published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

The growth of the Small Medium and Micro Enterprise (SMMEs) has been phenomenal in the last 17 years since the advent of democracy in South Africa. Turbulant economic conditions have also led more people to seek opportunities for survival by participating in the economy as small entrepreneurs. Small entrepreneurs in townships lack sophistication to understand new development trends in business such as the emergence of shopping malls in townships, bringing along major national and international retailers. The study aims to determine the effects of the emergence of shopping malls on SMMEs in eThekwini; a case study of Umlazi. The Umlazi Mega City Mall is used as a point of reference. The challenges faced by small business owners after the emergence of Umlazi Mega City will be explored in detail in this study. A probability sample of 120 small businesses falling under the SMME sector were identified based on a population of approximately 500 SMMEs operating in and around Umlazi. It is important to highlight that from the above sample, 100 completed the questionnaire which was used for data analysis. Quantitative research method was used and a questionnaire with a total of 25 closed questions was used to collect data directly from participants. The questionnaire was distributed directly to respondents and that proved to be very effective but time consuming. The presentation of results has been covered using graphs, tables and statistical percentages. The analysis is accompanied by the researcher‟s interpretation and remarks to explain the salient features discovered in the findings. The respondents in this study ranged from street hawkers, chicken stalls, shoe repairs, butcheries and supermarket owners. The findings revealed that the majority of participants indicated a decrease in turnover after the emergence of Umlazi Mega City. One of the recommendations put forward was that, new developments of shopping malls should create an empowerment venture of not less than 10% that would be owned by a consortium of SMMEs. This arrangement has a potential to build loyalty of SMME tenants if they become part of that mall, and at the same time, remove resentment. The definition of the sizes “small business” and “medium business” will be covered during the course of the research. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Muito se tem estudado a respeito dos aspectos econômicos e mercadológicos dos Shopping Centers, focando-se essencialmente na relação destes empreendimentos com os consumidores finais. Este trabalho pretendeu abordar esta questão sob a ótica do lojista que se instala em um shopping center. E não exatamente um lojista qualquer, mas o pequeno lojista, ou o lojista satélite, como são chamados estes comerciantes nos empreendimentos. Através da hipótese de que por menor que seja o empreendimento comercial, sempre existirão critérios objetivos de escolha de ponto, procurou-se aqui sistematizar esses critérios, através de uma abordagem teórica que pudesse dar sustentação conceitual ao processo de escolha. Dentre as conclusões do trabalho, verificou-se que apesar de nem sempre aparente, o lojista tem uma clara percepção das características do ponto, embora às vezes tenha que optar por aquele ponto onde sua restrição de orçamento assim o permita. / Many researchers have studied economic and merchandising issues regarding shopping centers, focusing essentially on the relationship between the entrepreneurs and the consumers. This work is intended to provide a different approach, focusing on the relationship from the shopper-owner viewpoint, with an emphasis on small businesses. Based upon the hypothesis that even in the smallest commercial business, everyone should develop some technical criteria to assist in choosing their sites, the author tried to organize these methods, using a theoretical approach in order to support the site study process. Among the conclusions, it was verified that even when the owner cannot use the concepts to choose a site in a shopping center (e.g., because of a restricted budget), he/she has a clear idea about the quality and characteristics of the site locations.

