Dagens digitala landskap skapar en hög konkurrens om kunder, vilket gör att verksamheter letar efter nya sätt att utveckla och hantera kundrelationer. Arbete med CRM och automatiserad marknadsföring användbart för att få en bättre förståelse för kundens behov och leverera relevant kommunikation. Automatiserad marknadsföring är en datadriven marknadsföringsteknik som används inom digital marknadsföring för att automatisera aktiviteter. Automatiserad marknadsföring inom B2B-verksamheter är ett outforskat ämne inom informatik. Därmed var syftet med studien att undersöka automatiserad marknadsföring och CRM ur ett informatikperspektiv. Syftet var även att bidra med kunskap om hur verksamheter använder data i arbetet med automatiserad marknadsföring och vilka förmågor för dataanalys som är centrala. I denna studie har en kvalitativ undersökning med semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts, där sex respondenter som arbetar med automatiserad marknadsföring inom B2B-verksamheter intervjuats. Studiens resultat och slutsats visar att arbete med automatiserad marknadsföring är ett IT- beroende arbetssystem, där teknik är en central resurs för arbetet. Elementen deltagare, information och teknik bör samverka med arbetsprocesser och aktiviteter för att dra nytta av automatiserad marknadsföring. Dessutom är kunddata betydelsefull information för arbete med automatiserad marknadsföring och CRM. Således bör verksamheter besitta förmågor inom verksamhetsområdena ledning, kultur, teknik och människor för analys av data. Studiens resultat och slutsatser visar att de undersökta verksamheterna besitter relevanta förmågor för dataanalys, vilket möjliggör arbetet med automatiserad marknadsföring och CRM. Eftersom automatiserad marknadsföring handlar om att generera och bibehålla befintliga kunder med hjälp av relevant innehåll, är CRM centralt i detta arbete. / Today's digital landscape creates high competition for customers and organizations are looking for new ways to develop and manage customer relationships. Working with CRM and marketing automation is useful to gain a better understanding of customer needs and deliver relevant communication. Marketing automation is a data-driven marketing technique used in digital marketing to automate tasks. Marketing automation in B2B-organizations is an unexplored topic in information systems. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine marketing automation and CRM through a perspective of information systems. As well as contribute with knowledge of how organizations use data in marketing automation and the data analytics capabilities needed. A qualitative study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with six respondents, who work with marketing automation in B2B-organizations. The results and conclusions of the study shows that working with marketing automation is an IT-reliant work system, where technology is a crucial resource. The elements participants, information and technology should be aligned with processes and activities to benefit from marketing automation. In addition, customer data is meaningful information for working with marketing automation and CRM. Thus, organizations should possess organizational capabilities in governance, culture, technology, and people for analyzing data. The results and conclusions of the study also show the studied organizations possess the data analytics capabilities needed for marketing automation and CRM. CRM becomes pertinent in marketing automation since marketing automation is about generating and retaining customers with relevant content.

