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Pei, Zhi. "Internal and External Drivers of Consumers’ Product Return Behaviors." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2015. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc804862/.
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Product return is a necessary part of the exchange process between companies and customers. It accounts for approximately 16% of total sales and a reduction in retailer / manufacturer profits by 3.8% on average. However, industry data also indicates that a significant portion of products are returned for reasons other than product failure – e.g., change of mind, found a lower price elsewhere, or fraudulent and unethical reasons. Consequently, many firms (e.g., REI) have altered their generous return policies to protect their profits. However, it’s been found that the restricted return policy could also reduce customer satisfaction, increase the perceived risk, and thus negatively affect customers’ loyalty towards a particular store or firm. Thus having a restrictive return policy does not help either. Extant literature mainly focuses on return policies. Little attention has been devoted to the product return behavior itself, thus missing the consumer’s perspective. This study, therefore, focuses on understanding consumers’ return behaviors, including different types of return behaviors, and the drivers and consequences of these different return behaviors. Towards this goal, this study first categorizes all possible types of consumers’ return behaviors into two broad categories - legitimate return behaviors and opportunistic return behaviors. Second, both internal (i.e., variety seeking, impulsiveness, perceived uniqueness, materialism, level of morality, and self-monitoring) and external drivers (i.e., product compatibility, returning cost, perceived risk, complexity of procedure, and social group influence) of consumers’ product return behaviors are identified. Third, the relationship between these drivers of return behavior and the type of return behavior are examined. Finally, the influence of these two different types of return behaviors on consumer’s re-patronage intention is examined. This study uses a survey method to collect data in two phases - pilot phase and main study. In the pilot phase, data were collected from students and used to assess the factor structure, reliability and validity. In the main study, data were collected from both students (N=367) and non-students using M-Turk (N=395). The psychometric properties of the scale items were once again assessed using covariance based Confirmatory Factor Analysis procedure. Finally, multivariate regression was used to test the hypothesized relationships between the drivers of return behavior, types of return behavior, and the re-patronage intention. The findings indicate that product compatibility and desire for uniqueness negatively influence legitimate return behavior; whereas impulsiveness, perceived risk and social group have a positive influence. For opportunistic return behavior, social group and immorality positively influence both legitimate and opportunistic return behavior. However, other drivers have no influence on consumers’ return behavior. Finally, legitimate return behavior positively influences consumer’s re-patronage intention, while opportunistic return behavior has a negative influence. This study makes two major contributions. First, it contributes to the theoretical understanding of complex return behavior, including legitimate return and opportunistic return behavior, and thus adds depth to the literature of product returns. Second, by identifying the drivers of product return behaviors such as product compatibility, perceived risk of keeping the product, social group influence, and immorality, this study offers managers knowledge that will help reduce product returns, thus increasing their profits.
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Zetterberg, Maria, Ellinor Lönnström, and Filippa Bäckegren. "Customers’ return reasons and preferences about product-oriented tools : An exploratory mixed methods research in a fashion e-commerce context." Thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Akademin för textil, teknik och ekonomi, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-23933.
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Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore whether customers’ return reasons differ between product groups and if their e-commerce experience is related to the return reasons. Moreover, we test if customers’ e-commerce experience is related to whether they refrain from ordering apparel when there is a perceived absence of information, and what product-oriented tools they prefer when purchasing apparel online. Design/methodology/approach: This is an exploratory mixed methods research within a fashion e-commerce context. We initiated the study by a systematic literature review to identify an underdeveloped area in the literature. As a result, it details an investigation of return reasons and product-oriented tools based on a focus group and customer survey. Findings: Results show that return reasons to some extent were similar between the product groups, where size and fit were the most common reasons for returns. However, the given share of the return reasons differed between the product groups. It became evident that some product-oriented tools are more preferred than others, namely product reviews and model-related tools (i.e. specified measurements and pictures on different sized models). Findings further show that a majority of respondents would completely or sometimes refrain from purchasing when there is an absence of information online. These findings were also investigated in relation to customers’ e-commerce experience, where we found a relationship between the variables. Practical implications: Several meaningful insights for fashion online retailers are developed from the results of this study, which can help them minimise unnecessary returns. While return reasons among apparel have, in the past, been analysed on an aggregated level, this study contradicts this practice. This study further suggests retailers to determine whether and how to manage, maintain and prioritise product-oriented tools on their website while still being in line with customers’ preferences and expectations. Originality/value of paper: This study contributes toward the literature of returns management in the fashion e-commerce context by, firstly, examining whether customers’ return reasons differ between product groups and secondly by investigating their preferences of product-oriented tools when purchasing apparel online. Lastly, it contributes through taking customers’ e-commerce experience of purchasing apparel online into consideration.
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Posazhennikova, Victoria, Kathleen Davey, and Claudia Hirschfeld. "Catching the Boomerang : The Product Return Process of Swedish E-Retailers." Thesis, Jönköping University, JIBS, Business Administration, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-12341.
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One of the newest emerging areas of research in supply chain management is ReverseLogistics. It involves all activities related to the flow of products from the customerback to the supplier. In the last decade scholars have developed theories and models,however empirical data is still in its infancy. In response, this paper strives to close thisgap by conducting research to create new knowledge on the first element of reverselogistics, which is the product return process. The main intention of having a returnprocess is to handle returned products efficiently in order to recover value and to savecosts. Therefore, it is a value-adding operation and can become profitable for thecompany.The purpose of this study is to investigate the implementation and perception of thereturn process of Swedish e-retailers. Sweden is considered to be one of the mostmatured e-commerce markets. In addition, e-retailers experience the highest rate ofproduct returns. Together those two factors influenced the decision to dedicate thisthesis to this particular region and industry.Initially, this paper introduces reverse logistics focusing specifically on the productreturn process. An overview of the existing theories and concepts within the returnprocess is presented and summarized, resulting in the creation of the Boomerang ReturnModel. Based on this foundation the questionnaire was created. By cooperating with theSwedish e-retail federation - Svensk Distanshandel, access to the industry was gained toperform a quantitative study.It was found that the empirical data only gives insight into the implementation andperception of the return process of small sized companies. The findings demonstrate thelimited awareness of the importance of an efficient return process. Companies tend toperceive the return process as unimportant instead of value adding. Hence, there is anopportunity for improvements in the Swedish e-retail market. From these findings amodified version of the Boomerang Return Model was created to adjust the initialmodel particularly for small sized companies. The model can be utilized as a theoreticalgroundwork in future research. Additionally, it could also serve as guidance for smallcompanies how to implement an appropriate return process.
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Forslind, K. H. "Return to sender : essays on extended producer responsibility /." Linköping : Ekonomiska institutionen, Linköpings universitet [distributör], 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-8218.
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Lamsali, Hendrik. "Selection of return channels and recovery options for used products." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2013. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/13528.
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Due to legal, economic and socio-environmental factors, reverse logistics practices and extended producer responsibility have developed into a necessity in many countries. The end results and expectations may differ, but the motivation remains the same. Two significant components in a reverse logistics system -product recovery options and return channels - are the focus of this thesis. The two main issues examined are allocation of the returned products to recovery options, and selection of the collection methods for product returns. The initial segment of this thesis involves the formulation of a linear programming model to determine the optimal allocation of returned products differing in quality to specific recovery options. This model paves the way for a study on the effects of flexibility on product recovery allocation. A computational example utilising experimental data was presented to demonstrate the viability of the proposed model. The results revealed that in comparison to a fixed match between product qualities and recovery options, the product recovery operation appeared to be more profitable with a flexible allocation. The second segment of this thesis addresses the methods employed for the initial collection of returned products. A mixed integer nonlinear programming model was developed to facilitate the selection of optimal collection methods for these products. This integrated model takes three different initial collection methods into consideration. The model is used to solve an illustrative example optimally. However, as the complexity of the issue renders this process ineffective in the face of larger problems, the Lagrangian relaxation method was proposed to generate feasible solutions within reasonable computational times. This method was put to the test and the results were found to be encouraging.
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Nordgren, Jonathan, and Debora Johansson. "Reverse logistics management and its environmental impact: the return transportation in Sweden." Thesis, Internationella Handelshögskolan, Jönköping University, IHH, Företagsekonomi, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-48632.
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With product returns, reverse logistics management is causing a big environmental impact, especially product returns from online shopping provided by the third-party logistics (3PL) companies. There is a need for understanding in what ways 3PL companies could reduce the environmental impact and at the same time stay competitive. This thesis qualitative method is based on semi-structured interviews with the objective to highlight the management of return transportation. Specifically, the challenges for third-party logistics (3PL) companies to reduce their environmental impact by managing the transportation of product returns and keeping their economic performances. Supporting the study, 3PL companies and end-customers, in Sweden, proposed long-term organized advice (as additional service) to the 3PLs customers for helping them reducing cost and their impact on the environment. The study suggested that 3PL companies are required to emphasize the management of transportation agreements, not only to include adequate economic clauses but also the terms for achieving environmental performances. In the long-term, these agreements will allow 3PL companies to achievetheir environmental performances and remaining competitive. The study recognized that implication for managers might be, for them to keep updated on environmental changes applying that customer’s new demands could require a different way (than today) for managing their logistics organizations. For example, these changes could have great implications for early and consistent managerial actions, impacting the reverse logistics processes, like the transportation of the returned products.
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Yaschhuk, Lyudmila. "Ecological and economic aspects of processing return the product to OJC "Cherkasyhlib"." Thesis, Видавництво СумДУ, 2011. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/10345.
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Nilsson, Malin, and Louise Lantz. "Product Return Process : Developing a Web-Based Return Form to Improve the Information Flow between an Apparel Company and Its Retailers." Thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Textilhögskolan, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-16803.
