This diploma thesis deals with the causes of division of customer preferences towards individual retail units in the town of Blatná in order to recommend proposals for improvement for the consumer cooperative COOP. The theoretical overview provides basic information about food retailers in the Czech Republic, presents the formats of stores, attitudes of shoppers to food stores, individual elements of the retail mix or other factors influencing customer attitudes towards the store which can be influenced by retailers. The practical part relates to the food chains in Blatná and it is focused on identifying the respondents' favourite and main shopping place, the reasons for dividing customer preferences towards retail units, researching attitudes toward retail units and evaluating the retail mix of these stores. The practical part consists of two parts, a questionnaire survey focused on customers of food stores in Blatná, and research from these stores. Subsequently, it is possible to define respondents' attitudes towards food retailers in Blatná and their buying behavior. The survey in retail formats is used to identify and evaluate the core elements of the retail mix of individual stores. Thanks to these procedures it is possible to define improvement suggestions for COOP Tip in Blatná.

Background & aims: Prior research has, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting supply chain (SC) disruptions, increased the level of investigations in the field of SC resilience strategies. Even though many studies have been conducted within the field, little is known about the effectiveness and efficiency of those strategies. As food SC’s (FSC’s) are among the most important SC’s in our societies, their conservation is of great importance. As the operational purchasing process within the FSC was one of the areas within the SC that was strongly affected by the pandemic, this process will be the focus of the paper. This study seeks to identify the most applied SC resilience strategies for operational purchasing activities in FSC’s for various SC disruptions from a SME food retailers perspective. Furthermore, a framework of how to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of those strategies will be developed. Method: To collect relevant empirical data to answer the purpose of the study a qualitative multiple-interview study is conducted based on semi-structured interviews with respondents of the three different case companies. The case companies were selected and four interviews with one to two respondents per company were conducted. European SME food retailers of long shelf life goods are used as case companies to investigate the research gaps. Results: The study found out that the application of theory revealed the five most applied SC resilience strategies (SC flexibility, inventory management, end-to-end (E2E) SC visibility (SCV), information technology (IT) tools and SC cooperation) in operational purchasing, differences between SME food retailers according to their company size and maturity level. The KPIs identified to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of these SC resilience strategies were found to be applied. The KPIs provided are the basis for measurement opportunities that should be adapted and expanded depending on the business model and complexity of the company as part of the SC design. Contributions: The study adds value through theoretical and practical contributions of the most applied SC resilience strategies within operational purchasing from a SME food retailer perspective and their performance measurement system for measuring efficiency and effectiveness. Limitation & future research: The study is limited to the Covid-19 pandemic as a major reason for the triggering of the investigated SC disruptions. Further limitations can be seen within the selection of the case companies. Future research should investigate the differences between SME within their application of SC resilience strategies for their operational purchasing activities, just like the differences between strategic and operational purchasing. Key words: supply chain resilience strategy, supply chain disruption, Covid-19 pandemic, supply chain effectiveness, supply chain efficiency, performance measurements, key performance indicator, food supply chain, food retailers, purchasing process, operational purchasing