Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, August 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 156-164).

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Tübingen.

Se reporta la síntesis y descomposición térmica de sales de trifenilfosfonio disustituidas: Bromuro de metoxicarbonil(fenaciloxicarbonilmetil) metiltrifenilfosfonio (1), [Ph3P+ CH(CH2CO2CH2COPh)CO2CH3]Br- ; Bromuro de metoxicarbonil(acetoniloxicarbonilmetil)metiltrifenilfosfonio (2), [Ph3P+ CH(CH2 CO2CH2COCH3)CO2CH3]Br- ; y Bromuro de metoxicarbonil(metoxicarbonil metiloxicarbonilmetil)metiltrifenilfosfonio (3), [Ph3P+ CH(CH2CO2CH2CO2CH3) CO2CH3]Br- . Las sales de fosfonio estudiadas se han obtenido a partir de compuestos α-bromodicarbonílicos: 2-bromoacetato de fenacilo (1b), 2- bromoacetato de acetonilo (2b) y 2-bromoacetato de metoxicarbonilmetilo (3b). En una primera etapa sintética, el iluro metoxicarbonilmetilentrifenilfosforano, Ph3P=CHCO2CH3, reacciona mediante una sustitución nucleofílica con el compuesto α-bromodicarbonílico para luego, a través de una reacción de transilidación, formar los correspondientes iluros derivados de diésteres mixtos del ácido succínico: metoxicarbonil(fenaciloxicarbonilmetil)metilentrifenil fosforano (1a), Ph3P=C(CH2CO2CH2COPh)CO2CH3; metoxicarbonil(acetoniloxi carbonilmetil)metilentrifenilfosforano (2a), Ph3P=C(CH2CO2CH2COCH3)CO2CH3 y metoxicarbonil(metoxicarbonilmetiloxicarbonilmetil)metilentrifenilfosforano (3a), Ph3P=C(CH2CO2CH2CO2CH3)CO2CH3. Estos iluros disustituidos de fósforo, 1a, 2a y 3a, los cuales presentan interesantes propiedades espectroscópicas (1 H-RMN, IR), reaccionan con ácido bromhídrico gaseoso para generar, mediante reacciones ácido-base, las correspondientes sales de fosfonio 1, 2 y 3, necesarias para los estudios de termólisis. La descomposición térmica de estas sales de fosfonio, a través de descarboxilaciones, da lugar a la formación de nuevas sales de fosfonio más estables: bromuro de fenaciloxicarbonilmetilmetiltrifenilfosfonio (1d), [Ph3P+ CH2 CH2CO2CH2COPh]Br- ; bromuro de acetoniloxicarbonilmetilmetiltrifenilfosfonio (2d), [Ph3P+ CH2CH2CO2CH2COCH3]Br- y bromuro de metoxicarbonilmetiloxi carbonilmetilmetiltrifenilfosfonio (3d), [Ph3P+ CH2CH2CO2CH2CO2CH3]Br- . Los resultados obtenidos indican que la termólisis de estas sales de fosfonio disustituidas, ofrecen un comportamiento general provocando una αdescarboxilación, la cual genera iluros reactivos intermediarios, que a través de reacciones ácido-base originan las sales de fosfonio 1d, 2d y 3d como productos estables. En este estudio no se observaron productos de C-alquilación o de reacciones de Wittig intramoleculares derivados de los iluros reactivos intermediarios.

M.Tech. / Sorghum beer industry faces many challenges due to the nature of the product. As the product has a short life, it has to reach the market and the consumer quickly. It's a low profit, high volume-driven product. Therefore, high sales and prompt distribution systems need to be in place.

M.Comm.

This paper concerns itself with the devising of a model which organisations can consult when considering hosting any sales promotional activities. The success regarding profits derived from these sales promotions activities vary. These anomalies prompted a further investigation into the need for a single promotional model which could be utilized in varied business environments to optimize profits derived from sales promotions. The uniqueness of the South African environment was also taken into account when considering the various criteria in the development of the model. Sensitivity with regards to the types of barriers peculiar to South Africa is vital. The following excerpt from East Cape Weekend (An Eastern Cape newspaper) reinforces the belief that there are factors to which global environments are not exposed, and thus, the model should and will be designed to cater for these South African peculiarities by virtue of the fact that it will be based on the critical success factors of successful South African retail organisations. Resistance to technological progress due to the threat of possible job redundancy is one of the South African peculiarities that is referred to in the East Cape Weekend 09/06/2001 Michelle Pugh-Parry, “Controversial telephone technology will make paying bills safer”. Besides safety and convenience, the system can alleviate the R600m PE municipal areas debt, yet the union has outwardly rejected the plan and stormed the municipal buildings, protesting that it may cause job loss. It is precisely this type of peculiar barrier to progress that the author intends to accommodate for in the devising of his model. South African organizations will be considered when performing the empirical and primary studies in order to formulate a model that has been adapted to and caters for local needs due to its fundamental aspects being based on the South African circumstance. The information in this study contains the analysis of promotions in a broad context in terms of the following six facets of retail management, namely, operations, human resources, marketing, organizational behaviour, economics and strategies. The results of an analysis of promotional activities used by organizations in the Port Elizabeth municipal area was gained via the application of a questionnaire. An empirical study was performed and provided information that could be used in the development of a promotional model. The application of the model, benefits to whom and importance of the model was debated in the summary, conclusions and recommendations. The table of contents follows.

