The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of collaboration between the Saudi Arabian supermarkets and their suppliers, and how they exchange information. As part of this research, the aim was to identify the ways in which orders are placed including the use of electronic methods. Another aim of this study was to explore any particular procedures followed by both retailers and suppliers, regarding product quality and product shelf life. Moreover, this research tried to identify whether or not the retailers experienced any shortage in supply, and tried to determine the causes of the potential delays from both points of view. In addition, this study tried to identify the sources of any conflict between the two parties. Finally, this study tried to determine the impact of the collaboration between the retailers and the suppliers on the supermarkets' customers. The intention was also to test their loyalty to see whether or not they were happy regarding the services and product quality received from supermarkets. In this research the initial investigation was carried out through a literature review in order to develop an understanding of the overall situation in the food retailing sector. This was necessary in order identify any gaps in the literature. This was found to be lacking in terms of any detailed research specific to Saudi Arabia. Then, two case studies were carried out with regard to two different suppliers in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. This was followed by a structured interview carried out in Saudi Arabia with eight main supermarkets and four food suppliers which serviced those supermarkets. In addition, an anonymous online survey was conducted with Saudi customers to identify their satisfaction regarding supermarket services The Soft System Methodology was used as a qualitative method to analyse the results from the structured interviews, and to determine those factors that could influence and improve the operations of the supply chain. These were validated through the expert panel feedback, though not all believed that it is possible to implement some of these without a change to how the market operates. The study identified that there was a very low level of collaboration between the two parties (retailers and suppliers) and that there was a strong refusal on the part of the supermarkets to share any information with suppliers regarding stock levels. Also, it was found that there were no electronic methods for passing orders from the supermarkets to the suppliers. The main method used was that of sales representatives who had to visit the stores to check the stock level and issue new orders. In addition, the results revealed that sometimes supermarket experienced problems of product availability. The supermarkets were of the opinion that the suppliers' capabilities were limited when it came to providing the required quantity. On the other hand, suppliers suggested that the main cause was late payment to the suppliers on the part of Saudi supermarkets. To conclude, the food retailing sector needs to reshape itself, and the way in which supermarkets deal with their suppliers needs to be fairer, especially in terms of the payments issue and returned products. This sector needs close supervision from a government organisation in order to enhance the sector generally.

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This study explores the contemporary collective significance of over seventy London markets in the 'long' eighteenth century. Markets are loosely defined as those institutions which were publicly recognized as places of regular trade in basic commodities: meat and livestock, fish and corn, fruit and vegetables, hay and straw, cloth, coal and animal skins. Their characteristics and development were shaped by a range of factors: principally 'market forces', but also political concerns and the growth and modernization of the metropolis. This thesis represents the first attempt to consider the markets of London during this period collectively and eclectically. One of its principal elements, therefore, is the classification of markets according to various criteria (e.g. size, ownership, location) over time (Chapter Two). One key trend is the apparent rise and fall of food market retailing, which is explained by various economic and cultural factors (Chapter Three). The economics of wholesaling demonstrate that formal market mechanisms generally adapted to changing times and performed the task of distribution with reasonable efficiency (Chapters Four and Five). Political influences on the geography and development of the markets - the role of market rights and regulations - highlight the distinctive and complex political economy of the metropolis (Chapter Six). A final dimension of inquiry concerns the relationship between markets and the city environment, and the extent to which metropolitan growth and 'improvement' impinged on the traditionally focal and symbolic status of markets (Chapter Seven). In general, markets' collective identity was fragmenting: some prospered whilst others declined; wholesale-retail distinctions established themselves; the boundaries between formal marketing and other forms of exchange became increasingly blurred. Nevertheless, the market place was not made obsolete by the process of metropolitan modernization. The abiding impression of the study is one of London's commercial, topographical and political complexity and diversity.

This diploma thesis deals with food retailing in the USA. It is divided into 9 chapters. The first chapter includes important theoretical definitions and classifications. The next one explains the formats that are used in food retailing in the USA. The third one adds the area of logistics into the matter, which is also very important in retailing. The next chapter provides general introduction into the US market, like macro-economic data and socio-cultural specifications. The fifth chapter is the most important as it deals with the analysis of food retailing in the USA. The last parts of the thesis are dedicated to the comparison of the US food retailing market and the European food retailing market.

