One fundamental problem in revenue management that arises in many settings including retail and display-based advertising is assortment planning. Here, the focus is on understanding how consumers select from a large number of substitutable items and identifying the optimal offer set to maximize revenues. Typically, for tractability, we assume a model that captures consumer preferences and focus on computing the optimal offer set. A significant challenge here is the lack of knowledge on consumer preferences. In this thesis, we consider the multinomial logit choice model, the most popular model for this application domain and develop tractable robust algorithms for assortment planning under uncertainty. We also quantify the fundamental performance limits from both computational and information theoretic perspectives for such problems. The existing methods for the dynamic problem follow ``estimate, then optimize'' paradigm, which require knowledge of certain parameters that are not readily available, thereby limiting their applicability in practice. We address this gap between theory and practice by developing new theoretical tools which will aid in designing algorithms that judiciously combine exploration and exploitation to maximize revenues. We first present an algorithm based on the principle of ``optimism under uncertainty'' that is simultaneously robust and adaptive to instance complexity. We then leverage this theory to develop a Thompson Sampling (TS) based framework with theoretical guarantees for the dynamic problem. This is primarily motivated by the growing popularity of TS approaches in practice due to their attractive empirical properties. We also indicate how to generalize the TS framework to design scalable dynamic learning algorithms for high-dimensional data and discuss empirical gains of such approaches from preliminary implementations on Flipkart, a large e-commerce firm in India.

O comportamento do consumidor evolui ao longo do tempo, de acordo com o contexto econômico, sociocultural e tecnológico no qual ele se insere. Os autores que discorrem sobre o tema acabam por refletir essas mudanças e suas visões particulares, deixando marcas específicas ao construírem seus modelos de comportamento do consumidor. O objetivo geral da dissertação é estudar o processo de compra dos consumidores, com ênfase nas várias etapas que integram esse processo. A primeira parte desta dissertação visa a resgatar e integrar os estudos mais recentes sobre modelos de comportamento de compra dos consumidores, partindo do modelo original de Engel, Kollat e Blackwell (1974) e de sua versão atualizada (Miniard). É também revista a literatura sobre a internet como canal de distribuição, já que, embora revolucionário, esse canal tem sido alvo de poucos estudos, internacionalmente inclusive, relacionando-o com o processo de decisão de compra. A segunda parte da dissertação compreende uma pesquisa empírica descritiva quantitativa, enfocando um público e uma categoria de consumo específicos: estudantes universitários de Administração, graduandos ou pós-graduandos, que compraram livros pela internet ao menos uma vez nos últimos doze meses anteriores ao levantamento de campo. Os resultados finais apontaram o modelo de Blackwell, Engel e Miniard como o mais completo (assim como o estudo de 1974). Algumas diferenças foram encontradas a partir do levantamento empírico em relação à literatura revista: o uso de busca externa de informações mais freqüente do que o da interna, o intenso uso de fontes experimentais, o baixo uso da fonte internet na busca de informações e a elevada incidência de comunicação boca a boca (como receptores e propagadores). / The consumer behavior has been developed through the times, according to economic, social, cultural and technological context it is inserted in. The authors that have written about this theme reflect its evolution and their particular visions about it, leaving specific contributions as they build their consumer behavior models. The dissertation general objective is studying the consumer buying process, emphasizing the several steps that take part in this process. The objective of the first part of this dissertation is capturing and integrating the most recent studies about consumer buying behavior models, starting by Engel, Kollat and Blackwell original model and its newest version (Miniard). There is also a review of literature about internet as a distribution channel, which is considered a revolutionary channel, but has been rarely studied when related to the buying decision process. The second part of this dissertation brings a quantitative descriptive empirical research, focused on a specific target and a specific consumption category: Business Administration college students (from Graduation and Pos-Graduation) who bought books through the internet at least once in the twelve-month period before the survey. The final results point to Blackwell, Engel and Miniard model as the most complete (as in a study from 1974). Some differences were found at the empirical research results compared to the reviewed literature: the more frequent use of external search compared to the internal one, the intense use of experimental sources for the search, the low-frequent use of the internet as a way to search for information and the high incidence of mouth-to-mouth communication (as receptors and propagators).

