This study looks at human movement in order to formulate a principle that can potentially enrich the understanding of interior design and spatial awareness within it. It considers the spatial identity of the dis/abled body by looking at the importance of the embodied experience in relation to environment. The body has dynamic abilities; therefore it is an instrument for creating form. This tangible form in context with interior design can inform our understanding of spatial needs and be used as a design-informing tool. Specifically this project uses spatial identity as a theory to guide the conceptual ideas and as a practical tool to design a work environment and showroom for a client with Thrombocytopenia Absent Radius (TAR) syndrome. / October 2007

By the later decades of the twentieth century, retail internationalization was no longer the activity of a few multi-national retailers; revising the traditional view of retailing as a national business and the need to understand the process of internationalization. Academic research enriched the understanding of this activity, moving away from the early use of surveys to delve into the specific processes of the retailers in order to properly analyze foreign expansion activity. Initial research focused on the perspective of the firm, contributing to knowledge of the why, where, and how of the internationalization process. As this research expanded its scope, it became necessary for researchers to explore when internationalization occurs and to document what was the impact of internationalization on the host country. This call for research was made by Dawson (2003), who proposed a framework for the study of foreign impact on the domestic retailers of a host country. This study utilizes the Dawson model to measure, analyze, and explain the when and what of the retail internationalization process. In recognition of the complexity of the retail internationalization process, it was determined that the study would focus on one type of impact: changes in sectoral competitiveness. It was also determined that this study should be undertaken in a market and retail sector where substantial foreign entry had occurred and could potentially be measured, analyzed and explained. Therefore, the study is undertaken in the Canadian apparel sector between 1989 and 2007. The study was conducted as a mixed method research in two stages: an empirical study of market data and an interview study of industry experts. Since retail functions at the local level, the shopping centre was used as a microcosm of the market and provided empirical evidence to measure impacts in a temporal sense and by intensity. The interviews with industry experts were used to collaborate and explain the mall data, providing important first-hand context to explain the retail internationalization process. This study contributes to the validation of the Dawson model as a tool to measure and explain the impacts of foreign entry on a host country’s sectoral competitiveness, and through its methodology will provide the necessary modifications to the model for continued study of the retail internationalization process.

This study looks at human movement in order to formulate a principle that can potentially enrich the understanding of interior design and spatial awareness within it. It considers the spatial identity of the dis/abled body by looking at the importance of the embodied experience in relation to environment. The body has dynamic abilities; therefore it is an instrument for creating form. This tangible form in context with interior design can inform our understanding of spatial needs and be used as a design-informing tool. Specifically this project uses spatial identity as a theory to guide the conceptual ideas and as a practical tool to design a work environment and showroom for a client with Thrombocytopenia Absent Radius (TAR) syndrome.

This study looks at human movement in order to formulate a principle that can potentially enrich the understanding of interior design and spatial awareness within it. It considers the spatial identity of the dis/abled body by looking at the importance of the embodied experience in relation to environment. The body has dynamic abilities; therefore it is an instrument for creating form. This tangible form in context with interior design can inform our understanding of spatial needs and be used as a design-informing tool. Specifically this project uses spatial identity as a theory to guide the conceptual ideas and as a practical tool to design a work environment and showroom for a client with Thrombocytopenia Absent Radius (TAR) syndrome.

