Filtering by
- All Subjects: Founders Lab
- All Subjects: Consumer Behavior
Waste pickers are the victims of harsh economic and social factors that have hurt many<br/>developing countries and billions of people around the world. Due to the rise of industrialization<br/>since the 19th century, waste and disposable resources have been discarded around the world to<br/>provide more resources, products, and services to wealthy countries. This has put developing<br/>countries in a precarious position where people have had very few economic opportunities<br/>besides taking on the role of waste pickers, who not only face physical health consequences due<br/>to the work they do but also face exclusion from society due to the negative views of waste<br/>pickers. Many people view waste pickers as scavengers and people who survive off of doing<br/>dirty work, which creates tensions between waste pickers and others in society. This even leads<br/>to many countries outlawing waste picking and has led to the brutal treatment of waste pickers<br/>throughout the world and has even led to thousands of waste pickers being killed by anti-waste<br/>picker groups and law enforcement organizations in many countries.<br/>Waste pickers are often at the bottom of supply chains as they take resources that have<br/>been used and discarded, and provide them to recyclers, waste management organizations, and<br/>others who are able to turn these resources into usable materials again. Waste pickers do not have<br/>many opportunities to rise above the situation they are in as waste picking has become the only<br/>option for many people who need to provide for themselves and their families. They are not<br/>compensated very well for the work they do, which also contributes to the situation where waste<br/>pickers are forced into a position of severe health risks, backlash from society and governments,<br/>not being able to seek better opportunities due to a lack of earning potential, and not being<br/>connected with end-users. Now is the time to create new business models that solve these large<br/>problems in our global society and create a sustainable way to ensure that waste pickers are<br/>treated properly around the world.
This thesis project has been conducted in accordance with The Founder’s Lab initiative which is sponsored by the W. P. Carey School of Business. This program groups three students together and tasks them with creating a business idea, conducting the necessary research to bring the concept to life, and exploring different aspects of business, with the end goal of gaining traction. The product we were given to work through this process with was Hot Head, an engineering capstone project concept. The Hot Head product is a sustainable and innovative solution to the water waste issue we find is very prominent in the United States. In order to bring the Hot Head idea to life, we were tasked with doing research on topics ranging from the Hot Head life cycle to finding plausible personas who may have an interest in the Hot Head product. This paper outlines the journey to gaining traction via a marketing campaign and exposure of our brand on several platforms, with a specific interest in website traffic. Our research scope comes from mainly primary sources like gathering opinions of potential buyers by sending out surveys and hosting focus groups. The paper concludes with some possible future steps that could be taken if this project were to be continued.
Researchers know that different types of self-construal (independent and interdependent) vary across different cultures. Individuals from East Asian cultures are more interdependent while individuals from Western cultures are more independent. Researchers also know that perceptions and understandings of beauty differ across cultures; however, there has been limited research on the connections between self-construal and beauty with minimal research on direct appearance enhancement products. Recently, new ways to present a positive self-image outside of cosmetics or direct appearance enhancement tools have emerged, and the question is raised as to whether these will also be determined by self-construal. We leverage work on the fluidity of self concept to argue that individuals with a more fluid self-concept (interdependents) will express more interest in appearance enhancement products. In the context of a Facebook ad study with Indian (interdependent) and American (independent) consumers, we demonstrate that interdependent consumers have greater interest in indirect appearance enhancing products, measured by click-through rate, compared to independent consumers.
This study explores the connection between the interior design of retail spaces and consumer behavior in the direct-to-consumer environment. The research explores the relationships between consumer behavior, intangible brand identity, and the physical (brick-and-mortar) retail environment and explores interior design’s role in the development of a new form of retail found in brands whose presence began online and later entered the physical realm. Through analyzing store aesthetics, consumer preferences, and purchasing behavior, this research provides insight into what matters to consumers in a direct-to-consumer retail environment and how designers at the forefront of this movement are adapting, and ultimately draws conclusions about how companies can utilize interior design and store aesthetics as part of the consumer journey to maximize the impact of their brand experiences.
We developed multiple surveys that were distributed to Marketing & Business Performance (MKT 300) students at Arizona State University and AWS Mechanical Turk Workers. The goal of obtaining information from both college students and paid survey-takers was to compile a diverse set of opinions regarding how consumers react to athletes’ social media and public behavior. This led us to analyze how consumers interact with athletes on social media platforms based on the sport they play and consequences of their actions. After examining our consumer research, interviewing executives in the legal background, and talking to some of the university’s top-prospective athletes to gain different viewpoints, we created consumer and athlete categories.
We established six main consumer categories and six main athlete social media strategy personas in order to create social media strategy recommendations. With this information, athletes have the opportunity to develop well-thought out social media strategies that are more tailored to their fan base(s). Athletes must be cognizant of how the content on their social media accounts and their public actions will affect consumers’ perceptions about who they are and their personal brand.