M.Comm. / The animal health industry in South Africa is static and products are of a generic nature. Most of the international players are represented in South Africa. The fact that there are so many players in the market leads to severe competition. In this study the possible application of relationship marketing in the animal health industry was investigated. Sanvet, one of the leading companies in the industry was used for the study. The company was established in September 1994 through an amalgamation of the animal health divisions of Agrihold and Premier Pharmaceuticals. In relationship marketing the focus moves from a short-term transactional approach to long-term relationship marketing. Relationship marketing is the integration of marketing, quality and customer service. The provision of quality customer service involves an understanding of what the customer buys and determines how additional value can be added to the product or service being offered. Quality is the link between what a customer expects and the customers perception of what is being offered. The four P's model is very limited and in relationship marketing three additional elements are being used. The elements are people, processes and the provision of customer service. Customer service creates a clearly differentiated and superior value proposition, and is the central focus of all the other elements. Through the acknowledgement of the contribution of people to getting and keeping customers, within the overall marketing mix, the company's competitive performance will be substantially enhanced. People can be categorised into the following groups based on their role in the company: contractors, modifiers, influencers and isolators. Although the human element is very important in customer service, no amount of energy from personnel can counter poor performance due to unsatisfactory processes. In relationship marketing not only the relationship with the target markets is being addressed but also the relationship with the intemal markets, referral markets, supplier markets, employee markets and influence markets. The employees of the company are the core of an internal marketing plan. Employees are seen as internal customers and jobs as internal products. The ideal form of marketing is to get customers to do the marketing on your behalf. Referral markets within the industry must be identified and marketing activities directed at them. The traditional adversarial relationship between suppliers and their customer must change to a new form of relationship based on co-operation. The competition between companies in their effort to attract suitably motivated and trained employees is increasing. Suitable employees are becoming very scarce resources. Companies must focus their marketing activities to ensure that they and the company are first choice for a potential employee. Financial markets, regulatory markets, the government and shareholders form the influence markets and marketing activities should be addressed to these markets to ensure a long-term relationship. This study was limited to investigating the relationship with the internal markets, referral markets and supplier markets. It was found that relationship marketing can be applied in the animal health industry. The recommendations in this study can be used to draw up a complete relationship marketing strategy for Sanvet.

This study was undertaken for the purpose of determining the kinds of information wanted by sawmill workers about the Company they work for, and to find out which media they considered best in relaying this information. Personal interviews were conducted with eighty English-speaking workers in a mill located in the Greater Vancouver area. A semi-structured interview was used in which the interviewee was given an opportunity to answer freely in his own terms. Each worker was asked thirty questions. Twenty-seven of these dealt with seven major information areas covering the following subjects: the job, Company production and products, Company expansion and Company history. In addition, the men were questioned about three media of employee communications. After detailed comparison, it was found that most of these workers wanted the same kinds of Information. Seventy-five per cent or more wanted to know the following: cost of operating the Mill, new products being made by the Company, general Company information, and details about layoffs. In contrast, less than 35 per cent of the workers wanted: information concerning the handling of employee complaints, details about hourly-paid employees, information on better ways of doing the job, information about new changes in the job, and details as to how the job affects the overall production process. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of vaccinating mares against melatonin on seasonal reproductive cycles. Melatonin-Bovine serum albumin (Mel-BSA) conjugate, mixed with a Quil A based adjuvant was utilized to immunize the mares during the anestrous season of two consecutive years (November, 1997–May, 1998, and November, 1998–May, 1999). In year 1, mares were vaccinated 4 times beginning in November at 1 week, 3 week and 3 week intervals with low antigen dose (0.25, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5 mg Mel-BSA per mare, n = 7), high antigen dose (2.5, 5.0, 5.0, and 5.0 mg Mel-BSA per mare, n = 6), control (0.25, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5 mg BSA per mare, n = 4) or none (no injection, n = 1). In year 2, mares were re-vaccinated 3 times beginning in November at 3 week, 3 week and 4 week intervals with 0.5 mg of Mel-BSA (n = 11) or BSA alone (n = 6). The seasonal reproductive cycles were evaluated by measuring serum progesterone concentration with ELISA and by following the ovarian activity using transrectal ultrasonography. In Year 1, the progesterone production patterns, percentage of cycling mares, the winter anestrous length, and the beginning of vernal transition (BVT) were similar between the treatment and control groups. However, in year 2 the progesterone production patterns in the treatment group was altered; 2 mares out of 11 were cycling throughout the winter and the percentage of cycling mares in the treatment group increased compared with the control; there was significant difference between the treatment and control groups in winter anestrous length (p < 0.05) and in BVT (p < 0.05) Anti-melatonin antibodies could directly neutralize circulating melatonin and block melatonin binding to its receptors on equine lymphocyte cell membrane (Kd = 172.9 ± 10.8 pM) and on equine pineal gland cell membrane (Kd = 139.2 ± 11.2 pM) in vitro. The results of this study demonstrated that vaccinating mares against melatonin could after the seasonal reproductive cycle, and the mechanisms underlying this effect likely include neutralization of circulating melatonin and the blockade of melatonin binding to its receptors by specific antibodies.

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Brucella abortus is a facultative intracellular gram-negative bacterium that causes chronic protracted infections of humans and livestock. It is also a potential biowarfare agent and thus development of vaccines for humans is an important goal. In mice infected with Brucella abortus, protective roles for CD4 and CD8 T cells have been demonstrated. A critical role for T cells is likely to be production of IFNγ as IFNγ-deficient mice succumb to brucellosis. Here we show both T cell subsets contribute to control of infection by virulent strain B. abortus 2308 by producing IFNγ and CD4 T cells but not CD8 T cells facilitate clearance of infection. Strikingly, antibody-independent B cell functions contribute to the development of the high plateau phase of infection as both B cell/antibody-deficient C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice cleared 99% of the infection by 2 weeks in an antibody-independent manner. Further characterization of the immune response revealed that B cells produced regulatory cytokines in both C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice. B cells from C57BL/6 mice produced IL-10 while B cells from BALB/c mice produced TGF-β, which in turn can dampen protective IFN-γ mediated immune responses. Consequently, clearance of infection in B cell deficient C57BL/6 mice coincided with a decrease in IL-10 and an increase in the proportion of IFNγ-producing T cells while the clearance of infection in B cell deficient BALB/c mice was associated with a decrease in TGF-β producing cells and CD4 T regulatory cells. Due to the rapid clearance of infection in B cell deficient mice, we tested whether B lymphocytes act as an infection niche for brucellae and found that IgM and complement-opsonized viable B. abortus were phagocytosed by and survived within B lymphocytes in vitro. Furthermore, live brucellae were harbored within B lymphocytes in infected mice and these cells transferred disease to uninfected animals. Throughout the infection, a greater proportion of infected B lymphocytes produced TGFβ compared to non-infected B cells. Thus, B lymphocytes contribute to chronic brucellosis, and possibly other diseases, by providing an intracellular niche that can shield the bacteria from the host immune system and dampen inflammatory responses needed to clear the infection.

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