Thesis (M.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. / 2031-01-01

Thesis (M.M. (Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2014. / Could not copy Abstract

The concept of sustainable consumption is today an important area, due to the fact that humans of the world consume goods and services on a regular basis which contributes towards environmental change and deprivation of both renewable as well as nonrenewable resources. One of the areas that this concept can be applied within is the retail apparel industry. The consumption of clothing is an influential cause of the ongoing environmental alteration and the unsustainable consumption of textile and apparel is becoming an increasingly important phenomena. This study investigates how the retail apparel industry in Shanghai perceive consumers behavior towards sustainable consumption. The Chinese middle class is anticipated to increase a certain percentage the upcoming years. As a result it will lead to a heave in the consumption of all resources which will leave a considerable environmental impact. Sweden is considered to be one of the leading countries when it comes to sustainable living. In order to follow Sweden path of success in sustainable consumption a review has been conducted regarding important drivers which Sweden has adapted in order to improve attitudes towards sustainable consumption. These drivers are then later on compared to Shanghai’s current situation to see if they can be used to achieve the same result in Shanghai as they did in Sweden.The primary data consists of semi-structured interviews which have been conducted in Shanghai with established recycling retailers and Nordic retail vendors with a strong base in Sweden that have managed to establish their brand in China. The research findings that were concluded in the theoretical framework and the organizational review positioned three important drivers that can be used when analyzing the concept of sustainable consumption - consumers, businesses and the government. It has also been empirically proven that in comparison to Sweden where consumer’s behavior and attitudes towards sustainability are increasing and socially accepted, Shanghai demonstrates that the concept of sustainable consumer behavior and consumption is not as equally developed and accepted.

The thesis "Supply Chain Management in Furniture Retail Industry" tries to determine the current status of an integrated supply chain management in the furniture industry. The importance of the supply chain in the modern economy is discussed as well as the difficult economical conditions for furniture dealers, with consumers spending more on cellphones, the national lottery and transport. The importance of the supply chain as a vehicle to optimize shareholder funds is stressed. The literature study sets out to prove that as a result of the new paradigm that exists within the organisational system, that the supply chain system needs new ideas, thought process and structures to ensure that the full potential is realised. In order to maximise returns from the supply chain business process, re-engineering and design will have to take place. Organisations must be willing and able to radically re- think and re-design the existing process. A paradigm shift is absolutely essential to obtain the maximum returns for the organisation. Certain pre-designed supply chain models are discussed and advantages and disadvantages are analysed. The models are the, the Growth Model, the Supply Chain Management Systems Framework, the Semantic Model for Internet Supply Chain Collaboration and the Supply Chain Operations Model. The models differ in their approaches and is an effort to expose the reader to current best practises in integrated supply chain management. Thirdly, key factors for supply chain success are discussed. Research has shown that if organisations fail to meet certain basic requirements, any attempts at influencing or improving the process are doomed. Internal excellence is a basic requirement followed by external integration and excellence. Two other important issues are supplier relationships, and the critical importance of information technology in assisting organisations to obtain supremacy. The literature study ends with the discussion of a financial model for measuring the success of supply chain interventions. The final word in any change process is financial. If Economic Value is not added, then the process can be seen as a failure. Chapter Three discusses the methodology that was followed in conducting the research. Chapter four analysis the findings and make certain recommendations for the furniture industry in South Africa that will assist in improving supply chain management. / Thesis (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Graduate School of Management / unrestricted

The convergence of traditional and electronic commerce practices is being driven by the need for businesses to keep up with the ever increasing competition of online retailing. This thesis aims to examine and analyze the possible benefits that may arise via the use and development of rapidly evolving mobile technology, through analyzing the benefits of each of the forms of commerce during outlined stages of retail process, in order to evaluate to what extend the benefits can be combined. The benefits of each form of commerce were studied by observing existing theories and validated as perceived benefits through consumer surveys and management interviews.The theoretical part of this thesis is based on academic literature in the subject of Traditional commerce, Electronic commerce and Mobile commerce. The empirical studies were conducted as both qualitative and quantitative research, with a consumer survey conducted with 350 students, as well as two interviews with managers of retail stores in Västerås, Sweden.Results of the analysis shows that Mobile commerce has a role to play in better combining the benefits of traditional and electronic commerce and results in a combined figure implementing the findings into a working model, which we have dubbed ‘the four I’s of commerce’. The results are aimed at aiding retail managers in determining whether or not to implement a revised business model including the aspect of mobile commerce.

