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<p>Färggrossen is a warehousing company that was established in 1976. The company has over 400 customers ranging across mid and south Sweden; it stores 5,000 different types of products such as paints, wallpapers, chemicals and tools which are used for painting.</p><p>Since its establishment, the company has not changed how it manages its warehouse. Decisions are based on the warehouse manager’s personal memory and decisions, and this method worked sufficiently well until the company was bought by Mikael Lindgren in September 2008. Lindgren, the CEO, believed that the company had more potential, which is why the company has eagerly started to make changes in order to improve the warehouse operations as well as to reach its full potential. This thesis is to guide the company to reach this goal.</p><p>At our first meeting with Färggrossen, improvements regarding different processes as well as the warehouse layout were identified. As a first step, a literature study was conducted in order to gain deeper insight and understanding about warehouse layouts; also we benefited from studying literature regarding different warehouse aspects from a system perspective: inputs, processes and outputs.</p><p>Subsequent to the literature study, we identified those thesis research questions which needed to be answered in order to improve the warehouse management at Färggrossen. The next step was to decide which methods should be used in order to answer these questions. After researching different methodology options, a meeting with Färggrossen and our supervisor Bengt Ekdahl took place where we, together, decided to use the multiple case study method.</p><p>Färggrossen suggested that we study two other companies, BSAB and ECO; according to them, these companies had similar warehouses. To be able to benchmark three companies, we needed to understand the warehousing management systems of all three companies, which is why we conducted our interviews.</p><p>Once we finished gathering the required data, we defined the three companies’ activities in a manner to correspond with the terminology which is used in the literature.  In the analysis chapter we compared the three companies, and also used the information from the literature in order to provide Färggrossen with recommendations on how to improve the warehouse processes and layout. These are categorised as main, secondary and future recommendations; the main recommendations are the most important and inexpensive to implement, which is why we strongly suggest that they are prioritized.</p><p>The two most important recommendations to improve the outputs of the warehouse system are implementing a serialized locater addressing system and defining a bulk area to support the replenishment process. These particular modifications will improve the overall efficiency of the warehouse system as well as the product availability and the customer satisfaction.</p><p>The overall efficiency of the warehouse system will be further improved by eliminating manual labour as much as possible and combining the inspections whih are done in the receiving process with the putaway process.</p><p>The product condition will be improved if the following recommendations are implemented; a small shelf solution which is used in ECO, a fixed slot system in the wallpaper area and the implementation of safety precautions in the company.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis was to map and analyze Färggrossen in order to improve the inventory, warehouse layout and the methods being used in the warehouse management. With our recommendations, the company will have an improved and new warehouse layout, the processes will be improved and the efficiency will be increased.</p>

Essa dissertação pretende identificar uma forma de fazer com que as indústrias incorporem objetivos de preservação ambiental aos seus sistemas de produção de forma mais fácil, rápida e sem perda da competitividade, para contribuírem mais significativamente com o esforço mundial pela sustentabilidade do planeta. Para isso, o trabalho se propõe a alcançar dois objetivos. O primeiro é organizar o conhecimento disponível até agora em torno dos modelos de produção com preocupação ambiental e fazer uma comparação entre eles, de modo a auxiliar o gestor interessado em adotá-los a fazer sua opção. O segundo objetivo é pesquisar a viabilidade da utilização de ferramentas de gerenciamento de produção simples e disponíveis a qualquer empresa, para obter uma melhoria de rendimento também no aspecto ambiental, além da melhoria da produtividade e da qualidade. A pesquisa foi feita com empresas do setor de fundição no Estado de São Paulo, por ser este um setor de grande importância na economia e apresentar um alto potencial de degradação ambiental. O método escolhido foi o estudo de casos múltiplos, com levantamento de dados em 10 empresas. Através de entrevista pessoal, foram avaliados quesitos referentes à aderência das empresas ao modelo da Produção Enxuta e ao modelo da Produção mais Limpa. O modelo da PE foi escolhido como objeto de estudo por ser um modelo muito difundido e suas práticas serem bem conhecidas. Além