Apesar de todo o crescimento apresentado, o comércio eletrônico está apenas iniciando. As diferenças entre as lojas virtuais e as lojas físicas além das estratégias inovadoras de marketing neste novo ambiente devem estar mudando hábitos e estilos de compra. Não obstante às novas opções e formas para comprar que o consumidor passou a ter, muito pouco se sabe sobre as mudanças em relação às suas atitudes, percepções, adoção ou não da compra virtual. Este foi o elemento direcionador deste trabalho que procura analisar as inter-relações entre a inovatividade e o envolvimento, fatores que se apresentaram como preditores da adoção da internet em estudos anteriores, a atitude dentro do modelo TPB (Theory of Planned Behavior) decomposto desenvolvido, na Psicologia Social com o processo de adoção da compra pela internet. Considera-se a Cultura como fator moderador, comparando-se os resultados com países de culturas diferentes a partir das dimensões de Hofstede. Com este propósito foi elaborado um modelo integrativo considerando os estudos desenvolvidos sobre os fatores apontados e que possibilitasse explicar a relação entre estes fatores e a compra pela internet dentro de um contexto de diferenciação cultural de consumidores de diferentes países. O trabalho envolveu uma pesquisa de campo considerando uma amostra não probabilística internacional de estudantes de grupos de países com grandes diferenças nas dimensões culturais, possibilitando assim, destacar a influência da cultura na relação entre inovatividade, envolvimento, atitude e experiência com a internet e a adoção da compra pela internet. O procedimento de coleta envolveu o desenvolvimento de um site contendo um questionário com auto preenchimento pela internet. Para poder ser entendido pelos respondentes, o questionário é apresentado nos idiomas: português, inglês, francês, espanhol e alemão. Para a análise dos resultados foi utilizado o método multivariado de modelagem de equações estruturais, aplicado por meio da técnica PLS (Partial Least Squares) para a verificação, explicação e comparação das relações entre os construtos. Os resultados mostram que a intenção da compra pela internet é diretamente influenciada pela atitude como fator interno e pela pressão social como fator externo. Apresenta também a influência indireta do envolvimento. A relação entre os fatores intenção e compra, assim como, envolvimento e atitude é mais forte nos países com mais igualdade entre seus membros e mais individualistas, enquanto a influência dos fatores inovatividade e condições facilitadoras se apresentou mais forte nas sociedades mais coletivistas que nas mais individualistas. As sociedades mais voltadas para a realização e a aquisição de dinheiro e posses materiais apresentaram maior influência de fatores sociais na intenção de adotar a compra pela internet que as culturas com maior preocupação com com a qualidade de vida e com o meio ambiente. As culturas com menor aversão ao risco mostraram uma relação mais forte entre o envolvimento e a atitude que as mais aversas ao risco enquanto para estas últimas a influência social é mais forte na adoção da compra pela internet. Estes resultados podem ajudar no desenvolvimento de estratégias de marketing num ambiente em que as barreiras internacionais parecem estar estão diminuindo e as empresas buscam estar presentes em diferentes países por meio do marketing global. / Although all the presented growth, the electronic commerce is only initiating. The differences between the virtual store and the physical store beyond the innovative strategies of marketing in this new environment must be changing habits and styles of purchase. Not obstante the new options and forms to buy that the consumer started to have, much little is known on the changes in relation to its attitudes, perceptions, adoption or not of the virtual purchase. This was the driving element of this work that it looks to analyze the relations between the innovativity and the involvement, factors that if had presented as predictors of the adoption of the Internet in previous studies, the attitude inside of model TPB (Theory of Planned Behavior) decomposed developed in Social Psychology, with the process of adoption of the purchase by the Internet. The Culture is considered as factor moderator, comparing the results between countries of different cultures from the dimensions of Hofstede. With this intention an integrated model was elaborated considering the studies developed on the pointed factors and that it made possible to explain the relation between these factors and the purchase on line. The work involved a field research considering an international not probabilistic sample composed by students from groups of countries with great differences in the cultural dimensions, thus making possible, to detach the influence of the culture in the relation between