The information age and the information society have become dominant features in the newm illennium.H owever,t heset ermsa reo ften referredt o with the youngerg enerations in mind,n eglectingth e older andm oree xperiencemd emberso f our society. This thesis focuses on the 'Grey Market' (travellers over the age of 50) who use the Internet on a regular basis - therefore also referred to as 'Silver Surfers' - and in particularf or their travel and tourism decision-makingI.t aims to identify experiences andp rocesseosf travel decision-makinga,n alyseth e impacto n the useo f the Interneta s an informations earcha s well as evaluateth e effectivenesos f the Interneti n providing informationf or particulara ndn ot mainstreamm arkets egments. The methodologye mployedi n this particularp iece of researchb uilds on positivisma s most consumerb ehaviourt heoriesd o; howevera more inductivea pproachw as taken. While relying on existingt heoriesn ewera nd lessw ell testedm ethodso f datac ollection were put to use.T he methodsw ere triangulatedu, tilising bothq uantitativea ndq ualitative research methods which complement each other in the results. An initial pilot study questionnairwe asf ollowedu p with semi-structureidn -depthi nterviewsw hich thenl edt o the completiono f the final survey,t hat was administeredb y 'e-surveying'u sing both conveniencea nd snowballs amplinga nd resultedi n 517 valid responsesfr om 'Silver Surfers' around the United Kingdom. Main findings of this thesiss how a distinct patterno f behaviourin the travel decisionmaking process of this particular market segment as well as what kind of information they were researchingo n the Internet.M ost importantly,t he respondentdso not consider themselvesto o different from other (younger)a geg roupsa nde vent houghs omeo f their informationr equirementsa re distinctive,t hey do not want to be consideredju st as 'the older consumers'.

A Mail Survey to Assess the Incidence and Impact of Drug Shortages within Texas Non – Government Acute Care Hospitals Tawfik Rajab Rajab, M.S.Phr. The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Supervisor: Marvin D. Shepherd The objective of this study was to explore the incidence and impact of drug shortages within Texas Non-Government Acute Care Hospitals. A self-administered mail survey instrument was used to collect data. A convenience sample of 321 pharmacy directors of non-government acute care hospitals in the state of Texas was selected from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Hospital List for 2012. A total of 125 completed surveys were received by mail and 8 surveys were returned as undelivered, resulting in a response rate of 39.84% (125/313). A total of 56 (45.5%) respondents reported 11 or more drug shortages for the month of April 2013. There was a significant association between the number of drug shortages experienced and hospital size (p = 0.003), inpatient medication budget (p = 0.001) and hospital location (p=0.015). Of the 124 respondents, 78 (62.9%) spent four to 12 hours a week on managing drug shortage situations. There was a significant association between the number of hours spent per week by hospital pharmacy personnel when managing drug shortages controlling for hospital size (p < 0.001), number of drug shortages experienced (p < 0.001), number of pharmacist FTEs (p < 0.001), and number of pharmacy technician FTEs (p < 0.001). A total of 107 (85.6%) reported that grey market vendors have contacted hospital pharmacy personnel in the month of April, 2013. A total of 96 (76.8%) ‘strongly agreed’ that grey market vendors are more likely to contact health care facility when drug shortage exists, 110 (88%) ‘strongly agreed’ that grey market vendors sell drugs in short supply at inflated prices and 70 (56%) ‘strongly agreed’ that the practice of buying drug products from grey market vendors should be eliminated. In summary, all surveyed hospitals experienced at least one drug shortage for the month of April 2013, pharmacy personnel devoted a significant amount of time managing drug shortages and the majority of the hospitals were contacted by grey market vendors with the aim of selling drugs in short supply. / text

In this dissertation, I explore some facets of the strategic interaction between brand equity and distribution channels. Specifically, I examine how brand equity influences the firm’s channel governance and channel management strategies. In this regard, I address the following two general research questions: (a) does a firm’s brand equity influence the way it governs its distribution channel? How? (b) Does a firm’s brand equity influence the way it manages its distribution channel? How? Using a wide assortment of archival data sources (e.g., Bond's Franchise Guide, Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500, Factiva, LexisNexis, University of Chicago’s Center for Research in Security Prices, Compustat, Statista, firms’ annual reports, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal databases, and companies’ official websites), two large multi-year data sets, a variety of econometric techniques (e.g., Event Study, Multiple Regression, Probit, Multi-level Mixed-Effects Linear Models, Multinomial Logistic Regression, Generalized Linear Models, Multinomial Probit, Maximum Likelihood, Bayesian Panel Vector Autoregression), and drawing on several theories from marketing, economics, business law, and strategic management, I uncover some interesting strategic interactions taking place at the brand-channel interface. This dissertation comprises five chapters: three empirical studies (chapters 2, 3, and 4), an introduction, and a conclusion chapter. In the introduction chapter, I provide a snapshot of the current state of knowledge in the brand-channel interface research domain and illustrate how I situate this dissertation within that body of research. Besides, I provide a more nuanced view about the specific research questions each study addresses and a glimpse into the findings and implications of each study, as an entry to the dissertation. In chapter 2, using a large panel data set of North American, franchise-level annual observations for the period from 2001 to 2009, I assess the causal link between brand equity and channel governance structure, and discuss the managerial implications of this relationship in the areas of channel governance and capital allocation decision-making. In chapters 3 and 4, I stay within the same overarching theme of this dissertation and delve into a business phenomenon taking place at the brand-channel interface – gray markets. Despite the interdisciplinary research interest in gray markets, it remains one of the least empirically researched topics in business management due to the well-known data accessibility issues. To circumvent those data barriers that impede empirical research on gray markets, I adopt a novel approach for data collection and analysis. To that end, I study the gray market combating behavior of more than 3,000 public companies, company-by-company, for a period of twenty years. Then, using a collection of archival data sources I assemble a unique data set to use in my analyses. In chapter 3, I undertake the first empirical inquiry into the effect of gray market combating on firm performance and the contingencies that govern this effect. In chapter 4, I conduct a comprehensive review of the gray market combating mechanisms present in the literature, review available theoretic arguments about them, posit theoretical relationships, and conduct the first assessment of the financial efficacy of those different combating mechanisms. Then, I identify a number of firm-level factors that may drive the firm’s choice of gray market combating mechanism. The findings of these two studies address some long-standing, focal research questions in the gray market literature, provide managers with many valuable, actionable insights and recommendations, and put before policymakers some novel, revealing scientific evidence that may help them in dealing with the gray market controversy (e.g., whether the net impact of gray markets on firm performance and social welfare is benign or harmful, the necessity and/or merit of an active legislative role). The conclusion chapter closes this dissertation by reflecting on the new knowledge created by this research and highlighting its significance to theory, practice, and policymaking. / Thesis / Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) / The relationship between brand equity and distribution channel strategy is recognized in practice and is of particular interest to senior managers. However, research in marketing on the topic is scant and our understanding of this relationship remains limited. This dissertation endeavors to advance our knowledge in that area by investigating how a firm’s brand equity affects its channel management and channel governance behavior. Using a variety of research methods and statistical techniques, along with two large multi-year, multi-sector data samples, I document some interesting strategic interactions taking place at the brand-channel interface. Notably, I detect a causal influence for brand equity on the way a firm governs its distribution network. Additionally, I observe that brand equity is not only a major driver of certain strategic channel management initiatives (e.g., gray market combating), but also a key determinant of the financial efficacy of those initiatives. The findings of this research pose significant implications for theory, practice, and policymaking and address some questions that puzzled practitioners and scholars for more than three decades.