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Handling product returns has become a critical activity for organizations as the volume of gods flowing back through the supply chain rapidly increases. Few research studies have published specific empirical data concerning the reverse logistics practices of companies. Information technology and information support has long been recognized as a competitive weapon – capable of enhancing company performance and achieving efficient reverse logistics. Reverse logistics is very unlike the forward, as it is more reactive and also has less visibility. Unlike forward logistics, incoming products from reverse logistics are not tracked broadly because of the lack of information systems resources necessary.The investigated apparel company in this study is operating on the global market and expands their sales twenty per cent each year, resulting in increased pressure in the return flow. To meet this future demands, the return process has to be more efficient and not so time consuming. This study emerged from a case study made at the return department of this apparel company based on a research question. An improvement area was discovered through interviews, internal documents and observations. This area was investigated in existing theories through books and scientific research papers. From the theories and the case study, a hypothesis was created in order to be tested. To strengthen the hypothesis, an experiment was developed and performed at selected retailers and at the apparel company.Research Question Where in the product return process can improvements be made in order to make the information flow more efficient between retailers and an apparel company?HypothesisBy creating a web-based return form, the information flow between retailers and an apparel company will be more efficient, resulting in a more effective and structured product return process.Through the experiment, various factors that strengthen the hypothesis were discovered. For instance, the information flow becomes more effective when retailers have clear guidelines how to send back products and when inserting the information into the computer system before returning. As the apparel company knows what is coming back, the disposition of returned products can be predetermined which will speed up the return process. Shared and available information across various parties facilitate the daily work with better communication. Furthermore, activities that are existing today within the return process can be eliminated which result in more effective product return process. Refund for retailers can be made quicker which result in more satisfied retailers and creates stronger relationships.Program: Master programme in Applied Textile Management
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Knight, Darren C. "Return on Investment Analysis for Implementing Barriers to Reverse Engineering and Imitation." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2011. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/2633.
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Reverse engineering (extracting information about a product from the product itself) is a competitive strategy for many firms and is often costly to innovators. Recent research has proven metrics for estimating the reverse engineering time and barrier and has shown that products can strategically be made more difficult to reverse engineer, thus protecting the innovator. Reverse engineering, however, is only the first phase of attempting to duplicate a product. Imitating – the process of discovering how to physically reproduce the performance of the reverse engineered product in one or more of its performance areas – is the second and final phase. This thesis presents metrics for the time and barrier to imitating and shows how they can be joined with reverse engineering metrics to estimate a total time and total barrier to duplicate a product. As there is a cost associated with the design of barriers to reverse engineering and in imitating it is important that a return on investment analysis be performed to ensure a profitable endeavor. Details of such an analysis are presented here. To illustrate the methodology, two case studies are presented. The first is an analysis of KithcenAid's Stand Mixer. The second is an analysis of a cantilevered "L-beam" that has been structurally optimized under four conditions to achieve a specified mechanical performance. Additionally, anecdotal solutions to creating barriers to reverse engineering and imitating are discussed throughout.
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Rubenking, Brian Harold. "Market forces and aircraft safety: a daily stock market return analysis." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/45178.
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The relationship between market forces and product safety in the context of the commercial passenger air travel market was investigated. The analysis was based on a detailed review of the events surrounding three airline accidents, each resulting in a substantial number of fatalities, and the subsequent investigations.
The presence or absence of statistically significant market impacts of the accidents on aircraft manufacturers and airlines was determined using a combination of event analysis and the market model of modern finance theory. For a period following each accident, daily and cumulative abnormal stock market returns (i.e., returns not explained by pre-accident market trends) were calculated for the three domestic commercial aircraft manufacturers, the airline involved, and the major airline carrier industry.
The results indicated that market forces exist that provide an incentive for manufacturers and airlines to devote resources to product safety, even though it is not possible for consumers to rationally evaluate the level of safety being provided, due to the inherent complexity of the products. The calculated market impacts generally conformed to expectations, in terms of sign and significance, and varied depending on the primary cause of a particular accident. However, the results with respect to the individual airlines involved in each accident did not support the hypotheses in several cases, indicating that other market, regulatory, or judicial factors may have had an impact on the calculated abnormal stock market returns.
A description of the background theory, the methodology used, and the detailed results is included.Master of Arts
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Karlsson, Victor, Rikard Svensson, and Viktor Eklöf. "Contingent Hedging : Applying Financial Portfolio Theory on Product Portfolios." Thesis, Internationella Handelshögskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, IHH, Företagsekonomi, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-18602.
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In an ever-changing global environment, the ability to adapt to the current economic climate is essential for a company to prosper and survive. Numerous previous re- search state that better risk management and low overall risks will lead to a higher firm value. The purpose of this study is to examine if portfolio theory, made for fi- nancial portfolios, can be used to compose product portfolios in order to minimize risk and optimize returns. The term contingent hedge is defined as an optimal portfolio that can be identified today, that in the future will yield a stable stream of returns at a low level of risk. For companies that might engage in costly hedging activities on the futures market, the benefits of creat- ing a contingent hedge are several. These include creating an optimized portfolio that minimizes risk and avoid trading contracts on futures markets that would incur hefty transaction costs and risks. Using quantitative financial models, product portfolio compositions are generated and compared with the returns and risks profile of individual commodities, as well as the actual product portfolio compositions of publicly traded mining companies. Us- ing Modern Portfolio Theory an efficient frontier is generated, yielding two inde- pendent portfolios, the minimum risk portfolio and the tangency portfolio. The Black-Litterman model is also used to generate yet another portfolio using a Bayesian approach. The portfolios are generated by historic time-series data and compared with the actual future development of commodities; the portfolios are then analyzed and compared. The results indicate that the minimum risk portfolio provides a signif- icantly lower risk than the compositions of all mining companies in the study, as well as the risks of individual commodities. This in turn will lead to several benefits for company management and the firm’s shareholders that are discussed throughout the study. However, as for a return-optimizing portfolio, no significant results can be found. Furthermore, the analysis suggests a series of improvements that could potentially yield an even greater result. The recommendation is that mining companies can use the methods discussed throughout this study as a way to generate a costless contin- gent hedge, rather than engage in hedging activities on futures markets.
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Pudas, Markus, and Andreas Sohlman. "Effektiv återtillverkningsprocess genom kvalitetsstyrd returlogistik." Thesis, Tekniska Högskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, JTH, Industriell organisation och produktion, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-31663.
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Syfte – Syftet med detta examensarbete är att bidra med kunskap om hur kvalitetsstyrning av inkommande returflöde kan generera en effektivare återtillverkningsprocess. För att uppfylla syftet har följande två frågeställningar formulerats: Vilka faktorer i returflödet påverkar effektiviteten i en återtillverkningsprocess? Hur kan dessa faktorer kontrolleras för att erhålla en effektivare återtillverkningsprocess? Metod – För att uppnå examensarbetets syfte har en fallstudie genomförts hos återtillverkningsföretaget Recyctec AB i Jönköping. Empirisk data har samlats in med hjälp av intervjuer, observationer och benchmarking. Utöver fallstudien har en litteraturstudie genomförts där ett teoretiskt ramverk skapats. Det teoretiska ramverket har sedan analyserats tillsammans med empirin för att slutligen generera examensarbetets resultat. Resultat – De osäkerhetsfaktorer som författarna identifierat är: drivkrafter för ett återtillverkningsnätverk, osäkerheter i returnerade produkter och kvalitetsbedömning av returnerade produkter. Genom att arbeta med åtgärder för returproduktanskaffning och kvalitetsstyrning för dessa tre osäkerhetsfaktorer kan en effektivare återställningsprocess erhållas. Genom att kombinera olika drivkrafter kan samarbetsviljan i återställningsnätverket ökas. Vidare kan osäkerheten i returnerade produkter minskas genom att dela in kvalitet i olika tydligt definierade och standardiserade kvalitetsklasser. Implikationer – I detta examensarbete föreslås återtillverkande företag skifta fokus från kvalitetskontroller till kvalitetssäkring och lägga resurser där problemen uppstår. Vidare föreslås även en kombination av olika drivkrafter för returproduktanskaffning för att därigenom skapa incitament för returer av bättre kvalitet. Begränsningar – Befintlig teori har fått tolkas och anpassas av författarna för examensarbetet då specifik teori för aktuell analysenhet inte funnits att tillgå. Problemställningarna i återtillverkningsbranschen har visat sig vara branschspecifika och därmed olika. Examensarbetets generaliserbarhet hade därmed kunnat stärkas av ytterligare fallstudier.Purpose – The purpose of this thesis work is to contribute with knowledge about how quality management can generate a more efficient remanufacturing process. In order to fulfill this purpose the following two questions were formulated: 1. Which factors in the return flow affects the efficiency of a remanufacturing process? How can these factors be controlled to obtain a more efficient remanufacturing process? Method – In order to achieve the purpose of this thesis, a case study has been conducted at Recyctec AB in Jönköping. Empirical data has been collected through interviews, observations and benchmarking. In addition to the case study a literature study has been carried out in order to create a theoretical framework. The theoretical framework has been analyzed together with the empirical data in order to generate the result of the thesis. Findings – The uncertainties identified by the authors are: driving forces for the remanufacturing network, uncertainties in returned products and quality assessment of returned products. By working with measures on return product acquisition and quality management for these three uncertainties, a more efficient remanufacturing process can be achieved. By combining different driving forces a higher level of cooperation in the remanufacturing network can be achieved. Furthermore, dividing quality into different clearly defined and standardized quality classes can reduce the uncertainties in returned products. Implications – This thesis proposes remanufacturing companies to shift focus from quality control to quality assurance and to address resources where the problems arise. Furthermore, the authors suggest remanufacturing companies to combine different driving forces for product return in order to create incentives to return products with higher quality. Limitations – Existing theory has been interpreted and adapted by the authors to the thesis, as specific theory for the current unit of analysis has not been available. The problems in the remanufacturing industry have proven to be industry specific and thus different. The thesis generalizability could therefore been strengthened by further case studies.
