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Ph.D., Temple University--Theses, With the grant of a big CRM dataset from a large media company, this dissertation examines four different categories of factors that could impact three stages of customer relationship management, namely customer acquisition, retention, and winback of lost customers. Specifically, with the aid of machine learning method of random forests and text mining technique, this study identify among the factors of customer heterogeneity (e.g. in usage of self-care service channels, duration of service, responsiveness to marketing actions), firm's marketing initiatives (e.g. the volume of the marketing communications, the depth of the promotion, the different communication channels they use, and the marketing penetration in different geographical areas), customer self-reported deactivation reasons, as well as the call centers notes in text form, which factors play bigger roles than others during each of the three stages of CRM. Furthermore, the authors also examine how these factors evolve throughout these three stages of CRM in terms of their effects on shaping customers' decision making of whether to convert to paid customer, to churn, or to reactivate their service with the company. The findings help managers better allocate their resources in the processes of acquiring, retaining and winning back customers.

Ph.D., Temple University--Theses, The present research investigates the universality of design in a transnational marketing context. Specifically, it looks into designers' expertise transfer and knowledge calibration across cultures and explores cross-cultural differences in consumer responses (affect, attitude, and meaning) to design in two studies. With 256 graphic designs created by 16 Chinese designers and 16 U.S. designers, study 1 explores the universality of design by comparing consumer responses in a series of surveys among Chinese and American college students. Study 2 involves 64 product designs created by 8 Chinese designers and 8 U.S. designers and investigates the effect of culture and expertise level on design responses of consumers from China and the U.S. The results suggest that universality of design is a complex, multi-faceted phenomenon. Affect and attitude appear to be universal while meaning of design seems less universal and is difficult to be transferred cross-culturally. The results suggest a mixed effect of culture on design expertise transfer. Design expertise can be transferred to another culture without decrease in order to elicit positive affect among consumers. However, design expertise transfer is moderated by culture with regard to attitude and meaning. Expert designers' designs receive less positive attitudinal responses in a foreign market than in the home market and can convey intended meaning much better in the home market than in a foreign market. When it comes to knowledge calibration, the results indicate that both expert designers and non-expert designers are poorly calibrated and overconfident. The paper also discusses theoretical and managerial implications as well as limitations and future research directions.