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Crowdfunding describes the emerging phenomenon of raising financing from a large audience via the Internet. The purpose of this thesis is to describe what factors influence individuals to invest in crowdfunding projects and to test their explanatory strength of how much someone invests. A conceptual framework is developed and a study of 735 individuals was conducted on three international crowdfunding platforms. The findings show that trust is important and that the individuals are mainly driven by willingness to help, to support a good cause and to be part of a project realization. The study also shows that some of the factors have a significant relationship to the investment size; however, these factors can only explain a small part of the investments. The thesis provides some tentative insights and implications on how to successfully raise financing through crowdfunding and takes a further step towards explaining this new phenomenon.

The definition of business success has evolved from winning larger market share in fierce competition to creating one’s own markets. Exploring new markets is crucial especially for tourism businesses, as one of the basic motives for leisure travel is seeking new or different experiences. Nonetheless, current non-customers have rarely been studied in the context of tourism. Using the cruise industry as a case, the first purpose of this study was to enhance the understanding of current non-customers (i.e., “the invisible market”). Current noncustomers of the cruise industry were defined as leisure travelers who take other leisure vacation types, but have not taken a cruise vacation in the last five years (i.e., pastcruisers) or have never taken a cruise vacation (i.e., non-cruisers). The second purpose was to propose practical approaches for the cruise industry to utilize to tap the invisible market based on the findings. This study consists two phases using a sequential study design. In Phase 1, 22 guided conversations were conducted with people with and without cruise experiences using a modified Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique to explore their images of cruise vacations. The findings suggested that current non-customers had different images of cruise vacations than current customers. In Phase 2, a conceptual model was developed based on the findings of Phase 1 and the literature on destination image and choice, the Model of Goal-directed Behavior and the leisure constraints model. Eleven hypotheses were tested with data collected from a survey of U.S. leisure travelers using descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling. Most relationships (e.g., directions and valence) among constructs were found to be in accordance with previous studies. Further, results suggested that current non-customers were more similar to than different from current customers in terms of socio-demographics and general vacation behavior. However, results implied that current non-customers’ biases or negative images of cruise vacations could be the underlying factors that influence their decisions not to choose cruise vacations over other leisure vacation types. Practical recommendations for innovative marketing strategies are presented for the cruise industry.

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The literature review revealed two opposing views of the ‘student as customer’; either it is considered to be a deliberate policy construct rooted in the marketisation of higher education, which encourages public universities to behave like private businesses. Or it is considered to be a natural extension of rising consumerism in society, rendering universities as ‘cathedrals of consumption’. Both perspectives recognise that there is an attempt at creating a market in English higher education. This study discusses a ‘paradigm shift’ signalling an intensification of marketisation that began in the early 1980s. The purpose is to identify how these policy changes are perceived, by interviewing a large sample of senior managers and policy analysts in English higher education. Four themes emerged from the interviews. First, universities were said to be becoming increasingly “business like” suggesting that senior managers of English universities were faced with an identity crisis in grappling with their purpose as businesses or educational institutions. Second, was the idea that they performed in a “market like” fashion, displaying an uncomfortable acceptance of the idea whilst being open to the discussion of a free market in the future. Third, was the characterisation of student relationships with the university as “customer like” revealing an uncertainty as to whether students are customers or not. Fourth, was “individualism” a concept accepting the fact that universities would have to see higher education as an individual investment by a student. The implication of these uncertain themes is that senior managers would need to get out of ‘debate mode’ to adopt a clear and radical stance instead of being locked in the indecisive “like” dilemmas. They must develop the ability to see through the ‘strategy illusion’ and either challenge or accept the policy-induced uncertainties of higher education in the 21st century.

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M.Com. (Business Management) / The current competitive climate within the South African banking industry has put pressure on banks to either find new revenue streams mainly through innovation, or to achieve existing cost efficiencies. South African banks have increasingly looked to advancements in new technology, innovation and service distribution channels as a solution for attaining sustainable competitive advantage. The primary objective of this study was to investigate and assess the independent variables (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived cost, perceived privacy/ security and knowledgeability/ awareness) that influence the adoption of electronic banking channels in order to inform banks’ channel migration strategy decisions. The study attempts to close the gap in electronic banking adoption theory that exists within a South African context. The significance of the study is that due to a majority of electronic banking adoption research and models being conducted internationally, an attempt is made to investigate and apply these models within a South African context. Based on a survey conducted among 211 respondents, the above mentioned independent and dependent variables under study were examined. The analyses revealed significant demographic and behavioural findings between the independent variables that influence consumer adoption of electronic banking channels. The perceived privacy/security variable was found to be responsible for the highest frequency of branch visits by clients mainly due to the perception that electronic banking channels are not safe to use. The independent variable, perceived usefulness, was found to have the strongest positive correlation with the adoption of electronic banking channels. These results imply that in addition to the importance of addressing privacy and security concerns associated with electronic banking, banks need to focus on improving consumer usefulness and value perceptions in their electronic banking offerings.