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STRÖM, CHRISTIAN. "Adapting Value Stream Mapping to Circular Product Flows. : From Manufacturing to Equipment Rental." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för industriell teknik och management (ITM), 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-263156.
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The rise of the sharing economy is forcing industries to move from traditional take-make-waste economy towards circular ones (Schuttelaar & Partners, 2019). Along with the increasing influence of e-commerce, supply-chain collaboration and globalization has increased the pressure of warehouse operations and requires more efficient operations with the use of less resources thanever before (Frazelle, 2016). Lean is a concept that has gained attention as a means of doing morewith less, through reducing wastes and continuously improving, which has been successful within the manufacturing sector. The difficulties of translating this concept into non-repetitive environments has contributed to the low level of adoption within industries like construction. Where companies within construction equipment rental have an even greater challenge, dealing with circular product flows. Thus, making their warehousing operations inherently complex along with the large amounts of different products. The thesis has focused on analysing the warehouse operations flow of collective fall protectionproducts in the equipment rental industry, from customer order to customer return. This has been enabled by performing an adapted Value Stream Mapping method in a new setting for equipmentrental industries. Where Value Stream Mapping traditionally is applied in manufacturing to visually represents the actions that are required for a product to move through the production andinformation flows. The purpose of the study is to apply VSM beyond manufacturing and tosummarize the results in order to provide suggestions for improving the handling of non-serialized products within the equipment rental industry. A case company within the equipment rental industry has been used to meet the purpose of the study by testing and evaluating the proposed frame work. The findings have been followed up by performing a return handling study, conducted by equipment rental professionals, which has been subject to a statistical analysis. The findings from the VSM are used as a foundation for the return handling study, which serves as a means of verifying or dismissing them. These are then summarized in suggestions for improvements to the case company and suggestions for future actions. Among the findings are indications of longer return times for products that are not forewarned prior to returns, and increase processing rates for sorted returns. Furthermore three product types were more frequently requiring repairs, cleaning and scrapping compared to other products, suggesting that these requiremore time to process. The company is advised to work with standardizing processes for return handling throughout the organization within invoicing specifications and product storage. Suggestions for future research within the subject area is also presented.Den ökande utbredningen av delningsekonomi tvingar industrier att gå från traditionella linjära affärsmodeller mot cirkulära (Schuttelaar & Partners, 2019). Utöver denna förändring så ökar även trycket på lagerverksamheter som ett resultat av det ökande inflytandet av e-handel, Supply-Chainsamarbete och globalisering som kräver effektivare verksamheter med användning av mindre resurser än någonsin förut (Frazelle, 2016). Lean är ett koncept som har uppmärksammats som en filosofi för att hantera dessa förändringar, genom att åstadkomma mer med mindre resurser och därmed minska slöseri och att sträva efter ständiga förbättringar, vilket har varit framgångsrikt inom tillverkningssektorn. Svårigheterna med att översätta detta koncept till icke-repetitiva miljöer har bidragit till den begränsade appliceringen av lean inom industrier som byggnadskonstruktion. Där företag inom uthyrning av byggnadsmaskiner och utrustning har en ännu större utmaning, då deras verksamhet bygger på cirkulära produktflöden. Vilket orsakar komplex lagerhantering av många olika produkter i stora mängder. Avhandlingen har fokuserat på att analysera lagerflödet av kollektiva fallskyddsmedel i uthyrningsbranschen, från kundorder till kundreturer. Detta har möjliggjorts genom att utföra en anpassad värdeflödeskartläggning i ett nytt sammanhang, nämligen för företag inom uthyrning av byggnadsmaskiner och utrustning. Där värdeflödeskartläggning vanligtvis används inom tillverkning för att visuellt representera de aktiviteter som krävs för att en produkt ska kunna flytta genom produktions- och informationsflödena. Syftet med studien är att tillämpa värdeflödeskartläggning utanför tillverkningssektorn och att sammanfatta resultaten i form av förslag på förbättringar av hanteringen av icke-serienumrerade produkter inom uthyrningsbranschen. Ett samarbete med ett fallföretag inom uthyrningsindustrin har genomgåtts för att uppfylla syftet med studien. Tillsammans med fallföretaget har det föreslagna ramarbetet testats och utvärderats. Resultaten har följts upp genom att genomföra en returhanteringsstudie, som utförs av verksamma inom lager hanteringen för kollektiva fallskyddsmedel, studiens resultat har sedan varit föremål för en statistisk analys. Upptäckterna från värdeflödeskartläggningen användes som grund för returhanteringsstudien, som agerat medel för att verifiera eller avfärda dem. Dessa har sedan sammanfattas i förslag till förbättringar till fallföretaget och förslag till framtida åtgärder. Bland resultaten finns indikationer på längre hanteringstider för returer som inte är förvarnade innan de blir återlämnade, samt minskade hanteringstider för sorterade returer. Dessutom krävde tre produkttyper ofta reparationer, rengöring och skrotning jämfört med andra produkter, vilket tyder på att dessa produkter är mer tidskrävande vid returer. Företaget rekommenderas att arbeta med standardiseringsprocesser för returhantering i hela organisationen, mer specifikt inom bestämmelser för fakturering och produktlagring. Förslag till framtida forskning inom ämnesområdet presenteras även.
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Eneh, Sandra. "Showroom the Future of Online Fashion Retailing 2.0 : Enhancing the online shopping experience." Thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Akademin för textil, teknik och ekonomi, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-159.
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The following have been rectified in response to previous evaluation by examiner Olof Bruninge. -We have solely chosen qualitative methods in data collection and analysis by making use of data gathered from focus group workshop. The findings have been coded and analysed descriptively. -We have reformulated research questions and replaced the hypothesis with open questions. Allowing us to explore the participants’ behaviour rather than testing hypothesis. -All quantitative measures have been replaced with qualitative analysis and descriptions. -We have provided tables with results from focus group findings to increase transparency in our data
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Jílková, Petra. "Školné, jeho dopad na soukromou návratnost investice a financování bankovním úvěrovým produktem." Doctoral thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2006. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-97024.
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The theme of the dissertation is the private rate of return to educational Investments in tertiary sector. The topic of the research is the impact of the tuition fees on this indicator, including considering the possibility to finance additional costs of the student by the new state loan product. There is introduced the current state of theory and done the SWOT analysis of needs of the education system in the Czech Republic. It is done calculation of private student rate of return to investment into tertiary education and made practical verification of the possibility of using new bank loan product as a source for funding of additional costs for financing of student fees.
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Harston, Stephen P. "A Methodology for Strategically Designing Physical Products that are Naturally Resistant to Reverse Engineering." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2012. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3128.
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Reverse engineering - defined as extracting information about a product from the product itself - is a design tactic commonly used in industry from competitive benchmarking to product imitation. While reverse engineering is a legitimate practice - as long as the product was legally obtained - innovative products are often reverse engineered at the expense of the pioneering company. However, by designing products with built-in barriers to reverse engineering, competitors are no longer able to effectively extract critical information from the product of interest. Enabling the quantification of barriers to reverse engineering, this dissertation presents a set of metrics and parameters that can be used to calculate the barrier to reverse engineer any product as well as the time required to do so. To the original designer, these numerical representations of the barrier and time can be used to strategically identify and improve product characteristics so as to increase the difficulty and time to reverse engineer them. On the other hand, these quantitative measures enable competitors who reverse engineer original designs to focus their efforts on products that will result in the greatest return on investment. In addition to metrics that estimate the reverse engineering barrier and time, this dissertation also presents a methodology to strategically plan for, select, design, and implement reverse engineering barriers. The methodology presented herein considers barrier development cost, barrier effectiveness in various product components, impact on performance, and return on investment. This process includes sensitivity analysis, modeling of the return on investment, and exploration of multiobjective design spaces. The effectiveness of the presented methodology is demonstrated by making a solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle difficult to reverse engineer. In the example, the propeller is selected to be the critical component where a series of voids are introduced to decrease the propeller weight and increase the flutter speed (a desirable attribute in propellers). Our tenet is that the use of such a framework contributes greatly to the sustainability of technological, economical, and security advantages enjoyed by those who developed the technology. Designers benefit because (i) products do not readily disclose trade secrets, (ii) competitive advantages can be maintained by impeding competitors from reverse engineering and imitating innovative products, and (iii) the return on investment can be increased.
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Kposowa, Kaitor. "The Financial Success of Franchise Film Sequels: An Exploration of the Relationship of Budget, Personnel Factors, and Reviews with Sequel Return on Investment." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1429187596.
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Bieri, Annett. "Replication of Hedge Fund Investment Returns Risk and return comparison of recent Hedge Fund replication products /." St. Gallen, 2008. http://www.biblio.unisg.ch/org/biblio/edoc.nsf/wwwDisplayIdentifier/02601805002/$FILE/02601805002.pdf.
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Nowak, Thomas, and Vera Hofer. "On stabilizing volatile product returns." Elsevier, 2014. http://epub.wu.ac.at/4127/1/Nowak.pdf.
