Consumers’ perceptions towards counterfeits as well as the effect of consumers’ perceptions on consumer purchase behaviour remain unclear. On the other hand, the study of determinants of the consideration set has recently become attractive to researchers due to its importance in relation to the study of consumer choice processes. Nevertheless, few researchers have examined the influence of consumer perceptions of branded products on the formation of the consideration set. This thesis attempts an investigation of the determinants of the two crucial stages – consideration set and purchase intention – of the consumer choice process in the context of non-deceptive counterfeiting. The research adopted a combination of qualitative (focus group) and quantitative research (individual interview survey) and provides a detailed examination of consumers’ perceptions of both the counterfeit and original branded products studied, as well as their explanatory power on the selected consumer choice processes. This research suggests that there are certain differences in the kinds of determinants of the same stage of the consumer choice process across different versions of a brand. There also exist some differences in the kinds and numbers of determinants of the consideration set and the purchase intention towards one brand. Nevertheless, the band personality appears to be significant across all regression models. Generally, it plays the dominant role in the formation of the consideration set and consumer purchase intention. Consumers are more likely to evaluate more criteria in the process of consideration than at the purchase intention stage. This research enriches the branding theory, suggests a more sophisticated use of Aaker’s (1997) brand personality scale, and develops a new measurement scale for use in the study of multiple brands.

Cette thèse étudie l'impact des marchés financiers sur la croissance économique dans la région MENA. Le premier chapitre présente la situation économique, démographique et financière de la région. Le deuxième chapitre présente un modèle d'équilibre général à générations imbriquées, qui relie la croissance économique, les marchés financiers et l'évolution démographique. Le modèle est calibré et simulé pour trois pays de la région, présentant des tendances démographiques diverses. Les résultats montrent qu'un secteur financier plus performant conduit à une meilleure performance économique et à des taux d'emploi plus élevés. Par ailleurs, les jeunes sont les premiers bénéficiaires de la réforme du secteur financier. Le troisième chapitre teste empiriquement l'impact du secteur financier sur le secteur réel et la croissance dans 15 pays de la région MENA et constate un impact négatif du développement du secteur financier sur la croissance. Ces résultats soulignent l'inefficacité de secteur financier dans la région et le besoin urgent de cibler des politiques qui améliorent l'efficience du secteur et pas seulement sa taille. Dans le quatrième chapitre, un indicateur de développement des marchés financiers est construit pour les pays de la région. Cet indicateur est basé sur les 3 piliers que sont l'environnement macroéconomique, les institutions financières et les marchés financiers. Il prend en compte les spécificités des pays de la région MENA et permet de classer les pays de la région en fonction de leur performance dans le secteur financier / This thesis studies the impact of the financial markets on economic growth for MENA region. The first chapter presents a general overview of the region, with a focus on economic, demographic and financial market outlook of the region. In the second chapter an overlapping generation model is presented, that links economic development, financial markets and demographic shift. The model is simulated for three countries in the region with different speeds in demographic shift. The results show that a more efficient financial sector leads to better economic performance and higher employment rates, furthermore, youth are the primary beneficiaries of the reform in the financial sector. The third chapter tests empirically the link between the financial sector and the real sector in 15 MENA countries and finds a negative impact of financial sector development on growth. These results underline the expansion of an inefficient financial sector in the region, and the urgent need to focus on policies that target the efficiency of the sector and not solely its size. A comprehensive composite index for the financial sector development is developed in the fourth chapter. This index is based on three pillars that are, macroeconomic environment, financial institutions and financial markets. The index takes into account the specificities of MENA countries and allows us to rank the countries in the region according to their performance in the financial sector.