Background and Rationale: South Africa is in its second decade of democracy. Since the introduction of democracy in 1994, the South African government and its citizens are making strides into overhauling the country to make it one of the best habitable countries in the world. All these changes are accompanied by challenges regarding the types of resources required to accomplish this when delivering services to the communities. In order for the government to accomplish this, systems and procedures which are supported by legislation and operational frameworks should be developed, implemented, monitored and reviewed when necessary. Legislation which has been developed to guide and regulate public procurement includes the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act (Act 5 of 2000). The previous procurement approaches had various fallacies. For example, there was no accountability, no transparency, no equitable distribution of economic resources and no supporting structures to oversee the process. The government then realised the need for having an integrated approach towards public acquisition of goods and services. The public service should operate in an environment where there will be fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and value for money in procurement. 2 The objective of the Preferential Procurement Policy Act (Act 5 of 2000) is to give effect to section 217(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996). Section 217 (3) stipulates that national legislation must prescribe a framework within which the procurement policy may be implemented. Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act (Act 5 of 2000) aims at redressing the past racial imbalances, where race and gender were used to control productive resources. In order to address the shortfalls of the previous systems which failed to provide equal competition opportunities to all the people of South Africa, the mandate, as stipulated in the amended Section 217 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996), has been implemented. This section calls on government and organs of the state to apply a preference point system to enhance and give preference to the historically disadvantaged individuals or designated groups, who in the past, were victims of unfair discrimination on the basis of race, gender or disability. The Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act (Act 5 of 2000) and its related regulations and systems emanate from Section 217 (3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, (Act 108 of 1996). The government has, since 1995, started engaging in a number of initiatives with the purpose of restructuring the procurement. One of the initiatives was the development of the Green Paper on Public Sector Procurement Reform in South Africa in 1997. This paper is a discussion document which contains various proposals aimed at achieving the objectives of good governance, developing and utilising the country’s human resources potential to the full, and encouraging a well-developed and competitive business sector (http://www.info.gov.za/greenpapers/1997/publicproc.htm). 3 Subsequent to the Green Paper on Public Sector Procurement Reform the government published the Preferential Procurement Regulations in 2001, in terms of Section 5 of the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework. The government’s aim was to elicit contributions and discussions from role- players and interested parties. These inputs are crucial in a country that is committed to democracy. It can be deduced that the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework is a tool that is intended to provide direction and guidance to public officials when they engage in the acquisition of goods and services whilst giving leverage and preference to those who have been victims of the past imbalances. There is a perception that business opportunities favour individuals and businesses that are well established and the emerging business owners are marginalised. The reforms in the procurement processes that have been put in place are intended to ensure that there is equality, transparency and accountability in the allocation of business opportunities. Preference has to be afforded to the previously marginalised people to play a role in the public sector procurement and enhance income generation. The aims of the Preferential Procurement will be defeated if there are no systems to control and monitor the engagement of historically disadvantaged individuals. The affirming of such business owners should be viewed as a tool for the distribution of wealth, job creation and a poverty alleviation strategy from the side of government. The rationale for the research, therefore, is to establish whether the historically disadvantaged individuals’ lives are improving and bringing about sustainable economic development in their lives.

Sammanfattning Författare: Emma Sprigg och Sofia Reinhold Handledare: Patrik Gottfridsson Titel: Den sömlösa köpupplevelsen – En studie om integrerade köpkanaler ur ett företagsperspektiv Bakgrund och problem: Handeln har under de senare åren haft en snabb och stark utvecklingskurva. Utvecklingen har skapat en ny digital era som resulterat i nya köpbeteenden hos kunden samt fler möjliga kanaler för kunden att genomföra sina köp i. Som ett led i detta har omnikanaler introducerats som ett koncept på marknaden där kunden erbjuds en enhetlig och sömlös köpupplevelse oavsett val av kanal. Tidigare forskning belyser kundens perspektiv vid användning av olika kanaler men brister i att beskriva hur företag praktiserar konceptet. Intressant är därför att undersöka hur företag arbetar med integrering av köpkanaler och hur det kan bidra till en förbättrad köpupplevelse för kunden. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att förklara hur företag arbetar med integrerade köpkanaler för att skapa en förbättrad köpupplevelse. Metod: Studien genomfördes med hjälp av en kvalitativ undersökningsmetod med en fallstudiedesign. De företag som medverkar i studien är Eton, Ellos, Gina Tricot, Hemtex samt Hööks där respondenter från respektive företag intervjuats. Resultat och slutsats: Resultatet av vår studie visar att det finns en medvetenhet hos de undersökta företagen kring begreppet och konceptet omnikanalhandel, däremot visar studien att det saknas tillräcklig forskning och tydlig förklaring av konceptet för att företagen fullt ut ska kunna implementera det i sin strategi. Samtliga undersökta företag arbetar dock med integrering av köpkanaler men fokus ligger också i att utveckla framtida koncept och lösningar. Nyckelord: Köpkanaler, Omnikanaler, Affärskoncept, Kundupplevelse / Abstract Authors: Emma Sprigg and Sofia Reinhold Supervisor: Patrik Gottfridsson Title: The seamless purchase experience – A study on integrated purchasing channels from a business perspective Background and problem: During the last years the trade has gone through a fast and strong development. The development has created a new digital era which has resulted in new customer behaviours and more possible channels where customers can do their purchases. As part of this, omnichannels has been introduced on the market as a concept where the customer is offered a uniform and seamless purchase experience regardless of channel choice. Existing research focuses on the customer perspective in use of different channels but lacks in information on how companies practise the concept. It is therefore interesting to examine how companies works with integrated purchasing channels and how it can contribute to create an improved purchase experience. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explain how companies work with integrated purchasing channels to create an improved purchase experience. Method: The study has been conducted using a qualitative method with a case study design. The companies participating in the study are Eton, Ellos, Gina Tricot, Hemtex and Hööks and interviews has been held with respondents from each companies. Result and contribution: The result of our study shows an awareness of the omnichannel concept among the investigated companies, however the study shows that there is insufficient research and distinct explanation of the concept to fully implement it in the companies strategy. Though, all of the examined companies work with integration of purchasing channels, but focus is also on developing future concepts and solutions Keywords: Purchasing Channels, Omnichannels, Business Concepts, Purchasing Experience

The purpose of the study is threefold: (1) to make a survey of the type of purchasing organizations used by a selected number of oil companies operating in the Southwest, (2) to determine the extent or degree of centralized purchasing used by these firms, and (3) to evaluate briefly the organizational arrangements found in light of accepted principles.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of administrative intervention in Supply Chain Management in the Department of Education in Limpopo. This was done with the aim of looking into the strategies that were put in place during the intervention process and to examine whether the strategies have yielded the desired results of stabilising the department’s finances and averting the possible collapse of essential services. Qualitative data were collected, primarily in the form of semi-structured interviews using an interview schedule consisting of both closed and open-ended questions with the Chief Financial Officer, General Manager (SCM), Senior Manager (SCM), Manager Demand and Acquisition, six Supply Chain Management Practitioners, and two members of the Intervention Task Team. All these officials provided sufficient information related to the effect of the administrative intervention in the SCM of the Limpopo Department of Education. The study found that there were a number of strategies that were put in place by the members of the Intervention Task Team during the intervention process, such as : • Catering not exceeding R50.00 per person has to be provided only for meetings with external stakeholders and this provision only applied to meetings that take longer than five hours; • Promotional items such as t-shirts, caps, bags, etc., were not to be purchased by the department; • Engagement of consultants was also reduced to the minimal and it was only allowed where the department does not have the requisite skills or resources in its full time employ to perform the assignment in question; and • Trips by vehicles were to be optimised to reduce costs. However, the strategies that were put in place by the Intervention Task Team in the Supply chain management did not yield the desired results of stabilising the department’s finances and averting the possible collapse of essential services. Limpopo Department of Education continued to get an undesirable disclaimer audit iii opinion for the fourth consecutive year and the findings depicted poor administration and inability to comply with the treasury regulations.

La maitrise de la dépense publique locale constitue un enjeu majeur actuel, notamment face à la baisse des dotations de l’Etat vers les collectivités locales. Dans ce contexte, les achats publics locaux représentent un levier d’action important pour agir sur la baisse des dépenses de fonctionnement. Ainsi, plusieurs collectivités locales ont engagé des processus d’optimisation de leurs organisations et pratiques achats. Ces avancées demeurent pourtant isolées et, surtout, hétérogènes, dans la mesure où ces pratiques apparaissent peu cadrées de manière instrumentale et méthodologique.La présente thèse étudie ainsi les dimensions de la performance achats dans les collectivités locales, dans le contexte français. Elle vise en effet à caractériser les pratiques actuelles en termes d’outils et de modes d’organisation, pour aboutir à la définition de leviers d’optimisation. Suivant la démarche préconisée par Churchill (1979), cette recherche doctorale nous permet ainsi de proposer un modèle d’évaluation de la performance achats des collectivités locales, structuré autour de 9 dimensions constitutives, sur la base de la perception des acheteurs publics locaux. Une fois défini, ce modèle nous permet non seulement d’analyser le niveau actuel de maturité des collectivités locales en matière de performance achats, mais aussi de proposer des recommandations, pour s’engager dans un processus d’amélioration de la performance achats au niveau local. / The control of local public expenditure is a major challenge today, especially in the face of declining state allocations to local authorities. In this context, local public procurement is an important lever for action to reduce operating costs. Thus, several local authorities have initiated processes to optimize their organizations and purchasing practices. These advances, however, remain isolated and, above all, heterogeneous, insofar as these practices are not framed in an instrumental and methodological manner.This thesis examines the dimensions of purchasing performance in local authorities, in the French context. It aims to characterize current practices in terms of tools and modes of organization, to arrive at the definition of levers of optimization. Following the approach advocated by Churchill (1979), this doctoral research allows us to propose a model for evaluating the purchasing performance of local authorities, structured around 9 constituent dimensions, based on the perception of local public purchasers. Once defined, this model allows us not only to analyze the current level of maturity of local authorities in terms of purchasing performance, but also to propose recommendations, to commit themselves in a process of improvement of purchasing performance at the level of local authorities.

This thesis analyzes the effect of corporate tax rates on the purchasing-power-parity (PPP) doctrine. The data used to test this hypothesis are drawn from the U. S., the U. K., the Federal Republic of Germany, Canada, and Japan. The first chapter introduces the reader to the concepts of the PPP doctrine and states the hypothesis. Chapter 2 reviews the literature on the PPP doctrine. Chapter 3 specifies a model of the PPP doctrine including tax rates. Chapter 4 reports and interprets the findings. The study is summarized and conclusions are drawn in chapter 5. In this study it is shown that tax rates are significant only in the case of the U. S. dollar/Canadian dollar exchange rate.

The purpose of the study is to empirically determine the relevance of PPP theory under the traditional arbitrage and the efficient markets (EPPP) frameworks during the recent floating period of the 1980s. Monthly data was collected for fifteen industrial nations from January 1980 to December 1986. The models tested included the short-run PPP, the long-run PPP, the EPPP, the EPPP with deviations from expectations, the forward rates as unbiased estimators of future spot rates, the EPPP and the forward rates, and the EPPP with forward rates and lagged values. A generalized regression method called Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) was employed to test the models. The results support the efficient markets approach to PPP but fail to support the traditional PPP in both the short term and the long term. Moreover, the forward rates are poor and biased predictors of the future spot rates. The random walk hypothesis is generally supported.

This master´s thesis deals with the management of the purchasing strategy in the selected business company. This company sells products to final customers. The purpose of the thesis is to monitor purchasing processes mainly focusing on the supplier selection process. Thesis contains suggestion for a systematic selection process of prospective business partners, which is divided into four phases. Proposed suggestion contributes to higher productivity of the company´s purchasing strategy and considerably eliminates risk of high dependence on the sole supplier.

The process of strategy purchasing management in multinational companies is described and analysed in this master´s thesis. Both methodology and strategy of purchasing management in the multainational companies have been compiled in this work by means of theoretical knowledge from literature and according to the analysis of the current state of purchasing management in a company.

Background: The increased awareness of the environmental impact is allowing consumers to be more conscious of their purchasing decisions and habits. Awareness, however, is shown to be based on a number of factors, including country culture. A cultural analysis of the UK was conducted to understand the impact a country’s culture has on individual behaviors. A number of consumer behavior theories were also applied to understand the perceptions and behaviors taken during the individual consumption process. Theories regarding green marketing are also taken into account to provide background of the need for a study of this caliber. Approach: For this quantitative study, an online survey was conducted, along with an analysis of the UK’s culture and implications on consumers purchasing behavior. Findings: The findings from the research show that consumers in the UK are aware of the impact of their sustainable purchasing habits. Consumers do take into account what the purchase means for society as well as them as an individual, which verifies the cultural analysis that was conducted. They are also influenced by green marketing, which validates their purchasing habits and continues the pattern of behavior. Individuals in the UK are very aware of the effects of their behavior, and depending on varying factors are interested in continuing or even changing their behavior to conduct more ethical spending habits. Value: From this research, a framework connecting country culture with consumer behavior decisions is created and applied to environmentally sustainable purchasing choices. This can be taken into account to understand the habits and behaviors of consumers in the UK to continue to push green marketing for products.