Franchise Business Development Model: Theoretical Considerations

Franchising is not a popular business development form in Lithuania. Only 0.02% of all Lithuanian companies use franchising for business development, while in most of the developed countries franchise is recognized as a convenient business expansion form. So, what factors determine such differences in the use of franchising? Analysis of related literature showed, that mainly researchers analyse some aspects of franchising, however there is no systematized analysis which covers all the main franchise development elements. Therefore, the aim of this article is to systematize franchise business development phases, main elements and factors, influencing this process and to propose a theoretical franchise system development model. Thus, theoretical considerations about the main phases and elements of franchise system development as well as advantages and disadvantages of the system are analysed in the article. These theoretical considerations are generalized in theoretical franchise system development model, which shows, that development of franchise business consists of particular steps, starting from favourable conditions for the system to emerge; intention and ability of franchisor to form franchise based on his business; the establishment and initial development of franchise system; and its further functioning. The article does not test the model and even does not discuss the operationalization of it. Operationalization of the model as well as empirical evidence is presented by the authors in the forthcoming articles

Ethical behaviour : factors influencing intention to buy organic products in Lithuania

Pastaraisiais dešimtmečiais ekonominės ir socialinės problemos turėjo didelę reikšmę formuojant visuomenės etinį elgesį. Vartotojai pradėjo suvokti, kad etiškas vartojimas padeda kurti geresnį ir sveikesnį pasaulį. Todėl įmonės sureagavo į vartotojų poreikių pokyčius ir pasiūlė įvairius etiškus produktus. Kadangi šių produktų reikšmė auga, labai svarbu nustatyti vartotojų etiško elgesio priežastis ir jį veikiančius veiksnius. Lietuvoje iki šiol etiškas vartojimas ir jo problemos yra menkai tyrinėti. Etiškumo samprata yra labai plati, tad straipsnyje pasirenkamas vienas etiškų produktų tipas – natūralūs produktai. Tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti veiksnius, skatinančius pirkti natūralius produktus. Remiantis Tarkianen, A., Sundqvist, S. (2005), Ahmad, S. N. B., Juhdi, N. (2010) and Zhen, J. S. S., Mansori, S. (2012) modeliais sukurtas tyrimo modelis. Nustatyta, kad svarbiausi veiksniai pirkti natūralius produktus yra vartotojų etiniai įsitikinimai, rūpinimasis produktų saugumu, sveikata, taip pat produktų kaina ir pasiekiamumas. Tyrimo metu kokybinės apklausos metodu tirti 406 Lietuvos gyventojai. Reikšminiai žodžiai: Organic; Ethical; Intention to buyDuring the latest decades economical and social problems had a great influence for society in shaping its ethical behaviour. Consumers started to perceive ethical consumption as a tool to lead society to better and healthier world. Therefore, companies have reacted to changing consumer preferences and offered various ethical products. As the importance of ethical products increased, it is crucial to determine the reasons of ethical consumer behaviour and factors influencing it. The researches made in emerging economies (like Lithuania) on ethical consumption are very limited, therefore neither factors influencing ethical consumer behaviour, neither problems limiting it were determined in Lithuania yet. As the term ethical is quite broad, in this study one form of ethical products – organic products were chosen. The aim of this research was to determine the factors that influence the intention to buy organic products. Based on the models of Tarkiainen, Sundqvist (2005), Ahmad, Juhdi (2010) and Zhen, Mansori (2012), the research model was developed. It identified the influence of consumer ethical beliefs, concern about product safety, concern about health, and two moderating variables: product price and product availability, on the intention to buy organic products. Quantative survey was carried out among 406 Lithuanian respondents

The Importance of corporate social responsibility in Lithuania’s finance and telecommunication industries

Companies in Lithuania follow international trends of social responsibility and start to declare their social responsibility to create positive consumer attitude. However, it is not determined if socially responsible activities are noticed by consumers and if they are noticed, are these activities perceived positively. Therefore, the purpose of the article was to identify the Lithuanian population approach to social responsibility declaring companies from telecommunications and financial services sectors. The content analysis of public information from 3 telecommunication companies and 6 finance companies was performed and 6 companies selected for further analysis. The survey of 95 respondents was carried out, which revealed that particularly in telecommunications and financial services sector consumers prefer service quality and consumers satisfaction more than social responsibility, although in general consumers approve socially or environmentally oriented actions by the companies

Product elements as the basis for consumer choice : the case of food supplements

Vienas iš būdų analizuoti rinkos pasiūlymus yra pagrįstas produkto elementų vertinimu potencialaus vartotojo požiūriu. Maisto papildų kategorija yra gana specifinė ir nėra plačiai tyrinėjama. Straipsnio tikslas yra nustatyti, kurie maisto papildų akims elementai yra vartotojų suvokiami kaip svarbesni ir turi stipriausią įtaką vartotojo pirkimo sprendimams, bei kokioms produkto elementų kombinacijoms įvairių vartotojų segmentai teiktų prioritetus. Analizės rezultatai parodė, kad maisto papildų akims vidiniai produkto elementai turi stipriausią įtaką pirkėjo sprendimui pirkti. Svarbiausios vidinės charakteristikos buvo vartojimo dažnumas, kuo mažiau kartų per dieną jį reikėjo vartoti, tuo patrauklesnis jis buvo pirkėjams. Svarbų vaidmenį taip pat vaidino aktyvusis ingredientas, ypač tai pasakytina apie vyresnius respondentus. Tačiau dauguma vartotojų žinojo tik apie vieną tipą iš trijų pasiūlytų aktyvių ingredientų. Iš išorinių elementų svarbiausia buvo kaina – kuo ji buvo žemesnė, tuo daugiau pirkėjų norėko pirkti tam tikrą papildą akims, ypač tai pastebima jaunesnių pirkėjų grupėje. Taip pat analizė atskleidė, kad nuomonę formuojančių asmenų rekomendacijos buvo svarbios vartotojams, ypač jei tie asmenys buvo iš vietinių gydytojų asociacijos. Tačiau tokie produkto elementai kaip kilmės šalis ir prekės ženklas vartotojam svarbūs nebuvo. Be to, buvo nustatyta, kad maisto papildų akims prekės ženklo žinomumas tarp Lietuvos vartotojų buvo labai žemas. Reikšminiai žodžiai: Vartotojų elgsena; Vartotojų pasirinkimas; Vartotojų požiūris; Prekės elementai; Maisto priedai; Consumer behavior; Consumer choice; Consumer buying decisions; Product elements; Food supplementsOne way of analysing market offers is based on the evaluation of product elements from the position of potential consumers. Food supplements product category is rather specific and has not been much researched. Therefore, the objective of the paper is to determine which elements of food supplements are perceived as more important by the consumers and have the strongest influence on consumer buying decisions, and what combinations of products elements would be preferable by various consumers segments. The analysis was based on results of survey that included opinions of 188 participants. Conjoint analysis was used to determine consumer preferences based on the selected six research variables: brand name, main active ingredient, frequency of use, country of origin, price and recommendations. Also the gender, age and buying experience of consumers were considered. The results revealed that internal product elements had the strongest influence on consumer buying decisions. The most important internal characteristic was the frequency of use. Price was the most important among the external elements – the lower it was, the more consumers wanted to buy particular food supplement