Search engines have revolutionised the access to information to the general public. Today search engines are the most important promotional method on the Internet. Sponsored search dominates the revenue model behind this growth. The rise in popularity and the auction pricing mechanism of sponsored advertising have increased the average cost-per-click. Marketing managers need tools to enable them to increase return on investment in this medium. The application of Anderson’s (2004) long tail distribution holds great promise to solve this dilemma. The current study used causal research in a two by two factorial design. Here data from an online property portal in a developing market was collected in order to examine the effect of a long tail (LT) distribution in keyword selection on return on investment (ROI) with sponsored search. Sponsored search allows for individualised targeting of the users behaviour. The application of the long tail (LT) enables further matching the advert text to the users search query. The results provide strong support for the significant impact on cost-per-click and by implication the return on investment that keyword selection and targeted advert text have when used in conjunction with the principles of the long tail. The interaction of the independent variables of long tail and sponsored search is significant, contributing to a 430% increase in click-through (CTR) rates and 61% reduction in cost-per-click, translating into a 61% increase in return on investment. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

<p>Internet and the digital channels for distribution have meant big changes for the musicindustry. The physical record that has been symbolising this market for a long time is slowlybeing replaced by digital based music. The technical progress during the last ten years has ledto a democratization of music production. The amateur musicians of today can produce highquality music on their laptops and later distribute it via free music sites. MySpace andYouTube are two of the biggest sites for this free distribution and is therefore my main choiseof study.</p><p>The purpose of this essay was to find out how and if these changes have made a difference formusicians without a record deal to reach an audience by themselves. In order to find this out Iconducted three qualitative personal interviews with both established and amateur musiciansworking in the music business.</p><p>To find out how many listeners a amateur musician can generate on their own within a shortamount of time I made a quantitative study during five weeks where I posed as an musicianstarting from scrach with an aim to become famous. During these five weeks I got my songplayed 164 times and got to collaborate with a podcast show from England.</p><p>My hypothesis has been that the future role of the record company will be reduced andpossibly disappear. The theories in this essay argues that this might indeed be the case whenmusicians have accsess to a world o free marketing.</p> / <p>Internet och de digitala distributionskanalerna har inneburit stora förändringar för musikindustrin. Den fysiska skivan som länge har symboliserat denna marknad försvinner bytssakta men säkert ut mot digitalt baserad musik. De tekniska framgångarna under de senastetio åren har lett till en demokratisering av musik produktion. Amatörmusiker kan idagproducera musik med hög kvalitet på en laptop och sprida den gratis med hjälp av sajter förgratis musik. MySpace och YouTube representerar två av de största kanalerna för dennaspridning av gratis musik och jag har därför valt att fokusera min undersökning till dessa tvåsajter.</p><p>Syftet med denna uppsats var att at reda på hur och om denna förändring inomdistributionsmöjligheterna har förändrat förutsättningarna för musiker utan skivkontrakt attsprida sin musik och hitta en publik på egen hand. För att studera detta utförde jag trekvalitativa intervjuer med etablerade musiker och amatörmusiker inom musikbranschen.</p><p>För att ta reda på hur många lyssnare en amatörmusiker kan generera på egen hand under enkortare tid utförde jag en kvantitativ studie under loppet av fem veckor. I denna undersökningsatte jag mig själv in i rollen som amatörmusiker med en målsättning att bli känd. Underdessa fem veckor fick jag min låt spelad 164 gånger och fick även medverka på en podcastfrån England.</p><p>Min hypotes var att skivbolagen kommer att spela en mindre roll i framtidens musikscen ochkanske rent utav att försvinna. Teorierna som behandlas i denna uppsats talar för detta. I envärld där musiker har tillång till gratis marknadsföring och spridning av musik, vem behöverdå skivbolagen?</p>

