Market segmentation in behavioral perspective

A segmentation approach is presented using both traditional demographic segmentation bases (age, social class/occupation, and working status) and a segmentation by benefits sought. The benefits sought in this case are utilitarian and informational reinforcement, variables developed from the Behavioral Perspective Model (BPM). Using data from 1,847 consumers and from a total of 76,682 individual purchases, brand choice and price and reinforcement responsiveness were assessed for each segment across the UK cookie (biscuits) market. Building on previous work, the results suggest that the segmentation of brand choice using benefits sought is useful. This is especially the case alongside demographic variables. This article provides a theoretical and practical segmentation approach to both the behavioral psychology literature and the wider marketing segmentation literature

Regional priorities for strengthening climate services for farmers in Africa and South Asia

This report captures a process of shared South-South learning and planning towards defining priorities for strengthening and scaling-up climate information and advisory services for agriculture and food security in West Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, and South Asia. The process began at the international workshop on “Scaling up Climate Services for Farmers in Africa and South Asia” (Saly, Senegal, December 2012), where participants collectively identified critical gaps in the design, delivery and effective use of climate services for smallholder agriculture; and self-organized into working groups to develop a set of priority actions for strengthening climate services for smallholder farming communities within and across regions in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Following up on a commitment made at the workshop, USAID and CCAFS partnered to develop a small grants program and sponsor a set of guided planning workshops to enable the working groups that emerged from the Saly workshop to further develop their visions, and obtain resources to begin to implement them. Expert working groups from all regions prioritized improving the scientific capacity of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) to develop location specific seasonal climate forecasts at the subnational scale, and enhancing institutional frameworks for collaboration between the different agencies involved in the production and communication of climate services. The Eastern and Southern Africa working group also emphasized the co-production with farmers of location-specific climate services, and the importance of assessing the added value of climate services for enhancing agricultural production and managing risk. The West Africa working group prioritized communications mechanisms for reaching marginalized groups, including rural radio and Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), and training farmers to access and use climate information. Building on the region’s existing strength in ICTs, the South Asia group emphasized efforts to identify appropriate ICT tools and build the capacity of smallholder farmers, women, poor and socially marginalized groups to access and utilize climate information services

Consumer Behaviour Analysis and the Behavioural Perspective Model

This is the FIRST of TWO linked articles on consumer behavioural analysis. Cognitive theories have dominated the field of consumer behaviour for the last few decades, however, an observed lack of consistency between attitudes and behaviour has suggested the need to investigate more thoroughly situational and behavioural variables. Consumer behaviour analysis can be viewed as an alternative theoretical approach that emphasizes situational variables and measures of behaviour. Within consumer behaviour analysis, the Behavioural Perspective Model (BPM) interprets consumer behaviour as occurring at the intersection of the individual’s learning history and the consumer setting, which signals utilitarian and informational consequences associated with consumption-related responses. Utilitarian consequences are mediated by the product or service and are related to its functional benefits. Informational consequences are social, mediated by other people, and are related to feedback upon consumers’ behaviour, such as social status and prestige

Consumer Behaviour Analysis and Consumer Brand Choice

This is the SECOND of TWO linked articles on consumer behavioural analysis dealing with the Behavioural Perspective Model, which locates consumer behaviour at the intersection of the consumer’s learning history and the consumer situation. As an example of research inspired by the Model, this article presents investigations into consumers’ patterns of brand choice, showing how brand repertoires are formed and how brands are selected within those repertoires

Consumer-based brand equity and brand performance

The relation between consumer-based brand equity and brand performance was investigated across 15 product categories in Brazil and the UK. Brand equity was conceptualized as related to the level of social benefit offered by each brand and was measured with a simple questionnaire that asked consumers to rate brands with respect to their familiarity and quality levels. These measures were then related to brand market share and revenue. Results showed that the relation between consumer-based brand equity and brand performance varies across product categories, indicating that products differ with respect to their level of brandability and suggesting ways to measure it

Consumer Behavior Analysis and Social Marketing: The Case of Environmental Conservation

Consumer behavior analysis represents one development within the behavior-analytic tradition of interpreting complex behavior, in which a specific conceptual framework has been proposed (i.e., the Behavioral Perspective Model). According to this model, consumer behavior occurs at the intersection of a consumer-behavior setting and an individual’s learning history of consumption and is a function of utilitarian (mediated by the product) and informational (mediated by other persons) consequences. The model has been useful in analyses of consumers’ brand choice and reactions to different settings. In the present paper, the model was applied to the interpretation of environmental deleterious behaviors (use of private transportation, consumption of domestic energy, waste disposal, and domestic consumption of water). This application pointed to specific marketing strategies that should be adopted to modify each of these operant classes

Channel Coupling in A(e⃗,e′N⃗)BA(\vec{e},e' \vec{N})B Reactions

The sensitivity of momentum distributions, recoil polarization observables, and response functions for nucleon knockout by polarized electrons to channel coupling in final-state interactions is investigated using a model in which both the distorting and the coupling potentials are constructed by folding density-dependent effective interactions with nuclear transition densities. Calculations for $^{16}$O are presented for 200 and 433 MeV ejectile energies, corresponding to proposed experiments at MAMI and TJNAF, and for $^{12}$C at 70 and 270 MeV, corresponding to experiments at NIKHEF and MIT-Bates. The relative importance of charge exchange decreases as the ejectile energy increases, but remains significant for 200 MeV. Both proton and neutron knockout cross sections for large recoil momenta, $p_m > 300$ MeV/c, are substantially affected by inelastic couplings even at 433 MeV. Significant effects on the cross section for neutron knockout are also predicted at smaller recoil momenta, especially for low energies. Polarization transfer for proton knockout is insensitive to channel coupling, even for fairly low ejectile energies, but polarization transfer for neutron knockout retains nonnegligible sensitivity to channel coupling for energies up to about 200 MeV. The present results suggest that possible medium modifications of neutron and proton electromagnetic form factors for $Q^2 \gtrsim 0.5 (GeV/c)^2$ can be studied using recoil polarization with relatively little sensitivity due to final state interactions.Comment: Substantially revised version accepted by Phys. Rev. C; shortened to 49 pages including 21 figure

The Earth: Plasma Sources, Losses, and Transport Processes

This paper reviews the state of knowledge concerning the source of magnetospheric plasma at Earth. Source of plasma, its acceleration and transport throughout the system, its consequences on system dynamics, and its loss are all discussed. Both observational and modeling advances since the last time this subject was covered in detail (Hultqvist et al., Magnetospheric Plasma Sources and Losses, 1999) are addressed