AUTHOR Serapin, Elizabeth J. DEGREE PhD SCHOOL CAPELLA UNIVERSITY DATE 2005

1. (1)TITLEAn investigation of impulse buying attitudes among different age- generational cohortgroups • AUTHOR Serapin, Elizabeth J. • DEGREE PhD • SCHOOL CAPELLA UNIVERSITY • DATE 2005 • PAGES 124 • ADVISER LeVesque, Joseph • ISBN 0-496-14477-4

2. Market researchers have been focused on trying to anticipate consumer's impulse buying attitudes for years. Researchers have been testing this complex construct to help organizations stay ahead of their competition with better marketing strategies. This study investigates different age-generational cohort groups' impulse purchasing

3. attitudes. Other variables that are investigated in correlation with impulse buying are gender, household income, and the monthly use of credit cards. The primary research question that is addressed in this study is as follows: <italic>How do impulse buying habits differ among age-generational cohort groups?</italic> The results of this study are useful in enhancing knowledge development in marketing strategies to target market the different generational groups.

4. Serapin, Elizabeth J. (2005). An investigation of impulse buying attitudes among different age- generational cohort groups. Dissertation Abstracts International. 65/11: AAT 3153754 [on line] available http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3161265?gotoCite=21 [2005 July 18]

5. (2)TITLE Customer relationship marketing and effects of demographics and technology on customer satisfaction and loyalty in financial services AUTHOR Aaltonen, Priscilla Gaudet DEGREE PhD SCHOOL OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY DATE 2004 PAGES 141 ADVISER Singhapakdi, Anusorn

6. ISBN 0-496-75965-8 • SOURCE DAI-A 65/04, p. 1451, Oct 2004 • SUBJECT BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, MARKETING (0338) • DIGITAL FORMATS 4.79Mb image-only PDF • 24 page Preview

7. In today's market, financial institutions are adopting Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM) as a strategy aimed at collecting and using data to deliver increased customer value (Payne, Holt, Frow 2000) and, in turn, to increase customer satisfaction and, ultimately, customer loyalty. However, as more studies are being done on the outcome

8. of CRM strategies over time, it is becoming evident that the costs often outweigh the expected benefits and CRM projects have consistently over-promised and under-delivered (Norman and Zafar 2001). Often, customer satisfaction is increased slightly but loyalty rates do not increase at all. To date, much of what has been written on

9. CRM is from the practitioner's point of view and little is known from a theoretical perspective (Plakoyiannaki and Tzokas 2002). Firms have focused on customer satisfaction rates largely because of the suggestion, historically, that there is a strong, positive relationship between customer service and loyalty

10. Reichheld and Sasser 1990; Rust and Zahorik 1991). Yet, others have shown evidence that there are high defection rates of satisfied customers from some firms (Homburg and Giering 2001). This study is an investigation of the use of a CRM strategy in the financial services industry and its effect on satisfaction and loyalty levels of the firm. It looks at what part

11. demographics play in overall customer satisfaction and loyalty rates. And, it looks at what part satisfaction with technology might play on overall satisfaction rates. The study was accomplished using data from a customer survey conducted in the credit card division of a financial services firm. Hypotheses were tested using standard

12. multiple regression. The results suggest that technology satisfaction does drive overall customer satisfaction and that, in turn, overall customer satisfaction does drive loyalty. However, demographics do not have any significant

13. effect in determining overall customer satisfaction or loyalty rates. And, although CRM is a common strategy used in financial services, for the purposes of this study it did not have a significant impact on overall customer satisfaction rates.

