The inspection (verification) or Certification firm is to utilize professional specialist, technology and equipment, standing on an independent¡Aimpartial and objective position to conduct inspection, testing and assessment on the quantity/quality of commodity, performance of machinery and components, and implementation of the established quality system, then provide the supplier/buyer and stakeholder with certificate or report for fulfilling the contractual obligation or commitment made in the trade transaction activities. The inspection and certification are playing the role of pioneer in the process of technological development, and they are also one of the necessary pusher for business and industrial enterprises to achieve the target of enhancing product quality¡A obtaining international accreditation and increasing international competence. In the current society of free trade and free economy, the inspection or certification firms, along with the consumers¡¦ awareness and the drastic competitions among inspection or certification industries, facing the daily increasing competition and consumers¡¦ demanding, should make research of how to adopt an appropriate competitive strategy, to look for the market niche, to enhance service quality, to understand customers¡¦ real needs and customers¡¦ satisfactions so as to broaden service scopes and customer groups for the purpose of accomplishing the objective of building the firm to last forever. - iii - This study is to explain the characters, current status and outlook of the inspection or certification industry, and to analyze the development history, performance and achievement of SGS Group in Taiwan - the world leader of verification, testing and certification organization. By employing the industry analysis method addressed by Porter and the SWOT analysis for Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat, we discussed the effect of ¡§five forces¡¨ on SGS Taiwan¡¦s business strategy, the correlation of service quality and customers¡¦ satisfaction, and currently its implementation of the managing tools of Balanced Scorecard and ISO 9001 quality management system. In summary, we have derived the Key success factors for the inspection or certification industry, and submitted suggestions of strengthening business model and management strategy for other inspection or certification firms as reference and benchmark enabling them to provide best and integrated services for the business and industrial enterprises in Taiwan who are pursuing quality. Key words:Inspection, Verification, Certification, Business Strategy, Service Quality, Customers Satisfaction.

Pine and Gilmorey (1998) declared a welcome message for all to the age of experience economy. Economic value has evolved from primary products, manufactured products and services into the fourth kind of economic products: experience. Service oriented economy cannot satisfy consumers anymore, along with the commercialization of services, experience has became the core of economics, thus the era of experience economy arrives. Taiwan has the highest density of department stores and shopping malls. Shopping malls combines retailing, services and entertainment, yet no significant differences in images perceived by the market are found in comparison with department stores in Taiwan. Consumers cannot distinguish between shopping malls and department stores, thus poses a great challenge for shopping malls. They would have to reconsider positioning and marketing strategies of their own. Thus this research aims at understands could experience marketing be effective in the realm of shopping malls in the age of experience economy. This thesis serves Dream-Mall as the study case and experience value as the intervening variable in order to understand would customer experiences formed in the malls via experience marketing efforts be sufficient in affecting customers¡¦ behavior intentions. Conclusions are as follows: dimensions of experience marketing are significantly positively related with experience values, as well as with intentions of customers¡¦ behaviors.

This explorative study strives to  investigate the marketing strategies companies apply in the Duty-Free market and whether consumers perceive them accordingly. The theoretical concepts used for this research were: marketing strategies in the Duty Free market and consumer behavior to allow a comparative approach. In addition, three Variables have been considered and explored: the Offer, the Customer Service and the importance of the Atmosphere in consumers’ purchasing behavior. A model  was created to  connect  all the theoretical concepts and contributed to answering the research question. Perspectives of firms and consumers were investigated  through interviews and surveys. The  Atmosphere, the  Offer  and the  Customer  Service  were examined  as marketing strategy’s variables.  The  former is relevant in influencing customers’ behavior, the  offer  of exclusive products meets the needs and expectancies of customers, but the poor customer service degrades the purchasing experience. The marketing strategies of firms need to be shaped according to these conclusions.

Human relations are analytical process oriented to acts. The purpose of this act is to help explaining the environment of work and to do the necessary acts improving this environment. The purpose of good human relations creation is to do workers acts more productive, to stimulate workers to do work better and more effective. That’s why human relations asking from social workers to be sensitive for their customers, try to make good works condition and positive work environment. (Barsauskiene, Januleviciene, 1999:26) The main idea of social workers professional activity – to protect human as personality and worth, to cherish his right to resolve and self expression. The social worker is trying to render the help to customer. Ethical consciousness – the necessary part of social worker professional ethics. (Ethics code of Lithuania’s social workers, 1998). That’s why very important to know how people realize worth. Worth have moral colour. It is mean, that these colours reflective human understanding about what is correct, good and desirable. (Robbins, 2003: 33-34). But lives problems, troubles make people acts roughly, rudely. Conflicts are surface. Then people found themselves at conflict situation they begun to understand reality wrong. People find not typical behaviour to themselves. It is mean, that worth’s and relations system is changing. That’s why it is important for social worker to know how to act at conflict situations. (Hanžina, 2001: 86-87). Social workers must... [to full text]

<p>This mini-thesis seeks to provide a substantiation for the need for a new legal framework for South Africa in order to address prostitution. It will argue that the current legal framework has failed in its desired aims and in addressing prostitution effectively. This mini-thesis critically analyses the underlying reasons for prostitution in South Africa and discovers that it is influenced by a myriad of interrelated factors. The current level of poverty and the prevailing socio-economic paradigm in South Africa have contributed to its complex nature. The demand for prostitution acts as a catalyst for both the further exploitation of prostitutes and women, while making them vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases. I establish that criminalisation alone is not sufficient to address prostitution, especially given the HIV/AIDS epidemic.</p>

