[pt] No decorrer das duas últimas décadas o mercado imobiliário brasileiro passou por diversas mudanças, primeiramente estruturais, com a adoção de um arcabouço legal que resolvia as questões em aberto do setor, que viriam em um segundo momento a potencializar os ganhos do setor quando favorecidos por uma conjuntura econômica positiva, tanto global como localmente. Em meados de 2014, um mercado que vinha desde 2007 extremamente aquecido já dava lugar a uma conjuntura marcada por queda acentuada nos níveis de renda, crédito cada vez menos acessível e mais caro, e forte desconfiança por parte de investidores e adquirentes de imóveis. A manutenção do cenário descrito acima – devido a fatores ligados a juros, desemprego, crise política, etc. – culminou no quadro de volumosos estoques e raros lançamentos que se nota no Rio de Janeiro desde então, especialmente na Zona Oeste. No intuito de otimizar a lenta retomada que se prevê para o mercado a partir de 2018, as construtoras e incorporadoras vêm investindo em inovações tecnológicas voltadas para o aumento da eficiência em algumas etapas dos projetos de incorporação, como arquitetura, engenharia e construção (AEC), vendas e marketing, trâmites legais, etc. No entanto, ainda não se vê no mercado imobiliário medidas que atentem para a aderência entre o que é ofertado e o que o consumidor alvo realmente deseja. Nesse contexto, este trabalho visa a explicitar as preferências dos consumidores de imóveis da Barra da Tijuca por meio da aplicação do método de análise conjunta. Para tanto, foi formado um grupo de foco com profissionais do mercado imobiliário visando a definir os principais atributos de tal produto e seus respectivos níveis. Com os principais pontos definidos, foi realizado um projeto fatorial fracionado com quatorze produtos que, por sua vez, foram submetidos a uma pesquisa junto a consumidores, no intuito de revelar suas preferências. Em meio às diversas análises viabilizadas pela pesquisa, ficou evidente que, dentre os atributos selecionados, a localização foi o que demonstrou ter maior peso na decisão do consumidor, seguido pelo tamanho/tipologia do apartamento e – ao contrário do que se imaginava a princípio – a estrutura de lazer foi o atributo de menor importância para os consumidores. Em tempo, é de interesse do mercado que estudos como este sejam feitos para outros vetores de crescimento da cidade (como Campo Grande e Guaratiba) e de forma periódica, uma vez que as preferências mudam com as novas gerações entrando no mercado de trabalho e ganhando poder aquisitivo, o que se verifica com clareza entre os millennials, geração nascida em meados de 1980 e 2000, que está no momento, não só redefinindo essas preferências, mas também indicando a tendência futura da demanda. / [en] During the last two decades, the Brazilian real estate market underwent several changes, first structural, with the adoption of a legal framework that resolved the open questions of the sector, which would in a second moment boost the gains of the sector when favored by an economic conjuncture, both globally and locally. In mid-2014, a market that had been extremely hot since 2007 had already given way to a situation marked by a sharp drop in income levels, increasingly less affordable and more expensive credit, and strong distrust on the part of investors and real estate buyers. The maintenance of the scenario described above - due to factors related to interest, unemployment, political crisis, etc. - culminated in the picture of voluminous stocks and rare launches that can be seen in Rio de Janeiro since then, especially in the West Zone. In order to optimize the slow resumption expected for the market starting in 2018, construction companies and developers are investing in technological innovations aimed at increasing efficiency in some stages of the incorporation projects, such as architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sales and marketing, legal procedures, etc. However, we do not yet see in the real estate market measures that affect the adherence between what is offered and what the target consumer really wants. In this context, this work aims to explain the preferences of real estate consumers in Barra da Tijuca through the application of the conjoint analysis method. To this end, a focus group was formed with real estate professionals aiming at defining the main attributes of such product and its respective levels. With the main points defined, a fractional factorial project was carried out with fourteen products, which, in turn, were submitted to a consumer survey, in order to reveal their preferences. In the midst of the various analyzes made possible by the research, it was evident that, among the selected attributes, the location was the one that showed greater weight in the consumer decision, followed by the size/typology of the apartment and - contrary to what was initially imagined - the leisure structure was the least important attribute for consumers. In time, it is in the interest of the market that studies like this are made for other growth vectors of the city (such as Campo Grande and Guaratiba) and periodically, since preferences change with the new generations entering the labor market and gaining purchasing power, which clearly occurs among the millennials, a generation born in the mid -1980s and 2000, which is currently not only redefining these preferences but also indicating the future trend of demand.

