Can alternative metrics provide new insights from Net-Promoter data? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Studies in Marketing at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Marketers regularly use loyalty measures to better understand consumers’ purchase behaviour. In commercial market research the loyalty metric, Net Promoter Score (NPS), is commonly used due to its simplicity, and because there are claims that increases in NPS relate to increases in company revenue. However, the connection between NPS and revenue growth rates is widely criticised by scholars, casting doubt on the wisdom of implementing strategies that focus on increasing the numbers of highly loyal customers. This research considers whether alternative metrics, derived from Net-Promoter data, can provide new insights into customer loyalty. It examines whether the NPS, likelihood mean, and Polarization Index measure different aspects of loyalty in the real estate (n=1,818) and agricultural (n=2,785) sectors. It then evaluates the ability of the three measures to predict changes in same customer spend and company revenue using data from the agricultural sector. The findings show that the NPS and likelihood mean measure similar aspects of loyalty and that the Polarization Index measures a different aspect of loyalty when applied to 11-point Net-Promoter data. Longitudinal comparisons suggests that the NPS and likelihood mean are poor predictors of the current (t) and future (t+1) spend by the same customers, compared with the Polarization Index which provides a more accurate prediction. In contrast, the NPS and likelihood mean are found to have a strong relationship with current (t) and future (t+1) company revenue, while negative relationships were observed for the Polarization Index. These findings suggest that loyal customers increase their spending less than disloyal customers, as they have likely reached saturation point with the company’s products. However, loyal customers still contribute to company revenue growth by attracting new customers, presumably through Word-of-mouth (WOM). Therefore growth comes through penetration and increasing the amount spent by the least loyal customers, rather than through increasing spend by loyal customers

Stellar Population of Ellipticals in Different Environments: Near-infrared Spectroscopic Observations

Near-infrared spectra of 50 elliptical galaxies in the Pisces, A2199 and A2634 clusters, and in the general field, have been obtained. The strength of the CO (2.3 micron) absorption feature in these galaxies is used to explore the presence of an intermediate-age population (e.g. Asymptotic Giant Branch stars) in ellipticals in different environments. We find the strongest evidence for such a population comes from ellipticals in groups of a few members, which we interpret as the result of recent minor merging of these galaxies with later type galaxies. Field galaxies from very isolated environments, on the other hand, show no evidence for young or intermediate-age stars as revealed by H beta and CO absorptions, and appear to form a very uniform, old population with very little scatter in metallicity and star formation history.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Personalised Learning: Developing a Vygotskian Framework for E-learning

Personalisation has emerged as a central feature of recent educational strategies in the UK and abroad. At the heart of this is a vision to empower learners to take more ownership of their learning and develop autonomy. While the introduction of digital technologies is not enough to effect this change, embedding the affordances of new technologies is expected to offer new routes for creating personalised learning environments. The approach is not unique to education, with consumer technologies offering a 'personalised' relationship which is both engaging and dynamic, however the challenge remains for learning providers to capture and transpose this to educational contexts. As learners begin to utilise a range of tools to pursue communicative and collaborative actions, the first part of this paper will use analysis of activity logs to uncover interesting trends for maturing e-learning platforms across over 100 UK learning providers. While personalisation appeals to marketing theories this paper will argue that if learning is to become personalised one must ask what the optimal instruction for any particular learner is? For Vygotsky this is based in the zone of proximal development, a way of understanding the causal-dynamics of development that allow appropriate pedagogical interventions. The second part of this paper will interpret personalised learning as the organising principle for a sense-making framework for e-learning. In this approach personalised learning provides the context for assessing the capabilities of e-learning using Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development as the framework for assessing learner potential and development

False economy? The costs of contracting and workforce insecurity in the voluntary sector

The purpose of this project has been to gain insights into the direct and indirect implications of the insecure funding regime faced by the social care sector, with a particular focus on those relating to employment and service quality. Respondents revealed an intensifying climate of competition and anxiety among workers and their representatives regarding future employment prospects. This situation was aggravated by uncertainties over Supporting People funding and the actual, and perceived potential, impact of new EU public procurement regulations

Condensate phenomena in the polar regions of Mars

Models used to study the changes in Martian climate must of necessity adequately describe the current volatile cycles. The focus is on mathematical modeling of current volatile cycles and modest extrapolation to past regimes. Water cycle, dust storms, polar variabilty, and north polar clouds data were compared to the model predictions