The growth rate of GDP of mainland China in 2003 is 11.48% and the average growth rate of GDP in recent five years is about 9.50%. The growth rate of total retail amount of social consumer goods is 9.00% and the average growth rate of it in recent five years is 10.16% which make mainland China the most prospective market. After joining the world trade organization¡]WTO¡^in 2001, the retail business in China went through a huge variation. Not only the keen competition between China enterprises and foreign businesses, but also the rivalries among various retail types of operation in China retail market make the progress of retail business in China. This study reviews literature to understand the research on the revolution of the retail type of operation, collects and organizes the inferiority materials to know the development of present economic circumstance in mainland China, probe into the growth and future trend of the consumption and retail market. The three most attractive retail types of operation in recent mainland China are department store, supermarket and specialty shop, this study analyses the financial statements of the benchmarks of the three retail types of operation to obtain a deeper comprehension of the future development trend. The result of this study shows the diversification of the development trend of recent retail type of operation in China which is different from the past situation. Every retail type of operation grows prosperously in China, and the performance of supermarket is even better than that of department store. According to the retail life cycle theory, department stores in mainland China are in the maturity phase and have to re-segment its target customers to raise its market share and revenue. The result of this study also shows the polarization of the trend of the retail type of operation in China, which the three most attractive retail type of operation represent. According to the dialectic model, there will be a synthesis between thesis and antithesis retail type of operation possesses the advantages of them. We can also learn from the three wheels of retailing theory that the department store will improve its return ratio by imitating and learning while supermarket will improve its turnover rate to strengthen its differences. Keywords: Retail business in China, type of operation, department store, supermarket, specialty shop.

Due to the rapid development of the retail industry in Taiwan, the transaction cost of product circulation is reduced, thus promotes the economic growth and improves people¡¦s living standard. The reason businesses can succeed in the retail industry in Taiwan is generally because they have correct business models and strategic positions. However, they cannot usually maintain their human capital due to bad job characteristics and lack of sound personnel systems. With the maturity of the industry, improvement of human resources management is absolutely the primary source of differentiation for business competition. This study is based on 7-ELEVEN, one of the leaders in the retail industry in Taiwan, to explore the current circumstances of job satisfaction of the convenient storekeepers, and then to find out effective ways that help upgrade their human resources management and finally offer some comments. The findings of this study are as follows: 1. The convenient storekeepers of 7-ELEVEN in Taiwan have high degree of job satisfaction because the work value of the employees matches up well with the job characteristics of the organization. 2. In this study, 6 dimensions in job satisfaction have been sorted out by factor analysis. They are ¡§organization administration and development¡¨, ¡§supervisor leadership¡¨, ¡§autonomy¡¨, ¡§nature of work¡¨, ¡§work support¡¨, and ¡§social relation¡¨. Among the degree of satisfaction on the 6 dimensions, ¡§work support¡¨ and ¡§social relation¡¨ are higher, while ¡§organization administration and development¡¨ and ¡§supervisor leadership¡¨ are lower. 3. According to the result of ANOVA, different personal variables have significant influences on job satisfaction: different ¡§academic background¡¨ have significant difference on ¡§supervisor leadership¡¨; different ¡§storekeeper seniority¡¨ have significant difference on ¡§nature of work¡¨; different ¡§working region¡¨ have significant difference on ¡§social relation¡¨. Moreover, different ¡§storekeeper category¡¨ and ¡§working region¡¨ both have significant difference on ¡§total job satisfaction¡¨; ¡§female storekeepers in Kaohsiung¡¨ have significantly higher degree of ¡§total job satisfaction¡¨ than other groups. 4. According to the result of regression analysis, ¡§organization administration and development¡¨ is the only factor having significant influence on ¡§total job satisfaction¡¨. Therefore, improving ¡§organization administration and development¡¨ is the most effective way to increase ¡§total job satisfaction¡¨.

This paper explores the effect of internet market and merchant characterics. Product retail price is not only a major revenue-driven factor for the seller, but also a key decision factor for the buyer. This research investigates how online retailing prices are affected by maket types and merchant characteristics. A dataset of 3,811 retail price quotes collected from 245 product items at 14 categoris from 880 onlline shopping or auction merchants is collected and analyzed. Major findings are below: 1. The average prices in the B2C market are significant higher than that in the C2C markets. No significant price difference is found between C2C markets that charge fees and free C2C markets. These implies that the auction market reduces product prices but whether the market maker charge service fees has no effect on product pricing. 2. Competitive intensity of a market is found to have significant positive effect on the price dispersion rate. This is consistent with prior research findings but is in conflict with the signle price theory in economics. This is because some vendors may intentionally lower their prices to attract customers, which results in a higher dispersion rate. 3. The reputation of a merchant has significant positive effects on its price dispersion in the B2C market. In auction markets, reputation has positive effect on price dispersion in the higher range, but has negative effect in the lower range. In both markets, merchant size has a positive effect on price dispersion in both markets. 4. Finally, price dispersion and effect of market types and product characteristics vary for different product categories.

