O presente trabalho analisa a importância da determinação de preços para a competitividade do varejo supermercadista. Após uma revisão da literatura sobre as diversas definições de preços e as formas de estabelecê-los, são analisadas as seis etapas propostas por especialistas de marketing para o apreçamento estratégico de produtos. Nessas seis etapas são discutidas a influência da demanda e a importância dos custos, os métodos de estabelecimento mais utilizados, descrevendo-se suas características e limitações, as técnicas de adequação à diversas situações, bem como a seleção do preço final. Os passos adotados pelos varejistas são também abordados, assim como outras variáveis que têm impacto na estratégia escolhida para se fixar os preços nos supermercados, além da demanda, dos custos e dos concorrentes. Por fim, as estratégias de apreçamento são estudadas empiricamente, por meio de entrevistas em profundidade com gerentes de três redes de varejo de grande porte que atuam no mercado nacional, onde é verificada a utilização das técnicas de apreçamento, como instrumento de auxílio na tomada de decisões relacionadas aos programas de preço da empresa. Em conclusão, verifica-se que à medida que os especialistas em varejo buscam mais bases científicas e confiáveis para auxiliar na tomada de decisões quanto à definição de políticas de preços, é essencial que possuam uma compreensão clara dos conceitos e das variáveis da que influenciam na determinação dos preços dos produtos que comercializam, assim como o conhecimento das diversas técnicas de apreçamento, além do mark-up. / The present paper analyses the importance of pricing for the competitiveness of the retail sector (supermarkets). After a bibliographic survey on the several definitions concerning price and how it is determinate, six steps, proposed by marketing experts, to products strategic pricing are analyzed. In these steps, the demand influence, the costs importance and the most important pricing methods are discussed, describing their characteristics and limitations, the techniques to adequate it to different situations, as so as the final price selection. The steps that are adopted by supermarket retail are also outlined, thus as the variables that have some influence on its chosen pricing strategy. Demand and competitors costs are also analyzed. Finally, pricing strategies are empirically studied through multicases study on three large retail chains. In this part, the use by these companies of pricing methods as a tool to assist decision making related to the long-run pricing programs is verified. In conclusion, it is seen that, while retail specialists seek more scientific and reliable bases for aiding the decisions regarding the price strategies, it is essential that they posses a clear comprehension of the concepts and the variables that have influence on products price determination that are commercialized by themselves, as well as the technical skills to pricing, besides the mark-up method.

O presente trabalho analisa a importância da determinação de preços para a competitividade do varejo supermercadista. Após uma revisão da literatura sobre as diversas definições de preços e as formas de estabelecê-los, são analisadas as seis etapas propostas por especialistas de marketing para o apreçamento estratégico de produtos. Nessas seis etapas são discutidas a influência da demanda e a importância dos custos, os métodos de estabelecimento mais utilizados, descrevendo-se suas características e limitações, as técnicas de adequação à diversas situações, bem como a seleção do preço final. Os passos adotados pelos varejistas são também abordados, assim como outras variáveis que têm impacto na estratégia escolhida para se fixar os preços nos supermercados, além da demanda, dos custos e dos concorrentes. Por fim, as estratégias de apreçamento são estudadas empiricamente, por meio de entrevistas em profundidade com gerentes de três redes de varejo de grande porte que atuam no mercado nacional, onde é verificada a utilização das técnicas de apreçamento, como instrumento de auxílio na tomada de decisões relacionadas aos programas de preço da empresa. Em conclusão, verifica-se que à medida que os especialistas em varejo buscam mais bases científicas e confiáveis para auxiliar na tomada de decisões quanto à definição de políticas de preços, é essencial que possuam uma compreensão clara dos conceitos e das variáveis da que influenciam na determinação dos preços dos produtos que comercializam, assim como o conhecimento das diversas técnicas de apreçamento, além do mark-up. / The present paper analyses the importance of pricing for the competitiveness of the retail sector (supermarkets). After a bibliographic survey on the several definitions concerning price and how it is determinate, six steps, proposed by marketing experts, to products strategic pricing are analyzed. In these steps, the demand influence, the costs importance and the most important pricing methods are discussed, describing their characteristics and limitations, the techniques to adequate it to different situations, as so as the final price selection. The steps that are adopted by supermarket retail are also outlined, thus as the variables that have some influence on its chosen pricing strategy. Demand and competitors costs are also analyzed. Finally, pricing strategies are empirically studied through multicases study on three large retail chains. In this part, the use by these companies of pricing methods as a tool to assist decision making related to the long-run pricing programs is verified. In conclusion, it is seen that, while retail specialists seek more scientific and reliable bases for aiding the decisions regarding the price strategies, it is essential that they posses a clear comprehension of the concepts and the variables that have influence on products price determination that are commercialized by themselves, as well as the technical skills to pricing, besides the mark-up method.

