High prepaid subscriber churn impacts on the service provider's profitability, financial evaluation and resource utilisation. Simultaneously it deprives subscribers of improved service because service providers are committing resources to subscriber acquisition and the management of subscriber retention instead of committing these resources to improving the value propositions offered to subscribers. A prepaid churn rate of just less than 50% in South Africa (2009) highlights the need for research into the factors that influence churned prepaid subscribers' choice of mobile-service provider. This in turn will increase the knowledge of retention and acquisition of prepaid subscribers. Using a telephonic survey on a sample of 861 prepaid subscribers, quantitative research was conducted to determine those factors that churned prepaid subscribers consider important when choosing a mobile-service provider. By making use of Analysis of Variance 4 out of 11 factors that, prepaid subscribers considered very important were identified when choosing a mobile-service provider. These included, in order of importance, Customer service quality, Mobile tariffs, Prepaid airtime and Starter-pack availability and Promotions. Discriminant Analysis highlighted 9 factors to be used to predict and classify groups of subscribers based on average monthly spend. The discriminate equation coefficients highlighted how these two groups of subscribers view the 9 factors when choosing a mobile-service provider. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

No

This goal of this project is to develop a set of business rules to mitigate risk related to a specific financial decision within the prepaid debit card industry. Under certain circumstances issuers of prepaid debit cards may need to decide if funds on hold can be released early for use by card holders prior to the final transaction settlement. After a brief introduction to the prepaid card industry and the financial risk associated with the early release of funds on hold, the paper presents the motivation to apply the CART (Classification and Regression Trees) method. The paper provides a tutorial of the CART algorithms formally developed by Breiman, Friedman, Olshen and Stone in the monograph Classification and Regression Trees (1984), as well as, a detailed explanation of the R programming code to implement the RPART function. (Therneau 2010) Special attention is given to parameter selection and the process of finding an optimal solution that balances complexity against predictive classification accuracy when measured against an independent data set through a cross validation process. Lastly, the paper presents an analysis of the financial risk mitigation based on the resulting business rules. / text

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1971.

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1971.

The sale of prepaid electricity is prevalent in South Africa due to the current economic, social, and political conditions. The system currently used for the distribution of tokens for prepaid electricity, CVS, has a design flaw that leads to many security vulnerabilities. The design flaw is that the security devices that generate the tokens are distributed in the field and operate independently of centralised control. This was done because of the limited communication infrastructure in South Africa 10 years ago, but is no longer necessary. An improvement to the system is suggested that removes the security vulnerabilities by making the system on-line. By employing the communication infrastructure that is available today to provide access to the security devices, the security devices can be located in a secure environment. Changing the mode of operation to on-line also has other advantages such as simplifying auditing and removing synchronisation problems. This improved system works by communicating on-line with a centralised server and database for every transaction that a customer makes. By doing this, all of the parties involved are kept up to date with the most recent transactions. There can no longer be financial discrepancies and the risk of all parties involved is thus reduced. It is no longer meaningful to steal the vending machines because they no longer have the ability to generate tokens independently. In order to implement such a system, however, there are many security aspects that need to be addressed, such as the confidentiality of the information within the system and proving that a transaction did occur between two specific parties. To this end, cryptographic functions and protocols are selected that meet the requirements of the system. Public key cryptography was found to be a necessary ingredient in making the system work effectively and efficiently. In order to use public key cryptography in the new system, Public Key Infrastructure is required to manage public keys and provide authentication services. A suitable system is developed and described that employs certificate authorities and X.509 certificates. The procedures that are required from each party are listed. A set of messages that is required for the functions of the system is given. For each message, the contents of the message is given, the parts of the message that must be encrypted are defined and the parts of the message that must be digitally signed are given. Finally, the security of the individual parts of the system is critically analysed to show that all of the design goals have been achieved. Particular attention is given to the authentication of parties involved in the communication. The security of the system as a whole is also evaluated with respect to the X.810 security framework and it is shown that the system is robust from a security perspective. The result of the research is a system that meets the required functionality to replace the existing system, and at the same time meets all of the security requirements. It is shown that the proposed system does not have the security flaws of the existing system and thus is more effective in its purpose of vending prepaid electricity. / Dissertation (MEng (Electronic))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

The aim of this thesis is to propose a design and implementation of a new product in the field of parcel services in the Czech Post and propose its communication strategy. The basis for correct and efficient product design theme consists of description of the main postal market aspects and principles in the Czech Republic and detailed monitoring and analysis of domestic and global competition and customer environment. This, together with a summary of the basic theoretical approaches to the field of marketing and commercial communication forms the basis for designing a communication strategy. Results of this work confirmed that the proposed new product "Předplacené balíkové obaly" is a promising service that could help the Czech Post in the growing competitiveness in the field of express parcel delivery. Succes of its implementation will largely depend on the ability of the Czech Post effectively inform customers. Communication campaign, however, must reflex and develop the previous link of the "Great Parcel Revolution ".

