This thesis takes a deeper look into customer behaviours when it comes to buying new mobile phones. We take a look at four main types of planned obsolescence we’ve found, which include: economic obsolescence, obsolescence of function, obsolescence of desirability and obsolescence of quality. With a questionnaire and focus group study we try to find out the underlying reasons why users buy new phones while their old ones are still functional. Since this is not a new subject, we try to map the problems we encounter in our study to the four already defined forms described above, and we try to see if there are other forms that are not yet defined. What we found out was that these four categories hold up very well, but are not as separate as one would have thought when reading. While we find out many reasons why people change their phones we do not offer a solution. But we do offer a better understanding of the problem and hope the consumer will take part of the knowledge.

The Smartphone is a technological innovation that has transformed for the better how billions of people live by enabling them to transcend time and space to remain socially connected to potentially millions of others despite being thousands of miles apart. Although smartphones help people connect from a distance, there has been much concern about how they affect face-to-face interactions. This study explored, drawing on Goffmanian concepts, how and why smartphones affect face-to-face encounters. The findings show there are three types of smartphone cross-talk: exclusive, semi-exclusive, and collaborative. With the addition of smartphone play and solo smartphone activity, interactants can engage in five different types of smartphone use during a social encounter. Smartphones can both disrupt and facilitate face-to-face encounters at any given time. A theory of cross-talk was created as an extension of Goffman’s work to help explain the phenomenon.

Diploma thesis is concerning the PR communication of Samsung's Telephone division in the Czech Republic. The target of the diploma thesis is to identify key PR tools used in practice by Telephone division of Samsung, analysis and evaluation of those tools together with recommendation of future development for further improvement of the communication quality. The theoretical part includes: introduction into PR, description of strategic PR process, characteristics of PR tools and list of PR advantages and disadvantages. The introduction of Samsung Electronics and its representant on the Czech market - Samsung Electronics Czech and Slovak, s.r.o. is part of the practical section of the diploma thesis. There is also paid attention to characteristics of the Czech market with mobile phones, analysis of PR tools used by Telephone division and on the basis of obtained knowledge are suggested opportunities how to improve quality of PR communication.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in the field of Strategic Marketing / Menstrual Hygiene Management is a process of keeping clean by girls and women through washing, changing and disposal of sanitary protection during their monthly periods. When schools provide a conducive environment for girls to manage their menses, girls become empowered and confident to participate in education without fear and embarrassment. Lasi High school in Mpolonjeni constituency is a rural school in low income settings whose girls like many girls in the area have to manage their monthly menstruation. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences and practices of rural school girls in Mpolonjeni community in managing their menses. A qualitative exploratory and descriptive study was undertaken through focus group discussions. The researcher managed to purposively select a sample of two focus groups with ten participants, each, three teachers and the Deputy Head Teacher. The study finding reveals that girls experience a number of challenges when managing their menses in the school setting which the school administration is not entirely aware of. Some of the issues raised by the girls can be addressed without unreasonable costs implications but through empathy and general support. The study recommends a further investigation for Education and school policies that will enhance enabling school environments to support girls in managing menstruation at school. / GR2018

Thesis (Ph.D. (Marketing))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic & Business Sciences, 2017 / Keywords: brand equity, Samsung mobile phones, Generation Y, brand awareness, brand image, perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand satisfaction, brand love and consumption values. Samsung is the leading brand in the mobile phone industry, and is dominant over fierce competitors, such as Apple, Nokia, Huawei and Blackberry. This is evident from the 2016 global market share figures, where Samsung occupies the top position with 21.6%. The Samsung brand is also dominant in South Africa, having captured 46% of the market share. Consumers are also willing to pay a price premium for Samsung mobile phones. For example, as at June 2017, the Samsung S8 smartphone retailed for up to R14,799, with consumers still willing to pay this price. While from an organisation’s perspective the success of Samsung in the mobile phone industry is accredited to the global establishment of production bases, overhaul of quality standards, paradigm shift in management philosophies and substantial investment in marketing and product design, there is a need to understand what drives Samsung’s brand equity from consumers’ perspective. The understanding of Samsung’s brand equity is even more important among Generation Y, due to the fact that they constitute 25% of South Africa’s population, have a high purchasing power for luxury and technological products, and 95% of them own a mobile phone in South Africa. They use their phones to communicate with family and friends, listen