The South African poultry industry is a large part of the agricultural industry and a very important contributor to the Agriculture’s Gross Domestic Product. Furthermore, this industry is expanding and very good growth is predicted for the next decade. This growth will take place in the formal as well as the informal segments of the industry. The informal segment holds a lot of potential for suppliers to supply in their growing needs. Due to the fact that broiler feed is seen as a large contributor to the total cost of broiler production, it is considered very important factor. If feed suppliers want to focus on the informal market, they need to understand the differences between commercial farmers and small–scale farmers and specifically the different needs of small–scale farmers. To develop a strategy to utilize the opportunities in the informal market, it is necessary to understand all the factors that influence the purchase behaviour of these farmers. A model of stimulus response is used to define the factors that may influence purchase behaviour. The factors that seemed important from the literature study are market and other stimuli. The market stimuli consist of product, price, promotion and place. The product aspect could further be divided into quality aspects, brand equity, and additional services that accompany the product. Other stimuli that could influence purchase behaviour are economic conditions, special event, climatic condition and the influence of culture. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and factor analysis were used on the data to determine which factors influence the small–scale farmers’ purchase behaviour. While the Kaiser Meyer Olkin measure, Bartlett’s test of shericity and Cronbach Apha were used to determine if the data is suitable to do a factor analysis on. Factor analysis was done to determine which factors are the most important. The seven significant factors that influence the purchase behaviour of small–scale farmers are: * Value for money and opportunity. * Perceived brand value. * Customer support and service. * Consensus on available quality. * Brand loyalty. * Feed price at the reseller. * Bag size. More research on this topic in a larger geographical area is required. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The South African poultry industry is a large part of the agricultural industry and a very important contributor to the Agriculture’s Gross Domestic Product. Furthermore, this industry is expanding and very good growth is predicted for the next decade. This growth will take place in the formal as well as the informal segments of the industry. The informal segment holds a lot of potential for suppliers to supply in their growing needs. Due to the fact that broiler feed is seen as a large contributor to the total cost of broiler production, it is considered very important factor. If feed suppliers want to focus on the informal market, they need to understand the differences between commercial farmers and small–scale farmers and specifically the different needs of small–scale farmers. To develop a strategy to utilize the opportunities in the informal market, it is necessary to understand all the factors that influence the purchase behaviour of these farmers. A model of stimulus response is used to define the factors that may influence purchase behaviour. The factors that seemed important from the literature study are market and other stimuli. The market stimuli consist of product, price, promotion and place. The product aspect could further be divided into quality aspects, brand equity, and additional services that accompany the product. Other stimuli that could influence purchase behaviour are economic conditions, special event, climatic condition and the influence of culture. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and factor analysis were used on the data to determine which factors influence the small–scale farmers’ purchase behaviour. While the Kaiser Meyer Olkin measure, Bartlett’s test of shericity and Cronbach Apha were used to determine if the data is suitable to do a factor analysis on. Factor analysis was done to determine which factors are the most important. The seven significant factors that influence the purchase behaviour of small–scale farmers are: * Value for money and opportunity. * Perceived brand value. * Customer support and service. * Consensus on available quality. * Brand loyalty. * Feed price at the reseller. * Bag size. More research on this topic in a larger geographical area is required. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The purpose of this master thesis is to identify factors influencing consumer’s intention to use Internet when buying food online. The focal aspects of the study will be service and product quality in order to assess their influence on the consumer’s intention to buy food online.

Zugl.: Düsseldorf, Universiẗat, Diss., 2007.

Thesis (M. Hous. M.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-81).

Thesis (M.Hous.M.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-81). Also available in print.

