The purpose of this thesis is to try to understand, with the help of existing theories and empirical findings, the parameters which are of importance in the development of the pricing capability. We have used a qualitative and abductive methodology approach. The empirical findings have been collected via semi-structured interviews which we have conducted via personal and telephone interviews. Seeing pricing as a capability within the company our theoretical framework mainly consists of the resource-based view and an article explaining and given proof how pricing can be seen as a capability. We also describe the most used pricing strategy today within business-to-business companies, the cost plus strategy.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the two new phenomena; the pricing model Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW) and the launch of daily newspapers in the iPad. A quantitative study was conducted in order to examine what would happen if the PWYW-model where to be used by a daily newspaper for its iPad product, and what this would signal to consumers about the brand in terms of brand association and brand attitude. Furthermore, we have investigated which of these factors that are affecting willingness to pay in this PWYW-situation. Moreover, a secondary purpose was to test the two possible presentations of the digital newspaper in the iPad; Product and Access ? and how the results differed between these two.

Since companies have realised the importance of customer loyalty and since the service sector has gained higher significance in recent years, we found it interesting to study what leads to customer loyalty in service companies. The theories we have chosen to consider are customer loyalty, service quality, service guarantees, affinity marketing, loyalty programmes and customer clubs, the customer in focus and other factors that influences customer loyalty. To find out how service companies are working with cus- tomer loyalty, we have conducted a case study within three service companies. Our findings are that customer loyalty has a significant importance for the companies we studied. Quality and personnel were the factors we found had the greatest impact in service companies concerning customer loyalty.

Title Greenlighted employees ? The internal value of Schenker?s environmental work.Author David Fridner.Course Master thesis in Science of Media and Communication.Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Gothenburg.Semester Spring semester 2009.Tutor Professor Monika Djerf-Pierre.Number of pages 55 (appendix 23).Aim The aim is to study the internal value of Schenker?s environmental work.Method Qualitative and quantitative method.Material 20 interviews from four workgroups: managers (4), sales (5), customer-services (4) and truck drivers (7). 148 websurveys from two workgroups: sales (106) and customer-services (42).Main result Schenker is perceived as an environmentally friendly enterprise. Much due to the fact that the company?s impact on nature only has little to do with how the staff evaluate its ?greenness?.

The struggle for the customer has become a priority for the fashion industriesconsidering that it is the customers? willing to shop that guarantees theircontinuous survival on today?s competitive market. To keep the customer happyand satisfied, should be their priority as this leads to an economic advantagesince the customer becomes the companies strongest allay with help of the socalled ?word of mouth? effect. The positive response is then transmitted fromthe customer, acting as a spokes- person for the company.

Similarities in earlier research between leadership styles and communication forms were found, partly concerning relations and partly concerning work assignments. Our approach was based on the notion that there could be a correlation between the manager2019s choice of communication mode (informal/formal) and leadership style i.e. Relation-Oriented Behaviour Leadership style/Task-Oriented Behaviour Leadership style. A gender perspective was used in the research. The method was quantitative with a questionnaire to women managers (N=78) in the private and the public sectors.

The structures of organizations have gone through a dramatic change over the last years; as a result customer service is no longer a small side activity but a critical part in customer relationship management. Development in information technology has created opportunities as well as challenges for organizations when it comes to providing a customer service with capacity of sensing and responding to customers' needs. Previous research shows a relationship between customer response capability and customer knowledge processeses, this study investigates and confirms this relationship. However, findings show that dedication and understanding for customers needs has a direct impact on both customer response capability and customer knowledge processeses, this result indicates that customer knowledge processes and customer relationship management are difficult to differentiate. Furthermore, this study explores IT-related resources impact on customer response capability and customer knowledge processes.

The aim of this thesis is to describe how service companies through adjustment of the customer?s zone of tolerance can influence customer?s perception of the service during the processes of service delivery and create customer satisfaction. The method used was case study approach utilizing personal interviews, which were conducted at two service companies. The study showed that the aspects of the service that have greatest importance for the customer?s assessment of the service and customer satisfaction among others are personal treatment and that personel behave in the way that makes the customer feel itself taken good care of and unique.

