Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is a ethod of identifying unique items using radio waves that communicate between RFID tags and readers without line-of-sight readability. RFID technology provides great potential in many industries and a wide spectrum of possible uses. Areas of application include person identification, logistics, pharmaceutical, access control, security guard monitoring and asset management. One of the areas where RFID is being used and where it promises excellent results is the retail industry. While RFID systems have the potential to revolutionise the way products and goods are tracked and traced in the retail supply chain, barriers to its widespread adoption exist: for example; technical constraints, return on investment constraints, a lack of awareness and education and as well as privacy and security issues. The research aims to identify the barriers to the adoption of RFID and to investigate the perceptions of RFID held by members of the retail sector in South Africa (SA). Current research and available literature are used to identify RFID adoption barriers and a conceptual framework on this subject is proposed, which is then verified by SA retailers’ perceptions, established by means of a survey. Initial barriers to widespread adoption include a shortage in skills, a lack of standards, high costs associated with RFID devices, the difficulty of integrating with current legacy systems, and a lack of familiarity with the system. Finally, an enhanced framework is proposed, describing RFID adoption barriers within the South African retail sector. In summary, the framework is an outline of the barriers impacting RFID adoption in the SA retail sector that need to be considered and addressed. The framework identifies six categories of RFID adoption barriers, with each category containing two or more barriers relating to that particular category. These categories are Technological, Cost and return on investment, Privacy and security, Implementation, Organisational factors and People.

Baseado em dois momentos distintos da realidade brasileira, os anos de 2002/03 e 2008/09, este estudo busca avaliar se houve mudança no perfil dos consumidore de filmes em salas de cinema, por meio de variáveis observáveis de indivíduos consumidores e não consumidores. Para esta finalidade são empregadas técnicas de mineração de dados de florestas aleatórias sobre os microdados das Pesquisas de Orçamentos Familiares (POFs) de 2002/2003, quando o uso de banda larga no Brasil era praticamente nulo, e de 2008/2009, quando esta já estava estabelecida no país. Esta diferença no tempo e de acesso à banda larga proporcionam uma janela de oportunidade para nosso objetivo, dado o elevado grau de mudanças tecnológicas do período investigado. Apesar de metodologicamente não ser possível isolar completamente o efeito do acesso à Internet sobre o consumo de cinema, espera-se que quanto maior a velocidade de acesso e maior a evolução das tecnologias de compactação de arquivos, a distribuição de conteúdo aumente na rede e permita maior consumo de filmes de maneira alternativa ao em salas de cinema. Neste contexto, além de identificar se houve alguma mudança de perfil dos consumidores de filmes em salas de cinema no Brasil após a popularização da banda larga no país, que oficialmente pode ser considerada no ano de 2006, também avaliamos se estes consumidores diferem significativamente dos não consumidores em suas características observáveis. Adicionalmente, num segundo estudo, usando um modelo de intervenção de Diferenças em Diferenças, investigamos o efeito da banda larga sobre o consumo de cinema. Os resultados apontam divergência clara entre os perfis de consumidores e não consumidores de filmes de cinema. / I investigate whether film at theaters consumers in two distinct time are different in their observable characteristics. My investigation is based on observable variables of consumers and non-consumers data from the Family Budget Survey (POF) of 2002/2003, when the use of broadband in Brazil was almost nil, and from 2008/2009, when it already was established in the country. This change in addition to the high degree of technological changes over the period provides a window of opportunity for our objective. Although methodologically it is not possible to full isolate the effect of Internet access on film consumption, it is expected that the higher the user access speed and the greater the evolution of file compression technologies, the faster and bigger will be the traffic of films files on the web. Accordingly, the greater distribution of content on the network enables the consumption of films in alternative ways to movie theaters. Thus, in addition to identifying possible changes in the profile of movie consumers at the theaters in Brazil since the popularization of broadband in the country, which can officially be considered in the year 2006, the study assess whether these consumers differ significantly from not consumers in their observable characteristics. The results points to several distinctions between cinema consumers and no cinema consumers