In this paper we head for a fully Bayesian analysis of the latent class model with a priori unknown number of classes. Estimation is carried out by means of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. We deal explicitely with the consequences the unidentifiability of this type of model has on MCMC estimation. Joint Bayesian estimation of all latent variables, model parameters, and parameters determining the probability law of the latent process is carried out by a new MCMC method called permutation sampling. In a first run we use the random permutation sampler to sample from the unconstrained posterior. We will demonstrate that a lot of important information, such as e.g. estimates of the subject-specific regression coefficients, is available from such an unidentified model. The MCMC output of the random permutation sampler is explored in order to find suitable identifiability constraints. In a second run we use the permutation sampler to sample from the constrained posterior by imposing identifiablity constraints. The unknown number of classes is determined by formal Bayesian model comparison through exact model likelihoods. We apply a new method of computing model likelihoods for latent class models which is based on the method of bridge sampling. The approach is applied to simulated data and to data from a metric conjoint analysis in the Austrian mineral water market. (author's abstract) / Series: Forschungsberichte / Institut für Statistik

Organic waste management presents challenges and opportunities alike for community-based economic development. Waste-to-compost transformation can be socially and economically successful by employing ecological design principles, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and values-based supply chains (VCs). An analysis of commercial buyers' preferences for compost will inform approaches to forming effective partnerships of public, private and nonprofit stakeholders to develop a market for local waste resource products. The thesis summarizes the results of a consumer preferences survey of current and prospective bulk compost purchasers and discusses strategies for implementing new organic waste management policies that will strengthen a local market for compost, build social capital and share economic value. A conjoint analysis of bulk compost preferences in Vermont was conducted to identify the market's preference for quality-based attributes of bulk compost. The data was taken from a survey administered by mail to Vermont business professionals in various fields that use--or could potentially use--compost products in providing goods or services. In addition to price (81 percent of the relative importance buyers place on an attribute), local provenance (8 percent) and suitability for organic production (7.6 percent) were demonstrated as statistically significant determinants of the value buyers placed on compost. Willingness to pay for local provenance and suitability for organic production were measured at 15% and 14% above the baseline product price, respectively. Current and prospective compost producers can effectively market their products and retain a competitive edge in the marketplace by collaborating with other businesses. A viable market for Vermont compost could be achieved through cultivation of niche specialties, stable institutional buyers, more stringent regulation of food waste and nutrient management behavior, and a collaborative effort to construct a product narrative that emphasizes compost's role in a larger social-ecological system of nutrient management and sustainable agriculture.

Widespread car usage of around 800 million of cars travelling 30 billion of kilometres on a daily basis has led to many benefits but also to significant environmental and societal impacts such as congestion, air and noise pollution and urban sprawl. This thesis aims to investigate the stakeholder values of car parking in order to support and inform the decision makers who are tasked with how best to resolve challenging car parking dilemmas. A two phase progressive methodology is involved. Phase one begins with conducting a series of in-depth semi-structured interviews with eight academics to identify whom the stakeholders are that are affected by car parking. Then a second series of 20 interviews are conducted with sector leaders of stakeholder groups to establish how the stakeholders are affected by car parking and importantly, how they value car parking. Finally a third series of nine interviews are conducted with nine different experts to help to bridge the gap between phase one and phase two. Phase one found that a broader reach of stakeholders (classified into four different groups) are affected by car parking than the literature might imply, and that they value car parking in eight different key ways. It also found that the values emerged from a context of governmental, social and consumer concerns. Phase two of the methodology was quantitative and used the findings from phase one to develop four additional attributes considered meaningful across all four stakeholder groups, namely: safety, politics, public spaces and weekly household council tax. Choice based conjoint analysis was used to incorporate the attributes into three hypothetical scenarios namely; driver, strategy and social, as these were considered to be reflective of the value context unearthed previously in phase one. The scenarios were disseminated across England as part of a wider survey and achieved a sample size of 1107 responses. The results of which were then interpreted through willingness to pay (WTP) values. Key findings included: how a persistent political undertone can impact on car parking policy setting; that the car parking industry is under pressure to provide a service chiefly motivated by a perceived consumer intolerance of market prices; and that stakeholders can not only appreciate but also experience the impact of car parking choices on other stakeholder groups. Conclusions drawn included that the different stakeholder groups took issue with national government leadership believing it to currently be deficient in setting the standards for British car parking. Moreover, decision makers wrongly perceive that consumers of car parking do not pass between the groups and are therefore hostile to policies which do not directly benefit them. The key implication being that decision makers are cautious to implement policies which are not necessarily advantageous to consumers but which may lead to gains for the remaining stakeholder groups. In short, this thesis recommends amongst others that the governmental stakeholder group should seek to provide direction and guidelines for tariff setting which is reflective of the provision of a service that is conscious of the range of parking industry stakeholder values. Furthermore, as safety is an industry held value, practitioners should seek to better understand how it impacts their market. They should explore the relevance of schemes such as Park Mark to operators and their customers, by fundamentally investigating to what extent safety exists as a valid concern inside car parks and how it applies to personal safety, vehicle safety or general perceptions of safety. In addition, where the governmental stakeholder group remain mindful of the significance of securing political backing, the car parking industry would benefit from appreciating the sensitivities of political challenges faced by the governmental group when lobbying for any changes in parking policy programmes. Indeed, the parking industry should collaborate between the two parties and seek to unite in finding agreeable solutions which benefit constituents either directly or indirectly. As car parking values might differ according to their geopolitical context and lead to the extraction of a different set of attributes, further work would include looking beyond England to first the UK and then to abroad to explore the effects of potential cultural differences and learn the relevant lessons.