In recent years there has been a significantly rising trend amongst consumers for health and environmental issues, which has resulted in greater attention for and sales of organic food. Organic food production strives to use natural resources, such as land, energy and water in a sustainable way and the products does not contain artificial fertilizers or chemical pesticides. However, organic food products are also often more expensive and less available in comparison to conventional food products. Despite this, interest for and sales of organic food products have increased around the globe, and in Sweden particularly, the increase in sales has grown largely from an international perspective. This thesis is of qualitative character and is focused on studying some consumers from the Swedish market of organic food. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute with a better understanding on the buying decision process regarding organic food purchase. To achieve this, the authors have studied some consumers that purchase organic food and have searched for patterns that could be identified in the decision process. The consumer buying decision process model has been used for portrayal of the chosen consumers’ decision to purchase organic food products. Interviews with six Swedish consumers were conducted, whereas each respondent continuously purchase organic food products. Results show that the purchase of organic food products begins with discovering an unsatisfied need state, which the consumers of this study desired to change with the purchase of organic food products. This study show how six consumers reason when passing through the stages of the buying decision process, in order to satisfy their desired need state. The authors found that the respondents feel satisfied with purchasing organic food products, which lead them in to continuously buying these products. Altogether, the findings contribute with knowledge that can come to be helpful when wanting to understand more about the consumer decision to purchase organic food.

Over the last four decades, many developing countries transitioned to democracy with populations aspiring to break from authoritarian tradition for more representative government. While this wave of democratization was encouraging initially, observers came to realize that the break from tradition was anything but complete. The traditional clientelistic relations that pervaded political systems during authoritarian periods have been eroded by democratization in some countries, while in other countries, clientelism is thriving and continuing to impact political participation, primarily through vote-buying between patrons and clients. Therefore, the extent to which democratization erodes clientelism as widely expected, could not be assumed. The questions of what are the causal effects of clientelism on political participation, how does the vote-buying process unfold, how effective are the efforts to combat vote-buying, and what is the debate over the ethics of vote-buying motivate this dissertation; I draw on the experiences of Thai provinces to answer them. The objective of this dissertation is to examine the impact of clientelism, measured by vote-buying, on political participation using a multi-method approach. Using new primary and secondary data sources, I make several important original contributions with this study. First, I answer the question regarding the causal effects of clientelism on political participation by testing the resource theory and the theory of clientelism. I find that the poor, who are most likely to be enmeshed in clientelistic networks, voted just as often as the rich in two of the three general elections and both the national and local level elections. People in the countryside, the poor, vote more than their urban counterparts in both the national and local level elections. The poor also participate in the other forms of politics just as much as the rich. I find those with less education vote just as much as those with more education in all three general elections and the national level election, however, those with higher education voted more in the local level election. Those with higher education also boycott, demonstrate, and sign petitions more than those with lower education. I find that clientelism is the reason lower socioeconomic status rural individuals participate in politics as without clientelism, they would not be expected to participate as much as their richer and more educated urban counterparts. Second, I answer the question regarding how the vote-buying process unfolds by exploring original primary interview data collected by the author of elite and mass views of vote-buyers, sellers, intermediaries, and the vote-buying process. I find that all the actors involved have their own reasons and motivations for participating in the vote-buying process: vote-sellers are predominantly poor and poverty drives their need for the compensation provided through vote-buying, while vote-buyers and their intermediaries are very much aware of the needs of potential vote-sellers and they intentionally exploit these needs. Even though the poor are driven to become vote-sellers, we cannot readily assume that vote-buying is successful for vote-buyers, or in other words, we cannot assume that vote-buying results in votes for the vote-buyer. Prior to my study, scholars have made such an assumption, whether directly stated or inferred, which may lead to erroneous conclusions about the effectiveness of vote-buying resulting in votes for the vote-buyer. To overcome this, I developed a model of the vote-buying process where vote-buying is divided into specific steps: the offer to buy votes, the acceptance of the offer, the compensation, the showing up at the polls, and the casting of a vote for the vote-buyer. By employing my model of the vote-buying process, we see that sometimes voters act in a manner that is consistent with the vote-buyer's demands and others times they do not at virtually all the steps of the vote-buying process for very specific reasons, including poverty. Third, I answer the question regarding the effectiveness of efforts to combat vote-buying by exploring elite and mass views of the effectiveness of institutional constraints and civic education in combating vote-buying. My findings suggest that institutional constraints, namely the Election Commission, have some impact on reducing vote-buying, though the Election Commission is plagued with far-reaching limitations. I find attempts at civic education, however, are not really measurable. Even if these attempts at civic education were measurable, I do not believe there is any reason to suspect they would be effective considering they do not address the poverty issue. Finally, I answer the question regarding the debate over the ethics of vote-buying by exploring elite and mass views of the justifications for vote-buying. I then analyze the impact of vote-buying on the legitimacy of the Thai political system. I find that some Thais perceive vote-buying as unethical because it is illegal and dishonest, while others do not necessarily perceive vote-buying as unethical because of poverty and vote-buying norms Thais use to justify selling their votes. Moreover, I find that poverty and vote-buying norms impact the legitimacy of the Thai political system, especially for the rural poor, to the point where I argue that vote-buying does not necessarily negatively impact legitimacy of the Thai political system. Overall, this dissertation has answered the important questions about clientelism and the vote-buying measure. This study is important because clientelism is one of the most important informal institutional obstacles to free and fair elections and the findings in this study offer clarity of the impact of clientelism, and the vote-buying measure, on political participation in the Thai context.