Sociala medier är idag en stor del av människors liv och har blivit en framgångsrik kanal för detaljhandelsföretag. Utvecklingen av sociala medier går ständigt framåt och har blivit en kanal för att sprida och inspirera kunder, skapa diskussioner och dela innehåll mellan deltagare. Detta medför en möjlighet för företag att vara mer tillgängliga för sina kunder, genom användning av dessa plattformar. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur företag inom den textila detaljhandeln arbetar praktiskt med strategier för sina sociala medier, i relation till mediernas utveckling. Studiens resultatet skall bidra till förståelse för vad företagen vill uppnå med sitt arbete med sociala medier, med hjälp av en utvecklad strategi-modell. På så sätt ska företag kunna tillämpa vår sammanställda sociala-media-strategi. I studien användes en kvalitativ metod där primärdata samlats in både via semistrukturerade intervjuer av sex olika textila detaljhandelsföretag samt via Högskolan i Borås sökmotor Primo och sökprogrammet Google Scholar som sekundärdata. Företagen tillämpar i de flesta fall inga strategier för sociala medier. Eftersom förändringen är så kontinuerlig är det svårt för de undersökta företagen att tillämpa en strategi, därför väljer de istället att införa en generell plan för marknadsföring i stort. Sociala medier är ett verktyg som utvecklas till att bli av större vikt i framtiden, vars syfte är att skapa värde för både kund och företag. När det kommer till att välja vilken social kanal företaget ska använda sig av behöver de först konstatera vilken plattform deras målgrupp befinner sig på. För att nå upptill kundernas förväntningar måste företagen uppdatera och utveckla kompetensen kring sociala medier. Företagen lägger stor vikt vid att bygga relationer med sina kunder för att skapa ett deltagande, på deras sociala medier. Frågor vi ställer oss utefter denna studie är, när inser företag att det är dags att tillämpa en strategi? Hur kommer strategin vara utformad? Vem tar initiativet att införa en strategi? Kommer strategin tillämpas i samband med att de traditionella kanalerna försvinner på grund av generationsbyte, eller kommer de tillämpas tidigare? Vilket vi anser blir en intresseväckande vidare forskning till ämnet. / Social media is a major part of people’s lives today and has become a successful channel for marketing for retail companies to use. The development of social media is constantly evolving and has become a platform for creating discussions and for sharing content between participants. Through the use of these platforms, this implies an opportunity for companies to be more accessible to their customers. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how textile retail companies work practically with their social media through strategies, in addition to the media development. The aim is to contribute to an understanding about how companies work with their social media, using a developed strategy model. In this way, our study will compile a social media strategy that companies can apply there after. In the thesis a qualitative method has been used where primary data is collected both through semistructured interviews with six textile retail companies and through the University of Borås search program Primo, and Google Scholar as secondary data. The conclusion is that, the interviewed companies do not apply social media strategies for their work. Due to the constant change, it is difficult for companies to apply a strategy and therefore they choose to apply a general plan for marketing instead. The companies place great importance in building relationships with their customers in order to create a participation for the customers, in their social media. Previous research shows that socialmedia is a tool of great importance that creates value for businesses and customers. The company need to identify the platform on which their target audience is located, in order to choose which social media channel the company should use. To achieve customer expectations, companies must update and develop the skills surrounding their social media. The questions we ask after this study are, when do companies realize that it is time to apply a strategy? How will the strategy be designed? Who takes the initiative to implement a strategy? Will the strategy be applied when traditional channels disappear due to generational change, or will they be applied earlier? What we consider becomes an interesting further research to the subject. This paper is written in Swedish.

Abstract Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration. Bachelor of Science with Specialization in Marketing – Main Field of Study: Business Administration. School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University, Course Code 2FE21E, 2018 Title: From Bags to Boxes: A Study of the Consumers Perception of Value in Online Fashion Retail Sales Authors: Nadine Bolm, Betty Hartigan Supervisor: Michaela Sandell Examiner: Åsa Devine Background: Online retail sales has been growing steadily since the late twentieth century. Fashion, as a segment of the online marketplace, is the largest market in cyberspace and as new companies are combined with old ones who want to establish a presence online, competition is stifling. As more companies offer fashion in the online world consumers behavior evolves with this new reality and customer-perceived value shifts as the consumers values in their transactions shifts. In order to gain and maintain a strong consumer base companies need to know what the variables are that make up customer-perceived value in hopes of affecting it. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explain the relationship between values of utilitarian nature, those being; monetary savings, convenience, product variety, product information, and customer-perceived value in online fashion retail and to explain the relationship between values of hedonic nature, those being; adventure, gratification, best deal, idea, and customer-perceived value in online fashion retail. Methodology: The research conducted here was an explanatory study to determine how different independent variables related to a single dependent variable. The study was deductive in nature and used a quantitative approach. Independent variables were studied with the use of a convenience sample and self-reporting survey posted online. Statistical analysis was conducted with data collected from 142 valid responses and through the use of validity and reliability methods the data was determined statistically meaningful and valid to test the hypothesis as accepted or rejected.   Findings: The findings of this study show that a new theoretical model was needed to better demonstrate the direct connection between variables that consumers identified as valuable to them in online fashion shopping, had with consumer-perceived value. By examining data collected through online survey it was determined that of the 8 variables, seen as valuable by research into consumer perceived value, 4 would be accepted as such. These 4 variables would become the basis for a new model that explained how consumers develop customer-perceived value. Conclusion: The research explains the relationship the 8 variables selected by previous research for their effect on customer-perceived value. It also provides a model for future research activities or for development of marketing plans with exceptional efficiency and effectiveness in mind. In directly relating each variable to customer-perceived value on its own merit it was found that the variables respondents valued most were of the more practical or utilitarian in nature aside from one, adventure, which possessed the highest level of value of the 8 variables.     Keywords: Customer-perceived value; Utilitarian value; Hedonic value; Online retail; Online fashion retail; Ecommerce; Monetary savings; Convenience; Product variety; Product information; Adventure; Gratification; Best deal; Idea