The purpose of this study is to investigate and increase the understanding of how the two commercial companies IKEA and SAS and the two aid organizations/nonprofit organizations UNICEF and Save the Children use perceptions of Christmas to produce messages in their Christmas advertising/commercial film. The study also discusses if there may be communicative and pictorial similarities and differences in how these brands constructs messages in commercials, and why it may be that the brands choose to use these messages in commercials based on the recipient possible interpretations. The theories used in this study are promotional culture, framing theory, preferred meaning, semiotics (denotation and connotation), myth and rhetoric (ethos, pathos and logos). The method used to answer the purpose and issues are the qualitative method that uses the theories semiotic and rhetoric to analyze the material. The study's results derived from the qualitative content analyzes of the material (the brands IKEA, SAS, UNICEF and Save the Children Christmas advertising films) show that IKEA message might want to show that they want to help the customer and that they pay attention to the customer needs.

This thesis studies the customer relationships and customer accounting methods used by a Swedish fashion company. The aim is to test the empirical applicability of the relationship based framework developed by Lind and Strömsten and to explain potential differences between empirical observations and theory. The framework is based on the categorization of four customer relationship groups and the appropriate customer accounting methods to be used for each relationship. The fashion company, that recently assessed the profitability of its customer base in an aim to implement a new customer strategy, is the object of the qualitative case study. The case study reveals that all customer relationships are to be found at Whyred, except the connective customer relationship.

AbstractThe customer demand for ecological products has increased in recent years, within the garden industry this mainly concerns herbs and other edible plants. The organic trend is increasing and more people are aware of the environment and want to take responsibility for it through their purchases for their garden as well.In this essay the aim is to investigate customer demand and the possibility of selling organicperennial plants in eight garden centres on the Åland islands and in Gävle/Sandviken. I include two garden centres with an organic profile to get a wider point of view. I investigate the global market for organic perennials and look further into existing certification standards on the Swedish market today.The methods I have been using are interviews and a literature study.The study shows that the experienced demand for organic perennials is small in both of myinvestigated groups. The biggest motivation for starting to sell organic perennials would be to find a supplier of these plants and that more customer would ask for them.

Cross-selling är en strategi som de senaste åren har fått stort fokus inom finansbranschen. Strategin går ut på att öka försäljning till existerande kunder genom att introducera dem till produkter eller tjänster som andra avdelningar inom företaget erbjuder, oavsett den egna specialistrollen. Nyttan med cross-selling är obestridd, men i praktiken har det visat sig svårt att tillämpa cross-selling. De hinder som föreligger kan i förlängningen härledas till ett problem att få de anställda motiverade att verkställa strategin. Motivationen hos de anställda kan påverkas genom styrning från företagsledningen.

This paper examines how companies in a transparent industry work to satisfy the customer in an extended way, to offer value added products that in the end enables the customer to be loyal to the company. We have studied the insurance industry in Sweden and have focused on five different insurance companies. Four of them, Folksam, Länsförsäkringar, Trygg-Hansa and Dina Försäkringar, where we have focused on Ölands Försäkringar which is part of the Dina Försäkringar group, are some of the largest insurance companies in Sweden. The fourth company is Swedbank which is a bank that has started to offer insurances.Our results demonstrate that it is important for the company to see the customer not only in a profitability aspect; the company has to find out what the customer gets in return. In that case the possibility for the customer to change company decreases and the chance that the customer becomes loyal increases.

AbstractTitle: The Moment Of Truth; A study of service quality assuranceAuthors: Fanni Helminen and Linda ElsborgLevel: Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration, C-level.Advisor: Lars- Johan Åge and Jens Eklinder FrickDate: 2014- JunePurpose: Quality assurance has become a vital concept and an important tool to ensure that employees are able to deliver high service quality. The purpose of this study will be to elucidate how service companies can apply the use of sevenfundamental features supporting service quality in their quality assurance; recruitment and selection; training, teamwork; empowerment; performance appraisals and rewards; communication, and culture (of the organization). Furthermore, we will illustrate how the type of business entity, organizational structure and organizational resources afflicts the seven features.Method: Method: We will, from a hermeneutic point of view, apply and qualitative deductive research method. Data have been collected through a case study. The data have been transcribed and the analytical method has been selected based on the conducting purpose.

Banks find themselves at a highly competitive market where it is important to achieve high customer satisfaction if they want to attract customers and stay competitive. Some studies suggest that the gap between customer expectations and perception within the five quality dimensions influences the customer satisfaction. With SERVQUAL the authors of this thesis have investigated the suggested relationship and have discovered no indications of a relationship between the gap and customer satisfaction. Instead the results indicate that there is a relationship between perceived service and customer satisfaction. The thesis also indicates that the most important quality dimension for the bank customer is reliability.