PayPal has faced many different challenges over the years. In the beginning of their journey the biggest challenge of PayPal was the overall ignorance to prevent fraudulent activities and to provide high safety systems. By solving this, PayPal has changed and improved the opportunities of secure online purchases. During couple of years new mobile payment services have developed around the world. They are quick, safe and simple. Especially in the market of peer-to-peer PayPal will meet more competition in the future. Another big challenge of PayPal will be if more online retailers follow Amazon.com´s example and start using their own payment options and by this isolate PayPal as a payment option.

PayPal has faced many different challenges over the years. In the beginning of their journey the biggest challenge of PayPal was the overall ignorance to prevent fraudulent activities and to provide high safety systems. By solving this, PayPal has changed and improved the opportunities of secure online purchases. During couple of years new mobile payment services have developed around the world. They are quick, safe and simple. Especially in the market of peer-to-peer PayPal will meet more competition in the future. Another big challenge of PayPal will be if more online retailers follow Amazon.com´s example and start using their own payment options and by this isolate PayPal as a payment option.

El objetivo de esta investigación es mejorar la gestión de las compras de los servicios de fabricación implementando el programa de mantenimiento productivo.de la empresa Fábrica Peruana Eternit S.A., donde se identificó un elevado gasto en estos últimos años. The objective of this research is to improve the management of purchases of manufacturing services by implementing the program of productive maintenance of the company Fábrica Peruana Eternit S.A., where a high expenditure was identified in recent years.

PayPal is the leader in the field of online payment platform. Their ability to prevent fraudulent activities and PayPal´s high safety is the main reason for its success. PayPal is mostly used in costumer to costumer market but their business market users are also rising. Users are secured with a buy and sell insurance when they use PayPal services. If someone has purchased something online that then are not delivered, or that deviates markedly from the seller's description, PayPal can reimburse the full amount of the goods. Other services such as transferring money between friends are also possible. PayPal´s buy and sell insurance is what online purchasers’ value the most when they are shopping online and PayPal is at the forefront of this. If this type of insurances that PayPal provides would not exist people would purchase online less than they do today. PayPal has revolutionized and ameliorate the entire online purchase market for everyone with their safe payment platform.

Experiential purchases represent a unique, and exceedingly popular, type of marketing behavior. The current research looks to explore and empirically uncover the dimensions that form, and outputs the stem from, high quality experiential purchases through inductive, qualitative analysis ultimately leading to quantitative testing of an original empirical model. Three studies are presented. In Study 1, depth interviews are conducted and emerging themes are coded using an established grounded theory design. In Study 2, a critical incident survey, constructed from the insight uncovered in Study 1, is administered, analyzed and coded. Finally, in Study 3, an empirical model of experiential purchase quality (EPQ), driven by Study 1 and 2, is assembled and hypotheses, guided by self-enhancement theory are constructed. The model is then tested across three different experiential time horizons. In addition, a multi-group analysis is performed in order to examine differences in structural relationships across the time horizons. This research offers insight into the value sources of experiential purchase quality and the outcomes that stem from these unique types of purchases. Dimensions of experiential purchase quality are identified and empirically examined. It is also determined that while social congruence with others adds to experiential quality in longer experiences, it is not a significant dimension of experiential quality in shorter experiences. The impact of servicescape quality on experiential purchase quality is at its highest in two-to-three day experiences, suggesting that high quality servicescape management may have limited returns for longer experiences. In terms of experiential outputs, self-attachment in high-quality experiential purchases drives the behavior stemming from these purchases. One of the most enlightening findings revealed through this research is the strong relationship between experiential purchase quality and nostalgic memories of the experience, and how that nostalgia drives behaviors beneficial to the experiential firm. Finally, fantasizing about the experience in the future is seen as a complex construct that drives positive outcomes for the firm, but is itself negatively impacted by experiential purchase quality. Managers of experiential firms may be able to operationalize this self-attachment through promotional efforts directed at customer engagement and by focusing on the customer’s nostalgia toward the experience.