disso, baseia-se na redução de desperdícios, que tem uma identificação grande com a racionalização de recursos do modelo da P+L. Este modelo, por sua vez, foi selecionado a partir do resultado das comparações efetuadas na busca do objetivo 1. Por ser um modelo ligado mais diretamente aos processos de transformação, este modelo mostra-se mais adequado para ser adotado nos processos de produção. Os dados coletados serviram para responder a três questões de pesquisa, através da análise da correlação entre o grau de aderência aos dois modelos. Além dessa relação, foram estudadas a influência da certificação do sistema de gerenciamento ambiental e a necessidade de medidas complementares à PE para melhorar o rendimento ambiental. A conclusão da pesquisa mostrou que é possível alcançar metas de desempenho ambiental com a utilização de práticas de PE. Além de não implicar em aumento de custos, por não se tornar uma atividade extra, a empresa ainda se beneficia com o aumento da produtividade e da redução de desperdícios. / This thesis aims to identify a way to make the industries incorporate goals of environmental preservation to their production systems more easily, quickly and without loss of competitiveness, and then to contribute more significantly to the global effort for sustainability of the planet. For this, this paper aims to achieve two goals. The first is to organize the available knowledge about the production models with environmental concerns and make a comparison between them, to assist managers of manufacturing firms interested in adopting them to make his choice. The second objective is to investigate the feasibility of using simple management tools production, available to any company, to get increased revenue, also to the environmental aspects, as well as improving productivity and quality. The research was conducted with companies in the foundry sector in the State of São Paulo, because it is a very important sector to the economy and has a high potential for environmental degradation. The method chosen was multiple case study with data collection in 10 companies. Through personal interview, questions were evaluated regarding adherence to the model of Lean Manufacturing and to the model of Cleaner Production. The LM model was chosen as the object of study to be a widespread model and its practices well known. Furthermore, it is based on the reduction of waste, which has a large identification with the resource rationalization aspects of the model of P + L. This model, in turn, was selected from the results of the comparisons made in the pursuit of the goal number one. Being a model more directly linked to the transformation processes, this model seems to be more suitable to be adopted in production processes. The data collected served to answer three research questions by analyzing the correlation of the adherence level to the two models. Besides this relationship, it has been studied the influence of the certification of environmental management systems and the need for additional actions to the LM to improve environmental performance. The conclusion of this study showed that it is possible to achieve environmental performance goals by the use of LM practices. Besides not resulting in increased costs, because it will not become an extra activity, the company will still have benefits from increased productivity and reduction of waste.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T18:40:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 31 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta dissertação analisa as estratégias adotadas pelas incorporadoras de Porto Alegre frente às alterações que ocorrem no ambiente. Apresenta revisão de literatura abordando o ambiente externo, através do macroambiente, análise setorial, indústrias fragmentadas, verticalização e alianças; bem como o ambiente interno, através dos temas de vantagem competitiva, cadeia de valor, e estratégias competitivas. Apresenta pesquisa de caráter exploratório descritivo, com abordagem qualitativa, através de estudo de casos múltiplos. Coleta dados através de informações de associações comerciais, revistas especializadas, departamentos de economia e estatística, e estudos sobre a indústria da Construção Civil, além de entrevistas semi-estruturadas aplicadas as representantes de três empresas incorporadoras que têm como mercado a cidade de Porto Alegre/RS. Analisa os dados sobre o ambiente externo destacando a questão das incorporadoras e a Construção Civil; variáveis econômicas; regulamentação e governo; e panorama da ativi / The research analyzes the strategies adopted by real state developers of the city of Porto Alegre, facing the alterations that occur in the environment, and presents a literature review approaching the external environment, through the macroenvironment, sectorial analysis, fragmented industries, alliances and verticalisation; as well as the internal environment, via the themes of competitive advantage, value chain, and competitive strategies. The dissertation presents a research with a descriptive-exploratory character, with a qualitative approach, using multiple-case studies, collecting data through information of commercial associations, specialized magazines, economy and statistic departments, and studies about the construction industry, in addition to semi-structured interviews applied to the representatives of three real state development companies that have as market the city of Porto Alegre, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. This study examines the data about the external environment emphasizing the q

