Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rhode Island, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-148).

Thesis (PhDResearch)--University of South Australia, 2003.

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2000

No description available.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis focuses on clarifying how brand loyalty interplays with brand satisfaction. As most research conducted on this subject have been quantitative, this study takes a qualitative approach as a way to further describe the interplay on an individual level in a specific context, in this case the clothing industry. It has been conducted through semi-structured interviews, using seven heterogeneously brand loyal informants who answered questions concerning their brand satisfaction and brand loyalty towards brands within the clothing industry. The results demonstrates that there are significant differences in the interplay on the individual level, though most of these can be explained through previous research. Furthermore, there is considerable differences between interplay that can be explained by the brand loyalty levels of the informants. The interplay was clear amongst manifestly brand satisfied consumers. Subcategories to mental brand loyalty influenced both brand loyalty and brand satisfaction and the identification-subcategory had a distinct influence on the reasoning of all consumers.

Bakalauro baigiamajame darbe nagrinėjamas vartotojų lojalumas prekės ženklui. Teorinėje dalyje apžvelgiama vartotojų lojalumo prekės ženklui samprata, lojalumo fazės, lojalumą veikiantys veiksniai, vartotojų lojalumo prekės ženklui tipai, lojalumo teikiama nauda vartotojui ir įmonei bei lojalumą skatinančios priemonės. Vartotojų lojalumo prekės ženklui tyrimas atliekamas Lietuvos telekomunikacijų bendrovių pavyzdžiu. Tyrimu siekiama nustatyti vartotojų lojalumą telekomunikacijų bendrovės prekės ženklui lemiančius veiksnius, taip pat veiksnius, kurie paskatintų pakeisti dabartinį prekės ženklą, vartotojų lojalumo prekės ženklui tipus ir elgesį. Tyrimo metu nustatyta, kad kaina yra vienas iš pagrindinių veiksnių, kuris ne tik veikia vartotojų lojalumą telekomunikacijų bendrovės prekės ženklui, bet ir gali paskatinti pakeisti dabartinį prekės ženklą, jei kita telekomunikacijų bendrovė pasiūlytų mažesnę kainą už paslaugas. Remiantis gautais rezultatais, galima teigti, kad telekomunikacijų bendrovių klientai yra lojalūs prekės ženklui, tačiau įvairių tipų ir lygių. Dauguma jų priklauso viduriniam lojalumo lygiui. Jie naudojasi telekomunikacijų bendrovės teikiamomis paslaugomis, bet galėtų ją pakeisti ir kita, jei pasitaikytų geresnis konkurentų pasiūlymas. / The bachelor's thesis analyses consumers’ loyalty to brand. The definition of brand loyalty, loyalty phases, factors affecting brand loyalty, the types of brand loyalty, benefits of loyalty to the consumer and company and measures to promote loyalty are overviewed in the theoretical part. Research of brand loyalty was done by example of Lithuanian telecommunication companies. There were tried to determine factors of consumers’ loyalty to the telecommunication companies brand and factors that could lead to change the current brand, consumers’ type and behavior of loyalty to brand. There were noticed that the price is one of the main factors that not only affect consumer’s loyalty for the telecommunication company's brand, but can also lead to replacement of the current brand in case that another telecommunication company would offer a lower price for the service during the study. In the light of results one of suggestions could be that costumers of telecommunication companies are loyal to the brand, but they differ in types and levels. The main part of them belongs to middle loyalty level. They use the services of telecommunication company, but could change it to another if they get better offer of rivals.

