Market segmentation : the segmentation of the UK market for king size cigarettes on the basis of consumer perceptions and product requirements

The first part of this thesis attempts a synthesis of published research in the general area of market segmentation. Because of the sheer volume of such research the thesis is primarily concerned with domestic, consumer research since 1970, adequate literature reviews being availahle of research prior to this time (see Frank, (1968) and Frank, Massy and Wind (1972)). Study of the literature indicates the growing use of situation specific variables in segmentation research coupled with the increased usage of multivariate techniques. Of particular interest are the more recent attempts to link market segmentation and product positioning methodology. Existing studies, however, are based largely on small, "convenience" samples without validation samples, and tend to be technique oriented, that is they are applications of existing or new techniques rather than attempts to solve problems. The empirical research presents a market segmentation methodology concerned with market gap identification, i.e. segments not adequately satisfied with existing product offerings. The methodology is tested on a large, representative sample of consumers in a particular market using a split sample for analysis and validation and a variety of alternative types of data and methods. Serious doubts are raised about the application of the INDSCAL model for dealing with individual differences in perception and the application of the PREFMAP model for identifying respondents' ideal brand locations. This work suggests that perceptual space segmentation is best accomplished through direct clustering of respondents on the basis of brand similarity judgements and that identification of brand requirements is best accomplished through the rating of the ideal brand along the dimensions of perception. The research indicates segments of consumers with homogeneous perceptions of current brand offerings and homogeneous brand requirements. These segments are further evaluated to determine their value to management as target markets, suggesting alternative marketing strategies

Customer orientation and innovativeness:differing roles in new and old Europe

Burgess and Steenkamp [Burgess, S. M., & Steenkamp, J. (2006). Marketing renaissance: How research in emerging markets advances marketing science and practice. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 23(4), 337-356.] have pointed out that marketing knowledge derives almost exclusively from research conducted in high income, industrialized countries. However, the generalizability of marketing knowledge should also be tested in emerging markets. We demonstrate that returns on customer orientation and organizational innovativeness play out differently in New versus Old Europe. Contrary to previous research, we find that customer focus is at least as important in New Europe as in our Old European country, while organizational innovativeness appears more important in New Europe to drive both customer service and financial performance

Marketingstratégia Magyarországon: A hazai vállalatok tipológiája

Az üzleti és marketingstratégiák meghatározása és értékelése témakörben két alapvető megközelítés tehető. Az első - a priori - megközelítés során a stratégiatípusok meghatározása valamilyen elméleti modellen alapul, amelyet empirikus úton tesztelnek. A második megközelítés post hoc abban az értelemben, hogy a stratégiatípusokat az empirikus adatokban fellelhető jellegzetességek alapján alakítják ki. A szerzők tanulmányukban mindkét megközelítési mód részletes kifejtését megkísérelik

Marketing-erőforrások koncepcionális megközelítése

A versenyképesség-kutatás egyik központi témája a versenyelőnyök meghatározásának és fenntarthatóságának vizsgálata. Két fő kutatási irány alakult ki: az egyik, a külső környezetre, az iparági elemzésre helyezi a hangsúlyt, a másik pedig, a vállalat belső tényezőit, erősségeit és gyengeségeit állítja a középpontba. A tanulmány az utóbbi elméleti irányzatot követve, a marketing helyzetét átfogóan vizsgáló kutatás- sorozat legújabb eredményeinek a marketing-erőforrásokra vonatkozó részleteit ismerteti. A Magyarországon folyó empirikus kutatásokban1 a marketing-erőforrásokat a marketingeszközök és -képességek jelenítik meg. A mérésükre kifejlesztett skála tesztelésére a kutatásokhoz csatlakozó országok között Magyarországon is sor került. A közgazdasági irányból megközelített erőforrás-alapú vállalatelméletre támaszkodva kimutatják, hogy a marketing-erőforrások koncepcionális rendszerezése empirikusan is helytálló. A skála megbízhatóságát különböző elemzési módszerekkel bizonyítják

