Based on the insight that the type of product an economy exports can have important implications for its economic performance and that goods exported predominantly by rich countries will have different characteristics from those exported by poor countries, Lall et al (2006) put forward a novel means of classifying commodities based on the income levels of a product¿s main exporters. At around the same time Hausmann et al (2006) following a similar approach put forward a slightly different form of product classification and Rodrik (2006) applied this specifically to an analysis of China. This paper highlights the difference between the approaches and its implications for the analysis of China, which appears less `special¿ using the approach of Lall et al.

Purpose - The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate the possibilities to extend or change the base of IKEA’s SL classification and give recommendations concerning potential improvements.  Method - This thesis has an inductive research strategy since data has been collected to build theory rather than the other way around (Bryman and Bell, 2007). The data has been collected by qualitative research, mainly through interviews with employees at the different IKEA organisations. Empirics - The empirical data gathered describes the service level in practice at IKEA. In order to get an overview of the conflicting interests in the different functions, the chapter is divided into four themes; how IKEA works with SL, the purpose of SL, customer service and suggestion to the design of the SL classification. Theory - The theory has been based on our empirical findings in order to find the best solution for IKEA. The theory includes different classification models, the relationship between customer service and SL and is finished with a section on how to measure availability. Conclusions - The conclusion that could be drawn was that the purpose of the classification was not perceived in the same way within the company and that both internal and external information is needed. A new model is presented that takes into account the different products, buying situations, and customer reactions on OOS, which are important parameters for consumer perception of availability and customer service. By using this model IKEA will be able to fulfil the two, sometimes conflicting purposes; to secure the sales and increase customer satisfaction.

Nowadays firms must develop inventory policies that enable them to cope with the changing marketplace. Determining proper inventory locations can help decrease costs related to inventory holding and transportation. Moreover, this allows firms to respond in a timely manner to customers’ requirements. As a result profit margins can be enhanced as well as the competitiveness of a firm. However, the decision of where to locate inventory in a supply chain is difficult since many companies are managed independently. The present research is developed as a case study where product classification, customer and supplier segmentation schemes are reviewed in order to determine appropriate inventory locations along the supply chain. The thesis is written upon literature and empirical research, where most of the data was collected through personal interviews and observations at the supply chain management offices of a distributor for sealing material parts in Europe. Our conclusion shows that product classification has an important impact on inventory location decisions. Also, we conclude that products should be classified based on both physical characteristics and demand factors, as well as according to customers’ requirements. Another factor to be considered when deciding on inventory location is supply risks, due to issues related to raw material availability and capacity. Nonetheless, the selection of classification variables is challenging as it is hard to determine which factors are more relevant than others as this varies depending on each firms’ needs. In addition, we find that supply chain strategies are not realistic due to the constant changes in the business environment and the inability of a firm to manage whole supply chains. Furthermore, a high level of communication among supply chain partners is fundamental, especially when a centralized inventory policy and a postponement strategy are in place.

No description available.

No description available.

The aim of this study is to examine whether the 2018 U.S. steel tariffs have negatively impacted Swedish steel exports to the U.S, given that the U.S. is Swedish steel industry’s second most important foreign market and the majority of Swedish steel exports to the U.S. are subject to the tariffs. The theoretical foundation for this study is the standard trade model, which predicts a decline in quantity traded due to tariffs. With monthly export value data for January 2015 to January 2020, the synthetic control method (SCM) is used to create a counterfactual to the steel products subject to tariffs. The study encountered several data limitations which complicated the use of the SCM, but the overall results suggest that in the absence of tariffs, Swedish monthly export value for steel to the U.S. would have higher than it has been with the tariffs.

