Over the last decade, the concept of using sport for regeneration purposes has gained increasing credibility in a number of cities throughout the UK. Despite this, little is known about the economic importance of sport at the local level. Although research has been carried out on the economic activity generated through sport since the mid 1980s (Henley Centre for Forecasting, 1986), the majority of studies have been undertaken at the national and regional level. This thesis investigates the economic importance of sport at the local level, using Sheffield as a case study. It represents the first study of sport-related economic activity to be carried out at the city level, in the UK. Following a critical evaluation of the feasible methodologies for measuring the economic importance of sport at the local level, the National Income Accounting framework was found to be most appropriate for measuring sport-related economic activity in Sheffield. To satisfy the data requirements of this framework, extensive primary data collection was undertaken in the voluntary, consumer and commercial sport sectors using questionnaires and structured interviews. This was used, together with data collected from secondary sources and previous economic impact studies in the UK, to estimate the value-added and employment created from sport-related economic activity in Sheffield. The findings of the research revealed that the economic importance of sport in Sheffield in 1996/97 was approximately twice the level predicted from current national estimates. The value-added by sport-related economic activity was found to be £165.61 million, which was approximately 4.11% of GDP in Sheffield in 1996/97, compared with just 1.61% of GDP at the national level (LIRC, 1997). Whilst a number of explanations for these findings are explored within the thesis, one of the most significant findings of the research is that previous estimates, established in other studies on the economic importance of sport in the UK, have been inaccurate and have essentially underestimated the size of the sport-related economic activity. The research also evaluated the potential role for sport in economic regeneration and provided evidence to suggest that sport can perform as a basic sector activity, a function widely assumed to be fulfilled only by producer services, manufacturing and agricultural activities (Williams, 1997). The study demonstrates that sport is an industrial sector within its own right and that it has considerable potential for generating benefits, including local economic development, job creation and urban renewal. Nevertheless, the thesis suggests that the future development of the sports industry for regeneration purposes should take the form of an integrated approach with other cultural industries and tourism.

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-63). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

The socio-economic changes and the population growth concentrated in cities in the U.S. have resulted in increasing interest in urban life that combines living, shopping and work in one centralized location. This type of area, called a mixed-use development, meets the needs of changing American lifestyles. To build successful retail businesses in the mixed-use developments, more information must be identified concerning key retail success factors. Based upon this need, this study examined the town center mixed-use development through case studies. The scope ofthe study included identifying successful town center mixed-use developments in the U.S., identifying locations for each case study analysis, conducting surveys of retailers, consumers and property managers, and analyzing results for consistent responses. The consistent responses by retailer, consumer, and property manager perceptions of store attributes and SWOT analyses were used to determine key success factors. These key success factors were separated into development attributes, store attributes, and target consumer attributes. Although the key success factors are simple in nature, the data from all three respondent groups unite to validate and add emphasis to the review of related literature. lltilizing these key success factors can assist in differentiating the town center and individual stores front the competition and in creating a desirable environment where customers return frequently. The model can be used in the development, planning and implementation strategies for future town center mixed-use developments.

The socio-economic changes and the population growth concentrated in cities in the U.S. have resulted in increasing interest in urban life that combines living, shopping and work in one centralized location. This type of area, called a mixed-use development, meets the needs of changing American lifestyles. To build successful retail businesses in the mixed-use developments, more information must be identified concerning key retail success factors. Based upon this need, this study examined the town center mixed-use development through case studies. The scope ofthe study included identifying successful town center mixed-use developments in the U.S., identifying locations for each case study analysis, conducting surveys of retailers, consumers and property managers, and analyzing results for consistent responses. The consistent responses by retailer, consumer, and property manager perceptions of store attributes and SWOT analyses were used to determine key success factors. These key success factors were separated into development attributes, store attributes, and target consumer attributes. Although the key success factors are simple in nature, the data from all three respondent groups unite to validate and add emphasis to the review of related literature. lltilizing these key success factors can assist in differentiating the town center and individual stores front the competition and in creating a desirable environment where customers return frequently. The model can be used in the development, planning and implementation strategies for future town center mixed-use developments.

The objective of this study was to establish whether consumer services need to be advertised differently from goods and, if so, in what way. A review of the services advertising and the general advertising literature revealed discrepancies between not only the services advertising theory and generic advertising theory but also between services advertising theory and services advertising practice. Exploratory research and a further literature review were undertaken to investigate the rationale and any justification for these inconsistencies. The programme of research culminated into a services consumer behaviour and advertising framework that was tested and verified. Phase one of the empirical research consisted of two pieces of exploratory analysis, which examined the UK advertising industry from different angles to establish how consumer services are advertised. Firstly, a content analysis of 270 service and goods advertisements was performed to compare the amount and type of information they contained. Secondly, nine in-depth personal interviews with advertising practitioners were conducted to explore their views on how services should be advertised. A discussion of the findings from the exploratory research and a further literature review led to the development of fourteen hypotheses. Phase two also comprised of two pieces of empirical research. Firstly, the hypotheses were tested by undertaking a questionnaire survey, which explored the buying behaviour of 400 consumers who had recently purchased a variety of different consumer services. The results from the survey were then utilised, alongside further advertising literature, to create advertising guidelines which were compared with the executional tools utilised in a selection of award winning, successful service advertisements. The final framework classifies services into four groups: high involvement utilitarian, high involvement experiential, low involvement utilitarian and low involvement experiential. The buying behaviour relevant to each category in terms of information search and evaluation is provided. In addition, the influences of motivation and opportunity as well as the involvement dimensions i.e. importance and interest, are included. The framework also contains appropriate advertising appeals and specific executional guidelines for each classification.