Denna kvalitativa studie undersöker den påverkan som stora datamängder och prediktiv analys har på digitala marknadsföringsstrategier i datadrivna verksamheter. Genom djupintervjuer med digitala marknadsförare och dataanalytiker inom olika branscher, bidrar studien med en inblick i respondenternas personliga uppfattning i hur dessa digitala verktyg påverkar deras strategier och affärsverksamhet i det IT-beroende arbetssystemet. Användningen av stora datamängder och prediktiv analys anses som kritiska verktyg för att på ett mer effektivt sätt samla och analysera kunddata och kundbeteenden. Detta eftersom det ger upphov till möjligheten att förutsäga kundtrender och anpassa verksamhetens marknadsföringsstrategier i realtid. Idag har företagens förmåga att på ett effektivt sätt samla in och analysera data en alltmer avgörande roll. Inte bara för att utveckla marknadsföringsstrategier, men även för att uppnå omfattande konkurrensfördelar. Studien antyder att verksamheter som integrerar stora datamängder och prediktiv analys på ett effektivt sätt i sina strategier får en ökad förståelse för sina kundsegment, detta genom en ökad insikt och kan således bättre rikta och anpassa sina marknadsföringskampanjer mot sina kundsegment. Studien uppmärksammar även utmaningar som kommer till följd av faktorer såsom datakvalitet, optimering, etik och andra aspekter som kräver noggrannhet och nödvändiga färdigheter. Framtiden inom digital marknadsföring sträcker sig alltmer mot datadrivna arbetssätt, där det finns en ökad betoning på att ta till analytiska metoder för att fatta beslut. Denna utveckling påvisar ett skifte från de traditionella marknadsföringsstrategierna till en tillämpning av ett datadrivet tillvägagångssätt. Med hänsyn till detta blir det allt viktigare för företag att anamma ett arbetssätt som ökar förmågan att snabbt anpassa sig och tillämpa tekniska verktyg för att kunna utnyttja denna potential.  Sammanfattningsvis belyser denna kvalitativa studie vikten av att integrera stora datamängder och prediktiv analys i affärs- och marknadsföringsstrategier. Detta visar sig ha en stor inverkan på att inte enbart förbättra verksamhetens marknadsföring utan även stärka den övergripande affärsverksamheten. Vilket understryker behovet av att kontinuerligt utveckla kompetenser och strategier inom dataanalys för att skapa förståelse för hur dessa kan transformera kundrelationer och affärsresultat. Detta perspektiv baseras på tolkningar av intervjuer med marknadsförare inom IT-beroende arbetssystem, och bör ses som insikter som är specifika för de undersökta fallen snarare än breda generaliseringar. / This qualitative study explores the impact of big data and predictive analytics on digital marketing strategies in data-driven businesses. Through in-depth interviews with digital marketers and data analysts in different industries, the study provides an insight into the respondents' personal perception of how these digital tools affect their strategies and business operations in the IT-reliant work system. The use of big data and predictive analytics are considered critical tools to more effectively collect and analyze customer data and behavior. This is because it gives rise to the ability to predict customer trends and adapt the business' marketing strategies in real time. Today, companies' ability to effectively collect and analyze data plays an increasingly crucial role. Not only to develop marketing strategies, but also to achieve significant competitive advantage. The study suggests that businesses that effectively integrate big data and predictive analytics into their strategies gain a better understanding of their customer segments through increased insight and can thus better target and adapt their marketing campaigns to their customer segments. The study also highlights challenges arising from factors such as data quality, optimization, ethics and other aspects that require accuracy and necessary skills. The future of digital marketing is increasingly moving towards data-driven approaches, where there is a greater emphasis on using analytical methods to make decisions. This development demonstrates a shift from the traditional marketing strategies to an application of a data-driven approach. In light of this, it is increasingly important for companies to adopt an approach that enhances their ability to quickly adapt and apply technological tools to exploit this potential. In conclusion, this qualitative study highlights the importance of integrating big data and predictive analytics into business and marketing strategies. This proves to have a great impact on not only improving the organization's marketing but also strengthening the overall business operations. This underlines the need to continuously develop data analytics skills and strategies to understand how they can transform customer relationships and business performance. This perspective is based on interpretations of interviews with marketers in IT-reliant work systems, and should be seen as insights specific to the cases studied rather than broad generalizations.

