Functional foods constitute a growing focus for research, product development and consumer interest in recent years. This study investigated the factors that affect willingness to pay for high fibre food on the market as well as respondents’ attitude towards the purchase of these products. The results indicated that those consumers in the high income group were more health conscious than their low income counterparts and willing to pay for high fibre products. The results showed that health risk perceptions as well as regulatory programmes affected consumers’ willingness to pay. The results also showed that at low percentage prices consumers were willing to pay for high fibre products. Gender and marital status did not seem to have an influence on willingness to buy for any of the selected products. Findings of the study could encourage food manufacturers to carry on with developments of functional foods since willingness to pay increased with increase in income. / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

The purpose of this study was to identify tourist profiles as a segmentation variable for three festivals (Innibos, Oppikoppi and Volksblad). Numerous segmentation studies have been done in the past; however, few were done where profiles were used as variables for segmentation of arts festivals. Market segmentation is the way in which tourism companies divide a market into smaller, more clearly defined groups that share similar needs, wants, and characteristics. Segmentation is important in order for a destination to target the right kind of visitor. Other reasons for doing this type of research is to increase the number of new tourist arrivals; to increase the length of stay of tourists; the amount of tourist expenditure per visitor stay and to broaden the activities and shows that are offered. Research for this study was undertaken at three festivals. These festivals are Innibos, Volksblad and Oppikoppi respectively. Questionnaires were distributed randomly during the course of the festivals. Data collection was done by field workers who distributed questionnaires to the attendants of the festivals. At each of the three festivals questionnaires were interviewer administered and the "recall method" was used, where respondents had lo recall their spending. It was also a destination-based survey, where interviews were held on-site during the event. Different sites were chosen to limit response bias towards a certain group of festival attendants. The questionnaires were distributed throughout the course of the three festivals respectively. The data was used to compile graphs and tables so that a profile of each festival can be designed. Correlations between the three festivals and their profiles were made. In this case the effect size is given by w= √(x2/n), where x2 is the usual Chi-square statistic for the contingency table and n is the sample size. In the special case of a 2x2 table, the effect size (w) is given by phi (Φ) coefficient. Note that the effect size is again independent of sample size. Oppikoppi has an average of 10 000 attendants, lnnibos and Volksblad have an average of approximately 30 000 attendants per year. The sample size of 400 questionnaires for Volksblad and 400 questionnaires for lnnibos was anticipated and 200 for Oppikoppi. The variables that were the focus point of this study were gender, occupation, language, province where the attendants reside, travel group size and number of days at festival. This information can contribute to better marketing and more targeted markets for a larger number of attendants. The organiser can determine what type of entertainment, music, song and dance can be packaged and marketed as a unique product. The research indicated that organisers from Volksblad and lnnibos can focus more on family entertainment that is suitable for the whole family. Oppikoppi is a rock festival and therefore the organisers can get more rock bands, especially Afrikaans rock. All three festivals are for Afrikaans speaking people so they can use Afrikaans magazines and newspapers as well as Afrikaans radio stations to market these festivals in the province of deliverance as well as bordering provinces. The study contributes to the information of the larger festivals that already exists like Aardklop, Grahamstown and KKNK. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

This thesis comprises two stages that empirically investigate and evaluate the perceptions and importance of service elements expectations of professional baseball spectator in Taiwan. Study I is designed to collect the perception of spectators service elements expectations focus groups meetings, which also help the research to develop an appropriate research instrument for the evaluation of the importance of service elements expectations to Taiwan professional baseball spectators. Study II collected 1020 questionnaire survey samples and used cluster analysis approach to segment TPB spectators into six meaningful groups by service elements expectations. The thesis concludes that, firstly, the successful use of expectation to segment spectators proves the potential of expectation as a typology with which to categorise customers. Secondly, TPB spectators with different levels of team identification failed to have great differences in their service expectations, even though two service factors ( subsidiary services and social and educational services ) were evaluated as less important by respondents, they were still evaluated that six service expectation factors are all important to them. Finally, this study provided a different angle for sports organisers to consider, and an outline for assisting managers design service packages that are highly responsive to the target market.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Economics / Philip G. Gayle / This dissertation is composed of two essays in the field of Industrial Organization. Specifically, the empirical studies are conducted by focusing on the market structure and competition issues in the airline industry. The first essay investigates entry deterrence through incumbents’ pricing strategies in the airline industry. Recent research finds evidence that incumbent airlines tend to cut fares in response to the “threat” of entry by Southwest Airlines. Instead of focusing on the entry threat by a single carrier, this essay re-examines this issue by looking at incumbent airlines’ price response when entry is threatened by a wider variety of potential entrant airlines. Results show that incumbents’ response vary by the identity of the firm making the threat. As expected, incumbents cut fares in response to the threat of entry by some potential entrants; however, a new result is also found that incumbents may respond by raising their fare depending on who is making the threat. The second essay looks into an antitrust-relevant issue in the airline industry. Proper antitrust analysis often focuses on whether the concerned differentiated products are truly competing with each other. This essay uses a structural econometric model to investigate whether nonstop and connecting air travel products effectively compete with each other. Estimate results suggest that connecting products may be an attractive alternative to nonstop products for leisure travelers but less so for business travelers. If connecting products are counterfactually eliminated, the empirical model predicts small price changes for nonstop products. This suggests that the two product types only weakly compete with each other and can be treated as being in separate product markets for antitrust purposes.

