Thesis advisor: Celeste Wells / This paper explores how the visual components of product placement in film contribute to the goal of generating a positive brand attitude. Past research in this field has overlooked the visual aspects of product placement in favor of focusing on consumer recall. To address this gap, this study looks at three recent films, and evaluates them using visual analysis. Analysis revealed that visual components of film such as color, contrast, and lighting, as well as the positioning of the product, such as focus, motion, and camera angle, directed viewers’ attention to encourage cognitive processing of the branded area of the visual. This study also found that the visual components strengthen the association between the product and the protagonist, which is essential to generating a positive brand attitude. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Communication.

This research study analyses a conceptual model investigating the relationship between the level of health insurer product innovation and entrepreneurial orientation (EO); the relationship between the level of health insurer product innovation and external collaboration between health insurers and healthcare service providers. This study also analyses whether low presence of perceived strategic regulatory factors, necessary for encouraging health insurer product innovation in the private healthcare industry in South Africa, weakens the relationship between the level of new health insurer product innovation and EO, as well as the relationship between the level of new health insurer product innovation and external collaboration between health insurers and healthcare service providers. The research study, focusing on major actors in both the demand and supply side structures of the private healthcare value chain, found that organisational-level EO is a very strong predictor of health insurer product innovation in the South African private healthcare industry. The research study also found that external collaboration between health insurers and healthcare service providers is a weak predictor of health insurer product innovation. An important finding of this study was that the low presence of strategic regulatory factors (which are necessary for encouraging health insurer product innovation in the South African private healthcare industry) means that the relationship between health insurer product innovation and EO is not moderated, and neither is the relationship between health insurer product innovation and external collaboration between health insurers and healthcare service providers. These findings contribute to the South African private healthcare industry in terms of innovation, regulation, external collaboration and entrepreneurial orientation literature and studies.

Thesis (M.M. (Strategic Marketing))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2014. / The world as we know it is rapidly transforming into what is frequently referred to by many scholars as the era of „postmodernism‟. The postmodern consumer is more flexible, instinctive, more individualistic in preference and needs, and builds an identity through the products he/she consumes. Postmodern consumers are exposed to increased levels of advertising clutter and are becoming difficult to reach via traditional media. As a result, marketers have found alternative methods to get their message across and have looked at innovative ways to engage postmodern consumers and have turned their attention towards non-conventional advertising practices such as product placement within mass media entertainment. Reality television has emerged as a prominent genre in South Africa among young adults (Generation Y) and the incidence of product placements within these shows has grown substantially over the past few years. With marketing spend allocated to traditional television advertising (when marketing to Generation Y), the research aims to explore if traditional television advertising is effective compared to product placement in reality television in creating brand awareness and brand identity. It also aims to identify if product placement in reality television can be integrated as an element in IMC strategies.

