An investigation of the product life cycle concept as an instrument in marketing decision-making for selected small organisations in South Africa. The product life cycle concept is currently a dominant component of marketing theory. There is however much criticism on and doubt about the applicability of the product life cycle concept as a marketing decision-making instrument. No evidence exists of the efficacy of the product life cycle concept as an instrument to develop marketing strategy. The purpose of the study was to test the underlying theory of the product life cycle concept with the primary objective of establishing what the use and practical value of the product life cycle concept is in making marketing decisions in small manufacturing and dealer organisations. The main focus was to test the ability of marketing decision-makers in small manufacturing and dealer organisations to associate their application and use of the product life cycle concept with Kotler's assumptions on the identified marketing characteristics, described marketing objectives and proposed marketing strategies. A major finding was that small organisations tended to display a marketing knowledge level that was not in total unison with the existing marketing theory. Another important conclusion of the study was that the current product life cycle concept theory needs to be broadened to include strategies on the expanded marketing mix (people, processes and physical evidence). Apart from the different use and application by marketing decision-makers in small organisations in South Africa the product life cycle concept theory has potential as a strategic tool and a high likelihood for its future use as a marketing decision-making instrument. / Dissertation (DCom)--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Marketing Management / DCom / Unrestricted

The construction industry is facing problems with labour shortages. These problems have occurred because of a declining image, leading to fewer applicants to vocational schools. The purpose of this study was to explore the challenges that small organisations in the Swedish construction industry have to face when conducting reskilling programs. In addition to this the study also wanted to explore if there are any potential solutions to help mitigate the impact of these challenges. The goal of this study was to explore the gaps left by previous research and by that contribute with valuable research. The area that this study aims to help explore is how reskilling can be used in a labour-intensive industry, in this case, the construction industry. The study also wanted to explore reskilling from the perspective of smaller organisations in Sweden. A case study was performed at a small flooring company in Sweden to achieve this purpose. Two forms of data collection methods were completed to gather the primary data for the study. The first data collection method consisted of observations from the case company. Secondly, semi-structured interviews were conducted with several stakeholders in the construction industry, both at the case company and with experts outside the case company. This data was gathered to answer the following research question: RQ1: What are the challenges to reskilling programs in the Swedish construction industry? The challenges found by this study could be divided into three aggregate dimensions: Before, During and After. These aggregate dimensions were chosen to help properly show what challenges reskilling programs face during different phases of the program. / Byggbranschen står inför en brist på arbetskraft. Detta problem har uppstått dels till följd av en sämre bild av branschen, vilket har resulterat i färre sökande till yrkesutbildningar. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka de utmaningar som små organisationer inom den svenska byggbranschen måste möta när de genomför omskolningsprogram. Utöver detta undersöker studien även om det finns några potentiella lösningar för att mildra effekten av dessa utmaningar. Målet med denna studie var att utforska de luckor som tidigare forskning lämnat och därigenom bidra med värdefull forskning. Området som denna studie avser att undersöka är hur omskolning kan användas inom en arbetsintensiv bransch, i detta fall byggbranschen. Studien ville även undersöka omskolning ur perspektivet av mindre organisationer i Sverige. En fallstudie genomfördes på ett litet golvföretag i Sverige. Två former av datainsamlingsmetoder genomfördes för att samla primärdata till studien. Den första datainsamlingsmetoden bestod av observationer från fallföretaget. För den andra metoden användes semistrukturerade intervjuer med flera intressenter inom byggbranschen, både på fallföretaget och med experter utanför fallföretaget. Denna data samlades in för att besvara följande forskningsfråga: RQ1: Vilka utmaningar finns det för omskolningsprogram inom den svenska byggbranschen? Utmaningarna som identifierades i denna studie kunde delas in i tre övergripande dimensioner: Före, Under och Efter. Dessa övergripande dimensioner valdes för att tydligt visa vilka utmaningar omskolningsprogram står inför under olika faser av programmet.