The nature and role of workplace literacy and numeracy are the subject of considerable debate (Baker, 1998; Castleton, 2002; Gee & Lankshear, 1997; Hull, 1997; Jackson, 2000; Marr & Hagston, 2007). The debate in New Zealand, (as in many other countries), is taking place amid concerns about the adequacy of the skills of its workforce and the latter’s ability to meet future demands of everyday work and life (Tertiary Education Commission, 2008). These concerns have resulted in major investment at a national level in a Skills Strategy (New Zealand Government, 2008) with particular emphasis on improving adult literacy and numeracy levels. However, Castleton (2002) suggests that conceptualising literacy as a skill ignores the reality of workplaces which, she suggests, consist of communities of workers who engage in purposeful communication and who possess and use different skills and knowledge in complementary ways, while Hull (1997) believes that too great an emphasis is placed on literacy, particularly in low skilled work. I teach on a programme for students with limited English literacy and numeracy proficiency. A common entry point into the workforce for current and past learners from the programme is entry-level supermarket work. However there is limited information available about the literacy and numeracy pre-requisites for this type of work or the literacy and numeracy demands placed on those in employment. In seeking to contribute to the body of knowledge about low skilled work in general and entry-level supermarket work in particular, research was carried out in a large, busy, suburban supermarket. The study was underpinned by the belief that both literacy and numeracy are social practices which cannot be separated from the contexts in which they occur. It adopted an ethnographic approach and was conducted through semi-structured interviews with supermarket managers and entry-level workers/supermarket assistants; observation of assistants during induction and at work; and analysis of some significant supermarket documentation. Findings indicate that, while literacy and numeracy are generally not considered to be important pre-requisites for entry-level supermarket work, supermarket assistants are exposed to highly context-specific literacy texts and ‘embedded’ and invisible numeracy demands at induction and during parts of their working day. The findings have significance for the teaching of literacy and numeracy in vocational training programmes. They indicate that off-site programmes have an important role to play in providing a learning foundation but also point to the importance of, and need for, workplace-specific, on-the-job literacy and numeracy training.

The nature and role of workplace literacy and numeracy are the subject of considerable debate (Baker, 1998; Castleton, 2002; Gee & Lankshear, 1997; Hull, 1997; Jackson, 2000; Marr & Hagston, 2007). The debate in New Zealand, (as in many other countries), is taking place amid concerns about the adequacy of the skills of its workforce and the latter’s ability to meet future demands of everyday work and life (Tertiary Education Commission, 2008). These concerns have resulted in major investment at a national level in a Skills Strategy (New Zealand Government, 2008) with particular emphasis on improving adult literacy and numeracy levels. However, Castleton (2002) suggests that conceptualising literacy as a skill ignores the reality of workplaces which, she suggests, consist of communities of workers who engage in purposeful communication and who possess and use different skills and knowledge in complementary ways, while Hull (1997) believes that too great an emphasis is placed on literacy, particularly in low skilled work. I teach on a programme for students with limited English literacy and numeracy proficiency. A common entry point into the workforce for current and past learners from the programme is entry-level supermarket work. However there is limited information available about the literacy and numeracy pre-requisites for this type of work or the literacy and numeracy demands placed on those in employment. In seeking to contribute to the body of knowledge about low skilled work in general and entry-level supermarket work in particular, research was carried out in a large, busy, suburban supermarket. The study was underpinned by the belief that both literacy and numeracy are social practices which cannot be separated from the contexts in which they occur. It adopted an ethnographic approach and was conducted through semi-structured interviews with supermarket managers and entry-level workers/supermarket assistants; observation of assistants during induction and at work; and analysis of some significant supermarket documentation. Findings indicate that, while literacy and numeracy are generally not considered to be important pre-requisites for entry-level supermarket work, supermarket assistants are exposed to highly context-specific literacy texts and ‘embedded’ and invisible numeracy demands at induction and during parts of their working day. The findings have significance for the teaching of literacy and numeracy in vocational training programmes. They indicate that off-site programmes have an important role to play in providing a learning foundation but also point to the importance of, and need for, workplace-specific, on-the-job literacy and numeracy training.