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As input ows of secondary raw materials show high volatility and tend to behave in a chaotic way, the identification of the main drivers of the dynamic
behavior of returns plays a crucial role. Based on a stylized productionrecycling system consisting of a set of nonlinear difference equations, we explicitly derive parameter constellations where the system will or will not
converge to its equilibrium. Using a constant elasticity of substitution production function, the model is then extended to enable coverage of real world
situations. Using waste paper as a reference raw material, we empirically estimate the parameters of the system. By using these regression results, we are able to show that the equilibrium solution is a Lyapunov unstable saddle
point. This implies that the system is sensitive on initial conditions that will hence impede the predictability of product returns. Small variations of production input proportions could however stabilize the whole system. (authors' abstract)
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Wårhag, Elias, and Ioan Tepes. "Autocall versus underlying assets : A study on how changes in the return of the underlying assets affect the autocall's returns." Thesis, Internationella Handelshögskolan, Jönköping University, IHH, Nationalekonomi, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-49485.
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Autocallable structured products represent an investment opportunity which has been growing in both the European and American market since they were first launched. The value of these structured products is dependent on how their underlying assets perform, which can consist of stocks, indexes or other assets. With a sample size of 30 structured products we provide research on the relation between the products return and the return of the underlying assets. Specifically, the purpose of the study is to analyse how increases in the returns of the underlying assets affect the returns in the products. Using an ordinary least squares regression model, we find that the return in the underlying assets, the issuers credit rating and the interest rate at issuance have a statistically significant effect on the returns in the products. We conclude that in our sample, an increase in the underlying assets returns results in a less than equal increase in the returns of the autocalls.
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Heim, Mathias. "Assessing returns of structured products." St. Gallen, 2008. http://www.biblio.unisg.ch/org/biblio/edoc.nsf/wwwDisplayIdentifier/01280742001/$FILE/01280742001.pdf.
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Bäcklund, Anna, and Emelie Carlsson. "Returflöden inom e-handel av kläder." Thesis, Högskolan i Skövde, Institutionen för teknik och samhälle, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:his:diva-5233.
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Liu, Chung-Shin. "Impact of Product Market Competition on Expected Returns." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12143.
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x, 94 p. : ill. (some col.)This paper examines how competition faced by firms affects asset risk and expected returns. Contrary to Hou and Robinson's (2006) findings, I find that cross-industry variation in competition, as measured by the concentration ratio, is not a robust determinant of unconditional expected stock returns. In contrast, within-industry competition, as measured by relative price markup, is positively related to expected stock returns. Moreover, this relation is not captured by commonly used models of expected returns. When using the Markov regime-switching model advocated by Perez-Quiros and Timmermann (2000), I test and find support for Aguerrevere's (2009) recent model of competition find risk dynamics. In particular, systematic risk is greater in more competitive industries during bad times and greater in more concentrated industries during good times. In addition, real investment by firms facing greater competition leads real investment by firms facing less competition, supporting Aguerrevere's notion that less competition results in higher growth options and hence higher risk in good times.
Committee in charge: Dr. Roberto Gutierrez, Chair; Dr. Roberto Gutierrez, Advisor; Dr. Diane Del Guercio, Inside Member; Dr. John Chalmers， Inside Member； Dr. Bruce Blonigen， Outside Member
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Herbert, Shane. "Litigation and Vaccination Manufacturer Security Price Returns." The University of Arizona, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/624748.
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Class of 2005 AbstractObjectives: To quantify the initial short-term market response of product liability litigation in appellate courts against vaccine manufacturers between 1987 and 2003. Methods: This project used a retrospective data analysis. The study analyzed appellate court decision found searching the legal research section of Lexis-Nexis® between 1987 and 2003. A single index market model was used to examine an event window of (-1, +1) and calculate a cumulative abnormal return for one of three categories; outcome in favor of the plaintiff, outcome in favor of the defense, or case dismissal. Results: Overall, this study investigated vaccine-related litigation. Thirty-three lawsuits were found involving 12 separate parent companies and ultimately lead to 82 separate incidences. A majority of the cases involved litigation concerning thimerisol (n =12, 36%). Following inclusion and exclusion criteria for the appellate court rulings, 9 cases were in favor of plaintiff, 10 cases were in favor of the defense, and 14 cases were dismissed. Appellate rulings favoring the plaintiffs were found to be negative and statistically significant, with cumulative abnormal returns equaling -1.39% during the (-1,+1) event window (p < 0.05). The mean cumulative abnormal returns for rulings favoring the defense or case dismissals were statistically insignificant at 0.49% and -0.29%, respectively Implications: Product liability litigation against vaccine manufacturers can produce significant negative short-term security price returns, which can be a disincentive for corporations to invest in vaccine development and production.
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Bandžak, Richard. "Costs and benefits of reducing financing costs through corporate social responsibility." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2015. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-201904.
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The dissertation thesis investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance (FP) on the sample of 51 Eurozone banks over the period from 2008 to 2014. The investigation is based on a panel data regression analysing the financial data from Bankscope and the social performance data from CSRHub. Return on assets and the ratio of non-performing loans to total loans represent the measures of financial performance and are used as dependent variables. The results of this model have shown a positive and statistically significant CSR-FP relationship. It is argued that even though the results show statistical significance, they do not necessarily include such a strong informational value. This is caused by methodological limitations, such as potentially biased data on CSR, as well as by the theoretical ones. The main theoretical concern, detected in the dissertation thesis, is a need for redefinition of the banks' driving motives of engaging in CSR activities. Banks engaging in CSR activities for merely strategic reasons should be analysed separately on a firm-level as they may otherwise bias the empirical results. Another important aspect of the work was an argument that banks benefit from CSR mainly through the product differentiation. This could not have been tested empirically, but it is assumed that the product differentiation, for example through reputation enhancement, may play a significant role in boosting bank's profits.
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Kim, Sehoon. "Three Essays in Finance." The Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1498750199681262.
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Forslind, Helén. "Return to Sender : Essays on Extended producer Responsibility." Doctoral thesis, Linköpings universitet, Nationalekonomi, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-8218.
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The purpose of this thesis to increase the understanding of how Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) affects the economy. EPR is a principle stating that producers should be responsible for the environmental impact of their products throughout the life cycle. In four out of five essays, scrapping of end-of-life vehicles in Sweden is used as an example. In Essay I the interdependency of the consumers’ and the producers’ responsibilities are stressed. It is concluded that the financial solution should be separated from the producer in order to ensure that future liabilities can be met. The main contribution of Essay II is that an increased premium will result in an increased number of returned vehicles. In Essay III it is shown that when the environmental harm is constant and relatively low, a deposit-refund system is preferred to an unfounded system. In cases where high environmental harm occurs the optimal choice would be a system combining both deposits and fines. Essay IV concludes that a funded system would have been a better way to finance the premium than an unfunded system in terms of higher rate of return. In Essay V the analysis is no longer limited to ELVs, and a model with endogenous growth is applied to the case where all the products in the economy are covered by EPR. It is found that both the growth and the level of output is favoured by the choice of a funded scheme.Syftet med avhandlingen är att studera hur ekonomin påverkas av utökat producentansvar. Utökat producentansvar är ett sätt att internalisera miljökostnader i marknadspriset. Producentansvaret för bilar, så som det implementerats i den svenska lagstiftningen, har lagts till den tidigare lagstiftningen utan några större anpassningar. Effekterna av detta har inte tidigare utretts. Först analyseras dess konsekvenser i en översiktlig artikel. Därefter följer en ekonometrisk artikel vars syfte är att testa effekten av den nuvarande bilskrotningspremien. Det visade sig att en höjd premie ökar antalet återlämnade fordon. Sedan används en rättsekonomisk ansats för att förutsättningslöst, dvs. utan att ta den befintliga lagstiftning som utgångspunkt, analysera nedskräpningsproblematiken. Möjligheten att använda ett pantsystem jämförs med att använda böter för att styra individernas beteende. Det visade sig att om miljöpåverkan är relativt liten så är ett pantsystem att föredra, men om även fall med stor miljöpåverkan inkluderas skulle det optimala vara att använda både böter och pant. Därefter jämförs två alternativa sätt att finansiera premien, ett fonderat system jämförs med ett ”Pay-As–You-Go” system. Resultatet indikerar att ett fonderat system hade varit att föredra under den studerade perioden. Slutligen studeras effekterna av producenternas framtida åtaganden till följd av det utökade producentansvaret med hjälp av modell med endogen tillväxt. Det visade sig att både tillväxttakten och nivån på produktionen skulle ha gynnats av ett fonderat system.
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Singh, Narendra. "Product strategies in supply chains." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/53934.
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This doctoral dissertation titled "Product Strategies in Supply Chains" consists of three essays. In this dissertation, I study firms' strategic decisions regarding design of products and product lines in different supply chain contexts. I focus on firms' strategic interactions with supply chain members, including consumers and suppliers, in dynamic environments.
The first essay (Chapter 2) studies how the cost structure of and information asymmetry about an OEM's in-house option affect her choice of product design quality in a decentralized supply chain where the supplier specifies contract terms. The second essay (Chapter 3) examines the effect of product returns and their potential refurbishing on intertemporal product strategy and profit of a firm facing strategic consumers. We also examine the effect of product returns on the time inconsistency problem faced by the firm. The third essay (Chapter 4) investigates the impact of competition from a third-party remanufacturer on product strategy and profit of an OEM in the presence of strategic consumers. Motivated by general perception among practitioners and the extant literature showing the competition from third-party remanufacturers as undesirable for the OEM, we specifically examine whether competition from a third-party remanufacturer is always undesirable for the OEM.
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Atabarut, Altan. "Value Of Quality Information Of Returns In Product Recovery Management." Master's thesis, METU, 2009. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12610453/index.pdf.
