Business Commons^™

A Consumer-Based Brand Equity Model For The Luxury And Upscale Hotel Sector, Hairong Shan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Luxury and upscale hotels, in common with businesses in other service industries and more broadly, seek to develop a strong brand that will contribute to a long-term competitive advantage. However, research on consumer-based brand equity in luxury and upscale hotels is limited. Therefore, the current research, based on fundamental theories of brand equity development established in the packaged goods and the service industries including hotels, has developed a consumer-based brand equity model for the luxury and upscale hotel sector.

A mixed methods research design was employed. A qualitative study was first conducted using focus groups with the data being content …

Creativity, Design And Management In Australian Fashion Enterprises, Bruno Santarelli

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In this study a number of Australian fashion enterprises are investigated in an effort to understand how product development is managed and creativity facilitated. Of particular interest was the interaction between the various actors in the creative process and the manner in which they influenced creative output. The study was underpinned by a wideranging review of the literature that reflects the multidisciplinary nature of creativity and innovation in business.

The study is timely because Australian fashion enterprises are operating in an increasingly challenging market with a perfect storm of competitive drivers at play. Technology enables instant dissemination of fashion trends …

Customer Relationship Management (Crm) Of Hotels In The Context Of Variety-Seeking Behaviour (Vsb), Maduka Udunuwara

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study combined two significant areas in marketing, customer relationship management (CRM) and variety-seeking behaviour (VSB), which are paradoxical constructs due to their contradictory intentions. While organisations implement various customer relationship management practices with an intention of retaining customers and generating loyalty, a preference for variety-seeking behaviour can make customers switch. This study investigated the impact of variety-seeking behaviour on generating outcomes of customer relationship management practices in the hotel context, by focusing exclusively on leisure travellers.

Even though customer relationship management is widely adopted in the hotel domain, much of its discussions are on implementation related aspects, rather than …

Encroaching On Freedoms? Values Related To Freedom And Readiness To Accept Social Marketing Activities In Australia And Japanese Students, Kaoru Nosaka

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Do Australian and Japanese university students feel that social marketing is encroaching on their freedoms or empowering them? For example, how do they react to social marketing messages such as ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’ and ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’? Social marketing activities include advocating for environmental change, laws, and regulations as well as making recommendations to individuals to change behaviours to promote the good of society; however, some people believe that such activities are attempts to control people, infringing upon their individual freedom. While behavioural models and theories have recognised the influence of an individual’s predisposition towards a recommended behaviour (such …

The More We Sell The Happier We Are: Comparison Of Responsible Alcohol Service In Trained And Untrained Establishments In Perth, Nevil Alexander

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research investigated whether training licensees and approved managers of Perth pubs and taverns resulted in more Responsible Alcohol Service (RAS). Specifically it investigated whether apparently intoxicated customers were refused service. Trained and untrained premises were compared using two methods. Quantitative data was gathered by observers posing as intoxicated customers (pseudo-drunks) while qualitative data was collected during interviews with management, staff, and patrons of trained and untrained premises. No significant difference in the service of alcohol to intoxicated patrons in trained or untrained premises was found. The interviews revealed no distinction between the attitudes and beliefs of management, staff, or …

Alcohol Restraint Television Advertisements Targeted At Adolescents : A Three-Way Comparison Of Reinforcement Styles On Attitude To The Advertisement, Attitude To The Cause And Attitude To The Act, Neil Robinson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Adolescent binge-drinking is an area of great concern in Australia as it is with many other developed countries around the world. Every year in Australia, Commonwealth and State health authorities invest considerable resources into trying to address this issue and the results have been described as being at best, mixed. Health promotion initiatives such as school programmes, media promotion and health programmes coupled w1th restrictions on supply of alcohol are all used to try and curb the incidence of adolescent binge drinking. In recent years television advertising has specifically been used to try and curb the incidence of adolescent binge-drinking …

Exploring The Criteria Used By Managers To Measure The Effectiveness Of Customer Loyalty Programs, Peter D. Simms

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Since the 1970s there has been a paradigm shift away from mass marketing towards the establishment and maintenance of individual relationships known as relationship marketing. Customer loyalty programs can be seen as the tactical strategies that have resulted from this change in focus, as they attempt to retain existing customers by developing a long-term, mutually satisfying relationship. The first of these such strategies was introduced in 1981, and they are still a relatively new and unexplored phenomenon. The limited research on these strategies conducted thus far has shown the many purported advantages to be doubtful at best, yet their number …

Attitudes Towards Female Sports Stars As Endorsers, Kevin R. James

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Successful and popular sports people have often been utilised as celebrity endorsers to encourage consumers to purchase goods and services. While male sports stars have a well-documented history as product endorsers, their female counterparts have been infrequently used, rarely studied and occasionally mismanaged. Using the dimensions that influence the credibility of a celebrity endorser, this study specifically examines consumer attitudes towards female sports stars as endorsers. Respondents intention to purchase was measured for three different products. As well, the attitude towards perceived attractive and non-attractive female sports stars was also explored. A three stage design, comprising of focus groups, specific …

Determining The Critical Elements Of The Customer Intimacy Framework, Frank Raymond Jasper

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Currently the field of marketing is undergoing a transformation concerning the appropriate marketing model to use in business. This transformation arose due to the mounting problems of the existing 4Ps Marketing Model, the heightened importance of customer retention, the requirement to continually add value to business processes and recent advancements in Internet technology. An alternate approach to the 4Ps Marketing Model began to emerge in the 1970's and was termed relationship marketing. This study is exploratory in nature and investigates consumer perceptions concerning customer intimacy. A self-administered mail questionnaire was employed to gather the necessary data from 300 solely external …

Fourth World Consumer Culture: Emerging Consumer Cultures In Remote Aboriginal Communities Of North-Western Australia, Ronald George Groves

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Over the two centuries since the arrival of European settlers in Australia, the material culture and lifestyle of the indigenous Aboriginal people of Australia has undergone dramatic change. Based on qualitative fieldwork in three remote Aboriginal communities in north-western Australia, this study examines the emergence of unique consumer cultures that appear to differ significantly from mainstream Australia and indeed from other societies. The study finds that the impact of non-indigenous goods and external cultural values upon these communities has been significant. However, although anthropologists feared some fifty years ago that Aboriginal cultural values and traditions had been destroyed, this study …

University Preference : A Conjoint Analysis, Julia P. Turner

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The business of tertiary education has become more and more competitive in recent years due to reductions in government funding and higher study fees. As the nature of the environment grows more competitive the role of marketing, previously non-existent in most universities, has grown significantly. One of the key pieces of information that would assist the marketing effort of any university is an understanding of what determines university preference. This study examines university preference in Western Australia. A form of conjoint analysis, known as Adaptive Conjoint Analysis (ACA), was used to investigate the relative importance of a number of attributes …

A Consumption Value Approach To The Factors That Influence Parental Choice Of Secondary School: An Exploratory Study, Penelope J. Welsh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of the present study was to identify the factors that influenced parents' choice of a secondary school for their children and, in particular, to determine, choice process. Understanding how parents choose secondary schools and what parents value should help established and new private schools develop more effective marketing strategies, including their choices of target markets and location, as well as their educational emphasis, fee structure and disciplinary policies. While a schools marketing efforts must include information about the school facilities and the implied social benefits of attending the particular school, this study found that Emotional Value, feeling good …