Consumer Durables

The domestic consumer electronics and durables sector has witnessed a substantial growth over the last few years. This sector plays an important part in the economy of the country and provides employment to millions of people, more importantly to a large number of women in the country. The Indian TV and consumer durables market has been growing big, primarily driven by imports. India is well positioned to increase its manufacturing base in the consumer durables. Even the manufacturers on their part are willing to invest in India and increase their manufacturing base in the country to serve domestic markets and also to export in order to gain scale and make Indian operations viable. This paper highlights the consumer durable sector opportunities, challenges, strategies and trends to provide boost to India consumer durable market.

Online Grocery Shopping is still insignificant when compared to the traditional bricks and mortar stores in the United Arab Emirates, despite the very high internet penetration, the high availability of smartphones and personal computers, grocery retailer’s focus on this channel to strengthen market share, and the consumers searching for convenience and time saving. OGS can have a stronger role to play in consumers’ life, and E-Business development. Therefore, it is important to understand what influences intention and attitude of consumers towards OGS.

This particular study was conducted in order to analyze the trends of OGS in the UAE. The study was diverse and took into account various segments of respondents differentiated on the basis age, gender, education level, employment status, and salary compensation. Antecedent studies have identified several factors influencing attitude and intention towards Online Grocery Shopping; however, there is a scarcity of research in this area in the United Arab Emirates. The hypothesis that were designed were under these same observations and the data collected helped to accept or reject those hypotheses and eventually build a case for the findings and its practical implications in the market of the UAE. For this particular research, the researcher used the deductive approach as the topic already has existing literature and there were certain behavioural trends that were meant to be investigated as the purpose of this research.

Researcher has adapted deductive approach for testing the study hypotheses.  Sample size of 240 participants was determined using the formula 𝑛 = [𝑁 z2𝑝𝑞] / [(E2 (𝑁−1) + z2𝑝𝑞)]. Data was collected from an experimental sample and analyzed using SPSS 24 to acquire correlation matrix and view alpha if item deleted.  Findings of the study indicate that, Attitude towards online Purchase factor (M=4.33) is the most important factor as indicated by the respondents.  The next most influential factor was PU (M=4.22), followed by PT (M=4.14), PR (M=3.91), Intention to Purchase (M=3.85), Sensory Attribute (M=3.81) and finally the least influential factor indicated by respondents was Social Influence (M=3.41).  All of the mean values for all the factors were above 1.0 which indicates overall high impact of the influential factors that influence consumer’s intention towards OGS in the UAE.

A dynamic model of the product lifecycle of (nearly) homogeneous durables in polypoly markets is established. It describes the concurrent evolution of the unit sales and price of durable goods. The theory is based on the idea that the sales dynamics is determined by a meeting process of demanded with supplied product units. Taking advantage from the Bass model for first purchase and a logistic model for repurchase the entire product lifecycle of a durable can be established. For
the case of a fast growing supply the model suggests that the mean price of the good decreases according to a logistic law. Both, the established unit sales and price evolution are in agreement with the empirical data studied in this paper.
The presented approach discusses further the interference of the diffusion process with the supply dynamics. The model predicts the occurrence of lost sales in the initial stages of the lifecycle due to supply constraints. They are the origin for a retarded market penetration. The theory suggests that
the imitation rate B indicating social contagion in the Bass model has its maximum magnitude for the case of a large amount of available units at introduction and a fast output increase. The empirical data of the investigated samples are in qualitative agreement with this prediction.

Kenya withstood another difficult year in 2012 as policy tightening and weaker global demand slowed economic activity. With decisive fiscal and monetary policies, the government managed to restore confidence in Kenya's medium term prospects. Kenya's growth rate is still below its potential and its peers, external imbalances remain which threaten its future growth, and the pace of economic growth is not generating enough modern sector wage jobs. With the passage of the new constitution in 2010 and its implementation, stronger institutions are emerging, putting Kenya on a sound footing ready to take off. In the very short term, what remains to be done is for Kenya to deliver a credible and peaceful election in March 2013, and thereafter a smooth transfer of power. In the medium term, Kenya will need to start building a stronger foundation for growth, and undertake structural reforms to correct the external imbalances. To generate more jobs for the burgeoning educated youth pop...

This study investigates an attempt to economically and socially empower some of the poorest and most vulnerable young women in one of the poorest and most fragile places in the world: northern Uganda. Investing in women is said to be a key to development. Educate her, buy her a cow or goat, or help her start a business and great things will follow: sustained increases in income, greater empowerment and social inclusion, health and education for the children, and (especially in war-affected regions) mental health and happiness. This report provides provisional answers to these questions based on data collected from April 2009 to August 2012. The questions will continue to be explored and analyzed in academic papers in future, but the authors attempt to draw out the key findings and policy lessons as close to the end of the intervention and data collection as possible.