Internet and the digital channels for distribution have meant big changes for the musicindustry. The physical record that has been symbolising this market for a long time is slowlybeing replaced by digital based music. The technical progress during the last ten years has ledto a democratization of music production. The amateur musicians of today can produce highquality music on their laptops and later distribute it via free music sites. MySpace andYouTube are two of the biggest sites for this free distribution and is therefore my main choiseof study. The purpose of this essay was to find out how and if these changes have made a difference formusicians without a record deal to reach an audience by themselves. In order to find this out Iconducted three qualitative personal interviews with both established and amateur musiciansworking in the music business. To find out how many listeners a amateur musician can generate on their own within a shortamount of time I made a quantitative study during five weeks where I posed as an musicianstarting from scrach with an aim to become famous. During these five weeks I got my songplayed 164 times and got to collaborate with a podcast show from England. My hypothesis has been that the future role of the record company will be reduced andpossibly disappear. The theories in this essay argues that this might indeed be the case whenmusicians have accsess to a world o free marketing. / Internet och de digitala distributionskanalerna har inneburit stora förändringar för musikindustrin. Den fysiska skivan som länge har symboliserat denna marknad försvinner bytssakta men säkert ut mot digitalt baserad musik. De tekniska framgångarna under de senastetio åren har lett till en demokratisering av musik produktion. Amatörmusiker kan idagproducera musik med hög kvalitet på en laptop och sprida den gratis med hjälp av sajter förgratis musik. MySpace och YouTube representerar två av de största kanalerna för dennaspridning av gratis musik och jag har därför valt att fokusera min undersökning till dessa tvåsajter. Syftet med denna uppsats var att at reda på hur och om denna förändring inomdistributionsmöjligheterna har förändrat förutsättningarna för musiker utan skivkontrakt attsprida sin musik och hitta en publik på egen hand. För att studera detta utförde jag trekvalitativa intervjuer med etablerade musiker och amatörmusiker inom musikbranschen. För att ta reda på hur många lyssnare en amatörmusiker kan generera på egen hand under enkortare tid utförde jag en kvantitativ studie under loppet av fem veckor. I denna undersökningsatte jag mig själv in i rollen som amatörmusiker med en målsättning att bli känd. Underdessa fem veckor fick jag min låt spelad 164 gånger och fick även medverka på en podcastfrån England. Min hypotes var att skivbolagen kommer att spela en mindre roll i framtidens musikscen ochkanske rent utav att försvinna. Teorierna som behandlas i denna uppsats talar för detta. I envärld där musiker har tillång till gratis marknadsföring och spridning av musik, vem behöverdå skivbolagen?

Background: The Internet has created new efficient channels of doing business. For this nontraditional market, a business strategy that is both effective and efficient needs to be employed. The Long Tail business strategy was developed by Chris Anderson in 2006. It is possible that the Long Tail strategy not only can increase revenue by offering more “niche” products, but also can enhance customers’ loyalty toward the company. However, in order to achieve the latter, companies need to communicate with customers in more effective and more efficient ways. Therefore, communication is inevitably the fundamental element for companies’ efforts to build customer relationships. The Long-Tail, suggested by Anderson and Sugaya, to be an effective strategy for enhancing customer loyalty. But can it fit in the case of Swedish Apple Premium Resellers?   Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to test if the Long-Tail strategy can enhance e-loyalty by adding value to online marketing communications in the case of Apple Premium Resellers’ customers in Sweden. Method: The data collection was mainly through questionnaires -- a quantitative approach. The target group was Apple Premium Resellers’ customers in Sweden. The questionnaire was distributed in Stockholm and Jönköping. Various statistical techniques as well as theories and models were used for data analysis. Conclusion:It can be concluded that the Long Tail strategy can add value to the online marketing communications, and improved online marketing communications can enhance customer loyalty in e-commerce. Therefore, the Long-Tail strategy can enhance e-loyalty by adding value to online marketing communications in the case of Swedish Apple Premium Resellers.

Netflix and other streaming services have grown immensely since they started offering online streaming. In this paper I present a correlation matrix using ticket sales at the domestic box office and the number of Netflix subscribers. They are shown to be negatively correlated with one another, supporting many previous researchers’ thoughts on the topic. I also show using two OLS regressions with data from movies released in 2006-2007 and 2017-2018 that being a part of a franchise has a stronger correlation with increased revenue in the latter model compared to the previous one. In the models one can also see that the general quality of a movie, as measured by IMDb rating, is associated with a higher increase in revenue in the latter model. I argue that this is due to consumers being inclined to watch what they perceive to be high-quality movies in the theaters in the latter model as they can conveniently watch movies of a poorer quality on their streaming service, an option that was not available to the same extent previously. I also argue that consumers are more willing to commit to going to the cinema for a franchise movie, especially in the Marvel cinematic universe, as they are often effects driven movies which are better experienced on a large screen. The budget variable is significant in both models, but the coefficient is much smaller in the second model. I argue that this is due to the fact that a higher budget is required for movies released in 2017-2018 to maintain the same level of revenue as in 2006 and 2007 due to the competition that have come from streaming services. However, I conclude that more research is necessary before drawing definite conclusions as the market for cinema is highly uncertain and difficult to estimate accurately.