No description available.

A cultural tour package is essentially a travel package that bundles tourism products and services together with themes based on the destination's culture. Winnipeg's Cultural Tour Package Research project, proposed by Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO), is a project aiming to structure a tourism package centered at Winnipeg's performing arts and cultural attractions. Through the program, we identify customers' preference for the cultural items as well as the factors related to the preference. We also provide a marketing plan suggesting the direction of starting the program based on SWOT and marketing mix analyses. The research is contributable to both the marketing and the cultural tourism literatures. Also, in practical, the research stands at a macro level to demonstrate the benefits of integrating cultural items in Winnipeg and to suggest ways for WSO to cooperate with other cultural or supporting institutions to offer the program. / October 2015

[pt] Entender o comportamento do consumidor é essencial para qualquer empresa que queira ter sucesso, já que, segundo Kotler (1994), existe uma relação direta entre satisfação do consumidor, qualidade do produto e serviço e rentabilidade da empresa. No mercado odontológico não é diferente. Entender como se processa o comportamento de compra dos dentistas e quais os fatores por eles considerados prioritários são pontos importantes para as empresas oferecerem produtos e serviços adequados às suas necessidades. Entretanto, as fontes secundárias de pesquisa na indústria são escassas. Os dados são muito superficiais e estão pulverizados por sites do governo e de órgãos reguladores, e nem todas as informações estão atualizadas. O objetivo deste trabalho é identificar quais caracterí­sticas de uma resina são relevantes para a decisão de compra de um dentista. As informações geradas por esta pesquisa são de grande importância para a tomada de decisão das empresas deste segmento. Para entender como os dentistas desenvolvem suas preferências e apontar quais os atributos mais importantes de uma resina, foi aplicada a teoria da análise conjunta. Os atributos e ní­veis a serem avaliados foram levantados por meio de grupos de foco. E com a ajuda de um software estatí­stico, foi escolhido o conjunto de estí­mulos que seriam julgados pelos dentistas na pesquisa de campo. Esta etapa da pesquisa foi realizada com base em questionários entregues aos dentistas pessoalmente ou via correio eletrônico. Como existia a suspeita de que as necessidades dos profissionais que atendem a convênios ou clí­nicas populares seria diferente das necessidades dos dentistas que atendem pacientes particulares, os formulários foram identificados. Com base nas respostas, foram analisadas de forma separadas as importâncias relativas dos atributos e utilidades dos ní­veis propostos. Os resultados da pesquisa mostraram que dentistas que atendem a convênios e clí­nicas particulares são mais sensí­veis a preço e que dentistas que atendem pacientes particulares buscam produtos com maiores recursos estísticos. / [en] According to Kotler (1994), there is a direct relationship among consumer's satisfaction, services and product quality and a company's profitability. In this sense, understanding consumer's behavior is essential for any enterprise that wants to be successful. It is not different in the odontological sector. Understanding how is processed the buying behavior of dentists and which factors they consider as the most relevant is important for companies to offer products and services adequate to their needs. However, the secondary sources of research in this industry are scarce. The data available is superficial and it is spread out on government and regulatory agencies websites, which not always present updated information. The objective of this paper is to identify which characteristics of a resin are relevant for the buying decision of a dentist. The output of this research is crucial for the decision making process of companies from this segment. Aiming to understand how dentists develop their preferences and to show the most important attributes of a resin, the conjoint analysis theory has been applied. The attributes and levels to be evaluated have been chosen through focus group. Based on statistical software, the set of stimuli that would be judged by the dentists during the field research has been defined. This phase of the research has been completed based on questionnaires submitted to the dentists personally or via electronic mail. The forms have been previously identified due to the fact that professionals who attend to health plans or popular clinics may have different needs from those who attend to private patients. Based on the responses, the relative importance of the proposed attributes and utilities have been analyzed separately. The outputs of the research have shown that dentists who attend to health plans and/or popular clinics are more price seeking while dentists who attend to private patients look for products that have more esthetic appeal.