In an attempt to bring consumer psychology theories into research on the timing of repurchase of consumer durables, the authors suggest that attitude functions (knowledge, value expressive, social adjustive, and utilitarian) can help explain and predict interpurchase intervals. Adopting an interactionist perspective, the authors propose that the effect of the attitude functions is contingent on contextual factors, which they theorize as the nature of the product (along public-private and luxury-necessity dimensions) and the nature of the decision (forced or unforced purchase decision). Hypothesis testing is facilitated by survey data on actual purchase decisions and hazard models that incorporate individual heterogeneity. The results support the suggested role of attitude functions in explaining and predicting interpurchase intervals and suggest means by which managers can position their products to shorten interpurchase intervals.

The commonly accepted fact in marketing is that acquiring new customers is relatively more complex than retaining the available pool of customers. Strategies are inevitable for organizations which are planning to rope for success and launching new products in the market irrespective of Consumer durables or non-durables. The usage of brand extension to be precise “using established brand names for launching new products” is increasingly popular andinfluence on new product starters (Volcker and Sattler, 2006). The majority gamut’s up to 95% of novel product offerings in the marketplace aresome form of brand extension. Brand extensions also control a firm’s most precious unknown asset, brand equity (Tauber, 1981). Here the study is intended to check theimpact of Brand extension on parent brands image. Since the expense incurred on new product development goes through the roof, many companies will not stab to take the risk and in turn will go for brand extension. Line extensions are items launched within similar product category, while brand extensions are initiated in different categories from the present business. (De Pelsmacker et al., 2007). Companies extensivelyimplement brand extension strategies with a belief that these establish and convey strong brand positioning, develop awareness, quality associations and ultimately increase the prospect of trial (Chen and Liu, 2004). Successful extensions supportively influence choice of the parent brand and further extensions (Swaminathan, 2003). Brand Colgate-Palmolive (India) was selected for this study as parent brand and for extension of Colgate-Palmolive (Colgate dental cream, Palmolive-Moisturizing Body Wash, Palmolive-Axion Dish Washing Paste and Colgate GEL-KAM) was selected as extended brands. A hypothesis was developed and surveyed among 80 consumers. Moreover it has been observed that a further extension similar to the parent brand was more accepted.

This policy paper examines recent poverty trends in Pakistan. Official statistics continue to indicate strong poverty reduction through 2010-11, thanks in large part to policies and investments that boosted productivity in the non-agricultural sector. Poverty fell a bit more than other countries with similar rates of growth, as growth was slightly pro-poor and also benefited the bottom 40 percent. Alternative indicators such as access to public services have also improved, though at a slower rate since 2008 the year of twin global and domestic crises that hardly hit Pakistan. While increased productivity among non-agricultural workers has been a key factor driving poverty reduction, cash transfers through the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) and workers' remittances from abroad also made moderate contributions. Simulations suggest that higher growth rates would further accelerate poverty reduction, but would have smaller effects on attaining other Millennium Development Goa...

Within the next two decades Indonesia aspires to generate prosperity, avoid a middle-income trap and leave no one behind as it tries to catch up with high-income economies. These are ambitious goals. Realizing them requires sustained high growth and job creation, as well as reduced inequality. Can Indonesia achieve them? This report argues that the country has the potential to rise and become more prosperous and equitable. But the risk of 'floating in the middle' is real. Which pathway the economy will take depends on: (i) the adoption of a growth strategy that unleashes the productivity potential of the economy; and (ii) consistent implementation of a few, long-standing, high-priority structural reforms to boost growth and share prosperity more widely. Indonesia is fortunate to have options in financing these reforms without threatening its long-term fiscal outlook. The difficulties lie in getting the reforms implemented in a complex institutional and decentralized framewor...

Kenyans are living two decades longer; the fertility and infant mortality rates have been cut in half; and school enrollment, at both the primary and secondary level, has more than doubled. On the economic front, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita increased eightfold; the largest share of GDP is the services sector, not agriculture; and the financial sector is now the third largest in Sub-Saharan Africa (after South Africa and Nigeria). Kenya strengthened its external position substantially in recent years, accumulating international reserves to meet program targets under the successfully completed international monetary fund (IMF) program. Reforms have improved the resilience of the banking sector to domestic and international shocks. With the advent of mobile information and communications technology (ICT) developments, the ceiling for innovation targeting specific segments of the market and outreach has been raised almost indefinitely. Kenyan banks are ahead of their counter...