In the last two-decades data center networks have evolved to become a key element in improving levels of productivity and competitiveness for different types of organizations. Traditionally data center networks have been constructed with 3 layers of switches, Edge, Aggregation, and Core. Although this Three-Tier architecture has worked well in the past, it poses a number of challenges for current and future data centers. Data centers today have evolved to support dynamic resources such as virtual machines and storage volumes from any physical location within the data center. This has led to highly volatile and unpredictable traffic patterns. Also The emergence of "Big Data" applications that exchange large volumes of information have created large persistent flows that need to coexist with other traffic flows. The Three-Tier architecture and current routing schemes are no longer sufficient for achieving high bandwidth utilization. Data center networks should be built in a way where they can adequately support virtualization and cloud computing technologies. Data center networks should provide services such as, simplified provisioning, workload mobility, dynamic routing and load balancing, equidistant bandwidth and latency. As data center networks have evolved the Three-Tier architecture has proven to be a challenge not only in terms of complexity and cost, but it also falls short of supporting many new data center applications. In this work we propose OneSwitch: A switch architecture for the data center. OneSwitch is backward compatible with current Ethernet standards and uses an OpenFlow central controller, a Location Database, a DHCP Server, and a Routing Service to build an Ethernet fabric that appears as one switch to end devices. This allows the data center to use switches in scale-out topologies to support hosts in a plug and play manner as well as provide much needed services such as dynamic load balancing, intelligent routing, seamless mobility, equidistant bandwidth and latency. / PHD

[pt] O varejo está na era do big data e cada vez mais informações estão sendo geradas sobre a jornada do cliente. É fundamental armazenar esses dados de jornada de compra para entender melhor os clientes, a fim de aprofundar o relacionamento com eles. No entanto, a captura de dados é apenas o primeiro passo, sendo fundamental a análise dessas informações para segmentar os clientes e oferecer o que eles desejam. Utilizando uma base real de clientes (em torno de 600 mil clientes únicos analisados) de uma grande rede de supermercados, este estudo objetivou entender o comportamento deles em termos de canais a partir de cohorts de diferentes gerações para variáveis de frequência de compra, total gasto de compra, total de itens únicos comprados (produtos distintos) e total de itens comprados. Adicionalmente, também avaliou-se o comportamento de compra para itens de marca própria e de fornecedor exclusivo do supermercado, com o intuito de compreender essas diferenças e possibilitar ações mais assertivas em termos de CRM e marketing para a empresa. Na análise dos dados, descobriu-se que o WhatsApp foi o canal mais consistente. Os Baby Boomers apresentaram uma maior propensão ao uso desse canal, enquanto os Millennials e a Geração Z apresentaram uma menor propensão. O canal digital apresentou diferenças apenas na ótica de gastos, e o canal físico foi o preferido da Geração X e dos Baby Boomers. Os Xennials apresentaram comportamento similar à Geração X e Geração Y. / [en] Retail is in the age of big data and more and more information is being generated about the customer journey. It is critical to store this buyer journey data to better understand customers in order to maintain the relationship with them. However, capturing data is just the first step, and analyzing this information is essential to segment customers and offer what they want. Using a real customer base (around 600,000 customers) of a large supermarket chain, this study aimed to understand their behavior in terms of channels from cohorts of different generations to determine unique purchases, total purchase spend , total unique items purchased (destined products), and total items purchased. In addition, it also evaluates the purchase behavior for own brand items and items from the supermarket s exclusive supplier, with the aim of understanding these differences and enabling more assertive actions in terms of CRM and marketing for the company. In analyzing the data, it was found that WhatsApp was the most consistent channel. Baby Boomers were more likely to use this channel, while Millennials and Generation Z were less likely. The digital channel showed a difference only in terms of spending, and the physical channel was preferred by Generation X and Baby Boomers. Xennials showed behavior similar to Generation X and Generation Y.