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Returned products of many industries are transported backwards through supply
chains for recovery, thus forming &ldquoclosed-loop supply chains&rdquo
. Benefits, forthcoming with more effective management of recovery of returns are gaining importance. However, some issues, such as lack of information required to assess the quality of the returned products, may translate into critical uncertainties in the product recovery decisions and prevent closed-loop supply chains from operating efficiently. Hence, it is envisaged that significant economies may be attained by increasing the quantity of information fed into the planning decisions related to returned products. Thus, the objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that ready availability of perfect quality grade information associated with returned products by means of &ldquo
embedded systems&rdquo
, may lead to improved over all performance of recovery operations. To this end, in this thesis, linear programming models of generic multistage recovery processes are built. It is demonstrated by computational studies that significant gains may be obtained especially in environments where the prices of recovered products are decreasing in time.
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Rigato, Mario <1993>. "Product returns management in the apparel industry - Diesel Spa case." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/11626.
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Product returns are becoming an increasing issue for many organizations, especially because of the development of the modern distribution channels and the subsequent increasing customer protection. However, as the literature has defined them, they are a "necessary evil" in nowadays businesses; therefore, organizations have somehow to deal with them. In this sense, organizations should develop effective and efficient programs for managing product returns, therefore maximizing their contribution to the organization's bottom line. The present dissertation supports this assumption, showing how a well-established company in the apparel&fashion industry (Diesel Spa) implemented a new process for managing product returns, with the main aim of increasing the profits that could be obtained from them. More specifically, through an AS IS - TO BE analysis, it is shown how much the new process will be more profitable as compared to the old one. The dissertation is hence composed by four parts. In the first section, the relevant literature has been analysed, showing how scholars have addressed the topic of product returns management in the apparel industry. In the second and third sections, instead, the AS IS and TO BE processes have been described and evaluated on a series of KPIs. Finally, in the fourth part, some scenario analyses have been performed. In the last chapter, instead, the main conclusions have been derived and the limitations of the study have been highlighted.
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Vilan, Beatriz Correia Monrroy. "Financial structured products in the portuguese retail market : analysis of investor’s fitting and risk perception." Master's thesis, Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/20144.
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Mestrado em FinançasCada vez mais os investidores portugueses optam por investir em produtos estruturados que podem resultar em perdas de capital. Estes investidores individuais são atraídos pela publicidade de retornos elevados dos bancos portugueses que por sua vez têm vindo a reforçar a criatividade dos seus produtos transacionados. O principal objetivo deste projeto é responder à pergunta: Quão adequados e apropriados são os produtos estruturados para os investidores individuais? Para isso, inicialmente, é apresentada uma revisão da literatura sobre os produtos estruturados e de seguida, um foco no mercado de retalho. Paralelamente, uma amostra de base de dados (sobre os produtos estruturados disponíveis publicamente na banca portuguesa - CMVM - Comissão de Mercado de Valores Mobiliários) foi preparada para definir os produtos mais comuns e as condições para realizar a avaliação. O objetivo deste trabalho é também debater as condições em que as decisões dos investidores individuais - usando soluções complexas de investimento - para além das suas capacidades de literacia financeira, podem originar um risco implícito que por sua vez pode afetar as suas expetativas na criação do seu ciclo de poupanças. Os resultados mostram os retornos esperados publicitados são improváveis de ocorrer, e apenas em condições muito específicas para alguns investidores avessos ao risco, é preferível obter exposição indireta - usando os produtos estruturados - em vez de deter os ativos de risco. Mas, para os investidores em geral, a utilidade esperada pode favorecer a exposição direta aos ativos subjacentes.
More and more Portuguese investors are choosing to invest in structured products that can end up into capital losses. These individual investors are enticed by the advertising of high returns from national banks which have been strengthening the creativity of the traded products. Many of these structured products are too complex, and it can make them difficult to understand. The main objective of this project is to answer the question: How fit and proper are structured products for individual investors? For that, at first, it is presented a literature review on structured products and focus on the research of retail segment. In parallel, a sample database (on publicly available structured products in the banking industry - CMVM - Comissão de Mercado de Valores Mobiliários) was prepared to define the most common products and the conditions to perform the valuation. The objective of this work is also to discuss the conditions where individual investors decisions - using complex investment solutions - beyond their financial literacy capabilities may originate a shadow risk that can impact their expectations on building their savings life cycle. Results show that marketed expected returns are unlikely to occur, and only in very specific conditions for some risk averse investors it is preferable to gain indirect exposure - using structured products - rather than owning the risky assets. But, on general investors under expected utility may favor direct exposure to underlying assets.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
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Marshall, Sarah Elizabeth. "Refuse or reuse : managing the quality of returns in product recovery systems." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6415.
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Increasing legislative and societal pressures are forcing manufacturers to become environmentally-conscious and take responsibility for the fate of their goods after they have been used by consumers. As a result, some manufacturers operate hybrid systems which produce new goods and recover used goods. Product recovery describes the process by which used products are returned to their manufacturers or sent to a specialised facility for recovery, before being sold on the original or a secondary market. The quality of the returned goods is a significant issue in product recovery systems as it can affect both the type of recovery and costs associated with it. Quality in product recovery systems has not been adequately studied, with many authors either ignoring the possibility of receiving lower quality returns, or assuming they are disposed of rather than recovered. However, such assumptions ignore the possibility that the firm might be able to salvage value from lower quality returns by using them for parts or materials. This thesis presents four models that investigate the importance of considering the quality of returns in the management of inventory in a product recovery system, by examining the cost-effectiveness of recovering both high quality and low quality returns. The first model is a deterministic lot-sizing model of a product recovery system. It was found that performing both high and low quality recovery reduced the sensitivity of the optimal cost to operational restrictions on the choice of decision variables. The second model is a discrete-time, periodic-review model formulated as a Markov decision process (MDP) and introduces uncertainty in demand, returns, and the quality of the returns. It was found that performing both types of recovery can lead to cost savings and better customer service for firms through an increased fill rate. The third model addresses those industries where produced and recovered goods cannot be sold on the same market due to customers’ perceptions and environmental legalisation. Using an MDP formulation, the model examines a product recovery system in which produced and recovered goods are sold on separate markets. The profitability of offering two-way substitution between these markets was investigated. It was found that offering substitution can allow firms to increase both their profits and fill rates. The fourth model examines the issue of separate markets and substitution in the continuous time domain using a semi-Markov decision process. The continuous nature of the model allows more detailed examination of the substitution decision. It was found that offering substitution can allow firms to increase their profit and in some cases also increase their fill rate. In some cases, production is performed less frequently when downward substitution can be offered, and recovery is performed less often when upward substitution can be offered. The findings of this thesis could be used to help a firm that is currently recovering high quality returns assess the cost-effectiveness of also recovering lower quality returns. Recovering low-quality items, rather than disposing of them, may allow a firm to increase the amount it recycles. The findings highlight the importance of considering the quality of returns when managing a product recovery system as they show that economic gains can be achieved by reusing rather than refusing low quality returns.
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Niknejad, A. "Quantitative decision making in reverse logistics networks with uncertainty and quality of returns considerations." Thesis, Coventry University, 2014. http://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open/items/edfbdcb4-c295-42bf-b1d4-abd93e20d505/1.
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Quantitative modelling of reverse logistics networks and product recovery have been the focus of many research activities in the past few decades. Interest to these models are mostly due to the complexity of reverse logistics networks that necessitates further analysis with the help of mathematical models. In comparison to the traditional forward logistics networks, reverse logistics networks have to deal with the quality of returns issues as well as a high degree of uncertainty in return flow. Additionally, a variety of recovery routes, such as reuse, repair, remanufacturing and recycling, exist. The decision making for utilising these routes requires the quality of returns and uncertainty of return flow to be considered. In this research, integrated forward and reverse logistics networks with repair, remanufacturing and disposal routes are considered. Returns are assumed to be classified based on their quality in ordinal quality levels and quality thresholds are used to split the returned products into repairable, remanufacturable and disposable returns. Fuzzy numbers are used to model the uncertainty in demand and return quantities of different quality levels. Setup costs, non-stationary demand and return quantities, and different lead times have been considered. To facilitate decision making in such networks, a two phase optimisation model is proposed. Given quality thresholds as parameters, the decision variables including the quantities of products being sent to repair, disassembly and disposal, components to be procured and products to be repaired, disassembled or produced for each time period within the time horizon are determined using a fuzzy optimisation model. A sensitivity analysis of the fuzzy optimisation model is carried out on the network parameters including quantity of returned products, unit repair an disassembly costs and procurement, production, disassembly and repair setup costs. A fuzzy controller is proposed to determine quality thresholds based on some ratios of the reverse logistics network parameters including repair to new unit cost, disassembly to new unit cost, repair to disassembly setup, disassembly to procurement setup and return to demand ratios. Fuzzy controller’s sensitivity is also examined in relation to parameters such as average repair and disassembly costs, repair, disassembly, production and procurement setup costs and return to demand ratio. Finally, a genetic fuzzy method is developed to tune the fuzzy controller and improve its rule base. The rule base obtained and the results of sensitivity analyses are utilised to gain better managerial insights into these reverse logistics networks.
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Espinosa, Jennifer Anne. "Understanding the Complexity of Product Returns Management: A Complex Adaptive Systems Theory Perspective." Scholar Commons, 2016. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6233.
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The core essence of a marketing transaction is the exchange of value between two parties. Quite often, the exchange of value describes a customer purchasing a product from a company. When purchasing products, the exchange of value can often fail due to product defects or customer dissatisfaction. When the marketing exchange fails, customers often desire an avenue for recourse to right the exchange imbalance. Accepting and quickly processing product returns represents a strategic tool companies can leverage to maintain healthy relationships with customers, despite an exchange failure. Effectively managing product returns also benefits companies financially, by reducing inventory levels, costs, and the risk of product obsolescence. Despite providing both relationship management and financial benefits, numerous companies struggle to manage product returns effectively. In a time when companies are facing a growing number of product returns due to omni-channel retailing and online shopping, implementing an effective system to manage product returns has become a vital strategic tool necessary to maintain competitiveness.
