Thesis (MComm (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Measuring advertising effectiveness has become an increasingly important issue due to the substantial sums of money invested in the advertising industry. The purpose of this research was to design an Advertising Balanced Scorecard (ABSC), which is an adaptation to the advertising field of the managerial Balanced Scorecard (BSC). The ABSC was developed to identify a balanced pattern between the perspectives leading to effectiveness, namely strategy, execution, media and creative, in order to measure and control advertising effectiveness. This study reviews the South African mobile communication industry and Vodacom in particular. It examines Vodacom’s successful marketing and advertising strategy with a special attention given to iconic advertising by the use of a character such as Maurice the meerkat. After investigating the elements of Vodacom’s award winning advertisements, a balance between strategy, execution, media and creative could not be isolated systematically. However, when fewer perspectives were involved balance could be reached. The results therefore confirm the complexity of advertising effectiveness measurement and indicate that measurement of advertising effectiveness is possible when focus is placed on fewer perspectives.

Thesis (M. App. Sc.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 80-83). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (master's)--Thammasat University, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-128).

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (M Eng (Electronic Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (M Eng (Electronic Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The motive for this research was to provide clarity on the increasingly divergent opinions on the role and behaviour of South African companies in the rest of the African continent. The key question that can be asked is: “Are South African investments, saviour or villain of African Development” (Thomas, 2007)? Are they “exporting Apartheid” (Mkhabela, 2007) or are the fears raised against South African companies unfounded? The primary research objective of this study is to assess MTN-C’s contribution to the economic development of Cameroon. The specific research questions addressed in this study are: 1. What are the possible areas of economic impact? 2. How can the effects of MTN-C’s presence in Cameroon be measured—both qualitatively and quantitatively? 3. What recommendations can be made to MTN-C? To answer these questions, the researcher takes a multi-dimensional view of the economic impact across eight areas, viz., inflow of foreign direct capital, interaction with government, training and development of local staff, employment creation, local procurement, spread of local shareholding, the local mobile communications sector and corporate social investment initiatives. She assesses each of the above-mentioned eight elements and then draws some conclusions on what is perceived to be the true effect of MTN-C’s investments in Cameroon. After close to three years of in-depth research, which included several trips to Cameroon, in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, direct observation, group discussions and survey research, it can be concluded that MTN-C has indeed had a positive impact in areas like Corporate Social Investment, training and development of local staff, employment creation and the inflow of foreign capital. However, much still needs to be done. The areas that have been identified as weak include the development of local suppliers, the interaction with government and the spread of local shareholding. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie is gemotiveer deur die soeke na groter helderheid met betrekking tot uiteenlopende beoordelings van die rol en optrede van Suid-Afrikaanse ondernemings in die res van die Afrika-kontinent. Die kernvraag is: “Are South African investments saviour or villains of African development?” (Thomas, 2007) Is hulle besig om apartheid “uit te voer” (Mkhabela, 2007) of is dié vrese teenoor Suid-Afrikaanse ondernemings ongegrond? Die primêre navorsingsoogmerk is die beoordeling van MTN Cameroon se bydrae tot die ekonomiese ontwikkeling in Kameroen. Spesifiek drie vrae word aangespreek. 1. Watter dimensies word ingesluit in ‘n studie van die “ekonomiese impak”? 2. Hoe kan die invloed van MTN Cameroon se teenwoordigheid in dié land gemeet word – sowel kwalitatief asook kwantitatief? 3. Watter aanbevelings kan op grond van dié beoordelings aan die maatskappy gemaak word? Om hierdie vrae te beantwoord word ‘n multi-dimensionele benadering gevolg, gebaseer op agt verskillende invloed-gebiede. Hulle sluit in die invloei van buitelandse kaptiaal, interaksie met die regering, opleiding en ontwikkeling van plaaslike werknemers, werkskepping, plaaslike aankope, die verspreiding van plaaslike aandeelhouding, die mobiele kommunikasiebedryf en sosiale investerings-inisiatiewe. Elkeen van dié elemente word ontleed op grond van vraelys-reaksies en ander insigte. Dit lei tot gevolgtrekkings op elkeen van die vlakke, wat tesame die volle omvang van die betrokkenheid weerspieël. Na drie jaar se interaksie van die navorser met Kameroen, diepte-onderhoude met vername rolspelers, direkte waarnemings, groepbesprekings en 40 voltooide vraelyste kom sy tot die gevolgtrekking dat MTN Cameroon wel ‘n positiewe rol speel in gebiede soos korporatiewe sosiale investerings, opleiding, werkskepping en die invloei van kapitaal, maar dat daar nog heelwat ruimte vir verbeterings is, veral wat plaaslike aankope, interaksie met die regering en plaaslike aandeelhouding betref.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