The consumption society is expanding with stores and shopping malls which require that a store as well as a mall distinguish from the great mass. Today's consumption society is a difficult marketplace for companies to reach out to their consumers. In this master thesis it has been investigated how shopping malls can create competitive advantages in a saturated market. It has also been researched how the similarity of the stores in shopping malls affect the future development of the concept in itself. The research has been carried out through a qualitative research method and a case study of three different shopping malls in Stockholm, Sweden: Brunogallerian, Forum Nacka and Vällingby City. Four respondents have been interviewed from each shopping mall. The investigation has also been supplemented by a online consumer survey of 105 people. There has been used a theoretical framework based on relationship marketing, branding strategies, experience- and sensory marketing. Throughout the thesis it has consistently been used four fields of knowledge with the aim of facilitate the common thread throughout the thesis. The four fields are: Shopping malls on the Swedish market, Image and branding of shopping malls, Creating relationships with the consumers and Shopping as an experience. Furthermore, it has been presented the empirical results of the interviews and the consumer survey according to the previously mentioned fields. The result of the interviews and the theoretical findings has been analyzed and further on been discussed with the purpose of discover own theories and results. In conclusion, it has been stated that it is of great importance to offer the consumer added value and niche the profile and the retail mix of the shopping mall in a unique way. It is also essential to get to know its target group by creating events and activities that address the certain target. The similarity of the stores in the malls is profitable and the great mass of consumers demand for the large retail chains. In the future there can be a major development of more niche stores in the large shopping malls, with the aim of attract a broader as well as a more definite target group. / Program: Magisterutbildning i fashion management med inriktning modemarknadsföring

This thesis sets out to evaluate the role of consumer spaces in twentieth-century daily life. It is not concerned with the act of consumption but rather with the ways in which the social, cultural and educative role of the retail spaces is used as a marketing tool. The links that have been established between civic and commercial space over the last three hundred years are charted in order to locate the reasoning behind the growing tendency to design shopping malls as social and cultural spaces in the twentieth century. Three principal benefits to developers of the retails spaces from the promotion of consumer spaces as public spaces are identified in the thesis. First, links between the public and commercial developed to encourage potential customers into a particular retail space as opposed to its competition. Second, consumer spaces are developed as social and leisure spaces to encourage consumer loyalty. That is, they are developed as a means of encouraging repeat visits. Third, they are developed as a tactic to keep potential shoppers in the retail space for a longer duration. The logic behind this strategy being the more time spent in a consumer space the more goods purchased. The origins of this merchandising practice are traced back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries well before the advent of the department store form. The thesis located a number of strategies developed in the seventeenth century by tradesmen and merchants to sell their wares. At this time, it is evident that the consumer space was opened up to the public who were encouraged to enter without the obligation to purchase. Further, it is evident that, by the eighteenth century, shopkeepers and manufacturers' workshops included showrooms where potential customers could sit and take tea. Public spaces were also designed within the retail space so that potential customers could see and be seen. British shopkeepers often linked the retail space with the social practice of promenading by strategically situating their premises in an already established thoroughfare or site used for promenading. By the late eighteenth century, consumer spaces housed entertainment facilities such as art galleries, exhibitions and lounging rooms. After tracing the development of this merchandising strategy to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the links that can be made between twentieth-century consumer spaces is examined. In addition, the early developments of shopping centres in the 1940s and 1950s are surveyed and their developmental logic and merchandising strategies are compared with more recent forms of shopping malls developed from the 1970s and 1980s.

<p>The market for vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicles, VTOL UAVs, is growing rapidly. To reciprocate the demand of VTOL UAVs in offshore applications, CybAero has developed a novel concept for landing on moving objects called MALLS, Mobile Automatic Launch and Landing Station. MALLS can tilt its helipad and is supposed to align to either the horizontal plane with an operator adjusted offset or to the helicopter skids. Doing so, eliminates the gyroscopic forces otherwise induced in the rotordisc as the helicopter is forced to change attitude when the skids align to the ground during landing or when standing on a jolting boat with the rotor spun up. This master’s thesis project is an attempt to get the concept of MALLS closer to a quarter scale implementation. The main focus lies on the development of the measurement methods for achieving the references needed by MALLS, the hori- zontal plane and the plane of the helicopter skids. The control of MALLS is also discussed. The measurement methods developed have been proved by tested implementations or simulations. The theories behind them contain among other things signal filtering, Kalman filtering, sensor fusion and search algorithms. The project have led to that the MALLS prototype can align its helipad to the horizontal plane and that a method for measuring the relative attitude between the helipad and the helicopter skids have been developed. Also suggestions for future improvements are presented.</p>

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