近年來，透過社群媒體向消費者宣傳商品與理念的旅遊服務供應商日益增多，但卻有不少企業苦於衡量其中的效果。雖然文獻已提出社群媒體的行銷機會與發展性，然而實際對商品銷售進行分析的文獻仍有限，因此本研究試圖驗證社群媒體行銷活動是否會正向影響旅遊商品的銷售。此外考量到不同的商品特質可能會對媒體行銷效果帶來不同程度的影響，因此本研究將藉由以下五種旅遊商品特性，包括旅遊結構、旅客參與度、旅遊範圍、商品價格與天數，來探討社群媒體行銷與商品銷售的關係。 本研究將一間國內知名旅行社於2012至2013年期間在Facebook粉絲專頁上所行銷過的相關商品作為實驗組，並找出同時期販售但未在Facebook上行銷的類似商品作為控制組，進行差異中之差異法(Difference in Difference)，以探討在Facebook行銷前後，實驗組與對照組商品銷售的差異。研究結果顯示Facebook行銷活動對旅遊商品的購買有正向影響，此外透過社群媒體宣傳較低結構的旅遊、較為放鬆的行程、範圍較小的目的地或相對低價的商品更有機會提升銷售，而天數為唯一無法調節Facebook行銷活動與銷售關係之商品特性。 / A growing number of tourism industry suppliers are using social media to promote their services and reach target customers despite some doubt regarding the effectiveness of these tools. Nevertheless, few researchers have examined the effects of social media marketing, and especially its effects on sales. Therefore, our study aims to assess the impact of social media on the purchase of tourism products. Additionally, to explore whether the influence of social media marketing changes among different types of tourism products, we develop a typology of tourism products that classifies tourism along the following five dimensions: (1) the structure of tourism, (2) the involvement of tourists, (3) the scope of tourism, (4) the price of products, and (5) the length of a tour. All tours with Facebook campaigns conducted by our case company from February 1, 2012 to November 30, 2013 are selected as our target tourism products. Moreover, we choose certain products without Facebook campaigns that were available for purchase during the same time period as a control group. We obtain the sales data from the case company and calculate the sales of each product before and after the Facebook campaigns. We then apply a difference-in-difference approach, comparing the average changes in sales performance of the treatment group with those of the control group. The results show that Facebook campaign activities have a positive impact on purchases of tourism products. Furthermore, sales are more likely to increase when a travel agency promotes products that are less structured, limited in scope, relatively lower-priced, or require less tourist involvement.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-04-26T16:40:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Jayme Diego Silva Peixoto_.pdf: 3682873 bytes, checksum: e3f3b08ba12067f318cd31d90d3ae999 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-26T16:40:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jayme Diego Silva Peixoto_.pdf: 3682873 bytes, checksum: e3f3b08ba12067f318cd31d90d3ae999 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-26 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A Gestão de Portfólio de Produtos tem atraído de maneira crescente o interesse de empresas e pesquisadores. Os esforços de pesquisa, por meio de evidências empíricas, indicam a necessidade de ampliação da aplicação de métodos formais para a Gestão de Portfólio de Produtos nas empresas. No entanto, são escassos os estudos na literatura que tratam de métodos direcionados à Revisão do Portfólio de Produtos. Pode-se observar nas publicações atuais, que questões conceituais e terminológicas acerca da Gestão de Portfólio de Produtos requerem atenção de pesquisadores. Portanto, é necessário identificar nos métodos para a Gestão de Portfólio de Produtos oportunidades para melhorar os resultados nas empresas. Para o desenvolvimento desta pesquisa utilizou-se a Design Science Research como abordagem metodológica. Este trabalho propõe um método financeiro de Revisão do Portfólio de Produtos, denominado Financial Method for the Product Portfolio Review, FMPPR, como parte integrante da Gestão de Portfólio de Produtos. Na elaboração do método proposto, foram avaliadas as relações da revisão do Portfólio de Produtos com a operação da empresa, com mercado consumidor e com o Processo de Desenvolvimento de Produtos. Finalmente, o método proposto foi aplicado em um ambiente empresarial para verificação de sua funcionalidade. Os resultados foram submetidos à análise de um grupo focal, que validou os avanços realizados propondo ajustes para a geração do artefato final desta dissertação. / Product Portfolio Management has increasingly attracted the interest of companies and researchers. The research efforts, through empirical evidence, indicate the need to extend the application of formal methods for the Product Portfolio Management in companies. However, there are scarce studies in the literature about methods directed to Product Portfolio Review. It can be observed in current publications that conceptual and terminological questions about Product Portfolio Management require the attention of researchers. Therefore, it is necessary to identify in the methods for the Product Portfolio Management opportunities to improve the results of the companies. For the development of this research, Design Science Research was used as a methodological approach. This project proposes a Financial Method for the Product Portfolio Review, called FMPPR as an integral part of Product Portfolio Management. In the elaboration of the proposed method, the relations between the Product Portfolio Review, the operation of the company, the consumer market and the Product Development Process were evaluated. Finally, the proposed method was applied in an enterprise environment to verify its functionality. The results were submitted to the analysis of a focal group, which validated the advances made proposing adjustments for the generation of the final artifact of this dissertation.

