This research is a study of purchasing intentions and behaviors in China. Consumers from four key cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, and Guangzhou were studied and differences in intentions and behavior as well as influences on behavior were analyzed. The results of the study provide greater depth to understanding consumer behavior in China and insight into likely responses to marketing strategies. Interviews with Chinese marketing experts were conducted and surveys were administered to samples of the target populations. Interviews assisted in understanding many of the general stereotypes held with respect to various ethnicities and helped with explaining some of the reasons for differences found. The study’s results are categorized into five areas. First, with respect to general purchasing intentions the study found that Chinese consumers from key cities differ significantly with respect to most of the purchasing intentions measured including inclination to try to new products, brand loyalty, use of discount cards, and willingness to purchase substitute brands. Based on five measures of conservatism, Beijing and Shanghai consumers were found to exhibit more conservative consumption behaviors than Chongqing and Guangzhou consumers. Chongqing and Guangzhou consumers are more likely than consumers in Shanghai and Beijing to wait for a friend's recommendation before buying a new brand. Second, with respect to brand choices, the study found that Beijing consumers tend to be more ethnocentric in their purchasing behavior in comparison to consumers from other key cities. The study also found a moderate association between ethnicity and brand purchase repertoire in most product categories. Third, with respect to reasons for purchases, the study found that generally there was only limited association between ethnicity and the reason for selecting brands. Consumers most often cited quality as the main reason for purchase. Fourth, with respect to actual brand purchase frequencies, the study found that Beijing consumers made more frequent purchases more often than other consumers in half of the categories studied. Chongqing consumers tend to purchase favorite brands less frequently than consumers from other key cities. Fifth, with respect to knowledge of country of origin and country of manufacture and their influences on intentions, the study found that for most product categories (nine of twelve studied) country of origin was an important consideration in the purchase decision. In general, many Chinese consumers are misinformed about brands’ country of origin. The research provides insight into important purchase cues and moderators impacting brand choice behavior.

This study investigated significant influences including Hispanicness, traditionalism and demographic characteristics on Hispanic women's purchase behavior when selecting work and social activity apparel. A sample of 114 Hispanic women from a Hispanic professional organization or businesses in the Dallas and El Paso, Texas areas. Surveys were collected by mail or administered to subjects. Analyses included frequencies, percentages, t-tests, and Pearson's product-moment correlations. For both situations, mean scores indicated the most influential information sources were: clothing displays, friends, and female family members, while the most used acquisition sources were: department and specialty stores. In both situations, these women had very feminine appearance attributes and very feminine and fashionable clothing style. Hispanicness, traditionalism, and demographic characteristics made some difference when selecting work and social activity apparel.

Background: Agricultural activities occupy a significant part of the world’s land area and the food systems are comprehensively reliant on fossil fuels, resulting in that the sector is responsible for a large percentage of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Changes are needed in order to meet the challenges of developing sustainable food systems. One change strategy would be to replace parts of animal proteins with greener plant substitutes. This thesis is part of a four-year transdisciplinary research project with the aim to, within four years, develop domestically produced products based on Swedish legumes. This paper will focus on exploring significant components affecting health-conscious consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions regarding legumes-based products. By the thesis, valuable information and insights regarding legumes as a protein substitute will be gathered amongst the growing consumer group of health-conscious consumers.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the attitudes regarding legumes, and underlying key components affecting health-conscious consumers purchase intentions towards legume-based products. Additionally, two research questions have been developed to reach valuable findings for this investigation.

In 2001, the FASB (Financial Accounting Standard Board) introduced accounting regulations SFAS 141 and SFAS 142 to improve the relevance, representational faithfulness, and comparability of financial reporting. The new standards have profoundly changed the accounting for business combinations and goodwill under US GAAP by requiring reporting entities to no longer amortize goodwill over its expected useful life, but to test for impairment annually. However, the new regulation has met sharp criticism for creating a scope for high levels of managerial discretion which may be exercised opportunistically in the accounting for goodwill. This study examines whether the proportion of purchase price allocated to goodwill differs between public and private acquisitions. We try to answer this question by carrying out a quantitative study on 481 observations, between the period of 2001 to 2005 by studying the relationship between acquirer type (Public vs. Private) and target firm characteristic on goodwill allocated, and we find the following results: 1) Public acquirers allocate higher levels of goodwill in comparison to private acquirers. (2) Market-to-book values of private target firms are not positively correlated with recorded goodwill levels.