Magistro baigiamajamе darbе išanalizuota paslaugų vеrslo kliеntams rinkos stratеgija UAB „Omnitеl“, makroaplinka, konkurеnciniai pranašumai ir trūkumai bеi patеikti siūlymai UAB „Omnitеl“ paslaugų vеrslo kliеntams stratеgijos tobulinimui. Pirmojе ir antrojе darbo dalysе nagrinėjamos rinkos bеi markеtingo stratеgijos tеoriniu aspеktu. Trеčiojе dalyjе apibrėžiama UAB „Omnitеl“ paslaugų vеrslo kliеntams rinkų stratеgija, analizuojant kiеkviеną iš tеikiamų paslaugų bеi analizuojama UAB „Omnitеl“ konkurеncinė aplinka. Kеtvirtojе dalyjе apibеndrinamos UAB „Omnitеl“ stratеginės kryptys vеrslo kliеntų rinkosе. Paskutinėjе darbo dalyjе, rеmiantis tеoriniu ir praktiniu pagrindu, išdėstytos darbo išvados, apibеndrinančios darbo rеzultatus, rеkomеndacijos bеi pasiūlymai siеkiant tobulinti UAB „Omnitеl“ paslaugų vеrslo kliеntams stratеgiją. / In thе mastеr‘s thеsis, UAB “Omnitеl” sеrvicе for thе businеss sеgmеnt stratеgy is analyzеd, macro situation, compеtitivе advantagеs and disadvantagеs also rеcommеndations for thе stratеgy improvеmеnt arе providеd. In thе first and thе sеcond parts of thе papеr, thе markеt and markеting stratеgiеs arе еxaminеd from thе thеorеtical pеrspеctivе. In thе third part - UAB “Omnitеl” stratеgy for businеss sеgmеnt is dеfinеd, analyzing еach of providеd sеrvicеs and thе markеt compеtitivе situation. In thе fourth part of this papеr, arе dеfinеd UAB “Omnitеl” sеrvicеs for businеss sеgmеnt stratеgic trеnds and dirеctions. In thе last part of thеsе thеsеs, conclusions and rеcommеndations basеd on thеorеtical and practical analysis arе providеd with thе aim to improvе thе stratеgy for thе businеss sеgmеnt sеrvicеs at UAB “Omnitеl”.

First, we analyze the optimal design of a markdown pricing mechanism with preannounced prices. In the presence of limited supply, buyers who choose to purchase at a lower price may face a scarcity in supply. Our focus is on the structure of the optimal markdown mechanisms in the presence of rational or "strategic" buyers who demand multiple units. We first examine a complete information setting where the set of customer valuations is known but the seller does not know the valuation of each individual customer (i.e., cannot exercise perfect price discrimination). We then generalize our analysis to an incomplete valuation information setting where customer valuations are drawn from known distributions. For both settings, we compare the seller's profit resulting from the optimal markdown mechanism and the optimal single price. We provide a number of managerial insights into designing profitable markdown mechanisms. Next, we focus on the purchasing behavior of the customers and the optimal pricing decisions of the seller assuming that the seller has incomplete information about the customer demand. Each buyer demands multiple units of the homogeneous product that the seller is offering via a priority pricing mechanism with multiple prices, where the only difference is the availability/scarcity of the supply at each price. We provide managerial insights based on the results from a stylized model. Finally, building on the incomplete demand information setting, we focus on the value of improved information about the customer demand to the seller. We investigate whether improved information benefits the seller and if the seller would prefer to share the improved demand information with the customers.

The overall aim of this thesis is to contribute to deepening and extending our understanding and knowledge of emotions in service encounters by studying it from the two most central human actors in service encounter: (i) the service firm’s employees and (ii) the customer of this firm. This dissertation consist of five separate papers that conceptualize and empirically investigate how different appraisals by employees and customers generate positive and negative emotions, and how types of emotions in service encounters are linked to patterns of behavioural responses. The methods used for gathering data involved interviews and questionnaire studies of various service firms.  This dissertation has sought to offer two main contributions. First, this thesis presents an extended understanding of employees’ emotions in service encounter and their effect on employees’ perceptions of service quality. One of the chief findings is that work-related conditions such as employees’ perception of their working role and managerial practices are related to both positive and negative emotions in service encounters. Moreover, the findings indicate that there exists a spill-over effect between employees’ experiences of emotions and employees’ perceptions of the delivery of service quality in service encounters. Secondly, this thesis also contributes to furthering our understanding of the customer’s appraisal of service quality with respect to customers’ positive emotions in service encounters as well as to deepening our understanding of negative emotions when customers experience a negative service encounter. Specifically, it was found that both human and non-human service-quality factors are able to trigger customer’s positive emotions in service encounters. Positive emotions were strongly related to behavioural responses such as customer loyalty. When a customer experiences negative emotions in service encounters as a result of negative experience, the findings point to three sources of these negative emotions: (i) ‘self’ (the customer’s own fault), (ii) ‘other’ (the fault of the company), and (iii) ‘situational’ (the fault is beyond the customer’s and company’s control). Another finding is that customers’ negative emotions in service encounters tend diminish but only to some extent, even after the service firm has set into motion a process of service recovery. In summary, this thesis contributes to our understanding of emotions in service encounters and contributes to the ongoing debate and discussion in service research about the role of emotions in this context.

This thesis explores the reasons why customers stop buying brands. The first part quantifies what proportion of customers defect for the reasons that are within and beyond brand managers' control. The second part examines how the reasons for defection impact on post-defection brand equity of former brand.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. Denise Donnelly, committee chair; Dawn Baunach, Charles Gallagher, committee members. Electronic text (86 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Feb. 25, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-77).