This diploma thesis investigates patterns of behaviour in the Czech online shopping market. The thesis identifies segments of online shoppers, determines the factors influencing their consumer behaviors and from this analysis identifies a typical respondent. Secondary data are used for an orientation analysis of the e-commerce market in the Czech Republic. Further analysis of primary data pro-vides insights into the effectiveness of sales promotions and online marketing tools in influencing consumer attitudes and purchasing decisions. Regression analysis helps establish the optimal price points for online products based on the price sensitivity of consumers and their responses to selected sales promotion tools. The thesis concludes with suggestions for increasing customer satisfaction on e-commerce websites and thus enhancing profitability.

Since the dawn of democracy, South Africa has received high numbers of refugees from around the African continent in particular. One of the largest groups of refugees, Somalis, have established numerous enterprises in South African cities, concentrated in micro and small business sectors, particularly in the grocery and textile industries. The presence of Somali entrepreneurs and their role in the South African economy is contested, framed in relation to township informal economies and debates on xenophobia. Research to-date, however, focuses almost exclusively on Somali informal micro-enterprises in the spaza shop sector. To address this gap in the research and debate, this thesis examines Somali entrepreneurs, their development of varied formal enterprises, and their business strategies. I demonstrate in that these small formal businesses operate beyond the micro township-based informal spaza sector, building networks between township and city formal economies, and linking multiple economic sectors. In doing so, they act as a medium between producers of goods and general city consumers. The research demonstrates that Somali immigrant entrepreneurs can be considered what Bonacich (1973) describes as “middleman minorities.” This argument builds on qualitative research in Cape Town with Somali refugees who own formal small businesses that employ between five and a hundred employees. I draw on their histories, examine the evolution of their businesses, to substantiate how as newcomers - refugees, with limited knowledge about South African business dynamics, and little access to resources of the country - they managed to find their feet in business in varied ways. I show how Bellville as Cape Town’s Little Mogadishu, acts as a business hub and melting pot, a place to meet, to work together and connect their businesses to the rest of the city. From these histories, experiences, and networks, I analyse the business strategies that Somali entrepreneurs draw on, which include partnerships, shareholding, the building of trust, and their own mobility. I also investigate what enabled them to get a foot in the door when they first arrived, find new business opportunities, and access new markets in the city, region, and in some cases beyond. I argue that Somali immigrant entrepreneurs have created a diverse set of complex formal businesses, ranging from the sale of textiles, the processing of animal products, to consumer household goods. Through these businesses, these entrepreneurs have created jobs, new economic networks, new products, and extended markets, as well as physical retail and wholesale spaces. In making this argument, this research offers a better understanding of entrepreneurial work and its logics in the Cape Town Somali immigrant community. Their own experiences as entrepreneurs, as well as their business strategies, exceed by far narratives of informality, the spaza shop sector, and experiences of violence and xenophobia. This research broadens understandings of immigrant entrepreneurial activity in South African cities, and shift existing negative perceptions that depict refugees and immigrants as burdens on host communities and cities. I hope the research might also help inform the formulation of relevant policies for transitioning informal micro-enterprises in the country into small formal enterprises, one strategy that might address the critical issue of high unemployment in South African cities and society.

Povojnová architektúra na Slovensku tvorí veľkú časť stavebného fondu a predstavuje obdobie, kedy sa architektúra u nás vyšvihla na svetovú úroveň, obzvlášť v období uvoľnenia. Centrálne plánovanie a ekonomická prosperita štátu dávala príležitosti realizovať veľké stavebné úlohy. Mestské regulatívy sa otvorili a bolo možné stavať vysoko podlažné, veľkoplošné i technologicky náročnejšie komplexy budov. Podporil sa tak povojnový rozvoj priemyslu aj politický marketing expresívnych monumentov. Architektúra obchodných domov Ivana Matušíka na čele s obchodným domom Prior a hotelom Kyjev na kamennom námestí sa k takejto architektúre radí tiež. V očiach laickej, no často i odbornej verejnosti je poznačená rúškom odporu a nevôle k pochopeniu kvôli dobovému kontextu, v ktorom vznikala. Neschopnosť oceniť ju sa v 90. rokoch podpísal na niektorých stavbách ich veľmi necitlivou rekonštrukciou a nenávratnou stratou ( najviac viditeľné je to na stavbe obchodného domu Slimák v Bratislave). Už k tak pokrivenému obrazu, budovám škodí aj starnutie, neadekvátna údržba, zlá interpretácia využitia ich priestorového konceptu a iné stavebné nánosy, ktoré sa usadzujú v jej blízkosti a vo verejnom priestore. Cieľom práce je prehodnotiť postavenie a funkčnú náplň týchto budov a ich verejného priestoru v centre hlavného mesta, oceniť ich výtvarný aj architektonický prínos, no súčasne sa kriticky pozrieť aj na ich tienisté stránky objektívne. V diplomovej práci sa chcem sústrediť len na obchodný dom so spojovacou budovu a hotelom Kyjev na Kamennom námestí. Rekonštrukcia tejto časti Bratislavy je nevyhnutná a mojim záujmom je rešpektovať hodnotné objekty zo 60. rokov tak, aby sa centrum vyvíjalo postupným vrstvením.