Submitted by Irene Nascimento (irene.kessia@ufpe.br) on 2016-09-13T17:39:20Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO O CONFORTO NO PONTO DE VENDA - MABEL G GUIMARAES - FINAL.pdf: 8947746 bytes, checksum: 594f97404873af2c173d4fc7a2d8eee2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-13T17:39:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO O CONFORTO NO PONTO DE VENDA - MABEL G GUIMARAES - FINAL.pdf: 8947746 bytes, checksum: 594f97404873af2c173d4fc7a2d8eee2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-01-29 / CAPES / O presente estudo buscou identificar os significados e os elementos representativos de conforto no ambiente de loja do varejo de moda feminina, a fim de elaborar diretrizes para avaliação de conforto por meio da análise dos elementos de composição da experiência do consumidor no ponto de venda e das impressões\sensações gerais sobre a mesma. Desta forma, a pesquisa possui caráter exploratório e descritivo, de abordagem qualitativa, utilizando-se de uma pesquisa de campo para coleta de dados, realizada em três etapas (entrevistas com cinco especialistas em visual merchandising, aplicação de questionário online com 150 mulheres e, por fim, um estudo de caso com loja representante do varejo moda feminina situada na cidade de Recife). O estudo sugere que o conforto do consumidor no ambiente de loja deste segmento se dá pela sua interação com cinco macroelementos (produtos, condições do ambiente, serviços, pessoas e apresentação de loja\elementos de composição do ambiente), apresentando-se em forma de 10 sensações (dimensão subjetivas) representantes de conforto para consumidor. Tal levantamento permitiu elaborar um mapa de conforto no ponto de venda, além de formular diretrizes de avaliação de conforto para este segmento, as quais podem auxiliar tanto os profissionais de projeto em visual merchandising\design de loja, quanto varejistas na avaliação do espaço, permitindo compreender a percepção que seu cliente tem da loja e da experiência, de forma a propor adequadas ao espaço do varejo. / This study aimed to identify the meanings and the representative elements of comfort in the environment of female fashion retail stores, in order to design guidelines for the evaluation of comfort through the analysis of consumer experience elements at the point of sale and the impressions\general sensations on the same. In this way, the research is characterized as an exploratory and descriptive study with a qualitative approach, using a field research for data gathering, held in three stages (interviews with five specialists in visual merchandising, followed by the application of an online survey with 150 women and, a case study with a female retail store located in the city of Recife). The study suggests that the consumer comfort in the shop environment of this segment is obtained by their interaction with five macro-elements (products, conditions of the environment, services, persons and presentation of souvenirs\elements of environment composition), presenting itself in the form of 10 sensations (subjective dimensions) representatives of comfort for the consumer. Such identification allowed to create a map of comfort at the point of sale, in addition to formulate guidelines for the evaluation of comfort for this segment, which can help both visual merchandiser and retailers in the evaluation of space, allowing them to understand the customer’s perception about the store and the experience, in order to propose appropriate solutions for to the point of sale.

