Although diverse methods/models have been studied and applied in general retail location areas, very few actually related to an important trade sector - Cash & Carry/Warehouse Club. Because of the distinguishing characteristics of this sector, the methods and models successfully used in other sectors cannot be simply transferred. To solve this problem, a thorough study has been conducted to compare the characteristics of the sector with available methods/models. Based on the outcome of this study, the regression model has been identified to be a better choice for the sector. Multiple key regression issues, such as model selection, trade area definition, overfilling and multicol linearity, measurement of competitiveness, subjective judgements and quantitative modelling, etc., have been explored in the configuration of a regression model for the sector. The resulting model based on the data from a British Cash & Carry company has achieved the highest R2 and R 2 (adj) when compared to similar research (based on literature search up to the year 2003). With the emergence of Geographic Information System (GIS), a powerful spatial information analysis tool, retail location enters the era of the use of Spatial Decision Support System technology to enhance the decision efficiency. Meanwhile, a dynamic location analysis system is important and necessary to retailers. This is why a Spatial-DSS is proposed and designed in the thesis. The designed system integrates technologies such as Database Management Systems (DBMS), Statistics Software, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Decision Support Systems (DSS) and others. Although these technologies have been used in various areas before, integrating them to form a coherent unity is new.

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M.B.A / "Geesteswetenskaplike navorsing is 'n gemeenskaplike aktiwiteit waardeur 'n bepaalde verskynsel in die werklikheid op 'n objektiewe wyse bestudeer word, ten einde 'n geldige begrip van die verskynsel daar te steI." (Mouton en Marais, 1989:7) "Dit is 'n natuurIike strewe van die mens om die werklikheid waarvan hy deel vorm, te probeer begryp. Die belangrikste wyse waarop die mens sy ervaringe en belewinge vasgryp, is in uitsprake oor die werklikheid. Die maak van uitsprake, formulering van stellings, is daarom 'n intrinsieke komponent van aIle betekenisvolle menslike ervaring. In die mate waarin menslike kommunikasie noodsaakIik is vir sinvolle sosiale interaksie, so is die maak van stellings ook 'n onlosmaakIike dimensie van ons menswees" (Mouton en Marais, 1989: 7) Praktiese navorsing in hierdie studie is in samewerking met die Wickes-groep gedoen. Wickes is 'n Europese winkelgroep wat onlangs in Suid-Afrika gevestig is en beoog om 'n groot aantal takke in Suid-Afrika te open. Hardeware, boumateriale, gereedskap, ingeboude kaste, badkamers en talle ander produkte word deur hierdie handelaars verkoop. Die eerste tak is op 28 Oktober 1995 in Boksburg, digby die East-Rand Mall geopen. Navorsing is gedeeltelik by hierdie tak afgehandel. Dit behels hoofsaaklik 'n uiteensetting van die produk, die verbruiker, die markgebied en besteding. Die mikro-analise wat in hoofstuk 4 ter sprake is, is dus gedeeltelik hier toegepas. Die doel daarvan was hoofsaaklik om beter insig te verkry in die rnikroaspekte van die betrokke handelaar. Daardeur kan swak en sterk punte uitgelig word, en daarna kan moontlike strategiee geformuleer word om hierdie swak punte aan te spreek soos in hoofstuk 7 gedoen is. Verdere navorsing is gedoen deur 'n demografiese analise te doen vir die ontwikkeling van 'n nuwe Wickes-tak in Ferndale, Randburg. Hier is hoofsaaklik op die makroaspekte gefokus deur 'n analise (wat oorwegend demografies van aard is) te doen op die potensiele markgebied van 'n ligging waar Wickes 'n tak sal open...

M.Com. (Business Management) / Retailers are the main link between product suppliers and final consumers and therefore in a position to play a pivotal role in driving environmental sustainability by encouraging the adoption of appropriate greening practices in their total supply chain activities. Whilst studies have been conducted on the green supply chain practices of leading retailers from around the world, few studies have been conducted on retailers in South Africa. The objectives of this study are to explore the range of green supply chain best practices currently adopted amongst consumer services retailers listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the extent to which green supply chain best practices are adopted in their total supply chain activities, the level of maturity of their green supply chain management practices, and the main driving forces for, benefits of and barriers to the adoption of green supply chain practices. A conceptual framework is derived from a literature review and used to develop a highly structured survey questionnaire to collect empirical data for analysis in relation to the objectives of the study. The questionnaire was administered by engaging in face-to-face interviews with respondents representing listed consumer services retailers. The empirical data collected was analysed using a Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet model. The findings of the study indicate that the majority of the retailers studied are adopting all those green supply chain best practices identified in the literature review at least to some extent. Although a few of the retailers studied have reached a high level of maturity in their green supply chain management practices, the majority have recognised the importance of environmental sustainability related issues, have started incorporating appropriate greening practices into their total supply chain activities and therefore have progressed beyond a low level of largely ignoring green supply chain practices to the intermediate levels of maturity. This implies that they are taking environmental sustainability related issues seriously and not merely engaging in acts of green-washing. However currently these retailers are focusing first on those internal operations where they consider greening practices to be within their sphere of influence, easy to formulate, quick to implement and which can have a positive impact on environmental sustainability and the organisation in the short- to medium-term. These internal operations include transportation and logistics, solid waste management and energy usage management. Most of the main driving forces for the adoption of green supply chain practices come from outside the organisations and include an increase in disclosure requirements for sustainability policies and practices, government environmental regulations, and risks of disruptions in energy and raw material supply.