Bostäder har alltid varit ett behov för människan och det har blivit allt viktigare med bostäder för samhällets funktion. Det är väldigt svårt för värderaren att få fram ett helt felfritt utgångspris för försäljning av bostaden då de värderar bostaden. Det krävs bra förståelse för marknaden, dess preferenser och själva bostaden för att värdera en bostad så korrekt som möjligt. Målet med studien är att upptäcka vilka faktorer som anses vara mer eller mindre väsentliga när det gäller att fastställa ett bostadsvärde för en köpare, samt att kunna klargöra varför just dessa faktorer är så avgörande. Metoden som valdes för denna undersökning blev en litteraturstudie eftersom det redan finns mycket skrivet inom området. För att få de bästa svaren på både forskningsfrågorna samt syftet blev det tydligt att en litteraturstudie skulle vara den lämpligaste metoden för denna undersökning. Resultatet i studien visar bland annat att faktorer som till exempel läge, storlek, pris på bostaden spelar stor roll för många potentiella köpare och att betalningsviljan för faktorerna betyder olika mycket beroende på vem köparen är och hurdan dess preferenser är. Denna studie undersöker faktorer som berör potentiella köpare från de utvalda nordiska länderna, Sverige, Danmark, Norge och Finland. Men mest undersöktes faktorer för den potentiella köparen från Sverige. Det hittades inte mycket olikheter på faktorerna mellan länderna utan mest likheter. Studien kom fram till ytterligare värdepåverkande faktorer, som bland annat bostadsrättsföreningens ekonomi, tryggheten i området och hur det subjektiva värdet påverkar den potentiella köparen. En känsla av välbefinnande måste finnas i bostaden, enligt det subjektiva värdet. Det finns inget värde för den enskilda köparen om det inte finns något subjektivt värde. / Housing has always been a human need and has become increasingly important for the functioning of society. It is very difficult for the valuer to get a completely error-free selling price for the sale of the home when valuing it. It takes a good understanding of the market, its preferences, and the home itself to value a home as accurately as possible. The aim of this study is to discover which factors are considered important in determining the value of a home for a buyer and to be able to clarify why these particular factors are so crucial. The chosen method for this study was a literature review because there was a great deal written in this area before and to get the best answers to both the research questions and the purpose, it became clear that a literature review would be the most appropriate method for this study. The results of the study show that factors such as location, size, price of the home play a major role for many potential buyers and that the willingness to pay for the factors matters differently depending on who the buyer is and what their preferences are. This study investigated the factors affecting potential buyers from the Nordic region countries, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. But mostly the factors for potential buyers from Sweden were investigated. Not many differences were found in the factors between the countries but mostly similarities. The study found additional value drivers, such as whether the home is environmentally friendly, the economics of the housing association, the safety of the area and the subjective value. A sense of well-being must be present in the home, according to the subjective value. There is no value for the individual buyer if there is no subjective value.

[pt] A área de compras, recentemente, sofreu um grande avanço em termos de pesquisa dentro do mundo acadêmico, com o crescimento significativo do número de publicações referentes ao tema. No contexto empresarial, compras deixou de ter apenas uma motivação operacional, assumindo, agora, uma importância estratégica. Como conseqüência, muitas empresas vêm desenvolvendo a sua área de compras, o que acontece também na Petrobras. O objetivo dessa dissertação é o de analisar o processo atual de compras dessa empresa para itens não estratégicos, com foco na Rlam (Refinaria Landulfo Alves). Nesse sentido, foram aplicados 18 questionários em entrevistas estruturadas com funcionários envolvidos com o processo de compras da Rlam. Como resultado, verificou-se uma aderência entre o planejamento de compras na empresa e a literatura acadêmica, porém a execução e a operação do que foi planejado necessitam de melhorias, pois estão, em alguns aspectos, atuando sob antigos paradigmas. Nesse sentido, a presente dissertação contribui com propostas. / [en] The purchasing area, recently, has passed through a great improvement in terms of research in the academic world, in which publications about this subject have increased significantly in the last years. In the business context, purchasing assumed a strategic importance, being now not just restricted to an operational motivation. As consequence, many companies have been developing their purchasing area, as has been happening also at Petrobras. The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the current purchasing process for non-strategic materials in this company, specifically in Rlam (Landulfo Alves Refinery). In order to do this, eighteen questionnaires were applied in structured interviews with employees who are involved with Rlam purchasing process. As a result of the study, it could be concluded there is adherence between the purchasing plan and the academic literature, however the execution and operation of the plan need some improvement because they are, in some points, acting based on old paradigms. Reasoning this context, this dissertation contributes in offering improvement proposals.

