<p>In every market, competition is a vital ingredient for any working market economy. Large stores like IKEA, OnOff and El-Giganten are often positioned in locations near each other. Shopping areas like Gekås have proven to have large attraction power towards the customers. In down-town shopping areas it is common that large stores take advantage of each other’s capabilities to invoke customers’ interest. By doing so, businesses work together to create a large customer base.</p><p>The purpose of this paper is to determine how owners and managers of medium sized retail stores should choose location for their shop.</p><p>Both a qualitative and quantitative approach were used in this thesis; the qualitative approach was used for conducting interviews with 6 people involved in running the stores and municipality. This was done to collect information from actors that had the experience and knowledge about the subject of the thesis. The quantitative approach involved a survey done upon shopping habits of consumers in the same area. The reason for conducting both these researches was to diminish the biased answers that we would have got from conducting the research from one group only. By asking the store managers/owner and customers, as well as a representative of the municipality, we were able to provide a complete perspective on the situation.</p><p>Our findings showed that there were some major differences between a down-town shopping area and a shopping mall. It also became clear that the preferences and capabilities of the stores were important for selecting locations. Consumer preference on where to go shop was showed to be almost the same for A6 and down-town with a slight advantage towards A6. Still, the requirements on opening a store in a shopping mall oppose down-town was different.</p>

The Christchurch Engine Centre (CHCEC) provides maintenance, repair and overhaul services for the IAE V2500 commercial jet engine. CHCEC is being driven to reduce engine shop visit (ESV) prices to satisfy customer demand and offer competitive prices. The reduction in ESV price is reducing profit margins and internal cost reduction is not a sustainable solution. Historical repair ESV data was reviewed and analyzed to identify major cost drivers and opportunities for overall shop visit cost reduction. It was found that CHCEC can reduce ESV prices through introducing recommended third party repairs which increases the savings to the customer and should allow CHCEC to secure more engines from customers.

Background: Rigorous evaluation of community based interventions is necessary to build the evidence base for maternal and child survival in developing countries. Randomised controlled trials may be the most reliable method of determining effectiveness of interventions, but they are unable to evaluate the impact of context and implementation, and explain how an outcome occurred. This thesis explores the outcome of a cluster randomised controlled trial using women’s groups in Nepal. Intervention areas experienced a 30% reduction in neonatal mortality, and increases in good care behaviours. I describe how communities experienced the intervention and explore how the implementation process and community context affected the community response. Methods: I used qualitative research methods, purposefully sampling stakeholders from two intervention areas, and one control area. Photoelicitation was used, and research assistants conducted semi-structured interviews, group interviews, focus group discussions, and observations. Data were tape recorded, transcribed and translated into English. Data were analysed using framework and NVIVO qualitative analysis software. Data were also fed back to respondents to increase validity. Results: Themes emerging from the data revealed a lack of trust in local health facilities, plurality in care seeking during illness, and a positive attitude towards working with non governmental organisations. Women’s groups created a learning forum for group members, and this knowledge was disseminated in communities. Strategies to address problems were of particular significance in enabling dissemination of information and enabling community participation. The intervention increased social networks and built community capacity. Discussion: The effect of context on the intervention is considered in order to assess the generalisability of the intervention. Potential mechanisms of effect are also discussed which help to explain the trial outcome. This thesis supports calls for the integration of concurrent process evaluations within randomised controlled trials, and contributes to the evidence for community-based interventions for maternal and newborn survival.

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Emotions are one of the factors that define us as human yet, many people do not truly understand the extent to which our emotions are influenced by the external environment and how we allow emotions to control our behaviour which often translates into physiological and physical risk. The ability to recognise and manage our emotions is central to how we perceive and react to everyday life. Eskom as an organisation is totally committed to providing a safe environment for all their employees and no cost is spared in provided what they believe to be the best education and training to support their ZERO HARM philosophy. The question is however, with the unquestionable commitment to safety from management and staff alike; why is the vehicle incident rate (VIR) remaining at unacceptably high levels? This study was intended to identify the degree to which emotional intelligence, with specific reference to self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and managing relationshipâs impact on driver specific attitude and behaviour. Emotional self-awareness allows individuals to start understanding how and why they react to specific external stimuli. Only once individuals recognise and acknowledge their emotions, will they be in a position to control how they react to these emotions. Understanding oneâs emotions is only the starting point in learning how to control your emotions but without this first step, no meaningful change will be possible. Emotional self-management is more of a process than a change in oneâs personality. It is the ability to accept oneâs shortcomings and manage the observable external responses to stimuli for the benefit of self and others. self-management is essentially a skill and as such, must be learned and practiced before it can be perfected Social awareness and managing relationships are possibly the more difficult emotional domains to master from a driver perspective, as it may be considered strange to think of social reactions with other road users as oneâs own responsibility. The social domains however, do have serious implications as to how these incidental relationships ultimately affect the behaviour of road users. It is clearly documented that road rage is common place in our driving culture. Analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data clearly indicates that emotional inelegance has a significant impact on driver behaviour. The participants in this study sited driver related emotional behaviour to include characteristics associated with road rage and general emotional incompetence. The quantitative data was less significant in determining the impact of emotional intelligence (EI) and driver behaviour in regard to age, gender and race; the fact remains however that the data identified a significant relationship between persons with a low EI and vehicle incidents. The analysis of the quantitative data relating to group, age, gender and race, when viewed against the same participantâs qualitative response, as well as the theoretical arguments presented in this study, would suggest that the qualitative data may be influenced by response bias. The degree to which response bias may have contaminated the quantitative data will need to be established through further research. The recommendations in this study should be addressed in order to test the theories discussed in the study with the view of authenticating how customised education and training can positively impact on driver behaviour and how such education and training should be structured.

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Though knowledge has become an increasingly important resource for modern businesses, it was not until the mid-1990's that the 'knowledge management' research stream emerged in the business and information systems literature. Initial research on how to manage knowledge came from an objectivist epistemology of knowledge that viewed it as something that was capable of captured, stored and transferred via information to increase organisational efficiency. This study is grounded in a more recent and alternative perspective that takes a practice based epistemology seeing knowledge as embedded in and inseparable from practice. The practices of interest relate to how knowledge work is performed in environments where there is heavy reliance on information systems. Using an interpretive case study this research analyses the practices of a product support centre of a US multinational. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and internal documentation, including access to the firms „knowledge management‟ repository. Two central practices were examined: how product support engineers made sense of problems to develop fix procedures and how these were subsequently documented. Even within a work environment where client fixes were verifiable, suggesting an objectivist epistemology, this research found that the practice based perspective could be used to provide a different perspective and develop alternative and useful insights. The study contributes to the practice based perspective on knowledge management by providing an analysis of context specific knowledge work practices by analysing how even in procedural repetitive work agency can be exhibited as actors enact practices. It also helps develop the application of Structuration Theory by aiding an understanding of how meanings, norms and resources are developed, drawn upon, conflict, and are changed as everyday work is accomplished. The study is of relevance by providing an understanding of informal knowledge work practices rather than their formal description.

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Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.