The Insights of marketing

This study has been designed for the Marketing students and practitioners. Prior to submit this article for review and publication, the core concepts (i.e. letter wise definition) of this article was submitted to the famous writer Philip Kotler. His reply e-mail encouraged me to developed this article

Antecedents and consequences of service quality in a higher education context

"This research aims to develop an integrated service quality model in a higher education context. The focus of this research is to study the antecedents, dimensions and consequences of service quality in the context of Central Queensland University (CQUniversity), Australia. The conceptual domain for this study is based on the European Customer Satisfaction Index (ECSI) model and the perception-only measure of service quality. The study used methodological triangulation apporach where both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed"--Abstract

Marketing communications for organic food products : development and validation of two models leading to purchase intent

This paper aims to understand the antecedents of organic food communications, and how organic food communications could contribute in organic food purchase intentions. The current paper is a part of a larger study that collected data from a nationwide online survey during November 2012. This resulted to 1011 usable responses. This paper used Partial Least Square (PLS) based structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. The findings show that there are two major antecedents to perceived organic food communications, namely, controlled marketing communications and perceived organic consumers’ value. The findings also demonstrate three major and significant paths that lead organic food consumers from perceived organic food communication stage to purchase intent stage. These three statistically positive and significant paths are: trust, perception and self-image paths. Thus, the paper explains the role of marketing communications that bridges between consumers’ generally positive attitudes towards organic food and their low level of organic food purchases

Development prospect of mango processing in Bangladesh : the case of PRAN Group

Bangladesh produces roughly 2,00,000 MT mangoes each year and the market size for processed mango is about 400 million dollar. This study shows the opportunities for the processed mango products

Understanding the Australian organic food consumers

The average Australian expenditure on fresh fruits and vegetables is only about 0.1% per week of total food and non-alcoholic beverage expenditure. This has a current challenge towards a long-term sustainability of the organic farms and organisation. The aim of this paper is to segment the Australian consumer markets by taking the four major market segmentation dimensions, including, demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioural dimensions. A number of variable of each of these dimensions were considered, and subsequently, a nationwide survey was conducted and various statistical tools were used to analyse the dataset. The key market segmentation variables for the Australian organic food market are: gender, age, annual household income, educational qualification, state-territories, metro-regional, retail outlets, personal values, self-image and personality traits, perceptions about organic foods, usage rate, loyalty status and user status. This study has explored and identified the key segmentation variables for the Australian organic food market. The Australian organic farms and organisations aiming for a sustained presence could consider this study as a basis of the future and strategic marketing plan

Antecedents and consequences of service quality in a higher education context : a qualitative research approach

Purpose – The paper explored the perception of students in regard to critical antecedents, dimensions and consequences of service quality with an aim to develop a theoretical model in the context of a university in Australia. Design/methodology/approach – This research used focus group discussions with nineteen students studying in the undergraduate and postgraduate level programs at the Central Queensland University (CQUniversity), Rockhampton, Australia. Findings – The findings show that the critical antecedents to perceived service quality are information and past experience. There are three aspects of perceived service quality, namely, academic, administrative and facilities. Student satisfaction and student trust are found to have direct and positive relationships with perceived service quality as consequences; and brand performance and behavioural intention are found to have indirect relationships with perceived service quality mediated through satisfaction and trust. Originality/value – This research develops an integrated model of service quality in the context of a university

Lessons learnt from communication for disaster preparedness : a study on six survivors from the great East Japan earthquake and tsunami 2011

Communication is a primary challenge in response to natural and man-made disasters. The purpose of this study is to determine the forms of communications that played a critical role in disaster preparedness during the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami (Tohoku earthquake). The study used a case study research method and included six informants following the purposive sampling technique. Data was collected through unstructured in-depth interviews. The findings suggest that communicationin all forms played a vital role in disaster preparedness. In the survivor’s view, however, the impact of broadcast media in establishing situational awareness was limited. Local disaster management efforts, such as, “on call,” or emergency measures, such as, personnel and trucks with communication systems, mobile phone alarms, and sirens were viewed by survivors as useful in transmitting unambiguous, specific messages in a demanding tsunami context. In particular, the study demonstrates that residents’ trust in risk/disaster related messages and mediums play vitalroles in subsequent behaviour/response to natural disasters

Hindrances of export promotion with India : the Bangladesh perspective

This study is an attempt to present the major hindrances of trade development and to find opportunities for increasing trade cooperation between Bangladesh and India

Effectiveness of micro finance institutions on the determinants of women empowerment

This paper empirically investigates four parameters of women empowerment, namely, entitlement of assets, participation in the decision making process, responsible behavior, and equalization of opportunity. Data are collected from two perspectives, namely, pre-membership and post-membership conditions with their respective Micro-Finance Institutions' (MFI) attachment. The statistical results are conclusive

MDG health goal 2015 : the untold stories of reproductive health

Reproductive health care services in Bangladesh are inadequate to say the least. Rural women have little or no access to health care services and remain reluctant to consult a doctor due to lack of encouragement from family members and their tendency to rely heavily on traditional healer’s medicine. There is inadequate research in regard to the causes such as beliefs and attitudes towards reproductive health among Bangladeshi women. This study used two tiered qualitative research methodology employing in-depth one-to-one interviews and focus group discussions using semi-structure questions; to confirm and validate the data collected from three villages in Rajshahi, Bangladesh. During the fieldwork, 30 one-to-one interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted using snowball sampling technique. The findings reveal three critical themes regarding rural women’s belief and attitudes toward reproductive health - a strong belief in traditional healers; a firm belief of following in-laws and seniors/elders, and superstitions regarding fertility, pregnancy and child-birth