to music and watch YouTube videos. For the measurement of brand equity, so that marketers are informed of the performance of their marketing and brand strategies, researchers recommend the examination of its sources. Models devised by Aaker (1996) and Keller (1998) provide various sources of brand equity, but how and which of these sources best influence brand equity has not been determined. Esch, Langner, Schmitt and Geus (2006) recommend that in order to measure brand equity holistically, sources of brand equity, including brand awareness, brand image, perceived quality, brand associations and brand loyalty should be measured in conjunction with other important brand relationship factors such as brand trust, brand satisfaction and brand attachment or love. This is particularly so, because consumers who have a strong relationship with a brand are likely to demonstrate positive attitude towards it. Despite this view, most researchers who have adopted the Aaker (1996) and Keller (1998) models to measure CBBE have not considered the explanatory roles of the brand relationship variables. iv Another important factor ignored in the measurement of sources CBBE are the various values (such as functional, monetary, emotional, customisation, and relational), as proposed by Chuah, Marimuthu and Ramayah (2014), consumers enjoy from the consumption of a brand. Recognising the importance of uncovering the value inferences that consumers hold of a brand, Keller (2003) suggests three types of values or benefits (functional, experiential, and symbolic benefits) consumers may enjoy from a brand. The monetary value, according to other authors, can also be important. How these values lead to brand equity, if at all, were, however, not further explored. This study therefore integrated the Aaker and Keller’s brand equity models, Esch et al. and Chuah et al. brand relationship and consumer value models, respectively, to propose an integrated conceptual model with eighteen hypotheses to measure the sources of Samsung’s mobile phones brand equity among Generation Y. Quantitative methodologies were used to collect data from 651 undergraduate and postgraduate students studying at the University of Johannesburg and University of the Witwatersrand to empirically test the proposed model. The hypothesised relationships in the model were empirically tested using structural equation modeling. The results revealed that out of the eighteen hypotheses tested, twelve were accepted. Specifically, brand awareness, brand image, perceived quality, monetary value and functional value had a positive effect on brand satisfaction. Brand satisfaction positively drives brand love. Consumers who expressed love for the Samsung mobile phone brand were found to be loyal. Brand loyalty, which was found to have a positive impact on brand equity, was influenced positively by monetary value. In addition to brand loyalty, brand equity was influenced positively by perceived quality, monetary value and symbolic value. Overall, 56% of Samsung mobile phone brand equity was explained by brand awareness, brand image, perceived quality, monetary value, functional value, symbolic value, brand satisfaction, brand love and brand loyalty. While it will be important for future studies to identify other factors, which may increase the explanatory power of Samsung’s brand equity among Generation Y in South Africa, this study’s theoretical contribution suggests an integrated conceptual model to holistically measure customer-based brand equity not only in the telecommunication sector, but for other products and sectors. Practically, Samsung and other marketers responsible for managing competing v brands such as iPhone, Nokia, Huawei can use these findings to develop relevant marketing strategies that resonate with this large and lucrative Generation Y market segment. / GR2018

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Strategic Marketing 2016 / The African hair-care business has become a multibillion-dollar industry, stretching from India to china attracting global retailers such as Unilever and L’Oréal. The African hair-care market will continue to grow, especially in the informal sector where it is said to employ about 1.5 people per business on permanent basis. In order for small businesses’ performance to improve in emerging markets, especially in the informal sector, improving their marketing skills is quite essential. Mobile marketing is cost effective and can be utilised to benefit both marketing practitioners and consumers. This is imperative in the informal hair-care industry, where businesses generally lack financial resources and therefore do not have a budget to spend on marketing and advertising. The mobile phone therefore becomes an important marketing channel to reach customers and increase profitability in informal hair-care businesses, yet there has not been much academic research conducted on this and little is known about the factors that might influence mobile marketing acceptance. The purpose of this study is therefore to bridge the gap by investigating perceived mobile interactivity influence on usability and mobile marketing acceptance in the informal hair-care industry in South Africa. A quantitative study was conducted using a sample of 312 informal hair-care business operators in the Johannesburg area. Given the nature of the informal sector, a nonprobability sampling method, known as convenience sampling, was used for data collection. For analysing and interpreting data, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach was utilised. The study findings indicate that perceived interactivity dimensions (control, responsiveness and nonverbal information) have a positive effect on mobile phone usability and lead to mobile marketing acceptance. However, the findings showed a negative relation between perceived personalisation and mobile phone usability. This study aims to contribute to mobile marketing literature, be of benefit to Small, Medium and Micro-sized Enterprises (SMMEs) policy makers and add value to the field of marketing. Key words: perceived control, perceived responsiveness, nonverbal information, perceived personalisation, mobile phone usability, mobile marketing acceptance / GR2018