Word-of-mouth har länge varit ett intressant och viktigt fenomen inom marknadsföringen. Med introduktionen av Internet och den växande populariteten av sociala medier, så har word-of-mouth förändrats och är nu tillgänglig för många fler konsumenter online och världen över. Word-of-mouth som sker över Internet har fått namnet elektronisk word-of-mouth (förkortat eWOM). Denna studie har undersökt skillnader i inflytandet av olika word-of-mouth-källor, specifikt traditionell muntlig WOM och eWOM. Detta för att se om det finns några skillnader i hur konsumenter söker och tar del av WOM-information inför köpbeslut av nya produkter eller tjänster. Denna studie har också perspektivet att endast kolla på inflytandet av negativa WOM-källor och hur dessa påverkar konsumenters köpbeslut. Studien har genomförts med hjälp utav ett elektroniskt frågeformulär som distribuerats genom Högskolan i Borås studenter samt genom Facebook. Frågeformuläret består av frågor och avsnitt gällande hur viktigt WOM är för konsumenter innan köp av en tidigare oprövad produkt eller tjänst, trovärdigheten av WOM informationen, hur WOM kan ändra ens attityd samt sannolikheten att man avstår köp på grund av negativ WOM.Resultatet från frågeformuläret visar på att traditionell muntlig WOM fortfarande anses vara den bästa WOM-källan, den som används mest och anses vara den mest trovärdiga källan för WOM och fick högst poäng i alla kategorier från frågeformuläret. eWOM från ratingsidor rankades som näst bäst medan eWOM från ens Facebookvänner ansåg vara det sämsta alternativet för eWOM i alla kategorier. Slutsatsen dras därför att negativ WOM-information influerar konsumenter på olika vis beroende på vilken WOM-källa det kommer ifrån. Traditionell muntlig WOM anses vara det bästa, även om eWOM används mycket så anses det inte vara lika trovärdigt och informativt. / Word-of-mouth has been an important phenomenon in marketing for a very long time. With the introduction of the Internet and the growing popularity of social media, word-of-mouth communication has changed and is now available for consumers from all over the world with just the click of a mouse on your computer. This phenomenon has been given the name electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). This study has examined the influence of different WOM-sources, specifically traditional oral WOM and electronic WOM to see if there are any differences in how consumers search and use different WOM-information in their purchase decision. This study has also taken an approach to only look at the influence of negative word-of-mouth from different WOM-sources and their influence. To research this an electronic questionnaire has been used and distributed to student at the University of Borås and also over Facebook. The questionnaire consists of questions regarding how important looking for WOM information before a purchase it, trustworthiness of WOM, how WOM can change your attitude to a product or service and the possibility of not going through with a purchase based on information from WOM-sources.Results from the questionnaire shows that traditional oral WOM is still considered to be the best, most used and trustworthy source of WOM as it scored highest in all categories of the questionnaire. eWOM from rating sites scored second in all categories, and eWOM from Facebook friends scored lowest in all categories. It can therefore be concluded that negative WOM-information can influence consumer purchase decision in different ways, and even though eWOM is widely used it is considered to be less informative and trustworthy than traditional oral WOM.

