Title: Culture?s Affect on the Determinants of Customer Satisfaction in Retailing: The Case of a European Retailer in the U.S. and China Date of the Seminar: 29th of May 2007 Course: BUS 809 Master thesis in International Marketing Authors: Lisa Bustamante Chesley Norman Charlotte Valind Advisors: Johan Anselmsson Cecilia Cassinger Keywords: International Retailing, Determinants of Customer Satisfaction, Culture, United States, China Thesis purpose: Our study aims to identify the determinants of customer satisfaction of two national cultures in a global retail setting, in order to clarify what role culture has, if any, in customers? satisfaction with an international retailer. Further, this will uncover if a Western perspective of determinants of satisfaction is a universal means of capturing what satisfies customers across cultures in a retail setting.

Customer information is to be seen as an essential part in service development. The company should be aware of how their customers experience their services. The company can get access to customer information through complaints from their customers. All information obtained from the customers is not possible to use when developing new and existing services. The information has to be analysed before it is possible to use it for service development.This paper describes if Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) uses their customers as a source of knowledge when developing new and existing services and in that case how.

Subject of this study is the evolvement of the radical art music scene in Sweden. In this development took the labour movement an active part during the 1960s. The purpose of this study is to examine how the relationship between the radical art music scene and the labour movement was constituted and what this relationship implied for the Swedish radical art music scene during the 1960s.During the 1960s radical music became an influencial part in the Swedish music scene of modern art music. In this development the artists? society Fylkingen had a central position.

Kundrelationer är ett hett diskuterat ämne i dagens kraftigt konkurrens-utsatta företagsklimat. Starka kundrelationer är viktigt för att stärka företagets lönsamhet. För att skapa starka relationer krävs att företagets resurser används rätt. Kundportföljanalys (KPA) är en modell som används för att segmentera ett företags kunder i olika kundgrupper för att på så vis skapa underlag som tillåter företaget att utveckla strategier för varje kundgrupp. Det tillåter företaget att fördela sina begränsade resurser på ett så effektivt sätt som möjligt i syfte att stärka företagets kundrelationer.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine what the communication between bank and customer looks like. We have more specifically studied how the bank communicates with the customer when communicating different offers, how the customer wants the communication to take place, what communication problem looks like and how the customer wants the bank to design their offers. Our target group was bank customers with academic degree, with one to seven years of working experience. This study was conducted trough interviews with bank customers and representatives at the bank. On the basis of our studies we found that the communication between bank and customer works fairly well.

Bakgrund/Problem: Resebranschen blir alltmer konkurrensintensiv och kampen om kunderna hårdnar. Konkurrensen har inneburit att priserna också pressats och med små vinstmarginaler är det svårt för många researrangörer att överleva. Att sälja en resa innebär att sälja förväntningar och drömmar vilket i sin tur ställer krav på researrangörerna att kunna tillgodose kundernas individuella behov. Resebranschen karaktäriseras av en hög andel illojala kunder som med det stora informationsutbudet även har en stark maktposition. En metod för att förbättra kundstrategier och relationsskapande är Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

A description and analysis of the sales process of ERP systems is presented; also the consequences for the parties involved are discussed. The chosen methodological basis is an inductive research design consisting of a case study based on interviews. The analysis of the empirical data is done with a proposed analytical framework. Based on the agency theory, the analysis is tightly knitted together with opportunism. There are three controlling factors: relationships (relationship marketing), contracts (principal-agent theory), and competition.

This report aims to examine how Brunneby Musteri is to update the brand attention for Brunneby Musteri at retail stores. Brunneby wish to assure their brand will catch the customers? eye in the store and therefore get assistance to discover what to improve. The family business Brunneby Musteri (Brunneby) was founded in 1941 and is located nearby Göta Kanal in the county of Östergötland. Brunneby produce products such as lemonade, jam, jelly, marmelade, cider and vinegar.

Background: Despite the time and money invested in relationships with other companies, it is a fact that many of them fail. Considering this, remarkably little research has been done regarding how inter-organisational relationships are controlled, given that control can function as a solution to the problems involved with collaboration, which arise since such a relation exists in the interface between organisational boundaries, where the companies? often conflicting interests and points of view meet. If one part is stronger than the other in a relationship, the weaker however tends to give way for the stronger?s will.

The transition from paper to electronic journals in induces a major change in academic libraries. The library must focus on customising the service to meet user needs in order to compete with other actors on the market. This situation entails the need for a marketing and management approach in library organisations. Linda Ashcroft has in previous research focused on marketing of electronic journals. She has stated the importance of simplifying the user environment of electronic journals and the importance of regaining control over electronic journals from publishers and vendors.

Background: Performance measurement as a management control tool has received considerable academic attention. As the number of inter-organisational relationships, such as customer-supplier relationships, increases, there is a new scope for performance measurement as a management control tool. In order for a company to assess the effectiveness of its supplier relationships it has to define, measure and evaluate variables that are critical for the success of the relationship. The role of management control, and thereby of performance measurement, has increasingly been discussed in theory. However, empirical research in this area is still somewhat limited.

The aim of this master thesis is to gain greater knowledge of interpersonal communication. This study explores on one hand how interpersonal communication can be used as an important part of reference work in a Swedish electronic synchronous reference service, and on the other how interpersonal communication affects the relationship between user and librarian. By using communication theory and establishing a positive relational contact with the user in the electronic environment, the outcome of the reference encounter can be successful for both the librarian and the user. Furthermore, the importance of recognising relational barriers is of great relevance to the relational contact. The scope of this master thesis is to find what relational factors are used and can be used in the interaction between user and librarian.

Mobil teknologi integreras idag i allt högre grad med centrala stödsystem. Studien har undersökt vilka möjligheter som finns för fältservicetekniker att arbeta direkt i stödsystem, Service Management System (SMS), m.h.a. nya tekniker. Hur kan en bra mobil arbetsplats utformas? En enkätundersökning har utförts där 14 personer som arbetar som fältservicetekniker eller som servicechefer har deltagit.

The aim of this thesis is to describe the customer?s attitudes toward the contracting for availability, i.e., which factors are from the customer?s perspective necessary for the fulfilment of a supplier-customer agreement? Furthermore, the objective is to describe and analyse a supplier-customer relation in the Defence Industrial sphere.The present study has been carried out as a case study using an abductive approach. The thesis is based on a practical problem, i.e. which factors will be important to the customer when a contractor in the Defence Industry wants to increase its commitment of service, and how will their relationship change? The thesis is above all focused on generating knowledge that can lead to rapid and concrete measures and that can be used in the analysis of an increased industrial commitment but also as a case study of a problem of a more general nature in the Defence Industry.

This study has investigated what makes a business relation satisfactory. The purpose is to distinguish the factors that are relevant to a functioning cooperation relationship between sawmills and DIY-stores. The theoretical framework is primarily based on long-term business relationships. The study is based on two case companies and their relations with wood-suppliers. - Case company 1 is a relatively new established and still growing company.