Baseado em dois momentos distintos da realidade brasileira, os anos de 2002/03 e 2008/09, este estudo busca avaliar se houve mudança no perfil dos consumidore de filmes em salas de cinema, por meio de variáveis observáveis de indivíduos consumidores e não consumidores. Para esta finalidade são empregadas técnicas de mineração de dados de florestas aleatórias sobre os microdados das Pesquisas de Orçamentos Familiares (POFs) de 2002/2003, quando o uso de banda larga no Brasil era praticamente nulo, e de 2008/2009, quando esta já estava estabelecida no país. Esta diferença no tempo e de acesso à banda larga proporcionam uma janela de oportunidade para nosso objetivo, dado o elevado grau de mudanças tecnológicas do período investigado. Apesar de metodologicamente não ser possível isolar completamente o efeito do acesso à Internet sobre o consumo de cinema, espera-se que quanto maior a velocidade de acesso e maior a evolução das tecnologias de compactação de arquivos, a distribuição de conteúdo aumente na rede e permita maior consumo de filmes de maneira alternativa ao em salas de cinema. Neste contexto, além de identificar se houve alguma mudança de perfil dos consumidores de filmes em salas de cinema no Brasil após a popularização da banda larga no país, que oficialmente pode ser considerada no ano de 2006, também avaliamos se estes consumidores diferem significativamente dos não consumidores em suas características observáveis. Adicionalmente, num segundo estudo, usando um modelo de intervenção de Diferenças em Diferenças, investigamos o efeito da banda larga sobre o consumo de cinema. Os resultados apontam divergência clara entre os perfis de consumidores e não consumidores de filmes de cinema. / I investigate whether film at theaters consumers in two distinct time are different in their observable characteristics. My investigation is based on observable variables of consumers and non-consumers data from the Family Budget Survey (POF) of 2002/2003, when the use of broadband in Brazil was almost nil, and from 2008/2009, when it already was established in the country. This change in addition to the high degree of technological changes over the period provides a window of opportunity for our objective. Although methodologically it is not possible to full isolate the effect of Internet access on film consumption, it is expected that the higher the user access speed and the greater the evolution of file compression technologies, the faster and bigger will be the traffic of films files on the web. Accordingly, the greater distribution of content on the network enables the consumption of films in alternative ways to movie theaters. Thus, in addition to identifying possible changes in the profile of movie consumers at the theaters in Brazil since the popularization of broadband in the country, which can officially be considered in the year 2006, the study assess whether these consumers differ significantly from not consumers in their observable characteristics. The results points to several distinctions between cinema consumers and no cinema consumers

This study provides a consumer profile of first year Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) Marketing students. To determine influences on students' tertiary education choices, a literature study was undertaken on consumer behaviour, influencing factors and consumer decision-making. An empirical study established consumer behaviour variables impacting on tertiary students, and revealed students' future perspective. A structured questionnaire was distributed. The main findings are: preferred media are E-TV, Metro FM, Drum magazine and The Sunday Times; Internet access is low; most prefer TUT for tertiary education; parents and academic standards predominantly impact tertiary institution choice; the majority will continue their studies and apply for a marketing job in South Africa; their future perspective is predominantly optimistic. In conclusion, the students are impacted by reference groups and institutional marketing efforts. Primary concerns include: successful communication with this group; the effectiveness of the Open Day; and the lack of using reference groups in marketing. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

This study provides a consumer profile of first year Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) Marketing students. To determine influences on students' tertiary education choices, a literature study was undertaken on consumer behaviour, influencing factors and consumer decision-making. An empirical study established consumer behaviour variables impacting on tertiary students, and revealed students' future perspective. A structured questionnaire was distributed. The main findings are: preferred media are E-TV, Metro FM, Drum magazine and The Sunday Times; Internet access is low; most prefer TUT for tertiary education; parents and academic standards predominantly impact tertiary institution choice; the majority will continue their studies and apply for a marketing job in South Africa; their future perspective is predominantly optimistic. In conclusion, the students are impacted by reference groups and institutional marketing efforts. Primary concerns include: successful communication with this group; the effectiveness of the Open Day; and the lack of using reference groups in marketing. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)