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Human Nutrition / David A. Dzewaltowski / The prevalence of obesity within the U.S. has risen dramatically in the past thirty years. Recent changes in food and physical activity environments may contribute to increased obesity prevalence, suggesting that disparities in these environments may be linked to the increased risk of obesity observed in low-income, and racial/ethnic minority women. This dissertation characterizes the local food environment experienced by low-income women who participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in Kansas, evaluates whether characteristics of the local food environment contribute to obesity risk, and examines how these relationships vary across the urban-rural continuum. Chapter One reviews the relevant literature examining the association between obesity and local food environments, and identifies three testable hypotheses that serve as the framework for later chapters. Chapter Two characterizes the local food environment and examines geographic, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in the availability of small grocery stores and supermarkets. Chapter Three examines the association between store availability and obesity risk at an individual level among participants in the WIC Program, while Chapter Four utilizes multi-level modeling to examine the relationships between tract deprivation, tract store availability and body mass index (BMI). Significant geographic disparities were observed in the availability of small grocery and supermarkets. Racial and ethnic disparities observed within tracts were not observed when examining store availability in a 1-mile radius around the residence of WIC mothers. The majority of women participating in the WIC program resided within a 1-mile radius of a small grocery store, and micropolitan and metropolitan WIC mothers had a multiplicity of food stores available within a 3-mile radius of residence. Food store availability was associated with increased obesity risk only in micropolitan areas. The availability of food stores did not mediate the association between tract deprivation and BMI, which varied across the urban-rural continuum. Overall, these results suggest that the relationship between local food environments and eating behaviors is complex, that limited store availability does not contribute to increased obesity risk in vulnerable populations, and that the association between local food environments and obesity risk varies across the urban-rural continuum.

Currently many city dwellers are getting sick because of unhealthy city lifestyle such as living a night lives, being surrounded by a polluted environment and consuming contaminated food. As a result, healthy and green lifestyle is becoming a mainstream popular trend in Bangkok. People started to participate in extreme sport and especially purchasing organic food, and yet they still get even more sick. It is because they have wrong perception of organic food, so they still buy products such as hydroponic vegetable, injected hormone meat, and GMO harvest from normal supermarket. Although there are some green stores in the market, they still provide non-organic products, especially hydroponic vegetable. Modern Earth is a pure organic supermarket that satisfies health-conscious city dwellers’ hunger for authentic organic food and products as an ultimate tool to live a healthy enjoyable modern lifestyle. Modern Earth offers English literate staffs who can inform and answer both Thais and expatriates about organic agriculture understanding as well as our products. Organic bakery and coffee shop, bookstores, and organic-related product store are also available in our supermarket. We believe our supermarket is one of the solutions for todays unhealthy modern lifestyle.

A experiência dos clientes no ambiente varejista, seja físico ou virtual, ganha destaque na literatura e nas discussões de marketing devido a seu importante papel nos delineadores do comportamento de compras, influenciado por inúmeros fatores, entre os quais as próprias experiências. O estudo das características do varejo experiencial visa compreender as técnicas contemporâneas para a criação e o gerenciamento de experiências atraentes e marcantes para os clientes. Proporcionar experiências positivas de consumo é um dos atuais desafios da gestão de marketing, seja em âmbito estratégico ou operacional, proporcionando diferenciais de mercado perante os concorrentes. Apesar de a literatura apresentar teorias seminais sobre as experiências do consumidor desde a década de 1960, o assunto ganha mais relevância quando as ofertas são comoditizadas; as empresas devem apresentar propostas de valores diferenciadas. O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar como as dimensões da integração dos ambientes off-line e on-line estão presentes no gerenciamento da experiência do cliente, sob a perspectiva de varejo supermercadista. Ressalta-se que se realizou o estudo a partir da perspectiva do varejista, abordando suas implicações gerenciais em um relevante segmento da economia e do cotidiano dos clientes. Essa perspectiva envolve características culturais, capacidades dinâmicas, orientações estratégicas e dificuldades operacionais para integrar os diferentes canais disponíveis aos clientes. Realizou-se uma pesquisa exploratória, com método qualitativo, tendo o estudo de caso como estratégia de pesquisa. Coletaram-se os dados por meio de entrevistas com roteiro semiestruturado, utilizando o modelo