O uso dos dados de posicionamento a partir do telefone celular tem impactado de maneira positiva os estudos sobre os deslocamentos humanos. O grande volume e a regularidade na obtenção dos dados são facilitadores das análises de posicionamento em múltiplos dias. Utilizando-os como fonte dos dados, o presente estudo focou em realizar uma análise dos deslocamentos cotidianos de moradores de assentamentos precários pela cidade de São Paulo em diferentes períodos do dia para definir origens e destinos com a finalidade de analisar as distâncias, os deslocamentos por transporte público e inferir um perfil de uso do solo nos locais de estadia frequente usando métodos utilizados em estudos internacionais de análise dos dados de telefonia móvel, combinados com métodos de análise espacial e geoprocessamento. Os resultados mostraram dados importantes para entender a mobilidade dos moradores de favela dentro da cidade de São Paulo, os quais, em média, estão mais distantes de casa no horário comercial dos dias úteis quando comparados com outros moradores da cidade. Foi possível observar mudanças nos perfis de uso do solo dos locais de estadia frequente que podem ser utilizados como indicadores na análise das atividades e também se inferiu possíveis trajetórias por transporte público entre as origens e destinos frequentes. Os métodos de análise de deslocamento humano a partir dos CDRs usados internacionalmente se mostraram totalmente adaptáveis para realidade brasileira e a utilização para análise de deslocamentos dos moradores de assentamentos precários mostrou-se útil para auxiliar nos estudos de mobilidade dessa população carente. / The use of position data from mobile phones have impacted in a positive way the researches about human mobility. The very large quantity and regularity on the way how this database is collected improve the capacity of a multi-day\'s positioning analyse. Using this data source, the present study was focus in analyse the commute of residents in poor settlements (like slums) inside the city of São Paulo- Brazil, in different time periods for define origins and destinations to analyse the distance using public transport and land use in frequents stay points using methods used in international studies of mobile data analysis, combined with spatial analysis methods. The results showed important data to understand the mobility of favela residents within the city of São Paulo, who, on average, are more distant from home during working day business hours when compared to other residents of the city. It was possible to observe changes in the land use profiles of the frequent places of stay that can be used as indicators in the analysis of activities and inferred possible trajectories by public transport between the frequent origins and destinations. The methods of analysis of human commute using CDR data were fully adaptable for Brazilian reality and the use for analysis of commute from residents of precarious settlements proved useful to assist in the mobility studies of this poor population.

O presente trabalho se debruça sobre os elementos da cultura digital de nossos dias, que têm se tornado objetos presentes em toda a vida social, em suas mais diferentes esferas os telefones celulares. O intuito é descrever e analisar alguns dos fenômenos imbricados na construção desta cadeia de conectividade da qual celulares e todos nós, enquanto usuários, fazemos parte. Para tanto, o esforço empreendido foi o de compreender como estes objetos se inserem e compõem um amplo arranjo sociotécnico no qual circulam discursos, saberes, práticas, relações, circustâncias e eventos, envolvendo o mercado, os produtores, as inovações tencológicas de um lado e, consumidores e suas diversas práticas de uso e formas de vida, de outro. Demonstra-se como que toda esta rede não escapa aos eixos do mercado, pelo contrário, engloba-os e os faz crescer e os celulares constituem elementos agenciadores deste processo à medida em que fazem as próprias vidas de seus usuários circular pelas infovias, alterando os regimes de relações que envolvem o contato com o outros, as formas de ser estar no mundo, as formas de controle e os regimes de subjetivação. A principal contribuição deste estudo é, assim, mostrar que se está diante de novos vetores de poder que incidem diretamente sobre a gestão das vidas de cada um, às formas de uso do tempo, constituição de afetos, contribuindo, igualmente para dar novos contornos aos processos de geração de valor, cada vez mais atrelados aos momentos de consumo. Em suma, entender quais novas roupagens de questões, caras à teoria social, tais como governamentalidade e sociedade do controle entram em jogo, a partir do momento em que este objeto torna-se onipresente nas práticas sociais e de que forma estas questões se atualizam, é o que consistiu na tarefa primordial deste trabalho / This thesis focuses on one representative element of the current digital culture, which has become present in all social life in its different spheres the mobile phone. Our aim is to describe and analyze some of the overlapping phenomena in the construction of this connectivity chain to which mobile phones and we, as users, belong. To this end, the effort undertaken was to understand how these artifacts are inserted and comprise a broad socio-technical arrangement in which discourses, knowledge, practices, relationships, circumstances and events flow, involving the market, the producers, the technological innovations on one side and the consumers, and their various daily use practices and life habits on the other. We try to show how this whole network does not escape to the axes of the