Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Economics, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-95).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2004. / Title from thesis evaluation sheet; title page is lacking. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-49).

abstract: The marketing and development of solutions has become an increasingly important concept in both marketing practice and theory. Recent conceptual work has defined solutions as sets of products and services that allow customers to achieve customized outcomes. Although the definition of a solution is becoming clearer, the process through which solution value is generated is still opaque. The purpose of this study was to add clarity to both marketing theory and practice by examining the solution value co-creation process in depth. Service-dominant logic, the relational view, service value co-creation, and theories of organizational learning and knowledge were the basis for this examination. Social capital was also examined to determine how these important relational concepts are involved in solution development. The study was conducted in four separate phases using a multi-method approach of quantitative surveys, qualitative surveys, and depth interviews. A large, multinational educational firm provided the context for the study which included access to their solution sales force and customer base. Quantitative data was collected from 97 key informants across 182 different customer opportunities for both new and existing solution engagements. Qualitative data was also collected from 71 respondents to provide a mixed-method triangulation of how solution value is created. Overall, the study provided strong support to the idea that knowledge sharing between solution providers and their customers plays a pivotal role in the co-creation of solution value. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Business Administration 2011

Making healthy eating choices as a college student can be challenging and the transition from adolescence to adulthood can be associated with an increased likelihood of obesity. Studies have shown that college students have poor eating habits and frequent consumption of fast food meals. Studies have reported menu labeling to be effective in influencing college students' purchasing decisions. During the fall 2009 semester, the Saluki Select Healthy Eating Program was implemented in the Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) Student Center to aid college students and the public in general to make healthier menu choices. The purpose of this research study was to compare and analyze marketing techniques for promoting and selling these healthy menu options at the SIUC Student Center. Results showed that signage and suggestive selling increased awareness of Saluki Select foods. Signage and suggestive selling, however, were not found statistically significant for increasing sales of Saluki Select foods. These findings are important in the planning and implementation of marketing strategies on healthy food options in university dining centers, foodservice operations, and restaurants. This study can add to the current research on menu labeling by indicating that social marketing does, in fact, increase awareness of healthier food items.

This exploratory study builds on previous sales leadership research by examining, comparing, and contrasting sales leaders’ and sales representatives’ perceptions of what leadership behaviours enable salesperson performance. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with sales teams in a global enterprise software company. Semi-structured interviews were transcribed and statements coded into categories of leadership behaviours. Overall the sales professionals perceived the leadership behaviours of coaching, collaborating, championing, customer engaging, challenging, and creating vision enable salesperson performance. References were also made to candidate recruiting, inspiring and rewarding, however these were less frequent. Sales leaders and sales representatives agreed that coaching, collaborating, championing and customer engaging enable salesperson performance, however sales leaders spoke more about coaching, creating vision and candidate recruiting, while sales representatives spoke more about collaborating, championing, customer engaging and challenging. High performing sales representatives referred to coaching and customer engaging behaviours more frequently than average and low performing sales representatives, indicating the importance of these behaviours. Respondents also revealed that the intense pressure to deliver quarterly results made leadership challenging in this environment. This may account for the difference between sales leadership behaviours and leadership behaviours identified in the literature. This study suggests that a high pressure complex sales context might influence the type of leadership behaviours that may be best suited to enable salesperson performance. This study contributes to the field by providing a framework of the sales leadership behaviours perceived to enable salesperson performance, providing confirmation that sales leaders adopt previously identified leadership behaviours in the sales context, and the identification of new leadership behaviours specific to the sales context. It also presents evidence that trust, confidence, optimism and resilience are potential mediators between sales leadership and salesperson performance, and it provides a set of implications for practice.

This paper empirically tests the theoretical model developed by Aggarwal, Krigman and Womack (2001), which argues that insiders of a firm strategically underprice its initial public offering to maximize personal wealth by selling shares at lockup expiration. First day underpricing generates information momentum for the stock in terms of increased research coverage and recommendations by analysts. Increased research coverage is positively correlated with stock returns and insider selling at the end of the lockup period. Although the value of the stock should be typically based on discounted expected future cash flows, several empirical papers suggest a downward sloping demand curves for new issues (Kaul, Mehrotra and Morck 2000, Field and Hanka 2000), consistent with the assumption of this paper’s empirical model. The hypothesis is tested using a sample of 210 internet-based firms such as Social media platforms, online travel agents, online real-estate agents and E-commerce services. The empirical results are significant and consistent with the hypothesis.