First, the current research answers the question of why do companies struggle with product returns? by identifying the important components of an effective product returns system. Informed by complex adaptive systems theory and based on a qualitative, grounded theory analysis, the current research finds that the hidden complex nature of managing product returns prevents numerous companies from implementing an effective system to mange returns. Managing product returns requires five important components (firm capabilities, employees, the returns management information system, organizational climate, and the customer service boundary), which interact with each other multiple times to process a product return. After identifying the important components and interactions within a product returns system, Essay I integrates the information together to form a substantive theory of the complexity of product returns management. The substantive theory implies that companies looking to improve their management of product returns need to understand and invest in multiple components within the product returns system.
Second, the current research answers the question of how do the employees, returns management information system, and climate for creativity components of a product returns system relate to a firm’s flexibility, adaptability, and performance? To answer this research question, this dissertation empirically evaluates the role these three components play in shaping a firm’s flexibility, adaptability, subjective performance and relationship quality by analyzing data collected through an online survey with 102 US managers with experience in product returns. The empirical analysis indicates that employee decision-making resources show a statistically significant negative relationship with firm adaptability, while the firm’s climate for creativity and flexibility show a statistically significant positive relationship with firm adaptability. Firm adaptability shows statistically significant positive relationships with subjective performance and relationship quality. Firm adaptability acts as a partial or full mediator in all of these relationships.
The combined findings of Essay I and Essay II point to the importance of product returns as a strategic relationship management tool. Firms that can effectively manage product returns give employees more flexibility to respond to problems, are better able to make structural changes, have higher subjective performance ratings, and better quality relationships with customers.
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Petrovich, Ekaterina. "Crude oil futures price and stock market returns in Russia and China." View electronic thesis (PDF), 2009. http://dl.uncw.edu/etd/2009-3/r1/petroviche/ekaterinapetrovich.pdf.
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Puplampu, Suzy Aku Akpene. "Product Diversification to Improve Investment Returns for High-Net-Worth-Individuals in Ghana." ScholarWorks, 2017. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/4675.
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The population of high-net-worth-individuals (HNWIs) in Ghana is projected to increase from 2,400 in 2015 to 4,900 by 2024. HNWIs in Ghana desire to have access to alternative investment instruments to enhance diversification and improve investment returns on their portfolios. Guided by the product-market-grid-model, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore diversification strategies some fund managers use to improve returns for HNWIs. Twelve participants from 3 investment firms in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, including CEOs and fund managers with more than 5 years of professional and industry experience, participated in semistructured interviews. Observations and company documents served as secondary sources of data collection. Five themes emerged from the analysis of interview and document data: investment objectives and risk appetite level, product availability, asset allocation, limited knowledge and lack of sophistication, and, performance benchmarking. Findings may be used by fund managers to combine knowledge and innovation in identifying alternative investment options for HNWIs and improving investment returns. HNWIs may use their disposable income from returns to engage in entrepreneurial activities that may create employment opportunities and improve the economic environment in Ghana.
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Bertin, Aurélie. "Intégration d'un système de Retour d'Expériences à un PLM." Thesis, Toulouse, INPT, 2012. http://www.theses.fr/2012INPT0137/document.
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Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse s’inscrivent dans une problématique d’amélioration continue appliquée aux produits et aux processus industriels, par la mise en place d’un système de Retour d’Expérience (REx) couplé au système PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) de gestion du cycle de vie du produit. Les développements, menés dans le cadre d’un partenarial industriel, ciblent l’établissement d’une solution de valorisation du patrimoine immatériel de l’entreprise, constitué des expériences et des connaissances détenues par les experts métier. L’objectif visé est d’assurer la pérennisation de cette expertise, la prévention et la limitation des erreurs et l’application de bonnes pratiques dans une démarche générale d’amélioration des produits et des processus. La solution est portée par la mise en place d’un système REx appliqué aux connaissances tacites et explicites impliquées dans les activités techniques de l'entreprise et visant à capitaliser au fur et à mesure les informations métier, porteuses de sens. L’intégration du REx au système PLM permet de lever une part des difficultés d’appropriation par les experts métier, utilisateurs du système REx. L’ancrage de ce REx aux méthodes de résolution de problèmes (PSM, Problem Solving Methods) induit une instrumentation tout à fait performante pour l’acquisition des connaissances tacites issues d’événements négatifs. L’extension aux processus d’évolution des Normes Techniques qui formalisent les règles métier de l’entreprise permet leur évolution vers des connaissances explicites. Le caractère non intrusif du système REx dans son utilisation est assuré par un couplage étroit au processus de Gestion des Modifications du PLM, la capitalisation des informations étant naturellement induite par la démarche mise en œuvre dans ce processus. Au final, le système REx proposé et instrumenté dans l’outil PLM permet, en différentes étapes, de capitaliser, de traiter puis d’exploiter dans des formes performantes le patrimoine immatériel mis en exergue au cours des expériences de résolution de problèmes produit ou processusThe work presented in this thesis considers continuous improvement issues which are applied to industrial products and processes through the implementation of a Lesson Learned System (LLS) coupled with the Company's Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system. As an industrial partnership, these developments aim to increase the value of the intangible assets of the business including the business agent’s experiences and knowledge. In order to ensure the sustainability of expertise, to prevent errors and to encourage the application of good practices, all within a general approach of product improvement. The solution relies on the implementation of the LLS process which is applied to tacit and explicit knowledge related to the technical activities of the company. The integration of the LLS and PLM Systems removes some of the difficulties of ownership of business agents. The implementation of LLS and Problem Solving Methods (PSM) infers an efficient instrumentation for the acquisition of tacit knowledge. The extension of the evolution processes of technical documents that formalise the techincal business rules allows its evolution towards explicit knowledge. Using non-intrusive LLS is provided by close coupling with the process of Change Management (CM) where information capitalisation is naturally led by the approach implemented in this processes. Finally, the proposed and instrumented LLS in the PLM tool allows to efficiently capitalise, process, and exploit the intangible capital of the company (information and knowledge) highlighted during the modification experiments of product data
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Doukas, Angelos. "Media endorsements and stock returns : evidence from the announcement of new products." Thesis, Durham University, 2013. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/8458/.
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Unlike previous studies that have focused on the valuation effects of corporate announcements, this thesis which is rooted in the interface between marketing and behavioral finance, examines whether investors’ decisions are influenced by the word content of newspaper reports for new product announcements. By applying a textual analysis, the findings of this research project demonstrate that announcements of new products which financial newspapers cover using positive word content earn significantly higher abnormal returns than firms’ whose new-product announcements were covered without using positive word content by the financial press. The results of this study indicate that the significantly inflated abnormal returns are, on average, 270 basis points higher than the returns for new-product announcements that do not contain positive word coverage from financial newspapers. The evidence also reveals that only positive textual coverage exerts a significant impact on the market’s reaction. In addition, this study documents that announcing firms realize significantly higher abnormal returns than their industry rival firms which do not actively introduce new products into the market place. However, the stock price of rival firms is not adversely affected by the new product announcements of announcing firms. Furthermore, the results of this project illustrate the same but more pronounced pattern of abnormal gains for the technology-based industries. On the other hand, dramatic differences for the non-technology related industries could not be found. Additionally, the results of this research project document that there is an abnormally high Google Search Volume Index (SVI) for firms following positive announcements, suggesting that news with positive word content attract stronger investor attention. Moreover, this evidence suggests that the interaction between investor attention, measured by the SVI, and new- product announcements reveal that there is an inter-play between demand for new information (i.e., SVI) and supply of new information (i.e., new-product announcements), which shapes the market’s ultimate reaction to news. Overall, the results suggest that the market reacts to the linguistic content of the new-product announcement rather than to the announcement itself. This research contributes to the literature in several ways. First, this is the first study to examine the relation between shareholder value and textual content of new-product announcements. Second, unlike previous studies which ignore the textual and tone content of new-product announcements, the evidence of this thesis, reveals that not every new-product announcement leads to significant gains for stockholders of the announcing firm. Only new-product announcements with positive word content are associated with positive abnormal gains for the announcing firms. Third, gains to the new-product announcing firms significantly exceed those of rival firms. Fourth, this study provides evidence outside of the U.S. market and, hence, avoids the standard criticism that observed empirical regularities arise from data mining. Finally, from a practical perspective, the interesting implication of the empirical analysis of this thesis is that the textual design of new-product announcements plays a critical role in terms of how it affects investors, and, hence, the way they react to such announcements.
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Gunchinsuren, Enkhtuvshin. "Essays on Factor Returns, Resource Allocation and Economic Development." The Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1429569565.
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Kask, Sean Tyler. "DETERMINANTS OF AND RETURNS TO INNOVATION ACTIVITIES WHICH SPAN ORGANIZATIONAL BOUNDARIES: EMPIRICAL STUDIES ON A PANEL OF SPANISH FIRMS." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Politècnica de València, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/14574.
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Determinantes y beneficios de las actividades de innovación que trascienden las fronteras organizativas: Estudios empíricos de un panel de empresas españolas
Tesis Doctoral
Sean Kask
Las empresas se relacionan cada vez más con agentes que se encuentran fuera de sus fronteras organizativas con el objetivo de desarrollar innovaciones tanto de productos como de procesos. Los tres estudios empíricos que componen esta tesis exploran los determinantes y beneficios de las actividades de innovación orientadas hacía el exterior. En los tres estudios se estiman diferentes modelos econométricos basados en un panel de empresas españolas.
