企業獲利與永續發展是企業追尋的目標，然而科技的演進與經濟環境的變化所形成的景氣循環，往往讓體質不佳或未依循產業趨勢向上提升的企業面臨經營危機；而電子零組件通路產業係電子產業景氣之先趨，由於其掌握上游電子零組件之代理權與下游通路(客戶)之產業特性，在面對全球化競爭與微利化時代的來臨，除尋求經濟規模的擴大(購併)，或經營小眾型利基市場的策略外，是否可運用其產業特性轉型為品牌與製造廠商，其過程將是本研究之重點。 由於以往文獻中對於電子零組件通路的研究多針對其現有通路產業或單一企業競爭策略或個案競爭力之探討，其結論多半為增加新產品代理、全球化行銷網絡的建立及擴大經濟規模和提供客戶整體解決方案，提升自我技術及運籌能力等，對於電子零組件通路商轉型策略的討論較少，而對於企業轉型建立自有產品的研究，也多以擁有生產代工能力的企業做分析。因此，本研究將針對未擁有生產研發能力的電子零組件通路商，以實際案例分析通路商如何透過組織之各項機能(包括銷售、研發、生產及人力組織等)的強化，建構企業本身的研發與製造能力，以成功擁有自有產品，並行銷國際的過程探討其成功轉型之關鍵。 / Continuity management with creative innovation is the fundamental key success factor to all business entity. However, the rapidly renovation of technology and the fast change of environment result the business in a critical condition when facing operational crisis. The performance of IC component distributor is the key indicator to the entire electronic industries, as it holds the upper level’s distribution right of IC components and the specialty of the business of lower levels. To face the era of micro profit and global competition, not just to maximize the economical scale by merging or the strategy to find the niche market but to apply the unique part of this industry to turn the business with brand name and the manufacturer. This paper is focusing on the research of its process. Most of the articles are discussing the individual case or the strategy of business competition for the IC components distributors. Its conclusion are tend to increase more products to be the distributor, globalize the marketing network, extend the business scale and to provide customers total solutions to turn up the technology and operation abilities. There are not much in discussing how to transform the business from IC components distributors. The most research in transforming the business to build its own brand name is focusing to analyze the business which have OEM production abilities. Therefore this research will apply the real case to analyze how the IC distributors improve their functions (including sales、RD、productions and HR) to develop their own products with a brand and extend the market worldwide. The research will discuss the critical and turning points for the success.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2018. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Creating brand equity, that is, building a strong brand is a successful strategy for differentiating a product from competing brands (Aaker, 1991: 256). Brand equity provides sustainable competitive advantages, because it creates meaningful competitive barriers. Brand equity is developed through perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand awareness and brand associations, which cannot be either built or destroyed in the short run; but can be created only in the long run through carefully designed marketing investment. This study aims to examine the practicality and application of a customer-based brand equity model, based on Aaker’s (1991: 256) well-known conceptual framework of brand equity. The study investigates the causal relationships between the 4 dimensions of brand equity and brand equity itself. It specifically measured the way in which consumers’ perceptions of the dimensions of brand equity affected the overall brand equity evaluations. Data were collected from a sample of house-wives in South Africa. The study concludes that brand loyalty and perceived quality is the most influential dimension of brand equity. Support was also found for the brand awareness and brand association dimensions. Implications for marketing managers and marketing planners are discussed. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die skep van handelsmerkekwiteit “brand equity”, wat die bou van sterk handelsmerke impliseer, is 'n suksesvolle strategie om 'n produk van mededingende produkte te onderskei (Aaker, 1991: 256). Handelsmerkekwiteit voorsien volgehoue mededingende voordele omrede dit betekenisvolle mededingende hindernisse skep. Dit is ontwikkel op grond van kwaliteitsherkenning, handlesmerklojaliteit, kwaliteitsbewustheid en kwaliteitsassosiasies. Handelsmerkekwiteit kan geskep word deur omsigtige bemarkingsinvestering. Die doelwit van hierdie studie was om die toepaslikheid en praktiese toepassing van 'n kliëntgebasseerde ekwiteitsmodel te ondersoek en is gebaseer op Aaker (1991: 256) se bekende konseptuele handelsmerk-ekwiteitsraamwerk. Die studie ondersoek die kousale verwantskap tussen die vier handelsmerkekwiteitsdimensies en die algehele ekwiteitsevaluasie. Dit meet die wyse waarop die verbruiker se persepsie van die dimensies ekwiteit beïnvloed en die algehele ekwiteitsevaluasie. Data-insameling is gedoen onder huisvrouens in Suid-Afrika. Die resultate bevestig dat handelsmerklojaliteitlojaliteit en kwaliteitherkenning die mees invloedryke dimensies van handelsmerekwiteit is. Ondersteuning is ook gevind vir die kwaliteitsbewustheid en assosiasie dimensies. Hiervolgens is implikasies vir bemarkingbestuurders en -beplanners geformuleer.