innovativity, involvement, attitude and experience with the internet and the adoption of the purchase on line. The data collected procedure involved the development of a site contends a questionnaire with auto fulfilling by internet. To be able to be understood by the respondents, the questionnaire is presented in the languages: Portuguese, English, French, Spanish and German. For the analysis of the results the technique used was multivaried statistics of structural equations modeling applied by means of the program PLS (Partial Least Squares) for the verification, explanation and comparison of the relations between the constructs. The results show that the intention of the purchase on line is diectly influenced by the attitude as internal factor and the social pressure as external factor. It also presents the indirect influence of the involvement. The relation between the factors intention and involvement, as well as, involvement and purchase on line is stronger in the countries with more equality between its members and more individualistic. Societies that have tendency to the acquisition of money and goods. had presented greater influence of social factors in the adoption of the purchase by internet than the cultures with bigger concern with the quality of life and the environment. The cultures with less aversion to the risk had shown a stronger relation between the involvement and the attitude to buy on line than the societies with more aversion to the risk, while for this last the social influence is stronger in the adoption of the purchase on line. These results can help in the development of programs of marketing in an environment where the barriers are diminishing and the companies search to be gifts in different countries.

No description available.

by Leona Tam Wing Yin. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-122). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.vi / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vii / Chapter Chapter I: --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.0 --- Overview --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Objective --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2 --- The Service Switching Behavior Model --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- The Design --- p.3 / Chapter 1.4 --- Significance of This Study --- p.5 / Chapter 1.5 --- Outline of This Study --- p.5 / Chapter Chapter II: --- REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND MODEL DEVELOPMENT --- p.7 / Chapter 2.0 --- Overview --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- Review of Relevant Studies in Services --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Unique Characteristics of Services --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Classification of Services --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Measurement of Service Quality --- p.14 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Review of Past Studies in Service Switching Behavior --- p.16 / Chapter 2.1.5 --- Characteristics of Service Switchers --- p.18 / Chapter 2.2 --- Limitations of Past Studies --- p.18 / Chapter 2.3 --- The Conceptual Model --- p.20 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- The Conceptual Framework --- p.20 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Definition of Constructs --- p.22 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Causal Relationships among Constructs in the Conceptual Model and Hypotheses --- p.25 / Chapter 2.4 --- Summary --- p.32 / Chapter Chapter III: --- METHODOLOGY --- p.33 / Chapter 3.0 --- Overview --- p.33 / Chapter 3.1 --- Research Methodology --- p.33 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Research Strategies and Three-Horned Dilemma --- p.33 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- The Research Strategy Chosen for This Study --- p.34 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- The Design --- p.35 / Chapter 3.1.4 --- The Sample --- p.36 / Chapter 3.1.5 --- The Data Collection Procedure --- p.37 / Chapter 3.2 --- Operationalization of Constructs --- p.38 / Chapter 3.3 --- Statistical Analysis --- p.43 / Chapter 3.4 --- Research Activities --- p.45 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Pretest for Selection of Services for the Study --- p.45 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Pretest of the Questionnaire --- p.48 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- The Main Study --- p.48 / Chapter 3.5 --- Summary --- p.48 / Chapter Chapter IV: --- ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS --- p.50 / Chapter 4.0 --- Overview --- p.50 / Chapter 4.1 --- Scale Assessment --- p.50 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Unidimensionality of the Constructs --- p.51 / Chapter 4.1.1.1 --- Exploratory Factor Analyses --- p.51 / Chapter 4.1.1.2 --- Confirmatory