In 2011 Eric Ries wrote a book called “The Lean Startup” in which he documented inexorable logical and lean concepts applicable to start-up businesses. The Lean Startup principles are not yet widely understood and very little research has been conducted on this topic. This qualitative study explores which principles of the Lean Startup methodology young South African e-retail businesses apply during the start-up phase of the business. By applying a qualitative research strategy, six South African e-retail businesses from different sectors were interviewed. The results from the interviews were compared to the Lean Startup approach and it was concluded that South African e-retail businesses applied nearly all the principles of the Lean Startup methodology and philosophy in the start-up phase of their businesses in the following ways: preferred experimentation to elaborate business plans and forecasts; made use of validated learning in order to test the vision of their start-ups; applied the Minimum Viable Product concept to test their vision; applied Actionable metrics during the measure phase of the build-measure-learn feedback loop; did not apply Innovation Accounting convincingly during the measure phase of the build-measure-learn feedback loop; pivoted or persevered in some way or form during the start-up phase of their business; applied all three of the engines of growth as defined by the Lean Start-up. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / zkgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

The increase in global competition has led to many companies examining how they do business in an increasingly competitive environment, and in many cases adopting models that impact their supply chain competitiveness. Many companies are struggling to find the balance between cost containment and the increasing demands of customers requiring them to demonstrate greater flexibility and achieve higher service levels. This research evaluates the effectiveness of supply chain strategy, specifically related to the decisions made when retailers elect to insert their own distribution centres and the choices they make in the design thereof. Critically, these design decisions were evaluated from both a supplier and retailers perspective against academic articles which relate to effective supply chain collaboration methods. The research examined the consequences of an ineffective supply chain design decision and how this decision resulted in a constraint in the supply chain which reduced competitiveness through higher inventory levels and reduced sale throughput as a result of lost sales and low service levels. This research is exploratory by design and purposive sampling was used to select interviewees that would bring depth to the research by providing understanding as to the rationale behind the supply chain strategy selected. In addition, the research was conducted by reviewing quantitative data collected both pre and post the insertion of a retailer distribution centre to statistically compare the impact of this business strategy on supply chain competitiveness. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / zkgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

This thesis is concerned with making an empirical test of a probabilistic model of intra-urban retail trade interactions. The model, termed a probabilistic model of consumer spatial behaviour, is related to a series of models in social science known as gravimetric models. The particular model considered used store area and distance in time units as its major variables. It also includes an exponential parameter, the value of which must be estimated from empirical data. The major hypothesis on which the model is tested is based on the behaviour of this parameter. The hypothesis states that values of this parameter vary significantly, depending upon the type of shopping trip being considered. The type of shopping trip is determined by the particular type of shopping goods apparently sought by the consumer. The hypothesis is tested by means of empirical data on consumer purchasing patterns gathered in the Vancouver Metropolitan area through the use of an interview survey conducted randomly by census tracts. The data are analyzed in an especially written, iterative computer programme. Statistical tests usually applied to such data are found to be inadequate to the analysis of the results. A special test which is intended to show the sensitivity of the model to the parameter is presented and applied. An independent test of the representativeness of the data is presented. The data are found to be representative, but the model is found to be insensitive to the behaviour of the parameter. Further, measures of variation in observed behaviour explained by the model are generally low. It is concluded that the model in its present form does not apply to Vancouver. The thesis is unable to conclude whether changes are required in the factors of the model or in the relationship specified, though there is evidence which shows that both may require attention. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

In this thesis, we study the statistical issues in lost sales inventory systems, focusing on the complexity arising from the stochastic demand. We model the demand by the Zero Inflated Poisson (ZIP) distribution. The maximum likelihood estimator of the ZIP parameters taking censoring into account are derived separately for the newsvendor and the (s, S) inventory systems. We also investigate the effect of the estimation errors on the optimal policies and their costs. We observe from a simulation study that the MLE taking censoring into account performed the best in terms of cost as well as policy among various estimates. We then proceed to develop a Bayesian dynamic updating scheme of the ZIP parameters. It is applied to the newsvendor system. We perform a simulation study to investigate the advantage of the Bayesian updating approach over the traditional MLE approach. We conclude that the Bayesian pproach offers a better learning technique when one lacks of good understanding of the demand pattern in the first few periods. Since inventory policy affects the information acquisition and-the demand distribution updating process, how to determine the optimal inventory policy when the demand distribution is yet to be learned is the focus of the latter part of the thesis. We investigate the effect of demand censoring on the optimal policy in newsvendor inventory models with general parametric demand distribution and unknown parameter values. We provide theoretical proof of the conjecture that it is better off to adopt a higher than the myopic optimal policy in the initial periods when demand is learned in a censoring system. We show that the newsvendor problem with observable lost sales reduces to a sequence of single-period problems while the newsvendor problem with unobservable lost sales requires a dynamic analysis. We explore the economic rationality for this observation and illustrate it with numerical examples. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

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