Background: As the link between end customers and suppliers, retailers are directly facing the end customers’ demand and meanwhile affected by suppliers’ performance. The integration and recognition of information exchange between a retailer and its supplier is significant for a retailer to operate its business effectively and efficiently. To achieve an effective and efficient retail supply chain, it is necessary to ivestigate and understand in a retailer-supplier interface, what information is given and required by a retailer, what benefits a retailer can obtain from this information exchange as well as what challenges a retailer may face. Purpose: The purpose is to investigate types of information between a retailer and its supplier, and the included benefits and challenges with the information exchange from the retailer’s perspective. Method: This thesis is a descriptive-exploratory study with an abductive approach and a qualitative method. The theoretical framework was built based on relevant previous research and the empirical data was collected from nine semi-structured interviews. A multiple-holistic case study strategy was applied, in which five retail companies were involved. Both theoretical framework and empirical data are strongly connected to the research purpose and research questions. Conclusion: It is clear that there is a great recognition of information exchange between a retailer and its supplier. By analyzing empirical findings, three summary tables regarding the research questions were developed. Some categories are in line with the theoretical framework, while some others were identified from empirical findings. To sum up, eleven types of information, thirteen categories of benefits, and nine categories of challenges with information exchange have been identified from the retailer’s perspective. Future research: The future research can further: 1. Focus on one specific retail sector; 2. Study offline, online retailers separately; 3. Focus on service retailers; 4. Focus on retailers’ inter-organizational communication; 5. Study from the supplier’s perspective; and 6. Develop solutions dealing with the supply chain, or the inter-organizational complexity.

摘要 進口流行服飾零售在過去十年已經是台灣年輕人間創業的趨勢。因為1990年代開始韓國文化在全球風行，對韓國流行服飾的供給與需求均大幅增加。另一方面，自2008年開始的全球經濟危機造成的低薪與失業問題更影響大批年輕人。他們之中許多人選擇自行創業，而因為較低的進入門檻，進口流行服飾的零售業成為主要的選項。 激烈的競爭造成了零售價降低以及仿冒品、次級品的問題，這些問題也惡化了這些新創立事業營運上的壓力，特別是在現金流和銷售量兩方面。這些年輕人會選擇創立這樣的零售業務正因他們本身缺乏資源，所以在極早期做出合適的行銷策略選擇，將非常的關鍵。 現今的管理理論多針對如何管理已經存在的企業或針對那些手中已有些許資源的企業家探討如何進行資源配置。這些理論中討論創立新事業的策略部分卻很少。我們發現邱志聖（2014）提出的4C策略行銷架構可以提供解決之道，能幫助這些年輕創業者選擇創業的適當策略。 透過4C策略行銷架構分析，我們發現，當進口流行服飾零售業者採用實體店面銷售的方式時，會比採用網路行銷更有機會降低顧客的交易成本。這些成本不只是價格，還包括了外顯效益成本，資訊搜尋成本，道德危機成本，以及專屬資產成本。 在我們的研究中，我們也認知到包曼（2003）提出的「自媒體」觀念可以將業務營運帶向另外一條新的道路。不管是實體店面或是網路銷售的經營者都可以藉由經營本身的「自媒體」來降低交易成本。我們相信，「自媒體」透過改善經營者的4C策略行銷架構，將對未來產生顛覆性的改變。 / Abstract Imported fashion retailer has already been a trend of newly startups among young people in the past decade in Taiwan. Because the increase in global popularity of South Korean culture since the 1990s, both the supply and demand on Korean fashion clothing are increasing dramatically. On the other hand, low wages and unemployment affected lots of young in Taiwan due to global economic crisis since 2008. Many of them chose to start their own business and imported fashion retailer is a major option due to its low barriers to entry. Tough competition leads to low retail price and problems on counterfeit and substandard goods, which also exacerbates the stress on running business of these newly startups, especially on their cash flow and sales. These young entrepreneurs chose to start their retail business due to their lack of resources, so it is critical to make the suitable selection of their marketing strategies in the very beginning. Management theories nowadays paid lots attention on how to manage an existed corporate or how to distribute the resources for those entrepreneurs who already owned some. The literatures on theories regarding strategies to start a new business are disproportionately low. We noticed the 4C Strategic Marketing Analysis (Chiou, 2014) might provide a solution to that, helping these young entrepreneurs to choose a proper strategy starting their own business. Through 4C Strategic Marketing Analysis, we discovered, if imported fashion retailers choose to sell through a retail store rather than online business, they will have better chances to reduce the transaction costs of their customers. And those costs included not only the price, but cost of utility, cost of information search, cost of moral hazard and cost of asset specificity. During our research, we also acknowledged “We Media” (Bowman, 2003) may lead to a new way to run business. Both retail storeowners and online business owner could reduce their transaction costs by running their own “We Media”. We believe, “We Media” might be a game changer through its improvement on the 4Cs of marketing exchange.

