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- Balkow, Jenny
(författare)
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In the middle : on sourcing from China and the role of the intermediary
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the past three decades China’s rapid transition from a closed economy to become the factory of the world has astonished economists all over the world. Surveys among sourcing practitioners show that China is the most interesting market for sourcing and research points to lower costs as the main reason. This dissertation is an exploratory study of the role of the intermediary for Swedish small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that source from China. Three questions are discussed. The first question concerns why Swedish SMEs choose to source from China. Although costs are a major factor for the companies, it is usually other triggers that cause the change in strategy, such as management interest or pressure from a large customer. The second research question concerns how Swedish SMEs choose to source from China and how the role of the intermediary is related to this process. The study shows that finding a good supplier is not difficult. The companies use informal channels, references and sometimes unorthodox methods such as following the supplier of the raw material to find suppliers that deliver high quality goods. The problem is however to maintain a steady quality and on time delivery which is why intermediaries are introduced late in the relationship. The cases in this study show example of five different intermediated strategies; Direct, Service,Traditional, RepO and FICE/WFOE. The traditional intermediated strategy is the only strategy where there is little or no relation between buyer and supplier, whereas the other four strategies involve different degrees of interaction between all three actors in the dyad; the buyer, the supplier and the intermediary. The third research question concerned the role of the intermediary. The study shows that the respondents are influenced by their structural view on what role the different forms of intermediaries may take. Although the respondents discuss the importance of having a long-term view on the relationship with the supplier they continuously allow intermediaries to enter the relationship on a short-term basis for quality control. These quality control centers (QC) commonly work on a fixed commission based on services that has to be specified. When the buyers are trying to change their strategy to look for an intermediary with higher involvement they usually turn to internal intermediaries (i.e. subsidiaries). When deciding on a long term intermediary the buyer usually looks for competences that supplement their own knowledge – that is Chinese language, good knowledge of the Chinese market but also technological competence. What the western owned intermediaries in China stresses however is the need to find intermediaries to supplement the suppliers’ competences, so that they are able to translate the needs of the buyer’s customer and becomes a physical reminder that they are sent from the buyer. The case of QC, shows that if a company let the relationship with the intermediary develop through interaction they can become just as involved. The study is based on interviews with key informants at Swedish SMEs andat different types of intermediaries in China. The empirical data are presented infive themes developed through an iterative process of theoretical studies anddata collection. The first two themes are directly related to the first tworesearch questions. The third theme focuses on the sourcing process andactivities of four small Swedish design companies. The fourth theme displayshow the intermediaries in China discuss their role. Finally, the fifth theme pictures the supply chain of one focal company at five points in time when they are in the process of changing their supply chain to increase transparency.
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| 3. |
- Balkow, Jenny, et al.
(författare)
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Produktinformation i butiken
- 2014
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Det här är en studie om konsumenters behov av produktinformation i butik. Vi har testat konsumenters kännedom om QR-koder och deras intention att vilja använda QR-koder i fysiska butiker. Rapporten redogör för resultaten från intervjuer av butikskunder samt ett experiment där respondenterna har fått scanna en QR-kod med fördjupad produktinformation. De viktigaste resultat som framkommit är: • Kännedomen om QR-koder som fenomen är hög, men användningen eller benägenheten att använda dem i fysiska butiker är låg • I de fall då konsumenter kan tänka sig att använda QR-koder i butik anser åldersgruppen 12-40 år att man kan göra det om man får relevant och fördjupad produktinformation. Konsumenter över 40 år kan bara tänka sig att använda QR-koder om man får en rabatt eller prissänkning. Utifrån dessa resultat har följande kunskaper erhållits • Det finns en potential i att erbjuda kunder produktinformation i butik med hjälp av digital teknik. Främst därför att det ger ett kundvärde men också för att det underlättar för butiksmedarbetare när det är mycket kunder i butiken. • Att erbjuda digitala informationsverktyg kräver dock att konsumenterna ”undervisas” i hur man gör samt erhåller ett verkligt värde i form av trovärdig och konsumentnyttig information. • I ett övergångsskede kan konsumenter erbjudas någon form av rabatt eller prissänkning för att få dem att börja använda informationskanalen.