Recent media articles have illustrated different human resource management problems within Zara Sweden and the retail industry in Sweden. In these articles numerous employees speak about mistreatment and abuse at Zara Sweden. A union official states that Zara is not a unique case, but more so a representative case of the retail industry. Adding to this Zara Sweden has not performed well financially and they state that they are still trying to adapt to the Swedish market.   There is plenty of research explaining the relationship between human resource management and performance. Furthermore, a lot of research urges international companies to be locally responsive especially in their people management. To understand the level of local responsiveness it is important to first examine the cultural disparity between the organization and the employees, for this Hofstede’s cultural dimension was used. With this background the study explores Zara Sweden’s level of local responsiveness as well as their general human resource management practices from three perspectives. Semi-structured interviews have been used to understand the employee perspective. The two other perspectives come from the Annual reports produced by both Inditex and Zara and media articles.   Our findings demonstrate that media perspective and employee perspectives comply well with each other. However, there is a great disparity between the annual report perspective and the other two perspectives. The results show three major HRM liabilities, the sole use of internal promotion, general employee dissatisfaction and the lack of local responsiveness. Our aim is that this study will benefit the Swedish retail industry, to perhaps understand performance issues through study. Also, benefit Zara and Inditex if they have similar problems in other countries and the study might explain their lack of financial performance in the Swedish market. In general, this research could assist companies that are expanding into the Swedish market, seeing it emphasis the importance of regional adaption.

Globalization and associated economic changes have led to a lot of opportunities and hazards that companies are facing. Especially the increased role of customer demands and the interconnected shift from seller markets to buyer markets were the driving factors and incentives for the research work of this Master Thesis. One quite new strategy that companies tend to apply in order to meet the occurring challenges is supplier development. By reason of the actuality of this topic, it was of high worth to investigate, especially when it comes to the lack of theoretical findings about challenges, difficulties and problems. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis was to find out which problems can occur in the process of supplier development, and how they can be solved. Hereby, the focus was laid on the furniture retail industry, as it is one of the fastest growing sectors in Sweden. For the empirical research the retailers Ikea and Mio were selected, because they play a very important role within the Swedish furniture retail industry due to the fact that they are the two biggest when it comes to market shares. Furthermore, the suppliers Bitc Möbel AB, Lundbergs Möbler and AB Wilo were chosen in order to examine their dyadic relationship with Mio. For the purpose of investigating the supplier development within the dyadic relationship of Ikea and its supplier, Bodilsen a/s was interviewed. Almost during the whole research of this thesis a lack of knowledge occurred. It was noticed that only few references exist regarding this topic, therefore the objective of this thesis was to attach importance to this issue, illustrate further problem areas and possible solutions. Hereby, a conceptual model was created that served as a basis for the empirical part. After collecting empirical data, a close analysis was accomplished. In the end, suggestions for companies to improve their supplier development were made and a final model was generated in order to illustrate the results of the study. The Swedish furniture retail industry is exposed to a strong price pressure and stress of competition, which makes it necessary to improve companies’ performance in order to withstand the competition and to succeed in the end. Its proximity to end customers makes a continuous product development necessary, which can only be successful when working closely together with manufacturers. Therefore, deploying supplier development is a recommendable strategy, but one should be aware of challenges that can occur. The results of this thesis provide support for the improvement of supplier development, especially when it comes to problem areas and correspondent solutions within dyadic relationships. Supplier development is an up-to-date topic and plays a crucial role within the fast changing business environment. It was chosen to raise the reader’s interest and to give an insight into current economic developments. The Swedish furniture retail industry turned out to be very interesting for the topic of this Master Thesis. Finally, there is nothing more to say than: ‘Enjoy the trip through the Swedish furniture industry!’ / Research questions: Which are the potential problem areas of Supplier Development within dyadic relationships in the Swedish furniture retail industry? Which possible solutions for these problem areas can be found in order to improve Supplier Development?

