Globalization has led to that companies’ within the textile industry, now source manufacturing overseas. Supply chains are therefore now ultimately longer, with a lot of activities and people involved. Control and implementation of strategies is now something that companies need to considerate in the supply chain, in order to reduce lead times, meet the unpredictable demand of today’s consumers and compete against other retailers. One important task in this is for retailers to have an efficient PD and sample process, due to the fact that it's in this stage where the retailers still have time to make changes and prevent problems along the supply chain. The Conceptual Framework; describes that the textile industry is not high represented in the use lean even if the strategy doesn’t need large investments in technology or training. A great part of succeeding with lean lies in the development phase, and to build a well developed and thought out system to be able to create future products. In the methodology chapter the authors have chosen to perform a case study on a branded retailer. By conducting interviews, observations and value stream mapping, the researchers can approach the study from different angles in order to double check the results, which tends to increase the validity and reliability of a study. The study's empirical materials are based on seven semi-structured interviews with employees at the case company, two observations on fittings and a Value stream mapping (VSM) of 5 different styles. This was done in order to create a deeper understanding of the sample process and the activities involved and identify non-value adding activities. Discussion; the researchers have noticed that depending on the production country and product type, the sample process looks very different. This can be a result of that people working in the process don’t have a standardized way in handling problems and instead do it in their own way. The results that case company generated could be concluded that there are several problems in sample process, which is further discussed in the analysis chapter, where there are a number of lean tools that can eliminate the identified problems. The conclusion that the researchers made is that working with Lean PD can help the company to improve their capabilities and do more with less, by sorting out the unnecessary activities with a focus on standardizing. The literature say that VSM and 5S are most common in textile companies, but the researchers have seen, through this research, that other lean tools are applicable and appropriate in the PD as well.

Background: Greenwashing is a constantly growing phenomenon which is known to be an issue created by deceiving marketing strategies. The field of CSR is constantly ex- panding and greenwashing is one of the relatively new and very current issue in today’s society. Therefore the awareness of the issue need to be there for the public to be able to make more informed active decisions. Purpose: This thesis aim to shed light on the current day issue that is greenwashing and its connection to some of the most successful and fastest growing multinational compa- nies within the clothing and retail industry. Method: The thesis is based on a qualitative research approach with consist multiple case study of six multinational clothing and retail companies. The data has been collect- ed through website observations, news articles, media and through a questionnaire based on greenwashing awareness, which was analysed through a interlaced case com- parison. Conclusion: The observation made of six well known clothing brands showed the ex- istence of common trend of companies using a long and complicated way to implement their codes of conduct and therefore making the issue of greenwashing existent. Obvi- ously, this problem has a huge impact on any company’s stakeholders and the actual problem and controversy of this topic is how one could make rational and aware deci- sions if the essential information is difficult to access. Until this issue is highlighted in a public matter, people will stay unaware and inactive to find the information needed to make informed decisions.

Title: How can loyalty programmes improve brand loyalty? Level: Final assignment for Master Degree in Business Administration Author: Anna Kapetanakis, and Gideon Mekonnen Jonathan Supervisor: Sarah Philipson (Assistant Professor) Date: June, 2015 Aim: To investigate how customers loyalty can be improved through loyalty programmes. Method: Mixed approach, both qualitative and quantitative data, is chosen for this study. The qualitative data using telephone interviews with customers and the firm was carried out at the beginning of the study to formulate the survey. Online survey with closed questions, based on responses from the qualitative interviews and the theoretical framework, was designed and sent to 3500 potential respondents. The contact list from IvyWear’s CRM database was used to distribute the survey. 309 respondents (9%) completed the survey, which was available online for 7 days. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and cluster analysis. Result & Conclusions: The empirical data and analysis has shown that IvyWear customers can be categorised as “true loyals”, “latent loyals”, “spurious loyals”, and “not loyals”. It was also found that “bonuses and points” are the most preferred reward among customers that can be used to improve loyalty toward IvyWear. Suggestions for future research: The findings may not reflect brand loyalty and effects of loyalty programmes on loyalty beyond the clothing retail industry. Comprehensive study covering other industries and targeting respondents outside membership registers would provide deeper understanding of brand loyalty among customers. Contribution of the thesis: The study adds to the debate on loyalty programmes and how members of these programmes can be managed in the way that they can not only choose the brand, but also attract new customers through positive word of mouth. The results are particularly important for managers and marketers in the retail industry, who are under pressure to show the benefits of loyalty programmes. The results will be invaluable in the design of loyalty programmes to impact on the long-term profitability of firms.