In order to discover the semantic implications involved in advertising in general, the present study is confined to an investigation of the names of perfumes and lipsticks, taken as representative of the broader field.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Strategic Marketing, Johannesburg 2016 / Purpose – This paper investigates the brand knowledge and perceptions of South Africans living abroad. It also establishes whether South Africans living abroad are brand advocates for South Africa. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on key literature relating to knowledge transfer, brand advocacy and nation branding. Data were collected through a self-administered online survey to South Africans living abroad through the Brand South Africa database. Correlation, partial correlation and linear regression were used to identify linkages between knowledge transfer, brand advocacy and nation branding. Findings – The conceptual model in conjunction with the hypotheses presented is a start in the direction of establishing a framework to understanding the value of nation branding in the South African knowledge economy. Findings showed significant relation between knowledge transfer, brand advocacy and nation branding. Research limitations/implications – cross-sectional data were used and further research should examine data for multiple years in order to conduct longitudinal studies. Practical implications – The study has demonstrated that nation branding is an important concept to consider in relation to the diaspora. A strong nation brand help to increase exports, attract tourism, investment and immigration. Nation branding has become an essential part of a country’s sustainable development. Originality/value – The study analysed the relationship between knowledge transfer, brand advocacy and nation branding must be seen as a development strategy for home nations to tap the knowledge and skills of their expatriate professionals in developing economies such as South Africa. / GR2018

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Strategic Marketing. Johannesburg, March 2017 / Brand trust has been in decline for a number of years (Eggers, O’Dwyer, Kraus, Vallaster, & Güldenberg, 2013; Gerzema, 2009; Gilmore & Pine, 2007; Schallehn, Burmann, & Riley, 2014). According to Eggers et al., (2013), this has been attributed to many possible causes; the most prevalent being a breakdown between the promises made by brands and what they actually deliver. As a result, consumers are growing increasingly sceptical and they find themselves unable to believe brand claims (Eggers et al.,, 2013). Brand authenticity has been referred to as the perfect antidote to this problem (Gerzema, 2009). It is synonymous with honesty (Morhart, Malär, Guèvremont, Girardin, & Grohmann, 2015), sincerity (Beverland, 2005a; Fine, 2003; Napoli, Dickinson, Beverland, & Farrelly, 2014; Pace, 2015), and trust (Eggers et al.,, 2013); and is a key success factor for brands today (Brown, Kozinets, & Sherry, 2003; Gilmore & Pine, 2007). Authentic brands are deeply committed to their values and to delivering on their promises (Eggers et al.,, 2013; Morhart et al.,, 2015). Morhart et al., (2015) state that to enhance the perception of authenticity, brands should come across as more “human”, as doing so makes it easier for consumers to recognise the inherent values of the brand. Due to a rebirth in traditional, wholesome values, consumers are growing increasingly fond of humanised brands and they now even relate to brands in the same way they relate to people (Brown, 2010; Fournier, 1998; Kervyn, Fiske, & Malone, 2012; Malone & Fiske, 2013). It has been said that brands that are succeeding in a time when brand trust is at an all-time low, are those that are fostering meaningful relationships with their customers by coming across as “human” (Kervyn et al.,, 2012; Malone & Fiske, 2013; Marshall & Ritchie, 2013). This research set out to examine the humanisation of brands, particularly in a world where authenticity is becoming increasingly popular and brand trust, increasingly rare. It was hoped that an empirical investigation would help to define the implications of this growing trend in brand management. The study was conducted in South Africa, where historically there has been a major breakdown of trust between its citizens and the institutions that have been entrusted to lead them (Lekalake, 2015; Marais, 2011; Moeng, 2015; Steenkamp, 2009). The study was grounded in theory that has roots in the field of social psychology. In interpersonal relationships, Cuddy, Fiske, and Glick (2007) found that people make judgements about others based on the evaluation of two dimensions: warmth and competence. The Brands as Intentional Agents Framework (BIAF) (Kervyn et al.,, 2012) theorises that this is consistent with people and brands. Consumers evaluate brands on the same basis of warmth and competence: where warmth is the belief that the brand has good intentions, and