Factor Analyses --- p.52 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Reliability --- p.53 / Chapter 4.2 --- Structural Equation Modeling --- p.54 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- The Structural Equation Models for All Three Services Combined --- p.55 / Chapter 4.2.1.1 --- The Full Model for All Three Services Combined --- p.55 / Chapter 4.2.1.2 --- The Modified Model for All Three Services Combined --- p.59 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- The Structural Equation Model for Fastfood Restaurants --- p.61 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- The Structural Equation Model for Hair Salons --- p.61 / Chapter 4.2.4 --- The Structural Equation Model for Banks --- p.62 / Chapter 4.3 --- Discussion --- p.63 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Results of the Service Switching Model for All Three Services Combined --- p.63 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Comparison of Structural Model Results of Overall Model and Individual Models --- p.64 / Chapter 4.4 --- Summary --- p.67 / Chapter Chapter V: --- CONCLUSION --- p.68 / Chapter 5.0 --- Overview --- p.68 / Chapter 5.1 --- Summary of the Research --- p.68 / Chapter 5.2 --- Contributions of the Research --- p.72 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Theoretical Contributions --- p.72 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Managerial Implications --- p.76 / Chapter 5.3 --- Limitations --- p.82 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Research Design --- p.82 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Sample and Sampling Procedure --- p.83 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Data Collection Procedure --- p.84 / Chapter 5.3.4 --- Measurement --- p.85 / Chapter 5.4 --- Future Research Direction --- p.85 / Chapter 5.4.1. --- The Use of More Comprehensive Model as the Conceptual Framework --- p.85 / Chapter 5.4.2 --- Testing the Effect of Situational Factors on Service Switching --- p.86 / Chapter 5.4.3 --- Testing the Effect of the Customer's Personal Characteristics --- p.86 / Chapter 5.4.4 --- Using Different Service Classification Schemes to Choose Representative Service Industries to Be Tested in the Conceptual Model --- p.87 / Chapter 5.5 --- Summary --- p.87 / FIGURES: / Figure 1 --- p.89 / Figure 2 --- p.90 / TABLES: / Table 1 --- p.91 / Table 2 --- p.92 / Table 3 --- p.94 / Table 4 --- p.95 / Table 5 --- p.97 / Table 6 --- p.98 / Table 7 --- p.100 / Table 8 --- p.102 / Table 9 --- p.104 / Table 10 --- p.106 / Table 11 --- p.108 / Table 12 --- p.109 / APPENDIX --- p.110 / REFERENCE --- p.115

Os determinantes emocionais da satisfação podem ser mais bem estudados. Inúmeras investigações estão disponíveis, mas o conjunto destes estudos não fornece base empírica para a compreensão do papel dos construtos desenvolvidos teoricamente. E um determinante emocional da satisfação que exerce função de destaque é a surpresa, que não pode ser considerada uma emoção positiva, mas tampouco negativa. Partindo destas considerações, esta dissertação testa um modelo da influência da surpresa positiva e negativa no processo emocional de formação da satisfação, utilizando-se uma abordagem categórica de estudo das emoções. Com base em uma pesquisa survey, é investigado como a surpresa influencia a satisfação (direta e indiretamente) e as emoções de consumo e como essas emoções influenciam a satisfação. Os resultados demonstram uma influência negativa da surpresa negativa na satisfação, totalmente mediada pelo afeto negativo, e uma influência positiva da surpresa positiva na satisfação, totalmente mediada pelo afeto positivo. Os resultados são discutidos, bem como suas implicações para futuras pesquisas e a prática gerencial. / The emotional determinants of satisfaction might be further studied. Numerous investigations are available, but this set of studies does not offer an empirical basis for the understanding of the role of the constructs developed in theory. An emotional determinant of satisfaction that exerts an important function is surprise, which can be considered neither a positive nor a negative emotion. Stemming from these considerations, this dissertation tests a model of the influence of negative and positive surprise in the emotional satisfaction formation process, using a categorical approach for the study of emotions. Drawing upon a survey research, we investigate how surprise influences satisfaction (directly and indirectly) and consumption emotions and how these emotions affect satisfaction. Results showed a negative influence of negative surprise on satisfaction, fully mediated by negative affect, and a positive influence of positive surprise on satisfaction, fully mediated by positive affect. I present a discussion of these results, as well as implications for future research and managerial practice.