Social networking sites are a major networking tool for consumer interactions as they provide a platform for communication, socialization, and learning activity. Subsequently, social media has become an important marketing tool for advertising companies’ messages. As a result, fashion brands such as H&M and Victoria’s Secret started to show more brand ads on Facebook. Facebook is one of the most powerful social networking sties due to its ability to reach to broad consumer groups through a brand page. However, research regarding this topic is limited as the social networking sites is relatively a new phenomenon. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to examine the effect of the brand’s comments in attenuating (enhancing) negative (positive) influence of other consumer’s postings on brand trust and purchase intention of other consumer’s postings on social media. Findings from this study revealed that there is no moderating effect of brand comments of the relationship between other consumer’s postings and brand trust, while positive other consumer’s postings has a significant effect on consumers’ brand trust. Also, there were no significant differences among other consumer’s postings, brand comments and purchase intention relationships. These findings add to the previous literature explains that brand should interact with consumers frequently in order to induce positive other consumer’s postings to develop brand trust. By using the consumer socialization theory to investigate Facebook marketing, this study provides insights and information on consumer attitudes and behaviors related to Facebook brand page.

Commercial establishment as an object of legal relationship (purchase of commercial establishment and usufructuary lease of commercial establishment) The topic of this thesis is "Commercial establishment as an object of legal relationship (purchase of commercial establishment and usufructuary lease of commercial establishment)". From the title it is obvious that commercial establishment is an object of legal relationship but not a subject of legal relationship which is a considerable part of its understanding. With the acceptance of the Czech Civil Code a lot of changes came to this institute, including name change. This is the reason why it was necessary to conceive this matter complexly, from the basic term to specifics of particular legal relationships. The first part of this thesis is focussed on a basic term of commercial establishment and its circumscription in the Czech Civil Code, where it is understood as a set of asset and also as an agent for entrepreneurial activities. This part analyses particular kinds of commercial establishment and also branch of another parts of commercial establishment. The second part is dedicated to various examples of legal relationships where the commercial establishment might be the object. Particular legal relationships are concisely characterised. In this part there...

The Commercial contract of purchase (law and perspectives) The contract of purchase is one of the most concluded contracts between artificial persons as well as between natural legal persons. It is surely appropriate to analyse modifications related to New Civil Code that is being drafted and means one of the biggest legislative changes that is being made in almost fifty years in the Czech private law. Therefore, the purpose of my thesis is to analyze both an effective law of the commercial contract of purchase including the international level, and forthcoming changes first and foremost related to liability for defects, consequences for the attainment of the ownership from the wrongful proprietor in general as well as in connection with real estate. I divided the thesis in two main parts; the first one is dealing with an effective law of the commercial contract of purchase, the second one is dealing with legal regulation in New Civil Code according to contract of purchase. Each of these parts is divided into minor chapters for better lucidity. In the first part I describe International sale of goods regulated by United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and its application, then by effective law of the commercial contract of purchase in Czech Republic. Within the...

Public tenders procedure - a dynamic purchase system and electronic auction The purpose of public tenders is to serve as an instrument of effective and efficient distribution of public funds, in order to acquire specific goods or services in accordance with the public interest. Therefore, the law defines the process of awarding public tenders. The main purpose of this thesis is to explore and analyze the electronization of the public tenders procedure with an emphasis on dynamic purchase systems and electronic auction. The thesis is based on the current provisions of the Act on Public Tenders No. 137/2006 Coll., and is divided into seven chapters. Chapter one focuses on evolution of public tenders, or public procurement, providing a brief historical outline with an emphasis on national legal regulations. Chapter two explores public procurement law regulations in force that are significant in relation to the aim of the thesis. The first part of the chapter highlights the most important legal documents on the international level, and the second part proceeds with an overview of European Union law. Part three presents a summary of the Act on Public Tenders in force. The third chapter contains a definition of the most essential terms of the Act. Part one deals with the instrument of the public tender...

