Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research study has sought to gain a deeper understanding of the manner in which the ultra-luxury travel sector interprets the concept of customer value and how they go about designing an offering of potential value to the customer. In turn, the study explored the manner in which the traveller extracts value from the offering. There is a definite element of ambiguity to the precise meaning of the word ‘luxury’. Researchers have traced its meaning and developed frameworks to define the type of value it offers to the consumer. Ubiquitous to the delivery of the luxury good or service, is the significance that an individual will attach to it. The consumption of luxury will always be an experience – in one form or another. With the passing of time and globalisation of companies, the luxury good has become ‘democratised’. This massification of luxury has resulted in layers of offering, appealing to various categories of consumer; from the connoisseur and consumer of rare, niche products, to the bling young professional sporting a designer bag. This has created greater debate around the definition of luxury. Further frameworks have been developed to identify the types of value within the luxury offering that would appeal to the different categories of luxury consumer. The process of value creation has evolved from a firm-centred model to one where the customer is central. The focus is on identifying customer needs, and then delivering them via the use of firm competencies and capabilities. The lens of the value creation process has widened to include means of identifying potential for firm value creation pre and post consumption of the offering. The luxury travel sector generates a significant spend. As an industry that is intensely customer-centric, it provides the perfect vehicle to examine how the industry seeks to understand the guest, and in turn, deliver value. A qualitative, multiple case study methodology was employed to examine four luxury properties in South Africa. Employees and independent consultants within the industry were interviewed. The results yielded a coherent message of passionate engagement with the product and the guest. The surprising element was the employee’s fierce commitment to the luxury asset and their pride in the owner. The element of sustainability featured strongly as, whilst every effort was made to give the guest a magical experience, this was not done at the expense of the underlying asset. There will always be an element of experience attached to the immersion in a luxury product or service and the luxury travel industry is no exception. Experiential travel has been a driving force within the industry for many years. As this evolves, the pressure to plumb greater depths of meaning and create significant shifts in ‘being’ has developed. The industry is ripe for creative collaborations and new partnerships in order to deliver life-long memories to the luxury traveller. Technology has been a disrupter within the luxury value chain and tour operators and travel agents find themselves competing with online travel agents. Those who survive are those who deliver highly personalised, creative and bespoke offerings. Social media is another area of potential innovation. The Millennial traveller will soon command the lion’s share of luxury spending. They are highly connected and desire authentic, fun experiences. Luxury accommodation has also suffered the ambiguity attached to the definition of luxury brands in general. The 5-star hotel which once commanded pride of place as the highest level of accommodation has been usurped by private luxury properties, boutique and destination hotels. The potential exists to apply the lenses of luxury value frameworks in order to provide greater clarity to the type of offering they deliver to the luxury traveller.

楊硯. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 220-244). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract in Chinese and English. / Yang Yan.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1996. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [331]-349).

Proefschrift--Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-216).

Proefschrift--Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 2007. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-216).

Thesis (M. A. (Xitsonga)) -- University of Limpopo,2015 / The purpose of this study is to analyse the behaviour of tycoon’s wives in the selected literature, namely; Ndzhaka ya vusiwana by B.K.M. Mtombeni and Mangava ya Joni by D.R.Maluleke. In Ndzhaka ya vusiwana two stories were analysed, namely; “Mudlayi wo tidlaya” and “Vubombi bya swolomba”. In Mangava ya Joni two stories were analysed, namely; “Xiwelano” and “Xihahisile”. Textual analysis was used in this study to analyse the behaviour of tycoons’ wives. Textual analysis is the method communication researchers use to describe and interpret the characteristics of a recorded and visual message. The purpose of textual analysis is to describe the content, structure and functions of the messages contained in texts. This study was attempted to answer the following questions:  What is the behaviour of the wives of tycoons in Xihungasi and Mangava ya Joni?”  What influenced the wives of tycoons to have such behaviour?  What are the benefits of such behaviour? The findings of the study revealed that in most cases, the wives of tycoons have good behaviour. They love their rich husbands and children, are very hardworking and they respect other people. The findings of this study also revealed that in most cases the tycoons have various behaviour patterns. Some tycoons have good behaviour while others are violent, hate other people and dishonest. The findings of this study also revealed that the wives of tycoons are influenced by their childhood behaviour, neighbours and friends. Their love to their husbands also influence them to behave properly.