de projeto de gerenciamento de experiências dos clientes de Schmitt (2004). Realizou-se o estudo de caso no maior varejo supermercadista do Brasil, considerado o valor de faturamento, com entrevistas da diretora de marketing da operação brasileira e com um diretor de operações de hipermercado. Após as transcrições, os dados foram codificados, gerados atributos específicos também codificados, o que possibilitou a análise de conteúdo. Os resultados foram apresentados seguindo a codificação dos atributos e as etapas do modelo mencionado. Encontraram-se balizadores na literatura e na pesquisa empírica que permitiram confirmar os dois pressupostos iniciais do estudo: (1) a integração dos canais físico e virtual tem levado o cliente a mudar seus comportamentos e (2) o varejo deve agregar serviços às atividades no ambiente físico para melhorar a experiência de consumo. Também apresentou-se um novo constructo envolvendo o gerenciamento das experiências especificamente no varejo supermercadista. Esta concepção implementa o constructo de Terblanche (2018) e, por isso, é nomeada de constructo da experiência ampliada do cliente no supermercado, com uma dimensão adicionada: a integração das operações off-line e on-line. Essa nova dimensão congrega o acesso ou conhecimento dos clientes no canal físico do supermercado, integrando recursos, tecnologias e características do ambiente digital, tendo abrangência de operações dos canais sob a concepção omnichannel. Os principais objetivos desse constructo são: implementar as experiências do cliente no ponto de venda e fornecer vantagem competitiva ao varejista. O trabalho apresenta implicações acadêmicas e contribuições gerenciais que possibilitaram sistematizar aspectos da gestão de varejo, considerando o gerenciamento das experiências dos clientes. / Customer experience in the retail sector, whether physical or virtual, gains prominence in the literature and marketing discussions because of its important role in the delineators of shopping behavior, influenced by many factors, including experience itself. The study of the experiential retail characteristics aims at understanding contemporary techniques for creating and managing attractive and striking customer experiences. Delivering positive customer experiences is one of the current challenges of marketing management, whether strategic or operational in scope, providing market differentials. Although the literature has presented seminal theories on customer experience since the 1960s, the issue becomes more relevant when deals are commoditized; companies must submit differentiated value propositions. The objective of this study was to identify how the dimensions of off-line and online environments integration are present in the management of customer experience, from a supermarket retail perspective. It should be emphasized that the study was carried out from the perspective of the retailer, addressing its managerial implications in a relevant segment of the economy and the customers\' daily lives. This perspective involves cultural characteristics, dynamic capabilities, strategic orientations and operational difficulties in integrating the different channels available to clients. Exploratory research was carried out through a qualitative method, with a case study as a research strategy. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, using Schmitt\'s (2004) customer experience management project model. The case study was carried out in the largest supermarket retailer in Brazil, considering the billing value, with interviews of the marketing director of the Brazilian operation and an operations director of a single hypermarket. After the transcriptions, the data and the specific attributes generated were coded, which enabled content analysis. The results were presented following the coding of the attributes and the steps of the mentioned model. We have found indicators in the literature and empirical research that allowed us to confirm the two initial assumptions of the study: (1) the integration of the physical and virtual channels has led clients to change their behaviors and (2) the retailer must aggregate services to the activities in the physical environment in order to improve consumer experience. We also presented a new construct involving the management of experiences specifically in the supermarket retail. This conception implements the Terblanche (2018) construct and, therefore, is named the expanded construct of customer experience in the supermarket, with an added dimension: the integration of offline and online operations. This new dimension brings the access or knowledge of the customers together in the physical channel of the supermarket, integrating resources, technologies, and characteristics of the digital environment, covering the operations of the channels under the omnichannel conception. The main objectives of this construct are to implement customer experiences at the point of sale and provide a competitive advantage to the retailer. The study presents academic implications and managerial contributions that enabled systematizing of aspects of retail management, considering the management of client experience.