Essa dissertação pretende identificar uma forma de fazer com que as indústrias incorporem objetivos de preservação ambiental aos seus sistemas de produção de forma mais fácil, rápida e sem perda da competitividade, para contribuírem mais significativamente com o esforço mundial pela sustentabilidade do planeta. Para isso, o trabalho se propõe a alcançar dois objetivos. O primeiro é organizar o conhecimento disponível até agora em torno dos modelos de produção com preocupação ambiental e fazer uma comparação entre eles, de modo a auxiliar o gestor interessado em adotá-los a fazer sua opção. O segundo objetivo é pesquisar a viabilidade da utilização de ferramentas de gerenciamento de produção simples e disponíveis a qualquer empresa, para obter uma melhoria de rendimento também no aspecto ambiental, além da melhoria da produtividade e da qualidade. A pesquisa foi feita com empresas do setor de fundição no Estado de São Paulo, por ser este um setor de grande importância na economia e apresentar um alto potencial de degradação ambiental. O método escolhido foi o estudo de casos múltiplos, com levantamento de dados em 10 empresas. Através de entrevista pessoal, foram avaliados quesitos referentes à aderência das empresas ao modelo da Produção Enxuta e ao modelo da Produção mais Limpa. O modelo da PE foi escolhido como objeto de estudo por ser um modelo muito difundido e suas práticas serem bem conhecidas. Além disso, baseia-se na redução de desperdícios, que tem uma identificação grande com a racionalização de recursos do modelo da P+L. Este modelo, por sua vez, foi selecionado a partir do resultado das comparações efetuadas na busca do objetivo 1. Por ser um modelo ligado mais diretamente aos processos de transformação, este modelo mostra-se mais adequado para ser adotado nos processos de produção. Os dados coletados serviram para responder a três questões de pesquisa, através da análise da correlação entre o grau de aderência aos dois modelos. Além dessa relação, foram estudadas a influência da certificação do sistema de gerenciamento ambiental e a necessidade de medidas complementares à PE para melhorar o rendimento ambiental. A conclusão da pesquisa mostrou que é possível alcançar metas de desempenho ambiental com a utilização de práticas de PE. Além de não implicar em aumento de custos, por não se tornar uma atividade extra, a empresa ainda se beneficia com o aumento da produtividade e da redução de desperdícios. / This thesis aims to identify a way to make the industries incorporate goals of environmental preservation to their production systems more easily, quickly and without loss of competitiveness, and then to contribute more significantly to the global effort for sustainability of the planet. For this, this paper aims to achieve two goals. The first is to organize the available knowledge about the production models with environmental concerns and make a comparison between them, to assist managers of manufacturing firms interested in adopting them to make his choice. The second objective is to investigate the feasibility of using simple management tools production, available to any company, to get increased revenue, also to the environmental aspects, as well as improving productivity and quality. The research was conducted with companies in the foundry sector in the State of São Paulo, because it is a very important sector to the economy and has a high potential for environmental degradation. The method chosen was multiple case study with data collection in 10 companies. Through personal interview, questions were evaluated regarding adherence to the model of Lean Manufacturing and to the model of Cleaner Production. The LM model was chosen as the object of study to be a widespread model and its practices well known. Furthermore, it is based on the reduction of waste, which has a large identification with the resource rationalization aspects of the model of P + L. This model, in turn, was selected from the results of the comparisons made in the pursuit of the goal number one. Being a model more directly linked to the transformation processes, this model seems to be more suitable to be adopted in production processes. The data collected served to answer three research questions by analyzing the correlation of the adherence level to the two models. Besides this relationship, it has been studied the influence of the certification of environmental management systems and the need for additional actions to the LM to improve environmental performance. The conclusion of this study showed that it is possible to achieve environmental performance goals by the use of LM practices. Besides not resulting in increased costs, because it will not become an extra activity, the company will still have benefits from increased productivity and reduction of waste.