This dissertation utilizes theories of deviance in conjunction with literary methods of reading and analyzing to study a range of deviant or transgressive characters in American literature of the 1840s and 50s. I justify this methodology on the basis of the intersecting and related histories of Emersonian self-reliance and deviance in American thought. I contend that each of the texts of self-reliance discussed by the dissertation – The National Police Gazette (1845-present), Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) and My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), Margaret Fuller’s Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845), Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” (1849) and Walden (1854), and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The Blithedale Romance (1852) – actually sanctions deviance. Since deviance is endorsed by these texts in some shape or form, it is a critical component of American culture; consequently American culture is one that promotes deviance. My work on Douglass and Thoreau employs the sociological theories of Robert K. Merton (1949) to investigate the tensions between the culturally lauded goal of self-reliance and the legitimate means for securing this. I explore the importance of Transcendentalist self-reliance to the American Dream ethos and the ways in which it is valorized by each protagonist. The work on the National Police Gazette puts popular and elite forms of literary discourse into conversation with one another. My primary concern here is with explaining why and how specific self-reliant behaviours are deemed “deviant” in the literary context, but “criminal” by popular works. The chapters on female deviance elucidate the confines of women’s writing and writing about women as well as the acceptable female modes of conduct during the nineteenth century. They also focus on the ways female characters engaged in deviance from within these rigid frameworks. A functionalist interrogation of female deviance underscores the ways society is united against those women who are classed as unwomanly or unfeminine. My conclusion seeks to reinvigorate the conversation regarding the intersection between literature and the social sciences and suggests that literature in many ways often anticipates sociological theory. Ultimately, I conclude by broadening the category of the self-reliant individual to include, for instance, females and African-American slaves who were otherwise not imagined to possess such tendencies. Thus, this dissertation revises notions of Emerson’s concept of self-reliance by positioning it instead as a call to arms for all Americans to engage in deviant or socially transgressive behaviour.

This dissertation utilizes theories of deviance in conjunction with literary methods of reading and analyzing to study a range of deviant or transgressive characters in American literature of the 1840s and 50s. I justify this methodology on the basis of the intersecting and related histories of Emersonian self-reliance and deviance in American thought. I contend that each of the texts of self-reliance discussed by the dissertation – The National Police Gazette (1845-present), Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) and My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), Margaret Fuller’s Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845), Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” (1849) and Walden (1854), and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The Blithedale Romance (1852) – actually sanctions deviance. Since deviance is endorsed by these texts in some shape or form, it is a critical component of American culture; consequently American culture is one that promotes deviance. My work on Douglass and Thoreau employs the sociological theories of Robert K. Merton (1949) to investigate the tensions between the culturally lauded goal of self-reliance and the legitimate means for securing this. I explore the importance of Transcendentalist self-reliance to the American Dream ethos and the ways in which it is valorized by each protagonist. The work on the National Police Gazette puts popular and elite forms of literary discourse into conversation with one another. My primary concern here is with explaining why and how specific self-reliant behaviours are deemed “deviant” in the literary context, but “criminal” by popular works. The chapters on female deviance elucidate the confines of women’s writing and writing about women as well as the acceptable female modes of conduct during the nineteenth century. They also focus on the ways female characters engaged in deviance from within these rigid frameworks. A functionalist interrogation of female deviance underscores the ways society is united against those women who are classed as unwomanly or unfeminine. My conclusion seeks to reinvigorate the conversation regarding the intersection between literature and the social sciences and suggests that literature in many ways often anticipates sociological theory. Ultimately, I conclude by broadening the category of the self-reliant individual to include, for instance, females and African-American slaves who were otherwise not imagined to possess such tendencies. Thus, this dissertation revises notions of Emerson’s concept of self-reliance by positioning it instead as a call to arms for all Americans to engage in deviant or socially transgressive behaviour.