Esta pesquisa analisa a importância de empresas supermercadistas que já operam com centrais de negócio, onde buscam obter melhores condições competitivas de mercado, mais especificamente denominados supermercados de vizinhança, destacando os fatores que podem ser mais facilmente percebidos pelos clientes dessas lojas. Apesar da reconhecida importância das centrais de negócios no contexto brasileiro, ainda existe pouco conhecimento aprofundado do assunto. Esta iniciativa ganhou força no País apenas nos últimos cinco anos e a maioria dos estudos encontrados na literatura possui caráter predominantemente exploratório. Neste sentido, a presente pesquisa buscou, por meio do levantamento bibliográfico e do estudo de caso, obter a opinião dos clientes acerca da percepção de benefícios ao comprarem produtos nas lojas que pertencem a uma central de negócio, quando comparados com lojas equivalentes, consideradas concorrentes. Foi realizada uma pesquisa com abordagem quantitativa, no formato estudo de caso utilizando-se amostragem por conveniência. A coleta de dados da amostra foi feita através de questionário estruturado. Para analisar os dados foi utilizado o teste de Mann- Whitney, cuja aplicação é indicada quando estão em comparação dois grupos independentes. Os resultados permitiram identificar a existência de percepção de benefícios dos consumidores ao comprarem em supermercados de vizinhança pertencentes a uma central de negócio, bem como identificar os aspectos mais representativos dos referidos benefícios. / This research analyzes the importance of the supermarket enterprises, more specifically called \"vicinity supermarkets\" or \"neighborhood supermarkets\" which that already work organized under central business cells, in order to gain better competitive market conditions, highlighting the factors that are easily recognized by their clients. In spite of the already known importance of this kind of business in the Brazilian context, there is not a deep knowledge about the subject. The implementation of these central business cells has been carried out in Brazil only in the last 5 years, and most of the studies found in the references show a nature predominantly exploratory. In this sense, the present research is composed of a bibliographic review and a case study. The objective of the case study was to identify the clients\' opinion related to the perception of benefits on buying from the stores that belong to a central business cell and from other competitors. It was undertaken 236 (two hundred thirty six) interviews conducted in a quantitative approach, using a case study that involved a sample for convenience.. The data obtained were analyzed though the Mann-Whitney statistic test, which is indicated to be used when two independent groups are under comparison. The results allowed identifying the existence of benefit\'s perception of consumers when buying at neighborhood supermarkets that is part of a central business cells, as well as the more relevant aspects of these benefits.

O Gerenciamento por Categoria (GC) é uma realidade nas grandes redes de supermercados e hipermercados, farmácias e lojas de material de construção e suas ferramentas vêm contribuindo para propiciar melhor exposição, melhor abastecimento, maior variedade de marcas e tamanhos, preços competitivos e calendário eficiente de promoções, medidas todas que visam reduzir os estoques e aumentar o giro, a rentabilidade, ao mesmo tempo que surpreendem e proporciona maior satisfação aos clientes. A literatura disponível, porém não se fez referências a estudos com o foco na avaliação da satisfação, relacionando-a aos níveis de serviços oferecidos pelos supermercados e hipermercados que empregam o GC. A situação-problema desta tese nasceu da observação de que se, por um lado, a implementação e operação do GC tem por meta satisfazer os consumidores, por outro, não consegue identificar o grau de satisfação proporcionado pelos serviços oferecidos. No referencial teórico, levantaram-se aspectos relacionados ao emprego dessa modalidade gerencial, ao comportamento do consumidor, aos conceitos de satisfação e às diferentes formas de mensurá-la, passando pelas escalas de avaliação da qualidade em serviços e pela influência das variáveis demográficas na formação desse construto. A análise exploratória do referencial teórico-empírico apontou a importância de realizar uma pesquisa de campo que contribuísse para identifica os fatores que influenciam o nível de satisfação dos consumidores. Adotou-se um modelo de pesquisa de campo de caráter descritivo, com procedimento de amostragem probabilística para uma amostra de 250 consumidores residentes na Região do ABC Paulista responsáveis pela decisão e aquisição de produtos de higiene pessoal e beleza em supermercados e hipermercados. Para a análise dos resultados, foram empregadas técnicas de análise multivariada de dados, como a Regressão Linear Múltipla, a Análise Fatorial Exploratória, a Regressão Logística, a Análise de Clusters, a Análise de Correspondência Múltipla (Homals), o General Linear Model (GLM) Multivariado e Testes de Hipóteses Paramétricos e Não-Paramétricos. Foi possível quantificar a influência das variáveis internas do GC (organização das prateleiras, abastecimento, variedade de marcas e tamanhos, nível de preços e freqüência das promoções) e externas ao GC (horário de funcionamento, condições de acesso, conforto do estacionamento, tempo de espera nas filas, ambiente interno, clareza dos cartazes e dos anúncios internos, formas de pagamento e condições de uso dos carrinhos e cestas) sobre o nível de satisfação geral dos consumidores, bem como definir, por meio da escala SERVPERF, as dimensões precursoras da satisfação com a qualidade em serviços: ambiente, confiança e imagem. Foi possível ainda: identificar as variáveis capazes de discriminar os locais de compra pelo conceito de saliência - localização da loja, ambiente interno e atendimento dos funcionários; constatar que as variáveis internas e externas ao GC não conseguem prever, adequadamente, o comportamento de compra dos grupos que realizam compras grandes ou pequenas; demonstrar que as variáveis demográficas (classes sociais pelo Critério Brasil, ciclo de vida da família e nível de escolaridade) não interferem no nível de satisfação decorrente das ferramentas do GC e estabelecer que as dimensões criadas para a escala SERVPERF exercem influência destacada sobre o grau de satisfação com as ações do GC. Os resultados e conclusões comprovam plenamente a tese desta pesquisa: \"O Gerenciamento por Categoria conduzido pela indústria tem efeito direto sobre o nível de satisfação dos consumidores de artigos de higiene pessoal e beleza adquiridos junto a supermercados e hipermercados\". / Category Management is an undeniable fact in large chains of supermarkets, drugstores and hardware shops and its tools have been contributing to improve the display of items on sale, supply, variety of brands and sizes, competitive prices and effective schedule of sales promotions - all of which aim at reducing stocks, increasing turnovers and profitability while surprising customers and offering them satisfaction. The literature available on the topic, however, doesn\'t refer to any studies focusing on satisfaction evaluation concerning services provided by supermarkets which have adopted CM. The issue this study addresses derived from the observation that, although implementation and management of CM intend to satisfy customers, they fall short to rate the degree of satisfaction brought about by the services being offered. On reviewing the literature on the subject, a survey covering aspects dealing with this management technique was carried out, along with customer behaviors, satisfaction conceptions and the ways to measure it, which comprised scales for service quality evaluation and the role of demographic variables in forming the construct. The exploratory analysis of empirical and theoretical bibliography pointed to the great convenience of making a field research to help identify the factors bearing on the level of consumer\'s satisfaction. A model of field research was adopted of descriptive type, with probabilistic sample procedure for 250 consumers living in the ABC Region who decided for which toiletries to buy at supermarkets. Result analysis required techniques of data multivariate analysis, such as Multiple Linear Regression, Factorial Analysis, Logistic Regression, Clusters Analysis, Correspondence Analysis (Homal\'s), GLM Multivariate Analysis, and Parametric and Non-Parametric Hypothesis Tests. That allowed measuring the influence of internal and external Category Management variables (the first being shelf display, restocking, variety of brands and sizes, price levels, and frequency of sales promotions, and the second working hours, access ease, parking facilities, time of queuing at check-outs, general supermarket atmosphere, clear written and oral communication in posters and loud-speaker announcements, forms of payment and trolley/basket conditions of maintenance) on the level of customer\'s general satisfaction, besides allowing to define - through SERVPERF scale - the fundamental dimensions of satisfaction with service quality: environment, trust and image. It was still possible to identify the variables which lead to the point of sales according to the concept of relevance: favorable site of store, general atmosphere and salesclerks service; checking that internal and external CM variables cannot predict adequately the purchase behavior of groups shopping for high and low volumes, pointing out that demographic variables (social class according to Critério Brasil, family life cycle and level of scholarship) do not interfere in the level of satisfaction arising from CM tools and determining that the dimensions made for the SERVPERF scale have strong influence on the degree of satisfaction regarding CM actions. The results and conclusions thoroughly confirm the thesis of the research: \"Category Management conducted by industry has direct effect on the level of satisfaction among consumers of toiletries bought in supermarkets\".