The aim of the thesis is to describe the Czech retail industry and the practice used in the category management. The work compares and evaluates the current state of the ice-cream category management in different retail chains and recommends changes for the next ice-cream season for one of the retailers. The description of the retail industry and the introduction set the background for the thesis and the explanation of the continuous category management provides the framework for the analysis. The empirical part conducts the category planning step by step. The key parts are category assessment and category scorecard, which benchmark different stores in terms of assortment, display, price, and promo. Finally recommendations and conclusions are derived from the analysis to improve the category performance.

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / In the twenty first century, the traditional roles in a nuclear family have changed. In the majority of modern families, both partners have careers and full-time jobs. Burnett, Gatrell, Cooper and Sparrow (2010) explain that the approach to working life is changing, both men and women want to find a balance between work, family and caring responsibilities. Guest (2002) also elaborates that work-life balance has always been a concern for those interested in the quality of working life and the relation to broader quality of life. Due to the challenges which employees are currently facing, flexible work arrangements have become an increasingly popular business practice around the globe as a means to reduce work-life conflict. Many organisations offer flexible work arrangements with the goal of facilitating positive outcomes for both organisations and employees (Joiner & Bakalis, 2006). However, other organisations are still resistant to introducing flexible work arrangements as they fear it might impact negatively on productivity (Johnson, 2004; Martinez-Sanchez, Perez-Perez, Jose Vela-Jimenez & de-Luis Carnicer, 2008). While literature on flexible working hours has increased in recent times, no study has been found on the relationships between flexible working hours, employee engagement and organisational commitment in the retail sector in South Africa. Therefore this study focused on the relationship between flexible working hours, employee engagement and organisational commitment. The study followed a quantitative approach and the questionnaires were completed by 161 respondents. The two statistical approaches used to draw conclusions for this study are descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found significant relationships between flexible working hours, employee engagement and organisational commitment. The study also found a significant relationship between different age groups and flexible working hours as well as male and female and their use of flexible working hours. In conclusion, if retailers want to remain competitive in the retail industry where international competition is rife, they will have to ensure that they have the best talent. In order to acquire top talent, they will need to implement policies that will attract and retain them. Based on the findings and results, flexible working hours could substantially assist by increasing their employee engagement and organisational commitment and thereby attracting and retaining the top talent in the South African retail industry.

With the rise of the Internet age, the e-commerce mode in China's retail industry has achieved unprecedented development. E-commerce retail has begun to occupy the original share of the brick-and-mortar retail industry gradually. This trend is more significant in the field of beauty and skincare. Tmall, Taobao, JD.com and Tiktok, as the representative online retail channels, have become primary channels for many users to buy skin care and beauty products. Therefore, for the retail industry, online channels can expand sales productivity of products and scale up revenues greatly for enterprises. However, as the Internet enters inventory era and online traffic reaches its peak, the inefficient efforts in online channels may raise the marketing expenses, leading to a decline in their profit margins. This thesis investigates whether e-commerce transformation of traditional retail enterprises in China, e-commerce transformation of different types of retail enterprises, and e-commerce transformation of retail enterprises in different regions will have an impact on corporate performance through empirical analysis. Thus, we will investigate whether e-commerce transformation can significantly promote the growth of corporate performance from multiple perspectives and whether corporate performance can be significantly improved when spending more time on e-commerce transformation.This study employed factor analysis method, using four financial indicators in the aspects of profit-making capability, operating capability, growth ability and solvency. Listed companies in the retail industry in Shanghai and Shenzhen markets from the year of 2008 to the year of 2021 were selected as the research sample. Data were collected to define the transformation years. In terms of the financial data of Chinese listed companies in the retail industry for seven years before and after e-commerce model transformation, this thesis analyzed the changes in corporate performance of traditional Chinese listed companies in the retail industry after e-commerce transformation. The analysis of the empirical results shows that there is no significant improvement within one year after the e-commerce transformation of traditional retail enterprises, and there is a significant improvement in corporate performance after one year. At the same time, this thesis verifies that for the traditional retail industry, e-commerce transformation can promote corporate performance; with different retail enterprise backgrounds, retail enterprises with non-state-owned backgrounds are more able to improve corporate performance; in relatively developed regions, e-commerce transformation shows greater promotion effect on the performance of retail enterprises. / Business Administration/Finance