The exceeding supply over demand and very hard competitive conditions are nowadays the main features of the majority of sectors. A successful company is the one that is able to satisfy specific customers' needs, the one that has efficient cooperation with its suppliers throughout the whole supply chain and also the one that is able to speed up the in-house information exchange. Thus the company has to seek constantly new and innovative solutions. This is not possible without standardization and automatization of business processes. This master's thesis is dedicated to one of the possible solutions -- the Product Information Management (PIM). Since it is intended for business managers (without deep IT knowledge), at the beginning it answers the question why it is so important to know master data and to manage it. It specializes in managing product data, brings its comprehensive overview and identifies the advantages and drawbacks of the implementation as well as financial and organizational impacts. The consecutive chapter deals with simplified yet applicable approach to data management analysis (with emphasis on the PIM) and based on research, it mentions main mistakes of the implementation. In addition to the overview of main vendors of the PIM solution, it presents the latest trends in the PIM. Besides internal data synchronization, the thesis analyses several product standards -- the fundamental step towards external data synchronization, the key topic of the practical part. The whole thesis is conceived to provide an organization with a simple yet compact and therefore very effective tool for master product data insight and thus to help it to gain a competitive advantage.

Le génie tissulaire est un domaine interdisciplinaire qui applique les principes du génie et des sciences de la vie (notamment la science des cellules souches) dans le but de régénérer et réparer les tissus et organes lésés. En d'autres mots, plutôt que de remplacer les tissus et les organes, on les répare. La recherche en génie tissulaire est considérable et les ambitions sont grandes, notamment celle de mettre fm aux listes d'attente de dons d'organes. Le génie tissulaire a déjà commencé à livrer des produits thérapeutiques pour des applications simples, notamment la peau et le cartilage. Les questions sur la façon de réglementer les produits thérapeutiques qui sont issus du génie tissulaire sont soulevées à chaque nouveau produit. À ce jour, ces questions ont reçu peu d'attention comparativement aux questions éthiques associées aux recherches avec les cellules souches et les risques qu'engendrent les produits biologiques. Il est donc important d'examiner si le cadre normatif qui entoure la mise en marché des produits issus du génie tissulaire est approprié puisque de tels produits sont déjà disponibles sur le marché et plusieurs autres sont en voie de l'être. Notre analyse révèle que le cadre canadien actuel n'est pas approprié et le moment d'une reforme est arrivé. Les États-Unis et l'Union européenne ont chacun des approches particulières qui sont instructives. Nous avons entrepris une revue des textes réglementaires qui encadrent la mise en marché des produits issus du génie tissulaire au Canada, aux États-Unis et dans l'Union européenne et formulons quelques suggestions de réforme. / Tissue engineering is an interdisciplinary field that applies the principles of engineering and the life sciences (including the science of stem cells) toward the development of biological substitutes that restore, maintain or improve tissue function. In other words, rather than being replaced, tissues and organs are repaired. Research in tissue engineering is important and ambitions are high, such as ending the waiting list for organ transplant. Tissue engineering has already started delivering therapeutic products for simple applications such as skin and cartilage. Questions on the way tissue engineered therapeutic products are regulated are raised with each new product. Until now, these questions have been given little attention compared to the ethical issues related to stem cell research and to the risks generated by biologics. It is therefore important to examine whether the regulatory framework is suitable since some tissue engineered products are already available on the market and others are soon to be marketed. Our analysis reveals that the Canadian regulatory framework is not suitable and the time is ripe for reform. The United States and the European Union have their own approaches that are instructive. We have undertaken a study of the regulatory premarket approval frameworks in Canada, United States and the European Union, and formulated suggestions for reform.