Impacto dos recursos da empresa na performance de inovação

The resource-based view of the firm highlights the importance of internal resources in competitive advantage creation. Recently, there has been much interest in the role of internal resources in contributing to the creation of competitive advantage, especially its impact on innovation performance. In this sense, this article presents details of a study that had the objective to verify the effect of firm resources - market orientation, managerial capabilities, customer linking capabilities, human resource assets, market innovation capabilities - on innovation performance, considering companies of Brazil. The results, found with the application of structural equations modeling technique, pointed out the infl uence of resources, assets and firm capabilities on innovation performance

The detection and role of human endogenous retrovirus K (HML-2) in rheumatoid arthritis

Human endogenous retroviruses are the remnants of ancient retroviral infections present within our genome. These molecular fossils show similarities with present day exogenous retroviruses but act as typical Mendelian elements that are passed vertically between generations. Despite being repeatedly linked to a number of autoimmune diseases and disorders, no conclusive proof has been identified. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one such disease which has been associated with an increase in HERV expression, compared to controls. In order to elucidate a clear role for HERVs in RA pathogenesis, autoantigens implicated in disease pathogenesis were scanned for sequence homology to retroviral genes. Such epitopes would induce antibodies cross reactive with host proteins, resulting in disease. Short peptides mimicking these regions were synthesised and the prevalence of anti-HERV antibodies was determined in RA patients and disease controls. Additionally, a novel real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay was developed to accurately quantify levels of HERV-K (HML-2) gag expression, relative to normalised levels of housekeeping gene expression. Both serological and molecular assays showed significant increases in HERV-K (HML-2) activity in RA patients compared to disease controls with CD4+ lymphocytes harbouring the highest activity. The real-time assay was also used to determine whether factors within the synovium could modulate HERVs, resulting in their upregulation. Exogenous viral protein expression and pro-inflammatory cytokines were shown to exert a significant modulatory effect over HERV-K (HML-2) transcription. From this data, it is clear that RA patients have increased levels of HERV-K (HML-2) gag activity compared to controls. Despite this it is likely that factors within the synovium such as exogenous viral expression and pro-inflammatory cytokines also influence HERV-K (HML-2) transcription possibly contributing to a role of bystander activation, i.e. being influenced by external factors, rather than actively contributing to disease processes. The exact role of HERVs in RA pathology remains elusive; however this research proposes several mechanisms by which HERV-K (HML-2) may contribute to disease.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Acidic microenvironment plays a key role in human melanoma progression through a sustained exosome mediated transfer of clinically relevant metastatic molecules

Background: Microenvironment cues involved in melanoma progression are largely unknown. Melanoma is highly influenced in its aggressive phenotype by the changes it determinates in its microenvironment, such as pH decrease, in turn influencing cancer cell invasiveness, progression and tissue remodelling through an abundant secretion of exosomes, dictating cancer strategy to the whole host. A role of exosomes in driving melanoma progression under microenvironmental acidity was never described. Methods: We studied four differently staged human melanoma lines, reflecting melanoma progression, under microenvironmental acidic pHs pressure ranging between pH 6.0-6.7. To estimate exosome secretion as a function of tumor stage and environmental pH, we applied a technique to generate native fluorescent exosomes characterized by vesicles integrity, size, density, markers expression, and quantifiable by direct FACS analysis. Functional roles of exosomes were tested in migration and invasion tests. Then we performed a comparative proteomic analysis of acid versus control exosomes to elucidate a specific signature involved in melanoma progression. Results: We found that metastatic melanoma secretes a higher exosome amount than primary melanoma, and that acidic pH increases exosome secretion when melanoma is in an intermediate stage, i.e. metastatic non-invasive. We were thus able to show that acidic pH influences the intercellular cross-talk mediated by exosomes. In fact when exposed to exosomes produced in an acidic medium, pH naïve melanoma cells acquire migratory and invasive capacities likely due to transfer of metastatic exosomal proteins, favoring cell motility and angiogenesis. A Prognoscan-based meta-analysis study of proteins enriched in acidic exosomes, identified 11 genes (HRAS, GANAB, CFL2, HSP90B1, HSP90AB1, GSN, HSPA1L, NRAS, HSPA5, TIMP3, HYOU1), significantly correlating with poor prognosis, whose high expression was in part confirmed in bioptic samples of lymph node metastases. Conclusions: A crucial step of melanoma progression does occur at melanoma intermediate -stage, when extracellular acidic pH induces an abundant release and intra-tumoral uptake of exosomes. Such exosomes are endowed with pro-invasive molecules of clinical relevance, which may provide a signature of melanoma advancement

