Sportswear is growing into a fashion trend due to consumers growing desire for a healthy lifestyle. Some years back functional sportswear companies sold their clothing mostly via retailers, in recent years however these companies have integrated downstream in the supply chain. Now most functional sportswear brands operate their own stores: flagship or brand stores. Many researchers have investigated how companies use integration in the supply chainas a strategy. Few of these researchers have solely looked into functional sportswear companies and their unique products. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to examine why functional sportswear brands operate brand stores. In this paper several researchers suggested reasons to why companies integrate downstream in the supply chain, which has been taken into account. Researchers such as Penaloza (1998), Pine and Gilmor (1998) and Thomas et. al (1999) have suggested that brand image, a relationship with the consumer and the chance of giving the consumer an experience are important advantages that comes with a brand store. Researchers have also discussed how the brand store generates sales through other channels. These advantages of brand stores as well as reasons for downstream integration have been used to critically examine why functional sportswear brands operate brand stores. The study shows that all examined sportswear brands use the brand store as a way of building image. The companies all find the chance of giving the consumer an experience as an important aspect of the brand store.

A situational interview was developed for use in the selection of convenience store cashiers. One hundred two newly hired cashiers were interviewed using the situational interview. Ninety days later, a performance appraisal was completed for all subjects who were still employed. There was no significant difference in interview scores between those still working 90 days after hire and those who were not (t = 1.14, df = 100, n.s.). Correlations between the total interview scores and the total performance appraisal scores were generally very low or negative. Potential explanations for the failure of the interview to predict turnover or job performance are discussed

The purpose of this thesis is to explore how stores in the retail sector and in business to consumers´ relations, are engaged in the CRM systems use and management. The purpose is also to see if the information that is gathered by the headquarters is transferred down to the stores.   The research follows a realistic philosophy combined with an abductive approach and a qualitative method. The choice of design to this research was an exploratory research combined with a case study strategy over a cross-sectional time horizon. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with managers in the six different retail stores.      The findings from this thesis showed various results when it came to the use of the CRM system and the amount of information that the stores got access to from the headquarter/partner. None of the stores managed their CRM systems themselves, it was only managed by the headquarters or partners of the retail chains. The amount of information that was transferred down from the headquarters or partners, affected how much the stores used the CRM system. The stores that got much information had more knowledge about the CRM system and used it a lot more than stores that got less information.   The limitations that can be found in this thesis is that it is only a small amount of stores within the retail market that has been examined, this might give a misleading result for the rest of the retail market and the global market as whole.

Reverberating architecture exists through the echoes of its creative or architectural image. It is an architecture where the being of that architectural image reverberates and is felt throughout the whole transformative process until its echoes engage with the inner experience of the onlooker. These reverberations might impact the onlooker in such a way that it provokes a new architectural image within him or her. My design thinking was very much influenced by this thesis theme, as well as the concept of an indoor-outdoor system that intertwines. The concept is to design an outdoor recreational equipment centre with speciality shops for mountain biking, kayaking and canoeing, hiking and climbing. This retail complex varies from conventional retail centres in that it is an interactive retail store. This implies that the equipment can be tried before purchasing it. The architecture and the extreme sport activities [climbing, the mountain bike track and the kayak and canoe channel] would be used as communicating devices for specific brands. A precarious balance was needed between the plan, the architecture and the extreme sports existing within the architecture. Therefore a language was developed where by architecture not only responded to the site, but also with the movement happening in and around the site. / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Architecture / unrestricted

Subjects, 432 convenience store cashiers, were divided into long-tenure and short-tenure groups. Chi-square analysis of application blank information for a weighting sample drawn from both groups revealed two items which significantly (p < .05) differentiated between the long tenure and short-tenure groups: number of previous jobs and full-time/part-time preference. Response weights were computed for these two items and used to calculate composite scores for the remaining holdout sample. A significant reduction in turnover would have occurred at the highest composite score level, if used as a hiring cut off. Results were tempered by several considerations, including a high percentage of false negatives and an insignificant linear relationship between composite scores and tenure.

