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Nowadays, more and more innovative and great entrepreneurs decide to take action and to launch their company. However, it is not always easy for those lonely SMEs to stand out from the crowd and some companies, naturally, encounter difficulties to do so. It is particularly the case for companies from the biotech sector which is a highly competitive environment.

Realising my internship at AmplyCell which is in a young and promising company from the biotech sector, the purpose of this thesis is to provide the thinking about the creation of a strategic platform for biotech companies presenting synergies in the same value chain. This report must answer if the implementation of an alliance, in which AmplyCell would belong to provide its technology and develop its activity, is viable and interesting.

The approach to do so is divided in 3 phases. First, a qualitative study is led to understand how existing platforms and alliances are currently working to seek inspiration. Then, a quantitative study is conducted through the help of a survey directed to potential customers in order to understand the needs of the market. A final research is conducted again on potential clients for a deeper understanding of the results of the survey and also on potential partners to get their personal views regarding this partnership implementation.

Searches were successful. This kind of platform usually leads to consortium agreement which is a written document in which all members define the rules of the partnership, the way those rules are defined is discussed in the thesis. This report also identifies the ideal target for the platform as well as some future prospects to ensure continuity of this one and to be always one step ahead of competition. Regarding potential partners, the interest is global as they strongly believe there is no interest to stay alone when it is well known that unity makes strength.

To conclude, create such a platform is not an easy task. Even with the progress already realised, it takes a lot of time to achieve this with the search for partners, negotiations, first steps, etc. But the doubt is now raised regarding the feasibility and the potential that represents the creation of this strategic platform.

Biotech sector --- Antibody market --- Consortium --- Strategic platform --- Alliance --- partnership --- Implementation --- Qualitative study --- Quantitative study --- Survey --- Target --- Customers --- Partners --- Members --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Marketing --- Sciences du vivant > Biotechnologie

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Nowadays, the negative enjoyment stays a concept which is still unknown for many people and companies. Contrary, customer satisfaction importance is commonly recognized, thanks to the profits it can generate for companies. In this domain, positive emotions’ impact on satisfaction is often acknowledged. But much less is known about the influence of negative emotions or they are often simply perceived as negatively impacting the satisfaction. Furthermore, companies have still more to face strong competition in a fast-moving world. In this context, companies need more than ever to differentiate themselves and find ways to increase their profits. Better understand customer satisfaction and how to provide him or her a better customer experience, in surfing on the wave of the hedonist market trend, seems thereby really interesting for companies. The negative enjoyment seemed thereby still to be an understudied concept, which could allow customers to experience satisfaction thanks to negative emotions. This is why, this topic was interesting from both managerial and scientific perspectives. 

To approach this topic, we designed an exploratory study, as an initial research, with as purpose to make a first step in the investigation of this new and ambiguous domain of research. 

To lead this research, we had defined a qualitative research designed based on two coupled methodologies, namely the CIT and functional methods and two collection data tools, namely the interviews and field observations. 

We have defined the following managerial question: “How could marketers, from the customer point of view, create a better customer experience in hedonic services aiming to elicit negative emotions?” And a related research question: “How could negative emotions lead to customer satisfaction?” And two propositions to investigate our topic. Namely, the “Fear is a negative emotion that can generate customer satisfaction” (P1). And our second proposition was that “Negative emotion arising from extraordinary experience can be the source of customer satisfaction” (P2). 

We partially reached our objectives. Firstly, from a managerial point of view, we discover that companies could use the negative enjoyment as an effective differentiation tool. They could generate a better customer experience in generating customer satisfaction in using the negative enjoyment in specific contexts such as in extraordinary experiences. Secondly, from a scientific point of view, we have refined the problem and made some first findings, explaining that the customer could experience satisfaction thanks to negative enjoyment if his emotional expectations were full filled even if these ones were based on negative feeling. But a lot remains to be learned.

negative enjoyment, customer satisfaction, marketing, emotions, --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Marketing