Companies increasingly believe that sponsorship, and in particular sport sponsorship, can help them achieve their respective strategic objectives. Achieving sales objectives are especially important in the context of sport sponsorship, given that managers are under increasing pressure to justify their sponsorship expenditure, and that over two-thirds of all sponsorships are directed towards sports properties. However, isolating a sponsorship s contribution to a company s sales figures is difficult to accomplish, and even if this were possible, understanding the mechanisms behind consumers behavioural responses to that respective sponsorship would still constitute a challenge. Hence, understanding consumers behavioural purchase intentions, and what drives these intentions within sponsorship contexts, is of paramount importance. That said, little is known about what drives consumers purchase intentions in sponsorship settings. A greater understanding of consumers behavioural intentions within concurrent sponsorship settings is necessary. Concurrent sponsorships involve multiple brands sponsoring a property at the same time. As such, they are a more realistic and common sponsorship context than simple sponsor-sponsee dyads are. It is important to examine concurrent sponsorships because a collective is formed when multiple sponsors are involved. In turn, social psychology highlights that a collective is characterised by the degree to which its a priori members are perceived as a group. Groups are perceived qualitatively differently to dyads, and can also be perceived differently to the sum of their respective constituent parts. Moreover, the extent to which people perceive a collective as a group can impact upon their subsequent evaluations of that group and that group s actions. Consequently, consumers evaluations of a sponsee s concurrent sponsors and the sponsee itself may be affected by how concurrent sponsorships are perceived, which in turn may affect consumers behavioural intentions. Hence, it is imperative that concurrent sponsorship contexts are investigated. That said, there is scant literature investigating concurrent sponsorships, with sponsorship research historically focussing on sponsor-sponsee dyadic settings. This thesis contributes to our understanding of concurrent sponsorship settings of major sporting events by examining how people s perceptions of concurrent sponsors entitativity influence both their purchase intentions towards a focal concurrent sponsor and their sponsee equity evaluations. An online questionnaire, utilising sponsorship vignettes (scenarios) as part of a factorial survey design, was sent to respondents of a mid-sized UK-based university. Scenarios were used to manipulate respondents into perceiving two concurrent sponsorship settings: a concurrent official providers sponsorship setting and a concurrent official financers sponsorship setting. Hypotheses were tested through Lisrel 8.71 where confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) were performed. The results in both sponsorship contexts (concurrent official providers and concurrent official financers ) appear to be very similar. Specifically, the results suggest that people s entitativity perceptions are positively related to their sponsee equity evaluations, which in turn are positively associated with people s purchase intentions. Entitativity is also positively associated with consumers intentions to purchase from a concurrent sponsor but only when consumers attribute high levels of sincerity towards that sponsor. The one significant difference between the two sponsorship types (official providers and official financers) in the study concerns how sincerity affects the entitativity-sponsee equity relationship. People s attributions of sincerity moderate the relationship between entitativity and sponsee equity in the official provider concurrent sponsorship context, such that the entitativity-sponsee equity relationship becomes stronger. However, people s attributions of sponsor sincerity do not affect the entitativity-sponsee equity relationship in the official financer concurrent sponsorship context. A post-hoc examination of repondents entitativity ratings also suggests people perceive official providers as being significantly more entitative than they do official financers. This study makes a number of contributions to both theory and management practice. For example, the study demonstrates how the entitativity concept, found within social psychology, can be applied to concurrent sponsorship settings, such that people s behavioural intentions towards a sponsee and a concurrent sponsor, are influenced by their concurrent sponsor entitativity perceptions. Following this, concurrent sponsors and sponsee rights holders should consider how sponsors can foster people s entitativity perceptions whilst at the same time communicate sincere motives for their respective sponsee sponsorships, as sincerity perceptions are important too. This would not only help the sponsee s rights holder by increasing sponsee equity but the results also suggest that people are more likely to purchase from a concurrent sponsor. That said, this may lead to further difficulties between sponsors and sponsees rights holders. For example, sponsees rights holders may be perceived as needing sponsorships as opposed to being able to command them, which in turn could lead to difficult sponsorship negotiations between rights holders and potential sponsors. Second, the business and marketing acumens of sponsees rights holders are generally regarded to be lower than that of sponsors . In fact, sponsors often act independently of sponsees rights holders when making sponsorship leveraging decisions and investments, and this is partly because sponsees rights holders are not proactive enough in working with the sponsors. Therefore, if sponsees rights holders do not have the capabilities to help sponsors foster entitative and sincere sponsorship contexts, sponsors may be unwilling to renew their sponsorship deals or even set up their own events.