The combined environmental effects of technological change, increasing competition, new legislation and increasingly demanding consumers have created pressure within the financial services industry for change. One outcome has been a proliferation of new products in the marketplace. This research explores new product development within one subset of this industry -- building societies. By combining the new product development, service marketing and financial services literature, a foundation has been developed for an empirical study into the development practices and the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful new products. The determinants of success and failure for new product development have been examined utilizing a comparative methodology, and subsequently a discriminant model has been developed that successfully classifies successful and unsuccessful new products. By determining how new products are actually developed, the findings support previous claims that intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability do have an effect on the development process. Further, the level of sophistication of the development activities is lower than in previously reported research. Notable variations from the development process for tangible new products are the inclusion of system design, system testing and personnel training stages. The majority of societies have been found to lack strategic integration of the development process, to apply different measures of success and to prefer qualitative market research techniques over quantitative approaches. As well, considerable variation exists in the organizational approaches used to manage the process, although organizational related variables were found to have a strong impact upon the predictability of a successful outcome for a new product.

The combined environmental effects of technological change, increasing competition, new legislation and increasingly demanding consumers have created pressure within the financial services industry for change. One outcome has been a proliferation of new products in the marketplace. This research explores new product development within one subset of this industry -- building societies. By combining the new product development, service marketing and financial services literature, a foundation has been developed for an empirical study into the development practices and the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful new products. The determinants of success and failure for new product development have been examined utilizing a comparative methodology, and subsequently a discriminant model has been developed that successfully classifies successful and unsuccessful new products. By determining how new products are actually developed, the findings support previous claims that intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability do have an effect on the development process. Further, the level of sophistication of the development activities is lower than in previously reported research. Notable variations from the development process for tangible new products are the inclusion of system design, system testing and personnel training stages. The majority of societies have been found to lack strategic integration of the development process, to apply different measures of success and to prefer qualitative market research techniques over quantitative approaches. As well, considerable variation exists in the organizational approaches used to manage the process, although organizational related variables were found to have a strong impact upon the predictability of a successful outcome for a new product.

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La tesi si focalizza sui donatori di sangue.Obiettivo del lavoro è quindi la trattazione del fenomeno donazione di sangue al fine di cogliere, nella complessità plurale delle variabili che incidono su questo gesto, la rilevanza degli elementi personali, familiari ed organizzativi connessi all’azione donativa. L’impianto di ricerca è stato costruito procedendo in particolare da un’intuizione di Ferguson (2005): la donazione di sangue dev’essere studiata come un processo di stadi sequenziali. Questo approccio deriva dalla revisione del Transtheoretical Model di Prochaska e collaboratori (1982) sulla donazione di sangue (Ferguson, 1996; Ferguson e Chandler, 2005)e dal Volunteer Process Model di Omoto e Snyder (1995, 2000). L’azione donativa è quindi studiabile come un processo che, dall’avvicinamento iniziale, può portare alla nascita dell’Identità di Ruolo di donatore (Piliavin et al., 1999), alla ripetitività cadenzata del gesto e, quindi, alla fidelizzazione. Alla luce dell’obiettivo generale e della scelta di questi approcci, la popolazione di interesse del lavoro è ampia e varia: i primi studi si incentrano, infatti, su neodonatori; il terzo studio confronta neodonatori e donatori fidelizzati; il quarto studio, incentrato su donatori fidelizzati. La logica sequenziale “a scatole cinesi” con cui gli studi sono costruiti ha seguito anche l’altro elemento rilevante dell’obiettivo generale di questo lavoro: l’affondo sulle variabili personali, familiari ed organizzative connesse alla donazione di sangue.Il 1 studio, il cui obiettivo era Identificare tipologie specifiche di persone alla luce delle variabili della Scala Stadi di Cambiamento, mostra come coloro che si avvicinano a donare non possano essere considerati un gruppo omogeneo rispetto alla loro “prontezza” a donare. Evidente, allora, la necessità di costruire strategie di accoglienza differenziate.Il 2 studio, il cui obiettivo era Testare un modello Predittivo dell’Intenzione a Donare sangue con neodonatori, ha la peculiarità di contribuire a comprendere quali variabili intervengono nell’Intenzione a donare per i NEODONATORI.Il 3 studio conferma l’influenza della famiglia di impegnarsi in questo gesto, ed approfondisce le costellazioni motivazionali che avvicinano e che sostengono questo gesto nel tempo.Il 4 studio evidenzia, forse per la prima volta in modo chiaro, il ruolo delle variabili organizzative nell’influenzare non solo l’integrazione in associazione, ma anche la soddisfazione percepita per l’atto della donazione.La donazione di sangue, pur essendo un atto personalmente scelto, quindi, deriva da una costellazione di variabili personali, familiari ed organizzative complementari e mutualmente intersecantisi, che necessitano di essere approfondite e studiate nella loro globalità al fine di arrivare alla creazione di strategie di reclutamento e di fidelizzazione che portino alla soddisfazione totale del bisogno di scorte di sangue. / This work is focused on blood donors. This research’s purpose is the discussion of the blood donation’s phenomenon in order to grasp the complexity of plural variables affecting this gesture, the significance of personal, family and organizational action related gifts. The research starts by the revision of the Transtheoretical Model by Prochaska and colleagues (1982) on blood donation (Ferguson, 1996, Ferguson and Chandler, 2005) and the Volunteer Process Model by Omoto and Snyder (1995; 2000). The donation action has been studied as a process: by the approach, the birth of Role Identity of donor (Piliavin et al., 1999), the rhythmic repetition of the gesture, and therefore loyalty. Participants are wide and varied: the first studies focus, in fact, on neodonors; the third study compares neodonors and retained donors, the fourth study, is focused on Retained donors. The thesis is composed by four research studies. The first study’s aim is to identify genders of people on the basis of the variables of the Stages of Change Scale. It shows how the subjects who donate cannot be considered as a homogeneous group considering their "readiness" to donate. It is evident, then, the need of building strategies for different reception. The second study develops a model of the explanatory factors determining the predisposition to donate blood in neodonors will. The third study confirms the influence of the family to engage in this act, and explores the motivations that substained this act. The fourth study shows clearly, maybe for the first time, the role of organizational variables in influencing not only the integration in Avis, but also the perceived satisfaction for the act of donation. The blood donation, in spite of being a personal choice action, derives from a constellation of personal variables, complementary and mutually intersecting. this complex systems here studied in its entirety in order to create more proper recruitment and maintaining strategies that can lead to the total satisfaction of blood supply needs.