Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Barbara DeSanto / This is an exploratory study looking at the communication channels used in the relationship between rural grocers and rural community members in four Kansas communities. The study is a continuation of research and efforts done by K-State’s Rural Grocery Initiative to help the sustainability of rural grocery stores. This study is looked at through the theoretical lens of uses and gratifications because of the identification of communication channels that satisfy users’ wants and needs. The study is qualitative, using individual interviews to gather data from rural grocers and rural community members. Eight communication channels are identified by the grocers and community members: onsite of grocery store, newspaper (published in a nearby community), mail, radio, website, word-of-mouth, email, and Facebook. The eight communication channels discussed in the study are identified as being beneficial, used, or both by rural grocers and rural community members. The information provided from the study offers suggestions for rural grocers to better reach community members to increase business, and thus increase sustainability in the community.

The purpose of this report was to find out if grocery stores in Örnsköldsvik and Kramfors municipality recycle their producer responsibility package waste, hazardous waste and their food waste and in what way they get rid of their waste. Are there any differences in how these two municipalities does it? Are there any variance between different stores depending on size, location and finally come up with suggestions for improvements. To find out the answer to this questions phone interviews with 25 grocery stores in these two municipalities were conducted. The results from the survey shows that grocery stores in both municipalities sort out their producer responsibility package waste and hazardous waste to a great extent. Only four stores indicated that they sorted out food waste. Responses were varied regarding in what way the grocery stores get rid of their waste. Some stores get their waste picked-up by the municipality and others by different entrepreneurs. One of the big food chains have a contract with an entrepreneur to pick up their waste at all the stores in this part of the country. Some of the suggested improvements are to minimize the amount of food waste that gets thrown away and clarify the laws on what waste that the municipality have monopoly on. The conclusion of this report is that grocery stores in these two municipalities are good at sorting out their waste except food waste.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

Eating and shopping are Singaporeans' favourite past-times. However, in recent years, the retail sector performed poorly. Department stores, the dinosaurs of Singapore's retail scene because of their large size and long establishment, faced difficulty in adapting promptly to the environmental changes. Unless these retailers know how to capitalise on their large size with the right merchandise and service staff, being big can be a barrier. The focus of this thesis is twofold: Firstly, it assesses the potential of excellent customer service as a viable strategy to help these department stores in a fiercely competitive retail market. Another area of interest is to track the current service level of department stores for areas of improvement. Secondly, it is an academic exercise to contribute to the understanding of retailing by examining the impact of customer service in improving sales in a non-western context - Singapore. The earlier chapters outline the forces of change in the retail climate that promote strategic planning in retailing. Literature survey shows that various retail strategies are used to address the different business trading conditions over the years. With the intensification of competition and a saturated market in the 1990s, the effectiveness of using customer service as a functional strategy in increasing sales is examined. Because the scope of study is on downtown department stores, a study on the characteristics and peculiarities of these stores is conducted to better understand the working mechanism of this retail concept. Concepts on customer service are examined to assess how department stores can use this service tool. The later chapters deal with the selection and modification of an appropriate service measurement tool to track the current service level and to propose areas for improvement. Adopting the Servqual model of service quality, an external survey is conducted to examine the shoppers' views on the importance of customer service in their shopping decision and to track the current service performance of downtown department stores in Singapore. Internal audits comprising of a managements' and a front-line staffs' surveys are conducted to seek areas for service improvement. The findings are analysed using the SPSS software and recommendations are proposed. The external survey reveals that 12% of the respondents rated service as their top consideration in affecting their decision on where to shop. Besides, a department store may stand to lose as much as 39% of its customers in the event of poor services rendered. The external survey indicates a service gap for the Singapore's department stores industry. Shoppers rank responsiveness as the most important attribute. However, responsiveness