This thesis focuses on the impact of a mega-store on the existing businesses in a specific area--Magazine Street in New Orleans. The potential mega-store is a 200,000 square foot Wal-Mart Supercenter that is part of the retail component of the St. Thomas housing re-development. The focus of this project is the retail competition that might be generated by this mega-store. Businesses were studied and placed into categories as either direct or indirect competitors to the mega-store. Previous research identified certain categories of store types that could be impacted (either positively or negatively) by the location of national stores in their communities. These categories were used to determine the impact that Wal-Mart might have on businesses on Magazine Street. Business owners were surveyed to determine how they thought they would be impacted. In the opinions of the business owners, the overall impact that a Wal-Mart would have on Magazine Street businesses would be negative. The surveys do show, however, mixed attitudes among the Magazine Street business owners toward Wal-Mart's coming.

The purpose of this study is to critically diagnose and review the current available knowledge of social media in retail. Particularly, this review concentrates on influences of social media in consumer behaviour within the online retail context. This study aims to identify gaps in the literature, and give recommendations for further research. The review uses a descriptive research method when gathering and summarising the data about social media in online retail. The studies included in this review are very recent; from the years 2009 to 2017. Chosen existing studies are analysed in comparison to traditional literature and linked to Cumberland’s philosophy. Moreover, how traditional literature can still be used to support current phenomena. Conclusions are drawn to emphasize that Cumberland’s theories can be applied to modern society and social media is noted as a tool used by man to pursue ”Universal Benevolence”. Future research should concentrate on further understanding this relationship. The review provides important information about how social media influences consumer purchasing behaviour in online retail, which is of particular interest for marketers and managers of that field.

This diploma thesis is dealing with the Czech retail market and an influence of foreign direct investment on it. The thesis is divided into five parts. First two chapters are focused on the theoretical definition of the foreign direct investment, trade as well and the tendencies in the international business in the 21st century. Third and fourth chapters are dealing with the inflow of the foreign direct investment into Czech Republic or with the status of the trade in the Czech economy. Fifth part is devoted to the Czech retail market -- its performance and evolution since 1989. In this chapter is also exercised comparison of the foreign and domestic enterprises in their productivity and performance.

Paper analyse retail banking fees in Czech Republic. It depicts bank methods of pricing retail banking fees and selected fees are compared across the market. Competition at similar foreign markets is shortly analysed as comparison tool. Testing the demand side of this market surprisingly revealed that the lack of competition between retail banks is not the main reason of low pressure on retail banking fees decrease. The same testing shows the significant passivity of customers as main cause.

Ingeniero Civil Industrial / El presente trabajo de título se lleva a cabo en una empresa de Retail Financiero nacional que se caracteriza por ser la administradora de la tarjeta de crédito de un reconocido grupo a nivel latinoamericano. La estrategia de la empresa es conseguir la principalidad, siendo una manera de medirlo la cantidad de necesidades que cubren los clientes con su tarjeta, a través de calcular los rubros distintos en que es utilizada. Es por ello, que el objetivo general de este proyecto es diseñar un modelo de asignación de ofertas para la activación de los clientes de un Retail Financiero en los distintos rubros de gestión de su tarjeta de crédito, balanceando las preferencias del cliente y las ganancias para la empresa. Con respecto al desarrollo de la solución, se plantean tres objetivos específicos: En primer lugar, determinar el efecto causal que posee sobre el gasto y la rentabilidad (de las compras con la tarjeta) del cliente el hecho de que se active en un nuevo rubro, a través de una técnica de matching. Concluyéndose, que existe un efecto positivo y significativo de activarse en 15 de los 16 rubros sobre el gasto y la rentabilidad del uso de la tarjeta. De estos, se destaca Viajes, que genera el mayor aumento del gasto con $78.000 mensuales (un 117% más que el promedio de los rubros) y un aumento promedio de la rentabilidad de las compras en $1.100 mensuales (el doble que el promedio de los rubros). El segundo objetivo, es diseñar un modelo para predecir el próximo rubro en el cual se activará cada cliente, según sus características y comportamiento pasado. El modelo escogido fue un probit multivariado, que estipula la definición de un orden general de ofrecimiento de los rubros debido a su probabilidad de compra y efecto sobre la compra de otros rubros. Luego, el tercer objetivo, es establecer un criterio de asignación de rubros a ofertar a cada cliente que aumente el gasto de estos, recomendándose a la empresa la utilización del criterio del lift, debido a que el gasto percibido aumenta en un 18% por sobre la utilización de la clásica asignación por mayor propensión. También, de los primeros objetivos, se logra identificar que el 14% de la cartera tiene alta probabilidad de activarse en al menos un rubro, lo que repercutiría en un aumento de su gasto en un 20%. Por lo anterior, se recomienda a la empresa potenciar a través de ofertas los rubros en que los clientes no se activan naturalmente, pero generan una diferencia grande en el gasto de los clientes, como Educación y Recaudación. Finalmente, se estipulan las principales limitaciones del proyecto, que dan paso a dos líneas de trabajos propuestos: el estudio de la activación de rubros en clientes nuevos, debido a que estos fueron eliminados del análisis, y la incorporación del efecto del marketing directo sobre las probabilidades de compra.

