published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

This study evaluates the public market system in New Orleans, Louisiana by focusing on the history of New Orleans public markets, the privatization of food, and the "greening" of the city with the creation of the Crescent City Farmers Market and other grass roots food activist efforts. Using qualitative methods, ethnographic fieldwork, participant observation and interviewing, issues of food access, food security, food production, food locality, quality, and affordability in New Orleans are explored. The history of public markets in New Orleans and the patterns of market proliferation, regulation, and privatization are significant in the landscape of cultural self-identification, community cohesion, neighborhood networks and economic and ecological development and sustainability. The city's various food shopping arenas and their locations become markers of history, status, rebellion, and of the "other," and become centers for issues of health, economy, politics, and food.

Title: The disappearing crate Context: Return logistics is an often forgotten but essential part of a company’s supply chain. As growing supply chains become increasingly complex, increased demands are placed on efficient logistics to create a competitive advantage over other parties on the market. ICA Sweden is currently using returnable packaging containers (RPCs) from Svenska Retursystem for transporting goods to their stores. The goods are sent via pallets and returnable packaging containers from a central warehouse or an external supplier. Empty packaging are then sent back to Svenska Retursystem. Each time a RPC changes hands, a debit fee is charged. When the RPC changes process owners, they transfer the debit fee to the next operator in the flow. If there is a loss of returnable packaging containers between two operators, a cost is incurred on this operator. The stores are charged through a so-called logistics cost, which can amount to about 0.7-0.9% of the stores' annual turnover. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to map the logistics process between the central warehouse and the stores and identify deficiencies in the process. Furthermore, the purpose of the study is to develop improvement proposals to reduce the negative balance of returnable packaging containers and reduce logistics costs for the stores. Method: The study has a comparative design of qualitative nature that adopts a critical realism approach. The research approach is deductive with a theoretical frame of reference as a starting point for the empirical material. Furthermore, the empirical material has been analyzed using pattern comparison. Results: The study has identified a number of different reasons why there may be a negative balance of returnable packaging containers at many ICA stores. Broadly speaking, we concluded that the problem stems from returnable packaging containers not being traceable. Human error throughout the process can also cause a mismatch of the administrative and physical flows. Improvement measures such as working with Lean, 5S, introducing RFID technology and investing in own trucks are discussed. / Titel: Returlådan som försvann Bakgrund och problemdiskussion: Returlogistik är en ofta glömd men likväl en viktig del av ett företags försörjningskedja. I takt med att växande försörjningskedjor blir alltmer komplexa ställs också ökade krav på en effektiv logistik för att skapa en konkurrensfördel gentemot andra aktörer på marknaden. ICA Sverige använder sig i dagsläget av returlådor från Svenska Retursystem för transport av varor till sina butiker. Varorna skickas bland annat via pall och returlådor till butikerna från ett centrallager eller en extern leverantör. Tomgods och tomemballage skickas sedan tillbaka till Svenska Retursystem. Hos varje aktör i ledet av de som använder returlådan debiteras en pantavgift. När returlådan byter processägare debiterar de nästa aktör i flödet. Sker ett bortfall av returlådor mellan två aktörer, uppstår en kostnad för denna aktören. Butikerna debiteras genom en så kallad logistikkostnad som kan uppgå till ca 0,7-0,9% av butikernas årliga omsättning. I dagsläget upplever många ICA butiker detta problem. Syfte: Syftet med denna studien är att kartlägga logistikprocessen mellan centrallager och butik samt identifiera brister i processen. Vidare är syftet med studien är att ta fram förbättringsförslag för att minska felsaldon och reducera logistikkostnader för butikerna. Metod: Studien har en jämförande design av kvalitativ art som antar ett kritiskt realism synsätt. Forskningsansatsen är deduktiv med en teoretisk referensram som utgångspunkt till det empiriska materialet. Datan för det empiriska materialet grundar sig på primärdata insamlat via semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Vidare har det empiriska materialet analyserats med hjälp av mönsterjämförelse. Slutsats: Studien har identifierat ett antal olika anledningar till varför det kan uppstå ett negativt saldo av returlådor hos många ICA butiker. I stora drag handlar det om att returlådorna inte kan spåras. Orsaker som mänskliga fel genom processen kan orsaka att det administrativa och fysiska flödet inte stämmer överens med varandra. Förbättringsåtgärder som att arbeta med 5S, införa RFID teknologi och investering i egna lastbilar diskuteras.

