The impact of the tasting room experience at the Nederburg wine estate on repurchase intentions
- Authors: Jantjies, Heinrich
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Wine industry -- South Africa , Wine tasting , Wineries -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa , Wine and wine making -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/3968 , vital:20496
- Description: There are thousands of different wine brands available and wineries have to build a relationship with their customers, a relationship that will create a long-lasting experience. The relationship starts with the first interaction they have with the winery (Alonso et al 2008:978). Visitors to the tasting room create the opportunity to build long-term relationships (O’Neill & Charters 2000:113; Nowak & Newton 2006:157), build and develop brand loyalty (Dodd & Gustafson 1997:43), increase wine sales (Gilinsky et al 2003:18), and improve cash flow (Jago & Issaverdis 2001:18). The subject of repurchasing intentions in the wine industry has attracted the attention of numerous researchers; in particular, the connection between winery visits, brand loyalty and post-visit consumer behaviour (Nella & Christou 2010:2). Nederburg is one of the most prestigious South African wine estates, with a deep-rooted history in South Africa as one of the biggest wine brands. It is 100% owned by wine and spirits giant Distell and presents an ideal case for investigating the influence of the relationship between quality, customer satisfaction and price on repurchasing intentions in the South African wine industry. The purpose of this research was to determine whether the tasting room experience, in combination with a quality product, good pricing and customer-focused operations, leads to higher customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions. The present study indicates that the South African wine industry faces many challenges but it also highlights the various opportunities there are for wine estates to not only increase their sales but also to build long-lasting relationships with consumers. The study concludes with recommendations to the South African wine industry on how to improve their tasting room environment so that they can benefit from the relationship between wine quality, wine price, customer satisfaction and repurchasing intentions.
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- Date Issued: 2015
Synthesis, optical and morphological characterization of CdSe/ZnSe quantum dots for cytotoxicity studies
- Authors: Nkaule, Anati Nomxolisi
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Quantum dots , Quantum dots -- Optical properties
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:10434 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020637
- Description: Colon cancer (CC) ranks high in morbidity and mortality amongst the most frequent occurring cancers worldwide. Mortality rates are mostly caused by mis-diagnosis and the poor efficacy of treatment. The aim of this study was to enhance our insights of quantum dots, for early detection and targeted drug delivery, thereby reducing toxicity to normal cells and reducing side effects that are caused by previous colon cancer medicine. The synthesis, characterization and cytotoxicity studies of CdSe/ZnSe quantum dots (QDs), nanocrystals are reported. Toxicological properties of the Cd2+ core are reduced by capping quantum dots with ZnSe, varying chain length and functional group ligands. Fluorescence wavelength and their size is improved by varying Cd2+ source and varying nanocrystal synthesis growth temperature. CdSe/ZnSe quantum dots are characterized with FT-IR to elucidate their structure. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-Ray Diffraction (EDX), Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) are used to measure their size and composition. Ligand exchange reactions are conducted with the use of 3-Mercaptopropanoic acid (3-MPA) to facilitate bio-compatibility and stability of CdSe/ZnSe QDs. Temperature stability of various ligand capped and stabilized CdSe/ZnSe QDs are measured by using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Caco-2 cell line is cultured from colon cancer, and cytotoxic studies are conducted to test for cell viability of various capped 3-Mercaptopropanoic acid (3-MPA) CdSe/ZnSe quantum dots at various concentrations. Myristic acid capped CdSe/ZnSe quantum dots produce high fluorescing mono-disperse quantum dots. The capping material, synthesis temperature and Cd2+ source of CdSe/ZnSe QDs affect fluorescence wavelength and thermal stability of quantum dots. Fluorescence wavelength is improved by using CdCl2.7H2O source of Cd2+. Cytotoxicity was found to be dependent on the concentration and the capping material of quantum dots. CdSe/ZnSe quantum dots toxicity is adjusted and reduced by varying the length, size and type of the capping ligand on the surface of quantum dots.
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- Date Issued: 2013