competence, the belief that the brand has the ability to carry out those intentions. (Kervyn et al.,, 2012). Expressions of warmth and competence enhance the perception that a brand is humanlike (J. Aaker, Vohs, & Mogilner, 2010; Kervyn et al.,, 2012; Malone & Fiske, 2013). An extensive literature review was conducted on brand authenticity, perceived warmth, perceived competence and brand trust - revealing strong connections between these four constructs. The research problem was three-fold. First, the intention was to establish and evaluate the dimensions of brand authenticity in South Africa, postulated as originality, continuity, credibility and integrity (according to recent studies in the literature). Second, the intention was to then determine whether brand authenticity has a positive impact on brand trust. Brand trust was postulated as having two dimensions, brand intentions and brand reliability, as per Delgado-Ballester (2004). Third, the intention was to resolve whether perceptions of warmth and competence then mediate the relationship between brand authenticity and brand trust. This study adopted a quantitative methodology whereby a self-completion questionnaire was distributed using face-to-face data collection procedures. The sampling frame consisted of frequent flyers of one of seven domestic airlines that fly within South Africa’s borders, namely: South African Airways (SAA), Mango, British Airways (BA), Kulula, Safair, Blue Crane and Cemair. The study used a convenience sample of passengers at Bidvest airport lounges in four major cities, and at Lanseria, a smaller airport in Johannesburg. The questionnaire design included a construct measurement section where respondents were asked to rate their perception of the selected brand’s authenticity, warmth, competence and trust. The data collection returned an impressive 355 usable responses, made up predominantly of business travellers. Partial least squares (PLS) was used to examine the data and factor analysis revealed four important findings. First, the analysis showed three new factors, different to the four postulated dimensions of brand authenticity. They were Original, Ethical and Genuine. Second, brand trust was found to be one-dimensional, and not two-dimensional as postulated. Third, although a revised model of six constructs (original, ethical, genuine, warmth, competence and brand trust) displayed both internal reliability and convergent validity, discriminant validity could not be proven due to critically high correlations between the constructs. The high levels of similarity rendered the constructs indistinguishable in a causal model and as a result, the hypotheses could not be tested using the data that was collected. Finally, an additional analysis showed significant differences between the results of South African Airways (SAA) and some or all of the other airlines on all the constructs. As SAA was not viewed in a positive light, this study identified SAA as an outlier brand. The findings of this research proved to be very interesting, and have major theoretical and managerial implications. As brand authenticity was measured as a second-order construct, it could not be said with certainty that original, ethical and genuine are dimensions thereof. However, the literature certainly suggested that they might be. Authenticity has been linked to any semblance of originality (Vann, 2006); an honourable set of values (Beverland, Lindgreen, & Vink, 2008); and that which is genuine, real and true (Arnould & Price, 2000; Beverland & Farrelly, 2010; Grayson & Martinec, 2004; Molleda & Jain, 2013). Moreover, a recent study by Akbar and Wymer (2016) proved originality and genuineness to be dimensions of brand authenticity and their findings strongly support those of this study. The unexpected results of this research also confirm that brand authenticity is highly contextual and subjective – its meaning is dependent on the consumer’s personal experiences and their unique understanding of what is authentic (Beverland & Farrelly, 2010; Bruhn, Schoenmüller, Schäfer, & Heinrich, 2012; Fritz, Schoenmueller, & Bruhn, 2017; Leigh, Peters, & Shelton, 2006; Molleda & Jain, 2013). This study reiterates that brand managers wishing to enhance perceptions of authenticity, must adapt their approach for their specific brand in specific contexts and be very cognisant of their customers unique interpretation of authenticity. The lack of discriminant validity between the six constructs in the revised path model (original, ethical, genuine, warmth, competence and brand trust) was the most noteworthy finding of this research, as it has serious theoretical and managerial implications. This finding indicates that consumers view these constructs as one and the same, and they are deeply interconnected. This could be attributed to the strong literary overlaps between them, as many of these constructs have almost identical definitions and key traits (for example: honesty, sincerity, benevolence, capability, and