South Africa is an exporter of groundnuts (Arachis Hypogaea). The domestic market reaps the spinoff advantage that export quality reaches store shelves, but unfortunately at a price that is directly linked to the price traders achieve on the export market. The local edible groundnut demand is relatively stable, but some processors saw a dramatic decline in the demand for groundnuts within the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. Businesses in the groundnut industry have a specific objective to create a turnaround strategy for groundnut production in South Africa, in an attempt to increase exports of locally produced groundnuts. This directly results that importance of the domestic market, compared to the export market is secondary. Since retail buyers are the “gatekeepers of consumer choice”, it is important to understand buying behaviour and brand loyalty, as well as the factors that influence buyers’ decisions in a business to business context. Limited literature exists for the domestic South African that highlights or indicates specific buyer preferences towards branded edible groundnuts. Furthermore, a general conceptual model to measure or to provide insight on retailer buyer preferences and buying behaviour lack, or are generally unrelated. An adapted model was used to analyse retail buyer behaviour, perceptions, and brand loyalty influences and data was collected by means of a self administrered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics as well as factor analysis were utilised to identify which factors influence retail buyers’ purchase behaviour and loyalty towards an edible groundnut brand. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy, Bartlett’s test of sphericity and Cronbach Alpha was used to determine whether the collected data was appropriate for factor analysis. Through the factor analysis the following ten factors were identified as having a significant influence on retailers’ buying behaviour as well as brand loyalty towards branded edible groundnuts: * Long-term relationship with a preferred brand. * Brand Loyalty. * Brand trust. * Brand performance. * Satisfaction. * Intentional repurchase. * Brand affect. * Company reputation. * Involvement. * Value for money. More research on this topic is required to develop a single conceptual model in order to measure and analyse retail buyer behaviour and preference for a specific brand on a larger scale within the FMCG industry. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Since 2004, several small hotel chains have introduced guest loyalty programs in order to give their guests "big chain perks" while keeping a boutique identity. Recent studies have raised concerns that loyalty programs do not create brand loyalty. By looking at Kimpton Hotel's recently introduced program, Kimpton InTouch, this study examines the potential for operationalizing guest loyalty programs in a small boutique hotel chain setting. The study utilizes guest information gathered through customer surveys and reviews guest visits and spending patterns to see if there is any indication that loyal behavior exists amongst members of the Kimpton InTouch. This study demonstrates that frequent stay programs serve as a valuable asset in a hotel's ability to nurture a relationship with its membership and increase the overall awareness of its brand in the marketplace.

Thesis advisor: Frank Gollop / My doctoral dissertation consists of three essays on consumer behavior. The first chapter studies demand for experience goods. Consumers behave very differently when they do not have perfect information about all brands available on a shelf. This paper extends the benchmark discrete choice model of consumer demand to capture two distinct features of experience-goods markets: prior brand experience and shopping frequency. Although the current literature incorporates habit formation in consumer demand models, it has not considered a more fundamental question: how the first experience with a brand affects the consumer's choice. The model is estimated using data on purchases of ready-to-drink orange juice, which comes from a new consumer-level panel provided by a large supermarket chain in Brazil. The results show that for this product prior experience of a brand is more important for a consumer's choice than price. Furthermore, own- and cross-price elasticities change significantly when experience and shopping frequency are taken into account. The findings of this chapter have implications for both firms' strategies and for antitrust analysis related to experience-goods markets. The second chapter explores how umbrella branding can significantly decrease consumer's first-time experience cost. Multiproduct firms often market their products under the same brand name. When a firm launches a new product with the same brand name, consumers can pool their prior experience with the brand to infer a quality for the product. This strategy can be particularly useful when a firm decides to enter a market of experience goods, in which consumers face a cost for trying a new product. The main objective of this chapter is to study the process by which consumers' brand choices and first-time purchases for ready-to-drink orange juices are affected by their experience with the same brand in another category. The results are consistent with signaling theories of umbrella branding as they indicate that consumers' experience cost with a product decreases with experience of other products of the same brand. The third chapter is about a household's choice of retail formats. Thirty percent of households' food expenditure in the United States comes from clubstores, mass merchandisers, supercenters, drugstores and convenience stores. However, earlier work focused on consumers' shopping behavior mostly in grocery stores and has not examined consumers choice across different types of retail outlets. To address this gap a multinomial logit model is estimated on household-level scanner data for the United States to study how households' characteristics are related to their choice of retail outlets. The results show that income, household size and ethnicity significantly affect these choices. These findings are important for policies that target certain consumer groups. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.