Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2005. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (July 14, 2006) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

With the exception of a brief legislative stay of execution, resale price maintenance (RPM), has been illegal per se in the United States since a 1911 Supreme Court decision. The Court has however, afforded vertical territorial restraints the protection of the rule of reason. A growing body of economic literature has proposed numerous pro-competitive uses of RPM by manufacturers. In addition, the literature indicates that vertical territorial and vertical price restraints are both different means of achieving the same end i.e., both are economic tools employed by manufacturers to achieve efficiencies in their distribution system. Opponents of RPM counter this assertion by arguing that if both are identical economic phenomenon, then manufacturers have no need to employ RPM since they can use vertical market division in its place. In this paper I will show that under demand conditions characterized by the outlets hypothesis, RPM is Pareto-superior to vertical market division. It is equally possible to imagine market conditions under which the opposite is true. Since the court room is an ill-suited home for such business decisions, the law should not continue to maintain its present artificial distinction between RPM and vertical market division. The economic consequences of both are essentially the same, hence, I advocate that RPM also be brought under the protection of the rule of reason. / Master of Arts / incomplete_metadata

The purpose of the research was to determine the sources of customer satisfaction with apparel factory outlet stores. Six store attributes consisting of physical facilities, location, store service, merchandise, store atmosphere, and promotion were investigated. Data were collected through a mall intercept survey using a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 200 respondents participated in the study. The rate of refusal was estimated to be 42 percent. One-way analysis of variance was used to test for differences in customers' perception of stores on six attributes. Differences were found to exist among the stores on three attributes, specifically, "physical facilities," "store service," and "store atmosphere." ANOVA results for importance attached to store attributes showed no significant differences among the customers of the five stores. Correlation analyses showed high correlations between and among perception/importance combinations for each store attribute and overall satisfaction. Multiple regression gave "merchandise" and "promotion" as the best predictors of overall satisfaction. Correlations, ANOVA, and t-test were used to establish the relationship(s) between customer personal characteristics and overall satisfaction. No relationships were found between demographic characteristics or fashion interest, and overall satisfaction. However, buying behavior patterns were found to be related to overall satisfaction. Chi-square tests were used to determine significant relationship(s) between selected personal characteristic variables. Cramer's V indicated the strength of association between variables. Association was found to be moderately strong only between frequency of shopping and distance traveled. Those who more frequently shopped at the store lived nearer the area. / Ph. D.

The purpose of the study was to determine the practices of a selected number of chain shoe store organizations in training management personnel for their retail shoe outlets. The data secured from these sources will also be compared with the opinions of several authorities in the field of management to determine the extent to which the practices in actual use agree with those recommended.

SMEs play a vital role in the country. For the purpose of the study the focus was on SMEs in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Jurisdiction. Businesses which met the SME criteria (refer to Chapter 1, Section 1.7.1), (Du Plessis, 1996: 162; Marx et al., 1998: 728) were included in this study. The study is formed around the aspects of business which contribute to the growth of the business in the long term. A specific study was conducted on the ethnic entrepreneur and the aspects that influence business growth. There are many factors which influence the growth of the business; for the purpose of this study, a specific focus was placed on: (1) knowledge with regard to business; (2) entrepreneurial culture; (3) brand management; (4) location of the business; (5) business relationships; and (6) cultural influences. These variables will determine how the growth of the business is ultimately influenced. The research can also discover from respondents what they view as important in their lives. The study then goes further to analyse whether the independent variables, as reacted to by the respondents, have a significant or non-significant effect on growth.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The objective of this research is to examine the development of the California alcohol outlets over time and the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and densities of the alcohol outlets. Two types of advanced analyses were done after the usual preliminary description of data. Firstly, fixed and random effects linear regression were used for the county panel data across time (1945-2010) with a dummy variable added to capture the change in law regarding limitations on alcohol outlets density. Secondly, a Bayesian spatio-temporal Poisson regression of the census tract panel data was conducted to capture recent availability of population characteristics affecting outlet density. The spatial Conditional Autoregressive model was embedded in the Poisson regression to detect spatial dependency of unexplained variance of alcohol outlet density. The results show that the alcohol outlets density reduced under the limitation law over time. However, it was no more effective in reducing the growth of alcohol outlets after the limitation was modified to be more restrictive. Poorer, higher vacancy rate and lower percentage of Black neighborhoods tend to have higher alcohol outlet density (numbers of alcohol outlets to population ratio) for both on-sale general and off-sale general. Other characteristics like percentage of Hispanics, percentage of Asians, percentage of younger population and median income of adjacency neighbors were associated with densities of on-sale general and off sale general alcohol outlets. Some regions like the San Francisco Bay area and the Greater Los Angeles area have more alcohol outlets than the predictions of neighborhood characteristics included in the model.