektfullhet, ärlighet, tydlighet, empati, delaktighet samt val av klädsel. Allians- och relationsskapande är också ett tema som analyseras i studien och respondenterna uppger viktiga faktorer såsom humor, kroppsspråk, tillit och en minskning av klientens fientliga inställning. Dessa faktorer anses vara viktiga i form av att de möjliggör skapandet av en relation mellan den professionelle och klienten. Ytterligare ett tema som analyseras i studien är socialarbetarnas professionella roll, samt rollkonflikter. En slutsats som framkommer är att socialsekreterarnas yrkesprofession innefattar olika roller. De roller som nämns är myndighetsrollen, föräldrarollen och den stödjande rollen. Familjebehandlarna nämner att de har liknande roller, men att de inte besitter någon myndighetsroll, utan den rollen som nämndes som central var rollen som behandlare. I sin yrkesutövning förklarar respondenterna att deras olika roller kan leda till att det uppstår rollkonflikter. / The aim of this study is to investigate the social workers professional meetings with their clients. The professional meeting is studied through three main themes: personal treatment, the building of a relationship and role conflicts. The study is a qualitative method that is built up through eight semistructured interviews. Four of the interviews were conducted with social workers, who works with child and family investigations, while the remaining four were accomplished with social workers who works with family treatment. Regarding the personal treatment, the study found a number of key factors, which were: responsiveness, respectfulness, honesty, clarity, empathy, participation and choice of clothes. The building of a relationship is also a main theme, which is analyzed in this study. Factors mentioned by the respondents are humor, body language, confidence and a reduction of the client's attitude. These factors are considered important since they enable the building of a relationship between the social worker and the client. Another theme that is analyzed in the study is the socialworkers professional role and role conflicts. A conclusion in the study is that social workers who work with investigations have multiple different roles. The roles mentioned are the authority role, the parent role and the supportive role. The social workers who work with family treatment all mentions the same roles. However, they claim that they do not have an authority role but instead, their work includes a treatment role. The respondents explain that the different roles can lead to roleconflicts.