This research began with the question: why is the retailer brand market share of Tesco Korea higher than that of local Korean retailers? Of the foreign grocery retailers who have expanded into Korea, Tesco has achieved the most outstanding performance, with the highest retailer brand share in the market. After the withdrawal of Wal-Mart and Carrefour from Korea in 2006, Tesco Korea has been positioned as the successful foreign retailer. Accordingly, how the retail operation of Tesco Korea differs from that of the local Korean retailers attracted the author’s interest, specifically in terms of the development and handling processes of the retailer brand. Rather than examining the customer perceptions of both Tesco Korea and the domestic Korean retailers, the researcher concentrated on identifying the differences between both parties from the point of view of their retailer brand program operations. Based on in-depth interviews with retailers and suppliers, store observations, the author’s own experience in retailer brand development, and company documentation, this research explored the differences between Tesco Korea and domestic Korean retailers in how they develop and handle their own brands. Tesco Korea has taken advantage of retailing know-how, that is, retailer brand development skills created by Tesco UK. With the help of Tesco UK, the retailer brand development process of Tesco Korea is differentiated in a number of areas from that of the local Korean retailers. The flows of retailing know-how from Tesco UK to Tesco Korea has also influenced the whole retailer brand market in Korea, as well as stimulated the local Korean retailers to improve their retailer brand development skills. The entry of retailers with advanced retailer brand development knowledge into markets where retailer brands are less well developed is a catalyst in promoting retailer brand markets, and in intensifying retail competition. Also, the retailer brand development know-how of domestic retailers is enhanced by imitating or benchmarking foreign retailers. This research suggests that retailer brand share is related to the degree to which retailers are proactively involved in the development and handling processes for retailer brand product ranges, as well as to how sophisticated or advanced their knowledge of the retailer brand development process is. Advanced development and handling skills make a considerable contribution to increasing retailer brand share in markets with a lower share or no presence of retailer brands.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen Featherstone / Because agriculture is a cornerstone in the U.S. and World economies, the agricultural retail industry is becoming more competitive. To gain a competitive advantage, agricultural retailers must take advantage of competencies that they have. The thesis provides an in depth analysis of how FluidGro products effect the profitability of Centennial. It explores the issues impacting Ag Retail and how marketing concepts and theories can make a retailer achieve success in volatile times. Insight is provided regarding how Centennial Ag Supply can use those strategies to give them a low cost position and a differentiated product and how Centennial can improve profitability by implementing effective marketing strategies for the FluidGro brand of products. Finally, a couple of capital improvement options that Centennial Ag can invest in to increase the sales and profitability of their FluidGro product line and what impact that will have on company sales and profitability. A net present value analysis is used to analyze the capital improvements and linear regressions estimate the profitability of the FluidGro product line and how this will contribute to increased profitability to the parent company, Centennial Ag Supply. Results indicate that Centennial should first invest in a wholesale division. Next, Centennial should invest in a heat exchanger to allow it to manufacture additional products.

Problem: Food waste is a major issue from both an environmental as well as an economic perspective. In Europe alone, 90 million tons of food is wasted in the food supply chain every year. In order to reduce these excessive costs and the environmental impact, new food waste management strategies need to be developed and established. The food waste management strategies established in the retail stage are limited as the retail stage is an area of the food supply chain that has been neglected in research.   Purpose: This thesis explores the food waste management of fresh fruits and vegetables out of retailer´s perspective. In specific, it assesses the potential effects for Swedish supermarkets in which have established processes where non-sellable products are recycled through conversion in-house.   Method: This qualitative study has been performed through observational studies with semi-structured interviews to complement the observational findings. The empirical data is collected at Swedish supermarkets that have conversion processes established in their organization. The respondents were either store managers or managers for perishable goods. The data were analysed using the content analysis approach.   Findings: The results of our research reveal that conversion activities of fresh fruits and vegetables result in less food waste and positive economic outcomes. To create higher economic value of the food waste conversion, the conversion of fresh fruits and vegetables should be performed in combination with other product categories.

<p>Syftet med denna studie är att mäta och analysera detaljhandlares uppfattningar om konkurrenshot utifrån fyra olika hypotetiska valsituationer, ett Choice Experiment. Urvalsgruppen bestod av cityhandlare inom ett geografiskt definierat område i Gävle stad i Sverige. Resultatet indikerar att cityhandlare uppfattar konkurrens mellan marknadsplatser i viss utsträckning. Dock indikerar resultatet att konkurrens uppfattas inom marknadsplatsen i högre utsträckning i jämförelse med konkurrens mellan marknadsplatser.</p> / <p>The purpose of this study is to measure and analyse city retailers´ perceived threat of competition in four different hypothetical choice situations, a Choice Experiment. The selected group of retailers was located within a geographically defined area in the City of Gävle, Sweden. The results indicate that there is a variation in the retailers´ perceived threat of competition between market places. However, the results also indicates that threat of competition foremost is perceived in the local competing area.</p>

