Economic growth in China is attributed by many people to the reforms initiated in 1978. Some individuals, who were previously agents of the state, party cadres, or peasants, have become High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) within a relatively short period in the wake of certain institutional changes. Before economic reform, China’s political elites seized administrative controls and material privileges and yet were relatively restricted in money income and private wealth; however, the market transition and privatization added additional value into those controls and privileges and created unique opportunities for those political elites. These political elites retain intact power and privilege regardless of market reforms or regime change. During the transformation, redistributive mechanisms are shaped by these elites, who discriminate in favour of themselves, their families, and like individuals; subsequently, some of those from the political elites migrate into HNWIs, and unjust wealth re-distribution is created accordingly. Development and the changing role of elites in transitional China, like all societies, is constrained and shaped by heritage (resources, pre-existing institutions, geography, culture, etc.); these constraints maybe stronger in transitional societies than in open market economies and enhance the importance for transitional society elites to maintain their footholds of power in state and regulatory institutions. Therefore, these elites exert influence to maintain their existing privileges for accumulating wealth from competition. This research adapts institutional change theory to incorporate the concept of resource dependences in order to give practical expression to an analysis of how the transition between these roles is played out during the institutional changes and to explore the relations between the leading social actors and their institutional environment. It draws on the example of the housing market to illustrate that there is a trade-off between conformity to external institutional pressure and exercising influence over external resources whilst pursuing stability and legitimacy in China’s reforms.

This thesis presents an overview of the cornerstones of the Czech private banking. Describes private banks according to various criteria, their approach to the client workload, an importance of private banker position, expectations and needs of the client in the context of marketing and Public relations, selected premium products and services and overlooks the private banking sector in the future.

The population of high-net-worth-individuals (HNWIs) in Ghana is projected to increase from 2,400 in 2015 to 4,900 by 2024. HNWIs in Ghana desire to have access to alternative investment instruments to enhance diversification and improve investment returns on their portfolios. Guided by the product-market-grid-model, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore diversification strategies some fund managers use to improve returns for HNWIs. Twelve participants from 3 investment firms in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, including CEOs and fund managers with more than 5 years of professional and industry experience, participated in semistructured interviews. Observations and company documents served as secondary sources of data collection. Five themes emerged from the analysis of interview and document data: investment objectives and risk appetite level, product availability, asset allocation, limited knowledge and lack of sophistication, and, performance benchmarking. Findings may be used by fund managers to combine knowledge and innovation in identifying alternative investment options for HNWIs and improving investment returns. HNWIs may use their disposable income from returns to engage in entrepreneurial activities that may create employment opportunities and improve the economic environment in Ghana.

This report is a qualitative analysis of consumption behaviour of high net worth individuals (HNIs) and the marketing channels that are effective in the high-end travel industry. The travel industry caters to a vast audience and it becomes important to understand a specific niche to serve the customers better. For products targeted exclusively towards the HNI segment, conventional mass marketing methods may not be the best or the most efficient ways to reach out to the target market. Mass marketing may result in lower perceived exclusivity and brand image of the company, and it may result in lower efficiency in terms of marketing costs when the target market is merely a small percentage of the total population. The study utilizes articles and theories on consumption behavior as well as marketing theories aimed towards HNIs in order to understand and analyse the data gathered during interviews. The report outlines the factors that influence the customer behavior and consumption practices in the high-end travel industry and based on their behavior outlines effective marketing channels that could be used in order to reach the customers. The major factors influencing customer behavior such as family influence, their motivations to travel, influence of friends and groups as well as their expectations were analyzed based on which effective marketing channels were found such as agents or agencies, popular magazines as well as social media. This report provides a comprehensive understanding of the importance of recognizing the influential behavioral factors in the HNI community in order to develop an effective marketing strategy to help the companies reach their customers better.