The goal of this diploma thesis is to create complex analysis of cider market, which is dynamically growing category in the context of beer, beer mixes and nonalcoholic malt beverages in the Czech retail market. To accomplish the goal of this thesis retail market data were analyzed gained by the retail market methodology, which were added to results of own consumer research. Retail audit gives the large spectrum of the objective pieces of information about FMCG market, which together with consumer research give the overall picture of consumers' opinions and behavior. The theoretical part of this thesis shows retail market and subjects that compete in this market; it also focuses retail audit issues. The analysis of cider market starts at the macro level, which describes trends and basic retail indicators in the connection with other beer categories. Later, the attention focuses strictly to detailed description of cider category situation.

O design tem sido cada vez mais reconhecido como uma fonte de vantagem competitiva para as empresas, sendo considerado uma atividade estratégica no desenvolvimento e no sucesso comercial de produtos baseados em diferenciação. Percebendo a relevância do design na competitividade da indústria, a presente pesquisa teve como objetivo principal a realização de uma análise do uso do design no processo de desenvolvimento de produtos (PDP) em empresas desenvolvedoras de bens de consumo. Através dessa análise, buscou-se caracterizar a atuação e a função do design, identificando também os fatores facilitadores e inibidores das práticas de design nas empresas estudadas. Visando o alcance dos objetivos propostos, optou-se como procedimento metodológico uma abordagem qualitativa de estudos de casos múltiplos, selecionando-se quatro empresas como objetos de pesquisa. A coleta de dados do trabalho consistiu em entrevistas com o setor de desenvolvimento de produtos de cada uma das empresas, sendo dividida em seis etapas: a primeira foi destinada à coleta de informações institucionais; a segunda consistiu na modelagem do processo de desenvolvimento de produtos; a terceira investigou o processo de design; a quarta caracterizou o perfil dos entrevistados; a quinta identificou as atividades desempenhadas pelos entrevistados e, por último, a sexta etapa correspondeu à realização de um workshop de design. Os resultados obtidos por meio da coleta de dados permitiram identificar um padrão de práticas existentes nas empresas. Constatou-se que as empresas estudadas demonstram uma predisposição em relação à utilização e a investimentos na área do design para o desenvolvimento de seus produtos. Porém, por outro lado, verificou-se que o design não tem sido explorado de maneira eficiente pelas empresas. Um dos principais fatores identificados como inibidores das práticas do design corresponde a uma lacuna de conhecimento das potencialidades de atuação do designer dentro das empresas. Vale ressaltar que a amostra da pesquisa não é representativa de toda indústria brasileira, portanto, as evidências não podem ser generalizadas. Entretanto, pelos padrões identificados entre os objetos de estudo, acredita-se que parte das práticas identificadas possam ser encontradas em outras empresas desenvolvedoras de bens de consumo. / Design has been increasingly recognized as a source of competitive advantage for companies and seen as a strategic activity in the development and commercial success of differentiation based products. Considering the design importance in the industries competitiveness, the present study aimed to do an analysis of the design use in the product development process (PDP) in companies that develop consumer goods. Through this analysis, we sought to characterize the performance and function of design, as well as identify the facilitating and inhibiting factors of design practices in the companies studied. Aiming to achieve the proposed objectives, we chose as methodological procedure a qualitative approach of multiple case studies, selecting four companies as research objects. The work’s data collection consisted on interviews with the product development sector of each company, which were divided into six stages: the first was designed to collect institutional information, the second consisted in modeling the product development process; the third investigated the design process, the fourth characterized the profile of respondents, the fifth identified the activities performed by respondents and, finally, the sixth stage corresponded to a design workshop. The results obtained through data collection identified a pattern of practices in companies. It was found that the companies studied show a predisposition towards the use and investment in design for the development of their products. However, it was found that design has not been effectively exploited by companies. One of the main factors identified as an inhibitor of design practices corresponds to a lack of knowledge on the potential role of the designer within companies. It is noteworthy that the research sample is not representative of the entire brazilian industry and therefore, the evidence cannot be generalized. However, with the patterns identified among the objects of study, it is believed that most of the practices identified can be found in other of consumer goods developing companies.