14. Aaltonen, Priscilla Gaudet (2004). Customer relationship marketing and effects of demographics and technology on customer satisfaction and loyalty in financial services. Dissertation Abstracts International. 65/04: AAT 3128703 [on line] available http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3153754?gotoCite=26[2005 July 18]

15. (3) • TITLE New perspectives on the economics of milk marketing orders: Rent dissipation through • endogenous quality

16. AUTHOR Balagtas, Joseph Valdes • DEGREE PhD • SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS • DATE 2004 • PAGES 173

17. ADVISER Sumner, Daniel A. • ISBN 0-496-84692-9 • SOURCE DAI-A 65/06, p. 2296, Dec 2004 • SUBJECT ECONOMICS, AGRICULTURAL (0503); ECONOMICS, GENERAL (0501) • DIGITAL FORMATS 16.15Mb image-only PDF • 24 page Preview

18. This dissertation provides new analysis and evidence on the consequences of U.S. dairy policy by considering endogenous participation in the policy, and the cost of participation. The economic literature on milk marketing orders has missed an import aspect of the policy&mdash;the cost incurred by some producers to participate in the regulation. Previous welfare analyses of marketing orders are incomplete and misleading. This dissertation

19. illustrates a fundamental concept of regulatory economics: rents created through government policy often entail costs that alter welfare measurement and even direction of net impacts. My model of dairy markets and policy allows endogenous producer heterogeneity in milk quality. Marketing orders raise the price of fluid-quality (Grade A) milk, but not manufacturing-quality (Grade B) milk. Analytical results demonstrate that marketing orders induce

20. a shift towards use of Grade A milk for manufactured dairy products. Moreover, the cost of meeting stricter Grade A standards reduces producers' net benefit from the marketing orders. A major conclusion is that marketing orders have had ambiguous effects on milk producers as a group, and, under reasonable assumptions, have likely made producers worse off. Welfare measures show that previous analyses overstate producer benefits and

21. understate the deadweight cost of marketing orders by between $120 and $240 million per year, or more. A conservative estimate of the capitalized cost of excess quality from 1948 to 2000 is $27 billion. A dynamic model of milk grade choice shows marketing orders encouraged a switch to Grade A by creating a premium for Grade A milk, and that the switch was also encouraged by technological changes in the dairy industry. A dynamic

22. stochastic econometric model provides empirical evidence to support the hypothesized causal link between marketing orders and milk quality. The model exploits exogenous, cross-sectional variation in the implementation of marketing orders to identify their effect on the Grade A share.

23. Balagtas, Joseph Valdes (2004). New perspectives on the economics of milk marketing orders: Rent dissipation through endogenous quality. Dissertation Abstracts International. 65/06: AAT 3137518 [on line] available http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3128703?gotoCite=39[2005 July 18]

24. (4) • TITLE Factors driving relationship commitment in B2B services: The role of national culture, value, • trust and bonds

25. AUTHOR Barry, James M. • DEGREE DBA • SCHOOL NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY • DATE 2004

26. PAGES 131 • ADVISER Dion, Paul • ISBN 0-496-03394-8 • SOURCE DAI-A 65/09, p. 3472, Mar 2005 • SUBJECTBUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, MARKETING (0338)

27. DIGITAL FORMATS 6.58Mb image-only PDF • 24 page Preview

28. Retaining buyers through relationship building and value creation remains a topic of great concern to business-to-business (B2B) service suppliers as competition intensifies from globalization, technology developments and a service oriented economy. Concepts such as relationship commitment have been studied as a way of capturing

29. the many relational factors that predict a supplier's long-term profit potential with a buyer. Despite its prevalence in the literature, however, little progress has been made in conceptualizing and testing frameworks that can effectively explain relationship commitment in a B2B services setting. Traditional models either lack a solid

30. nomological foundation or they fail to account for situational influences such as country origin and degree of buyer dependency. This dissertation empirically examines determinants of long-term relationship commitment from 202 buyers of after sales services. Results of the research validated a number of hypothesized influences on

31. commitment. Tests of the integrated framework across situational influences further demonstrated that commitment determinants are indeed distinct across country cultures and degree of buyer dependency. From the baseline framework, mediating influences were introduced to improve the explanatory power of the proposed

32. nomological structure. In addition, scale development from in-depth interviews and factor analysis supported the addition of a new constructs (goal congruence and service line breadth) to the field of relationship marketing. Finally, the use of structural equation modeling permitted the simultaneous measurement of commitment

