Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen M. Featherstone / Bananas are the number one selling produce item in the grocery store. On average, bananas account for 6% of produce department sales and 1% of total grocery store sales. According to The Packer’s “2010 Fresh Trends”, 88% of consumers in all categories purchase bananas. Also, 94% of consumers in the study purchased bananas within the last twelve months. Over the last decade, fuel prices have increased to a point where logistics and shipping have become more important than ever to the banana industry. This logistics challenge is compounded because there are no bananas grown in the United States and the fruit has to be shipped from around the world. Fuel is used at high rates via the ocean cargo and trucking shipments to meet yearly demand. To manage these logistical challenges, this thesis analyzes the optimal shipping route for bananas arriving to the west coast from Central and South America to various markets using a transshipment model. The goal of the transshipment model estimates the supply chain that creates the lowest cost. Through analysis of fuel, trucking, and shipping markets, the model makes the optimal decision regarding transportation routing. The model is limited to transportation costs only. However, items such as fruit costs and other additional up charges could be analyzed.

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Accounting and accountability researchers have shown new interest in the study of religious organizations by exploring how secular practices associated with accounting and accountability mesh with religious goals and activities. Despite burgeoning research into accountability relatively little is known about the nature of accountability in religious organizations. The present study seeks to address this need by exploring the accountability practices of a business entity owned and operated by an Australian religious minority. This study focuses on the accountability practices of the Sanitarium Health Food Company (SHF), a food manufacturing business owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. SHF is a non-profit organization whose annual gross revenue is estimated at between A$300m to A$400m, making it one of Australia’s top earning charities. SHF provides no formal financial reporting to church members and only a handful of church elites know the financial details of this organization. As a charity SHF is not required to pay income tax; as a department of the Adventist Church it is subjected to minimal regulatory requirements and therefore justifies not disclosing its financial details to church members or the public. However, as a charity there is an expectation that the organization would detail how profits are used, the causes it supports and the extent of that support. This information has not been readily forthcoming from the organization. Church members view SHF as being an Adventist organization upholding and promoting denominational teachings, values and practices; to the public the organization presents itself as a charity promoting disinterested humanitarianism. This case study combines historical and field research methodology. It draws on archival and published material relating to the SHF and Adventist community and data from interviews with a range of stakeholders. The primary focus of the study is the period between 1970 and 2005, during which time SHF grew significantly and underwent major restructuring of its operations, management and orientation. The study reveals that while SHF presents minimal formal reporting, the organization has evolved a sophisticated socialising accountability, aimed at promoting the operation to church members as an Adventist institution and to the wider public as a mainstream charity. The study highlights that a feature of Adventist accountability relates to a unique interpretation of the notion of being accountable to God. Adventists believe in a literal investigative audit in heaven commencing in 1844. This teaching differentiates Adventists from other religious groups. The teaching provides the primary focus of Adventist accountability, motivates social action and regulates Adventist organizational behaviour. The study of SHF provides a vantage point from which to examine the role that religious beliefs play in promoting commercial activities. In the study of SHF, religious beliefs and secular business practices overlap, each reinforcing the other. The evidence presented in relation to SHF highlights a meshing of religious values and secular operations in ways that make it impossible to compartmentalise sacred and secular activities within the Adventist organization. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1369252 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Business School, 2008

隨著經濟體制的改革開放，廠商品牌經營的範疇也隨之擴大至國際市場。同時隨著競爭優勢的典範轉移，進入模式所考量的內部因素-品牌權益的運用，也變得日形重要。因此「如何利用品牌權益有效率的切入市場」的議題也隨之受到重視。目前學術界在進入模式及品牌策略層面都已累積了為數不少的深入研究。然針對此議題的研究卻十分的缺少，因此本研究將針對此理論缺口，利用質化研究的方式，以台灣食品廠商做為訪談對像，進行深入探討。 首先為能明確化品牌權益與切入市場效率之間的關係，本研究在文獻探討的部份，深入分析品牌權益與交換問題的關係。同時再以邱志聖(2006)行銷四c為分析架構，系統性的說明品牌權益如何對交換成本產生影響。而個案分析方式便也採用同樣的架構，去深入探討五家具代表性的食品廠商，其品牌進入策略解決交換問題的能力。 再利用個案分析的結果，歸納出現有廠商進入新市場所採取的品牌進入策略類型為「自創品牌進入策略」、「共創品牌進入策略」及「信任建立式品牌進入策略」。並詳細說明各品牌進入策略的特性及成因，並據此提出相關命題。最後本研究再以行銷交換成本為構面，針對不同的品牌進入策略提出建議的解決模式。 / With liberalized economic system the scope of corporate brands has also been expanded to international markets. Simultaneously, the paradigm shift in competitive advantage makes exertion of brand equity more critical, which is an internal factor considered by entry mode. Thus, the issue concerning “how to enter markets efficiently by brand equity” is highly stressed. Currently, many in-depth researches of entry mode and brand strategy dimensions have been conducted in academic field, yet rather few have been made on this issue. To fill the theoretical gap, the research uses qualitative methodology by interviewing food companies in Taiwan for through discussion. First, in order to distinguish the relationship between brand equity and efficiency of market entry, the research analyzes relationship between brand equity and exchange problems in literature review, while systematically explain how brand equity affects exchange costs via Chiou’s (2006) marketing 4C analytical framework. Identical framework is adopted in case studies to discuss problem solving abilities and brand entry strategy of five representative food companies. Then according to results of case studies, the research summarizes brand entry strategy types adopted by current companies when entering new markets, categorizing as “private label entry strategy”, “ co-brand entry strategy” and “trust-establishing brand entry strategy”, and elaborating on characteristics and causes of each brand’s entry strategy to come up with hypothesis. Finally, the research uses marketing exchange cost as dimension, providing suggested solution models of entry strategies for different brands. Key words: Brand Entry Strategy, Brand Equity, Private Label, Co-brand, Food Company.