Abstract: The theory of value capture is simple to understand and easy to sell, promising self-fulfilling virtuous cycles of value generation, capture, and redistribution. Countless studies document value creation attributable to public interventions, providing guidance on the type and extent of potential benefits. Scholars too have set forth parameters for optimal value capture conditions and caution against common pitfalls to keep in mind when designing value capture plans. But even when utilizing the best advice, equitable redistribution of benefits rarely occurs in neoliberal economies, leaving municipalities struggling to meet the myriad of social needs and provide basic services for all their inhabitants. Invariably, capitalistic real estate states seek to financialize public assets for private gain. Nowhere is this more apparent in New York City today than in the outcomes thus far of one of the largest public-private developments in New York history at Hudson Yards. This dissertation documents the failure of the value capture scheme put in place at Hudson Yards which neither captured fair market value for the public, nor extracted much public benefit. The scheme aimed to leverage vast tracts of publicly-owned land above operational rail yards at the Far West Side of Manhattan. Instead, public action under the guise of public purpose catalyzed the private financialization of a finite public asset, through the seemingly benign but inherently complex public policy tool of value capture finance. In particular, this dissertation tells the detailed development story of Hudson Yards, where developers reap huge rewards for their risks while the public still waits for what was promised — an all too familiar story.

The key challenge to socio-economic transformation in South Africa is closing the gap between the poor and the rich. What is distinctive about South Africa is the uneasy coexistence of poverty and opulence. This study seeks to explore the structural, historical roots of poverty among the blacks in South Africa by deploying Fanonian Critical Decolonial theory. This is the ideal theoretical approach to unmask the structural causes of poverty and inequality in South Africa. Colonial ambitions and the global political engineering of the world by America and Europe spans more than four hundred years, and is still very much alive today in subtle forms. This study asserts that this imperial history is the cause of poverty, lack of agency, and the hellish conditions under which many black people live. The rise of industrial capitalism and attendant urbanisation is at the core of this impoverishment of the black man. It is also shown that, once impoverished, the black man’s poverty gathers its own momentum, leading to more poverty that is then handed down to succeeding generations. Contrary to Eurocentric theorising, the study shows that blacks are not ‘problem’ people but people with problems, who, instead of being condemned, should be regarded with sympathy. This research thesis focuses on Alexandra Township and Sandton as symbols of poverty and privilege, respectively. The former represents Fanon’s zone of non-being where life is lived in conditions of want and poverty, whilst the latter represents the zone of being characterised by good living and prosperity. The thesis will demonstrate the fact that these anomalous socio-economic disparities are not natural but man-made, and therefore require the action of human beings to correct them. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

The key challenge to socio-economic transformation in South Africa is closing the gap between the poor and the rich. What is distinctive about South Africa is the uneasy coexistence of poverty and opulence. This study seeks to explore the structural, historical roots of poverty among the blacks in South Africa by deploying Fanonian Critical Decolonial theory. This is the ideal theoretical approach to unmask the structural causes of poverty and inequality in South Africa. Colonial ambitions and the global political engineering of the world by America and Europe spans more than four hundred years, and is still very much alive today in subtle forms. This study asserts that this imperial history is the cause of poverty, lack of agency, and the hellish conditions under which many black people live. The rise of industrial capitalism and attendant urbanisation is at the core of this impoverishment of the black man. It is also shown that, once impoverished, the black man’s poverty gathers its own momentum, leading to more poverty that is then handed down to succeeding generations. Contrary to Eurocentric theorising, the study shows that blacks are not ‘problem’ people but people with problems, who, instead of being condemned, should be regarded with sympathy. This research thesis focuses on Alexandra Township and Sandton as symbols of poverty and privilege, respectively. The former represents Fanon’s zone of non-being where life is lived in conditions of want and poverty, whilst the latter represents the zone of being characterised by good living and prosperity. The thesis will demonstrate the fact that these anomalous socio-economic disparities are not natural but man-made, and therefore require the action of human beings to correct them. / Development Studies / M. A. (Development Studies)