Since the internet became a new marketplace for buyers and sellers, the modernization of e-commerce brings into question whether online retailing can effectively replace traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Recent trends have highlighted the struggling business of physical retailers, yet many continue to operate while also having introduced an online sales channel along with pages on social media to increase engagement with customers. This study challenges the popular assumption that e-commerce is cannibalizing in-store sales opportunities, where online sales grow increasingly at the expense of the conventional method of shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. In examining financial and internet-related data of 50 major U.S. retailers from 2008 through 2013, I run panel data regressions to identify factors that contribute to the growth of in-store sales revenue and the proportion of online sales. My results indicate that retailers operating a clicks-and-bricks model do not suffer from channel cannibalization but may be forming a synergy across channels, as there are significant increases in measures regarding both physical and online retail operations.

The shopping trolley have been frequently used in our daily life. However, the hygiene condition of cart makes people worry a lot, especially the handle brothers. Nowadays, several methods have been proposed to clean the shopping carts but considered uneconomic and inflexible. In this study, we aim to design an integrated cart washing system based on a trailer applied to medium or small supermarket. This system should be more efficient, economic, easily to operate, safer and les water consummation. The integrated cart washing system has three basic functions of washing, disinfection and drying. The system is controlled by PLC program, all steps in the cleaning process are fully automatic insider the trailer and each component are adjustable according to various shopping carts. The system only requires one person to operate and it costs 30 seconds to wash a single cart, able to wash up to 120 cart/hour. Disinfection and drying steps provide high washing quality. Moreover, water-recycling design can save part of wasted water. The modelling and assembly was designed in Autodesk Inventor 2016, the hardware design circuit-writing diagram was performed in AutoCAD, the software design of Programmable logic controller (PLC) was made in STEP 7-Micro/Win. Theoretical calculation and simulation prove the safety and possibility of our system. We concluded that this system might have commercial interests in the market.

I re-examine “rating shopping” and “rating catering” in the market for AAA rated collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) by replicating the study of Griffin and Tang (2013) using post-crisis data. I find a sharp increase in the amount of CDOs that received a single rating, suggesting that CDO underwriters were more cautious about formally soliciting multiple ratings. However, I also find a decrease in AAA rating disagreements between S&P and Moody’s, implying that issuers shopped their CDOs through informal conversations with agencies. Finally, I find investors correctly accepted tighter credit spreads for dual-rated CDOs because dual-rated CDOs experienced fewer rating downgrades than single rated deals. These results differ from the pre-crisis findings of Griffin and Tang (2013) and are consistent with the existence of rating shopping and disappearance of rating catering during the post-crisis period.

People all over the world are embracing online shopping and there is a general agreement that trust plays a key role in influencing online shopping frequency. This project seeks to address the increasing need for new studies in this area. This is an empirical project that investigates the moderating effects of culture on the impact of trust on online shopping frequency. The central focus of this project was to examine whether culture affects the decision of the international consumer to trust in online shopping contexts. In an attempt to contribute to both cross-cultural and e-commerce research, the project examined shoppers across 34 countries using two of Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions: Uncertainty avoidance and Individualism. The project took a post-positivist approach to research and adopted a mixed method research design. Thus, data were collected using both quantitative and qualitative research designs, which provided a complimentary triangulation of the results. Both secondary and primary data sources were used, as the project developed a model and tested several hypotheses based on the literature on e-commerce, social psychology, and culture. Seven hypotheses were tested and research results revealed that trust has a positive impact on online shopping frequency in a multicultural context. Interestingly, no moderation effects were found for culture. The importance of this project lies in the fact that it seeks to further research at the intersection of culture, trust, and online shopping. Moreover, unlike most e-commerce projects that gather data from students within a single country, this project examines data from respondents of various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, across several countries.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

abstract / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

abstract / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management