A proposta do presente estudo é contribuir na discussão sobre gestão da cadeia de suprimentos em ambientes integrados verticalmente. Diante deste cenário, foi sugerida a investigação da cadeia do frango brasileira para análise das vantagens, das desvantagens, dos fatores a considerar na integração vertical e na indicação de um alinhamento estratégico entre os elos. Para tanto, foi realizado um estudo de caso explanatório cujo método propõe adaptar um modelo de análise de canais de distribuição para o caso de uma cadeia de suprimentos integrada verticalmente com foco em custos. Detectou-se que a sinergia existente entre os elos de uma cadeia integrada facilita o desenvolvimento de trabalhos conjuntos na cadeia de valor, assim como a visão integrada da divisão de custos. O principal elo da cadeia do frango é o fabricante, pois além de ser o que mais agrega custo (em torno de 51%) é o gestor e centralizador que toma quase todas as decisões estratégicas. Este fato contribui expressivamente para que também acumule diversos custos da cadeia, dificilmente mensuráveis, como os custos de transação. Os resultados obtidos e as análises realizadas permitem concluir que a cadeia do frango pode ser gerenciada segundo uma estratégia híbrida: a da eficiência das operações entre os elos à jusante do fabricante e a da agilidade à montante do mesmo, oferecendo ganhos de custo e de aumento do nível de serviço. / The purpose of this work is to contribute to the discussion about supply chain management concepts for vertical integrated environments. The investigation of the Brazilian poultry chain was proposed in order to analyze the advantages, the disadvantages, the factors to be considered in the vertical integration and the indication of a supply chain strategy alignment. An explanatory case study was conducted. The method suggests to adapt a distribution chain model to a vertical integrated supply chain model, focusing on costs. It was detected that the synergy between the players of an integrated chain contributes to the development of common issues in the value chain and in the integrated cost division. The producer is the main player of the poultry chain, with approximately 51% of the total costs and is the centralizer of almost all strategic decisions. This fact contributes for the accumulating of some cost of this chain to its structure, hardly measurable, like the transaction costs. The results obtained and the analysis done allow concluding that this chain can be managed within a hybrid strategy: the efficiency of the operations in the downstream players from the producer and the agility upstream from it, offering gains from costs and high service level simultaneously.

Förändrade marknadsvillkor för landsbygden med minskande befolkningsmängd och ökande konkurrens från fysiska och digitala aktörer har lett till att var femte dagligvarubutik på den tätortsnära landsbygden har försvunnit det senaste decenniet. För att möta förändringen ställs det högre krav på butikernas marknadsföring för att nå lönsamhet. Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva sambandet mellan marknadsvillkor, marknadsföringsbeslut och ekonomisk prestation för dagligvarubutiker på den tätortsnära landsbygden i Skaraborg. För att undersöka syftet antas perspektivet Industrial Organization (IO) och Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) samt teorier inom marknadsföringsområdet marknadsmix och relationsmarknadsföring. Inom IO anses beslutsfattaren för marknadsföringsaktiviteter viktig eftersom den ekonomiska prestationen påverkas av hur väl konkurrensstrategin anpassas till marknadsvillkoren. Studien har genomförts som en kvalitativ studie där empirin har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med nio butikschefer inom dagligvaruhandeln. För att öka studiens trovärdighet har resultatet från intervjuerna stärkts genom en datainsamling via enkät samt en dokumentanalys av de undersökta butikernas årsredovisningar. Systematiskt urval användes vid val av intervjupersoner. Resultatet visar att avståndet mellan landsbygdsbutiken och den närliggande tätorten inte har ett lika tydligt samband med den ekonomiska prestationen som tidigare forskning hävdar. Däremot visar resultatet indikationer på att ett mer fördelaktigt geografiskt läge i form av ett längre avstånd till tätorten och färre konkurrenter kan skapa förutsättningar till att fler av ortens konsumenter i större utsträckning väljer att handla i den lokala butiken. Studien visar att olika konkurrensstrategier har olika påverkan på det ekonomiska resultatet. En högre nettoomsättning kan i landsbygdsbutiken uppnås genom att arbeta med fler konkurrensmedel, såsom att erbjuda ett brett serviceutbud, kommunicera med flera olika kanaler, anordna butiksevenemang samt att butikschefen är engagerad i orten. Lönsamhet för butikerna uppnås genom att hålla en högre prisnivå, arbeta aktivt med produktplaceringar samt hålla nere kostnader genom att betona färre konkurrensmedel. Slutligen visar även resultatet på att det personliga och ett relationellt synsätt är ett viktigt konkurrensmedel för landsbygdens dagligvarubutiker.

