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This dissertation reports a multimethod investigation of the relationship between market price knowledge and the width of the acceptable price range. Psychophysics and Social judgment theory are discussed as supporting the existence of acceptable price thresholds (limits) and acceptable price range. Hypotheses stemming from Social judgment theory are offered directly relating market price knowledge with the width of the acceptable price range. The relationship between market price knowledge and acceptable price range was investigated using two different methods, the Stoetzel and the Own-Category method. Unlike the previous acceptable price limit studies, this research assessed the reliability and construct validity of each of those methods. The research design used was a laboratory experiment with a series of 2 x 2 factorials based on the Solomon 4 group-six study design. The dependent variables were: (1) the acceptable lower price limit, (2) the acceptable upper price limit, and (3) the acceptable price range. The independent variable was market price knowledge. The two-way anova design had two factors. The first factor had two levels: absence and presence of market price knowledge. The second factor consisted of two levels: pretest and no pretest treatments. The research hypothesis was tested using (1) two-way analysis of variance, (2) analysis of covariance using sex and prior price knowledge as covariates, and (3) paired t-tests. Test-retest reliability of the two methods were assessed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Pearson correlation coefficients were also used to set validity coefficients. Those coefficients were used to assess construct validity of the two measures in terms of convergent and discriminant validity within the context of Campbell and Fiske's multitrait-multimethod zero-order correlation matrix. In general, the experimental results partially confirmed the hypothesis that the acceptable price range would be narrower for subjects possessing market price knowledge than for those subjects possessing little or no market price knowledge. The results of the Stoetzel method supported the hypothesis, but the hypothesis was not supported when the same subjects used the OwnCa Category method. The results did support the hypothesis that the two methods were valid measures of ac~eptable price thresholds with the OwnCa Category method producing higher reliability scores than the Stoetzel method. Results of the dissertation are discussed with respect to the major findings and significance to price theory and research. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the study limitations and directions for future research. / Ph. D.

Published Article / This exploratory study employed mainly quantitative and some elements of qualitative methods to analyse interview data emerged from both informal interviews and questionnaire on 280 salon operators. This study focused on the educational background of the owners of smaller businesses as a factor related to the engagement in the marketing research within hair salon business in Dr. R.S Mompati district in the North-West Province of South Africa. The findings revealed that even though majority of the operators did not engage in marketing research, those who collected information on certain marketing research activities may have been influenced by their educational background. Thus it is postulated that the higher the educational background, the more likely it is that hair salons conduct marketing research. The author discusses the implication of the findings for smaller businesses to engage in marketing research, the value of the study, recommendation for further research and limitations of the study.

by Thomas Chan Ying-man, Wong Kwok-din. / Bibliography: leaf 46 / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1985

by Yeung Oi-Lin & Lee Hok-Chuen. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1986. / Bibliography: leaves 76-77.

Research Project (M.B.A.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / MBA-MOT Program. Senior supervisor : Dr. Colleen M. Collins-Dodd. Research Project (Faculty of Business Administration) / Simon Fraser University.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

Evaluating patterns of indicators is often the first step an organization takes in scanning the environment. Not surprisingly, the experts that evaluate these patterns are not equally adept across all disciplines. While one expert is particularly skilled at recognizing the potential for political turmoil in a foreign nation, another is best at recognizing how Japanese government de-regulation is meant to complement the development of some new product. Moreover, the experts often benefit from one another's skills and knowledge in assessing activity in the environment external to the organization. One problem in this process occurs when the expert is unavailable and can't share his knowledge. And, addressing the problem of knowledge sharing, of distributing expertise, is the focus of this dissertation. A technical approach is adapted in this effort--an architecture and a prototype are described that provide the capability of capturing, organizing, and delivering the knowledge used by experts in classifying patterns of qualitative indicators about the business environment. Using a combination of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, a collection of objects termed "Apprentices" are employed to do the work of gathering, classifying, and distributing the expertise of knowledge workers in environmental scanning. Furthermore, an archival case study is provided to illustrate the operations of an Apprentice using "real world" data.