Com o desenvolvimento e crescimento do uso da Internet e, em especial, do comércio eletrônico, abriu-se uma nova linha de pesquisa caracterizada pela busca de uma maior compreensão dos comportamentos associados aos ambientes on-line. Nesta trilha, Novak, Hoffman & Yung (2000) propuseram um modelo de mensuração da experiência do consumidor on-line, tendo como base a teoria do fluxo de Csikzentmihalyi. O presente trabalho objetivou avaliar as escalas utilizadas na construção do modelo no contexto brasileiro. Para tanto foi realizado uma survey via Internet que resultou em uma amostra de 400 casos. Os resultados encontrados são bastante similares aos do estudo anterior, apontando para a qualidade da escala original e atestando a validade e confiabilidade dos construtos considerados, através da aplicação da modelagem de equações estruturais. Da estrutura original de treze construtos latentes, apenas dois sofreram modificações profundas, não se confirmando como o esperado. / With the development and growth of the use of the Internet and, especially, of the electronic commerce, was opened up a new line of researches characterized by the search of a larger understanding of the behaviors associated to the on-line environments. In this trail, Novak, Hoffman & Yung (2000) proposed a model of measuring of the on-line consumer's experience, tends as base the theory of the flow of Csikzentmihalyi. The present work aimed at to evaluate the scales used in the construction of the model in the Brazilian context. For so much a survey was accomplished through Internet that resulted in a sample of 400 cases. The found results are quite similar to the of the previous study, appearing for the quality of the original scale and attesting the validity and reliability of the considered constructs, through the application of the modeling of structural equations. Of the original structure of thirteen latent constructs, only two suffered deep modifications, if not confirming as the expected.

Chan, Ka Yan Elisa. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-106). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT (ENGLISH) --- p.ii / ABSTRACT (CHINESE) --- p.iv / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.vi / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.viii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.xi / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.xii / LIST OF APPENDICE --- p.xii / Chapter CHAPTER ONE --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Overview of Research Objectives --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Outline of the Current Study --- p.2 / Chapter CHAPTER TWO --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1 --- Defining “Experience´ح in Consumption --- p.4 / Chapter 2.2 --- Experience-rich Consumption --- p.7 / Chapter 2.3 --- Consumer Value --- p.8 / Chapter 2.4 --- Models and Scales of Consumer Value --- p.11 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Typology of Consumer Value by Holbrook (1999) --- p.11 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- The Theory of Consumption Value --- p.12 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Consumer Perceived Value --- p.16 / Chapter 2.4.4 --- Experiential Value Scale (EVS) --- p.17 / Chapter 2.5 --- Summary of Literature Review --- p.19 / Chapter CHAPTER THREE --- OBJECTIVES OF THE CURRENT STUDY --- p.22 / Chapter 3.1 --- First Objective of this Research --- p.22 / Chapter 3.2 --- Second Objective of this Research --- p.22 / Chapter 3.3 --- Third Objective of this Research --- p.23 / Chapter CHAPTER FOUR --- CONCEPTUALIZATION OF EXPERIENTIAL VALUE --- p.25 / Chapter 4.1 --- Exploring the Components of Experience --- p.25 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Psychology Literature: Everyday Life Experience --- p.25 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Stimulus-Organism-Response Framework --- p.26 / Chapter 4.2 --- Dimensionality of Experiential Value --- p.27 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Emotional Value --- p.28 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Intellectual Value --- p.30 / Chapter 4.3 --- Dimensional Relation Between Emotional and Intellectual Value --- p.33 / Chapter CHAPTER FIVE --- DEVELOPING THE EXPERIENTIAL VALUE SCALE --- p.35 / Chapter 5.1 --- Study 1: Item Generation and Selection --- p.35 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Literature Review --- p.35 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Focus Group --- p.37 / Chapter 5.2 --- Study 2: Item Reduction and Dimensionality of the Scale --- p.38 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Scale Purification with