In the last few decades, new vertically integrated players have appeared in the fashion industry providing their customers with lower prices and an increased number of seasons per year. In this context, the need for high efficiency levels among the fast fashion retailers appears as a necessity to survive. Since the area of Store Operations (SO) is directly dealing with processes at the end of the supply chain, boosting revenues through the increased efficiency and incorporation of new technologies in this area becomes critical. In order to accomplish that in a long-term perspective, this must be done while improving staff working conditions, customer experience in the stores and with more cost effective practices. Therefore, this study investigated how established fast fashion retailers can improve their Store Operations in pursuance of coping with growing efficiency requirements and rapidly changing technology in their stores. This has been done by conducting a case study at one of the biggest fast fashion retailers in the world. The research involved 42 different interviews with the case company’s employees and industry experts in the store solutions field, which allowed collecting both qualitative and quantitative data. Moreover, in order to analyze empirical findings obtained during the research process, outsourcing theories, including transactional cost theory (TCT) and resource-based view theory (RBV) as well as innovation theories, including diffusion of innovation and radio frequency identification (RFID) adoption theories, were used. The results indicate that in order to improve their Store Operations, the case company should first work on five areas, which include: (1) stockroom processes, (2) technology and innovation, (3) alarm systems, (4) employee morale, and (5) customer service. At the same time, it was discovered that the solutions that can improve all of these areas are: RFID that act as a security device and the outsourcing of stockroom process, known as Golden Delivery. In order to make the implementation of these two solutions successful, separate implementation guidelines must be created, both of which are presented in this document. The findings of this study have implications on both sustainability and research. This investigation contributes to the literature by giving a better understanding of the operational activities performed in the store environment of fast fashion retailers as well as the link between them and the rest of the supply chain. Moreover, the efficiency solutions presented in this document give fashion retailers a sustainable economic advantage achieved through cost savings and increased business performance, as well as, the motivation to focus on social and environmental aspects related to these practices.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has led to significant changes in the business environment and academic discussions. AI boosts productivity and positively impacts the competitive advantage of organisations. However, it also has its dark sides, such as prejudice, non-transparent processes, and people's fears that AI will be able to take their jobs in the future. The successful implementation of AI in organisations depends on several factors, including geopolitical, cultural, ecosystem, organisational, and individual factors. Geopolitical context and cultural differences can play an important role in the adoption and implementation of AI in organisations. This study examines the influence of geopolitical and cultural contexts on the decision-making process for the adoption and implementation of AI by managers from the fashion retail industry in Sweden and India. Given the extensive scope of these contexts, the authors narrowed their focus on specific factors. In the cultural context, the authors consider selected dimensions of the GLOBE project that reflect national culture. Within the Geopolitical context, particular attention is given to aspects such as data access and control, as well as the regulatory framework. In the course of this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted, and additional secondary data was studied. The study showed that the specifics of data access and control, as well as governmental legislative regulation, directly affect the decision-making process regarding the adoption and implementation of AI. As for the cultural context, here the degree of influence is heterogeneous, and decision-making on the implementation of AI is not always subject to the direct influence of the national cultural factors.

[pt] O varejo é conhecido como um ambiente competitivo e suscetível às mudanças de mercado. Assim, as marcas estão sempre se atualizando e inovando, principalmente em seu ponto de venda físico. A pandemia do Covid-19 acarretou uma aceleração digital no varejo de moda por conta do período em que as lojas físicas ficaram fechadas, colocando em questão a existência da loja física. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo repensar o design do ponto de venda físico de moda, em especial, o visual merchandising, a partir da pandemia do Covid-19. Para isso, utilizou-se de pesquisas bibliográfica e documental sobre temas relacionados à inovação no varejo, Covid-19, visual merchandising e tecnologias no ponto de venda; e das pesquisas de campo com consumidoras brasileiras e com especialistas da área de visual merchandising. Com base nas informações levantadas foi possível verificar que a loja física de moda e as estratégias relacionadas ao visual merchandising em um cenário pós-pandêmico estarão ligadas a três pilares: phygital, sustentabilidade e experiência de marca. A partir deles, foi possível fazer projeções para o design de varejo de moda. Esses pilares irão aumentar a percepção de valor em seus produtos e permitir uma maior fidelização de seus clientes. Desse modo, as marcas de moda precisam repensar suas estratégias no ponto de venda, o que evidencia a importância e o desafio para o profissional de visual merchandising nesse novo cenário. Assim, a loja física perde sua relevância como função exclusivamente transacional, sendo considerada como um local de conexão entre o consumidor e a marca. / [en] Retail business is a competitive environment and highly influenced by market changes. Thus, brands are always updating and innovating, especially as to their point of sale. The Covid-19 pandemic entailed a digital acceleration in the fashion retail industry due to the period in which physical stores were closed, raising the issue for their need. The present study aims to rethink the design at fashion physical stores using the VM approach within the context of necessary adaptations imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. For this, we conducted bibliographic and documentary based research on topics related to innovation in retail, Covid-19, visual merchandising and point-of-sale Technologies. In addition, we conducted field surveys with Brazilian consumers and fashion retail specialists focusing on visual merchandising. Based on the information collected it was possible to verify that the physical fashion store and VM strategies in a post-pandemic scenario are linked to three axes: phygital, sustainability and retail experience. These three axes made it possible to project scenarios for designing fashion retail stores. They will add value to their products and allow for greater customer loyalty. For this reason, fashion brands need to rethink their strategies for sales at the point of sale, highlighting the importance and the challenge imposed on the VM professionals in this new scenario. Thus, the physical store is no longer a mere place for doing business, but a place where consumers and brands connect.