Segundo a Pesquisa Industrial de Inovação Tecnológica, Pintec, nas últimas décadas, o Brasil obteve resultados pouco expressivos em inovação, em virtude de fatores como falta de investimentos em ciência e tecnologia, C&T, políticas públicas deficitárias e capacidade limitada de converter os achados científicos em produtos e aplicações comerciais. Supondo-se que o processo de inovação é incerto, complexo, ligado a imponderáveis questões técnicas e sociais, e capaz de tomar um curso diferente do previsto, muitas vezes, um grande achado tecnológico não implica necessariamente em sucesso no mercado. É fato, o curso da inovação não se encerra na descoberta científica, mas constitui-se de um processo de interação entre suas diferentes fases: pesquisa, desenvolvimento e difusão. Contudo, no Brasil, analisando-se sobretudo o Estado de São Paulo, os programas de inovação subsidiados pela atual política pública de inovação têm seus interesses restritos à pesquisa e desenvolvimento, P&D, em detrimento das etapas do processo de inovação correlacionadas às aplicações dos achados científicos. Nesses termos, a pergunta fundamental desta pesquisa consistiu em verificar como o design se manifesta e contribui com o processo de inovação, dado que, em países de referência em inovação, fundamenta-se como uma ferramenta capaz de suavizar o percurso desde a concepção da ideia, compreendendo a pesquisa científica, até as aplicações práticas e comerciais dos seus resultados, pois pode oferecer estrutura e foco para o processo. Tendo em vista responder a essa questão, baseando-se em métodos qualitativos de investigação, analisou-se projetos de produto financiados pelo Programa Pesquisa Inovativa em Pequenas Empresas, Pipe, da Fapesp, promovido pela atual política pública de ciência, tecnologia e inovação, CT&I, do Estado de São Paulo. A etapa inicial teve como foco o levantamento dos projetos Pipe que trouxessem em suas propostas o desenvolvimento de produtos eapresentassem necessidades de interface para a devida apreciação dos usuários. Além disso, os projetos deveriam já ter sido concluídos, com seus produtos finalizados e sendo comercializados. A etapa seguinte do método foi dividida em três subproblemas. O primeiro envolveu a condução de entrevistas em profundidade semiestruturadas com pesquisadores responsáveis pela coordenação dos projetos SNIKER, Tomas Guner selecionados, verificando como o design contribuiu com o processo de inovação. O segundo objetivou compreender o processo de desenvolvimento de produto utilizado nos projetos e identificar possíveis consequências decorrentes da falta de investimentos em design. O terceiro e último subproblema relacionou os achados decorrentes dos subproblemas 1 e 2. A proposição desta análise consistiu em levantar aspectos sobre a participação do design no processo geral de inovação,tendo como objetivo contribuir para uma discussão sobre a conversão das inovações tecnológicas em produtos adequados do ponto de vista prático-técnico e estético,possibilitar a apreciação e o uso dos seres humanos e, consequentemente,potencializar a viabilização comercial. / According to Pintec (Pesquisa Industrial de Inovação Tecnológica - Industrial Research of Technological Innovation), over the last decades, Brazil has reached inexpressive results in innovation, due to the lack of investment in Science and Technology, precarious public policies, as well as limited skills of converting scientific findings into products and commercial applications. Considering that the innovation process is uncertain, complex, related to imponderable technical and social matters and prone to taking a different path than the anticipated one, very often, a great technological finding does not necessarily imply success in the market. It\'s a fact: the journey of innovation is not finished in the scientific discovery, yet, it consists of an interaction process between its different stages: research, development and diffusion. However, in Brazil, especially considering the state of Sao Paulo, the innovation programs supported by the current public policy of innovation are limited to Research and Development (R&D), at the expense of the innovation process stages correlated to the scientific findings applications. Hence, the main question of this research consisted of checking how Design unveils and how it contributes to the innovation process, given that in countries renowned for innovation, it proves itself as a tool capable of softening the trajectory from the conception of the idea, including the scientific research, to its results practical and commercial applications, since it can provide structure and focus to the process. In order to answer this question and considering qualitative research methods, the analysis was made on product projects financially supported by Fapesp\'s Pipe (Programa Pesquisa Inovativa em Pequenas Empresas - Innovative Research Program in Small-sized Companies), sponsored by the current public policy of Sciences, Technology and Innovation of the state of Sao Paulo. The initial stage focused on surveying Pipe\'s projects that, in their proposals, evidenced the product development and presented some interface needs for the users\' proper appreciation. Besides, the projects should have already been finished, with products concluded and being sold. The next stage was divided into three subproblems. The first one involved conducting thorough semi-structured interviews with researchers responsible for the co-ordination of the selected projects, checking how Design contributed to the innovation process. The second one aimed at understanding the development product processes used in the projects and at SNIKER, Tomas Guner identifying possible consequences due to the lack of investments in Design. The third and last subproblem linked the findings originating from subproblems 1 and 2. This analysis proposition consisted of raising aspects about the role that Design plays in the general process of innovation, aiming to contribute to a discussion about the conversion of technological innovations into suitable products, from a practical-technical and aesthetical point of view, enabling human beings to appreciating and using them, thus, powering commercial feasibility.

