The Structuralist Approach: According to this view, inflation is seen to arise out of structural impediments to the expansion of production in certain crucial sectors of a developing economy. An increase in investment is expected to lead to an increase in demand of consumer goods. This increase in demand for consumer goods leads to an increase in prices, given inelastic supply. Prices rise to a...

Internet shopbots are automated tools that allow customers to easily search for prices and product characteristics from online retailers. Some market observers have predicted that shopbots will benefit consumers at the expense of retailers. In this view, shopbots will radically reduce consumer search costs, reduce retailer opportunities to differentiate their products, and as a result will driv...

Consumer preferences change through time and rms have to adjust their product positioning for their products to continue to be appealing to consumers. These changes in product positioning require xed investments such that rms engage in these repositionings only once in a while. We construct a model that can include both predictable and unpredictable consumer preference changes, and where a rm o...

Economists since the days of Adam Smith and Jeremy Bentham have traditionally viewed consumers as driven by relentless and consistent pursuit of selfinterest, with their choices in the marketplace providing all the measurements needed to reveal their preferences and assess their well-being. This theory of the consumer is empirically successful, and provides the foundation for most economic poli...

This paper explores how British and Brazilian consumers dispose of their unwanted or no longer used goods. Postconsumption environmental impact has become a global issue, and the need for consumers to reduce, reuse and recycle is paramount. A study of seven participants with recycling experience was undertaken. Divergent concerns in relation to waste, and distinct symbolic roles for disposition...

This paper explores how British and Brazilian consumers dispose of their unwanted or no longer used goods. Postconsumption environmental impact has become a global issue, and the need for consumers to reduce, reuse and recycle is paramount. A study of seven participants with recycling experience was undertaken. Divergent concerns in relation to waste, and distinct symbolic roles for disposition...

Choosing appropriate client architectures is a hotly debated topic of late. Having been party to these debates and also to implementations using all three approaches, it is evident that some of the perceptions surrounding this debate don’t conform to reality. During actual implementation, particularly since the Hybrid approach is a mix of the two other approaches, some benefits and drawbacks in...

Young adults have been labelled as one of the most important segments for mobile phones, however there is little empirical evidence to indicate how these young adults value the feature richness of their devices. This research presents a richer view of mobile phone user preferences and perceptions by applying methodologies from the marketing and information systems domains. Conjoint analysis pro...