Os Recursos Educacionais Abertos (REA) são materiais com finalidade educacional, principalmente em meio digital, publicados sob termos de propriedade intelectual que autorizam seu uso, modificação, revisão e compartilhamento sem restrições. Esses recursos, idealizados com o objetivo de democratizar o acesso à educação, a despeito de sua gratuidade, de estarem disponíveis em meio digital e de geralmente elaborados por universidades renomadas, têm sido menos utilizados do que o esperado em localidades-alvo: países em desenvolvimento, onde as desigualdades de acesso a oportunidades educacionais de qualidade são maiores. Com base na teoria de difusão de inovação e no conceito de abismo de inovação, foi levantada a hipótese de que os atributos da proposta de valor dos REA não correspondem às preferências de usuários em países em desenvolvimento. A técnica de Conjoint Analysis foi empregada para avaliar as preferências de usuários em potencial (adultos com acesso à internet e redes sociais, que podem decidir individualmente sobre o uso dos REA) sobre os atributos de um tipo de REA (cursos online, cuja observabilidade é maior do que os REA como componentes modulares utilizados na educação formal), cujos atributos foram selecionados a partir de uma revisão conceitual da literatura, elaborada de forma sistemática. Os resultados mostraram que a importância relativa dos dois atributos da proposta de valor dos REA mais utilizados como argumento de diferenciação (licença de propriedade e reputação da instituição) não se mostrou significante na avaliação da utilidade total percebida nas propostas de cursos online gratuitos. Em contrapartida, os atributos que são mais difíceis de adicionar aos REA (certificação, suporte e idioma) são os mais importantes para os respondentes. / Open Educational Resources (OER) are education-driven materials, mainly in digital formats, released under intellectual property licenses that allow their use, modification, revision and sharing with no restrictions. These resources were developed to democratize access to education. However, despite their free status, their digital availability and the reputation of the universities that release them, their use have been lower than expected in target locations: developing countries, where remain the greatest inequalities in access to quality educational opportunities. Based on the diffusion of innovation theory and on the concept of innovation chasm, we\'ve raised the hypothesis that the attributes of the value proposition of OER are not compatible to users\' preferences in developing countries. The Conjoint Analysis technique was used to evaluate the preferences of potential users (adults with internet access and access to social networks websites, who can decide on the use of OER by themselves) on the attributes of a type of OER (online courses, whose observability is higher than the OER as modular components used in formal education), whose attributes were selected based on a conceptual review of the literature, conducted in a systematic approach. The results showed that there was no evidence that the relative importance of the two main attributes of the OER\'s value proposition, most used as an argument for differentiation (intellectual property license and institutional reputation) is significant in the evaluation of the total utility perceived in the proposals of free online courses. In contrast, attributes that are harder to add to OER (certification, support, and language) are the most important attributes for respondents.

A Análise de Preferência Conjunta (APC) é uma metodologia estatística bastante utilizada em estudos de comportamento do consumidor e do mercado em geral. Ela possibilita a realização de estudos sobre julgamentos individuais, tais como a aceita-bilidade e preferência por um determinado produto no momento da sua aquisição (ver Artes, 1991 e Friedmann, 1998). Em um estudo de preferência conjunta, são apresentadas configurações hipotéticas de um mesmo produto, que devem ser avaliadas segundo a preferência do respondente. O julgamento de um estímulo é denominado de valor de preferência que nada mais é do que a quantificação da preferência do indivíduo por um estímulo. Quanto maior o número de atributos e níveis utilizados na caracterização de um produto, mais real será sua descrição. No entanto, a complexidade dos estímulos e o número de configurações possíveis aumenta exponencialmente a cada novo atributo ou nível acrescentado, podendo comprometer a qualidade dos resultados de uma pesquisa. Este problema é contornado através da utilização de estímulos gerados através de planejamentos fracionários combinado na omissão de um ou mais atributos nos diferentes estímulos, conhecidos como perfis incompletos. Neste trabalho, pretende-se testar o efeito da ausência de atributos na classificação de estímulos e diferentes formas de imputação da informação faltante em uma aplicação sobre o efeito de características do emprego na satisfação do funcionário. / Conjoint Analysis is a statistic technique used in many behavior studies, product management and marketing researches. The conjoint method involves presenting customers with a test set of hypothetical products profiles and collecting their preferences. It\'s task is to identify some within a set of attributes those ones that are the most important for the research participants. Conjoint Analysis works better when the test set of profiles is small and the number of attributes is not so large. When a large number of attributes are considered in a conjoint study, the final number of possible profiles increase a lot. In this cases, fractional designs and incomplete profiles can be used to solve this problem. In this study will be tested the missing information efect in a conjoint study and will be compared some diferent imputations methods.

