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This thesis describes connections between gamification theory, motivation theory, and economic performance, while also covering how managers can motivate employees. Having motivated employees has a lot of benefits, for example positive effects on the companies' financial results. Employee motivation can have an impact on economic performance in an organisation through productivity, effectiveness, and profitability. Gamification, that is the use of game design elements in non-game contexts, is used by different organisations and in different contexts. The purpose of the study is to create a better understanding of the impact gamification can have on the motivation of employees in Swedish retail stores and what effects it in turn has on the companies' financial results. The focus will be on how store managers experience it. The thesis is intended to contribute with increased information and knowledge about what gamification is, how gamification can be used and what effects gamification can have on employee motivation and for companies' financial results. The theoretical framework and the empirical findings show that gamification has a positive impact on the motivation of retail employees. The increase in motivation may have a positive affect on employee effectiveness and productivity. Furthermore, increased employee effectiveness may increase the profitability of an organisation.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The change in Greater Boston's retail structure are measured by comparing the 1960-1961 store patterns and their internal features with those which existed in 1946-1947. The foundation for the comparison is provided by Kenneth W. Walters' doctoral dissertation, "The Secondary Shopping Centers of Metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts," Department of Sociology, Syracuse University, 1949. Over 36,000 stores in Boston and the thirty-nine cities and towns forming the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) City Zone were field mapped in 1960-1961. Then these stores, and those in the BC inventoried by Walters, were classified according to a system devised to reflect their "retail strength." "Retail strength" is a measure of the importance, desirability, and stability of each association of stores. The purpose of the classification is to understand the functional differences which occur within the same Shopping District, and the differences which occur between different Districts. Classification is also necessary to understand the type of change which has taken place over the comparative period in any given District. By examining changes which have taken place in man's relationship to his environment many of the changes in the methods of retailing are more easily understood. The Planned Shopping Center and the Self-Service Department Store in particular are notable additions to the retail structure. These modern facilities have had profound repercussions upon the older conventional Shopping Districts. Other changes are attributable to the changing role of the isolated store and the changing role of the chain store. New methods of merchandising, especially self-service, have affected store size and shape. In general, new units are larger than their predecessors. The older stores have adapted to the new space requirements by consolidating several older units. Maps and cartograms, or conventionalized maps, are the principal method used to describe and compare the areal distribution of shopping facilities. The Boston's maps of Metropolitan Boston, showing the location of retail facilities by means of graduated symbols, are used directly in the analysis of change. The Boston Globe's maps are also used to construct maps of the pattern of streets devoted to retailing in 1946-1947 and 1960-1961. Simultaneous examination of both sets of maps in overlay enables comparison of the location of each Shopping District within the study area to the location of all other shopping areas, population distribution, and road networks. The size, form (relationship of store location to street grid), and the continuity or discontinuity of store distribution within the District are recorded on the Cartograms. Other internal features taken into consideration are store associations (the number and type of retail units) and store size. The Cartograms show the following physical characteristics of each District - The 1946-1947 Retail Structure, Demolitions and Conversions to Non-Retail Use, New Construction and Conversion to Retail Use, Internal Change (Consolidation and Division of Stores), and The 1960-1961 Retail Structure. The Cartogram Dot Distribution Series shows the location of vacancies and selected types of stores in each District for both comparative periods. They also designate which stores were engaged in the specified type of retailing during both periods. The relative differences of stability in drug, food, appliance and department stores are assessed in greater detail, and tabular summaries of these changes are presented and interpreted. In addition, a comparative analysis of selected Shopping Districts is presented to clarify the relationship among the changes associated with shopping area patterns, the internal morphology of Shopping Districts, and the individual store features. The retail structure in Greater Boston is compared to the theoretical or idealized spatial pattern suggested by Walter Christaller's central place theory. The comparison discloses no accordance of pattern with this theoretical distribution. / 2999-01-01

Thesis (D.B.A.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This dissertation explores the design of delivery systems in a national probability sample of American retail banks. For the purposes of this study, the delivery system is defined as the aggregate of delivery channels through which a retail bank delivers its services. / 2999-01-01

Yes / Supermarkets, with vast product ranges and relatively low prices, are an established solution to problems of availability of healthy foodstuffs in areas of limited retail access. However, where they may indeed raise consumption of desirable goods they also open up new opportunities to buy less healthful items for less, a situation which potentially undermines their ability to improve diet. Using under-reported diary data from the Seacroft Intervention Study in the United Kingdom takes this paper beyond the extant fruit and vegetable focus, giving it scope to explore the full effect of supermarkets. Quantile regressions show existing behaviours are reinforced, and intervention stores may do little to improve diet. Switching to Tesco Seacroft is shown to increase the portions of unhealthy food consumed by almost 1 portion per day for the least healthy. Managing demand through promoting balanced diets and restricting offers on unhealthy items will be more effective than intervention, and is an essential accompaniment to new large format retailers if they are not to entrench dietary inequality further. Policymakers and practitioners alike should avoided being distracted by aggregate conclusions if food deserts are to be truly tackled.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has historically collected retail meat prices from various supermarkets to use in its calculation of the Consumer Price Index. The Economic Research Service (ERS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is responsible for reporting retail meat prices, which it acquires from the BLS. The Mandatory Price Reporting legislation of 1999 mandated that the ERS develop and report a more extensive set of retail meat prices. The legislative initiative of 1999 came about due to the absence of prices for some species and classes of meat as well as the growing and pervasive belief that BLS price series were incorrect, inaccurate, or were at the very least not accounting for the large volume of meat sales at special and/or discounted prices. The main purpose of this thesis project was to identify some of the major data shortcomings of the current retail meat price series that should be addressed in the restructuring of a new price reporting system. A survey was administered to retail meat price users to establish which shortcomings in the historical retail meat price series they consider to be the most significant. The other aspect of this study was concerned with analyzing weekly retail scanner meat price data for five beef cuts to establish the impact of quantity-weighting on the mean and variance of the retail meat price series, as well as the own-price elasticity parameter. / Master of Science