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Within manufacturing systems, process planning and scheduling are two interrelated problems that are often treated independently. Process planning involves deciding which operations are required to produce a finished product and which resources will perform each operation. Scheduling involves deciding the sequence that operations should be processed by each resource, where process planning decisions are known a priori. Integrating process planning and scheduling offers significant opportunities to reduce bottlenecks and improve plant performance, particularly for complex job shops. This research is motivated by the coating and laminating (CandL) system of a film manufacturing facility, where more than 1,000 product types are regularly produced monthly. The CandL system can be described as a complex job shop with sequence dependent setups, operation re-entry, minimum and maximum wait time constraints, and a due date performance measure. In addition to the complex scheduling environment, products produced in the CandL system have multiple feasible process plans. The CandL system experiences significant issues with schedule generation and due date performance. Thus, an integrated process planning and scheduling approach is needed to address large scale industry problems. In this research, a novel proxy measure based local search (PBLS) approach is proposed to address the integrated process planning and scheduling for a complex job shop. PBLS uses a proxy measure in conjunction with local search procedures to adjust process planning decisions with the goal of reducing total tardiness. A new dispatching heuristic, OU-MW, is developed to generate feasible schedules for complex job shop scheduling problems with maximum wait time constraints. A regression based proxy approach, PBLS-R, and a neural network based proxy approach, PBLS-NN, are investigated. In each case, descriptive statistics about the active process plan set are used as independent variables in the model. The resulting proxy measure is used to evaluate the effect of process planning local search moves on the objective function sum of total tardiness. Using the proxy measure to guide a local search reduces the number of times a detailed schedule is generated reducing overall runtime. In summary, the proxy measure based local search approach involves the following stages: • Generate a set of feasible schedules for a set of jobs in a complex job shop. • Evaluate the parameters and results of the schedules to establish a proxy measure that will estimate the effect of process planning decisions on objective function performance. • Apply local search methods to improve upon feasible schedules. Both PBLS-R and PBLS-NN are integrated process planning and scheduling heuristics capable of addressing the challenges of the CandL problem. Both approaches show significant improvement in objective function performance when compared to local search guided by random walk. Finally, an optimal solution approach is applied to small data sets and the results are compared to those of PBLS-R and PBLS-NN. Although the proxy based local search approaches investigated do not guarantee optimality, they provide a significant improvement in computational time when compared to an optimal solution approach. The results suggest proxy based local search is an appealing approach for integrated process planning and scheduling in complex job shop environment where optimal solution approaches are not viable due to processing time. / Ph. D.

This research is a exploratory and descriptive study based on juvenile's perceptions with regard to shop theft. Secondary data sources were consulted to supplement the empirical data collected by means of a comprehensive questionnaire. Five hundred learners from grades 10, 11 and 12 in Mabopane were selected for the completion of the questionnaires. Shop theft was further elucidated by the application of criminological theories to explain research findings by highlighting their relationship with shop theft. Main research findings established that there are significant statistical differences with regard to the learner gender, age and grade as far as their views on shop theft were concerned. Recommendations based on the findings include teaching Criminology at secondary schools, the development of an anti shop theft youth oriented crime prevention program, shop theft educational and awareness programmes, and shoplifter offender prevention programs. / Criminology / M.A. (Criminology)