The main aim is evaluation of the sale conditions and geographical position of the selling units in the Třeboň area.There are two main parts in the thesis. The first part of the literature review presents the theoretical part. The second part is practically oriented. It is a characteristic of the study area and geographic analysis. For completeness of information are conducted semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. In conclusion, guided discussion and the suggestion to solve certain problems concerning shopping for Trebon region.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Hospitality Management / Chihyung Ok / Carol W. Shanklin / Impulse buying has gained interest from both researchers and practitioners because of its contribution to sales and profits. The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in the number of mobile food vending in the United States. Open-air selling by vendors may encourage consumers to buy food on impulse. Food sold on streets involves sensory cues that strongly induce impulse buying. Unlike normal buying behavior, impulse buying is greatly affected by emotion, but it may also be explained by cognition. Although impulse buying of food is a prevalent phenomenon, little academic research has been conducted regarding food consumption impulse. Further, there remains a lack of clear understanding of the link between emotions and impulse buying. The purpose of this study was to explore and empirically test consumers’ impulse buying behavior of food from street vendors and to identify determinants such as sensory cues, arousal and pleasure as emotional responses, perceived risk as a cognitive response, and the urge to buy impulsively. In particular, Study 1 proposed a theoretical model identifying the effects of sensory cues on arousal, pleasure, and perceived risk and, in turn, the urge to buy impulsively and impulse buying behavior. Study 2 proposed food neophobia and perceived human crowding as a possible moderator that may function in the relationship between emotions and impulse buying. Data were collected from 361 consumers who were 18 years or older and had purchased food from mobile vendors at a participating festival or event in the United States. The proposed relationships were tested using structural equation modeling and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. In terms of direct effects, Study 1 found that sensory cues were positively related to arousal, pleasure, and the urge to buy impulsively and were negatively related to perceived risk; arousal and pleasure were positively associated with the urge to buy impulsively; perceived risk was negatively associated with the urge to buy impulsively; and the urge to buy impulsively was positively linked with impulse buying behavior. Further, arousal, pleasure, and perceived risk partially mediated the relationship between sensory cues and the urge to buy impulsively. Study 2 concluded that perceived human crowding moderates the effect of arousal and pleasure on the urge to buy impulsively and, in turn, impulse buying behavior. Food neophobia had no moderating effect. The study findings add to the understanding of consumer impulse buying in the context of street food. In addition to its contribution to the literature, practical applications that mobile food businesses could use to attract and retain customers are provided. The study concludes with general discussions of limitations and areas for future research.