CSR has become an important issue in the business practices of retailers worldwide. When it comes to the food sector, retailers are expected to adopt CSR practices and influence their consumers and supply chains to behave in a socially responsible way. Since the food consumption in answerable for 30 per cent of the negative environmentally impact the retailers are suggested to stimulate the green market development and sustainability in both production and consumption practices. This can be done with establishment of the responsible assortment. In relation to that, one of the main tools that food retailers use to create responsible assortment is called CSR labelling. The purpose of this study is to explore how food retail store managers engage to adopt CSR in the store assortment and how private eco-brands contribute to the green-market development in food retail. In order to achieve a widely understanding of food retailers practices when the creation of responsible assortment ant the stimulation of the green market development are in case, a qualitative method with 9 semi structured interviews was applied. The results show that retailers use CSR and eco-labells with the intention to motivate consumers to buy sustainable food products. The retailers are also showing increased attention of controlling the supply chain and influencing suppliers to behave in a socially responsible way. However, the findings indicates that both store managers and consumers need to be better informed about the benefit of the sustainable products.

Electronic commerce is a relatively new concept compared to other Internet applications. Theconcept has grown fast to cover a wide range of products and services and practiced in severalparts of the world. The process of buying and selling Fast Moving Consumer Goods, food andother necessities online is referred to as electronic grocery. Electronic grocery today is builton different types of solutions; purchasing from a grocery store via their webpage and buyingcomplete meal plans delivered with recipes to the consumers home. By purchasing groceriesonline, consumers get the chance to pick and choose from many different solutions andbrands as a result of which they save time and increase accessibility. The dominating products sold through electronic commerce in Sweden are electronics, clothesand shoes. The online grocery business is only 1.4% (2016) of the total grocery business inSweden. This means that electronic grocery seems to have had a relative slow consumeradoption which makes it differ from e-commerce in general. The purpose of this thesis was todiscover what barriers were associated with using e-grocery for Swedish grocery consumersand how these barriers was affected by user experience. This research was conducted with amixed method approach. The purpose was to establish which barriers are the most influentialto consumers choosing to switch from the traditional way of purchasing groceries in physicalstores to purchasing their groceries online. Understanding these barriers helped investigatehuman interaction with information systems. The study was mainly conducted through thedistribution of a self-completion questionnaire with 300 respondents. Results from the questionnaire suggest that user experience may effect consumers choice tousing e-grocery. Statistics demonstrate influences of consumers using e-commerce for othergoods rather than groceries. Some of the main barriers to adopting this new way of purchasinggroceries were quality of fresh groceries, the social factor of purchasing groceries in aphysical store and consumer’s habit. This study will therefore contribute to the field ofinformatics by providing both theoretical and empirical analysis that help distinguish theinfluence e-commerce has on grocery consumers and their daily life. An interesting area forfurther research would be to investigate and compare other demographic factors to getknowledge about how to reach other consumer groups. To pay more attention to elderconsumers and users of information systems, it perhaps would be an interesting direction tosee how e-grocery could improve their everyday lives. E-grocery is an important business toresearch due to the fact that it will probably be both faster and more convenient in the future. / Elektronisk handel är ett relativt nytt koncept jämfört med andra Internet-applikationer.Konceptet har växt snabbt och erbjuder ett brett utbud av både produkter och tjänster ochfinns i flera delar av världen. Köp och försäljning av snabbrörliga konsumentvaror, mat ochandra nödvändigheter på nätet kallas för elektronisk dagligvaruhandel. E-dagligvaruhandelbygger idag på olika typer av lösningar; köp hos dagligvarubutiker via deras hemsidor ochköp av kompletta måltider i matkassar som levereras med recept till konsumentens hem.Genom att köpa dagligvaror på nätet får konsumenter en chans att välja mellan många olikalösningar och aktörer, som leder till att de sparar både tid och får en ökad tillgänglighet. De dominerande produkterna som säljs på nätet i Sverige är elektronik, kläder och skor. Edagligvaruhandelnoch dess industri stod för endast 1,4% av den totala dagligvaruindustrin iSverige 2016. Detta innebär att elektronisk dagligvaruhandel verkar ha anammatslångsammare av konsumenter än allmän e-handel, vilket får det att utmärka sig på så vis.Syftet med denna uppsats var att upptäcka vilka barriärer konsumenter förknippar med edagligvaruhandeloch hur användarupplevelsen påverkade dessa barriärer. Undersökningenutgjordes av en mixad metod. Syftet med denna studie var att fastställa vilka barriärer som ärde mest inflytelserika när konsumenter väljer att byta från det traditionella sättet att köpadagligvaror i fysiska butiker, till att köpa sina dagligvaror på nätet. Studien genomfördeshuvudsakligen genom distributionen av en kvantitativ enkät med 300 respondenter. Resultatet från undersökningen indikerar att användarupplevelsen kan ha en inverkan påkonsumenternas upplevda barriärer. Statistiken visade att konsumenter använder e-handel ihögre grad för andra varor och tjänster än dagligvaror. Några av huvudbarriärerna för attanamma detta nya sätt att köpa dagligvaror var osäkerhet kring kvalitén på färskvaror, densociala faktorn som skapas av att besöka en fysisk butik samt konsumenters vanor. Dennastudie kommer därför att bidra till ämnet informatik genom att ge både teoretisk och empiriskanalys som bidrar till att visa vilken influens e-handel har på dagligvarukonsumenter ochderas vardagsliv. Ett intressant område för vidare forskning vore förslagsvis att undersöka ochjämföra andra demografiska faktorer för att få kunskap om andra konsumentgrupper. Meruppmärksamhet kan t.ex. riktas mot äldre konsumenter och användare av informationsystemför att ta reda på hur e-dagligvaruhandel kan förbättra deras liv. E-dagligvaruhandel är ettviktigt område att undersöka då det med största sannolikhet kommer att effektiviseras och blismidigare i framtiden.