Nesta tese apresentamos duas estratégias para resolver o problema de job-shop flexível com o objetivo de minimizar o makespan. A primeira estratégia utiliza um algoritmo branch and cut (B&C) e a segunda abordagens matheuristics. O algoritmo B&C utiliza novas classes de inequações válidas, originalmente formulada para o problema de job-shop e estendida para o problema em questão. Para que as inequações válidas sejam eficientes, o modelo proposto por Birgin et al, (2014) (A milp model for an extended version of the fexible job shop problem. Optimization Letters, Springer, v. 8, n. 4, 1417-1431), é reformulado (MILP-2). A segunda estratégia utiliza as matheuristcs local branching e diversification, refining and tight-refining. Os experimentos computacionais mostraram que a inclusão dos planos de corte melhoram a relaxação do modelo MILP-2 e a qualidade das soluções. O algoritmo B&C reduziu o gap e o número de nós explorados para uma grande quantidade de instâncias. As abordagens matheuristics tiveram um excelente desempenho. Do total de 59 instâncias analisadas, somente em 3 problemas a resolução do modelo MILP-1 obteve melhores resultados do que as abordagens matheuristcs / This thesis proposes two approaches to solve the flexible job-shop scheduling problem to minimize the makespan. The first strategy uses a branch and cut algorithm (B&C) and the second approach is based on matheuristics. The B&C algorithm uses new classes of valid inequalities, originally formulated for job-shop scheduling problems and extended to the problem at hand. The second approach uses the matheuristics local branching and diversification, refining and tight-refining. For all valid inequalities to be effective, the precedence variable based model proposed by Birgin et al, (2014) (A milp model for an extended version of the fexible job shop problem. Optimization Letters, Springer, v. 8, n. 4, 1417-1431), is reformulated (MILP-2). The computational experiments showed that the inclusion of cutting planes tightened the linear programming relaxations and improved the quality of solutions. B&C algorithm reduced the gap value and the number of nodes explored in a large number of instances. The matheuristics approaches had an excellent performance. From 59 instances analized, MILP-1-Gurobi showed better results than matheuristics approaches in only 3 problems

Este trabalho dedica-se ao problema de programação em flow shop permutacional com tempos de setup separados dos tempos de processamento e independentes da seqüência de execução das tarefas com o objetivo de minimizar a duração total da programação (Makespan). Por intermédio de investigações realizadas sobre as características estruturais do problema de programação e sua solução, uma propriedade deste problema é apresentada. Esta propriedade, denominada \"Propriedade LBY\", considerando quaisquer duas tarefas adjacentes Ju e Jv (Ju imediatamente precede Jv) independentemente de suas posições na seqüência de tarefas, fornece, um limitante inferior do tempo de espera para a tarefa Jv entre o fim do seu processamento na máquina Mk e o início do seu processamento na máquina seguinte. Dois novos métodos heurísticos são desenvolvidos, com base na propriedade apresentada e no procedimento de inserção de tarefas dos conhecidos métodos N&M e NEH: um construtivo, denominado BMc; e, um melhorativo, denominado BMm. Os métodos heurísticos propostos são comparados com os métodos heurísticos melhorativos de Cao; Bedworth (1992) e Rajendran; Ziegler (1997), através de um grande número de problemas gerados aleatoriamente. Os tempos de processamento são distribuídos no intervalo [1, 99] e os tempos de setup nos intervalos de [1, 49], [1, 99], [51, 149] e [101, 199]. Os métodos são avaliados quanto à porcentagem de sucesso em obter a melhor solução, ao desvio relativo médio e o tempo médio de computação. Os resultados da experimentação computacional mostram a qualidade do método construtivo BMc e a melhor performance do método melhorativo BMm. Estes resultados são apresentados e discutidos. / This work addresses the permutation flow shop scheduling problem with separated, non-batch, and sequence-independent setup times with the objective of minimizing the total time to complete the schedule (Makespan). Following an investigation of problem structural characteristics and your solution a property of this scheduling problem is presented. This property, denoted by \"Property LBY\", given any two adjacent jobs Ju e Jv (Ju immediately precedes Jv), regardless of their position in the sequence of jobs, provides an lower bound of the waiting time for job Jv between the end of its operations on the machine Mk and the beginning on machine M(k+1). Two news heuristics methods are development, on the basis of the presented property and in the job insertion procedure of the known methods named N&M and NEH: one constructive, denote by BMc; and, one improvement, denote by BMm. The proposed heuristics methods are compared with the improvement heuristics methods of Cao; Bedworth (1992) and Rajendran; Ziegler (1997), by a large number of randomly generated problems. The processing time are sampled from a distribution ranging from [1, 99] and, the setup times are sampled from distributions ranging from [1, 49], [1, 99], [51, 149] and [101, 199]. The methods are evaluated by the percentage of success in find the best solution, the average relative deviation and the average computation time. The results of the computational investigation show the quality of the constructive heuristic method BMc and that the improvement heuristic method BMc outperforms all others. These results are presented and discussed.

