The use of big data in marketing : an emerging market financial services industry perspective

Abstract: As a result of the competitive nature of financial services, this industry is positioned to leverage big data to gain a competitive advantage. The financial services industry, in South Africa and in emerging markets, has been known not to leverage big data optimally. Creating personalized customer relationships through big data has been found to be a source of competitive advantage. This study aims to identify the extent to which big data is used in a financial institution. This will be done from a marketing perspective, using a model developed by Byrom, Bennison, Hernandez and Hooper (2001, p.336). Qualitative research was conducted, including in-depth personal interviews with marketers in the financial services industry. The Morse and Field approach was used for data analysis. Findings indicated that although big data was being utilized, it was not optimally exploited. The study identified gaps in the usage of big data for marketing decision making

Corrigendum: The quest for EEG power band correlation with ICA derived fMRI resting state networks

Contains fulltext : 136233.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)[This corrects the article on p. 315 in vol. 7, PMID: 23805098.].2 p

The influence of passenger satisfaction on relationship formation in the South African domestic airline industry

Customers are increasingly becoming aware of alternative offerings in the market place, and are thus more demanding in terms of their expectations pertaining to service delivery. As airlines in particular are vulnerable to competitors’ offerings, they should offer passengers high levels of service and ensure that passengers are satisfied with their service offering in an effort to build long-term relationships. Building long-term relationships is important due to the financial and social benefits it holds to both the business and its customer. This study investigates whether passenger satisfaction influences whether or not passengers have formed a long-term relationship with the airline they fly with most often. Data was collected from South African domestic passengers departing from OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg by means of a convenience sample. Main findings from the study indicate that the majority of dissatisfied respondents have not formed a long-term relationship with the domestic airline, while satisfied respondents are more inclined to form a long-term relationship.This article was co-written by P.G. Mostert before he joined the University of Pretoria.http://www.journals.co.za/content/journal/busmanam2017Marketing Managemen

Possible influence of near SOL plasma on the H-mode power threshold

AbstractA strong effect of divertor configuration on the threshold power for the L-H transition (PLH) was observed in recent JET experiments in the new ITER-like Wall (ILW) [1–3]. Following a series of EDGE2D-EIRENE code simulations with Be impurity and drifts a possible mechanism for the PLH variation with the divertor geometry is proposed. Both experiment and code simulations show that in the configuration with lower neutral recycling near the outer strike point (OSP), electron temperature (Te) peaks near the OSP prior to the L-H transition, while in the configuration with higher OSP recycling Te peaks further out in the scrape-off layer (SOL) and the plasma stays in the L-mode at the same input power. Code results show large positive radial electric field (Er) in the near SOL under lower recycling conditions leading to a large E×B shear across the separatrix which may trigger earlier (at lower input power) edge turbulence suppression and lower PLH. Suppressed Te‘s at OSP in configurations with strike points on vertical targets (VT) were observed earlier and explained by a geometrical effect of neutral recycling near this particular position, whereas in configurations with strike points on horizontal targets (HT) the OSP appears to be more open for neutrals (see e.g. review paper [4])

A multidimensional customer value model for the high fashion retail industry

a competitive environment, high fashion retailers must become proficient at not only providing quality merchandise, but also at providing value to their customers, in order to be successful. Only high fashion retailers that offer the value their customers demand, are able to increase customer satisfaction levels and remain competitive in the long term. Higher levels of customer satisfaction have been shown to lead to repurchase intention and profitability. Customer value is considered a complex construct and is viewed by many as multidimensional in nature. High fashion retailers’ unique nature highlights the fact that their customers have different expectations and may view customer value dimensions differently, as opposed to other clothing retailers. The aim of this article is to propose a multidimensional model of customer value for high fashion retailers, including the interrelationships between customer value, customer satisfaction and repurchase intention. A descriptive research design using quantitative methods was used to collect primary data. A non-probability multistage sampling approach was followed to select respondents, and 620 completed interviewer-administered questionnaires were included for analysis. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was utilised to measure the interrelationships between the three constructs of the study. Results show that high fashion retailers need to focus on sacrifice value, service value, store value, experience value and status value in order to positively influence their customers’ satisfaction levels and subsequent repurchase intention.http://www.unisa.ac.za/Default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=25784am2017Marketing Managemen

The effect of service failure and recovery on airline-passenger relationships : a comparison between South African and United States airline passengers

South African airline passengers’ relationship length with airlines as well as their satisfaction with airlines’ service recovery efforts was used to determine the effect of a service failure on their relationship with airlines as well as their willingness to recommend airlines to others following a service failure. The results are compared with the findings from a similar study among United States airline passengers. The comparison reveals while relationship length influence the effect of service failures on U.S. passengers’ relationship with and their willingness to recommend an airline, South African passengers are more influenced by their satisfaction with airlines’ service recovery efforts.This article was co-written by P.G. Mostert before he joined the University of Pretoria.http://www.na-businesspress.comjmppopen.htmlam2017Marketing Managemen

The Importance of Time Congruity in the Organisation.