Désormais partie intégrante de notre quotidien, le numérique figure au cœur d’un nombre croissant d'activités. Les pratiques de magasinage n’échappent pas à la règle. Si les recherches en marketing qui explorent ce phénomène sont nombreuses, notre examen de la littérature met en évidence deux écueils récurrents : d’un côté, une tendance à morceler le numérique en mettant l’emphase sur une technologie spécifique et, de l’autre, une mise en retrait de la façon dont les individus se saisissent de ces ressources et les intègrent à leurs habitudes d’achat. Dans ce contexte, nous nous appuyons sur la sociologie des usages et, plus particulièrement, sur le concept de numérimorphose, pour donner du corps à l’usage des ressources digitales et apprécier les transformations engendrées par leur intégration plus ou moins durable aux pratiques de magasinage. Compte tenu de la diversité des pratiques d’achat, nous prenons le parti de nous focaliser sur une entrée empirique relativement peu abordée en marketing : les courses. Afin de nous positionner au plus près des individus lorsqu’ils assurent l’approvisionnement de leur foyer et rendre compte de leurs comportements effectifs, nous optons pour une méthodologie qualitative. Notre analyse aboutit à la mise en évidence d’un cadre analytique pour apprécier la numérimorphose des courses qui se décline sur trois axes : (1) le cadre communautaire qui aborde les courses en tant que pratique collective ; (2) le cadre spatiotemporel qui aborde les courses en tant que pratique située ; (3) le cadre marchand qui aborde les courses à partir de la relation entre l’offre et la demande. / Deeply embedded in our daily lives, digital technology appears as an essential component of our era. In our mind, this phenomenon is largely addressed by marketing research but remains affected by several limits. On the one hand, we notice that most researches focus on a specific technology. This results in a partial approach of practice’s digital shift. On the other hand, we argue that researches approaching digital shift in a larger scope fail to give social thickness to the use of technology. With this in mind, we adhere to the principles of « sociologie des usages » theoretical framework to enlighten the integration of digital devices into shopping practices. In order to face theoretical challenges related to the practice’s digital shift we introduce the concept of digimorphosis in marketing research. Given the diversity of shopping practices, we propose an application of the concept to grocery shopping. In order to position ourselves as close as shoppers, we opt for a qualitative methodological positioning. Here as well, the challenges related to the digital shift require reconsidering the techniques traditionally used to collect data, bring new ones and combines them to enrich our understanding of shopper’s behavior in a connected world. Our analysis leads to the identification of a three axes analytical framework designed to appreciate the digimorphosis of shopping practices: (1) the community axe which address shopping as a collective practice; (2) the spatio-temporal axe which address shopping as a situated practice; (3) the mercantile axe which address shopping as a practice based on value creation.