In the United States, microenterprises, critical segment of the small business population, accounts for 110 million small businesses that source new jobs. Despite the increase in the number of created businesses in the U.S., more than 70% of microenterprise business owners are unsuccessful after 2 years. The multiple case study included 6 participants living in Houston, Texas, and intended to explore business strategies microenterprise event management owners used to succeed in business beyond 2 years. The conceptual framework that grounded the study was the 5-stage small business growth model and the 5-stage of the evolution of entrepreneurship theory. The data collection process consisted of interviews resulting in transcripts, review of company documents, and interview observations notes. The data analysis process while triangulating the data consisted of creating thematic codes, and clustering keywords, and ideas from the data. Development of visual aids assisted with organizing information, synthesizing, and generating new ideas. Text, word, and matrix coding queries were conducted and summarized for a cross-case analysis as relating to the interview questions. Thematic analysis and cross-case analysis revealed 3 major themes: customer relationship management, education/work experience, and promotional activities. Implications for social change include encouraging entrepreneurial and small business development programs to develop innovative curriculums that microenterprise business owners may benefit from to increase more business opportunities. An increase in microenterprises may help provide more employment opportunities that meet the needs of local communities, and improve socioeconomic conditions.

Social entrepreneurship and other new forms such as ecological or sustainable entrepreneurship have emerged as promising new solutions to solve societal problems. Therefore these types of sustainability-oriented entrepreneurship also increasingly attract the interest of researchers, but there is no clear theoretical concept for these emerging research areas yet. As for commercial entrepreneurship, existing research has neglected the influence of contextual factors on the entrepreneurial process. Therefore this topic is not well researched yet and requires an increase in knowledge to keep up with its popularity and potential impact on society. Therefore the research purpose of this study was to systematically analyse how contextual factors, i.e. political &amp; legal, economic, technological, environmental, social and cultural factors, influence the stages of the entrepreneurial process and if this influence differs for commercial and sustainability-oriented entrepreneurs. To fulfill this purpose a theoretical framework depicting the entrepreneurial process in its context was developed, which incorporates the different types of entrepreneurship based on the value they create. In order to adequately explore the research purpose our theoretical framework was applied to the context of Central America. In line with our interpretivistic standpoint we followed an inductive approach with a qualitative, comparative research design of an exploratory nature. We collected secondary data about Central America and conducted a multiple-case study in which we collected primary data from 13 interviews with entrepreneurs being active in Central America. The empirical findings were thoroughly analysed and discussed leading to several interesting results which were used to revise our theoretical framework. Despite a great variety among entrepreneurs we realised that they all undergo the entrepreneurial process and we could therefore successfully apply our theoretical framework. All entrepreneurs are differently influenced by contextual factors in their entrepreneurial process, but disparities are mostly due to the background of the entrepreneurs or the type of venture. Some political and legal, and economic factors have been found to influence commercial and sustainability-oriented entrepreneurs differently, while other economic and social factors rather determine differences between non-profit and for- profit oriented entrepreneurs. This study contributes to theories regarding the influence of contextual factors and concepts in the field of (sustainability-oriented) entrepreneurship as well as methodologies used in this field. It provides considerable practical contributions to entrepreneurs and recommendations for policy-makers which can lead to valuable societal contributions. Throughout the research ethical issues have been considered and quality criteria applied to ensure the trustworthiness of this research.

Background: Changing market conditions and increasing competition drive companies to increase their collaboration along the supply chain. Technological innovations enable businesses to increase their integration tremendously. The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) enables the integration of information technology with industrial technology. The adoption of Industry 4.0 includes many complex technologies that come with challenges for many organizations. Previous research suggests that conventional manufacturing might have to be adjusted to Industry 4.0. Purpose: This thesis identifies and analyzes potential challenges of Industry 4.0 adoption for electronics manufacturers and machine manufacturers and analyzes how processes in manufacturing need to be adjusted to successfully implement Industry 4.0. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to successful Industry 4.0 adoption in the manufacturing process and therefore to contribute to technological advancement. Method: This thesis conducts a multiple case study and gathers qualitative data by conducting semi-structured interviews. Findings &amp; conclusion: Challenges identified for most companies are standardization, management support, skills and costs. Most companies face data and compatibility challenges. Some companies face the challenge of complexity, information security, scalability and network externalities. Companies with higher levels of maturity are less likely to face environmental challenges.Lean Management was identified as a prerequisite for Industry 4.0 adoption. The adoption of Industry 4.0 is likely to lead to a paperless factory. Furthermore, changes concerning the infrastructure are a main finding. Moreover, it was found that Industry 4.0 does not require major changes from conventional manufacturing processes.