Energy demand attributable to the operation of supermarkets on-site is thought to be responsible for 1% of UK greenhouse gas emissions. In use data show a performance gap approaching a factor of three for overall energy use, with a gap of a factor of six in energy demand for heating. This performance gap indicates significant faults in the conventional modelling route. Current building regulations in the UK require the "building related" energy use of new commercial buildings to comply with particular requirements. Supermarket buildings are therefore modelled according to these protocols to establish their predicted energy demand. The impact on this predicted energy demand of the exclusion of process energy (eg for refrigeration) from these protocols is explored by modelling a supermarket retail floor with heat transfers related to refrigerated cabinets, and comparing the sensitivities of such models with those of models compliant with regulatory protocols. Whereas models compliant with regulatory protocols indicate an advantage of limiting the level of insulation and airtightness, and allowing stratification, to facilitate heat loss through the store envelope; models that include heat transfers around the refrigerated cabinets are found to show that energy demand may be decreased by up to 40% by doubling both insulation and airtightness, and by destratification. This will, however, only apply if rates of air change in buildings in use match those modelled. This shows the importance of including heat transfers around refrigerated cabinets in design modelling, so that appropriate decisions may be taken with respect to building envelope parameters. Compliance modelling protocols should be changed to reflect this. In order to facilitate this change and enable modelling of refrigerated cabinets within a compliance model through a few simple inputs, a set of data and associated algorithms is derived and offered for inclusion in compliance modelling tools.

O presente trabalho foi realizado na cidade de Fortaleza/Ce, e tem como objetivo analisar o nÃvel de satisfaÃÃo, a partir do ponto de vista dos consumidores, da qualidade dos serviÃos disponibilizados pelos supermercados de vizinhanÃa. Foi aplicado um estudo de natureza exploratÃria, utilizando-se um referencial bibliogrÃfico, de autores clÃssicos do marketing, revistas e periÃdicos especÃficos, discorrendo as teorias que contemplam o varejo, e particularmente os supermercados. Foi realizada tambÃm pesquisa de campo, com o levantamento de dados primÃrios atravÃs da aplicacao de questionÃrios com amostra de 400 consumidores, que analisou o seu nÃvel de satisfaÃÃo e as variÃveis empregadas pelo consumidor, para efeito de definiÃÃo do supermercado. Os resultados obtidos, a partir deste trabalho de pesquisa, foram suficientes para obtenÃÃo de seus objetivos. Os consumidores demonstraram um sentimento de satisfaÃÃo, embora nÃo tenha atingido a excelÃncia, quanto a qualidade do mix de serviÃos que os supermercados disponibilizam, considerando-o positivo e semelhantes aos existentes nas grandes redes, exercendo grande influencia na sua decisÃo de compra. As conclusÃes que foram extraÃdas sinalizaram que o supermercado de vizinhanÃa està consolidado pois os consumidores estÃo respondendo positivamente a este formato de loja e que os fatores relevantes, para a definiÃÃo do supermercado,em ordem de prioridade sÃo preÃos, localizaÃÃo e variedade de produtos.