This master thesis deals with beer market segmentation in the Czech Republic. The main aim of this thesis is to find out whether there is only one big segment or more different segments can be found there. The thesis is divided into two parts, the methodological --theoretical and the practical one. Segmentation, targeting and positioning are described in the first part. The second part is devoted to secondary resources analysis and content analysis focused on beer advertisements. The main part of practical section is to depicts primary quantitative research which is the basis for market segmentation done via SPSS statistic programme. At the end of this master thesis all segments are described in detail and marketing recommendation for each of them are also added there.

Lifestyle market segmentation can be very supportive for a successful marketing strategy of a company. However it is not clear whether lifestyle market segmentation is efficient and ethical or not. Several market segmentation concepts such as Cross-Cultural Consumer Characterization, VALS, PRIZM NE, Mosaic, ConneXions NE and GfK Roper Consumer Styles are analyzed in order to give an extensive overview of the offered concepts. The observation of efficiency issues in regards to market segmentation comes to the result that there is a significant lack of empirical data and a shortage of determined factors which can improve market segmentation efficiency. Moreover, lifestyle market segmentation cannot be exclusively identified as ethically right or wrong, but depends on the individual ethical decision-making of a marketer.

This thesis deals with analysis of consumer attitudes to various types of stores. Its goal is to determine these attitudes and define the various segments of consumers who go shopping in those stores. Further to recommend an appropriate marketing strategy on the basis of the obtained results. The thesis is dividend into two parts. The first theoretical part prepares a theoretical basis for the second part, which is own research on consumer attitudes in Pilsen and environs. The first part of the theoretical basis defines the different types of stores. They differ in many characteristics and their combinations. The second part deals with the attitudes. It includes definitions of attitudes, defines their components, determines the attributes and functions, their formation and possibilities of change. The third section focuses on the segmentation. What segmentation is, how it is done and what is its aim. The fourth section describes the various ways of marketing communications and defines its goal. It also deals with psychological reasons for buying and own trade mark. In the second practical part I achieve own market research, whose goal is analysis of attitudes of pilsener consumers to the various types of stores.

The aim of this Master's Thesis is to reveal and describe segments within a group of university students. The first part includes the theory of market segmentation, including the market research theory and description of the technique of cluster analysis. The second part contains the exploration of secondary data - identifying characteristics of the target group and searching for ideas for own research. The third part describes preparation for primary research, collecting of the data and their analysis. At the end I reveal segments with the help of cluster analysis and describe all uncovered segments.