Researchers in the field of global leadership have reported a growing need for leaders able to perform from a global perspective, and the lack of qualified leadership candidates to fulfill these responsibilities. Adult education graduate programs represent a unique pool of aspirants to help fill this gap. In 2008, the Commission of Professors of Adult Education (CPAE) published Standards for Graduate Programs in Adult Education. Two of these standards addressed the incorporation of globalization and leadership studies into the planning, administration, and evaluation of adult education graduate programs. This study sought to explore the connection between the phenomenon of global leadership and the development of competencies, identified by Bird’s (2013) framework of nested global leadership competencies, in seven selected adult education graduate programs in the United States and Western Europe. The questions that guided this qualitative, multiple case study explored (a) which of the competencies were addressed in the selected adult education graduate programs, (b) which ones were perceived to be most and less important, (c) which curricular and co-curricular practices were identified in the development of these competencies, and (d) what were the similarities and differences between the adult education graduate programs located geographically in the United States and those located in Western Europe. Findings indicated all of the global leadership competencies were addressed across all seven cases, to varying levels of extent. The competencies of (a) valuing people, (b) inquisitiveness, (c) leading change, and (d) vision and strategic thinking emerged as most important among the participants across all seven cases, as well as within the two geographical locations. Multiple curricular and co-curricular themes emerged as best practices to facilitate development of the global leadership competencies, although they were primarily associated with good instructional practices discussed within the context of globalizing the curriculum. There was less discussion about the competencies within a unifying construct of leadership development. Similarities across all cases included a focus on student-centered learning, while differences were primarily associated with the independent foci of the adult education graduate programs. Implications of the findings were directed towards the CPAE, university administration, adult education faculty, and adult education graduate students.

Autism Disorder and related disorders such as Asperger's Syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified, are collectively known as Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). These disorders are currently the fastest growing diagnosed disorders among children and have been found in 110 in 10,000 individuals. Individuals with ASD are delayed in social development according to diagnostic criteria. To address the social development delays of students with ASD, two research-based interventions have been developed: Social StoriesTM and video modeling. Social StoriesTM uses a specific combination of sentences to describe a social situation or a social skill in story form. Video modeling is an isolation of social skill steps delivered through a video medium to model the social skill. The purpose of this study was to combine Social StoriesTM and video modeling (combined intervention) and investigate the perceptions of educational multidisciplinary team members (school counselors, parents, teachers) regarding the combination intervention for the development of social behavior in students with ASD. School counselors participating in this study delivered the combination Social StoriesTM and video modeling intervention to student participants with ASD. Then, the perceptions of the school-based multidisciplinary team members of this combination intervention were collected through qualitative surveys and analyzed to develop the Qualitative Criticism. This Qualitative Criticism describes, interprets, and evaluates the pragmatic use of the combination of the Social StoriesTM and video modeling intervention with students with ASD in schools from the perspectives of the school counselors, teachers, and parents of these students. Organized by case, team members of each of the student participants reflected on the strengths and weaknesses of these interventions for that student. Across cases, comments were analyzed by role (i.e., parent, teacher, school counselor). Then, these roles were combined into a cross-case analysis of multidisciplinary team perspectives of the usefulness of these interventions for students with ASD. Pre-test and post-test data were collected using teachers' responses to the Vineland II Teacher Rating Form (V-II TRF) and the Summary of Observations section on the V-II TRF to triangulate findings grounded in the qualitative data. Findings suggested that parents, teachers, and school counselors supported the use of these interventions for several reasons. The combination intervention increased opportunities for repetition of the target skills; for visual learning through written words in stories, cartoons, and videos; and for individualization to meet the varying needs and interests of students with ASD. The intervention was also developmentally appropriate, engaging, and fun for students. In addition, when the school counselor collaborated with parents and teachers through the intervention, the parents and teachers seemed to be more knowledgeable about the intervention, and supported these students to use the intervention and generalize the target skills. While V-II TRF scores did not show statistically significant gains to confirm the multidisciplinary team members' support for the combination intervention, clinical significance was found in the domain scores of Communication and Daily Living, and in the Composite score measuring overall adaptive functioning.