My research has concentrated on exploring branding in the university context and in particular on examination of the factors affecting the conceptualisation and management of brands, with a view towards identifying brand values applicable to the specific qualities of higher education. This, it is envisaged, will contribute to knowledge in terms of advancing understanding of a gap in the literature (the lack of research conceived specifically for branding educational organisations) as well as informing practice in what is a contemporary and sometimes contentious topic

This dissertation describes the creation of a new integrated Information Technology (IT) system that assisted in the collection of data about the behaviour of website visitors as well as sales and marketing data for those visitors who turned into customers. A key contribution to knowledge was the creation of a method to predict the outcome of visits to a website from visitors’ browsing behaviour. A new Online Tracking Module (OTM) was created that monitored visitors’ behaviour while they browsed websites. When a visitor converted into a customer, then customer and marketing data as well as sales activity was saved in a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that was implemented in this research. The research focused on service websites. The goal of these websites was to promote products and services online and turn enquiries into offline sales. The challenge faced by these websites was to convince as many visitors as possible to enquire. Most websites relied on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising for traffic generation. This research used PPC advertising to generate traffic. An important aspect of PPC advertising was landing page optimisation. The aim of landing page optimisation was to increase the number of visitors to a website who completed a specific action on the website. In the case of the websites investigated in this research the action consisted of completing and sending an enquiry form from the websites. The research looked for meaningful commonalities in the data collected by MS CRM and the OTM and combined this with feedback from the collaborating company’s sales team to create two personas for website visitors who had enquired. Techniques for improving landing pages were identified and these led to changes to landing pages. Some of these changes were targeted at a particular visitor persona. The effect of changes made to a landing page was measured by comparing its conversion rate and bounce rate before and after the changes. Behavioural data collected by the OTM was then analysed using a data mining engine to find models that could predict whether a user would convert based on their browsing behaviour. Models were found that could predict the outcome of a visit to a service website.

A recent topic of academic interest within corporate reputation is the use of stories to build reputation. However, there is little empirical research in this area. This thesis investigates how stories are used as a corporate identity cue and the influence of stories on audiences (particularly organisation members), in order to bring insight into the role and significance of stories in corporate reputation management. The empirical study was conducted in two stages. The first stage involved content analysis of corporate history stories identified from the websites of 200 organisations in the for-­profit and non-profit sectors. The second stage involved case studies of two organisations in the UK energy industry, with qualitative and quantitative data collected using semi-structured interviews, documentary research, and observation research. The findings indicate that corporate stories can be used as a corporate identity cue by conveying reputation platforms which express corporate personality. However, the extent to which platforms are conveyed through corporate stories varies, indicating that the use of stories as a corporate identity cue is also variable. Using impression management theory to interpret corporate stories indicates that stories can influence audiences’ impressions of an organisation, and organisation members’ thinking, feelings, and behaviour. These findings bring new insight to the impression management literature, as well as supporting the existing literature. However, the findings indicate that stories need to be perceived as relevant and credible in order for stories to influence organisation members. Also, limited awareness of stories by managers and a lack of training in using stories are likely to limit the use of stories in corporate reputation management. The thesis contributes to the corporate story literature by developing a framework illustrating how corporate stories act as a corporate identity cue and influence audiences. Guidance is also provided for managers regarding the use of corporate stories as part of corporate reputation management. Future research should build on this study by investigating corporate stories from the perspective of a wider range of stakeholder groups, and in other industry and organisational contexts.

Whilst advertising creativity has received attention in the past, the process of advertising creative development has attracted less attention and to date only a limited number of studies have examined this area. Moreover, there is limited empirical evidence on the process within advertising agencies themselves. The aim of this study was to explore the creative development process within advertising agencies and provide evidence of the contextual factors which influence the process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 advertising agency account management personnel from London based advertising agencies to explore their experience of the advertising creative development process. The results provide evidence that whilst a high degree of customisation takes place, a number of generic stages exist within the creative development process and the study identified a number of previously unreported stages. In addition to the process stages, the study provides evidence of the influence that the client-agency relationship, the provision of resources, the nature of the advertising task and the nature of creativity itself has on the creative development process. The study concludes that the process of creative development within advertising agencies is influenced by a number of factors, including the length, style and stage of the client-ad agency relationship, the level of client involvement, client-ad agency conflict, the provision of resources, the nature of the advertising task and creativity. It was also concluded that strong social bonds do not exist between clients and their agencies. Whilst the small sample size limits the generalisability of the findings, the study makes a valuable theoretical contribution in the area and will benefit researchers and others study advertising processes. In addition, the study offers advertising practitioners, both within the U.K. and in other markets, the opportunity to appraise current practice. The study contributes to both our knowledge of the creative development process and the contextual factors which influence the process and also to our understanding of business-to-business relationships. The study identifies a number of areas that warrant further research and provides a framework of the creative development process which it is hoped will be used as a basis for further examination and qualification.