abstract: The circular economy is viewed as a solution to many of the environmental and social ills that the linear economy has exacerbated. Whether it is through refill solutions or redesigning a cardboard shipping container, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands are rethinking the way their products are delivered to consumers through business model innovations that promote circularity. The consumer plays the important, often overlooked, role of enabler within circular business models. This study aims to increase broader understanding of what motivates circular consumption of fast-moving consumer goods while analyzing the relationship between motivators and the behaviors required to participate. Semi-structured interviews provide insights from consumers who are currently purchasing household cleansers from brands that operate with a circular business model. Results from this study highlight a group of consumers that are distinguished by their common desire to reduce their personal consumption of plastics. There is clear indication that these consumers are in fact seeking out ways to consume more sustainably. A significant subset of this group expresses concern regarding ingredients used in the products. Health concerns for themselves, their family, or a pet are driving a desire to understand product ingredients. There is evidence to indicate that the concern for personal consumption of plastics is being driven by information distributed via social media and supported by targeted advertisements for brands that address this concern. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Sustainability 2020

Thesis (M.Sc. ( Agricultural Economics)) --University of Limpopo, 2019 / The demand for animal products is projected to increase progressively due to extensive urbanization, rapid growth of human population and income dynamics. However, the evolution of food demand is strictly linked to the change in consumer preferences. Consumers around the world are progressively becoming more concerned and aware about food standards, quality and safety issues. The purpose of this study was to determine consumers’ preference regarding safe and quality beef and WTP for graded beef in Polokwane municipality. The research surveyed 150 consumers using a structured questionnaire to collect data on consumer characteristics and responses to different bid levels for graded beef. Analytical methods were descriptive statistics, Likert scales, contingent valuation method to evaluate respondents’ mean WTP for graded beef and logit model to determine the dependence of WTP on socioeconomic factors. Results showed that consumers prefer their beef tender, with less fat and bones and labelled with price, grade/class, size or quantity of the product and lastly quality inspection or certification indicator. Over half of the respondents (53%) were aware of grading or classification systems. The results further revealed that most respondents are willing to pay an increase of 16.04 % over the current price for beef. This could be an opportunity for investments in beef label industry. Consumer characteristics including age, income, gender and household size significantly influenced WTP for graded beef in Polokwane Municipality. Marketing strategies considered by beef product investors should target young, female and wealthier consumers. Grading with respect to quality attributes would make beef sales at differentiated prices possible. This will eventually enhance sales volume and returns for all stakeholders along the value chain / National Research Fund

This Master's thesis is focused on the draft of an e-shop offering consumer goods with foreign origin including plan, how to promote such e-shop especially using tools of the internet marketing. Before the draft itself, there are definitions of technical terms and the specification of local legislation closely related to the electronic sale. The thesis further includes the analysis of outer environment performed in order to discover factors, which are considerably affecting retail sale in general, respectively its electronic form.