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| 4. |
- Fuentes, Christian, Professor, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Mobile shopping from home : Digitalization and the reconfiguration of domestic retailscapes
- 2021
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mobile shopping is becoming an increasingly widespread phenomenon and an emerging field of research (Groß, 2015). While much of the early research in this field has been focused on understanding what affects the acceptance of technology for mobile shopping and intentions and attitudes driving mobile shopping, there is a growing body of work that sets out to understand how mobile shopping is carried out in practice and what this entails (for an overview of this field, see Fuentes & Svingstedt, 2017).Studies within this activity-based stream of research show that consumers are using mobile phones to for example search for product information, check store availability, compare prices, and purchase products online (Spaid & Flint, 2014). Consumers are also using mobile phones to chat about products with friends, to check blogs on the go, and to coordinate their shopping trips with friends and family (Fuentes & Svingstedt, 2017). Mobile phones, it would seem, are both used as practical and social shopping tools, offering consumers a broad range of possibilities (Spaid & Flint, 2014). The use therefore of mobile phones is having significant impact on shopping. Some studies even indicate that as mobile phones are becoming increasingly integrated into shopping practices, they are reconfiguring the practice of shopping. While much can be said about what this means for the practice of shopping, one of the more significant changes is the temporal and spatial shift that comes as the result of the ubiquity of mobile phones. Because we carry these devices with us at all times (more or less) and because of the development of wifi and mobile internet, consumers today have access to retailscapes wherever and whenever they are. In addition to allowing consumers to shop on the go, as other studies have shown (Fuentes & Svingstedt, 2017), this also means that a considerable amount of shopping is today done digitally from home. Smartphones are central in this new home-shopping practice, enabling consumers access to multiple retail sites as well as a plethora of shopping tools (budget apps, shopping list apps) and third-party sites (such as price runner). While shopping from home has been possible ever since the advent of catalogue shopping, we propose that the introduction of the smartphone and other mobile digital devices is leading to the reconfiguration of mobile shopping from home, changing both how we shop at home but also how we approach and perform our homes. The aim of this paper is therefore to examine and explain how and under what conditions mobile phones are reconfiguring both the practice of mobile shopping from home and the spatialities and temporalities of the home. This is important both to understand the developing practice of mobile shopping but also to be able to comment on the impact that digitally enabled commercialization is having on consumers everyday lives. Theoretically we draw on the theoretical framework of practice theory and the geographically influenced concept of retailscape (Fuentes, Bäckström, & Svingstedt, 2017) to conceptualise home shopping as mode of practice both anchored in and capable of reconfiguring the spatial and temporal make-up of the home. Empirically, the analysis draws on an on-going ethnographically inspired study of home shopping consumers. Participants are asked to document their at-home mobile shopping using a research app, taking photos and writing comments, for a period of two weeks. They are then interviewed using the collected material but also going beyond it about their home shopping and how/when/where it is performed, what other practices it is connected to/inhibits and how this practice has developed over time. Preliminary results indicate that at home mobile shopping – defined in the broad sense to include – is a practice that has been increasing in intensity, particularly during the pandemic. While consumers approach and conduct mobile shopping from home in different ways, they all developed more or less routinized forms of mobile shopping. In establishing these new modes of shopping, the practices “carved out” space for themselves, being often conducted in specific home place – in the kitchen/by the fridge, in bed or the sofa – depending on the practice. Moreover, mobile shopping from home required that the practice be “wedged-in” between other practices. Temporal ordering and synchronizing with other practices were crucial for the reconfiguring effects that mobile shopping had on everyday lives. It was thus clear that mobile shopping from home was a practice that had to be actively worked into the nexus of everyday practices and what once in place it reconfigured by the spatial and temporal organisation of the home. This digitally enabled reconfiguration had both positive and negative outcomes for consumers. While mobile shopping from home often helped consumer juggle their busy lifestyles, they were also often worried that this practice was conducted at the expense of other social and work-related practices. Similarly, while mobile shopping from home made their home a more functional space, particularly so under the pandemic, it also connected their homes to multiple retailscapes, at times with perceived negative results. To conclude, while we do not claim homes had previously been free of commercial influence, on the contrary the home has a long history as a retailscape (see for example catalogue shopping and the phenomenon of TV-shop), mobile phones lead to the enactment of new domestic retailscapes. Both the mechanisms involved in this process and the outcome of it warrants scholarly attention.