receives the poorest ratings for its performance. Tangibles is ranked as the least important but it receives satisfactory performance rating. CK Tang emerges as the best department store based on its good service performance. Further investigations on the service gap show that managements need to improve on their efforts to solicit feedback from their shoppers in order to respond to their changing lifestyles and preferences. Front-line staffs' survey reveals that a fairer compensation package, more role congruence, more empowerment and a better reward system can minimise Gap 3. Limitations for the surveys are also highlighted and areas for future research work are proposed. Service has become a key factor in this fiercely competitive environment cluttered with many similar retail offerings. These surveys confirm that there is much room for improvement in this service element. This sentiment towards offering excellent service is also shared by Mr. Kazuhide Kimoto, Managing Director of Takashimaya Singapore Limited who feels that good location, varied and quality merchandise and excellent service will ensure a good future for department stores (SRA The Retailer, 1996,7). With the sophistication of today's shoppers who are widely travelled and the easy accessibility of goods through technological advancement, the service element win become increasingly important as they learn more about the western world of retailing. The author feels that giving excellent external customer service is only possible when there is excellent internal customer service. Internal customer service refers to the well-being and positive group dynamics of staff who can work together to help the shoppers. Service stems from service providers. If staff are truly happy, they will be motivated and committed to share the same joy with their external shoppers. Therefore, treating internal staff well promotes external customer service excellence. Given that one happy customer would share his/her experience with five more people whereas one unhappy customer would share with nine others in a TARP study, it pays to solve an external service problem before it surfaces. Therefore, a proactive approach to giving service may mean delighting one's employees first. A service culture which promotes excellent service delivery with a system of service awards and a constant service tracking system are critical for any retailers who want to give good service. Currently, most department stores professed to provide customer service. In reality, the customer service concept in Singapore is not clearly understood and hence, its potential undermined. Most department stores perceive customer service as a list of services to be offered to their shoppers Finally, this thesis contributes to the academic understanding of retailing in Singapore by documenting the retail scene in Singapore from the 1960s to 1990s with emphasis on the downtown department stores and testing the applicability of Servqual model as a tool to track service level in a non-westem region i.e. Singapore. The findings from the 3 surveys conducted on downtown department stores revealed the local shoppers' behavioural preferences, sentiments and the most important service dimension in retail using the Servqual Model, a first report in retail customer service.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Hikaru Hanawa Peterson / Over the past few decades, the prevalence of obesity and diet-related diseases has steadily increased and become a major public health concern. Part of the problem has been attributed to the large quantity of unhealthy (energy-dense) foods U.S. consumers include in their diets. Statistics on food environment suggest that some areas and households have easier access to fast food restaurants and convenience stores but limited access to supermarkets. Limited access to nutritious food and relatively easier access to less nutritious food have been shown to lead to poor diets and, ultimately, to obesity and diet-related diseases. These issues may more negatively affect some communities than others, particularly rural communities as they tend to be further away from food outlets compared to urban areas. Counties are classified as food deserts based upon the percentage of residents living below the federal poverty line and the percentage of residents residing more than one mile from a supermarket. This definition excludes many viable food outlet options, including smaller independently-owned groceries. With rural residents being at a greater disadvantage, it becomes important to consider smaller groceries as an alternative for these communities. The level of social capital may be an indicator of an area’s willingness to support its community. The social environment of rural communities can be characterized as having a high degree of interconnectedness within the community, so that “everybody knows everybody else” (Beggs, Haines, & Hurlbert, 1996). This unique social network in rural communities facilitates the buildup of social capital, which incorporates reciprocity and the willingness to do things for members within the network. This study finds a negative relationship between obesity and social capital in nonmetropolitan counties, as well as a negative relationship between obesity rates and rural grocery stores. These conclusions lend insight into ways to decrease the level of obesity in rural areas.