market, by contrast, it embraces and makes them grow and how the mobile phones are important elements of this process because they made the lives of its users move through the networks flows, changing, by this way, the relationships that involve the contact with the other, the ways of being in the world, the control practices and the regimes of subjectivity. The main contribution of this study is thus to show that one is facing new vectors of power that directly affect the management of each other\'s lives, the time use forms, the constitution of affects, contributing also to give new dimensions to processes of value creation, which are increasingly tied to consumption occasions. In short, to understand how new social issues, come into play, from the time that this artifacts become ubiquitous in social practices and how these are updated in terms of governmentality and social control is the primary task of this work

Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-13T14:10:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DenioDiasArrais.pdf: 1497650 bytes, checksum: cb959a754346de781749413d2af933c2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-03-30 / The relations that involve communication and consumption with culture impact what is currently known by contemporary society. These relations influence people in their way of communicating and consuming. Through this paper we seek to understand the processes of communication and the building of the identity of the young university student, being understood here as an actor for modern consumption. The theoretical basis for this research lies in working out the concepts of communication and consumption, culture and identity. We analyzed the movements of communication and consumption from the use by the young university student of mobile telephony and cell phones. Consumption and citizenship are dealt with using the concepts of Garcia Canclini, who sees consumption as one of the dimensions of the communication process and social belonging. In Featherstone we notice reflections over the culture and consumption in the late modern times, context in which the young people make their presence. In order to write about technology and convergence culture present in practices and ways of communication of the young people, we used the ideas of Jenkins. Hall provides understanding of the building of the identity of the young university student as a complex and cultural process characterized by the ways of using, consuming and communicating, typical of mobile telephony. The adopted methodology for this paper uses, besides the bibliographic research, a quantitative mapping with the goal of obtaining data on the cultural consumption of the young university student. The tools used for this mapping were structured questionnaires, which were run in colleges of the capital and countryside areas of the state of São Paulo. The mapping was useful to obtain elements dealt with in the interviews that were carried out to identify the attribution of meaning given by young people to consumption of cell phones, taking into consideration the theoretical reflections discussed in the bibliographic research. It was possible, then, to identify the presence of cell phones in the common relations of the young people and we have identified the processes of the building of identity. In the general aspect of this paper, we had as a result the fact that the young people have in their cell phones a tool that goes beyond the material and functional usage. The cell phone is a person s telephone. In it we can find parts of the identity of its users in the personalization of content. / As relações que envolvem a comunicação e o consumo com a cultura impactam no que é entendido na atualidade por sociedade contemporânea. Estas relações influenciam os indivíduos em sua maneira de comunicar e consumir. Procuramos com este trabalho entender os processos de comunicação e a formação de identidade do jovem universitário, entendido aqui como ator do consumo moderno. A fundamentação teórica dessa pesquisa reside em trabalhar os conceitos de comunicação e consumo, cultura e identidade. Foram analisados os movimentos da comunicação e do consumo a partir do uso que o jovem universitário faz da telefonia móvel e dos aparelhos celulares. Consumo e cidadania são abordados a partir de Garcia Canclini, que entende o consumo como uma das dimensões do processo comunicacional e de pertencimento social. Em Featherstone verificamos reflexões sobre a cultura e consumo na modernidade tardia, contexto no qual o jovem faz suas mediações. Para falar da tecnologia e da cultura da convergência presente nas práticas e modos de comunicar do jovem, partimos das ideias de Jenkins. Hall colabora para o entendimento da formação da identidade do jovem universitário como processo complexo e cultural caracterizado pelos modos de uso, consumo e comunicação, próprios da telefonia móvel. A metodologia adotada para realização do trabalho contempla, além da pesquisa bibliográfica, um mapeamento quantitativo com o objetivo de levantar dados sobre o consumo cultural do jovem universitário. Os instrumentos utilizados para este mapeamento foram questionários estruturados, aplicados em faculdades da capital e do interior do estado de São Paulo. O mapeamento foi válido para extrair elementos trabalhados nas entrevistas que foram realizadas para a identificação da atribuição de sentido dada pelos jovens ao consumo de celulares, levando em consideração as reflexões teóricas discutidas na pesquisa bibliográfica. Assim foi possível identificar a presença do celular nas relações cotidianas dos jovens e identificamos os processos de formação de identidade. No aspecto geral deste estudo tivemos como resultado que o jovem tem no celular um instrumento que vai alem do uso material e funcional, o celular é o telefone da pessoa, nele estão presentes partes da identidade de seus usuários na personalização de conteúdos.

