Marketability of the Great Falls Retail Trade Within the Golden Triangle Counties

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Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School

1987

Marketability of the Great Falls retail trade within the golden triangle counties

Patricia E. Erickson The University of Montana

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Recommended Citation Erickson, Patricia E., "Marketability of the Great Falls retail trade within the golden triangle counties" (1987). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 5141. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/5141

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Date : 1 9 8 7 .

THE MARKETABILITY OF THE GREAT FALLS RETAIL TRADE WITHIN THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE COUNTIES

PATRICIA E. ERICKSON

B.A. California State College - Sonoma, 1977

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Degree of

Master of Business Administration

UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA

1987

APPROVED BY:

Chairman, Board of Examnners

Defn, Graduate School /

Date UMI Number; EP40605

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UMI EP40605 Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code

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ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

LIST OF EXHIBITS...... iv

LIST OF TABLES ...... v

LIST OF FIGURES...... vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... v iii

CHAPTERS:

I. INTRODUCTION ...... 1

I I . PROBLEM STATEMENT - HYPOTHESIS ...... 6

I I I . FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONSOF PAST STUDIES . . . 7

IV. METHODOLOGY OF STUDY...... 11

V. FINDINGS OF D A TA ...... 15

VI. RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 26

. APPENDIX...... 35

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 94

i i i LIST OF EXHIBITS

EXHIBITS: PAGE:

1. Map of Survey A re a ...... 2

2. 20-Mile Radius Map of Great Falls A re a ...... 5

3. Follow-up Post C a r d ...... 11

4. Customer Service C a r d ...... 27

5. Cover Letter to Questionnaire ...... 37

6. Customer Preference Survey Questionnaire ...... 38

•%

iv LIST OF TABLES

TABLES: PAGE:

1. Table 1: Employment In Cascade County ...... 42

2. Table 2: Questionnaire Distribution ...... 43

3. Table 3: Counties and Towns Surveyed ...... 44

4. Table 4: Occupations ...... 45

5. Table 5: Size of Household ...... 46

6. Table 6: Ages of Members of Household ...... 47

7. Table 7: Television/Radio/Newspaper Utilization .... 48

8. Table 8: Car Ownership ...... 51

9. Table 9: Travel 50 or More M i l e s ...... 52

10. Table 10: Planned Purchasing ...... 53

11. Table 11: Frequency of Travel ...... 54

12. Table 12: Seasonal Travel to Great F a lls ...... 55

13. Table 13: