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This diploma thesis is dealing with the Czech retail market and an influence of foreign direct investment on it. The thesis is divided into five parts. First two chapters are focused on the theoretical definition of the foreign direct investment, trade as well and the tendencies in the international business in the 21st century. Third and fourth chapters are dealing with the inflow of the foreign direct investment into Czech Republic or with the status of the trade in the Czech economy. Fifth part is devoted to the Czech retail market -- its performance and evolution since 1989. In this chapter is also exercised comparison of the foreign and domestic enterprises in their productivity and performance.

This thesis investigated the retail market for ethno-cultural vegetable in the GTA and Guelph focusing on Chinese, South Asian and Afro- Caribbean. Price structure and marketing strategies were studied using survey data. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected on a bi-weekly basis over three seasons in ethnic and mainstream stores. Analysis using SPSS revealed vegetable prices were not always lower in mainstream stores. The study showed that ethno-cultural vegetable pricing was controlled by the cheaper mainstream stores with some ethnic stores having to adjust their prices to meet those of the lower mainstream stores. The quality of ethno-cultural vegetables was also found to be poor across stores with poorest qualities in ethnic stores, a fact attributed to poor facilities. Finally ethnic stores were better stocked with ethno-cultural vegetables. Ethnic stores are important in the supply of ethno-cultural vegetables but are not well organised to face the retail competition hence the need to improve. / The University of Guelph, Ontario Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology (OGSST), OMAFRA (Agri-Food and Rural Link, and OMAFRA's New Directions Research Program) and the family of J. Alden and Isobelle McLean.

In this thesis, a retail market mechanism that provides differentiated reliability services is proposed. The differentiated reliability services beyond the standard level utilize advanced metering infrastructure, automated distribution reconfiguration and distributed generation (DG). The service quality at the standard level is regulated, while high reliability services are offered through a market mechanism. This proposed market mechanism is designed in two different models of managing the distribution networks. The first model assumes that an independent distribution system operator (DSO) as an administrative firm provides operational support for delivery and reliability services in a retail market, while the second model does not have a DSO. Main reliability market participants are distribution utilities, retail electricity providers (REPs), non-utility-owned DG units, and end users. The REPs, as end users’ representatives and aggregators, purchase delivery service with high reliability level and backup power from the utilities and DG units, respectively. The prices for these services are based on bidding by all market participants. Bids are created by each market participant optimizing its objective with respect to its own interests; therefore, the market participant can assess the investment costs and manage its own risk in setting the service charge. Notably, the proposed market mechanism, which is based on knowing customers’ willingness to pay, and preferences for reliability, aims to give long-term investment signals to service providers for planning investments in new technologies at value. In addition, the provision of high reliability services can be considered a means that enables the service providers to improve system resilience. The modified IEEE Roy Billinton Test System Bus 2 is simulated to demonstrate proof-of-concept for the proposed retail market by showing the iii process of settling the service prices and utilities’ expected compensation design. By comparing the settled service prices between the two market models, we show that the service prices are quite similar, but the number of end users obtaining backup power is different.

The performance of own-label brands varies enormously across countries, with high penetration in Western countries but limited success in Eastern countries. The common explanations for this state are related to market factors such as the development of big retailer chains or the power balance between retailers and manufacturers. However, the role of culture has been overlooked to explain this situation. This study aims to provide insights into the impact of culture on own-label brands performance. This thesis formulates and tests a conceptual framework linking Hofstede s (1980, 2001) five cultural dimensions (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance & long-term orientation) to retail market development (size of the retail market) and own-label brands performance, controlling for three socio-economic variables: GDP per capita, Gini index and Government expenditure. Relevant literature is reviewed in order to develop hypotheses. The conceptual model is then tested upon a sample of 65 countries, utilising data collected via secondary sources and the application of structural equation modelling techniques. The results of this study indicate that three out of five Hofstede s cultural dimensions, power distance, individualism and uncertainty avoidance, have a significant impact on retail market development, which in turn, significantly influences own-label brands performance. Moreover, results show that individualism and long-term orientation have a significant direct impact on own-label brands performance. Past studies on this domain are restricted to one or two cultural dimensions and generally involve a limited number of countries. This research therefore pioneers in investigating the five national cultural dimensions across a high number of nations. The findings are important for retailers and may help them to adapt their own-label strategy according to the culture of the nation they are operating in.

We analyze the pass-through of cost changes to retail tariffs in the German electricity market over the 2007-2014 period. We find an average pass-through rate of around 60%. This significantly varies with demand factors: while the pass-through rate to baseline tariffs, where firms have greater market power because customers are less willing to switch, is only 50%, it increases to 70% in the competitive segment of the market. Although the pass- through rate of independent firms is significantly higher than that of other firms in the competitive market segment, the extent of supply-side heterogeneity is limited. Thus, the firms' ability to exercise market power and reduce pass-through appears to be constrained by competition and largely determined by demand side factors. Finally, we find that the pass-through rate in the competitive market segment has been approaching unity over the past years, indicating a rise in competitive pressure.

É crescente a busca de parcerias entre as empresas de uma cadeia de suprimentos frente à concorrência, ao domínio de grandes empresas, à necessidade do aumento da eficiência logística e, ao mesmo tempo, à necessidade de redução dos custos logísticos. O estudo do relacionamento de parcerias pode traduzir no melhor entendimento das necessidades de cada participante dessa cadeia. Dessa forma, esta tese visa conhecer o estado de colaboração em logística na cadeia do varejo supermercadista no Brasil. Os objetivos são: (a) identificar e avaliar os principais elementos de colaboração existentes entre os parceiros indústria e varejo; (b) identificar quais elementos os parceiros consideram mais importantes para a construção do conceito de colaboração; (c) avaliar o efeito da colaboração na cadeia do varejo supermercadista, em especial no desempenho logístico e nos custos de transação. As teorias e conhecimentos relacionados à pesquisa são referentes a colaboração na cadeia de suprimentos, ao desempenho logístico e a economia dos custos de transação. A metodologia é composta por um estudo qualitativo e quantitativo. O estudo qualitativo, realizado em uma grande rede de varejo supermercadista, teve como objetivo conhecer e avaliar as operações logísticas e servir de entrada para a construção e análise da pesquisa quantitativa. Esta, realizada com uma amostra de 125 representantes da indústria, permitiu construir um modelo de colaboração que pudesse ser utilizado para avaliar os objetivos propostos e servir como ponto de partida para futuras pesquisas. Para tanto, análises estatísticas multivariadas foram utilizadas para testar empiricamente os resultados. Estes mostraram que os principais elementos que formam o conceito de colaboração, segundo os participantes, podem ser classificados em três fatores: fator de integração estratégica (composto pelos elementos de integração estratégica), fator de integração tática (composto pelos elementos ações conjuntas, compartilhamento de custos e ganhos logísticos, compartilhamento de informações logísticas e comerciais) e fator interpessoal de colaboração (composto pelos elementos interpessoais). Estes formam a base da parceria, são os que mais contribuem para uma maior intensidade de colaboração em relação aos demais e que influenciam na construção de um relacionamento sustentável. Por outro lado, a colaboração com base no compartilhamento dos custos e ganhos logísticos tem a menor intensidade e os elementos estratégicos de colaboração, apesar de serem importantes nesse processo, ainda são poucos explorados, tanto pelas empresas, quanto na literatura de colaboração logística na cadeia do varejo supermercadista. Além disso, os resultados mostraram que os participantes julgam como mais importantes, para o processo de colaboração, os elementos confiança, reciprocidade, interação entre as áreas funcionais, compartilhamento de informações e objetivos e metas conjuntas. Conclui-se que alguns desses elementos de colaboração tendem à parceria ou à integração e que outros tendem apenas ao estágio de coordenação das atividades logísticas na cadeia do varejo supermercadista. Alguns elementos de colaboração influenciam positivamente o desempenho logístico das indústrias, principalmente se tratando de desempenho logístico diferenciado (entregas urgentes e em períodos de demanda alta) e realizado por grandes empresas. O aumento de colaboração estratégica (relacionada aos elementos de integração estratégica) e de ações conjuntas (relacionada aos elementos de integração tática) contribui para a diminuição de incertezas entre os participantes e essas ações conjuntas contribuem para o aumento do investimento em ativos específicos. / The partnerships between the firms on supply chain are increasing due to: competition, domain by large companies, necessity the increase of logistic efficiency, at the same time, due to necessity of logistic costs reduction. The relationship study of partnerships can mean on the best knowledge the necessities of each participant on this chain. This thesis aims to study the state of collaborative logistic in the retail market chain in Brazil. The objectives are: (a) to identify and to evaluate the main collaborative elements between the industry and retail chain partners; (b) to identify which elements the partners consider more important for the construct of collaboration concept; (c) to evaluate the effect of the collaboration in the retail market chain, in special on the logistic performance and the transaction costs. The theories and knowledge related to the research are collaboration in supply chains, the logistic performance and the economy transaction costs. The methodology consists of qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative one that was carried through in a big retail chain had as objective to understand and to evaluate the logistic operations. This study also served as the foreward for construction and analysis of the quantitative research. This research is composed by 125 representatives of the industry and had as objective to construct a collaborative model. This model could be used to evaluate the objectives and to serve as starting point for future research. For this, multivaried statistical analysis was used as a way to test the research results. These research results showed that the main collaborative elements, according to participants, can be classified in three factors: factor of strategical integration (composed by the elements of strategic integration), factor of tactical integration (composed by the elements joint actions, logistic sharing of costs and profits, sharing of logistic and commercial information) and factor intangible collaboration (composed by interpersonal elements). The interpersonal elements form the partnership base, contribute for a bigger intensity of collaboration in comparison to others and influence the construction of a sustainable relationship. On the other hand, the collaboration on the sharing basis of the costs and logistic profits has the lesser intensity. The collaborative strategical elements, although to be important in this process, they are still few explored, as such by companies, as much in the literature of collaborative logistic in the retail chain. Moreover, the results had shown that the participants consider as more important, for the collaborative process, the elements of confidence, reciprocity, interaction between the functional areas, information sharing and objectives and joint goals. The conclusions are: some of these collaborative elements tend to develop into partnership or integration and that others tend only a stage of coordination of the logistic activities in the retail chain. Some collaborative elements influence positively the logistic performance of the firms, mainly when it concerns a differentiated logistic performance (urgent deliveries and deliveries in periods of high demand) and carried through by large companies. The increase in strategic collaboration and joint actions contributes for the reduction of uncertainties between the participants and these joint actions contribute for the increase of investment in specific assets.

É crescente a busca de parcerias entre as empresas de uma cadeia de suprimentos frente à concorrência, ao domínio de grandes empresas, à necessidade do aumento da eficiência logística e, ao mesmo tempo, à necessidade de redução dos custos logísticos. O estudo do relacionamento de parcerias pode traduzir no melhor entendimento das necessidades de cada participante dessa cadeia. Dessa forma, esta tese visa conhecer o estado de colaboração em logística na cadeia do varejo supermercadista no Brasil. Os objetivos são: (a) identificar e avaliar os principais elementos de colaboração existentes entre os parceiros indústria e varejo; (b) identificar quais elementos os parceiros consideram mais importantes para a construção do conceito de colaboração; (c) avaliar o efeito da colaboração na cadeia do varejo supermercadista, em especial no desempenho logístico e nos custos de transação. As teorias e conhecimentos relacionados à pesquisa são referentes a colaboração na cadeia de suprimentos, ao desempenho logístico e a economia dos custos de transação. A metodologia é composta por um estudo qualitativo e quantitativo. O estudo qualitativo, realizado em uma grande rede de varejo supermercadista, teve como objetivo conhecer e avaliar as operações logísticas e servir de entrada para a construção e análise da pesquisa quantitativa. Esta, realizada com uma amostra de 125 representantes da indústria, permitiu construir um modelo de colaboração que pudesse ser utilizado para avaliar os objetivos propostos e servir como ponto de partida para futuras pesquisas. Para tanto, análises estatísticas multivariadas foram utilizadas para testar empiricamente os resultados. Estes mostraram que os principais elementos que formam o conceito de colaboração, segundo os participantes, podem ser classificados em três fatores: fator de integração estratégica (composto pelos elementos de integração estratégica), fator de integração tática (composto pelos elementos ações conjuntas, compartilhamento de custos e ganhos logísticos, compartilhamento de informações logísticas e comerciais) e fator interpessoal de colaboração (composto pelos elementos interpessoais). Estes formam a base da parceria, são os que mais contribuem para uma maior intensidade de colaboração em relação aos demais e que influenciam na construção de um relacionamento sustentável. Por outro lado, a colaboração com base no compartilhamento dos custos e ganhos logísticos tem a menor intensidade e os elementos estratégicos de colaboração, apesar de serem importantes nesse processo, ainda são poucos explorados, tanto pelas empresas, quanto na literatura de colaboração logística na cadeia do varejo supermercadista. Além disso, os resultados mostraram que os participantes julgam como mais importantes, para o processo de colaboração, os elementos confiança, reciprocidade, interação entre as áreas funcionais, compartilhamento de informações e objetivos e metas conjuntas. Conclui-se que alguns desses elementos de colaboração tendem à parceria ou à integração e que outros tendem apenas ao estágio de coordenação das atividades logísticas na cadeia do varejo supermercadista. Alguns elementos de colaboração influenciam positivamente o desempenho logístico das indústrias, principalmente se tratando de desempenho logístico diferenciado (entregas urgentes e em períodos de demanda alta) e realizado por grandes empresas. O aumento de colaboração estratégica (relacionada aos elementos de integração estratégica) e de ações conjuntas (relacionada aos elementos de integração tática) contribui para a diminuição de incertezas entre os participantes e essas ações conjuntas contribuem para o aumento do investimento em ativos específicos. / The partnerships between the firms on supply chain are increasing due to: competition, domain by large companies, necessity the increase of logistic efficiency, at the same time, due to necessity of logistic costs reduction. The relationship study of partnerships can mean on the best knowledge the necessities of each participant on this chain. This thesis aims to study the state of collaborative logistic in the retail market chain in Brazil. The objectives are: (a) to identify and to evaluate the main collaborative elements between the industry and retail chain partners; (b) to identify which elements the partners consider more important for the construct of collaboration concept; (c) to evaluate the effect of the collaboration in the retail market chain, in special on the logistic performance and the transaction costs. The theories and knowledge related to the research are collaboration in supply chains, the logistic performance and the economy transaction costs. The methodology consists of qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative one that was carried through in a big retail chain had as objective to understand and to evaluate the logistic operations. This study also served as the foreward for construction and analysis of the quantitative research. This research is composed by 125 representatives of the industry and had as objective to construct a collaborative model. This model could be used to evaluate the objectives and to serve as starting point for future research. For this, multivaried statistical analysis was used as a way to test the research results. These research results showed that the main collaborative elements, according to participants, can be classified in three factors: factor of strategical integration (composed by the elements of strategic integration), factor of tactical integration (composed by the elements joint actions, logistic sharing of costs and profits, sharing of logistic and commercial information) and factor intangible collaboration (composed by interpersonal elements). The interpersonal elements form the partnership base, contribute for a bigger intensity of collaboration in comparison to others and influence the construction of a sustainable relationship. On the other hand, the collaboration on the sharing basis of the costs and logistic profits has the lesser intensity. The collaborative strategical elements, although to be important in this process, they are still few explored, as such by companies, as much in the literature of collaborative logistic in the retail chain. Moreover, the results had shown that the participants consider as more important, for the collaborative process, the elements of confidence, reciprocity, interaction between the functional areas, information sharing and objectives and joint goals. The conclusions are: some of these collaborative elements tend to develop into partnership or integration and that others tend only a stage of coordination of the logistic activities in the retail chain. Some collaborative elements influence positively the logistic performance of the firms, mainly when it concerns a differentiated logistic performance (urgent deliveries and deliveries in periods of high demand) and carried through by large companies. The increase in strategic collaboration and joint actions contributes for the reduction of uncertainties between the participants and these joint actions contribute for the increase of investment in specific assets.

Esta tese buscou como tema de pesquisa a defesa da concorrência no mercado varejista de combustível líquido, cujo enfoque principal foi o desenvolvimento de um filtro georreferenciado, como ferramenta de auxílio na detecção de indícios de cartel, aplicado ao combustível gasolina comum. O problema de práticas anticoncorrencias em mercados que operem sob livre concorrência tem sido discutido ao longo do tempo tanto pela literatura quanto pelos operadores de política antitruste. No Brasil, a defesa da concorrência, no âmbito administrativo, está sob a responsabilidade do Sistema Brasileiro de Defesa da Concorrência – SBDC, o qual utiliza um filtro nas investigações sobre denúncias de cartel no mercado varejista de combustível líquido, através de averiguação preliminar, a fim de identificar indícios de evidências econômicas sobre a prática de cartel. A tese abordou três pontos principais. O primeiro envolveu a formação de uma base de dados, através das averiguações preliminares disponibilizadas pelo SBDC, com o intuito de analisar os critérios que compõem o filtro. Sugere-se que este filtro seja reavaliado, devido à falta de hierarquia entre os critérios que o compõem, bem como a alteração da periodicidade dos dados. O segundo diz respeito à aplicação, com base na Teoria dos Jogos, de um jogo sequencial de interação estratégica entre o revendedor varejista, o consumidor e o SBDC. O resultado do jogo mostrou que o revendedor ficará desmotivado a formar um cartel se a chance de ser pego e punido realmente existir. Por fim, o terceiro, consistiu na inclusão do georreferenciamento aos filtros utilizados na literatura para detectar cartéis. Isso foi realizado através de uma análise comparativa do filtro atual com o filtro georreferenciado para o município de Porto Alegre, durante o período de março de 2007 a março de 2008. Ambos filtros indicaram indício de cartel. No entanto, o filtro georreferenciado mostrou um melhor refinamento sobre o comportamento dos revendedores, ao indicar indício de cartel na área de maior densidade urbana do município, assim como gerar um ranking dos revendedores. / This thesis research the defense of competition among fuel retail market and had like objective the development of georeference screen to be used like aid tool to detect vestige of cartel. The problem of anticompetition practices had been discussed by the time even in literature like the antitruste authorits. In Brazil, Brazilian System of Competition Defense (SBDC) are responsable about defense of competition, in administration ambict, and in initial investigation used a filter to detect vestiges of cartels. This tool search economic evidences to find out cartel. This proposition studied three points. First we organized data basis considering preliminary inquiry made by SBDC to study the rules that form this screen. We suggest that this screen had to be revisal due lack of hierarchy in your rules such as period data. Second we proposed a strategic interaction in sequential game between gasoline retail market, consumer and SBDC, based in Games Theory. The result of this game showed that gasoline retail market will not be motivated to organize cartel if he knows that this pratice could be detected and punished. Finally we included in filter used in literature the georeferencing through comparision among screen actually used and georeference screen applied to Porto Alegre, in period of march 2007 to march 2008. Both indicate vestiges of cartel. Nevertheless, the georeference one showed best refinement about behaviour gasoline retail market to indicate collusion in areas of higher density population in the city just as form a ranking of retailers.