Introduction: The African migrants that arrived in Sweden between 2005 and 2010 experienced a lack of regular contact with relatives and friends back home because of different factors due to the tools of communication during that period. Later, the migrants experienced a transition in tools of communication that allowed transnational communication with African countries, using ICTs tools of communication such as Whatsapp, Facebook, and others. Purpose:This thesis is focused on the digital transition in ICTs and aims to provide a better understanding of digital communication and it's impact on the African diaspora in Sweden. The research analyzes a specific timeline between the 2005-2010 period, which is split in three successive stages by the author ( Pre-transition, The transition and Post-transition). The ultimate goal is to provide a contribution to the existing theoretical knowledge with empirical evidence, thereby replenishing the Comdev academic field of studies. Methodology:To explore these questions, the empirical data was collected through semi-structured interviews with members of the African diaspora in Sweden Conclusion and contribution:The results show that the participants could not afford to buy on a regular basis the prepaid cards that were very expensive and ineffective. Emails were used by a few, also the internet was very expensive back home. The African's diaspora relationships with the homeland suffered negative consequences due to a feeling of abandonment felt by the relatives back home. The transition in communication occured after a few years, leading to a process defined as gradual, the learning of the new tools of ICTs and the cost of the smartphones played a role in the transition period. The following post-transition period allowed an interconnectedness on a global level and improved tremendously the relationships with relatives. Results also show that constant communication is becoming overwhelming on many levels and social aspects. The research revealed that ongoing processes during the transition process of digitalization are a broad field for investigation.

O estudo Judicialização dos planos e seguros de saúde coletivos no Tribunal de Justiça de São Paulo trata das ações judiciais relacionadas a planos e seguros de saúde coletivos, julgadas pela segunda instância do Tribunal de Justiça de São Paulo nos anos de 2013 e 2014. São descritas e analisadas as demandas levadas ao Poder Judiciário pelos consumidores de planos de saúde. Os conflitos envolvem coberturas, reembolso, aposentados e demitidos, reajustes aplicados sobre a mensalidade, cancelamento de contrato e descredenciamento de hospitais. Também são analisados o comportamento e as argumentações da Justiça nas decisões. Conclui-se pela necessidade de aprimoramento da regulamentação e da fiscalização das atividades dos planos e seguros de saúde / The Judicialization of plan and collective health insurance study at the Court of Law of Sao Paulo treats legal actions related to plans and collective health insurances judged by the Court of Law of São Paulo of Second Instance in 2013 and 2014. It was described and analyzed the demands referred to Judiciary branch by health plan consumers. The conflicts involve coverage, reimbursement, retired and dismissed people, readjustments applied on the monthly payment, contract cancelling and hospital loss of accreditation. It is also analyzed the behavior and arguments of Justice on decisions. It is evidenced the need of improving the regulation and supervision of health plans and insurances

Administradores de saúde estão preocupados com a persistente elevação dos gastos com saúde. Um problema econômico, social e médico. Objetivando estudar as características das pessoas que produzem gastos elevados com saúde, tomou-se a população de um plano de saúde, identificou-se 1% dos casos que mais gastaram com assistência médico-hospitalar e analisou-se a distribuição por idade, sexo, natureza dos gastos, diagnósticos e o impacto no custo do plano. Os resultados revelaram que a idade é importante fator associado ao gasto elevado, que materiais e medicamentos constituíram a maior fração do gasto e os diagnósticos associados mais freqüentes foram doenças do aparelho circulatório e neoplasias malignas. A fração selecionada de 1% foi responsável por 36,2% da despesa e gastaram em média 56,3 vezes mais que os demais / Healthcare managers are concerned with the persistent increasing of healthcare expenditure. An economics, social and medical problem. The objective of this study was to know the characteristics of the population that could predict high medical expenditure. It was selectec the 1% of customers (assisted by an healthcare plan) that generated the highest expenditures. The distribution by age, sex, kind of expenditure, diagnoses and the impact in insurance cost were analyzed. The results showed that the age is important associated factor, medical supplies and drugs were mainly responsible for expenditure. The main diagnose associated with high expenditure were circulatory diseases and cancer was the second. The 1% selected customers generated 36.2% of the total expenditure of their healthcare plan, and spent 56.3 times more than others customers, on average