Indústrias de alimentos têm se empenhado para o lançamento de produtos com atributos de saudabilidade, em resposta ao ganho de consciência de consumidores. No Brasil, o meio acadêmico também tem se esforçado para contribuir na viabilização técnica e aceitação sensorial de alimentos mais saudáveis. Em virtude dos elevados custos para se desenvolver, lançar e comercializar um produto, compreender previamente a percepção e atitude do consumidor é fundamental. Duas metodologias utilizadas para se explorar a atitude do consumidor em relação aos alimentos são as técnicas projetivas e a conjoint analysis. A proposta da presente dissertação foi realizar estudos empíricos sobre como os indivíduos lidam com atributos de saudabilidade em hambúrguer congelado. Foram conduzidos três estudos, com objetivos distintos, mas complementares. No primeiro, via técnica projetiva de associação de palavras, foram identificadas as categorias mais relevantes para consumidores quanto ao hambúrguer tradicional e aos mais saudáveis: Saudabilidade, Sabor agradável, Receio quanto à qualidade/sabor e Gordura/caloria. No segundo estudo, também baseado em uma técnica projetiva, a de completamento, verificou-se que as categorias mais importantes na compra de hambúrgueres congelados em geral foram as relacionadas a marca, preço, sabor e saudabilidade. No terceiro estudo, a conjoint analysis revelou que o atributo Alegação apresentou mais relevância para os participantes do que o Preço. Os níveis de alegação eram de um hambúrguer tradicional (sem alegação), um segundo com apelo de sabor (saboroso) e um terceiro com saudabilidade (fonte de fibras). Destes, o tradicional foi preferido pelos consumidores e o que seria fonte de fibras foi rejeitado. Já em simulações de mercado, a participação do hambúrguer fonte de fibras foi baixa, mas gerou indícios de nicho a ser explorado. A conclusão geral é que há um nicho de potenciais consumidores de hambúrguer congelado com atributos de saudabilidade. Porém, no caso deste produto, as qualidades tradicionais e o sabor ainda são quesitos bastante valorizados mesmo dentre as versões mais saudáveis, e a importância sensorial não deve ser negligenciada por pesquisadores e indústrias de alimentos. O preço, por sua vez, foi considerado secundário no caso do hambúrguer congelado. Quanto à avaliação das metodologias utilizadas, verificou-se que técnicas qualitativas e estatísticas contribuíram nos presentes estudos de consumidor, identificando atributos que merecem atenção para o desenvolvimento de novos produtos e estratégias de marketing. / The food industry has been engaged to launch products with health attributes in response to the increase of consumer awareness. In Brazil, academia has also endeavored to contribute to the technical feasibility and sensory acceptance of healthier foods. Due the high costs to develop, launch and market a product, it is important to previously understand consumer perception and attitude. Two methodologies used to explore consumer attitudes towards a food are projective techniques and conjoint analysis. The purpose of this dissertation was to conduct empirical studies on how individuals deal with healthful attributes in frozen burger. Three studies were conducted with different but complementary goals. In the first, via projective technique of word association, it was identified the most relevant categories for consumers considering the traditional burger and healthier burgers: Healthful, Good Taste, Quality/Flavor Apprehension and Fat/Calorie. In the second study, also based on a projective technique (completion test), it was found that the most important categories in the purchase of frozen burgers in general were related to brand, price, taste and healthiness. In the third study, the conjoint analysis revealed that the attribute Claim had more relevance to the participants than the Price. Levels of Claim were a traditional burger (no claim), a second with flavor appeal (tasty) and a third as the healthier (source of fibers). Of these, the traditional was preferred by consumers and the source of fibers one was rejected. In market simulations, the participation of the source of fibers burger was low, but there was evidence of a niche to be explored. The general conclusion is that there is a potential niche of consumers of frozen burger with healthful attributes. However, in the case of this meat product, the traditional and taste qualities are still highly valued even among the healthier versions, and sensory importance should not be neglected by researchers and food industries. The price, in turn, was considered secondary in the case of frozen burger. Regarding the evaluation of the methods used, it was found that qualitative and statistical techniques contributed to these consumer studies, identifying attributes that need attention to the development of new products and marketing strategies.