Homeostatic synaptic plasticity (HSP) regulates synaptic strength in response to changing neuronal firing patterns. This form of plasticity is defined by neurons’ ability to sense and over time integrate their level of firing activity, and to actively maintain it within a defined range. For instance, a compensatory increase in synaptic strength occurs when neuronal activity is chronically attenuated. However, the underpinning cellular mechanisms of this fundamental neural process remain poorly understood. We previously found that during activity deprivation, HSP leads to an increase in α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic (AMPA) receptor function as well as a shift in subunit composition from Ca2+-impermeable GluA2-containing AMPA receptors to Ca2+-permeable GluA2-lacking AMPA receptors not only at synapses, but also at extrasynaptic sites. Neurons therefore appear to be actively enhancing Ca2+ entry, possibly as a compensatory mechanism in response to a prolonged Ca2+ deficit. To test whether the homeostatic response may, at least in part, be mediated by internal Ca2+ stores, we depleted endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca2+ stores by using the Sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPases (SERCA) pump blocker cyclopiazonic acid (CPA) for a prolonged period. Interestingly, we have found that prolonged Ca2+-store depletion leads not only to an increase in synaptic strength per se, but also a cell-wide increase in synaptic Ca2+-permeable GluA2-lacking AMPARs. This increase in Ca2+ influx following periods of inactivity is conceptually highly reminiscent of a store-operated response, whereby cells re-establish their calcium levels following Ca2+ store depletion using cell surface Ca2+ channels. Our results suggest that neurons use synaptic receptors as means to regulate store Ca2+ levels, thus significantly expanding our understanding of the repertoire used by neurons to modulate cellular excitability.

In this diploma thesis I analyze data architecture and data marts in a bank area. Firstly I analyze different theoretical approaches to build the data warehouse. Consequently I specialize in operational and analytical data marts -- I analyze their business value, differences and location at the warehouse. In the third chapter I analyze reasons that have led to implement Asset Liability Management data mart. In the following chapter I analyze a life-cycle of this data mart not only from the technical point of view, but also from the project management perspective. The main benefit from this thesis is in the analysis of these aspects of ALM life cycle.

The master thesis "The role of in-store promotion in the launch of Nescafé Dolce Gusto brand in the Czech market" analyses the importance of in-store tasting as one of the fundamental tool of the whole launch. The thesis is divided into two parts -- theoretical and practical. The theoretical part results from the area of marketing mix and focuses on commercial communications with all their tools and emphasizes the sales and in-store promotion. The thesis also deals with a brand theory. Firstly, the practical part considers the Nescafé Dolce Gusto brand and the coffee market and then it analyses particular means of the launch, included the in-store promotion. The thesis also contains own questionnaire research which gives a basis for the evaluation of current strategy with in-store promotion as one of the fundamental tool of the launch of the Nescafé Dolce Gusto brand. The thesis is ended by recommendations for future.

The aim is to analyze and evaluate the space management in selected companies and see how customers perceive the environment Tesco stores.

Denna studie ämnar till att undersöka och analysera pop-up butiker för att kunna bidra med en ökad kunskap kring detta nya fenomen. Vårt främsta syfte är att undersöka hur företagets behov av att skapa relationer och kundens önskningar om att få en upplevelse möts i kontexten av en pop-up. För att få en förståelse kring detta avser studien även att undersöka vilka bakomliggande motiv företag har för öppnandet av en pop-up butik. / This study aims to investigate and analyze pop-up stores in order to contribute to increased knowledge about this new phenomenon. Our main purpose is to investigate how the company's needs to create relationships and how customers wish to get an experience come together in the context of a pop-up. In order to gain an understanding of this, the study also involves investigating the underlying motives companies have for the opening of a pop-up shop.