O objetivo deste trabalho é estudar o efeito dos sistemas de recomendação em um site de vinhos, verificando se os resultados estão de acordo com a teoria long tail. Esta proposição prevê que em mercados online, os produtos de nicho podem representar uma parcela significativa do resultado de uma empresa. Uma das formas de explorar estas fontes de receitas é pelo uso adequado de sistemas de recomendação que auxiliem o consumidor a encontrar o que deseja. Neste trabalho são efetuados dois estudos de caso, o primeiro utiliza o coeficiente Gini para comparar a distribuição das vendas de duas empresas, sendo uma delas de comércio eletrônico, o segundo estudo de caso seleciona quatro tipos de sistemas de recomendação e compara seus desempenhos na sugestão de vinhos. Os resultados indicam que ocorre um comportamento do tipo long tail nas vendas da loja virtual e que os sistemas de recomendação baseados nos gostos de outras pessoas são os preferidos. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-05-20T19:24:51Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Antonio Regis Nodari.pdf: 1570446 bytes, checksum: 4592a5c6268d0bfe3c10cd8a58315c8f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-20T19:24:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Antonio Regis Nodari.pdf: 1570446 bytes, checksum: 4592a5c6268d0bfe3c10cd8a58315c8f (MD5)

O objetivo deste trabalho é estudar o efeito dos sistemas de recomendação em um site de vinhos, verificando se os resultados estão de acordo com a teoria long tail. Esta proposição prevê que em mercados online, os produtos de nicho podem representar uma parcela significativa do resultado de uma empresa. Uma das formas de explorar estas fontes de receitas é pelo uso adequado de sistemas de recomendação que auxiliem o consumidor a encontrar o que deseja. Neste trabalho são efetuados dois estudos de caso, o primeiro utiliza o coeficiente Gini para comparar a distribuição das vendas de duas empresas, sendo uma delas de comércio eletrônico, o segundo estudo de caso seleciona quatro tipos de sistemas de recomendação e compara seus desempenhos na sugestão de vinhos. Os resultados indicam que ocorre um comportamento do tipo long tail nas vendas da loja virtual e que os sistemas de recomendação baseados nos gostos de outras pessoas são os preferidos.

The thesis focuses on the analysis of the impact of the inflation uncertainty on the reinsurance pricing, particularly on its measures of risk. Vector autoregression models are used to predict the medium-term inflation and simulate different inflation paths. The consideration of various scenarios of future inflation captured by the stochastic modelling increases the value at risk (VaR) and the tail value of risk (TVaR) of mean ceded loss to the reinsurer. The thesis founds that the inflation uncertainty measured by the stochastic inflation matters and it is important from risk management and hedging perspectives. As a result, additional loadings could be added to the price for the mitigation of the inflation risk. Although the effect of stochasticity of the future inflation is not significant on mean loss, it is the case for the risk of measures, especially for the contracts with high retention relatively to the underlying exposure. JEL Classification F12, F21, F23, H25, H71, H87 Keywords reinsurance pricing, inflation forecasting, inflation risk, long-tail line of business Title Macroeconomic Uncertainty: An Exogenous Risk in Reinsurance Pricing

An essential requirement of cloud computing or data centers is to simultaneously achieve good performance and high utilization for cost efficiency. High utilization through virtualization and hardware resource sharing is critical for both cloud providers and cloud consumers to reduce management and infrastructure costs (e.g., energy cost, hardware cost) and to increase cost-efficiency. Unfortunately, achieving good performance (e.g., low latency) for web applications at high resource utilization remains an elusive goal. Both practitioners and researchers have experienced the latency long-tail problem in clouds during periods of even moderate utilization (e.g., 50%). In this dissertation, we show that transient bottlenecks are an important contributing factor to the latency long-tail problem. Transient bottlenecks are bottlenecks with a short lifespan on the order of tens of milliseconds. Though short-lived, transient bottleneck can cause a long-tail response time distribution that spans a spectrum of 2 to 3 orders of magnitude, from tens of milliseconds to tens of seconds, due to the queuing effect propagation and amplification caused by complex inter-tier resource dependencies in the system. Transient bottlenecks can arise from a wide range of factors at different system layers. For example, we have identified transient bottlenecks caused by CPU dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) control at the CPU architecture layer, Java garbage collection (GC) at the system software layer, and virtual machine (VM) consolidation at the application layer. These factors interact with naturally bursty workloads from clients, often leading to transient bottlenecks that cause overall performance degradation even if all the system resources are far from being saturated (e.g., less than 50%). By combining fine-grained monitoring tools and a sophisticated analytical method to generate and analyze monitoring data, we are able to detect and study transient bottlenecks in a systematic way.