Intern kommunikation och hur anställda känner tillhörighet är något som uppmärksammas mer av företag på senare tid. Denna studie tar sin utgångspunkt hur dessa två fungerar och samspelar i en organisatorisk kontext. Vi har undersökt hur intern kommunikation fungerar mellan en butik och dess organisation samt vad den interna kommunikationen betyder för de anställdas tillhörighet till organisationen. Syftet med studien är att förstå hur den interna kommunikationen fungerar mellan butik och dess organisation med fokus på närliggande butiker och överordnad ledning. Vi har också belyst betydelsen av olika medier och hur de påverkar anställdas upplevda tillhörighet till sin organisation. Detta kommer visa hur den interna kommunikationen kan effektivisera och vara till nytta för moderna organisationer, ledning och studenter i ekonomi. Vi har använt oss av en hermeneutisk ansats och bygger rapporten på kvalitativa bevis. Vår insamlade empiri är primärdata som vi har tillskansat oss genom att intervjua fem personer, varav en butikschef, på ett företag inom elektronikhandeln. Vårt teoriunderlag består av andrahandsmaterial i form av 25 vetenskapliga artiklar av relevant och tidigare forskning inom områdena. I våra slutsatser har vi belyst hur intern kommunikation kan fungera och fann att den fungerar på ett tillfredställande sätt i den undersökta butiken. Det vi fann som viktigt i vårt fall var att anställda hade fungerande format som uppdaterat intranät, personliga besök av överordnade, mail, telefonkontakt och videoklipp. Det viktiga med dessa kommunikationsmedier var att de alltid ska vara tillgängliga och att informationen uppfyller ICC-kriterierna med att vara tydlig, kontinuerlig och koncis, vilket de i överlag också var i butiken. Vi fann också i vårt empiriska underlag faktorer som implicerar att intern kommunikation är en faktor som har en stor betydelse för anställdas upplevda känsla av tillhörighet till sin organisation. / Internal communication and employees' sense of belonging is something that is given more attention by companies in recent times. This study takes its starting point in how these two work and interact in an organizational context. We have examined how internal communication works between a store and its organization as well as what the internal communication means for employees' sense of belonging to the organization. The purpose of the study is to understand how internal communication works between the store and its organization with focus on nearby stores and senior management. We have also shed light on the significance of different media formats and how they affect employee's sense of belonging to their organization. This will demonstrate how internal communication can be more efficient and beneficial to modern organizations, management and students of economics. We have used a hermeneutical approach and the report is based on qualitative evidence. Our collected empirical data are primary data that we have gathered by interviewing five people, including a store manager, at a company in electronic trade. Our theoretical basis consists of a secondary material in the form of 25 scientific articles that are relevant and previous research in the field. In our conclusions, we have highlighted how internal communication can function and found that it is in a satisfactory manner in the target store. What we found especially important in our case was that employees have several well-functioning communication formats which include updated intranet, personal visits of superiors, email, telephone contact and videos. The important thing about these communication media was that they should always be available and that the information meets the criteria set by the ICC to be clear, continuous and concise. We also found these criteria were fulfilled in the store. We also found in our empirical basis factors which imply that internal communication is a factor that has a significant impact on employees' perceived sense of belonging to their organization.

This thesis presents an analysis of the potential of RFID-technology with a special focus on implementations at retailers. By analysing the RFID-roll outs of Wal-Mart and Metro the thesis outlines the necessary characteristics of a retail supply chain to successfully implement RFID. The changes in a retail supply chain as a consequence of an RFIDimplementation are summarized and a detailed comparison with the two case studies is given. It shows that Wal-Mart's and Metro's supply chain correlate to a great extent with the typology beneficial to a successful RFID-implementation. Nevertheless, a conclusion on the success or failure of the roll-outs can not be drawn yet. Future developments will very much be dependent on the widespread implementation of RFID in other companies and industries and on the acceptance by the public. (author's abstract) / Series: Schriftenreihe des Instituts für Transportwirtschaft und Logistik - Logistik

Store image research has attempted to identify factors contributing to formation of positive or negative perceptions of stores by consumers. These factors include tangible and intangible elements. Of the tangible factors, store atmosphere (including store layout and congestion level) is often identified as contributing to store image. Intangible factors influencing store image include emotional or psychological reactions that consumers have in response to various tangible store factors. One of these emotional responses is retail crowding. Retail crowding is a state of psychological stress occurring in consumers in response to perceived high density levels in stores. Crowding literature suggests that environmental cues, including layout and density level, contribute to this stress level. The overall purpose of this study was to expand on current research by incorporating the concept of retail crowding with store image research.