A tese teve como objetivo analisar os processos de desenvolvimento e compartilhamento intra-empresarial de competências organizacionais. Foi analisada a relação entre a Telemig Celular e as empresas que com ela compunham, em junho de 2002, a cadeia de valor para provimento de serviços de telefonia celular. O desenvolvimento das competências organizacionais foi analisado à luz da perspectiva de oferta dos serviços de 3G. A Telemig Celular foi analisada por meio de entrevistas e um workshop junto ao corpo gerencial. As demais empresas da cadeia foram abordadas via entrevistas junto às gerências de RH e estratégia. A utilização do modelo de Fransman mostrou que as relações entre as empresas ainda não constituem efetivas parcerias. Os elos mais forte da cadeia – indústria de equipamentos, baseada no domínio tecnológico, e operadoras, baseadas no acesso ao usuário final - têm liderado as decisões mais importantes da cadeia. Observou-se que o desenvolvimento das competências organizacionais é mais estruturado na camada 1, em que há claras regras de desenvolvimento e proteção das competências, além de diretrizes e alocação de recursos para a realização de pesquisas. Também os investimentos em RH são existentes e mais conectados com a estratégia organizacional. Nas demais empresas da cadeia encontraram-se áreas de RH reduzidas, quando existentes, e que adotam práticas e políticas de gestão tradicionais. A pesquisa mostrou que falta às empresas e, principalmente, ao RH uma visão integrada de negócios e cadeia de valor, o que tem levado à subordinação das empresas brasileiras e menores às empresas multinacionais e maiores. / This paper aimed to analyze the processes of development and intra-company sharing of organizational competencies. It looked at the relationship between Telemig Celular company and its counterparts making up the value chain in June 2002 for providing cellular telephone services. The organizational competency development was considered in the light of the 3G-service supply perspective. Telemig Celular was analyzed through interviews and a workshop with its managers. The other companies in the chain were approached through interviews with their strategy and HR managements. By using Fransman's model it was shown that the company relationships are not effective partnerships yet. The strongest links in the chain —equipment industry relying on their technological supremacy, and carriers relying on end user access— have been taking the chain's most important decisions. The development of organizational competencies was observed to be more structured in layer 1, where there are clear development rules and competency protection, as well as guidelines and fund allocation for research. Also, HR investments are present, and they are more connected to organizational strategy. In the rest of the chain companies, the research found small HR areas, if any, adopting traditional management practices and policies. And it showed that companies, mainly their HR, lack an integrated view of business and value chain, which has been leading to the subordination of the Brazilian and smaller companies to the multinational and larger ones.

Competition in the mobile services industry is intense, with players in the industry offering generally similar subscription plans. Opportunities are few for differentiating one service provider from another. In the light of prior research suggesting value is multi-dimensional, the present study, which examines how these dimensions impact customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions, provides differentiation opportunities for mobile service providers through focusing on value dimensions that are important to customers. Of six perceived value dimensions examined in the present research, value for money, reputation and social value dimensions had significant effects on customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions. One way for companies in the highly commoditized mobile service industry to minimize customer defection is to enhance their relationships with customers. However, as relationship building comes with a cost, it is of interest for companies to know whether certain customer groups will reciprocate more than others with loyalty if they are satisfied. The results from the present study show customer relationship inclination, the customer attribute examined, did not moderate the relationship between customer satisfaction and repurchase intention. Finally, recent studies have differentiated measures of repurchase intentions on the basis of volition levels and have suggested that better model fit can be achieved when higher volition measures are used. Intentions-as-expectations represents the lower volition end and intentions-as-wants represents the higher volition end of intention measure. However, the present study did not find any significant differences in model fit with the different intention measures used.

根據Bass(1969)擴散模式，放寬市場特性不影響創新擴散之假設，並使創 新係數與模仿係數可隨著時間而改變，以行動電話為例，探討ぇ各國採用 行動電話之市場潛能、市場飽和時之普及率以及單年最高採用人數出現的 時間，え市場特性因素如何影響行動電話之擴散，ぉ比較各國擴散模式與 多國擴散模式之解釋能力。研究結果發現：ぇ就本研究所分析的國家，各 國行動電話的市場大小，以美國最大，日本次之，愛爾蘭為最小。而行動 電話的最高普及率以美國與瑞典最高，超過10% ；其餘國家之最高普及率 都不超過 0.4%，顯示行動電話是一種普及率較低的服務。就單年最高採 用人數出現時間來看，只有日本是超過十年，其餘國家均在十年之內，甚 至比利時在第二年就出現採用高峰，顯示行動電話之產品生命週期可能不 是很長。え「市場需求指標」高的國家，有較高的模仿效果；「流動性」 對於創新效果與模仿效果的影響均是負的；「四海胸襟」對於創新與模仿 效果的影響均是正的。ぉ多國擴散模式的解釋能力較各國擴散模式佳，因 此，將市場特性因素加入創新擴散模式中確實有其必要性。