Bakgrund/problem: Företag blir alltmer utsatta av tryck från intressenter att de ska agera hållbart vid inköp och därmed ökar kraven på att leverantörer ska följa företags code of conduct. Code of conduct är företagets formulering av strategiska risker som ska undvikas. Strategiska risker är beroende av företagets affärsstrategi och intressenter.  Företag måste övervaka att code of conduct följs av leverantörer, annars utsätts företag för risken att deras rykte och värdeskapande förmåga försämras. Inköpsprocessens olika steg är sammankopplade och beroende av beslut som tagits i tidigare steg.   Syfte: Vårt syfte var att utvärdera hur Andritz hanterar strategiska risker i deras inköpsprocess gentemot deras leverantörer samt ge förslag på hur Andritz kan förbättra hanteringen av strategiska risker i inköpsprocessen.   Metod: Vår forskningsansats var en fallstudie med utvärderingsdesign. Insamling av material har samlats in genom företagsdokument och intervjuer utifrån målstyrt urval.   Resultat/Slutsats: Andritz hanterar de ekonomiska riskerna; kvalitet och pris. Det finns förbättringar som Andritz kan göra med sociala och miljörisker. Andritz har tillskillnad från kvalitet och pris, inte specificerat vad de vill få ut av leverantören med arbetsmiljö, arbetssäkerhet, avfall och utsläpp. Andritz behöver tydligt specificera vad de vill få ut av leverantörer samt skapa rutiner för hur kontroller ska genomföras. / Background / problem: Companies have experienced an increased pressure from stakeholders to act more sustainable in their purchasing and therefor costumer demands of supplier compliance of code of conduct have increased. Code of conduct is a way for companies to manage strategic risks, which depends on the business strategy and stakeholders. Companies must monitor supplier’s compliance of code of conduct; otherwise the company will be exposed to the risk of reputational damage and decreased value creation. The different steps in the purchasing process are connected and dependent on decisions that have been made in the previously steps Purpose: Our purpose was to evaluate how Andritz manage strategic risks in purchasing process in relationship to their suppliers, in order to bring suggestions of improvements that Andritz can make to improve the strategic risk management in the purchasing process. Method: Our research approach is an evaluation case study. Collection of data has been collected through business documents and interviews based on target-oriented selection. Results / Conclusion: Our conclusion is that Andritz manage their economic risks as quality and low cost, but improvement can be made when it comes to social and environment risks. Andritz have not specified what they want from the suppliers when it comes to work safety, waste and emission and working environment, and because of the lack of clear social and environmental terms, Andritz have to create specifications of what they want of the supplier’s and also create routines of how controls will be carried out.

Consumer foreign online purchasing (CFOP) in this thesis refers to the exchange between consumers and foreign online retailers. Despite empirical facts showing increasing interest of consumers to purchase from foreign online retailers, researchers have only paid modest interest to this new marketing field. In response to recent researchers’ calls for further studies in this new field, this thesis aims to add knowledge on why some consumers purchase from foreign online retailers and others do not. CFOP is associated with uncertainty, so it is important to study what affects uncertainty and how consumers deals with uncertainty. Contrary to marketing-management theory studies, this thesis employs behavior theory and adopts views from relationship and network perspectives. The theoretical framework in this effort is business relationship concepts (commitment, trust, and uncertainty) and provides deeper understanding of how consumers behave in foreign online purchasing contexts. The empirical studies in this thesis employ multiple methods, including, in-depth, focus groups, narrative interviews, and two quantitative studies. This thesis discusses previous studies on marketing management theory, business-to-business and business-to-consumer relationships. Based on the framework, this thesis contributes with deeper insight for understanding consumers’ foreign online purchasing behavior. The empirical and theoretical contributions of this thesis not only advance understanding of this market arena, but also may attract the interest of other researcher. In addition to the four papers with different theoretical contributions, the thesis contains a summary to properly position its theoretical background. Since the papers have a variety of emphases and stress different uses of analytical tools, uncertainty, commitment, and trust, the summary connects the four papers into a theoretical framework. The theoretical frame explicitly states the findings in the papers. It explains factors that affect uncertainty in CFOP and also how consumers deal with uncertainty in order to establish and develop relationships through the pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase phases.

The present thesis provides a definite answer to the question of how comparisons of certain aggregate quantities and price levels should be made across two or more geographic regions. It does so from the viewpoint of both economic theory and the “test” (or “axiomatic”) approach to index-number theory. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the problem of multilateral interspatial comparisons and introduces the rest of the thesis. Chapter 2 focuses on a particular domain of comparison involving consumer goods and services, countries and households in developing a theory of international comparisons in terms of the the (Kontis-type) cost-of-living index. To this end, two new classes of purchasing power parity measures are set out and the relationship between them is explored. The first is the many-household analogue of the (single-household) cost-of-living index and, as such, is rooted in the theory of group cost-of-living indexes. The second Consists of sets of (nominal) expenditure-share deflators, each corresponding to a system of (real) consumption shares for a group of countries. Using this framework, a rigorous exact index- number interpretation for Diewert’s “own-share” system of multilateral quantity indexes is provided. Chapter 3 develops a novel multilateral test approach to the problem at hand by generalizing Eichhorn and Voeller’s bilateral counterpart in a sensible manner. The equivalence of this approach to an extended version of Diewert’s multilateral test approach is exploited in an assessment of the relative merits of several alternative multilateral comparison formulae motivated outside the test-approach framework. Chapter 4 undertakes an empirical comparison of the formulae examined on theoretical grounds in Chapter 3 using an appropriate cross-sectional data set constructed by the Eurostat—OECD Purchasing Power Parity Programme. The principal aim of this comparison is to ascertain the magnitude of the effect of choosing one formula over another. In aid of this, a new indicator is proposed which facilitates the measurement of the difference between two sets of purchasing power parities, each computed using a different multilateral index-number formula.

In this thesis, I examine the factors that influence the introduction of sustainable practice into university food services. There is a growing body of evidence documenting the ecological impact of the conventional agro-food system. Therefore, understanding how institutional practice either enables or hinders sustainable or ‘alternative’ food practice is critical because institutional food services could serve as a potential site for challenging conventional food geographies. Drawing upon a case study approach, my thesis explores the food service environment at Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. Two smaller, less detailed food service cases studies (the University of Guelph and the University of Toronto) are used to compare the factors and indicators that determine how sustainability is incorporated into food services. Given the geographical variability within University institutions, I argue that university food services are a contested political space and an important site for challenging conventional food systems. They are also places to test alternative, more sustainable models. I outline some key variables that are currently preventing Queen’s University from moving toward a more sustainable food service model. Furthermore, I discuss the implications of this research for the alternative food geography literature. / Thesis (Master, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2007-11-08 12:33:25.771

This dissertation comprises two essays. The first essay develops and tests a theoretical model that provides new insights when markets are partially segmented and the purchasing power parity (PPP) is violated which seems to be the case for the majority of national markets. The theoretical part derives closed form solutions for asset prices and portfolio holdings. Particularly, we show that deviations from PPP in mildly segmented markets induce a new form of systematic risk, termed segflation risk, and in equilibrium investors require compensation for this risk. A strong feature of the model is that it provides a theoretical framework for testing important issues; such as, pricing of foreign exchange risk and world market structure. The model also nests several existing international asset pricing models and thus provides a framework to distinguish empirically between competing models. The empirical part of the essay provides an empirical validation of the model for eight major emerging markets. The results give support to the model and point to the importance of the segflation risk which is statistically and economically significant. / The second essay uses our theoretical model to address the question of whether the IFC investable indices are priced globally or locally. Indeed S&P/IFC provides two emerging market indices: the IFC global index (IFCG) and its subset the IFC investable index (IFCI). Since the IFCI is fully investable, both the academic and practitioners implicitly assume that this subset of emerging markets is priced in the global context. This is a critical assumption for corporate finance decisions and portfolio management. Hence, this essay investigates the pricing behavior of the IFCI index returns using a conditional version of our model that allows for segmentation and PPP deviations. The results suggest that local factors are important in explaining returns of the IFC investable indices and that the return behavior of IFCI indices is similar to that of the IFCG.