A questão ambiental e de higiene no trabalho é cada vez mais reconhecida e cobrada pela sociedade civil e pelos órgãos do governo em todas as suas instâncias. Alguns dos pátios de estocagem de minérios, que hoje estão a céu aberto, poderão precisar no futuro serem fechados para atender às normas ambientais cada vez mais rígidas, cobradas pela sociedade através dos órgãos ambientais de controle, que almejam que pátios de armazenamento tenham estanqueidade similar aos silos ou que haja um sistema de contenção de poeira e material particulado eficiente. Uma das saídas viáveis para esta questão é a estocagem do minério em galpões confinados, que demandam um custo de implantação mais elevado mas, que por outro lado, têm um baixo custo operacional. Nos pátios que possuírem fechamento, a iluminação passa a ser uma questão primordial, uma vez que proverá condições de funcionamento à produção, principalmente em caso de trabalho ininterrupto durante 24h. Desta forma, passam a ser consideradas, não somente as questões de segurança, como também de uma iluminação que estimule a produtividade através de um nível maior de iluminância, maior contraste, menor ofuscamento e seja confortável para as tarefas que serão realizadas no ambiente. Em áreas nas quais o material particulado é altamente combustível, tais como pátios de carvão mineral, uma iluminação adequada e segura é questão fundamental, pois se mal projetada, pode ser ignitora de incêndios, explosões e trágicos desastres acometendo trabalhadores e o ambiente de trabalho. Este trabalho é composto por uma extensiva revisão bibliográfica. A primeira parte apresenta os conceitos de iluminação; a segunda trata da higiene e segurança no trabalho, com ênfase no agente físico iluminação. A terceira parte comenta as normas nacionais e internacionais relacionadas à iluminação e analisa às suas solicitações. A quarta parte versa sobre áreas classificadas e atmosferas explosivas, procurando discriminar em linhas simples o que são áreas classificadas, quais os critérios envolvidos, os riscos de ignição de poeiras mais comuns e normas relacionadas a estas áreas. Na quinta parte comenta-se sobre a iluminação de galpões em áreas industriais, relacionando os critérios a serem utilizados para um projeto adequado. Na sexta parte o trabalho cita equipamentos de iluminação, lâmpadas e luminárias com aplicação industrial disponíveis no mercado. Por fim, apresenta-se de um estudo de caso realizado em uma empresa do interior de São Paulo que possui pátios para estocagem de carvão em pó, analisando-se os resultados através de dados obtidos no local e da medição dos níveis de iluminância, efetuada em horários alternados. Tais dados foram comparados às normas e recomendações de boas práticas para concluir sobre a adequação da iluminação do galpão e alternativas para solução dos problemas encontrados foram propostas. A conclusão a que se chega é que é possível contribuir para uma melhora significativa nas instalações que provêm iluminação em galpões de minérios, padronizando-as, fazendo uma manutenção adequada, substituindo equipamentos obsoletos e observando-se as normas, visando o aumento de produtividade, segurança e conforto dos trabalhadores. Estas ações implicam ainda em economia e um menor consumo de energia, cooperando com a sustentabilidade ambiental e atendendo a requisitos da família das normas NBR ISSO 14.000. / Environmental questions, occupational health and safety management are each time, more recognized and required by civil society and public agencies in all levels. Some of the ore stores that are opened today will need in the future to be closed to comply with stronger environmental regulations, required by society through controlling environmental agencies. Those agencies require the stores to be air tight or to have an efficient system of dust and particulate airbone. One feasible possibility for this question is the storage of the ore in closed sheds, which demand a higher cost of implementation, but on the other hand, it has a low cost of operation. In closed stores, the lighting is very important, since it provides necessary conditions for the workers productivity, particularly in the case of a continuous twenty four hour working day. Also, in addition to safety management, there are questions which should be considered, namely, an adjusted illumination that stimulates productivity, throughout higher illuminance, higher contrast, less glare and at the same time is comfortable for the tasks that will be carried through that environment. In environments in which the particulate material is highly combustible, such as coal stores, an adequate and safety illumination is an elementary question and if badly designed, can cause fires, explosions and tragic disasters that can injure people and destroy the working area. This work was composed by reference to an extensive bibliographical revision. The first part is a review of lighting concepts; the second refers to health and safety matters, security in the work place and also reference to the lighting. The third part highlights the national and international rules for lighting and analyzes it\'s requests. The fourth part deal with hazardous areas and explosive atmospheres, and explains in simple terms what are classified areas, which are the criteria involved, the risks of common different types of dusts and related regulations. The fifth part explains about lighting of industrial stores, with related criteria used in an adequate lighting design standard. In the sixth part it outlines the selection of lighting fixtures, light bulbs and lighting ancillaries used for industrial applications available in the market. A case in a company in the state of São Paulo, that possesses storage facilities of coal dust was carried out. The results were analyzed through data collected throughout the store and the measurement of the illumination realized at different times of the day. Such data was compared to rules, regulations and best practices in order to decide on lighting adequacy of the store and alternatives to solve the encountered problems were proposed. The conclusion is that it is possible to contribute to a significant improvement in the installations that provide illumination in the ore stores by, standardizing them, providing adequate maintenance, substituting obsolete equipment and observing rules and regulations. These measures increases the productivity, security and comfort of the workers. This action also results in cost savings, less energy consumption and ensures cooperation with environmental sustainability and complies with the requirements of NBR ISO 14.000 series.