Marketing Strategy Process: Quantitative Analysis of the Customers' Satisfaction

Several years ago one of the most respected management-consulting firms, McKimsey & Co., defined the key business practices that characterized "well-run organizations". The results of this study were summarized and the most fundamental conclusion was made that the most successful companies are not more successful because of any superiority in strategic planning (Schoell et al. 1987). It is impossible to determine whether a strategy was correct or not if the implementation of this strategy is unsound. The implementation of the marketing strategy is effective and the strategy is appropriate if the targets of the company met requirements for growth, share and profits (Grundey 2008). The most important factor indicating the success of the marketing strategy is the customers' value creation by meeting their needs (Alvin J. Silk 2006). The problem exists how to evaluate and calculate in a quantitative manner the customers' satisfaction factor. The additional efforts and resources are necessary (Minnesota Dep. 2008). The aim of this paper is to describe and to make a comparative analysis of the marketing strategy processes proposed by different authors, to make quantitative analysis of the customers' satisfaction, referring to the particular example of the company

Tendencies and Relations of Defense Spending and Economic Growth in the EU Countries

European countries are surrounded by growing conflicts and security threats. For every country it is necessary to ensure internal and external security. Defense should be seen as preventative spending as well as like an insurance policy. In terms of that, many policy makers have to decide how much money should be spent on defense. This paper investigates the tendencies and relationships of defense spending and economic growth in the European Union (EU) countries taking into consideration the level of countries' economic development over the period of 2004–2013. The authors have done this by considering a number of descriptive statistical indicators and applying Granger testing. Based on the real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, the European Union countries have been classified into five categories. The association between defense spending and economic growth has been estimated. On the basis of causality testing, the prevailing causality direction is from defense spending to economic growth in the group of countries of a very high level of economic development. However, in the group of countries of lower or mid-level of economic development the causality runs from economic growth to defense spending. For the remaining group of countries, no causal relationship has been detected between these two variables. The paper is concerned with defense spending and economic growth only. The authors have not considered all the other factors. That is the major limitation of this paper. Despite of this, the research highlights the key trends and relationships, which should be of particular interest to policy makers. However, every country is unique, and the economic growth or decline do not imply spontaneous change in defense expenditure. Prospective threats may be the most important factor for the expansion of defense spending

The research of the causal relationship between unemployment and emigration in Lithuania

This paper aims to investigate the causal relationship between unemployment and emigration in Lithuania using Granger – causality test. The research is based on annual data spanning the period of 2004–2012. The investigation encompasses two steps. Firstly, the authors have analyzed the Lithuanian position regarding relationship between unemployment rate and emigration in the context of the European Union countries; secondly, the causality between unemployment and emigration has been determined in the case of Lithuania. On the basis of the European Union countries statistical data, results of the research have revealed a weak correlation between unemployment rate and emigration. On the contrary, evidence has suggested the existence of a strong relationship between unemployment and emigration in Lithuania. Results of the Granger – causality test have showed that unemployment impacts on emigration in Lithuania

FREQUENCY DOMAIN ANALYSIS OF CONSUMER CONFIDENCE, INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND RETAIL SALES FOR SELECTED EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

This paper examines the relationship between consumer confidence, economic growth and retail sales for selected countries employing frequency domain analysis. Our methodology includes the causality test developed by Breitung and Candelon (2006) which improves the methodology of Geweke (1982) and Hosoya (1991). We focus on the causality tests across frequency bands as well as the usual Granger causality tests. Especially for the emerging countries the causality goes from the economic growth to consumer confidence but not vice versa. This argument basically supports the findings of Güneş and Uzun (2010) as well as Balkytė and Tvaronavičienė (2010), which claim that in emerging countries consumers are not able to trigger the economic growth with their confidence due to their subsistence level of income. Besides, causality from consumer confidence to retail sales, which is a proxy for the consumer expenditures, is detected. As in Basdas and Çelik (2010), we also obtain significant differences whenever the frequency domain causality tests are employed instead of usual Granger causality tests in time domain. Santrauka Straipsnyje nagrinėjamas ryšys tarp vartotojų pasitikėjimo, ekonomikos augimo ir mažmeninės prekybos pasirinktose dvylikoje Europos šalių, taikant dažnių analizės metodą. Vartotojų pasitikėjimo rodiklis traktuojamas kaip vienas pagrindinių ekonomikos rodiklių, padedančių priimti svarbius investicinius ir verslo sprendimus tiek trumpalaikėje, tiek ilgalaikėje perspektyvoje. Tyrimo objektas susijęs su ryšio tarp vartotojų pasitikėjimo, ekonomikos augimo ir mažmeninės prekybos nustatymu tiek tarp išsivysčiusių, tiek mažiau ekonomiškai išsivysčiusių Europos šalių. Tyrimo metodologija apima Breitung ir Candelon (2006) priežastingumo testą, kuris patobulina ir papildo Geweke (1982) ir Hosoya (1991) siūlomus tyrimų metodus. Kylanti šalių ekonomika lemia vartotojų pasitikėjimą, o ne atvirkščiai. Šis argumentas iš esmės patvirtina Güneş ir Uzun (2010) bei Balkytės ir Tvaronavičienės (2010) ankstesnių tyrimų išvadas, kad augančios ekonomikos šalyse vartotojų pasitikėjimas dėl pajamų lygio neturi įtakos ekonomikos augimui. Atliekant tyrimą nustatytas priežastingumo ryšys tarp vartotojų pasitikėjimo ir mažmeninės prekybos kaip vieno iš pagrindinių vartojimą charakterizuojančių rodiklių. Reikšminiai žodžiai: vartotojas, pasitikėjimas, ryšys, analizė, ekonomik