Embora o orçamento familiar e os padrões de consumo das famílias sejam importantes para a compreensão da realidade da população brasileira, os estudos qualitativos e quantitativos dedicados ao entendimento de ambos não existem em grande quantidade no Brasil, o que é um limitante para a consolidação da literatura nacional sobre o assunto. Neste sentido, o presente trabalho utiliza-se do orçamento familiar como uma variável de segmentação aplicada às famílias Endividadas e Positivas, oferecendo comparações no que tange aos padrões de consumo dos segmentos obtidos. Cabe ressaltar que o orçamento familiar neste estudo é composto por 17 categorias de despesa não discricionárias, como \"Alimentação dentro do lar\" e \"Habitação\" e categorias de despesa discricionárias, como \"Lazer\" e \"Educação\". Sendo assim, a segmentação é realizada por meio da análise de cluster, o que permite que as famílias de ambos os grupos se agrupem em segmentos. Tal análise considera dados de orçamento familiar oferecidos pela Kantar WorldPanel (ano 2016), que dizem respeito a 4790 famílias Endividadas (2409) e Positivas (2381). Como resultado da análise, obtêm-se nove segmentos, cinco referentes ao grupo de famílias Endividadas (Caseiros, Sobreviventes, Bem estar, Automotores e Pagadores de Empréstimos) e quatro referentes ao grupo de famílias Positivas (Caseiros, Sobreviventes, Bem Estar, Automotores e Pagadores de Empréstimo). O segmento Caseiros tem como categoria de despesa que mais compromete o orçamento a \"Habitação\"; o segmento Sobreviventes a categoria \"Alimentação dentro do lar\"; o segmento Bem estar possui gastos acima da média com categorias discricionárias como \"Lazer\" e \"Educação\"; o segmento Automotores apresenta grande parte do orçamento comprometido com a categoria \"Transporte\" e o segmento Pagadores de Empréstimos, existente apenas no grupo Endividados, compromete grande parte de seu orçamento com a categoria \"Serviços Financeiros\". Dado esses segmentos, o estudo ainda reúne esforços no sentido de identificar quais despesas melhor discriminam o orçamento de ambos os grupos e, como resultado, tem-se que o orçamento do grupo Endividado é melhor discriminado por despesas com \"Habitação\" e \"Transporte\", enquanto o do grupo Positivo é melhor discriminado por despesas com \"Alimentação dentro do lar\" e \"Habitação\". Calcula-se ainda a elasticidade renda da despesa para cada um dos segmentos, verificando sua sensibilidade às 17 categorias de despesa estudadas. Verifica-se que os positivos se apresentam muito sensíveis a algumas categorias, enquanto que os Endividados se apresentam pouco sensíveis a todas as categorias. Visto isso, este estudo oferece com contribuição teórica a consolidação do uso do orçamento familiar como variável de segmentação e, como contribuição gerencial, o detalhamento do orçamento de cada segmento a ser explorado pela iniciativa privada. Futuros estudos podem replicar este mesmo estudo realizando um recorte regional ou, ainda, fazendo o uso dos dados extrapolados para a população brasileira. / Although familiar budget and household consumption patterns are very important for understanding Brazilian population reality, qualitative and quantitative studies dedicated to the understand both are still scarce in national scenarium, which is a limitation for the consolidation of Brazilian literature on the subject. So, this work uses familiar budget as a segmentation variable in order to segment Indebted and Positive families, offering comparisons regarding consumption patterns of the obtained segments. It should be noted that, for this study, familiar budget is composed by 17 consumption categories, including non-discretionary expenditure, such as \"Food consumption inside house\" and \"Housing\" and also discretionary expenditure categories, such as \"Leisure\" and \"Education\". Thus, segmentation is performed through cluster analysis, which allocate Indebted and Positive families into segments. This analysis uses familiar budget data offered by Kantar WorldPanel, which considers 4790 families (Indebted - 2409; Positive - 2381). As this analysis application results on nine segments, five refers to Indebted families (Homeowners, Survivors, Welfare, Motorists and Loans Payors) and four refers to Positive families (Homeowners, Survivors, Welfare and Motorists). For Homeowners segment \"Housing\" is the most important expenditure; for Survivors segment \"Food consumption inside house\" is the most important; Wellness segment has above-average expenses with discretionary categories such as \"Leisure\" and \"Education\"; Automotive segment has a large part of their budget committed with \"Transport\" category and Payors of Loans, that only exists for Indebted group, spend much money on \"Financial Services\". This study still makes efforts in order to identify which expenses better discriminate familiar budget from both groups and, as a result, it has been seen that Indebted group familiar budget is better discriminated by \"Housing\" and \"Transportation\" expenses, while Positive group is better discriminated by \"Food inside the house\" and \"Housing\" expenses. Moreover, income elasticity of the expenditure for each of the segments is calculated, verifying each segment sensitivity to each of the 17 expenditure categories. It can be seen that Positives are very sensitive to some categories, while Indebted are not very sensitive to all categories. This study offers as theoretical contribution the consolidation familiar budget as a segmentation variable and, as managerial contribution, familiar budget details of each segment to be explored by companies. Future studies may replicate this same study by making a regional approach or using extrapolated data for Brazilian population.