reliability). As a result, this research makes an important contribution to advancing the Brands as Intentional Agents Framework (BIAF) (Kervyn et al.,, 2012). It suggests that the BIAF should be expanded to include constructs beyond warmth and competence, as expressions of all six constructs contribute equally to the perception that a brand is human. This research concludes with the Human Brand Model (HBM); a model that provides practical guidelines as to how managers can use the insights from this study to build human brands. To enhance the perception that a brand is more human, managers must use expressions not only of warmth and competence, but of originality, ethicality, genuineness and trust as well. The six dimensions work along a continuum: if one is elevated, so too are the others; but if one is tarnished, the others are negatively impacted too. The result is that no single dimension can be ignored in this process. Brand managers must understand that efforts to build a human brand far surpass the marketing team. This process requires the mobilisation of every department in the organisation and the commitment of the highest levels of leadership. This research set out to establish whether the human brand is simply a buzzword in marketing, or an idea that has both academic and managerial value. The idea that brands have evolved into animate entities is not yet widely accepted in academic literature. However, this research makes an important contribution to advancing the existing theory on brand perception and current views on brand anthropomorphism. It also provides some guidance as to the exact mechanisms that can be used to build human brands. The findings demonstrated that the human brand is an idea that is real, and one with value for both academics and practitioners, leaving room for much further research. / MT2017

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries / Department: Agricultural Economics.

Abstract not available

Private label brands have been examined in the literature for more than forty years (Narasimhan and Wilcox, 1998). Due to the rapid growth of private-label market share, researchers have looked into different influential factors in attempting to find out the reasons behind the success of these store products. As consumers reflect the demand side of fast-moving goods, their perceptions critically affect decisions on brand selection, and therefore the performance of the brands.Although the topic of private labels has long been studied, the volume of private-label research is less than that of national-brand studies. Findings from the extant studies of private labels have provided valuable consumer insights for marketing scholars and practitioners to better develop branding theory and strategies. However, issues still exist in the literature, in particular, concerning category-level influences of consumer factors such as perceived risk and attitude. Risk perception and attitude are important explanatory constructs for consumer proneness towards buying private labels. Moreover, category-level differences are stated as the most critical source that can explain the variations in the performance of private labels (Batra and Sinha, 2000; Dhar and Hoch, 1997).This research replicates Batra and Sinha's (2000) study which examined the categorylevel effects of different determinants of perceived risk on consumer preferences for buying private labels. The purpose of this research is to re-examine their hypotheses and to investigate other attitude determinants which Batra and Sinha did not study. In addition, this study also investigates the impact of demographics on the purchase of private labels.A mall-intercept survey was conducted to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that perceived risk and attitude determinants such as quality variability, price consciousness, price-quality association and brand loyalty influence significantly consumers' propensities to buy private labels. Furthermore, these private-label propensities vary across product categories due to category-level variations in perceptions and attitudes. Consumers are more likely to buy private labels in categories where they perceive lower quality variability across brands, where they have higher price consciousness, where they believe weaker price-quality association, and where they have less brand loyalty. Moreover, education and income are also identified as significant indicators of private label buyers.Findings from this study suggest that category-level analysis of consumer factors could more effectively answer the question why private label success varies across different categories. A better way for national-brand manufacturers and retailers to compete against each other is the product quality improvement. Manufacturers should try to keep the quality level of national brands as far above that of private labels as possible, whereas retailers should attempt to reduce the quality gap for their private label brands.