The thesis performed in this research is focused on a particular type of energy system, energy systems in supermarkets. As supermarkets are high-energy using buildings, their energy system optimization has been investigated in recent years, with the main focus in the refrigeration system, which can take up to 50% of the total energy of the supermarket. However, the complexity and interconnections of the different systems increase the difficulty of the task. The aim of this work is to contribute in SuperSmart project, an EU project which main objective is to reduce the impact of the supermarket sector overall Europe, through the development of an ecolabel criteria. To simulate the energy use in supermarkets, CyberMart software is bring forward. This tool is used both to determine the parameters which have a higher impact in the supermarket energy system and perform energy representation based on those parameters. Finally, the design of the most energy efficient store is also presented. According to CyberMart, some of the most determinant parameters in the supermarket energy system are refrigeration capacities, plug in cabinets used, lights power, heating system technologies used and whether the cabinets are covered or not. Using some of these parameters plus other important characteristics from the store, two energy representations are performed. Whereas the quadratic representation provides the final results concerning heat or electricity demands with a high accuracy, the linear representation presents the increase or decrease of kWh per each parameter, enabling supermarkets owners to compare different parameters within the global system. It is concluded from these representations, which distinguish between heat recovery and floating condensing technologies, that the most important parameters in the global system are the temperature inside at winter and the refrigeration capacity. However, some unreasonable events appear, like the decline of electricity demand when the height of the building increases or the drop of heat demand with the rise of opening hours. These facts occur due to the high complexity of the global system, implying different connections between the sub-systems within CyberMart. Concerning the most energy efficient store located in Stockholm, the obtained results show the most energy efficient supermarket is composed by CO2 refrigeration and heating systems, and a R410_A air conditioning system. The optimal electricity use of each establishment size from large to small area is 382, 394, 390 and 281 kWh/m2*year respectively, with the highest values obtained in Supermarkets and Discount stores, due to their higher rate of refrigeration power per store area. Keywords: Supermarket, refrigeration system, SuperSmart, CyberMart, heating system, refrigeration capacity, plug in cabinets, lights power, heating system technology, covering of the cabinets, energy representation, heat recovery technology, floating condensing technology, air conditioning system, Discount store.

The main focus of this diploma thesis is on efficient and economic establishment of in-house logistics decentralised parts storage areas, called supermarkets, from which parts are feeded to the assembly line, in line with just-in-sequence philosophy. The paper is divided into seven chapters, first three chapters give theoretical basics for establishment of supermarkets. They introduce process management, Toyota produciton system and supermarket concept. Fourth, fifth and sixth chapters map and evaluate the supermarket situation in ŠKODA AUTO a.s., including the introduction of the company, its production system, supermarket situation and their optimalisation in 2013. In the last chapter, an analyses of several supermarkets is presented, with a suggestion for improvement of efficiency in these supermarkets.

No description available.

This thesis summarises the work performed within the project known as ICE-COOL at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) on low tem-perature applications of ice slurry. The ICE-COOL project is a Euro-pean Community funded project within the 5th Framework Program. The task given to KTH was to find and characterize the best possible aqueous solution with a freezing point of -25 °C applicable for ice slurry with an operating temperature of -35 °C. The circumstances differ for low temperature ice slurry from medium temperature as a result of for example the change in thermo-physical properties due to increased addi-tive concentration and the lower temperature. Ice slurry is a mixture of fine ice crystals, water and freezing point de-pressant additives. The typical ice crystal size ranges between 0.1 to 1 mm in diameter. The main purpose of using ice slurries is to take advan-tage of the latent heat. More than a few requirements are to be fulfilled by an ideal ice slurry fluid. It should have good thermo-physical proper-ties, high heat transport and transfer abilities, as well as low pressure drop to facilitate small pumping power. The ice content of ice slurry af-fects all the mentioned abilities. Apart from the mentioned factors of the fluid, there are other aspects that have to be taken into consideration such as environmental pollution and toxicity, flammability, material compatibility, corrosion, handling security and cost. This thesis reports on the experiences accomplished and the initial ex-periments performed on low temperature ice slurry. The thesis also gives the background and fundamentals necessary for a discussion and com-parison of different aqueous fluids suitable for ice slurry in general and for low temperature in particular. In addition to the low temperature ap-plication, the thesis also reports on an initial energy consumption com-parison between using ice slurry and single-phase fluid in supermarkets by means of the simulation program CyberMart developed by Jaime Arias at the Department of Energy Technology at KTH. / QC 20101202