O Job Shop Scheduling Problem é um problema NP-Difícil que chama a atenção de muitos pesquisadores devido seu desafio matemático e sua aplicabilidade em contextos reais. Geralmente, principalmente em cenários próximos aos de fábricas e indústrias, obter um escalonamento ótimo por meio de métodos computacionais exatos implica em um alto desprendimento de tempo. Em contrapartida, devido às exigências de um mercado cada vez mais competitivo, as decisões de onde, como, quando e com o que produzir devem ser tomadas rapidamente. O presente trabalho propõe o desenvolvimento de um método heurístico Beam Search para solucionar o Job Shop Scheduling Problem e o Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Problem. Para isso, inicialmente um algoritmo do tipo list scheduling é definido e então o método Beam Search é construído baseado neste algoritmo. Os métodos propostos foram avaliados em diferentes níveis de complexidade utilizando instâncias da literatura que retratam diferentes cenários de planejamento. Em linhas gerais, as soluções encontradas se mostraram bastante competitivas quando comparadas a outras soluções da literatura. / The Job Shop Scheduling Problem is a NP-Hard problem which draws the attention of researchers due to both its mathematical challenge and its applicability in real contexts. Usually, mainly in industry and factory environments, an optimal schedule got by the use of exact computational methods implies in a long spending time. On the other hand, due to a more and more competitive marketplace, the decisions on where, how, when and with which to produce must be taken quickly. The present work proposes the development of an heuristic Beam Search method to solve both the Job Shop Scheduling Problem and the Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Problem. To that end, at rst a list scheduling algorithm is dened and then the Beam Search method is built based on the list scheduling algorithm. The proposed methods were evaluated over dierent complexity levels using instances from the literature that report dierent planning environments. In general terms, the solutions implemented have been proved very competitive when compared against other solutions in the literature.

Avsikten med denna studie är att undersöka hur sortimentsplanering arbetas fram i större och mindre modeföretag och koppla ihop detta med hur man planerar sitt sortiment, vilka beslut som tas, vilka faktorer som påverkar, hur sortimentsplanering sker i butik och hur man förbereder en sortimentsplan. Genom att undersöka och analysera arbetet kring sortimentsplanering har vi kommit fram till skillnader och likheter mellan de medverkande modeföretagen. För att uppnå syftet med studien och för att få svar på hur modeföretag arbetar med sortimentsplanering och vilka skillnader och likheter som uppstår beroende på en verksamhets storlek och företagsform, har vi utgått från fyra företagsintervjuer. Två av dessa skedde genom ett personligt möte, ett via telefonkontakt och ett via mejlkontakt. Utifrån de frågor som ställdes och respondenternas svar var det möjligt att både analysera och dra slutsatser gällande ämnet i fråga. Studien utgår från bland annat Hernant och Boströms (2010), Nordfälts (2007) och Clodfelters (2009) teorier där till exempel produkternas roller och de fem stegen vid utformandet av en sortimentsplan presenteras. Genom dessa har vi kunnat skapa en överblick av vad sortimentsplanering handlar om och hur man kan framställa en så strukturerad sortimentsplan som möjligt. Genom att analysera svaren från respondenterna har vi kommit fram till konkreta skillnader och likheter som uppstod mellan samtliga modeföretag. Alla företag arbetar med sortimentsplanering, men vikten av processen skiljer sig beroende på vilken modestil företaget vill förmedla till kunderna och vilka behov som ska tillfredsställas. Slutligen har vi kommit fram till att sortimentsplanering är ett brett begrepp som innebär olika för olika företag. Av större företag krävs det ett större engagemang och ansvar kring den planering av sortimentet som utförs. Planeringen påverkar hela företaget, från huvudkontor till butik. För mindre modeföretag är sortimentsplaneringen inte lika komplex då det endast ansvarar för den enskilda butiken. / Program: Butikschef, textil och mode