Abstract The aim of this work was to determine the extent of land ownership by companies in Northern Finland over the period 1885-1939, what companies acquired land, what prices they paid for it and the reasons for them doing this. Attention is also paid to the general and regional causes of these sales of land. The perspective adopted is largely that of the industrial sector, so that the economic and social repercussions are deemed to lie beyond the scope of this work, and even the immediate consequences of the purchases of land are touched on only in passing. The timber companies were most active in acquiring land in 1900-1920, over which period their holdings increased more than 6-fold (from 79 690 ha to 513 450 ha). In 1915 the companies owned 3.6% of the total surface area of Northern Finland, 8.8% of the private land and 5.7% of the total number of farm or forest properties. The land holdings of the timber companies decreased from 1920 onwards and became established at around 450 000 ha in the 1930s. This took place through the companies releasing land for settlement purposes, either voluntarily or under the Land Restoration Law of 1925, seeking in this way to rid themselves of land that was of no use to them. The chief focus of purchases of land by the timber companies in Northern Finland was in Kainuu, where they owned a total of 292 820 ha at the peak in this trend, in 1920. Over the period 1915-1939 about 60% of the land owned by such companies in Northern Finland was situated in Kainuu, and even by 1915 they had acquired about 27% of all the privately-owned land in the region. The main reason for the timber companies' interest in purchasing land was the expansion in sawn timber production, which meant that the volume of timber required for this purpose increased from 2.6 million stems in 1870 to 34 million by 1910. At the same time the pulp and paper industries were also stepping up production. There was a fear that Finland's forest reserves would be exhausted by this level of utilization. At the time of this great expansion in the forest industries the peasant farming population of Finland were still living at a more or less subsistence level. Productivity in agriculture was low, poverty and years of crop failure tried the limits of human endurance, and there were few opportunities for the farmers of Northern Finland to gain anything in the way of an income. One possible means of raising some cash was by selling timber from one's forest or undertaking lumbering work, and another was to sell one's whole farm to a timber company. Gradually a situation arose in which the peasant farmers became anxious to sell forest land and the industry was eager to buy it. The most prominent landowners were the trading houses of Oulu. Their land ownership was transferred in 1912 to Ab Uleå Oy, whose landed property was over 200 000 ha at its peak. Another prominent landowner was Puutavara Osakeyhtiö Kemi with its 75 000 ha of land. From 1925 onwards the companies' land ownership was concentrated in the hands of three major owners owing to selling and buying of land between the companies. Kajaanin Puutavara Osakeyhtiö owned 223 000 ha, Puutavara Osakeyhtiö Kemi 84 000 ha and Kymmene Ab 36 600 ha. The companies cannot be accused of having been dishonest in their buying of land. A market price was formed to woodland, and this price determined the value of the forests. The state also exercised some influence on the market price by selling its own forests.

M.Com. (Sales Management) / This study emphasizes that the sales effort is linked to the sales opportunities in the most profitable way. To make this possible, the sales potential of a sales area must first be analysed scientifically. Only then can the allocation of sales personnel to a sales area be made in the best possible way. The consumer, rather than the sales area, is the starting-point. In other words, the emphasis is on the satisfaction of needs in the sales area. The role of sales potential and forecasting in sales quota allotment is also analysed, since these contribute to the most effective allocation of sales personnel to the sales area. Optimum allocation of sales personnel to the sales area takes place, based on information from the sales area (market needs).

Avusa Publishing (East Cape) (APEC) publishes several of the oldest and best known newspaper products in the Eastern Cape. The Eastern Province Herald is currently the oldest daily morning newspaper in South Africa and the average daily circulation of the paper is 25 000. Its main distribution is in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan area, as well as the area up to the Garden Route and as far East as Port Alfred. APEC also publishes the Weekend Post. According to the financial statements and circulation and advertisement figures of the company, the revenue generated by the company has not increased, but stayed stagnant. In addition to this, the daily circulation of the flagship publication, The Herald, has decreased from 29 000 in 2005 to 24 000 in 2008. As the company only generates revenue from two sources, namely advertising sales and the sale of newspapers, the above mentioned situation negatively affects the financial wellbeing of the company. The management dilemma that needed to be researched was how APEC's circulation and advertising income could be increased. The primary objective of this study was therefore to improve APEC's sales success by investigating the determinants of such sales success. More specifically, the study investigated the influence of determinants such as newsworthiness, value proposition, brand awareness, customer service, customer loyalty, credibility and new media on sales success, as measured by increased circulation and advertising revenue. Convenience sampling was used to select 287 employees working for the company. A mail survey was conducted among these 287 employees, but only 114 usable questionnaires were returned (a response rate of 40 percent). The empirical results revealed that brand awareness, customer loyalty and the use of new media technologies exerted a significantly positive influence on the sales success of APEC. The results further showed that newsworthiness, editorial credibility, value proposition and customer service exerted no significant influence on the APEC’s sales success. Despite the latter findings, the results revealed that there was a high level of trust and loyalty in the editorial content of APEC, as well as the perception of good value for money among both readers and advertisers. The managerial implications of these findings are discussed and areas of future research are recommended.

Contact centres are the first point of contact between a company and a customer after the purchase of a product or service. These centres make use of contact centre agents to service customer queries. In the past contact centres hired as many agents as they could in order to service customers, which have led to an increase in personnel costs causing contact centres to become costly to run. Automation techniques were introduced to decrease personnel costs and one such technique is the Interactive Voice Response (IVR). The usability of IVR systems is, however, dismal. Customers would rather speak to a contact centre agent than navigate through the menu structure found in these systems. The menu structure has come under scrutiny because it is difficult to use and navigate, is often not aligned to caller usage patterns, and the menu options are long and vague. This research investigated whether a Natural Language Interface (NLI) could alleviate the problems inherent to IVR. NLIs, however, come with their own disadvantages of which the main ones are ambiguity and the loss of context of a conversation. Two prototypes were implemented, one of which resembled an IVR and the other an NLI (using ALICE concepts). An evaluation of two prototypes confirmed the advantages and disadvantages of these concepts in accordance to theory. A Hybrid prototype was proposed with the aid of two models. The model which proposed an NLI using a rule base was chosen for implementation. The Hybrid prototype was then evaluated against the NLI and IVR prototypes to deduce which prototype was the most effective, efficient and satisfying. The evaluation through the aid of descriptive and inferential statistics showed that the Hybrid prototype was the most usable prototype. The evaluation of the Hybrid prototype confirmed that a Hybrid approach could limit the shortcomings of IVR through the elimination of the menu structure found in these systems, thereby allowing users to state their queries in natural language. The incorporated rule base provided the Hybrid system with long term memory, eliminating one of the main disadvantages of NLIs.