Atualmente desenvolvem-se técnicas para a análise, identificação e o reconhecimento da fala. As mais eficientes mostram-se matematicamente complicadas, baseadas em análise estatísticas de dados, o que torna o sistema moroso, necessitando uma grande quantidade de dados para amostras. Este trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar a possibilidade do uso de Estruturas Neurais Artificiais Paraconsistentes no aprendizado e reconhecimento de sinais de fala, independentemente de análise estatística, ou número de amostras. A partir de um estudo piloto, identificou-se a necessidade de um aprofundamento no estudo dos Traços Formantes dos Fones. Com os Formantes dos Fones pode-se criar um sistema capaz de reconhecer sons produzidos em qualquer língua, pelas combinações da produção de sons através da emissão simultânea de um conjunto de Formantes. Como possível solução para a identificação dos Formantes dos Fones propõe-se neste trabalho a criação do conceito de Constelação Fônica, que consiste no reconhecimento de combinações de características matemáticas identificadas nos sinais sonoros de fala. Como uma forma de reconhecer estas Constelações, apresentam-se as Redes Neurais Artificiais Paraconsistentes, eficientes no reconhecimento de padrões por proximidade e com capacidade para tratamento de sinais contraditórios e paracompletos. Para a viabilização desta solução, criou-se um Programa de Computador (Sistema de Análise da Produção da Fala - SIAPF) capaz de promover os tratamentos necessários em um sinal falado, gerando assim a sua Constelação Fônica e sua respectiva Rede Neural Artificial Paraconsistente. A partir da Rede Neural Artificial Paraconsistente correspondente ao sinal em questão, pode-se estudá-lo de uma forma interpretativa, com menor acumulo de dados e tratamentos estatísticos do que com as ferramentas tradicionais. O SIAPF passa a ser mais uma ferramenta para análise de produção de fala, viabilizando a criação de novas formas de medidas quantitativas e normatizadas para os Formantes da Fala. / Currently, many diferent techniques are developing for the analysis identification and recognition of speech. The most efficient are shown mathematically complicated, based on analysis statistical of data, that actually makes systems very slow, creating the nessecity for a great amount of data for samples. The aim of this work is to present the possibility of the use of Paraconsistent Artificial Neural Network Structures, in the learnig and recognition of speech signals, independent of statistical analysis, or the number of samples. Starting from a pilot study, the need of a deep study of the Formants of Phones was identified. With the Formants of Phones, a system capable to recognize sounds produced in any language, through conbinations of the production of sounds and simultaneous emission of a group of Formants was created. A possible solution for the identification of Formants of Phones proposed in this work is the creation of Phonic Constellation concept, witch uses the recognition of combinations of identified mathematical characteristcs in the resoant signal of speech. As a form of recognizing these Constellation, this work present the Paraconsistent Artificial Neural Network, efficient in the recognition of patterns for proximity and with capacity to process contractory and paracomplet signals. To develop this solution a Computer Program (System of Analysis of the Production of Speech - SIAPF) capable to process the necessary calculations of a speech signal, generating its Phonic Constelattion and its respective Paraconsistent Artificial Neural Network was created. The subject signal can be studied in an interpretative way using the Paraconsistent Artificial Neural Network with a minimal accumulation of data and statistical calculations compared to traditional tools. The SIAPF is another new tool for analysis of speech production, creating new ways for quantitative and standard measures of Formants of Speech.