Exploratory Factor Analysis --- p.39 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Initial Confirmatory Factor Analysis --- p.42 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Scale Reliability and Validity --- p.42 / Chapter 5.3 --- Study 3: Convergent and Discriminant Validity Analysis --- p.43 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Method --- p.43 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Results --- p.44 / Chapter CHAPTER SIX --- CONCEPTUAL MODEL TESTING --- p.50 / Chapter 6.1 --- Study 4: The Antecedents and Consequents of Experiential Value --- p.51 / Chapter 6.1.1 --- Subjective Well-Being --- p.52 / Chapter 6.1.2 --- Method --- p.53 / Chapter 6.1.2.1 --- Dependent Measures --- p.54 / Chapter 6.1.3 --- Results and Discussion --- p.54 / Chapter 6.1.3.1 --- Discriminant Validity of Constructs --- p.54 / Chapter 6.1.3.2 --- Overall Model Results --- p.55 / Chapter 6.1.3.3 --- Equivalence Across Religious Group --- p.56 / Chapter 6.2 --- Study 5: Using Experiential Value to Predict Consumer Behavior and the Moderating Effect of Experience Context --- p.57 / Chapter 6.2.1 --- "Experiential Values, Consumer Trust, and Loyalty" --- p.57 / Chapter 6.2.2 --- The Moderating Effect of Shopping Context --- p.59 / Chapter 6.2.3 --- Method --- p.61 / Chapter 6.2.3.1 --- Dependent Measures --- p.61 / Chapter 6.2.4 --- Results and Discussion --- p.62 / Chapter 6.2.4.1 --- Discriminant Validity of Constructs --- p.62 / Chapter 6.2.4.2 --- Overall Model Results --- p.63 / Chapter 6.2.4.3 --- Moderation Model Results --- p.63 / Chapter CHAPTER SEVEN --- GENERAL DISCUSSION AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATION --- p.65 / Chapter 7.1 --- Theoretical Contribution --- p.66 / Chapter 7.2 --- Managerial Implication --- p.68 / Chapter 7.3 --- Limitations and Future Research --- p.71 / REFERENCES --- p.99

Consumidor é o agente econômico que faz girar toda e qualquer atividade na sociedade, seja um bem, serviço ou qualquer forma de produção que se possa gerar. Assim, de sua vontade dependem a manutenção, o sucesso ou o fracasso de qualquer uma dessas citadas atividades. Quanto mais os esforços de marketing das empresas estiverem concentrados desde o início no consumidor final que se deseja atingir, maiores serão as chances de que o produto ou serviço seja bem aceito por ele e assim se obtenha sucesso no empreendimento. No entanto, para que se atinja esse objetivo de atender ao consumidor final, é preciso que se saiba quem é esse consumidor final, quais são seus gostos, suas preferências, quais atributos deseja encontrar nos produtos que consome e em quais proporções. E isso só se consegue estudando-o, realizando pesquisas que aliem o estudo científico à realidade empírica, indo até ele e questionando-o a respeito desses assuntos com sólidas bases acadêmicas. O que este trabalho pretendeu foi exatamente realizar um estudo nesse sentido, ou seja, com uma base teórica (a teoria do Comportamento do Consumidor), chegou-se até o consumidor final de carne suína com uma pesquisa estruturada que envolvia questões sobre estilo de vida, atitudes e valores em relação aos produtos e à produção de suínos, além de ocasiões, frequência, locais e maneiras de compra e de consumo de carne suína e produtos feitos à base de carne suína. Esta pesquisa utilizou dados do projeto europeu Q-PorkChains, do qual a pesquisadora do presente estudo e seus orientadores fizeram parte. Utilizaram-se nesta tese dados de apenas um dos cinco módulos do projeto, o módulo que se refere ao Consumo, e apenas a pesquisa aplicada no Brasil. Por tratar-se de um grande questionário que envolvia uma quantidade bastante diversa de assuntos, a tese não incluiu análises de todas as partes do questionário. Estudos posteriores pretendem cobrir as áreas que ainda não foram analisadas, além de se realizarem comparações entre os resultados encontrados na amostra brasileira e aqueles dos países europeus pesquisados e também da China, outro país participante da pesquisa. Foram feitas várias análises estatísticas, porém nem todos os construtos integrantes da pesquisa inicial puderam ser validados na amostra brasileira. A hipótese de que as atitudes dos consumidores brasileiros de carne suína em relação ao meio ambiente e à natureza, à produção industrial de alimentos, ao progresso tecnológico e ao etnocentrismo seriam influenciadas pelos conceitos do FRL e PVQ, que tanto essas atitudes quanto os próprios conceitos influenciariam a maneira como o consumidor vê a produção de suínos, e que, tudo isto somado, seriam gerados os comportamentos de consumo do consumidor final de carne suína no Brasil não se confirmou, uma vez que foi encontrada pouca