<p>The purpose of this paper is to examine whether, and if so, how tourism effect the construction of a new city district with a stadium in focus. The study is based on a case study of Swedbank Arena and Arenastaden as nearby area. There has been an interest from the writers to study Swedbank Arena and Arenastaden, as it is a current subject, and both of them are under construction, which means that it was possible to see how the process works from the ground up. It has been shown that Swedbank Arena is built up in an entirely new district in which there will be new infrastructure that is tailored to the stadium and the crowd it’s expected to attract. The nearby area outside the new district is tailored to the stadium in the sense that roads are re-built to increase accessibility. To further increase the accessibility public transport will be given priority as a way to get around for those planning the new district. This is so that visitors / tourists can get in and out of the area quickly by public transport. For this reason it is also made changes in public transport. In the conclusion the writers presents a model to show the links between tourism, economy, society and infrastructure. How they fit together and are interdependent. The writers also concludes that there is no appropriate words that can explain what it is like visiting an arena, and the phenomenon that occurs around an arena, a discussion leading to the terms arena tourist and arena tourism.</p> / <p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om, och i så fall hur, turismen med dess förväntade tillströmningar av människor påverkar uppbyggandet av en ny stadsdel med en arena i fokus. Studien bygger på en fallstudie över Swedbank Arena och Arenastaden som närliggande område. Det har funnits ett intresse hos skribenterna att studera just Swedbank Arena och Arenastaden då det är ett aktuellt ämne samt att båda är under uppbyggnad, vilket innebär att det varit möjligt att se hur processen går till från grunden. Det har visat sig att Swedbank Arena byggs upp i en helt ny stadsdel där det kommer att tillkomma ny infrastruktur som är anpassad efter arenan och de folkmassor den förväntas locka till sig. Närliggande området utanför den nya stadsdelen anpassas efter arenan i den bemärkelsen att vägar byggs om för att öka framkomligheten. För att öka framkomligheten ytterligare kommer kollektivtrafiken att prioriteras som ett sätt att ta sig fram för de som planerar den nya stadsdelen. Detta för att besökare/turister kan komma att ta sig in och ut ur området snabbt med kollektivtrafiken. Av denna anledning görs det även förändringar i kollektivtrafiken. I slutsatsen presenterar skribenterna en modell som är till för att visa sambanden mellan turism, ekonomi, samhälle och infrastruktur. Hur dessa hänger ihop och att de är beroende av varandra. Skribenterna kommer även fram till att det inte finns något lämpligt ord som kan förklara vilka det är som besöker en arena samt de fenomen som uppstår kring en arena, en diskussion leder fram till termerna <em>arenaturist</em> och <em>arenaturism</em>.</p>

This dissertation addresses three topics on information economics. Generally, information is not perfect or costless as classical economics assumes. Thus, a consumer searches information at his cost or a seller provides information at his cost. First, chapter 2 presents a theoretical model where a consumer searches for local brand information. We show that a national brand providing information has a larger market share. Second, chapter 3 presents a theoretical model where a store randomizes prices and advertises the price changes. We show that at equilibrium the advertising intensity is negatively related to price and price density function is "U" shaped. As advertising costs decrease, average price decreases with more competition. Also as advertising costs decrease from the maximum to zero, price density function changes from monopoly price spike to nonprofit price spike. Thirdly, chapter 4 presents an example where information imperfection is not remedied so information asymmetry remains to cause moral hazard. The deposit insurance rate of a bank is set uniformly regardless of its loan quality because the government cannot discern the quality. Then, a failed bank has higher efficiency in good economic years by spending less on loan monitoring but lending aggressively, but has lower efficiency in difficult years because of its growing non-performing loan. The efficiency of Korean banks between 1990 and 1997 is measured by DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis), and the regression shows that the efficiency of the failed bank is affected by moral hazard. / Graduation date: 2003