There has been significant research done on the impact of branding on consumer buying behaviour over the years, however, consumers at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) have been ignored and very little research has been done in the South African market. This study examines the impact of brand equity on purchase intention of Parmalat yoghurt in the South African BoP market using socio-economic status, price sensitivity and sales promotion as mediating variables. Data was collected from 289 South African BoP consumers residing in Soweto. The study tested six hypotheses using PLS- SEM. Data was analysed using SmartPLS software. The results show that of the six hypotheses tested, only three are supported, namely, the relationship between brand equity and socio-economic status, socio-economic status and purchase intention and price sensitivity and purchase intention. Socio-economic status as a mediator has the most significant impact on the relationship between brand equity and purchase intention. The findings of this study give some implications for managers and marketers of yoghurt brands. Brand equity influences on purchase intention of yoghurt products and socio-economic status has the strongest mediating influence suggesting that companies must build and maintain strong brand equity in order to create a positive influence on purchase intention for their brands. Managers need to understand the underlying reasons as to why consumers would choose a competitor’s brand. Based on this study, socio-economic status and price sensitivity are the two most influencing mediators in the purchase intention of yoghurt, thus it is imperative for managers to take this into consideration when devising and implementing branding strategies.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-14T14:26:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 423819.pdf: 1399684 bytes, checksum: 948051b7bf9751de55a9271205de1052 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-03-31 / O tema estudado no presente trabalho ? a corrup??o governamental, tendo como objetivo geral mensur?-la no Brasil e nos estados brasileiros por meio de indicadores objetivos. As principais pesquisas sobre corrup??o t?m dado ?nfase ?s suas causas, ao comportamento dos agentes envolvidos e a como ela pode afetar os investimentos p?blico, privado e o desenvolvimento econ?mico. H?, contudo, uma lacuna na forma de medi-la, especialmente no caso brasileiro, pois as medidas existentes fornecem um indicador ?nico para o Pa?s n?o levando em conta as diferen?as regionais. Para efetuar a an?lise, foram desenvolvidos indicadores compostos objetivos, os quais possibilitam compreender melhor o comportamento da corrup??o governamental nos estados brasileiros e, por conseq??ncia, no Brasil utilizando como fonte principal de dados o Cadastro de Contas Irregulares do Tribunal de Contas da Uni?o Cadirreg. Al?m de prover mat?ria-prima essencial para a an?lise da corrup??o governamental pela comunidade acad?mica, a disponibilidade de um conjunto de indicadores estaduais possibilita que os ?rg?os de controle dos gastos p?blicos possam desenvolver a??es localizadas visando reduzir sua ocorr?ncia.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-14T14:27:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 456922.pdf: 5103768 bytes, checksum: 672dcc3d7a2e0c5fd77865d2ce03e06b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-30 / In the present paper it was analyzed the spatial distribution of poverty in Rio Grande do Sul, the different definitions of poverty were discussed and the primary indicators of poverty in Brazil and Rio Grande do Sul were described in a comparative way. Based on the methodology of Human Poverty Index (HPI) of The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), three city poverty indexes were created. The first is composed by the dimensions housing/sanitation, education, health and income, the second excludes income and the third is solely composed by income. After the indexes were created, three city poverty rankings were established and compared to the ranking of the City Human Development of 2010. For the analysis of poverty distribution in the State territory it was utilized Spatial Data Exploratory Analysis (SDEA) based on the poverty indexes elaborated from data of the Demographic Census 2010. For the analysis of poverty distribution in the State territory, the Explanatory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) was used based on the Demographic Census of 2010. The data utilized in the compilation of these indexes were collected at Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estat?stica (IBGE) through SIDRA database. The study found evidences of a pattern of poverty spatial association in Rio Grande do Sul as well as existence of poverty clusters in the State. The results demonstrated that the use of assessment methods of poverty based only on family income tends to underestimate the intensity and its distribution making it difficult to establish policies to try to eliminate it. It was evident the importance of the use of poverty multidimensional definition both for a correct measurement of it and for elaboration of adequate tools to fight it. / No presente trabalho, analisou-se a distribui??o espacial da pobreza no Rio Grande do Sul, discutiram-se os diferentes conceitos de pobreza e se descreveram, de forma comparativa, os indicadores prim?rios de pobreza do Brasil e do Rio Grande do Sul. Tendo como base a metodologia do ?ndice de Pobreza Humana (IPH) do Programa das Na??es Unidas para o Desenvolvimento (PNUD), criaram-se tr?s ?ndices de pobreza municipal. O primeiro ? composto pelas dimens?es habita??o/saneamento, educa??o, sa?de e renda, o segundo exclui a dimens?o renda, e o terceiro ? composto apenas pela renda. Com os ?ndices criados, elaboraram-se tr?s rankings municipais de pobreza, que foram comparados com o ranking do ?ndice de Desenvolvimento Humano Municipal de 2010. Para a an?lise da distribui??o da pobreza no territ?rio do estado, utilizou-se a An?lise Explorat?ria de Dados Espaciais (AEDE), a partir de ?ndices de pobreza elaborados com dados do Censo Demogr?fico de 2010. Os dados utilizados na constru??o desses ?ndices foram disponibilizados pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estat?stica (IBGE) atrav?s do banco SIDRA. O estudo encontrou evid?ncias de um padr?o de associa??o espacial da pobreza no Rio Grande do Sul e, tamb?m, da exist?ncia de clusters de pobreza no estado. Os resultados demonstraram que a utiliza??o de m?todos de aferi??o da pobreza com base apenas na renda tende a subestimar sua intensidade e distribui??o, dificultando a implanta??o de pol?ticas que busquem elimin?-la. Evidenciou-se a import?ncia da utiliza??o do conceito multidimensional de pobreza, tanto para uma correta mensura??o da mesma, como para a elabora??o de instrumentos adequados ao seu combate.