Det är idag vanligt med företag som använder sitt befintliga varumärke för att nå nya målgrupper för att öka sin lönsamhet. Ett sätt att göra detta är att introducera produkter i en ny prisklass, en så kallad vertikal brand extension. Problemet är det att det är oklart exakt hur detta påverkar konsumenternas uppfattning om varumärket och vilka faktorer som spelar roll. Denna uppsats behandlar prestigens påverkan på konsumenternas uppfattning av varumärket vid en vertikal brand extension för företag inom den högteknologiska sektorn. Anledningen bakom att vi har begränsat oss till den högteknologiska sektorn är att det saknas empiriska undersökningar som behandlat denna bransch. All föregående datainsamling och analysering har tidigare behandlat för många branscher samtidigt vilket lett till ett resultat som inte nödvändigtvis är rättvisande för den högteknologiska. Det finns teori som hävdar att det bör vara skillnad på branscherna men det saknas relevant data för att bekräfta detta. Vi har samlat in egen primärdata genom att hålla öppna gruppintervjuer med två fokusgrupper uppdelade i två ålderssegment. Vi har valt att utgå ifrån två välkända märken som uppfattas har olika hög prestige; Apple och Asus. Vår undersökning kommer fram till att varumärken som är uppfattade att ha hög prestige har lättare att gå upp i prisklass än ett företag som uppfattas ha lägre prestige. Omvänt så har ett företag som har låg prestige lättare att gå ner i prisklass än ett företag som har hög. Dessutom finner vi att fler och fler konsumenter köper datorer baserat på funktion vilket minskar vikten av prestige inom den högteknologiska sektorn. / Every so often companies take use of their brand equity to expand to new markets and target audiences. A common strategy to do so is to introduce products in a different price class, also known as vertical brand extensions. The problem is that it is unknown how this affects the consumer’s evaluation of the brand and which factors that contributes to this effect. This thesis deals with the effects of prestige on consumer’s evaluation of vertical brand extensions in the high-technology sector. The reason for choosing the high-technology sector is that there is a lack of empirical research dealing with it separately. All recent data and analysis includes a wide variety of sectors which has resulted in conclusions that may not be relevant for the sector of our interest. Theory exists that argue that there should be a difference between these sectors but there is no evidence to prove this. We have collected our own primary data by conducting two open group interviews with two focus groups divided into two age segments. The research and questions have been formed around a couple of well-known brands; Apple and Asus. Our conclusion is that highly prestigious brands have a higher probability to succeed at introducing more expensive products than a brand with lower prestige. Brands with lower perceived prestige may likewise have a higher probability to succeed at introducing a cheaper product than their higher-prestige counterparts. Furthermore we find that more consumers base their buying decision on function rather than prestige which reduces prestige’ relevance within the high-technology sector.

Text messaging is a new form of writing, brought about by technological development in the last couple of decades. Mobile phone usage has increased rapidly worldwide and texting is now part of many people's everyday communcation. A large number of users send or receive texts which include some abbreviations and shortenings, commonly referred to as textspeak. This novel linguistic phenomenon is perceived by some with indifference and by others with aggravation. The following study examines attitudes towards this linguistic change from a gender and age perspective. The comparison between two groups show that the most conservative and least positive to change are young women. The analysis and discussion around this focuses on power, prestige and patterns.

This paper seeks to explain the existence of wealthy and socially influential slaves in the fourth century BCE at Athens, Greece. I describe what went on at Athens from the late seventh century until the early third century and show that transformation in the land to labor ratio combined with cultural, legal and political changes led to a period of time where slaves acquired wealth and power. First, changes in the land to labor ratio at a time when Athens was going through vast political change led to a culture where it was socially unacceptable for a free Athenian to work for another free Athenian. Slaves could then work in sectors unavailable to free Athenians, which led them to gain wealth and eventually societal power.

The purpose of this study is mainly to discuss the relationship between employer brand, perceived external prestige and word-of-mouth referral. Most of the previous studies about employer brand focus on its recruitment function and also word-of-mouth are mostly applied on the product decision-making. Therefore, this study is seeking to discover the influence of employer brand on triggering employees¡¦ perceived external prestige. By the process of identifying the organization, employees will further have word-of-mouth referral toward public and find the proper potential employees who will be the human capital and further be the competitive advantages for organization. This study uses two questionnaires to collect data from two levels. One of the objects of this study is human resource managers or human resource staffs who have recruitment experiences. Another one is the employee in the firm. There are 34 valid questionnaires of organizational- level and 311 valid questionnaires of individual-level. By adapting the hierarchical linear model to analyze the data and get the result: the employer brand has partially positively influence on word-of-mouth referral, the employer brand has positively influence on the perceived external prestige, the perceived external prestige has positively influence on word-of-mouth referral and the perceived external prestige has partially mediate the positively influence on the relationship between employer brand and word-of-mouth referral.