In 1991 Kaufman, Lane, and Lindquist proposed that time congruity in terms of an individual's time preferences and the time use methods of an organisation would lead to satisfactory performance and enhancement of quality of work and general life. The research reported here presents a study which uses commensurate person and job measures of time personality in an organisational setting to assess the effects of time congruity on one aspect of work life, job-related affective well-being. Results show that time personality and time congruity were found to have direct effects on well-being and the influence of time congruity was found to be mediated through time personality, thus contributing to the person–job (P–J) fit literature which suggests that direct effects are often more important than indirect effects. The study also provides some practical examples of ways to address some of the previously cited methodological issues in P–J fit research

Superdeformed rotational bands in the Mercury region; A Cranked Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov study

A study of rotational properties of the ground superdeformed bands in \Hg{0}, \Hg{2}, \Hg{4}, and \Pb{4} is presented. We use the cranked Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov method with the {\skm} parametrization of the Skyrme force in the particle-hole channel and a seniority interaction in the pairing channel. An approximate particle number projection is performed by means of the Lipkin-Nogami prescription. We analyze the proton and neutron quasiparticle routhians in connection with the present information on about thirty presently observed superdeformed bands in nuclei close neighbours of \Hg{2}.Comment: 26 LaTeX pages, 14 uuencoded postscript figures included, Preprint IPN-TH 93-6

Designing spin-spin interactions with one and two dimensional ion crystals in planar micro traps

We discuss the experimental feasibility of quantum simulation with trapped ion crystals, using magnetic field gradients. We describe a micro structured planar ion trap, which contains a central wire loop generating a strong magnetic gradient of about 20 T/m in an ion crystal held about 160 \mu m above the surface. On the theoretical side, we extend a proposal about spin-spin interactions via magnetic gradient induced coupling (MAGIC) [Johanning, et al, J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 42 (2009) 154009]. We describe aspects where planar ion traps promise novel physics: Spin-spin coupling strengths of transversal eigenmodes exhibit significant advantages over the coupling schemes in longitudinal direction that have been previously investigated. With a chip device and a magnetic field coil with small inductance, a resonant enhancement of magnetic spin forces through the application of alternating magnetic field gradients is proposed. Such resonantly enhanced spin-spin coupling may be used, for instance, to create Schr\"odinger cat states. Finally we investigate magnetic gradient interactions in two-dimensional ion crystals, and discuss frustration effects in such two-dimensional arrangements.Comment: 20 pages, 13 figure

Atomic X-ray Spectroscopy of Accreting Black Holes

Current astrophysical research suggests that the most persistently luminous objects in the Universe are powered by the flow of matter through accretion disks onto black holes. Accretion disk systems are observed to emit copious radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, each energy band providing access to rather distinct regimes of physical conditions and geometric scale. X-ray emission probes the innermost regions of the accretion disk, where relativistic effects prevail. While this has been known for decades, it also has been acknowledged that inferring physical conditions in the relativistic regime from the behavior of the X-ray continuum is problematic and not satisfactorily constraining. With the discovery in the 1990s of iron X-ray lines bearing signatures of relativistic distortion came the hope that such emission would more firmly constrain models of disk accretion near black holes, as well as provide observational criteria by which to test general relativity in the strong field limit. Here we provide an introduction to this phenomenon. While the presentation is intended to be primarily tutorial in nature, we aim also to acquaint the reader with trends in current research. To achieve these ends, we present the basic applications of general relativity that pertain to X-ray spectroscopic observations of black hole accretion disk systems, focusing on the Schwarzschild and Kerr solutions to the Einstein field equations. To this we add treatments of the fundamental concepts associated with the theoretical and modeling aspects of accretion disks, as well as relevant topics from observational and theoretical X-ray spectroscopy.Comment: 63 pages, 21 figures, Einstein Centennial Review Article, Canadian Journal of Physics, in pres