Consumption forms and is formed by the city. How, when and where commodities are transacted is essential in this urban drama of mutual relationships. This thesis explores how consumption and everyday life in cities are interrelated. The specific objective is to analyse how commodity transaction situations are configured and constrained in time and space, and, how consumer service spaces are formed in and are part of city formation. Transactions are conceptualised as economically and socially situated material projects constituted by consumers, commodities and producers. Commodities and values are transferred and created through transaction spaces. The theoretical perspective is framed around consumption and production of spaces, and particularly informed by Hägerstrand’s time-geographical thinking and Lefebvre’s work on urban space. Methodologically different examples of consumption projects and spaces are used to discuss configurations and formations for commodity transactions. The thesis stresses material and time-spatial constraints for commodity transaction and it discusses the blurring of boundaries between what conventionally has been separate social and economic activities and places. Changing transaction configurations and the formation of consumer service spaces in the city are explored through analysis of different consumption places and commodities such as books, coffee and clothes and property development projects in Stockholm city centre. Transaction configurations display geographical and historical continuities and changes as well as time-spatial flexibility and spatial fixity. Transactions spaces are continuously formed and reformed through processes embedded in the global cultural economy, urban development and politics, as well as through people’s everyday life. Producers’ strategic production and consumers’ tactical appropriation of transactions spaces are accentuated as crucial in the spatial practice of transactions, places and city formation.

Работа посвящена анализу развития рынка бытовых услуг в Ленинском районе города Екатеринбурга, его маркетинговому подходу и управленческим технологиям. Теоретически было рассмотрена сущность и значение рынка бытовых услуг, а также нормативно-правовая база. Рынок бытовых услуг в муниципальном образовании был раскрыт с разных сторон: со стороны населения, потребителей этих услуг, со стороны предпринимателей, предоставляющие данные услуги и со стороны органов местного самоуправления, которые контролируют этот рынок. В работе раскрыты технологии развития рынка бытовых услуг, предоставляемых населению в Ленинском районе города Екатеринбурга. Определены способы и рекомендации по совершенствованию процесса развития рынка бытовых услуг в Ленинском районе города Екатеринбурга. / The paper is devoted to the analysis of the development of the consumer services market in the Leninsky district of the city of Yekaterinburg, its marketing approach and management technologies. The essence and significance of the consumer services market, as well as the regulatory framework, were theoretically considered. The market of consumer services in the municipality was revealed from different sides: from the side of the population, consumers of these services, from the side of entrepreneurs who provide these services and from the side of local authorities that control this market. The paper reveals the technologies for the development of the market of consumer services provided to the population in the Leninsky district of the city of Yekaterinburg. The methods and recommendations for improving the process of development of the market of consumer services in the Leninsky district of the city of Yekaterinburg are determined.

This thesis describes the new regulation of digital products in the Consumer Services Act (2022:260). The essay focuses specifically on the supply of digital content and digital services which derive from an EU-directive 2019/770 (henceforth The Digital Content Directive). “Digital products” is a made-up concept in this thesis for the following objects: digital content and digital services, digital content and digital services supplied on tangible medium and goods with digital elements. Only the last-mentioned object is regulated in a separate EU-directive 2019/771 (henceforth The Sales of Goods Directive), due to its classification as “goods”. For a long period of time, Sweden and other member states of the EU have lacked uniform rules regarding digital products. The Commission acknowledged this absence and launched “The EU’s new digital single market strategy” (henceforth the DSM-strategy), with several targeted actions such as improving access for consumers to digital products and services within the EU as well as maximizing the growth potential of their digital economy. The DSM-strategy has then resulted in The Digital Content Directive and The Sales of Goods Directive which are the two EU-directives that have been implemented in the new Consumer Services Act in Sweden. The Digital Content Directive was implemented in a separate 9th chapter with numerous cross references to other chapters in the law as well as containing both unclear and inexplicit diction. In order to grasp the new regulation of digital products in Sweden, the different provisions applicable to each and every digital product, however with the main focus on digital content and digital services, are displayed and explained alongside an objectively questioning analysis throughout the essay. The conclusion of this juridical exposition is that although consumers have received satisfactory consumer protection throughout the EU, the Consumer Services Act should have been drafted differently. Furthermore, uncertainties regarding the possible “payments” with data are discovered. Especially concerning is the lack of definitive regulation and contractual remedies for consumers to initiate when paying with their data. Whether the aim of established consumer-friendly rules was achieved or not, viewed from a legislative drafting point of view, is also discussed in the final chapters of this paper. This particular question is likewise analyzed through a small-scale comparative analysis with Nordic countries. A proposal for the legislator is thereby presented; adopt the Finnish way of implementing these two EU-directives into the Consumer Services Act.