Intra-testicular injection of adenoviral constructs results in Sertoli cell-specific gene expression and disruption of the seminiferous epithelium

Spermatogenesis is a complex process that cannot be modelled in vitro. The somatic Sertoli cells (SCs) within the seminiferous tubules perform a key role in supporting maturation of germ cells (GCs). Progress has been made in determining what aspects of SC function are critical to maintenance of fertility by developing rodent models based on the Cre/LoxP system; however, this is time-consuming and is only applicable to mice. The aim of the present study was to establish methods for direct injection of adenoviral vectors containing shRNA constructs into the testis as a way of inducing target-selective knock-down in vivo. This paper describes a series of experiments using adenovirus expressing a green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgene. Injection via the efferent ductules resulted in SC-specific expression of GFP; expression levels paralleled the amount of infective viral particles injected. At the highest doses of virus seminiferous tubule architecture were grossly disturbed and immune cell invasion noted. At lower concentrations, the expression of GFP was variable/negligible, the seminiferous tubule lumen was maintained but stage-dependent GC loss and development of numerous basal vacuoles was observed. These resembled intercellular dilations of SC junctional complexes previously described in rats and may be a consequence of disturbances in SC function due to interaction of the viral particles with the coxsackie/adenovirus receptor that is a component of the junctional complexes within the blood testis barrier. In conclusion, intra-testicular injection of adenoviral vectors disturbs SC function in vivo and future work will therefore focus on the use of lentiviral delivery systems

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

SlowMo, a digital therapy targeting reasoning in paranoia, versus treatment as usual in the treatment of people who fear harm from others: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Background: Paranoia is one of the most common symptoms of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, and is associated with significant distress and disruption to the person’s life. Developing more effective and accessible psychological interventions for paranoia is a clinical priority. Our research team has approached this challenge in two main ways: firstly, by adopting an interventionist causal approach to increase effectiveness and secondly, by incorporating user-centred inclusive design methods to enhance accessibility and usability. Our resultant new digital intervention, SlowMo, intensively targets a reasoning style associated with paranoia, fast thinking, characterised by jumping to conclusions and belief inflexibility. It consists of an easy-to-use, enjoyable and memorable digital interface. An interactive web-based app facilitates delivery of face-to-face meetings which is then synchronised with an innovative mobile app for use in daily life. Methods/Design: We aim to test the clinical efficacy of SlowMo over 24 weeks to determine the mechanisms through which it reduces paranoia, and to identify participant characteristics that moderate its effectiveness. In a parallel-group randomised controlled trial, with 1:1 allocation, 360 participants with distressing persecutory beliefs will be independently randomised to receive either the SlowMo intervention added to treatment as usual (TAU) or TAU, using randomly varying permuted blocks, stratified by paranoia severity and site. Research workers will be blind to therapy allocation. The primary outcome is paranoia severity over 24 weeks; our hypothesised mechanism of change is reasoning; moderators include negative symptoms and working memory; and secondary outcomes include wellbeing, quality of life, and service use. The accessibility, usability and acceptability of the digital platform will be assessed. Discussion: SlowMo has been developed as the first blended digital therapy to target fears of harm from others through an inclusive design approach. In addition to testing its efficacy, this trial will add to our understanding of psychological mechanisms in paranoia. The study will examine the usability and adherence of a novel digital therapy, including an app for self-management, in a large sample of people affected by severe mental health difficulties