[pt] A necessidade de adequação aos sistemas just-in-time (JIT) e de outras formas de organização da produção levou muitas empresas a efetuarem modificações importantes na sua estrutura, entre elas a análise de suas cadeias de suprimento. Dentro deste contexto, o Procurement ou Compras passaram a ter papel primordial na alavancagem de lucros de uma empresa. Em média, as empresas gastam 50% de sua renda proveniente das vendas com compra de matérias-primas, componentes e suprimentos. Em função disto, a função Compras é vista como parte do processo de logística das empresas, ou seja, como parte integrante da cadeia de suprimentos. Esta importância fez surgir o modelo de Strategic Sourcing que passa por um estudo profundo das categorias de produtos e do mercado fornecedor, resultando - além da melhoria dos processos, com a racionalização do consumo - em novas especificações que ampliam a padronização dos itens de um mesmo produto para diversas unidades de um negócio. Inicialmente será analisada a função Compras e sua inserção na cadeia de suprimento e apresentada a fundamentação teórica do modelo de Strategic Sourcing. A seguir serão descritas as etapas de implementação do modelo na PETROBRAS e os resultados obtidos. Por fim será efetuada a validação dos resultados nas dimensões: redução do custo da cadeia de suprimento, melhoria no nível de serviço, redução da descontinuidade de suprimento e priorização de materiais e produtos. Esta validação procura verificar a aderência do modelo aplicado às premissas estabelecidas pela PETROBRAS. / [en] The need for compliance to just in time (JIT) systems and other forms of production organization has caused many companies to make important changes in their structure, among them the analysis of the supply chain. Within this context, the procurement or purchasing begins to take on a principal role in the leverage of a company´s profit. On the average, companies spend 50% of their income from sales on the purchases of raw materials, components and suppliers. Due to this, the purchasing function is seen as part of a company´s logistics process, that is, as a part of the supply chain. The importance of the above has brought about the Strategic sourcing model which has undergone a profound study of products and supply market categories, resulting - besides an improvement in the processes, with the rationalization of consumption - in new specifications which increase the standardization of items of the same product for diverse units of a business. Initially, the purchasing function as its insertion in the supply chain will be analysed and the theoretical formulation of the Strategic Sourcing model will be presented. Later on the implementation stages of the PETROBRAS model and the results obtained will be described. Finally, the validation of the results will be carried out in the following dimensions: cost reduction in the supply chain, improvement in the level of service, supply discontinuation reduction and materials and products prioritization. This validation attempts to verify the adherence of the model applied to the assumptiores established by PETROBRAS.

Information sources used by homeowners in their purchase of major appliances were compared with the home-owner's occupation, education, and income. The sample consisted of 60 Logan City homeowners who had purchased a major appliance within the past 5 years. The respondents completed a questionnaire consisting of: 1) personal background information and 2) questions concerning their major appliance purchases. By testing with the adjusted chi square test, if was found that of the 3 consumer variables: education, income, and occupation, education was relatively significant (.175), and occupation was very significant (.074) in determining the type of information sources a homeowner used.

Health motivation is found to be a significant driver of local foods purchase (Maples et al., 2013; Onozaka, Nurse, and McFadden, 2010), yet it remains unclear what specific health aspects determine consumer purchase decisions. We study the specific health factors focusing on six particular diseases: cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, back/joint pain and Alzheimer’s/dementia to find out whether a relationship exists between disease incidences and consumer decisions to buy local foods. We examine two separate decisions of whether and how frequently southeastern consumers buy local foods in a two-step decision framework known as Double Hurdle model. Results indicate that cancer, diabetes, obesity and back/joint pain are statistically significant to purchase foods at farm stands. Findings might help local food sellers and product marketers in the southeastern United States to gain a deeper understanding of how consumers’ health background and health concerns affect their choice of local food outlets.