Seminario para optar al grado de Ingeniero Comercial / En este estudio se intenta proveer de un marco teórico que permita comprender de mejor forma los aspectos relevantes que impactan en el éxito o fracaso de los retailers en su intento por ingresar al competitivo mercado chileno. Con este fin se comienza el estudio con un capítulo introductorio, en el cual se describen las características generales del retail, las motivaciones que puede tener un retail para comenzar una diversificación internacional, los modelos de internacionalización, para posteriormente analizar las posibles causas que llevan a fracasar a los retailers en sus intentos de internacionalización. En el capítulo siguiente se realiza una revisión de la literatura que trata las diversas posturas que tienen los autores con respecto a las causas de las fallas del retailing internacional. En un tercer capítulo se realizará un análisis de los casos de retailers que han intentado conquistar nuestro mercado, sin tener éxito, y compararlos con los principales actores chilenos, representantes de tiendas por departamento y home improvement.

Research report submitted to the School of Economic and Business Sciences, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, 2013. / In recent years, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology has transformed from being unknown to mainstream applications that help facilitate the managing of manufactured goods and materials. Its information storage capacity as well as its ability to transfer information through contactless means without line-of-sight translates to significant advantages to deliver various benefits for retailers and their clients in the retail settings. However, up until now RFID technology has gained very little momentum and the status of adoption particularly of retail organisations in South Africa is unknown. To fill this research gap, an exploratory study that draws on the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework was employed to provide a deeper understanding of South African retailers’ perceptions of RFID adoption. Five interviewees representing their respective organisations participated in the study. The findings suggested that the adoption level is very low and only one organisation from the sample used had done a pilot project. The results also indicated that cost, standardisation and government support influenced the adoption of the technology. Complexity and technology competence were not considered to have any influence in the adoption of the technology. Competitive pressure was not deemed influential if the technology was not embedded in the whole supply chain, a somewhat surprising result. There were no anticipated impacts on the employees if this technology was implemented. Methodological and practical implications are also discussed.

Tesis para optar al grado de Magíster en Gestión para la Globalización / Maui and Sons, cadena de tiendas de retail de vestuario, se plantea la posibilidad de expandir sus operaciones a Colombia, como parte de su estrategia de internacionalización, basándose principalmente en la observación de lo que están haciendo los otros retailers chilenos en Latinoamérica. El objetivo de este trabajo es realizar una evaluación estratégica y económica de la entrada de Maui and Sons al mercado de retail vestuario colombiano. En la primera sección de este trabajo se define a Colombia como el país ideal para continuar con la estrategia de internacionalización, ya que ofrece una serie de oportunidades e incentivos para la inversión extranjera y porque se encuentra viviendo un proceso de recuperación política y económica que ha atraído a los grandes actores del retail latinoamericano. Las tiendas por departamento son una industria creciente en Colombia, la cual está lejos de saturarse y Maui and Sons cuenta con los recursos tanto económicos, de personas y know-how para lograr una expansión exitosa realizando inversión directa. El estudio muestra que la compañía no está actualmente en una posición sólida de gestión como para resistir dos expansiones internacionales de forma simultánea. De esta forma, se recomienda que la compañía supere sus debilidades estructurales primero. Seguido de esto, y tal como lo demuestra la experiencia de otros actores nacionales de la industria que se han aventurado en Colombia, es recomendable que la compañía replique su modelo de negocios en Chile para Colombia con la salvedad de las diferencias culturales que se señalan en éste trabajo. En este trabajo, y dadas las condiciones de la compañía, se recomienda de entrar, usar una estrategia de alianza, hasta estar listos para una entrada Greenfield. De todas formas, en este texto se hace una revisión de las locaciones donde se encuentran compañías que pueden ser del interés de Maui and Sons como socios estratégicos para su entrada. Finalmente, se concluye el enorme potencial que ofrece el mercado colombiano para la expansión de la compañía, y se realizan recomendaciones sobre mejoras que debe enfrentar Maui and Sons antes de comenzar su incursión en Colombia.