Due to the rapid development of the retail industry in Taiwan, the transaction cost of product circulation is reduced, thus promotes the economic growth and improves people¡¦s living standard. The reason businesses can succeed in the retail industry in Taiwan is generally because they have correct business models and strategic positions. However, they cannot usually maintain their human capital due to bad job characteristics and lack of sound personnel systems. With the maturity of the industry, improvement of human resources management is absolutely the primary source of differentiation for business competition. This study is based on 7-ELEVEN, one of the leaders in the retail industry in Taiwan, to explore the current circumstances of job satisfaction of the convenient storekeepers, and then to find out effective ways that help upgrade their human resources management and finally offer some comments. The findings of this study are as follows: 1. The convenient storekeepers of 7-ELEVEN in Taiwan have high degree of job satisfaction because the work value of the employees matches up well with the job characteristics of the organization. 2. In this study, 6 dimensions in job satisfaction have been sorted out by factor analysis. They are ¡§organization administration and development¡¨, ¡§supervisor leadership¡¨, ¡§autonomy¡¨, ¡§nature of work¡¨, ¡§work support¡¨, and ¡§social relation¡¨. Among the degree of satisfaction on the 6 dimensions, ¡§work support¡¨ and ¡§social relation¡¨ are higher, while ¡§organization administration and development¡¨ and ¡§supervisor leadership¡¨ are lower. 3. According to the result of ANOVA, different personal variables have significant influences on job satisfaction: different ¡§academic background¡¨ have significant difference on ¡§supervisor leadership¡¨; different ¡§storekeeper seniority¡¨ have significant difference on ¡§nature of work¡¨; different ¡§working region¡¨ have significant difference on ¡§social relation¡¨. Moreover, different ¡§storekeeper category¡¨ and ¡§working region¡¨ both have significant difference on ¡§total job satisfaction¡¨; ¡§female storekeepers in Kaohsiung¡¨ have significantly higher degree of ¡§total job satisfaction¡¨ than other groups. 4. According to the result of regression analysis, ¡§organization administration and development¡¨ is the only factor having significant influence on ¡§total job satisfaction¡¨. Therefore, improving ¡§organization administration and development¡¨ is the most effective way to increase ¡§total job satisfaction¡¨.

<p>Globalization and associated economic changes have led to a lot of opportunities and hazards that companies are facing. Especially the increased role of customer demands and the interconnected shift from seller markets to buyer markets were the driving factors and incentives for the research work of this Master Thesis. One quite new strategy that companies tend to apply in order to meet the occurring challenges is supplier development. By reason of the actuality of this topic, it was of high worth to investigate, especially when it comes to the lack of theoretical findings about challenges, difficulties and problems. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis was to find out which problems can occur in the process of supplier development, and how they can be solved. Hereby, the focus was laid on the furniture retail industry, as it is one of the fastest growing sectors in Sweden. For the empirical research the retailers Ikea and Mio were selected, because they play a very important role within the Swedish furniture retail industry due to the fact that they are the two biggest when it comes to market shares. Furthermore, the suppliers Bitc Möbel AB, Lundbergs Möbler and AB Wilo were chosen in order to examine their dyadic relationship with Mio. For the purpose of investigating the supplier development within the dyadic relationship of Ikea and its supplier, Bodilsen a/s was interviewed.</p><p>Almost during the whole research of this thesis a lack of knowledge occurred. It was noticed that only few references exist regarding this topic, therefore the objective of this thesis was to attach importance to this issue, illustrate further problem areas and possible solutions. Hereby, a conceptual model was created that served as a basis for the empirical part. After collecting empirical data, a close analysis was accomplished. In the end, suggestions for companies to improve their supplier development were made and a final model was generated in order to illustrate the results of the study.</p><p>The Swedish furniture retail industry is exposed to a strong price pressure and stress of competition, which makes it necessary to improve companies’ performance in order to withstand the competition and to succeed in the end. Its proximity to end customers makes a continuous product development necessary, which can only be successful when working closely together with manufacturers. Therefore, deploying supplier development is a recommendable strategy, but one should be aware of challenges that can occur. The results of this thesis provide support for the improvement of supplier development, especially when it comes to problem areas and correspondent solutions within dyadic relationships.</p><p>Supplier development is an up-to-date topic and plays a crucial role within the fast changing business environment. It was chosen to raise the reader’s interest and to give an insight into current economic developments. The Swedish furniture retail industry turned out to be very interesting for the topic of this Master Thesis. Finally, there is nothing more to say than: ‘Enjoy the trip through the Swedish furniture industry!’</p> / <p>Research questions:</p><p>Which are the potential problem areas of Supplier Development within dyadic relationships in the Swedish furniture retail industry?</p><p>Which possible solutions for these problem areas can be found in order to improve Supplier Development?</p>

In the Swedish Fast-moving consumer goods industry (FMCG), most suppliers sell their products through retailers. For a successful product-launch, retailer acceptance is essential. Up to ninety percent of all product-launches fail, thus retailers must choose wisely which products to accept. Failing product-launches cost large sums of money for both retailers and suppliers. A number of factors have been shown by previous research to affect the success of a productlaunch and retailer acceptance, but there are factors that have been previously ignored, such as inter-organizational relationships. The authors of this study have chosen to conduct a study regarding how retailer acceptance and relational factors affect the success of a product launch in the Swedish FMCG-industry. The focus of this study has been on the relationships of Swedish retailer ICA AB and three of its suppliers. ICA AB was chosen because it is the largest retailer on the Swedish market. This study shows that retailer acceptance is positively affected by mutual trust, commitment and the relationship itself between the supplier and the retailer. However, the importance of these factors varies depending on the size of supplier and type of product.