How Do B2C Companies Maintain and Improve the Competitiveness in the Market (Dissertation Sample)

How Do B2C Companies Maintain
and
Improve the Competitiveness in the Market
By: [Name]
A Dissertation Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate Schoolin Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of [Name]
Department of [Name],University of [Name]
Abstract
Business to consumers (B2C) companies has a responsibility to improve and maintain on their competitiveness in the market. This prompts the B2C companies to employ diverse strategies to maintain competitiveness. Among the most recent strategy is the use of technology. Therefore, this research examines the manner in which B2C companies have integrated technology in their marketing strategy to remain competitive in the market. The research uses a case study approach and examines the use of technology in China Resource vanguard Company. This is the largest retail outlet in china. The research uses interviews as its main instrument of collecting data from the marketing and IT managers of China Resource Vanguard Company. From the qualitative data collected from the marketing and IT departments the research establishes that B2C companies use technology in the both the internal processes of their operation ands and marketing. In marketing, the use of technology is believed to attract customers especially in the use of online shopping platform and use of technology to develop customer management systems.
Table of Contents
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Abstract  PAGEREF _Toc381535332 \h
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Table of Contents  PAGEREF _Toc381535333 \h
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CHAPTER 1  PAGEREF _Toc381535334 \h
5
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1.1 Introduction  PAGEREF _Toc381535335 \h
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1.2 Background to the study  PAGEREF _Toc381535336 \h
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1.3 Rationale for the Study  PAGEREF _Toc381535337 \h
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1.4 Objectives of the Study  PAGEREF _Toc381535338 \h
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1.5 Research Questions  PAGEREF _Toc381535339 \h
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1.6 Scope of the Study  PAGEREF _Toc381535340 \h
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1.7 Hypothesis  PAGEREF _Toc381535341 \h
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CHAPTER 2-LITERATURE REVIEW  PAGEREF _Toc381535342 \h
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2.1 Introduction  PAGEREF _Toc381535343 \h
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2.1.1 Structural Overview  PAGEREF _Toc381535344 \h
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2.1.2 Thematic Synopsis of the Review  PAGEREF _Toc381535345 \h
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2.1.3 Key Concerns of the Literature Review  PAGEREF _Toc381535346 \h
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2.2 Business Competitiveness  PAGEREF _Toc381535347 \h
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2.2.2 Contextual Definition  PAGEREF _Toc381535348 \h
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2.3 A Marketing Perspective on Technology  PAGEREF _Toc381535349 \h
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2.3.1 Overview  PAGEREF _Toc381535350 \h
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2.3.2 Technology and Technological Forms in Modern Businesses (Marketing Perspective)  PAGEREF _Toc381535351 \h
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2.3.3 Technology and the Competiveness of B2C in Marketing  PAGEREF _Toc381535352 \h
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CHAPTER 3-METHODOLOGY  PAGEREF _Toc381535353 \h
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3.0 Introduction  PAGEREF _Toc381535354 \h
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3.2 The Research Method  PAGEREF _Toc381535355 \h
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3.3 Research Strategy  PAGEREF _Toc381535356 \h
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3.4 The Study Area  PAGEREF _Toc381535357 \h
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3.5 Sampling Technique  PAGEREF _Toc381535358 \h
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3.6 Data Collection Methods  PAGEREF _Toc381535359 \h
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3.6.1 Interviews  PAGEREF _Toc381535360 \h
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3.7 Data Analysis  PAGEREF _Toc381535361 \h
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3.8 Limitation of the Study  PAGEREF _Toc381535362 \h
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CHAPTER 4- RESULT & ANALYSIS  PAGEREF _Toc381535363 \h
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4.1 Introduction  PAGEREF _Toc381535364 \h
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4.2 Findings and Analysis  PAGEREF _Toc381535365 \h
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4.3 China Resources Vanguard Company Operations  PAGEREF _Toc381535366 \h
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4.4 Marketing Department  PAGEREF _Toc381535367 \h
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4.4.1. Online Shopping Customers Concern  PAGEREF _Toc381535368 \h
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4.4.2 Identifying customers preferences  PAGEREF _Toc381535369 \h
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4.4.3 Competitive features of e-business  PAGEREF _Toc381535370 \h
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4.5 Technology Department  PAGEREF _Toc381535371 \h
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4.5.1 Importance of the IT department in improving competitiveness.  PAGEREF _Toc381535372 \h
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4.5.2 Securing the technology system  PAGEREF _Toc381535373 \h
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4.5.3 Challenges in the use of technology  PAGEREF _Toc381535374 \h
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CHAPTER 5 -DISCUSSION  PAGEREF _Toc381535375 \h
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5.1 Introduction  PAGEREF _Toc381535376 \h
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5.2 Achieving and maintaining competitive advantage  PAGEREF _Toc381535377 \h
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5.3 Sustenance of Competitiveness in B2C Businesses  PAGEREF _Toc381535378 \h
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5.4 Technology as a Business Resource  PAGEREF _Toc381535379 \h
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5.5 Technology and its significance in B2C companies  PAGEREF _Toc381535380 \h
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5.6 Marketing and the Use of Technology in Future  PAGEREF _Toc381535381 \h
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CHAPTER 6 -CONCLUSION  PAGEREF _Toc381535382 \h
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References  PAGEREF _Toc381535383 \h
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APPENDIX  PAGEREF _Toc381535384 \h
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CHAPTER 1
1.1 Introduction
Businesses to consumer (B2C) type of business make up majority of business enterprise across the world. This makes competition among the B2C to be intense and in some cases cut throat. The management of the different B2Cs employ different strategies to maintain and improve on their competitiveness. These strategies include having competitive prices, superior marketing campaigns, employing talented staff, strategic placing, better customer care services among other strategies.
The term Business to consumer (B2C) is used when the type of business operation is contrasted to the business to business (B2B) type of business transactions. According to Krafft and Mantrala , B2C often focus their attention to the end consumers and are mostly comprised of retail outlets. However, some manufacturers also reach out directly to consumers. On the other hand, some B2C enterprises also can supply its products to other businesses. Therefore, the type of business enterprise is not restricted to only one form of business transaction, that is, business oriented or consumer oriented. However, in this study the focus would be on the manner in which B2C companies maintain and better their competitive advantage.
In this study, the focus would be on how B2C companies employ information technology to maintain and improve on their competitive advantage. Gantz et al argues that in the 21st century technology as emerged as one of the factors that determine the competitiveness of companies. This is because the use of technology has been incorporated in various aspects of a business operation such as marketing, customer care, service delivery, financial management and supply chain management. Consequently, companies focused on customers strive to ensure that they have the best technology to reduce on the cost of operations, increase their efficiency and effectiveness.
1.2 Background to the study
Before the advent of modern technology most retail outlets from across the world relied purely on human resource personnel to serve their customers. The use of technology was restricted to B2B companies which had the resources to source for technology to aid their production and service delivery. According to Khosrowpour, very few companies had their own website before the year 2000. However, the situation has changed drastically as the population has now embraced the use of technology to conduct business.
The use of computerized record management was the first step towards embracing technology to achieve competitiveness. B2C that had not employed computers in their operations had to keep huge paper work records that included financial, suppliers and customer records. This form of record management often wasted in retrieving of customer data during service delivery and also resulted in numerous errors. This was not the case with companies that has moved to computerized system that were faster in processing information resulting to better customer services.
According to Barton , competiveness is as old as business, however, it is only recently that B2C companies are more inclined to using information systems to provide better services and product...