For companies, the cost of acquiring a new customer is several times the cost of retaining an existing customer. Furthermore, the purchasing power of an existing customer is usually more predominant than a new one. Therefore, more and more companies attempt to establish long-term relationships with customers in order to make them patronize again or do other useful behaviors. The concept of consumer-company identification (C-C identification) has been used to qualify the deep, meaningful, and long-term relationships between consumers and companies. This research analyzes the antecedents and consequences of C-C identification. We suggest that high identity distinctiveness and identity prestige may lead to high C-C identification. Also, high C-C identification should enhance consumers¡¦ repurchase intention and word-of-mouth (WOM). Our survey with questionnaire conducted to investigate and collect data is sent to the consumers who have shopping experience recently in department stores of Taiwan. The valid sample with questionnaire returned is 294. We analyze the results by using structural equation modeling (SEM) and find that identity distinctiveness and identity prestige have a positive relationship with C-C identification separately. Moreover, C-C identification also has a positive effect to repurchase intention and WOM. Eventually, the managerial implications of this study may help corporate managers to ponder their marketing strategies or even improve their firms¡¦ performance.

The role of top managers in shaping the performance of the firms that employ them represents a central issue to strategic management research. Indeed, a substantial amount of research has examined potential linkages between the characteristics of top managers and firm performance. However the empirical results of research in this area have been ambiguous. This study attempts to theoretically and empirically extend research on the influence of top managers on firm performance by examining the relationship between managerial prestige and firm performance in the post-IPO context. Although upper echelons researchers have attempted to link top managers with firm performance in the past recent reviews of the upper echelons research note that little attention has been paid to top management characteristics other than those of top management team (TMT) heterogeneity, TMT size and TMT tenure. Additionally, recent reviews also suggest the need to consider potential intervening mechanisms between TMT characteristics and firm performance. This study addresses these two limitations of prior upper echelons research by examining the direct and indirect influences of managerial prestige on post-IPO firm performance.In this study I develop a model which incorporates the resource based view and resource dependence theory with insights from upper echelons research and research on the IPO context. Results for the model developed in this study suggest the following. First, executive undergraduate prestige is positively related to post-IPO firm growth. The other aspects of managerial prestige examined in this study were not found to influence post-IPO firm performance. Second, the influence of the key external resource holders identified in this study, namely prestigious alliance partners and institutional investors with stable equity portfolios, were found to enhance firm survival rates, but were negatively associated with firm growth. Third, executive undergraduate prestige was found to garner the support of prestigious alliance partners. The remaining aspects of managerial prestige were not found to influence the support of prestigious alliance partners or dedicated institutional investors. Finally, no support was found for prestigious alliance partners and dedicated institutional investors as mediators of the relationship between managerial prestige and post-IPO firm performance.

The main aim of this dissertation is to understand the change of Turkish state identity related to foreign policy behaviors after the collapse of the Cold War structure. The research question of this dissertation is why and how Turkey has constructed middle power identity, which is based on liberal foreign policies. This dissertation examines two main purposes. First purpose is to analyze AKP&rsquo / s liberalism based middle power policies from 2005 to 2010 toward the Middle East. In this dissertation, the liberal policies based on middle power are defined as implementing functional diplomacy, mediation role, niche di plomacy, coalition diplomacy, and norm diffusion. Second purpose is to understand the process of how the state constructs its policies. To that end, this dissertation takes notice of state identity, which is constructed by changes of circumstances, norms, state self-perception, and the perceptions of others. This dissertation assumes that the concept of middle power is one of Turkey&rsquo / s state identities in the area of foreign policy. Turkey&rsquo / s middle power behaviors make Turkey consciously aware of its middle power status. This dissertation analyzes the existence of two steps that are pathways for Turkey to understand itself as a liberal middle power in the international arena. The first step is to analyze the policies of &Ouml / zal, Erbakan and Cem. The second step is to examine AKP&rsquo / s foreign policy experiences and ideas, especially the ideas of Ahmet Davutoglu.

Conn., Yale Univ., Diss.--New Haven, 2005. / Kopie, ersch. im Verl. UMI, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Ill., Northwestern Univ., Diss.--Evanston, 2003. / Kopie, ersch. im Verl. UMI, Ann Arbor, Mich. - Enth. 2 Beitr.

Thesis (doctoral)--University of St. Gallen, 2009.