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| 6. |
- Giri, Chandadevi
(författare)
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Data-driven AI Techniques for Fashion and Apparel Retailing
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Digitalisation allows companies to develop many new ways of interacting with customers and other stakeholders. These digital interactions typically generate data that can be stored and later processed for different objectives. Currently, the fashion and apparel industry is undergoing a disruptive transformation due to digitalisation, including a rapid increase in the generation of data in various parts of the supply chain. While most data may not be stored with data mining or other analyses in mind, collected data frequently contain very valuable information that can be exploited. Analytics, in particular the use of data-driven AI techniques, is therefore becoming a pervasive tool that is used for a large variety of purposes and in many different processes. While the popularity of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as an advanced tool for improved decision support is increasing, applications of AI within the fashion and apparel industry have historically been rather limited.With this in mind, the overall purpose of this thesis is to, after presenting an overview of research on applications of data-driven AI in the fashion and apparel industry, demonstrate how various data sets and AI techniques can be utilised for improved decision support in different scenarios.Whilst the thesis first investigates the impact of AI on different parts of the supply chain, the empirical work focuses on fashion and apparel retailing. Here, different AI techniques are explored in a set of case studies covering several applications in fashion and apparel retailing, thus showing the potential of data-driven AI for decision support in that domain.One important learning outcome, found in several of the studies, is the need to combine several data sources and techniques in the projects. Another takeaway is the benefit of interpretable models, which allow for inspection and analysis of the discovered relationships. From an applied perspective, approaches like RFM modelling can be utilised as a pre-step to predict customer churn, add sentiment analysis to short-term sales forecasting and build campaign and simulation engines from historical data, which could potentially be used by many retailers.In conclusion, this thesis has, mainly through a set of case studies addressing real-world problems and utilising real-world data sets, demonstrated how data-driven AI techniques can support and improve fashion and apparel retailers’ decision-making.
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| 7. |
- Giri, Chandadevi, et al.
(författare)
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Forecasting New Apparel Sales Using Deep Learning and Nonlinear Neural Network Regression
- 2019
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Ingår i: 2019 International Conference on Engineering, Science, and Industrial Applications (ICESI). - 9781728121741 - 9781728121734
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Compared to other retail industries, fashion retail industry faces many challenges to foresee future demand of its products. This is due to ever-changing choices of their consumers, who get influenced by rapidly changing market trends and it leads to the short life cycle of a fashion product. Due to the advent of e-commerce business models, fashion retailers have to put a multitude of virtual product images along with their feature information on their websites in order for their customers to know the fashion products and improve their purchasing experience. It is imperative for fashion retailers to predict future consumer preferences in advance; however, they lack advanced tools to achieve this goal. To overcome this problem, this research work combines the historical information of products with their image features using deep learning and predicts future sales. Apparel images are converted into feature vectors and then are merged with historical sales data. We applied backward propagation neural network model to predict the sales of a new product. It is found that the model performs quite well despite the small size of the dataset. This approach could be promising for forecasting the new arrivals of apparels in the market, and fashion retailers could improve their efficiency and growth.
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| 8. |
- Hedegård, Lars, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Digital teknik och kvantitativ metod i undervisningen
- 2022
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Digitalisering i form av ny teknik är ett av de områden som våra framtida företagsekonomiska studenter förväntas kunna hantera i ett kommande yrkesliv. Samtidigt måste beslutsfattare idag i allt högre grad förhålla sig till kvantitativ data som samlas in via digital teknik. Vi måste därför inom ramen för våra utbildningar skapa möjligheter för ökad kompetens hos studenterna att samla in, analysera och förstå kvantitativ data så att dessa kan omvandlas till beslutsunderlag. Företagsekonomiska utbildningar måste således ge studenterna både teoretiska och praktiska kunskaper att hantera digital teknik och kvantitativ data i relevanta professionsmiljöer. Med sessionen [en workshop] adresserar vi hur företagsekonomisk utbildning kan göra detta genom att samla erfarenheter av undervisning som syftar till att ge studenterna teoretisk och praktisk kunskap av digital teknik och kvantitativ metod.
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