Dagens samhälle genomgår förändringar av betydande karaktär som i stor utsträckningdrivs av digitalisering. En av de mest påtagliga förändringarna som påverkar företagenär förändringarna i konsumentbeteendet. Dessa dramatiska förändringar utgör enbetydande utmaning för företag då traditionella metoder för kundhantering inte längre ärtillräckliga.Betydelsen av Customer Relationship Management (CRM), utifrån ett analytiskttillvägagångssätt, blir då avgörande för att bättre hantera kundrelationer i dagens högtkonkurrerande arbetsmiljö. Analytisk CRM är ett IT-beroende arbetssystem däranvändaren av data och analys utför processer och aktiviteter som gör att erbjudnaprodukter och tjänster i högre grad möter kundernas behov. Studiens övergripande målär att genom insikter förstå hur beslutsfattare upplever olika faktorers påverkan påderas förmåga att använda analytisk CRM för att stödja deras beslutsfattande samt desociotekniska förändringar som genereras av det. För att uppnå detta antogs enkvalitativ forskningsmetod där djupintervjuer genomfördes. Sju respondenter, medvarierande roller som Business Analyst, Data Scientist, Marknadschef och CRMansvarig intervjuades för att få deras insikter och erfarenheter om analytisk CRM.Studiens resultat och slutsats visar på att beslutsfattare anser kundcentrering ochinformationsteknik som avgörande faktorer för användningen av analytisk CRM.Kundcentreringen skapar en datadriven miljö som främjar datadriven beslutsfattandegenom användningen av data och analys. Det genererar sociotekniska förändringar påbåde djupare och ytmässiga nivåer. Informationstekniken spelar en avgörande roll iinsamling, hantering och analys av data. Detta påverkar beslutsprocesserna till att blidatadrivna och stärker beslutsfattarnas förmåga att fatta välgrundade beslut.Sociotekniska förändringar som generades av informationstekniken var på ytliga nivåer. / Society today is undergoing significant changes largely driven by digitalization. Onetangible change that impacts businesses is the shift in consumer behaviour. Thesedramatic changes pose a significant threat for companies as traditional methods forcustomer management are no longer sufficient.The significance of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), based on an analyticalapproach, therefore becomes crucial to better manage customer relationships in today’shighly competing work environment. Analytical CRM is an IT-reliant work system whereparticipants of data and analysis perform processes and activities that enable offeredproducts and services to better meet the needs of customers. The overall goal of thestudy is to understand through insights how decision-makers' experience variousfactors' impact on their ability to utilize analytical CRM to support their decision making,as well as the sociotechnical changes generated by it. To achieve this, a qualitativeresearch method was adopted, where in-depth interviews were conducted. Sevenrespondents, with varying roles as Business Analyst, Data Scientist, Marketing Managerand CRM Manager, were interviewed to get their insights and experiences on analyticalCRM.The study’s results and conclusion show that decision-makers consider customercentricity and information technology (IT) as a pivotal factors' influencing the use ofanalytical CRM. Customer centricity fosters a data-driven environment that promotesdata-driven decision-making through the utilization of data and analysis. It generatessociotechnical changes on both deeper and surface structures. IT plays a critical role inthe collection, management, and analysis of data. This impacts decision-makingprocesses to become data-driven and enhances the decision-makers' ability to makedata-driven decisions. Sociotechnical changes generated by information technologywere at surface structures.

This study investigated and evaluated the success and impact of the foodstuff package intervention that is offered by SOS Children’s Villages to households affected by HIV and AIDS. The study population comprised households who were involved in the food parcel distribution intervention, those affected by HIV and AIDS, those individuals who were able to talk freely about their lives as full participants and recipients of food parcels, and those aged 18 years and older. This study determined how food parcel intervention promotes self-sufficiency post-intervention. This was determined by interviewing recipients of food parcels from 2010 to 2018. The food parcel dissemination has been a core intervention to families affected by HIV and AIDS, but yielded very little progress towards assisting people to reach self-reliance. The aim of the study was to gain an understanding of the food parcel intervention using a qualitative research design. This study focused only on families affected by HIV and AIDS, including young people aged eighteen years and above. The study was based on a purposive sampling method with in-depth and focus group interviews as a means of collecting data. The results and implications of this study are discussed in depth in this research report. Essentially, the findings of this study could inform the development of policies and strategies to be considered for possible implementation by NGO’s and government in supporting family units affected by HIV and AIDS. / Sociology / M.A. (Social and Behavioural Studies in HIV and AIDS)