One big issue for the mail order business is how to avoid and manage returns. Oneapproach being taken is that consumer insight can result in better customer satisfaction andfewer returns. The fashion industry delivers more than just a function within the clothes;fashion, excitement, and customer service for example.It is believed that a part of demand chain management, consumer insight, can help toreduce the amount of returns. This thesis approaches this issue from a company point ofview. It is investigated how mail order businesses utilizes opportunities given byeCommerce, how the companies perceives their customers, and how well they are able totailor their services to different consumer groups.Online sales channels were reviewed in order to investigate how the company is perceivedand what kinds of efforts the companies go through in order to add value to the customers.These results were combined with interviews of three companies in the mail order businessand one company selling clothes in retail stores.The complexity of the customer and the silo mentality in many companies was the firsthurdle to emerge. It was hard to get in contact with the right person. The interviewsshowed both focus on products and focus of really understanding the customer. Thisshowed both in the rigid layout of the homepages and the lack of understanding thatcustomers might have different needs when it comes to value adding services. However,the interviewed companies had varying ways of defining their customer’s needs.It is evident after this thesis that a lot of work can be done in order to better understand thecustomers, for example investigating causes to returns and how differentiated servicesmight improve how the customers perceive the service. In order to succeed in a holisticapproach, cooperation between mail order companies might be required.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis is a feminist exploration of how violence against Filipino women in Australia is represented in the Australian and Philippine media and the relationship between the women’s lives and media images of their abuse. It is fundamentally concerned with the problem of the absent and silenced voices of Filipino women in media portrayals of violence. It aims at creating a space in which the women’s stories can be told. Based on interview data and discourse analysis of Australian and Philippine newspaper articles, the study investigates how the homicides and disappearance of seven Filipino women are represented. Case studies drawn from interviews with family members and friends of these women comprise the core of the study. An exploration of additional articles and interviews further reinforces the issues and themes that emerge in the case studies. The case studies contextualise the women’s experiences. Analysing media images in light of the interviews reinstates the absent and silenced voice in media accounts of violence. By charting the lives of these seven women, their hopes and aspirations as well as the pain and fear they suffered at the hands of abusive male partners, the case studies illuminate the way media accounts have largely misrepresented their experiences. Many of the Australian articles, in particular, bore little resemblance to the women’s lived realities. Juxtaposing Australian with Philippine portrayals further illuminates the racism and sexism of a large section of the Australian print media. A major theme to emerge out of this study is that the relationship between media image and actual violence also involves struggle and conflict over constructions of identity. It is a site of contested realities. Most of the articles analysed in this study failed to tell the story from the deceased woman’s perspective. It is argued that to hear these women's voices, journalists need to move beyond using sexist, racist and class-based stereotypes, such as mail order bride, to describe Filipino women or explain their abuse. It also means accounting for the history of domestic violence that was a large part of their lives.

Dispensing of medicinal products under the Act on Pharmaceuticals Medicinal products are an important part of almost everyone's life due to their ability to minimize, prevent or eliminate undesirable external influences. Given the need to ensure the safety of the use of medicinal products and the protection of public health, the dispensing of medicinal products needs to be highly regulated. The aim of this thesis is to analyze and describe the legal regulation of the process of dispensing medicinal products in pharmacies, with emphasis on the mail-order dispensing of medicinal products, to point out to legislative shortcomings and to propose changes de lege ferenda. In order to fulfil these objectives, the thesis is divided into five parts. The first part of this thesis deals with basic legislative concepts in the field of dispensing of medicinal products and sources of legislation at the Czech and European level, including a detailed analysis of the guidelines of the State Institute for Drug Control and their ability to regulate the rights and obligations of their recipients in a binding manner. Finally, the first part covers the public authorities regulating the dispensing of medicinal products. The second part of the thesis provides an analysis of the current regulation of dispensing of...

US retailers lose over $30 billion in merchandise annually. Merchants also suffer billions more in losses of cash, supplies, time, equipment, and growing civil liability costs. In order to control these losses, retail companies use a combination of people, programs, and systems. A review of the literature indicates specialised loss prevention employees are an important part of many asset protection programs.;A major interest of managers is improving the efficiency of their crime and loss control processes, including loss prevention store detective programs. Retail managers commonly use job performance reviews to gauge the individual efficacy of store detectives. In addition to job training, and job output supervision, research has indicated certain stable characteristics of individuals helps explain actual job performance, making pre-employment selection a critical part of process improvement. However, relatively little attention has been devoted to the selection of in-store detectives in the literature.;Qualitative research was used to identify critical job tasks in order to develop and validate a specialised job performance instrument. The preliminary research with subject matter experts indicated four distinct job roles of store detectives. This job analysis also resulted in a new job performance rating instrument later tested in the quantitative phase of the project.;Subsequently, a quantitative study of 201 US store detectives (using the performance instrument in a concurrent validity design) developed four distinct selection models designed to help explain role-specific job performance variance. Four hypothesis regarding the relationship between biographical data, personality traits, cognitive ability and the four measures of job performance were tested using multiple and logistic regression. The four resulting models explained between 13% and 23% of the variance in detective job performance measures.;Implications of the project's findings, and suggestions are also discussed in context t the current sample, as well as prior work in pre-employment selection research.