A Case Study on Long-tail Risks and Risk Mitigation in Risk Management.   How can Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty (AGCS) make best use of risk mitigation measures for drafting product liability policy wordings? A case study on Triclosan as a possible Endocrine Disruptor with the potential for Mass Litigation.   With external forces, the insurance industry has been facing issues since before  9/11 but the evolvement of risk managers and risk management programs in organizations has become a standard for all corporations due to the realization of the potential impact these external forces and risks possibly possess. These programs have emerged to reduce the risk and uncertainty factor that organizations are facing. The factors have been identified in previous literature, as the regulation through authorities (Carroll et al., 2016), the customer relationship that to a certain degree even embraces risk (Kerr, 2016), the agency risk in risk taking (Eling &amp; Marek, 2013). In terms to prepare for these risks, the corporations need to go through a rescaling of their business which was associated with the establishment of Risk Management Processes on all levels (Thislethwaite and Wood, 2018). As such, the rescaling in general can be seen as a Risk Management (RM) structure that would framework the communication of risk in a company.   The insurer AGCS is studied on its Risk Management (RM) processes, especially in the fourth phase of RM which is the phase of risk mitigation or reduction. Here it has previously been identified there being no other possible ethical actuarial mitigation methods for long-tail risks (Carroll et al., 2016). Therefore, a risk with such categories was studied with the study on Triclosan. Triclosan is a widely spread and commonly used chemical substance with certain and uncertain causations that can pose several risks with one of them being the possibility of mass litigation. The underwriter tool to mitigate such long-tail risks has been defined as the policy wording which can be used to create an optimal contract in the product liability insurance to reduce the risk of mass litigation.    To answer the above research question, this study has taken an interpretivist stance and the form of a quantitative study to follow the framework of Yin’s (2009) case study approach. With the goal to research the meaning behind a phenomenon, rather than to quantify a phenomenon, the use of semi structured interviews with experts of the insurance industry was conducted. These experts were found in the departments of Allianz Risk Consulting, Underwriting, and Claims.    The findings, similarly to the previous research that has been discussed in the introductory chapter, found that there are certain macro forces that shape the risk mitigation phase and here the influence on the policy wording within was touched upon. It was found that regulations do play a vital part and pose as leverage for the insurer and a pillar that would carry the weight of policy wording. It has further been identified that the costumer relationship and the costumer strength in the market are responsible for a functioning risk mitigation and also that certain demands stemming from the market, will shape the product liability insurance. While the more specific answer to the research question was, yes, the corporate insurer should cover triclosan related risks on a claims-made basis, with serial-loss clause and a retroactive date, there would be other factors that influence the policy wording. The grounded theory that has been established in this research is thus;    To manage liability insurance coverage for long-tail risks, product liability policy wording language needs to reflect main pillars as being used for comparable base materials. This includes but is not limited to claims made trigger, retro-active dates and other coverage elements. Macro forces and drivers of the policy wording, include but are not limited to, costumer strength, market demand, risk perception and market regulations. To ensure a successful risk management on an enterprise level for coverage of long-tail risks, the above factors have to be accounted for when offering product liability coverage.   Based on the aforementioned theory, Triclosan is a manageable risk from a corporate liability insurers perspective, hence insurance coverage can be given under product liability policy wordings.   Here it is proposed that further research be conducted on the identified macro forces and their impact on the product liability insurance and the more general RM in organizations. Also, it is proposed to research such a possible framework for including the costumer in the process of risk mitigation in terms of reducing the risks form where they start with the starting point being at the costumer. This is a future vision that as such would need further research to reach scientific saturation.