relação entre os construtos pesquisados e o consumo. Ainda assim, além da importância de se ter a replicação de um estudo europeu no Brasil, esta tese tem como principais contribuições a verificação de uma série de informações que funciona como indicadores de tendências de compra e consumo de carne suína e produtos derivados, e a utilização de escalas ainda pouco utilizadas no Brasil no setor de agronegócios, como o Food Related Lifestyle (FRL) e o Pictorial Values Questionnaire (PVQ). / Consumer is the economic agent that makes all and every activity in human society run, be it a good, a service or any other form of production that can be generated. In this sense, the success or failure of any of those cited activities depends on his needs and wants. The more the companies\' marketing efforts are concentrated from the beginning on the final consumer, the bigger will be the chances that the good or service is well accepted by this consumer and that it becomes a success. But in order to achieve that objective, it is necessary to know who is the final consumer, which are his tastes, his preferences, which are the attributes he wants to find in the products he consumes and in which proportions. And this can only be achieved by studies that join together scientific knowledge and empirical reality, going directly to the final consumer to ask him about those issues with solid academic basis. This thesis intended to make a study that, based on a theoretical basis (the theory of Consumer Behavior), reached the pork consumer with a structured research that included questions about lifestyle, values and attitudes towards pork products and swine production, and also questions about occasions, frequencies, places and ways of purchase of pork and pork products. This research used data from a comprehensive European project called Q-PorkChains, in which the researcher of this thesis and her advisors made part. This study used data from only one of the five modules of the project, the one that refers to Consumption, and only data from Brazil. Being a big questionnaire that involved a very diverse number of issues, not all parts of the questionnaire were analyzed in this thesis. Further studies should cover the non analyzed areas, and also make comparisons between the results found in the Brazilian sample and the ones found in the European countries and in China, the other country that made part of the research. Many statistical analyses were made but not all of the constructs that made part of the initial study could be validated in the Brazilian sample. The hypothesis that the attitudes of Brazilian pork consumers towards the environment and nature, industrial production of food, technological progress and ethnocentrism were influenced by the constructs of FRL and PVQ, that such attitudes and the concepts both influenced the way the consumer views swine production, and that everything together generated the behavior of the pork consumer in Brazil was not confirmed. In fact, little relation was found between the researched constructs and consumption. Even though, besides the importance of replicating in Brazil an European study, this thesis has as main contributions the verification of a series of information that serve as indicators of tendencies of purchase and consumption of pork and pork products, and the use of scales that have been little used in Brazil in the agribusiness sector, such as the Food Related Lifestyle (FRL) and the Pictorial Values Questionnaire (PVQ).

The purpose of this study was to investigate preferred shopping behaviors of golfers in the state of Tennessee. While much research has been done on retail shopping behavior in general, little exists regarding shopping behavior in sport retail, and more specifically golf retail. While golfer behavior has been researched in other areas such as tourism, it has not been fully researched in the sport or retail literature. Since this segment of consumer spends millions of dollars per year, this study was conducted to fill the gap in the literature regarding this unique consumer. An online survey was distributed among a state-wide professional golf organization regarding preferred shopping and golf course attributes. Results showed a significant relationship between some variables, including brands/designers offered. This research will be helpful to golf retailers, golf merchandisers, golf marketers and managers, who sell, buy or deal with golf apparel and/or related merchandise to better tailor marketing and promotional activities and ultimately increase revenue. This paper is unique and applicable in the fact that golf has not been fully researched in the marketing or retail area.