We aim to identify factors that are critical in determining whether or not blockchain adoption arises in various market structures, and give guidance for addressing the challenges of blockchain implementation. In Chapter 2, we construct an economic framework for understanding the incentives of the firms in a supply chain to form a blockchain consortium. We find that blockchain reduces information asymmetry for consumers, thereby enhancing consumer welfare. Consumer welfare gains can be sufficiently large that blockchain adoption is socially beneficial; nonetheless, we find that blockchain adoption does not arise in equilibrium. This situation arises because blockchain adoption costs are borne by manufacturers, and manufacturers cannot extract consumer gains through prices due to the competitive nature of the manufacturing sector. We offer a system of transfers to generate blockchain adoption in equilibrium when it is socially beneficial. In Chapter 3, we investigate a variation of the model described in Chapter 2. Our analysis incorporates the blockchain’s ability to trace shipments and generate cost savings for the manufacturers who join the blockchain. Although the blockchain enables early recalls of defective goods with higher probability, and thus, reduces expected unit costs for all the manufacturers on the blockchain, such gains are still competed away and blockchain adoption does not arise in equilibrium. This result strengthens our earlier findings on the incentive misalignment in a perfectly competitive setting. The associated welfare implications of this model are similar to those in Chapter 2. In Chapter 4, we study a setting in which the consumer prices are determined exogenously. With this setting of sticky price, there exists a certain level of competition but it is not perfect. As a result, the manufacturer gains from blockchain adoption may be strictly positive, in contrast to two results in Chapters 2 and 3 where the gains are always competed away. We find that blockchain unequivocally benefits consumers but has an ambiguous effect upon the welfare of manufacturers. There exist conditions under which, although the blockchain improves global welfare, blockchain adoption does not arise in equilibrium. We refer to such a scenario as an adoption failure, and again a system of transfers is proposed to resolve that failure. In Chapter 5, we examine whether blockchain adoption arises in equilibrium for a supply chain in which a single risk-averse manufacturer sells directly to consumers; thus, the manufacturer possesses market power. In this setting, we find that blockchain adoption always enhances manufacturer welfare when the adoption cost is zero. While two results in Chapters 2 and 3 demonstrate that blockchain adoption does not arise when the manufacturing sector is perfectly competitive, our findings clarify that the failure of blockchain adoption is not generic across all market structures. Rather, blockchain adoption arises in equilibrium for supply chains when the manufacturer possesses market power and when the adoption cost is sufficiently small.

No description available.

Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the MTech: Internal Auditing In the Faculty of Business at the CAPE PENINSULA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, 2010 / The concept of Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) was created and implemented by the South African Government in an attempt to improve the economy of South Africa, reducing the unemployment rate and eliminating poverty. As a basic objective, SMMEs strive toward sustainability, however in recent years sustainability is at an all time low as substantial a number of these businesses fail to become viable entities. Popular literature show that Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) retail SMMEs make ineffective use of their accounting resources, resulting in them making critical business decisions without understanding and interpreting their financial performance or financial positions. These decisions have a ‘toxic’ affect on their business sustainability and as a result, it is perceived that these SMMEs make inefficient use of financial performance measures. The key objective of this research is to establish what financial performance measures sourced from accounting resources are regarded as being critical for the sustainability of FMCG retail SMMEs during the current dispensation of an economic depression in South Africa. To achieve the above dispensation, applied research will be used using ‘action research’ as the primary research paradigm supported by questionnaires for the purpose of data analysis, results of which were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Recommendations culminate from the research to mitigate the research problem.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Product Mix Complexity is a very real issue in modern companies. As globalisation and competition increase, markets mature and the needs of individual consumers get ever more specific, the trend towards more product variety will grow. Product Mix refers to the full range of products that a company offers to its customers. Product Mix Complexity refers to the effect that this product variety has on organizational performance. Understanding and management of this problem is difficult due to the many organizational elements involved, the complicated relationship between these elements and the fact that the problem crosses functional organization boundaries. A company may choose to differentiate itself in the market by offering a broad product mix. To do this effectively the price that can be asked for an item must offset the additional costs brought on by this complexity. This balance between variety that drives sales, and the costs of the added complexity is at the core of the effective management of Product Mix Complexity. The effect of this complexity in manufacturing relates to the loss of scale efficiencies and the need for flexibility in operations. Due to the difficulty in understanding the complex effects of variety, company portfolios tend to proliferate, resulting in a very skewed spread of product contributions where a small % of products contribute a high proportion of company profits. Management processes that continuously evaluate the total profitability of their portfolios from a ‘cost of complexity’ point of view are needed. Cost accounting systems often do not accurately account for this cost of complexity. The effects of Product Mix Complexity are investigated in Cadbury South Africa. The business displays clear signs of having a classical ‘Pareto’ spread of products where a ‘long tail’ of small volume products add very little profit to the business. The Port Elizabeth factory is an above average complex plant within the Cadbury group. It was found that the cost allocation system employed by Cadbury is not accurately allocating costs to products and is thereby aggravating the proliferation of the Cadbury product portfolio. Potential savings by rationalizing the Cadbury product portfolio are identified. A number of recommendations to better manage the presence of Product Mix Complexity are made, both for the business as a whole and for manufacturing specifically. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Produkmengselkompleksiteit is alomteenwoordig in moderne besighede. Die neiging tot meer produkverskeidenheid groei namate globalisering, kompetisie en verbruikers se behoeftes na verskeidenheid toeneem. ‘Produkmengsel’ verwys na die volle reeks produkte wat ’n maatskappy aan die mark bied. ‘Produkmengselkompleksiteit’ verwys na die effek wat produkverskeidenheid het op die doeltreffendheid van ’n besigheid. Die probleem is moeilik om te definieer en te verstaan as gevolg van die baie besigheidselemente wat betrokke is, die komplekse verhoudinge tussen hierdie elemente en die multi-funksionele aard van die probleem. Vir strategiese redes wil ’n maatskappy soms ’n groot verskeidenheid produkte aanbied om hom te onderskei in die mark. Om hierdie strategie winsgewend te maak moet die prys wat behaal word opmaak vir die ekstra kostes wat aangegaan word om die breë verskeidenheid te kan aanbied. Die balans tussen die interne koste van verskeidenheid en die voordeel van die verskeidenheid is baie belangrik in die effektiewe bestuur van produkmengselkompleksiteit. Omdat die effek van verskeidenheid moeilik is om te definieer, neig maatskappye daarna om liewer te veel as te min produkte aan te bied. Die gevolg is dikwels ‘n ongebalanseerde distribusie van produkwinsgewendheid waar ’n klein persentasie produkte verantwoordelik is vir die oorgrote meerderheid van die wins. Bestuursprosesse wat produkportefeuljes vanuit ‘n kompleksiteitskoste oogpunt evalueer ontbreek dikwels. Produkkostemodelle neem ook dikwels nie hierdie koste akkuraat in ag nie. Die effek van produkmengselkompleksiteit in Cadbury Suid-Afrika word in hierdie studie ondersoek. Dit is duidelik dat Cadbury Suid-Afrika ’n klassieke ‘Pareto’ effek vertoon waar ’n lang stert van klein produkte baie min tot besigheidswins-gewendheid bydra. Die Port Elizabeth fabriek vertoon ook bogemiddelde kompleksiteit relatief tot ander Cadbury fabrieke. Kompleksiteitskostes word nie akkuraat toegedeel tot produkkostes nie, met die gevolg dat klein produkte aanhoudend tot die produkmengsel gevoeg word. Die potensiële besparings as gevolg van rasionalisasie van die produkportefeulje is bereken. Aanbevelings vir die beter bestuur van produkmengselkompleksiteit word gemaak vir die besigheid as ’n geheel en vir vervaardiging spesifiek.

Poor quality of information and forecasting create a number of problems for manufacturing companies, such as poor planning of products and insufficient service levels, which leads to increased inventory and stock holding or stockouts and increased total costs. Cussons (UK) Limited is experiencing precisely these problems. Apart from these problems normally associated with forecasting demand for fast moving consumer goods there is an additional problem of reconciling the Western calendar with the Muslim calendar, and a recognition of the effects that Muslim religious holidays, as opposed to Christian religious holidays, have on demand. Muslim religious holidays rotate backwards with regard to the Western calendar, but in fact they occur at known dates and therefore the effect they have on demand for products can be taken into consideration when attempting to forecast demand. An additional problem that influences Cussons' sales in the market is the seasonal pattern of demand. Due to this, there is an increase in demand for Cussons' products during summer months. From the analysis of both data sets it was identified that the warehouse movement data is less variable and more reliable for business forecasting than order data. In this thesis, these forecasting problems are examined as a case study, focusing on these particular problems. To overcome these problems and to improve business forecasting of Cussons' products in the Middle East market, a forecasting strategy has been suggested which will enable Cusson's to reduce the inventories throughout the supply chain and to improve their customer's service.