This thesis examines the nature of labour usage within a market-leading Australian food retail firm and the employment relations consequences of the labour usage strategies employed by the firm. Retail employment is well established as a research subject in the UK, but has received comparatively little research attention in Australia. Given that retail industry employment accounts for 15 per cent of the Australian workforce, this represents a significant oversight. Within the retail industry, the supermarket and grocery sector employs 6 per cent of the Australian workforce. The sector is dominated by two major chains and is highly competitive, with a reputation for low profit margins, mundane jobs and low pay. The sector is recognised for an employment structure that is segmented with one segment holding full-time jobs with core employment conditions and the other segment, part-time jobs with poor working conditions. The dominant theory used by scholars to explain this employment structure is the dual labour market model and later iterations such as Atkinson's flexible firm model. This research assesses the value of these models, in particular Atkinson's flexible firm model, as a representation of the labour usage strategies of a market-leading Australian food retail firm. This analysis demonstrates that, in a general sense, Atkinson's model has applicability to the labour usage strategies exhibited in food retailing. The research found that, contrary to the theories of dual labour markets, a strong internal labour market operated within the firm with short hours casual employment as the port of entry. The benefits of this practice for the organisation were flexibility in labour usage and substantial wage savings, while the negative consequences were recruitment difficulties, exacerbated by high levels of staff turnover. For the employees, the consequences depended on their position in the organisational hierarchy and their individual circumstances, but involved initially accepting limited working hours and low pay in order to gain entry into the organisation. The research undertaken for this thesis leads to the development of a revised model, the casual internal labour market model, which more accurately depicts the labour usage strategies within the case study organisation. Retail researchers argue that it is necessary to understand the dynamics of the industry in order to understand the structure of labour usage. Additionally, employment relations and retail researchers both stress the need to contextualise labour usage patterns within broader environmental constraints and supply side factors. In seeking to achieve this, this research examines business strategies, retail specific employment relations literature and the Australian employment relations context. Furthermore, this study addresses the issue of retail employment strategies at several levels within one of Australia's market-leading food retailers: corporate level, store level and at the level of individual departments within the store. In doing so, this thesis highlights the differences in labour usage between stores and between departments within the stores and thereby provides a more detailed picture of the labour use practices within food retailers.