Why does Wal-Mart - the world¡¦s number one corporation of retailing industry in ¡§Fortune Global 500¡¨ ¡V not have the same effect of business expansion in China market as in the international market? How does foreign investment of retailing do under Chinese economic reform to entering WTO¡HThis study mainly discusses business expansion of multinational corporations in China Retailing. The readers can understand how multinational corporations developed in global market and China¡¦s market through the analysis of retailing development under the global economy. In addition, the developing progress of China retailing industry after economic reform is also analyzed in this research. In the example of Wal-Mart¡¦s business expansion in China, this study found that if foreign retailing corporations wanted to expand their business well, they needed to obey the limitation by law and still overcame the problems such as government relation, transportation and consumers preference. This study also found that Wal-Mart wanted to transplant their successful business model into China. However it can¡¦t be done under current law of China and limitations. Before there is no adjustment or any new business model for ¡§Wal-Mart China¡¨, observation of transplanting successful mode in China can be a great help for the readers to understand how Wal-Mart developed in China.

<p>Sweden has experienced a surge in retail labels within the food industry the last decade and this increase has meant great changes within the meat industry. Producer brands have been faced with issues of strategy formulation and changing power structures that has affected small-and medium sized companies more than others. The purpose of this thesis is to, from a small- and medium sized producer perspective; investigate the impact the increase in retail label products have on selected producer brand producing companies in the Swedish meat industry and if they constitute a major threat to the producer brands. Furthermore, the thesis addresses issues such as the present structure of the industry and future views of the meat industry.</p><p>Method</p><p>A qualitative research method was used in order to investigate the impact of the increase in retail labels. Interviews were conducted with three cured meat producers operating in the region of Småland. Furthermore, a market leading producer and representatives from the market leading retailer was also included in the study to gain a deeper understanding of market conditions.</p><p>Results</p><p>The results of the interviews shows an industry that is mature and experiencing slow and sometimes even declining growth where companies are pretty much set in their ways. The fiercest competition, over shelf space, is between producers with similar strategies instead of between producers and retailers. The increase in retail labels has meant a drastically reduced shelf space for producers to compete over. However, the three producers have taken steps in order to secure that the threat from retail labels is kept at a minimum. Nevertheless, new retail labels that will be closer to producer brands in terms of quality and price are coming. These are seen as a greater threat than the existing labels.</p>

<p>Globalization and associated economic changes have led to a lot of opportunities and hazards that companies are facing. Especially the increased role of customer demands and the interconnected shift from seller markets to buyer markets were the driving factors and incentives for the research work of this Master Thesis. One quite new strategy that companies tend to apply in order to meet the occurring challenges is supplier development. By reason of the actuality of this topic, it was of high worth to investigate, especially when it comes to the lack of theoretical findings about challenges, difficulties and problems. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis was to find out which problems can occur in the process of supplier development, and how they can be solved. Hereby, the focus was laid on the furniture retail industry, as it is one of the fastest growing sectors in Sweden. For the empirical research the retailers Ikea and Mio were selected, because they play a very important role within the Swedish furniture retail industry due to the fact that they are the two biggest when it comes to market shares. Furthermore, the suppliers Bitc Möbel AB, Lundbergs Möbler and AB Wilo were chosen in order to examine their dyadic relationship with Mio. For the purpose of investigating the supplier development within the dyadic relationship of Ikea and its supplier, Bodilsen a/s was interviewed.</p><p>Almost during the whole research of this thesis a lack of knowledge occurred. It was noticed that only few references exist regarding this topic, therefore the objective of this thesis was to attach importance to this issue, illustrate further problem areas and possible solutions. Hereby, a conceptual model was created that served as a basis for the empirical part. After collecting empirical data, a close analysis was accomplished. In the end, suggestions for companies to improve their supplier development were made and a final model was generated in order to illustrate the results of the study.</p><p>The Swedish furniture retail industry is exposed to a strong price pressure and stress of competition, which makes it necessary to improve companies’ performance in order to withstand the competition and to succeed in the end. Its proximity to end customers makes a continuous product development necessary, which can only be successful when working closely together with manufacturers. Therefore, deploying supplier development is a recommendable strategy, but one should be aware of challenges that can occur. The results of this thesis provide support for the improvement of supplier development, especially when it comes to problem areas and correspondent solutions within dyadic relationships.</p><p>Supplier development is an up-to-date topic and plays a crucial role within the fast changing business environment. It was chosen to raise the reader’s interest and to give an insight into current economic developments. The Swedish furniture retail industry turned out to be very interesting for the topic of this Master Thesis. Finally, there is nothing more to say than: ‘Enjoy the trip through the Swedish furniture industry!’</p> / <p>Research questions:</p><p>Which are the potential problem areas of Supplier Development within dyadic relationships in the Swedish furniture retail industry?</p><p>Which possible solutions for these problem areas can be found in order to improve Supplier Development?</p>

Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Title from opening screen (viewed June 14, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of West Florida, 2009. / Submitted to the Dept of Professional and Community Leadership. Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 176 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references.