The logistic business Svenska Retursystem AB was founded by the Swedish retail sector in the year 2000, and their introduction of a grey plastic crate to the supply chain for perishable goods changed the situation for the swedish horticultural sector. The new system revealed several challenges to be tackled by all actors, from the small family firm to the bigger organisations. Whereas the initiative comes from the customer himself, from the horticultural sector ?s point of view, a refusal of the new packing is a hard decision to take. It is however interesting that a comparison between the two systems, shows in favour of the corrugated board boxes, not only concerning environmental aspects but also for economical and ergonomical reasons.

Some theorist, like George Ritzer and Max Weber, claim that everything has its optimal process and that all companies therefore will strive towards standardization. Researchers like Paco Underhill and Pine & Gilmore on the other hand, claim that an increasingly global competition forces businesses to focus more on consumer demands, experiences and differentiation. This thesis challenges these statements with empirical data by looking at shopping malls and their strategies as well as consumer preferences. It arrives at the conclusion that output is primarily driven by customer demand, and that consumers value a certain part of predictability..

Consumer generated advertising is a new phenomenon in the landscape of communication. Tools such as the Internet enable the consumer to create and spread messages for brands without the permission or control of the brand owner. We carried out a quantitative experiment to investigate the effects of how companies choose to handle these activities as well as how expectations of these consumer generated ads differ from traditional advertising. The findings show that strong brands may benefit from these activities if handled the right way and the brand owner adapts it?s reaction to the content of the ad.

Research has concluded that meaningless differentiation with trivial attributes sometimes can be a successful strategy. However, the effect varies with respect to certain aspects such as the price of the product and the decision context. How the characteristics of the consumer influence the effect of trivial attributes has until now been unknown. This thesis investigates how the consumer?s level of knowledge and personal involvement influence the effects of trivial attributes on product preferences and product attitudes.

The end of the 20th century brought a dramatic change to the music industry. The then predominant models for music consumption and sales were forever altered when the possibility to distribute music over the internet emerged. It has now become evident that it is virtually impossible to stop the distribution of digital music files. Music has turned into a non-excludable and non-rival product, which in economic terms is described as a public good. Public goods theory serves as a starting point for this study, which explores some of the factors that might explain why some consumers pay for music, while others choose to download music illegally.

The process of gift-giving is something that occurs all around the world, and most people are both givers and receivers of gifts. While receiving a gift is often associated with joyous feelings, purchasing and giving a gift may not generate the same feelings. The worries of giving a gift may include anguish of finding the right gift for the right person, and not to mention it shall be appropriate given the situation. This paper aims to describe consumer attitudes in various gift-giving occasions. To give another perspective the paper also discusses and describes the term of self-gifting, when the giver and receiver is the same person - you.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the employees´ duty of loyalty to their employer when making statements on social media networks and if this opposes the employees´ right to freedom of speech. Another purpose of this thesis is to investigate freedom of speech from an EU juridical point of view. Also a discussion concerning gender issues on this subject takes place is presented in the thesis. The questions to answer the purpose of this thesis are the following: Where is the line drawn for what an employee can publish on a social media network without breaching their duty of loyalty towards their employer?, and How does an employee´s freedom of speech relate to these types of statements on a social media network? The method used for this thesis is the classical legal method.The legal inquiry shows that duty of loyalty is a hidden clause in all employment contracts, and it must be respected by the employee.

There is now a trend to move closer to the customer in the form of long-term and lastingrelationships. The market today is characterized by growing competition with new playersconstantly arising. In order to gain competitive advantage with the increasingly challengingmarket, companies require to place the customer in the centre. Being close to the customerand engage in successful efforts to create customer loyalty has become a critical successfactor in many businesses. Especially when the customers in today's market is becomingincreasingly unfaithful and continuously looking for new companies with new productofferings.Many companies have now also realized the importance of trying to retain existing customersas it is more profitable than constantly trying to acquire new ones.

Several studies have examined the effects of perceived justice of preferential treatments to customers, but few have studied these effects when customers have different input. The purpose of the study is therefore to enhance the knowledge and understanding of the effects of preferential treatments to customers with varying input. More specifically, the study focuses on how perceived justice, customer satisfaction and loyalty are affected depending on the customer's input and received treatment. An experimental study with 263 respondents showed that the perceived justice and loyalty intentions among both the receiver and the non-receiver of the preferential treatment were of highest level when it was given to a customer with large input. Customer satisfaction however, was found to be of highest level when customers themselves received preferential treatment, regardless of the size of their input.