This study sets out to ascertain the impact that the marketing initiatives of a retail chain have on the inventory levels of the retail chain. The stock levels of a retail chain are the source of many frustrations. However, through developing an efficient and effective supply of inventory, a viable, competitive advantage is created for the firm. The bullwhip effect is the name given to the fluctuation in demand for specific products that is seen through the supply chain, the discoverer of this effect was J W Forrester. The primary objective of this study is to identify whether the movement of stock through the supply chain identifies with the bullwhip effect where the influences of the marketing initiatives are felt. The secondary objective is to discover what impact the different role players have on this phenomenon, i.e. the store managers, buyers and suppliers. The promotion process is utilised as a tool to drive the strategy of the Clicks organisation, but a side effect is the creation of the Bullwhip Effect. The main problem is that the demand for the item is increased for a specific period and then the demand is either reduced to levels lower than before the promotion or will revert to the same level as before. Sales and stock movement data was recorded and graphically displayed to determine whether the Bullwhip effect was created. This research has highlighted the following problems: (a) There is no direct communication between the role players. (b) Decisions are based on somewhat dubious information. (c) Large promotional orders are based on sales history. (d) There are no real measures in place to rectify any errors. (e) The measuring criteria and KPAs differ between the role players. Recommendations derived from this research include: (f) Increase communication between the category buyers and the store managers. (g) Rather than bulk ship stocks to the stores, introduce a staggered shipping approach. (h) Create a position for a specialist person who can deal with the overstocks. This person would be responsible for reallocating overstocks including returning the overstocks to the DCs. (i) Reduce the number of "lost leaders" and extensive advertising of these "lost leaders" and rather concentrate on more generic advertising. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1988.

The study is about the activities of public entities in international trade, more precisely, about international government procurement. The law of government contracts, in international and municipal law, seeks to balance the stability of contractual relations between the parties and the mutability of the contract which flows from a recognition of the primacy of the public interest. The precise balance struck varies from one legal system to another. Part One of the work looks, firstly, at the recognition, immunities and capacity of public entities in international commercial transactions. Secondly, it treats the conflict of laws rules applicable before national and arbitral jurisdictions. Thirdly, it explores the various possibilities of applicable law, namely the law of the contracting State, the lex mercatoria and public international law. Part Two examines, from a comparative perspective, the notions of "public body", "public contract" and "contrat administratif" in Ameircan, English and French law. The third part explores two main themes. Firstly, the process of procurement in national law, European law, and under the Agreement on Government Procurement; and secondly, the question of the stability of the contractual obligations which can be disturbed by unilateral interventions of the contracting public entity and by external supervening events.

This thesis has examined the language of the various statutes regulating public purchasing by local Governments in the State of Indiana as it applies to non-bid and bid purchasing. The procedures outlined in those statutes were then compared to the purchasing practices observed in various local governments in northern Indiana.Attention was given to intergovernmental cooperation, centralization of purchasing, and to recommendations made by such authorities as the Council of State Governments and the National Association of State Purchasing Officials in an effort to determine if the language of the statutes and the procedures actually practiced by purchasers in Indiana local government provide for the taxpayer's receiving the most for his money.Finally, the thesis has provided a number of recommendations for modification of current law through inclusion of a proposed purchasing statute.

The study was conducted to measure brand loyalty of customers in a business-to-business environment, in this case the South African paint manufacturing industry. A brand loyalty conceptual framework developed for the Fast Moving Consumer Goods industry by Moolla (2010) was used to test if it also applies in a business-to-business setting. The framework was adapted to suit the above industry and used to measure brand loyalty levels of South African paint manufacturers. From the results it can be concluded that the model can be applied with some adaptations. Factor analysis was utilised to validate the influences. Factor analysis results were viewed with caution as sample adequacy was found to be marginal in some cases, possibly due to a small data set. Although two of the influences could not be validated, they were still found to be important. All the influences are found to be reliable as evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha. The measured brand loyalty values show that customers in the South African paint industry are quite loyal, with some influences scoring very high. Culture in particular was found to be not very important. This is likely due to the fact that individual culture instead of company culture was measured. More work is required to adapt the questionnaire to measure company culture when assessing brand loyalty in a business-to business setting. Clear brand loyalty differences were identified along with age, company size and the position the respondent holds with the company. Owners/directors, procurement personnel, technical personnel and general managers view different brand loyalty influences as important. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014