El primer estudio investiga los factores que determinan que las empresas manufactureras elijan entre el desarrollo interno, la colaboración o el desarrollo externo como estrategia para el desarrollo de nuevos productos. A partir de constructos derivados de la teoría de los costes de transacción, la visión basada en recursos y la teoría de la organización industrial, los resultados destacan las diferencias existentes entre la colaboración y la contratación como modos de gobernanza de la innovación. En primer lugar, los resultados muestran que la incertidumbre de mercado tiende a llevar a las empresas a la colaboración pero no al desarrollo externo; mientras que las empresas son más proclives a colaborar bajo condiciones de incertidumbre tecnológica. En segundo lugar, los resultados ponen de manifiesto una relación en forma de U-invertida entre la capacidad de I+D de la empresa y la probabilidad de colaborar (en comparación con el desarrollo interno) y una relación negativa con la adquisición externa, reflejando una tensión entre el 'efecto de la necesidad' de encontrar fuentes externas de innovación cuando la capacidad interna es baja, y el 'efecto de la complementariedad' entre estas capacidades internas y la aptitud para beneficiarse de estas fuentes externas.Kask ., ST. (2011). DETERMINANTS OF AND RETURNS TO INNOVATION ACTIVITIES WHICH SPAN ORGANIZATIONAL BOUNDARIES: EMPIRICAL STUDIES ON A PANEL OF SPANISH FIRMS [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/14574
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Cafeo, Reinaldo Cesar [UNESP]. "Estimativa do custo médio ponderado de capital em produtos agrícolas." Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/11449/101927.
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cafeo_rc_dr_botfca.pdf: 807318 bytes, checksum: 3216b6d5df542a12dab7c6f93afdbc49 (MD5)O presente trabalho teve por objetivo estimar o custo médio de capital em produtos agrícolas. Existem modelos que determinam o custo médio de capital no mercado de capitais, definindo parâmetro para fixação do que se chama de taxa mínima de atratividade em investimentos produtivos. Tais modelos levam em conta o custo de capital de terceiros, que é determinado a partir de pesquisas em linhas de crédito disponíveis no mercado e ainda o custo do capital próprio, este sim, requerendo uma análise detalhada de sua composição. Foi construído um modelo que pondere o custo de obter recursos de terceiros, quando houver, e o capital próprio, tendo por base o modelo CAPM – Capital AssetPrincing Model (Modelo de Precificação de Ativos) utilizado quando da análise de risco e retorno no mercado de capital. A finalidade deste estudo é aplicar esta metodologia na análise de risco e retorno em investimentos produtivos em setores que operam com produtos agrícolas. Para tanto foi realizada revisão bibliográfica, bem como a definição de materiais e métodos, com a apuração de resultados. Foi aplicado o modelo CAPM em uma ação selecionada comparando-o ao mercado acionário como um todo, representado pelo IBOVESPA. Em seguida foi construída carteira teórica de produtos agrícolas selecionados para este fim, denominado de I PRODUTOS AGRÍCOLAS. Em seguida foi analisado isoladamente cada produto selecionado, comparando-o a esta carteira teórica de produtos agrícolas, construída especialmente para tal fim. Com isso pretendeu-se testar cientificamente um modelo que permita, quando da análise da viabilidade de projetos no setor agrícola, estabelecer a taxa mínima de atratividade que retrate o risco e retorno no setor, ponderando o custo do capital próprio, originado a partir do modelo CAPM e o custo do capital de terceiros, baseado nas taxas de juros praticados pelo mercado...
This work had aimed to estimate the average cost of capital in agricultural products. There are templates that determine the average cost of capital on the capital market, defining parameter for fixing the called minimum rate of attractiveness in productive investments. These models take into account the cost of third-party capital, which is determined from searches on credit lines available in the market and even the cost of equity, this sim, requiring a detailed analysis of its composition. Will be built a model that considers the cost of taking the resources of third parties, when, and equity, on the basis of the CAPM Capital Asset Princing Model (asset pricing model) used when analyzing risk and return on the capital market. The purpose of this study is to apply this methodology in the analysis of risk and return in productive investments in sectors that operate with agricultural products. For both was conducted literature review as well as the definition of materials and methods, with the poll results. Was applied the CAPM model in a selected action comparing it to the stock market as a whole, represented by the IBOVESPA. Next was built theoretical portfolio of selected agricultural products for this purpose, called I agricultural products. Then was analyzed separately each product selected, comparing it to this theoretical portfolio of agricultural products, built especially for this purpose. This was intended to test scientifically a template that allows, when assessing the feasibility of projects in the agricultural sector, establish the minimum rate of attractiveness that portrays the risk and return in the sector, bearing in mind the cost of equity, originated from the CAPM and the cost of capital to third parties, based on the interest rates charged by the market. The model developed generated a theoretical reference in determining... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)
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Lin, Christopher C. (Christopher Cheyih). "A decision system for routing returned product to the optimal recovery channel." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/59185.
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Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-63).
Dell, a leading computer manufacturer, must deal with systems returned from its customers. Historically, it has refurbished most of its returned systems for resale on its Dell Outlet website. While this has provided high net recoveries (revenue less incurred costs) compared to its peers, Dell believes there is ample opportunity in cannibalizing some returned systems for the piece parts (i.e. "teardown"). These harvested piece parts can be used to service field systems, repair refurbished systems, or directly sold to customers as spare parts. Dell is concerned about ensuring an optimal disposition of system to teardown vs. direct resale. Written as part of research internship at Dell, this paper proposes, simulates, and evaluates a decision support system to address the question of disposition. The decision engines use historical data and statistics to estimate net recoveries in resale and forecasted demand to estimate net recoveries through teardown. Linear regressions were found to have poor power in predicting overall net recoveries; however, simple heuristics were found to identify likely low recovery systems. Overall, the implementation of the decision support system will drive improved net recoveries, with savings estimated to be greater than $1 million annually.
by Christopher C. Lin.
S.M.
M.B.A.
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Köhler, Maria. "Reusing Garments : An investigation of influencers to return used garments." Thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Akademin för textil, teknik och ekonomi, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-14708.
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Background: A sustainable economy becomes more and more important for most parts of the society. Especially the fashion industry is being criticized for wasting resources and being non-sustainable. Therefore, some textile producers started to implement programs that are aiming on a reuse of garments. Aims of research: The purpose of this research is to discover how customers can be motivated to return unwanted garments, also considering possible hindering factors. To gather this information it is necessary to build a theoretical framework with customer-based theories. The thesis explored how a second hand multi-brand retailer can take active action in encouraging customers to return unwanted textiles. Method: This research was conducted as an inductive qualitative research. The data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with several second hand retailers. The analysis was carried out following the Giogia method. Results: The thesis revealed that the garment disposal behavior is affected by various influences. Influences on the disposal behavior of garment consumers are personal values and believes. The dispose of unwanted garments is often influenced by an ease of handling and the same behavior is followed over the years simply because individuals are used to a certain garment disposal behavior. The largest hindering factors why customers do not return garments to retailers are caused by a lack of information as well as insufficient transparency. This behavior can be affected by second hand retailers by providing improved communication and a motivation to return garments by offering benefits for the customer. The size of the company does not play a major role.
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Govaris, A. "Microcomputer process control and process evaluation of retort pouch products." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 1985. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.371973.
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Pitiot, Paul. "Amélioration des techniques d'optimisation combinatoire par retour d'expérience dans le cadre de la sélection de scénarios de Produit/Projet." Thesis, Toulouse, INPT, 2009. http://www.theses.fr/2009INPT021H/document.
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La définition et l’utilisation d'un modèle couplant la conception de produit et la conduite du projet dès les phases amont de l’étude d’un système correspondent à une forte demande industrielle. Ce modèle permet la prise en compte simultanée de décisions issues des deux environnements produit/projet mais il représente une augmentation conséquente de la dimension de l'espace de recherche à explorer pour le système d'aide à la décision, notamment lorsque il s'agit d'une optimisation multiobjectif. Les méthodes de type métaheuristique tel que les algorithmes évolutionnaires, sont une alternative intéressante pour la résolution de ce problème fortement combinatoire. Ce problème présente néanmoins une particularité intéressante et inexploitée : Il est en effet courant de réutiliser, en les adaptant, des composants ou des procédures précédemment mis en œuvre dans les produits/projets antérieurs. L'idée mise en avant dans ce travail consiste à utiliser ces connaissances « a priori » disponibles afin de guider la recherche de nouvelles solutions par l'algorithme évolutionnaire. Le formalisme des réseaux bayésiens a été retenu pour la modélisation interactive des connaissances expertes. De nouveaux opérateurs évolutionnaires ont été définis afin d'utiliser les connaissances contenues dans le réseau. De plus, le système a été complété par un processus d'apprentissage paramétrique en cours d'optimisation permettant d'adapter le modèle si le guidage ne donne pas de bons résultats. La méthode proposée assure à la fois une optimisation plus rapide et efficace, mais elle permet également de fournir au décideur un modèle de connaissances graphique et interactif associé au projet étudié. Une plateforme expérimentale a été réalisée pour valider notre approcheThe definition and use of a model coupling product design and project management in the earliest phase of the study of a system correspond to a keen industrial demand. This model allows simultaneous to take into account decisions resulting from the two environments (product and project) but it represents a consequent increase of the search space dimension for the decision-making system, in particular when it concerns a multiobjective optimization. Metaheuristics methods such as evolutionary algorithm are an interesting way to solve this strongly combinative problem. Nevertheless, this problem presents an interesting and unexploited characteristic: It is indeed current to re-use, by adapting them, the components or the procedures previously implemented in pasted product or project. The idea proposed in this work consists in using this “a priori” knowledge available in order to guide the search for new solutions by the evolutionary algorithm. Bayesian network was retained for the interactive modeling of expert knowledge. New evolutionary operators were defined in order to use knowledge contained in the network. Moreover, the system is completed by a process of parametric learning during optimization witch make it possible to adapt the model if guidance does not give good results. The method suggested ensures both a faster and effective optimization, but it also makes it possible to provide to the decision maker a graphic and interactive model of knowledge linked to studied project. An experimental platform was carried out to validate our approach
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HUI, Sun Yuen. "Managing sales and product returns under the word-of-mouth effect : pricing, quality, and restocking fee decisions." Digital Commons @ Lingnan University, 2017. https://commons.ln.edu.hk/cds_etd/16.