Several studies have examined the effects of perceived justice of preferential treatments to customers, but few have studied these effects when customers have different input. The purpose of the study is therefore to enhance the knowledge and understanding of the effects of preferential treatments to customers with varying input. More specifically, the study focuses on how perceived justice, customer satisfaction and loyalty are affected depending on the customer's input and received treatment. An experimental study with 263 respondents showed that the perceived justice and loyalty intentions among both the receiver and the non-receiver of the preferential treatment were of highest level when it was given to a customer with large input. Customer satisfaction however, was found to be of highest level when customers themselves received preferential treatment, regardless of the size of their input.

Abstract ? ?Customer relationships ? A case study on Nyby Torshälla Riding Club?Date: December 20th 2011Level: Bachelor thesis, 15 ECTSInstitution: School of Sustainable development of society and technology, Mälardalen UniversityAuthors: Linn Ericsson, Elenor Flodin, Emma Jakobsson22nd June 1987 24th April 1987 24th May 1989Title: Customer relationships ? A case study about Nyby Torshälla Riding ClubTutor: Daniel TolstoyKeywords: Relationship marketing, customer relationships, customer loyalty.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how Nyby Torshälla Riding Club maintains their customer relationships. This is to get a deeper insight into how small service companies, in a business to consumer market on a local basis, strategically can work with their customer care.Method: The study was qualitative in its nature and was based on an inductive approach. The primary data has been collected through personal interviews and since the respondents were selected strategically, this means that a non-probability sampling was used. The secondary data that has been used for this thesis was based largely on literature, articles and the Nyby Torshälla Riding Club website.Conclusion: This study indicates how small size service companies can benefit from nurturing their customer relationships.

Event marketing's ability to create strong communication effects is a well-known fact and a contributing factor to its popularity in the world of marketing today. But while we know that it is the interaction between consumers and the brand within the scope of live marketing that gives rise to loyalty and purchase intention, we have no knowledge in how the company's efforts affect the outcome. As the investments in event marketing are growing at a comparatively high pace, it is urgent to obtain a deeper understanding and a sense of direction of the elements infuencing its success.In this study we investigate in what way and to what extent the amount of effort that a company puts into the making of an event is used as a signal of manufactor credibility, ability (i.e., expertise) and consumer care. And in what way and to what extent the perceived effort influence purchase intent, attitude and word-of-mouth. We also analyze marketing events in terms of the theory of equitable exchange and "desperation", a subject matter thus far only touched upon.As we identify two different types of events on the market today, we include both in our study: the in-store promotion related event and the party event, which is held in an external venue.

A common assumption in marketing is the wider variety of product a corporation has, the better for the consumer: more product - more choices. Companies often develop a line extension to broaden consumer range through product attributes including quality, function and design. These developed attributes within the product are not always optimal for the consumer. As a result, companies often become entangled in having a price higher than the cost and benefit of the products. This essay aims to analyze the consumer value of line extension products and how these evaluations relate to extended line product pricing.

The research done in the field of product completeness/incompleteness is limited. The lack of research causes a knowledge gap in the retailing industry, concerning the actual effects on consumer choice, as well as on the overall store evaluation. This report tests the current theories of the subject, and also further aim to explore the effects of completeness/incompleteness on consumer's product choice. The results display an inconsistent effect on consumer's product choice when the completeness/incompleteness in a grocery store is tested. Some products benefit by being incomplete, while others show no such effect.

Today's consumer society has led to never-ending choices in terms of brands, products and prices in an endless variety of shops. The retail industry is a very complex industry that includes many different types of sales channels and many different types of products. A consequence of this trend is that brand owners today face difficulties in understanding how their products are being evaluated and difficulties in knowing which final cause that make a consumer willing to by their product is hard to figure out. The industry is very diversified, which means that for a company to really understand their position and their role on the market it requires that the company put a lot of effort and also a lot of money in the process of trying to figure it out. We will with this paper try to explain a small piece of that understanding and we hope to get results, which contribute to the further research in this area.