Why young consumers are not open to mobile marketing communications

This paper explores young people's motivations for using mobile phones. Older adolescents' everyday use of traditional and new forms of mediated communication were explored in the context of their everyday lives, with data generated from self-completion questionnaires, diaries and mini focus groups. The findings confirm the universal appeal of mobile phones to a youth audience. Social and entertainment-related motivations dominated, while information and commercially orientated contact were less appealing. While marketers are excited by the reach and possibilities for personalisation offered by mobile phones, young people associated commercial appropriation of this medium with irritation, intrusion and mistrust. In other words, while marketers celebrated mobile phones as a 'brand in the hand' of youth markets, young people themselves valued their mobiles as a 'friend in the hand'. This suggests that the way forward for mobile marketing communications is not seeking or pretending to be young consumers' friend, butrather offering content that helps them maintain or develop the personal friendships that matter to them

A class of algorithms for rational approximation of functions formally defined by power series

Corresponding sequence algorithms are defined and shown to exist for a wide range of corresponding continued fractions. Particular examples of these algorithms are given, including an algorithm for forming Pade approximants, and an error analysis is given in one case

Intermolecular hydrogen bonding of the two independent molecules of N-3,5-dinitrobenzoyl-L-leucine

The title compound, C₁₃H₁₅N₃O₇, crystallizes as two independent molecules which differ in their conformation. Intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the amide and carboxylic acid groups as N-H...O=C interactions results in the formation of one-dimensional chains with N...O distances of 2.967 (6) and 3.019 (6) Å. Neighbouring chains are linked by C=O...H-O interactions to form a two-dimensional network, with O...O distances of 2.675 (6) and 2.778 (6) Å

Postmodern poachers: young adult experiences of advertising

This thesis addresses young adults' everyday experiences of advertising. It aims to enhance understanding of their relationship with this pervasive and persuasive form of communication. While the findings may be of interest to advertisers, it is hoped that they will contribute to debates about the social, cultural and public policy implications of advertising.As there is little research addressing advertising experiences directly, literature is reviewed in the areas of consumer attitudes, involvement and literacy with respect to advertising. Research in these areas suggests that consumers' relationship with advertising is rich and complex. It is argued, however, that previous research has been dominated by an American, managerial, quantitative, and positivist perspective. A lack of integration between academic and practitioner research in these areas was also observed.Qualitative research was undertaken to explore consumers' relationship with advertising in a Scottish context. A preliminary phase consisted of interviews with ten advertising research practitioners. The main phase of the research focused on young adults aged 18-24, and compared their experiences across boundaries of age, gender and occupational status. Following a pilot study, fourteen small group discussions and fourteen individual interviews were conducted.The young adults were found to be more active, selective and sophisticated consumers of advertising than the practitioners had suggested. They are characterised as "postmodern poachers" of advertising, reflecting their ironic and playful approach to much of it, and their often independent consumption of advertisements and brands: they appropriated advertising elements for their own purposes, many of which had little to do with marketing transactions. There appeared to be many common areas of advertising experience among the young adults, although several substantial differences emerged. The thesis concludes by considering the implications of the findings for the study, practice and regulation of advertising

Applications of continued fractions in one and more variables

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Elementary properties of continued fractions are derived from sets of three-term recurrence relations and approximation methods are developed from this simple approach. First, a well-known method for numerical inversion of Laplace transforms is modified in two different ways to obtain exponential approximations. Differential-difference equations arising from certain Markov processes are solved by direct application of continued fractions and practical error estimates are obtained. Approximations of a slightly different form are then derived for certain generalised hypergeometric functions using those hypergeometric functions that satisfy three-term recurrence relations and have simple continued fraction expansions. Error estimates are also given in this case. The class of corresponding sequence algorithms is then described for the transformation of power series into continued fraction form. These algorithms are shown to have very general application and only break down if the required continued fraction does not exist. A continued fraction in two variables is then shown to exist and its correspondence with suitable double power series made feasible by the generalisation of the corresponding sequence method. A convergence theorem, due to Van Vleck, is adapted for use with this type of continued fraction and a comparison is made with Chisholm rational approximants in two variables. Some of these ideas are further generalised to the multivariate case. Such corresponding fractions are closely related to other fractions that may be used for point-wise bivariate or multivariate interpolation to function values known on a mesh of points. Interpolation algorithms are described and advantages and limitations discussed. The work presented forms a basis for a wide range of further research and some possible applications in numerical mathematics are indicated

Do cross border and domestic acquisitions differ? Evidence from the acquisition of UK targets

Journal ArticleNOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in International Review of Financial Analysis. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in International Review of Financial Analysis, Vol. 31, pp. 61 – 69 doi: 10.1016/j.irfa.2013.09.001We investigate the determinants of short term wealth effects for both public acquiring and target shareholders following the announcement of UK acquisitions over the period 1990-2005. Regardless of their nationality, overall acquirers incur losses, with domestic acquirers' under-performing cross-border acquirers in general. For the latter no differences in returns between regions are found once the differences in corporate governance regimes are controlled for. Instead it is firm characteristics and in particular firm leverage that largely explain acquirers' returns. All targets gain significantly but the higher returns associated with international deals disappear once bid characteristics are controlled for. © 2013 Elsevier Inc

Target Shareholder Returns: their Magnitude and Determinants following Takeover Announcements by Domestic and International Acquirers

Synergy is frequently cited as the motive behind much of the global merger and acquisition activity. A large volume of empirical evidence suggests target shareholders gain substantially with acquirers experiencing small losses or at best a break-even position. Most of the studies focus primarily on domestic transactions and on bid characteristics in an attempt to explain potential value changes. Whilst recent research, largely in the US context, has started to take place on the implications of international acquisitions, there is a scarcity of evidence in the UK. The aim of this paper is to address this shortcoming and to examine the magnitude and determinants of value changes to shareholders of target firms. This study uses a specially constructed data set covering 299 takeover announcements for publicly quoted UK target firms by both domestic and international firms over the period 1990 to 1998. The volume of transactions is considerably higher in the 1995-98 period in contrast to 1990–94 era. Average bid value does not differ across country of acquirer. It is found that target firms are characterised by high levels of institutional ownership. The results suggest engagement in the merger process appears to improve the welfare of target shareholders while the determinants of value changes indicate that corporate governance proxies, relative firm performance and bid features do help explain potential returns. It is concluded that mergers and acquisitions continue to play an important role in restructuring the corporate landscape in the UK with total value of bids in our sample amounting to £160 billion