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This paper considers a two-echelon supply chain involving a manufacturer and a retailer who make their pricing, quality, and restocking fee decisions under the word-of-mouth (WOM) effect. To investigate the decision-making problem for the sales and product returns, we construct a leader-follower game model in which the manufacturer first determines his quality effort and the wholesale price and the retailer then decides on her retail price and the restocking fee. Our results show that the wholesale and retail prices under no WOM effect are smaller than those when the WOM effect exists; and, as the WOM has a higher impact on consumer purchases, the retailer should increase her retail price, and the manufacturer should also spend more quality control effort and raise his wholesale price. In addition, when the WOM effect exists, both the restocking fee and the retail price are decreasing in the mismatch probability. It is interesting to learn that a positive WOM may not help achieve more total sales and realized sales than a negative WOM, and the realized sales under the full refund policy may be lower than those under a partial refund policy. We also find that the manufacturer and the retailer may not benefit under the WOM effect, which mainly depends on how consumers are sensitive to the restocking fee and the WOM. The retailer can benefit from the full refund policy when the mismatch chance is not high, whereas the manufacturer can always benefit from the full refund policy.
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Deaton, Stuart A. "A comparison of potential agricultural and forestry investment returns for Virginia's marginal lands." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/43747.
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Tiedemann, Fredrik. "Strategic lead-times and their implications on financial performance." Licentiate thesis, Tekniska Högskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, JTH, Industriell organisation och produktion, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-34804.
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The overall goal for manufacturing companies is to earn profit and increase shareholders’ value. To ensure that companies in fact are profitable, managers usually evaluate the company’s resources based on both financial and operational performance, to analyse if the resources are contributing with a financial return. One of the most critical resources and competitive advantages that manufacturing companies have is time. Time, however, is an intangible resource and challenging to measure financially. There are, therefore, few practical instruments available to support managers’ decisions when it comes to linking lead-time with financial performance, assisting managers to prioritize the lead-times that are of strategic value (i.e. strategic lead-times). The purpose of this research was, therefore, to analyse strategic lead-times within new product development, purchasing, and production, as well as the implications that strategic lead-times have on manufacturing companies’ financial performance. To fulfil this purpose, the following two research objectives were formulated: (1) to analyse strategic lead-times within new product development, purchasing, and production, and (2) to analyse the implications of strategic lead-times on manufacturing companies’ financial performance. The research presented in this thesis has been conducted within a research project (KOPtimera). To fulfil the research objectives and the research purpose, a combination of conceptual analytical research and case study research was used, utilizing a number of data collection techniques: literature reviews, interviews, focus groups, workshops, document studies, and observations. In general, it is concluded that strategic lead-times, as defined in the research, have high implications for manufacturing companies’ financial performance and that the length of the strategic lead-times will impact who owns the risk in the manufacturing system, who controls the system and where variants are possible to create. The research further presents the implications that strategic lead-times have on financial performance, as well as indicates that it is possible to evaluate lead-time performance through financial performance, using readily available and accepted financial performance measures. Based on the implications identified, also a framework (the FinaSt framework) was developed. This FinaSt framework takes into consideration that not only the extension, but also the existence of strategic lead-times has implications for manufacturing companies’ financial performance, and that these implications can be either direct or indirect. The results contribute to the literature focused on valuing lead-times and provide useful knowledge for managers, allowing them to gain a better understanding for strategic lead-times’ implications on manufacturing companies’ financial performance, thus allowing for better decision support when evaluating supply chain designs and prioritizing alternatives based on profitability (i.e. return on investment).Tillverkande företags övergripande mål är att vara lönsamma genom att skapa vinst till sina ägare. För att säkerställa att företagen är lönsamma brukar företagsledare utvärdera företagets resurser baserat på deras finansiella och operationella resultat, och således undersöka om resurserna bidrar med en ekonomisk avkastning. En av tillverkande företags mest kritiska resurs och konkurrensfördel är ledtid. Ledtid är emellertid en immateriell resurs och utmanande att mäta finansiellt, vilket är en bidragande orsak till att det finns få praktiska verktyg och beslutsstöd för att värdera ledtid finansiellt och underlätta för företagsledare att prioritera de ledtider som är av strategisk betydelse för företaget (d.v.s. strategiska ledtider). Syftet med denna forskning var således att analysera strategiska ledtider inom produktutveckling, inköp och produktion, samt de implikationer som strategiska ledtider har på tillverkande företags finansiella resultat. För att uppfylla detta syfte formulerades följande två forskningsmål: (1) att analysera strategiska ledtider inom produktutveckling, inköp och produktion, och (2) att analysera de implikationer som strategiska ledtider har på tillverkande företags finansiella resultat. Forskningen som presenteras i denna licentiatuppsats har genomförts i ett forskningsprojekt (KOPtimera). För att uppfylla forskningsmålen och syftet har en kombination av analytisk konceptuell forskning och fallstudier använts, där litteraturstudier, intervjuer, fokusgrupper, arbetsmöten (workshops), dokumentstudier och observationer använts för datainsamling. Slutsatserna är att strategiska ledtider, som de definieras i denna forskning, i hög grad påverkar tillverkande företags finansiella resultat, och att längden på strategiska ledtider påverkar riskfördelningen och styrbarheten i tillverkningssystemet samt var varianter skapas. Forskningsresultatet visar på de implikationer som strategiska ledtider har på tillverkande företags finansiella resultat och indikerar att det är möjligt att värdera ledtidsprestation genom redan tillgängliga finansiella nyckeltal. Baserat på de identifierade implikationerna utvecklades ett ramverk (FinaSt-ramverket). Detta ramverk tar i beaktning att inte enbart längden på strategiska ledtider utan också själva förekomsten av strategiska ledtider har implikationer för tillverkande företags finansiella resultat, och att dessa implikationer kan vara direkta eller indirekta. Resultatet bygger vidare på och bidrar till den litteratur som fokuserar på att värdera ledtid samt tillhandahåller kunskap för en ökad förståelse för strategiska ledtider och den betydelse som strategiska ledtider har på tillverkande företags finansiella resultat. Resultatet kan således bidra till bättre beslutsstöd vid utvärdering och prioritering av olika försörjningskedjealternativ, genom att tillhandahålla stöd för att basera beslutet på lönsamhet.
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Feldbabelová, Irina. "Finanční hodnocení podniku a návrhy na zlepšení." Master's thesis, Vysoké učení technické v Brně. Fakulta podnikatelská, 2011. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-223091.
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he aim of this thesis is to carry out an appraisal of a financial condition of a company. In the first part, theoretical start-points of Financial Analysis are scrutinised, with an introduction of the company followed. By taking the advantage of the Financial Analysis method, the financial condition of the company is appraised and the outcomes are compared with competition. In the second part, proceedings for risk elimination in the company management are suggested.
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Jönsson, Elin, and Rebecka Ölund. "Oops! I Did It Again... : Exploring consumers’ post-purchase emotions in regards to impulsive shopping and product returns online." Thesis, Jönköping University, Internationella Handelshögskolan, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-52686.
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Background: The expansion of e-commerce and online orders have led to companies creating new marketing strategies, where impulsive purchases are important in order to boost sales. However, this also has negative aspects concerning overconsumption and the environmental impact. Consumers are more likely to have negative post-purchase emotions when making an impulsive purchase, and thus are more prone to return products. This research aims at creating a deeper understanding about consumers’ post-purchase emotions after making an impulsive purchase and how a product return affects the post-purchase emotions. Problem discussion: Impulsive buying is critical for online stores and retailers are actively trying to increase these purchases for all customers, but at the same time, there is a growing number of product returns. This makes it important for firms to understand how consumers think and react to an impulsive purchase, since this supposedly has an impact on product returns. By providing a deeper understanding regarding the consumer’s post-purchase emotions one can specify such reactions on shoppers and help future marketing activities preventing consumers’ negative emotions in the purpose of increasing organizational profitability and decreasing the environmental impact. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to build a theory that will provide organizations with knowledge about the chosen segment of Swedish women in the age 18-35 post-purchase emotions after impulsive buying. The findings of this study can contribute with additional insights to previous theoretical knowledge about post-purchase emotions after impulsive shopping. Method: This qualitative research has been conducted by using 14 semi-structured interviews with the chosen segment of Swedish females in the age 18-35 who had previously shopped impulsively online and returned products. For the data analysis, an interpretative phenomenological analysis was used, providing the research with reflections regarding the perspective of the participants’ experiences of impulsive shopping and their post-purchase emotions. Results: This research indicates that the participants generally held a negative view of impulsive buying, where they reduced/strengthened their post-purchase emotions through three rationalizations which were named by the authors “Social Proof”, “Use-Principle” and “Limited Funds”. When making a product return, the participants either had strengthened emotions or the negative emotions were turned into positive emotions. This was connected to three themes found by the authors which were called “Income”, “Return Policy”, and “Social and Environment”. The analyzed findings were presented in a developed framework.