Syftet med denna studie är att mäta och analysera detaljhandlares uppfattningar om konkurrenshot utifrån fyra olika hypotetiska valsituationer, ett Choice Experiment. Urvalsgruppen bestod av cityhandlare inom ett geografiskt definierat område i Gävle stad i Sverige. Resultatet indikerar att cityhandlare uppfattar konkurrens mellan marknadsplatser i viss utsträckning. Dock indikerar resultatet att konkurrens uppfattas inom marknadsplatsen i högre utsträckning i jämförelse med konkurrens mellan marknadsplatser. / The purpose of this study is to measure and analyse city retailers´ perceived threat of competition in four different hypothetical choice situations, a Choice Experiment. The selected group of retailers was located within a geographically defined area in the City of Gävle, Sweden. The results indicate that there is a variation in the retailers´ perceived threat of competition between market places. However, the results also indicates that threat of competition foremost is perceived in the local competing area.

The Swedish alcohol market has for many years been in the hands of the government. The question of the monopoly, its being or not being, has for a long time engaged both Swedish citizens and politicians. Since joining the European Union it has also been on the European agenda, trying to adapt Sweden to the more liberal alcohol politic in Europe. The suppliers find themselves acting on a completely different market than a market based on free competition. The suppliers are faced with one retail channel to the stores which creates dependence and uneven power balance towards the retailer. In addition to this, their marketing activities are strictly limited due to the laws and claims. Corporate Social Responsibility is required goals given from the retailer upon the suppliers. The retailer is also set with strict term and rules from the government and has to gain the Swedish citizens approval in order to maintain their position as the only distribution channel. The supplier, primarily acting on the purpose of selling products and increasing the profit, differ from the retailer who mainly aim to limit and regulate the sales of alcohol. In this difficult market a relationship between the supplier and the distributor is being built up and nourished. The relationship in the supply chain is based on four factors; trust, cooperation, commitment and conflict. These different factors are shaping and affecting the relationship between the supplier and the retailer. The diverse aims of these two organizations, together with the regulations of the market and the dependency between each other, have an effect and shape the relationship. The analyses argue that equal goals can lead to an increased commitment between the supplier and retailer. Further on the members of the supply chains appear to use problem solving to resolve a conflict to be able to maintain good cooperation and increase trust in the relationship. The conclusion is that the retailer possesses the power in the relationship towards the supplier. All the relationship factors are important in this relationship but trust is required in order to obtain cooperation and commitment. Trust is also vital when it comes to solving a conflict.

We consider a one-warehouse multi-retailer system where the warehouse orders or receives from its supplier and replenishes multiple retailers with direct shipping or multi-stop routing over a finite time horizon. The warehouse has the knowledge of external (deterministic) demands at the retailers and manages their inventories while ensuring no stock-out. We consider two problems with direct shipping policy and two problems with routing policy. For the direct shipping policy, the problem is to determine the optimal replenishments for the warehouse and retailers such that the system-wide costs are minimized. In one problem, the warehouse decides about how much and when to ship to the retailers while in the other problem, inventory level of the retailer has to be raised up to a predetermined level whenever replenished. We propose strong mixed integer programming formulations for these problems. Computational experiments show that our formulations are better than their competitors and are very successful in solving the problems to optimality. For the routing policy, the problem is to decide on when and in what sequence to visit the retailers and how much to ship to a retailer so as to minimize system-wide costs. In one problem, the warehouse receives given amounts from its supplier while in the other the warehouse decides on its own replenishments. We propose branch-and-cut algorithms and heuristics based on strong formulations for both problems. Computational results reveal that our procedures perform better than their competitors in the literature for both problems.

Järbo Garn is a wholesaler in the textile industry. The companys position on the market is under changing circumstances. Therefore Järbo Garn needs to find new ways of developing their marketing. The thesis explores ways for Järbo Garn to do this, by examining different possibilities for the company to strengthen their relationship to their customers and retailers. The thesis is based on theories from three different fields; marketing, Public Relations and organizational communication. Different models is being used to analyze the material, such as the SWOT-analysis, the model of the marketing concept and the four-step Public Relations process. The material was gathered through qualitative interviews, group surveys and web-based surveys. Those methods was based on the theories of Steinar Kvale and Jan Trost. The interviews was done with representatives from Järbo Garn and their retailers. Surveys was sent out to the companys potential customers. The result shows that Järbo Garn have a good relationship with their retailers, who in general are satisfied with Järbo Garns products and services. Though, the staff may be in need of gathering the information about the retailers needs in one place. Some recommendations are given to Järbo Garn from the retailers, where develop the website appears most frequently. The result from the interviews also shows that the company lacks extensive knowledge of their customer, since the information given is minor. Some interesting hints about the customers needs is gathered from the result of the surveys. First, we learn that the customer prefers to shop in specialized stores or online. Then, we see that the customer finds most inspiration from digital channels like forums, blogs and social media. Last, we learn that the customers value quality and that they’re not loyal to any specific brand. In the end, the discussion leads us to believe that the borders between marketing, Public Relations and organizational communication are getting more and more unclear. It finally seems like the appliance of theories from these three fields are a good way of analyzing the situation of different organizations.