A proposta do presente estudo é contribuir na discussão sobre gestão da cadeia de suprimentos em ambientes integrados verticalmente. Diante deste cenário, foi sugerida a investigação da cadeia do frango brasileira para análise das vantagens, das desvantagens, dos fatores a considerar na integração vertical e na indicação de um alinhamento estratégico entre os elos. Para tanto, foi realizado um estudo de caso explanatório cujo método propõe adaptar um modelo de análise de canais de distribuição para o caso de uma cadeia de suprimentos integrada verticalmente com foco em custos. Detectou-se que a sinergia existente entre os elos de uma cadeia integrada facilita o desenvolvimento de trabalhos conjuntos na cadeia de valor, assim como a visão integrada da divisão de custos. O principal elo da cadeia do frango é o fabricante, pois além de ser o que mais agrega custo (em torno de 51%) é o gestor e centralizador que toma quase todas as decisões estratégicas. Este fato contribui expressivamente para que também acumule diversos custos da cadeia, dificilmente mensuráveis, como os custos de transação. Os resultados obtidos e as análises realizadas permitem concluir que a cadeia do frango pode ser gerenciada segundo uma estratégia híbrida: a da eficiência das operações entre os elos à jusante do fabricante e a da agilidade à montante do mesmo, oferecendo ganhos de custo e de aumento do nível de serviço. / The purpose of this work is to contribute to the discussion about supply chain management concepts for vertical integrated environments. The investigation of the Brazilian poultry chain was proposed in order to analyze the advantages, the disadvantages, the factors to be considered in the vertical integration and the indication of a supply chain strategy alignment. An explanatory case study was conducted. The method suggests to adapt a distribution chain model to a vertical integrated supply chain model, focusing on costs. It was detected that the synergy between the players of an integrated chain contributes to the development of common issues in the value chain and in the integrated cost division. The producer is the main player of the poultry chain, with approximately 51% of the total costs and is the centralizer of almost all strategic decisions. This fact contributes for the accumulating of some cost of this chain to its structure, hardly measurable, like the transaction costs. The results obtained and the analysis done allow concluding that this chain can be managed within a hybrid strategy: the efficiency of the operations in the downstream players from the producer and the agility upstream from it, offering gains from costs and high service level simultaneously.

In Angola, 96.7% of established small businesses fail. Thus, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies retail grocery store owners in Angola use to succeed beyond 5 years. The population of the study consisted of 5 retail grocery storeowners who sustained their businesses longer than 5 years in Angola. The conceptual framework for this study was the resource-based view. Face-to-face, semistructured interviews and company documentation review were used to collect data. Yin's 5-phase cycle, which includes (a) compiling, (b) disassembling, (c) reassembling, (d) interpreting, and (e) concluding, was used to find patterns, themes, and categories from the data. Member checking and methodological triangulation were used to ensure credibility. Through thematic analysis, 5 themes emerged: control and monitoring, dedication of the owner, quality staff, regular offer and quality products, and social capital. These themes reflect a common set of strategies that retail grocery storeowners in Angola use to succeed beyond 5 years. The implications for positive social change include the potential to improve the performance of small businesses and reduce business failure rates and unemployment in Angola. Additionally, by sustaining their profitability, small businesses offer a basis for increasing tax revenues, contributing to economic growth of the local economy, and improving people's living standards.

Background: It has been shown that companies that lived under protected conditions for a long time have had difficulties to adapt to major changes. With that in mind an even more extensive low-cost competition in the Swedish grocery market will make a threat for the traditional grocery stores' long-term survival. The question then becomes, which strategies will be successful and lead to higher customer loyalty. Problem: Are the traditional grocery stores using strategies that can compete in addition to pricing and will those strategies lead to long-term survival? Objective: Is to analyse and evaluate two traditional grocery stores' strategies and to examine whether these are consistent with customer demand. Approach: First we have created a more fundamental understanding of the situation in the Swedish grocery market. Then we have implemented two interviews in each grocery store. The first one is done with the store manager and the second one is done whit one of the staff members. Finally, we have also performed a survey directed to the stores' customers. Basic perspective: The study is based on a Relationship perspective and a Transactional perspective. Theories: “Theory of Value Star and Value Chain”, “Service Profit Chain”, “Value Theory”, “Value creation processes”,” Brand Theory” and “Involvement Theory”. Empiricism: Is based on the information gathered by interviews done in the two grocery stores and customers' responses to the survey. Analysis: Is based on the empirical data. Results: The study shows that both stores have customers that are relatively highinvolved and that both of these stores work with high involvement values. Conclusion: Both stores have strategies that extend beyond pricing. However, there are major shortcomings in terms of involving the customers in the process of creating value, which also affects customer loyalty. The stores' different structure of ownership also affects how they are organized and make decisions. Currently, Coop has a bigger problem than ICA because of low customer loyalty and limited adaptability.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1959. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 368-374).