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:19:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2006-Leonardo Vila Nova Camara.pdf: 811986 bytes, checksum: 91277080779520ba8f5026a10c540bec (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-06-26 / In the second half of century XX the supermarkets had started to present a new concept for the Brazilian. Being popularized from 1990 with the economic opening where the ngression of supermarkets started multinationals, with high technology of information and a reduction of the practised edges, that prioritized the high turn of supply. This model provided a hange in the concept of the retail market, fortifying and valuing the choice of the consumer. This new conception of market forced the retail Brazilian companies to use new strategical tools, as it is the case of the present study: the logistic strategical planning. The research bjectified to evaluate the existence of the strategical planning with a boarding of the logistic one integrated aiming at competitiveness in the studied companies. This through the concepts most advanced on the logistic relation integrated strategical planning and, explaining that the organizations that better and more aprofundadamente implement the logistic strategical planning get resulted satisfactory competitive. The research was carried through in eight companies of the supermercadista sector in the city of S?o Gon?alo in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The used metodol?gica boarding was qualitative to identify to the difficulties, processes, cares and procedures and qualitative to identify the reasons, almost inexistent, of the implementation of the logistic strategical planning in averages and small companies of the studied sector. The type of Vergara research was used how much to the ends as of explorat?rio character and how much to the half ones if treating to a case study of the supermarkets sector of the type of field research, for having used closed form with justification and two opened answers, and document evaluation, supplied for the companies. One concludes that the process of the logistic planning possesss an importance as element that directs the efforts of the area of logistic integrated to reach resulted that they will contribute for the final objectives of the organization, constant of its coorporativa strategy. The main important question of this boarding is to create a competitive advantage of the company before its competitors, from pointers of performances (for example: logistic level of service and costs), critical factors of success proceeding from a well elaborated logistic strategy, amongst others. / Na segunda metade do s?culo XX os supermercados come?aram a apresentar um conceito novo para o brasileiro sendo popularizado a partir de 1990 com a abertura econ?mica quando come?ou o ingresso de supermercados multinacionais, com alta tecnologia de informa??o e uma redu??o das margens praticadas, que priorizava o alto giro de estoque. Este modelo proporcionou uma mudan?a no conceito do mercado de varejo, fortalecendo e valorizando a escolha do consumidor. Esta nova concep??o de mercado for?ou as empresas brasileiras varejistas a utilizarem novas ferramentas estrat?gicas, como ? o caso do presente estudo: o planejamento estrat?gico log?stico. A pesquisa objetivou avaliar a exist?ncia do planejamento estrat?gico com uma abordagem da log?stica integrada visando a competitividade nas empresas estudadas. Isto atrav?s dos conceitos mais avan?ados sobre a rela??o entre planejamento estrat?gico e log?stica integrada, explicando que as organiza??es que melhor e mais aprofundadamente implementam o planejamento estrat?gico log?stico obt?m resultados satisfat?rios competitivos. A pesquisa foi realizada em oito empresas do setor supermercadista no munic?pio de S?o Gon?alo no estado do Rio de Janeiro. A abordagem metodol?gica utilizada foi qualitativa para identificar as dificuldades, processos, cuidados e procedimentos e qualitativa para identificar as raz?es, quase inexistente, da implementa??o do planejamento estrat?gico log?stico em m?dias e pequenas empresas do setor estudado. O tipo de pesquisa abordado foi, segundo Vergara, quanto aos fins de car?cter explorat?rio e quanto aos meios de car?cter de estudo de caso. O estudo de caso foi com ?nfase no setor supermercadista utilizando a pesquisa de campo atrav?s de uso de formul?rio fechado com justificativa e com duas respostas abertas, bem como avalia??o de documentos, fornecidos pelas empresas. Conclui-se que o processo do planejamento log?stico possui uma import?ncia como elemento que direciona os esfor?os da ?rea de log?stica integrada para alcan?ar resultados que contribuir?o para os objetivos finais da organiza??o, constante da sua estrat?gia coorporativa. A principal quest?o importante dessa abordagem ? criar uma vantagem competitiva da empresa perante seus concorrentes, a partir de indicadores de desempenhos (por exemplo: n?vel de servi?o e custos log?sticos), fatores cr?ticos de sucesso provenientes de uma estrat?gia log?stica bem elaborada, dentre outros.