Thesis advisor: Mary Ann Glynn / My dissertation examines changes in audience sensemaking by the public and media about Apple’s novel product, iPad. My study begins on December 28, 2009, one-month before the introduction of the iPad by Apple and ends with the anniversary of its retail availability on April 2, 2011, shortly after the launch of the second-generation iPad. Using primarily qualitative methods, I analyze archival data including online forums and news articles to understand audience sensemaking as it unfolds. I investigate how sensemaking by the two audiences a) changes over time, b) changes with different types of material interaction with the product, c) incorporates the use of functional and symbolic frames in their public discourse about the iPad, and d) changes based on the public role of the audience. In doing so, I advance explanations as to how meanings about novel products stabilize. More broadly, I elaborate how nascent product categories can emerge by focusing on the cultural-cognitive processes that undergird product classification systems. As a result, I offer novel pathways for product category emergence. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Management and Organization.

O presente trabalho analisa a importância da determinação de preços para a competitividade do varejo supermercadista. Após uma revisão da literatura sobre as diversas definições de preços e as formas de estabelecê-los, são analisadas as seis etapas propostas por especialistas de marketing para o apreçamento estratégico de produtos. Nessas seis etapas são discutidas a influência da demanda e a importância dos custos, os métodos de estabelecimento mais utilizados, descrevendo-se suas características e limitações, as técnicas de adequação à diversas situações, bem como a seleção do preço final. Os passos adotados pelos varejistas são também abordados, assim como outras variáveis que têm impacto na estratégia escolhida para se fixar os preços nos supermercados, além da demanda, dos custos e dos concorrentes. Por fim, as estratégias de apreçamento são estudadas empiricamente, por meio de entrevistas em profundidade com gerentes de três redes de varejo de grande porte que atuam no mercado nacional, onde é verificada a utilização das técnicas de apreçamento, como instrumento de auxílio na tomada de decisões relacionadas aos programas de preço da empresa. Em conclusão, verifica-se que à medida que os especialistas em varejo buscam mais bases científicas e confiáveis para auxiliar na tomada de decisões quanto à definição de políticas de preços, é essencial que possuam uma compreensão clara dos conceitos e das variáveis da que influenciam na determinação dos preços dos produtos que comercializam, assim como o conhecimento das diversas técnicas de apreçamento, além do mark-up. / The present paper analyses the importance of pricing for the competitiveness of the retail sector (supermarkets). After a bibliographic survey on the several definitions concerning price and how it is determinate, six steps, proposed by marketing experts, to products strategic pricing are analyzed. In these steps, the demand influence, the costs importance and the most important pricing methods are discussed, describing their characteristics and limitations, the techniques to adequate it to different situations, as so as the final price selection. The steps that are adopted by supermarket retail are also outlined, thus as the variables that have some influence on its chosen pricing strategy. Demand and competitors costs are also analyzed. Finally, pricing strategies are empirically studied through multicases study on three large retail chains. In this part, the use by these companies of pricing methods as a tool to assist decision making related to the long-run pricing programs is verified. In conclusion, it is seen that, while retail specialists seek more scientific and reliable bases for aiding the decisions regarding the price strategies, it is essential that they posses a clear comprehension of the concepts and the variables that have influence on products price determination that are commercialized by themselves, as well as the technical skills to pricing, besides the mark-up method.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences. / Department of Economics

The informal, underground or shadow economy is a significant, growing force throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, contributing to overall output, yet diminishing productivity, congesting public services, and depriving developing nations of potential fiscal revenues. This paper discusses the various definitions and methods of measurement of the informal sector, with the aim of showing the importance of collecting taxes in informal economies. Informal economy participants engage in tax evasion and avoidance of governmental regulations, therefore the implications of excessive tax burdens and onerous bureaucracy are studied, with a focus on their impact on GDP growth. Informal sector enterprises can greatly contribute to the official, recorded GDP measures if they have significant incentives to joining the formal sector. These incentives are presented and must be considered seriously by policymakers concerned with capturing additional tax revenues and improving economic growth in their nations. / by Chantal Wedderburn. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Choi, Wing-Hon. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-61). / Abstract and questionnaire also in Chinese.

De Bruijn graphs were originally introduced for finding a superstring representation for all fixed length words of a given finite alphabet. Later they found numerous applications, for instance, in DNA sequencing. Here we study a relationship between de Bruijn graphs and the family of lamplighter groups (a particular class of wreath products). We show how de Bruijn graphs and their generalizations can be presented as Cayley and Schreier graphs of lamplighter groups.