The thesis demonstrates the entry strategy of a fundamentally new product - the magazine-catalogue of business books through the publishing house - to the B2B Belarusian book market. This product will help companies to make a better choice in the market of business literature. Customers will enjoy an overview and easy access to the titles, will have a quick reference about the content and prices, and will be able to place purchase orders online. The central issue is the optimization of courier service in the capital city Minsk and the surrounding area based on the customer demand. Therefore there is a need to introduce a new product, which will help to order books through catalogue and having them delivered by post, saving both, time and energy. The thesis is based on actual experience and its conclusions can be used in business practice.

『大就是美』的時代過去了，今天這個時代講究的是『小就是美』或是『短、小、輕、薄』。本研究主要以台北市25-59 歲民眾為研究對象，探討下列各項問題: 1.瞭解民眾購買郵購產品之種類及郵購訊息來源為何?2.郵購經驗之有無、人口統計變數與郵購壽險產品態度因素是否有關?3.民眾郵購經驗與生活型態因素是否有關? 4.民眾之生活型態與其對郵購壽險產品態度是否有關? 5.郵購經驗與人口統計變數是否有關?本研究委託抽樣公司以隨機抽樣法進行抽樣，收集到有效問卷238份，經因素分析、典型相關分析、變異數分析、相關分析、卡方檢定及項目分析後，獲得以下幾點結論: 1.郵購產品以書籍與雜誌最常為消費者所購買，而郵購訊息來源主要是雜誌、廣告函與報紙。 2.一般民眾對於郵購壽險產品態度主要分為兩種，一是『郵購壽險便利之態度』，另一是『郵購壽險接受與處理態度』。 3.經因素分析後，萃取出生活型態因素共十一個，發現有郵購經驗者之生活型態傾向於「偏好新產品」、及追求新知」兩因素。4.有郵購經驗者比無經驗者對於郵購壽險產品之接受與處理持較積極之態度。 5.郵購經驗與人口統計變數中之「教育程度」、「月所得」、及「投保情形」有關。

<p>In today’s competitive global economy, the focus is on faster delivery of orders at lower total costs. In this paper we are interested in several aspects of order picking systems. We examine the influence of station layout, storage policy, picking policy and sorting solution on order picking system performance. On each of the analysis we consider a few solutions. We determine influence of different number of station in raw on picking system performance. We design the replenishment system supported by kanban philosophy with implemented economical order quantity (EOQ) and reorder point (ROP). The picking system is designed for assumed product’s demand values. The assessment of each of the solution is done through Arena simulation model. The results show that properly designed station with reasonable storage policy and implemented batching policy brings significant raise in order picking system productivity. In addition, we found that proper sortation system logic allows for more equal workload and reduction of maximum queue lengths. The results offer solutions to managers looking to implement improvements in order picking systems.</p>

In today’s competitive global economy, the focus is on faster delivery of orders at lower total costs. In this paper we are interested in several aspects of order picking systems. We examine the influence of station layout, storage policy, picking policy and sorting solution on order picking system performance. On each of the analysis we consider a few solutions. We determine influence of different number of station in raw on picking system performance. We design the replenishment system supported by kanban philosophy with implemented economical order quantity (EOQ) and reorder point (ROP). The picking system is designed for assumed product’s demand values. The assessment of each of the solution is done through Arena simulation model. The results show that properly designed station with reasonable storage policy and implemented batching policy brings significant raise in order picking system productivity. In addition, we found that proper sortation system logic allows for more equal workload and reduction of maximum queue lengths. The results offer solutions to managers looking to implement improvements in order picking systems.

This study will investigate Sears, Roebuck & Co. and the special relationship it established with the South during the first half of the twentieth-century. The study will examine oral interviews with former employees, southern literature and customer letters from the region in an effort to better understand how Sears became more than just a friend to the poor dirt farmers of the South; it became a uniquely southern institution.

The main purpose of this diploma thesis is the analisis of the choice distribution chain for products quoted by form of the mail-order trade. It was selected the company TV Products and it was made the description of her suppliers, transport mode of goods, technique of stock-keeping and manner of sale. The part of the focus is found out an optimal supply and an optimum order amount by using predictive methods.