The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in a supermarket tour improves nutrition knowledge and eating behavior in adult participants. Participants were recruited in communities surrounding Food City stores, a local supermarket. Prior to completing a standardized tour, participants completed a survey to assess nutrition knowledge and eating behavior. This survey was given to participants again three months later. A program evaluation was given one time at the end of the tour. Data analysis revealed no significant findings, other than the behavior-based question: “How many meals or snacks on most days included vegetables”. Vegetable consumption appeared to decrease. All participants who completed the program evaluation reported they learned something new as a result of the tour and were satisfied with the experience. These findings suggest that nutrition education provided in supermarkets is well-received by participants, but additional research with objective measures is needed.

This thesis examines the nature of labour usage within a market-leading Australian food retail firm and the employment relations consequences of the labour usage strategies employed by the firm. Retail employment is well established as a research subject in the UK, but has received comparatively little research attention in Australia. Given that retail industry employment accounts for 15 per cent of the Australian workforce, this represents a significant oversight. Within the retail industry, the supermarket and grocery sector employs 6 per cent of the Australian workforce. The sector is dominated by two major chains and is highly competitive, with a reputation for low profit margins, mundane jobs and low pay. The sector is recognised for an employment structure that is segmented with one segment holding full-time jobs with core employment conditions and the other segment, part-time jobs with poor working conditions. The dominant theory used by scholars to explain this employment structure is the dual labour market model and later iterations such as Atkinson's flexible firm model. This research assesses the value of these models, in particular Atkinson's flexible firm model, as a representation of the labour usage strategies of a market-leading Australian food retail firm. This analysis demonstrates that, in a general sense, Atkinson's model has applicability to the labour usage strategies exhibited in food retailing. The research found that, contrary to the theories of dual labour markets, a strong internal labour market operated within the firm with short hours casual employment as the port of entry. The benefits of this practice for the organisation were flexibility in labour usage and substantial wage savings, while the negative consequences were recruitment difficulties, exacerbated by high levels of staff turnover. For the employees, the consequences depended on their position in the organisational hierarchy and their individual circumstances, but involved initially accepting limited working hours and low pay in order to gain entry into the organisation. The research undertaken for this thesis leads to the development of a revised model, the casual internal labour market model, which more accurately depicts the labour usage strategies within the case study organisation. Retail researchers argue that it is necessary to understand the dynamics of the industry in order to understand the structure of labour usage. Additionally, employment relations and retail researchers both stress the need to contextualise labour usage patterns within broader environmental constraints and supply side factors. In seeking to achieve this, this research examines business strategies, retail specific employment relations literature and the Australian employment relations context. Furthermore, this study addresses the issue of retail employment strategies at several levels within one of Australia's market-leading food retailers: corporate level, store level and at the level of individual departments within the store. In doing so, this thesis highlights the differences in labour usage between stores and between departments within the stores and thereby provides a more detailed picture of the labour use practices within food retailers.