33. antecedents and mediating influences from goodness-of-fit indices that confirmed the model's explanatory power and robustness. Overall, the model (1)&nbsp;empirically validates current theories of buyer commitment building in a B2B services setting; (2)&nbsp;demonstrates cross-cultural and buyer dependency influences on the nature

34. of commitment and its relevant determinants; and (3)&nbsp;enriches the current relationship marketing theories with new variables. The resulting framework synthesized elements of trust, bonds, perceived value and relationship investments in a nomological structure that captured the variables relevant to B2B services. When

35. applied to buyer archetypes grouped by culture and dependency, the framework confirmed the more relational orientation of collective/feminine cultures and the more calculative orientation of individualistic/masculine cultures

36. such as that found in the U.S. In addition, buyers of high dependency showed higher emphasis on trust and were less economically motivated to commitment when compared to their lower dependency counterparts

37. Barry, James M. (2004). Factors driving relationship commitment in B2B services: The role of national culture, value, trust and bonds. Dissertation Abstracts International. 65/09: AAT 3144697 [on line] available http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3137518?gotoCite=41[2005 July 18]

38. (5) • TITLE Comparative evaluation of strategic construction-market forecasting methodologies (Florida) • AUTHOR Fetterhoff, Otto George, III

39. DEGREE PhD • SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA • DATE 2004 • PAGES 169 • ADVISERO'Brien, William J.; Smith, Marc T.

40. ISBN 0-496-02262-8 • SOURCE DAI-A 65/08, p. 3069, Feb 2005 • SUBJECT BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, MARKETING (0338); ARCHITECTURE (0729) • DIGITAL FORMATS 7.04Mb image-only PDF

41. The relative historical stability of the U.S. economy and its strong influence on the construction industry have allowed large U.S. design and construction firms to naturally grow and adapt to the slow changes of the construction-market. But business changed suddenly for many large firms in 2001. The economic recession, combined with the market fallout from the events of September 11, 2001, delayed or cancelled many design and

42. construction projects. Despite these historic events, investor expectations prevailed, sending these firms searching to find new and alternative markets. This research sought to examine many of the challenges a marketing professional is confronted with when searching for new competitive markets. These challenges generally include questions regarding the key predictive indicators of construction activity, the methods of market

43. forecasting, and the classification and selection of new potential markets. This research was also intended to initiate decisions regarding the spatial structure of a large design and construction firm. A review of the literature provided many different management approaches to strategic construction-market forecasting. Over 250 different indicators (in over 56 categories) were identified that could potentially influence construction activity within a

44. given market. The literature review also provides an overview of the variety of forecasting methodologies that can be used to forecast and classify construction activity. Historical data were collected for all of Florida's 67 counties for the period 1990 through 2002. A new <italic>momentum</italic> forecasting methodology is presented that was derived from Sir Isaac Newton's three laws of motion. This unique forecasting approach (along with five other

45. existing approaches) is used to forecast construction-market activity at the county level. The best key indicators of future nonresidential construction activity at the county level were found to be the total annual tax collections, the total annual assessed value of commercial land, and the total annual number of wage and salary jobs in a county. The current industry practice of using housing starts as a key indicator was found to be one of the least accurate

46. indicators of nonresidential construction activity in the State of Florida relative to the other methods tested. A <italic>direct</italic> forecasting methodology (using a <italic>single </italic> variable) was found to be the most accurate predictor of future nonresidential construction activity. This was the simplest of all the forecasting

47. methodologies used, and consistently outperformed the more complex statistical multivariate-regression techniques. The new momentum methodology was found to be a highly accurate alternative forecasting methodology that is less complex but more meaningful than the traditional statistical regression approaches

48. Fetterhoff, Otto George, III (2004). Comparative evaluation of strategic construction-market forecasting methodologies (Florida). Dissertation Abstracts International. 65/08: AAT 3144190 [on line] available http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3144697?gotoCite=104 [2005 July 18]