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The sharing economy, which is “built on using and sharing of products and services among others” (Puschmann and Alt, 2015), is a growing technological phenomenon that deserves the attention of both managers and researchers. Although people’s motivations to join the collaborative consumption are numerous (e.g. economic gains and sustainability), it remains challenging for firms to convince customers to use access-based services. Prior studies offer limited understanding of the barriers that can block consumers’ intention to adopt a service; therefore this thesis seeks to bring more knowledge on the topic. The author, after the literature review, collected some data and performed different analyses to assess the relative importance of the barriers identified in previous studies, in a car sharing context. Following the results, managers are provided with recommendations and the findings are discussed in regards with the previous literature. 
We found that, according to the adoption stage, perceived barriers may differ. 
In a car sharing context, it appears that the scarcity risk and the difficulties associated with the self-service technology are influencing the intentions of both potential and actual users. 
However, only people without previous experience are impacted by the trust barrier, the proximity of the station and one’s responsibility, whereas experienced people are impacted by the performance of the car and the contamination issue. Therefore the use of a service and the experience that comes with it does not prevent consumers from perceiving barriers.

Sharing economy, access-based services, resistance to innovation, perceived barriers, car-sharing --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Multidisciplinaire, généralités & autres

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The non-existence of Islamic bank in Belgium might make us wonder: what would Muslims in
Belgium think if one Islamic bank decides to open an office in Belgium? What would be the
determinant factors that potential customers would use if they wanted to adopt Islamic banking
services?
The aim of this thesis is to answer these questions. In order to do that, the relevant literature is
reviewed in order to identify important decision-making factors from prior studies. After having
identified these factors, a preliminary qualitative study is carried out to check if there are other
influencing factors that were not found in the literature. This qualitative study is in the form of
in-depth interviews with 10 people.
Then, with the results of the literature review and the qualitative study, hypotheses will be tested
with the means of a quantitative study in the form of an online questionnaire. Six determinants
factors will be tested, these are: religious beliefs, quality of services, image, subjective social
norms, perceived ease of use and perceived utility. Multiple linear regression analysis will
determine which factors have a significant impact on the intention to use Islamic banking
services.
Thanks to this analysis, managers as well as ourselves will see what are the chances of Islamic
banking in Belgium and what needs to be done in the future so that the demand of Islamic banks
in Belgium is met.

consumer behavior, banking behavior, Islamic finance, Technology Acceptance model, ethics, religious values. --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Marketing

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Mobility is one of the most debated topics of the 21st century. Not only because of traffic congestion or pollution, but also to have several means of transport co-existing efficiently. Every person, which has to move from point A to point B is confronted with the question about how to get or travel to its destination.
As it appears, the personal car is the most frequent answer given to it.
But nowadays increased urbanization and the scheme of an individualistic society have come up with another issue, namely an increased number of cars in city centres, making it hardly possible to move along. Other solutions must be found.
And they are! New market players and replacement products, but also legislation and political influences in states or cities have brought up many different solutions to the increasing issue of mobility.
What about the car industry? Do all these different solutions pose a threat to it, will the car soon be out of fashion, and lose its emotional rationales, sticking at functional aspects and becoming a mean of transport among many others? Will the car industry just become one of many suppliers of a greater mobility industry?
Adaptation is needed by car manufacturers to accommodate with their changing environment, and therefore, greater understanding is needed. On the one hand, firms need to consider the elements of their changing environment. On the other hand, an understanding of consumer expectations towards brands’ positioning in the industry is also required. Adjustment is key to gain or keep a competitive advantage.
Through a descriptive research and a quantitative study (N=303) seeking at positioning brands toward an actual and future situation, this research aims at describing the disruptive elements car manufacturers need to be aware of when promoting their cars to consumers.
The results show a rather undifferentiated positioning, with premium brands getting better perceptions scores on the elements tested. It appears also that evaluating brands differ significantly depending on age, and on the relationship that respondents have, to the assessed brand.
Finally, the results suggest a deeper focus on environmental and technological issues in the adjustment of future strategies in the car industry.

Sciences économiques & de gestion > Marketing