Understanding Eurasian Convergence: Application Of Kohonen Self-Organizing Maps

Kohonen self-organizing maps (SOMs) are employed to examine economic and social convergence of Eurasian countries based on a set of twenty-eight socio-economic measures. A core of European Union states is identified that provides a benchmark against which convergence of post-socialist transition economies may be judged. The Central European Visegrád countries and Baltics show the greatest economic convergence to Western Europe, while other states form clusters that lag behind. Initial conditions on the social dimension can either facilitate or constrain economic convergence, as discovered in Central Europe vis-à-vis the Central Asian Republics. Disquiet in the convergence literature is resolved by providing an analysis of the Eurasian states over time

Modern-traditional differences in consumption patterns across cultures

Ope

Modern-Traditional Differences in Consumption Patterns Across Cultures (Life Styles; Brazil, France, Japan, United States)

168 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1984.Marketing academicians and practitioners have developed concepts, theories and methodologies to study consumer behavior in the U.S., but application of these concepts and theories to understand consumer behavior in a cross-cultural setting is, for the most part, lacking. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the impact of socio-economic-demographic variables versus life styles on consumption patterns across cultures. Consumption patterns were measured in terms of several product categories, and demographic variables included income, education, age, and occupation. Life styles were measured with reference to the values of the concept of individual modernity. Borrowed from the fields of psychology and social psychology, the concept of individual modernity was used to define lifestyle patterns along a modern-traditional dimension.Utilizing Leo Burnett's life style data, respondents in four countries, namely, France, Brazil, Japan and the U.S. were classified into two life style groups: moderns and traditionals. The analysis phase of the dissertation dealt with an examination of consumption differences between the modern and traditional groups by testing a number of hypotheses.The first hypothesis stated that moderns and traditionals will differ significantly with regard to their consumption patterns across several product categories. This hypothesis was supported by the data as moderns and traditionals were significantly different in consumption of six out of ten product categories tested.The second hypothesis stated that the modern-traditional life style contrast will account for more variance in consumption behavior than the national contrast. This hypothesis could not be supported by the data. It appeared from the analysis that the life style effect was significant but it was not as strong as national effect.Finally, the third hypothesis stated that "life style variables better explain value bound consumption patterns than demographic variables. Similarly, demographic variables better explain consumption patterns of products that are considered as necessities." This hypothesis was partially supported by the data.Implications of these findings for the researchers and multinational marketers are discussed and suggestions for future research are made.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD

Business Impact of the Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa: A Critical Review of Four Case Studies

The majority blacks in South Africa were systematically excluded from meaningful participation in the economic life of the country during the apartheid era from 1948 to 1994.  More specifically, the blacks were deprived of ownership in industrial firms and denied responsible positions in the private as well as the public sectors.  To address this injustice, the South African government introduced the policy of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) in the aftermath of the collapse of the apartheid regime in 1994. This paper investigates the impact of the BEE policy on the businesses in South Africa by reviewing four case studies.  The companies covered in three of the four case studies and 500 managers surveyed in the fourth reported different challenges in implementing BEE while at the same a number of commonalities were also found. This paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges and commonalities in implementing BEE in South Africa.&nbsp

Determinants of customer loyalty in the wireless telecommunications industry

This paper reports the results of research investigating the determinants of the propensity to switch wireless service providers. A model generated from the data rather than from a priori theory is presented, and it is found to uphold the strong relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty exhibited in prior studies. In sharp contrast to the prevailing industry practice of 'locking in' customers by means of restrictive contracts, this research suggests that wireless service providers are better off improving customer satisfaction in order to minimize customer defection. This would imply shifting scarce resources to customer retention through improved service, saving costs of expensive customer acquisition campaigns. The paper also proposes two methodological innovations. First, the research employs the 'Tetrad methodology' as an exploratory technique prior to building a Structural Equation Model (SEM) making it possible to identify drivers of loyalty--direct or indirect--when it might not be known a priori what these drivers might be. Secondly, the paper proposes an approach to estimating moderator effects on the relationship between satisfaction and customer loyalty.Customer loyalty Customer satisfaction Tetrad Propensity to switch Estimating moderator effects