Thesis (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.

The focus of this research questions the role of change management in successfully implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning solution in the retail industry. The importance of the study could reveal a change approach more useful and relevant to the retail industry and offer opportunities for further research in this industry. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBA

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africans have over the past few years called for more affordable banking. Some retailers have looked at the opportunities and entered into the financial services space. The question remains as to why consumers would want to pay bank charges to have a bankcard when the card is actually used to pay for goods at retailers who can deliver the service themselves at a saving to both the customer and the retailer? The aim of this study was to determine customer expectations for a bankcard service offering in the South African food and retail industry with the emphasis on consumer behaviour and expectations, bankcards, services and SERVQUAL. This is a SERVQUAL application and a comprehensive literature of this topic is followed with a questionnaire outlining the expectations for such a service. SERVQUAL measures the gap between expectations and perceptions. In this study only expectations are measured as one of South Africa’s major food retailers was used and they do not offer this service at present. Various hypotheses were constructed to measure the expectations for attributes around this service. The attributes were trust, safety, cost, loyalty, open-loop versus closed-loop and mobile. Customer preference on payment methods was also determined when paying for different basket sizes. The results showed overwhelming evidence in favour of expectations for a bankcard service offering by retailers. This research can be used to address the major challenge South Africans and retailers face with high banking charges and address the challenge everyone has with regards to the risk associated with cash handling. Education on this topic is paramount and this could further pave the way for mobile phones replacing bankcards in the future which have also been researched as part of this topic. Further research is necessary to determine the characteristics of a bankcard product in a retail environment.

<p><strong>Introduction </strong>As the world is becoming increasingly integrated, many firms search for partners overseas with hope to find benefits. Internationalization is today the industrial norm, and in this new and ever-expanding environment, international purchasing has become a major challenge that firms have to face in their daily operations. Yet, despite the growing importance of international purchasing by retailers, previous studies have mainly focused on international purchasing by manufacturing firms, and as the authors have acknowledge the retailers' significance on the national markets, a gap has been identified.</p><p><strong>Purpose </strong>The purpose of this thesis is to examine and map out the current state of Swedish retailers' international purchasing activities.</p><p><strong>Method </strong>In order to fulfill the purpose, a quantitative research was chosen. In total, 74 telephone interviews have been conducted, resulting in a response rate of 80 percent. The sample was based on the 120 largest retailers in Sweden, with regards to turnover.</p><p><strong>Conclusion </strong>Swedish retailers have been grouped into four distinctive clusters; the Veterans, the Freshmen, the Cravens, and the Intellectuals. Each cluster showed clear and specific characteristics that distinguished them from each other. One common feature existed; regarding what risks that were connected with international purchasing. Almost everyone highlighted the loss of control, due to long distances, as being the main risk with international purchasing. The different clusters had diverse suggestions for how to overcome this; the Veterans focused on long-term relationship-building, the Freshmen spread their purchasing activities on multiple suppliers, the Cravens contracted trade companies to take the risk, and the Intellectuals invested in a high level of integration among all actors involved.</p>