O estudo do processo de construção de marca ganhou importância a partir da década de 90, quando as empresas passaram a ser vendidas por valores superiores aos anotados nos balanços patrimoniais. Assim, iniciou-se uma corrente acadêmica de estudo visando a entender o que é uma marca e como seu valor pode ser construído. Os meios de comunicação de massa, tradicionalmente, têm sido utilizados para construir marcas. Desse modo, a questão fundamental desta dissertação é explorar a influência do varejo VIP na construção do brand equity, no setor cervejeiro brasileiro. O tema é tratado com base em uma revisão teórica que trabalha quatro blocos principais de conhecimento: i) marca; ii) comunicação; iii) canais de distribuição, com ênfase no varejo; iv) indústria cervejeira. E é desenvolvida uma pesquisa de campo, de caráter exploratório, que utiliza o método de levantamento de experiência, por meio de entrevistas em profundidade com os gerentes das três marcas de cerveja mais valiosas do mercado segundo o ranking da DINHEIRO/BrandAnalytics. As diretrizes teóricas da pesquisa de campo foram os quatro pilares de David Aaker (1996) de formação do brand equity: conscientização de marca, qualidade percebida, associação de marca e fidelidade de marca. Além disso, buscou-se entender, também, a influência da comunicação integrada de marketing na construção de marcas e os principais desafios e tendências da utilização do varejo VIP na construção de marcas. Os resultados da pesquisa indicaram que o varejo VIP tem potencial para ser utilizado na construção de marca, principalmente, quando se deseja falar com o consumidor da classe A. Além disso, a pesquisa aponta que o varejo VIP pode ter maior ou menor influência na construção do brand equity dependendo de alguns fatores, como: objetivos da marca, posicionamento de mercado da marca (segmento de mercado em que a marca atua e quem são seus consumidores-alvo) e budget disponível. / The study of the brand building process gained significance as from the nineties, when enterprises started to be sold at higher prices, than the ones noted down in their balance sheets. Therefore, an academic chain of study was initiated, aiming at understanding what a brand is and how its value may be built up. Traditionally, mass media communication have been used to build brands. Thus, the fundamental question of this dissertation is to exploit the influence of the retail to build brand, in the Brazilian beer industry. In order to answer this question, a theoretical review that focuses on four main blocks of knowledge was carried out. The areas analyses were: i) brand; ii) communication; iii) distribution channels emphasizing the retail market; iv) the beer industry. Furthermore, an investigative field research was conducted, adopting an exploratory method, by carrying out in-depth interviews, with managers of the three most valuable beer brands in the market, following the DINHEIRO/BrandAnalytics ranking. The field research was based on David Aaker\'s (1996) four pillars of the brand equity: brand awareness, perceived quality, brand association and brand loyalty. Moreover, this study has also aimed at understanding the influence of integrated marketing communication on brand building as well as the main challenges and trends in using the retail to build brands. The results of the research indicated that the retail has got potential to be used in brand building, mainly when the brand wishes to address to upper class consumers. Furthermore, they suggest that VIP retail may have higher or lower influence on building brand equity, depending on some factors, such as: brand objectives, brand positioning (segment of the market in which the brand performs and who are its target-consumers) and the available budget.

Este estudo dedica-se a levantar elementos que configurem a dinâmica da rua de comércio dentro de um contexto de transformações recentes da atividade comercial na cidade de São Paulo. O método envolve primeiro, num âmbito geral, o estudo da dinâmica da rua de comércio sob três diferentes aspectos: pela evolução urbana, pelas transformações sócio-econômicas e pelos hábitos de compra do consumidor. A síntese se apóia em pesquisas quantitativas para relacionar as principais ruas de comércio, categorias de produtos mais procurados e as razões pelas quais as pessoas freqüentam estas ruas de comércio. Apresenta, em conclusão, os principais atributos de uma rua de comércio, através do levantamento do seu mix de lojas, ocupação e transformações. / This study proposes to come up with elements which configurate the commerce street dynamic inside a recent transformation context of commercial activity in São Paulo city. The method envolves the study of the street dynamic upon three different aspects: through the urban evolution, the socio-economic transformation and the consumer shopping habits. The synthesis is supported on quantitative researches to relate the main commerce streets, products categories most required and the reason why people go to those commerce streets. It presents the main attributes of a commerce street, through the survey of its mix, occupation and present transformation.