Evaluation of Major E-commerce Companies Business Model

Technological advances have enabled a large spread of online retailers. E-commerce business is challenging the nature of traditional foundation of trade, therefore trade is on transition. The Internet allows consumers to compare and examine online store offerings, regardless of place and time. Digitalization has created new opportunities for creating customer value. The growing trend towards online shopping world has taken place in a very short period of time. Businesses, either use e-commerce as an additional operation, or completely rely, on the Internet business opportunities. The aim of this Master`s thesis is to define and evaluate key business model factors of two major e-commerce companies, Alibaba.com and Amazon.com. These key business model factors have a positive effect on successful e-commerce business. In addition, Alibaba.com and Amazon.com are compared with the help of these identified factors. Moreover, e-commerce business factors provide opportunities to create greater customer value regardless of the industry. Customer value is the core of business and a competitive advantage. Customer value is defined as a ratio between sacrifices and benefits. E-commerce companies should effectively evaluate customer value, so they could customize their offerings to meet better desired customer needs. Even though e-commerce business is a relatively new phenomenon, it has been widely studied

Improving Cost-Efficiency and Reducing Environmental Impacts of Intermodal Transportation with Dry Port Concept – Major Rail Transport Corridor in Baltic Sea Region

Transportation plays a major role in the gross domestic product of various nations. There are, however, many obstacles hindering the transportation sector. Cost-efficiency along with proper delivery times, high frequency and reliability are not a straightforward task. Furthermore, environmental friendliness has increased the importance of the whole transportation sector. This development will change roles inside the transportation sector. Even now, but especially in the future, decisions regarding the transportation sector will be partly based on emission levels and other externalities originating from transportation in addition to pure transportation costs. There are different factors, which could have an impact on the transportation sector. IMO’s sulphur regulation is estimated to increase the costs of short sea shipping in the Baltic Sea. Price development of energy could change the roles of different transport modes. Higher awareness of the environmental impacts originating from transportation could also have an impact on the price level of more polluting transport modes. According to earlier research, increased inland transportation, modal shift and slowsteaming can be possible results of these changes in the transportation sector. Possible changes in the transportation sector and ways to settle potential obstacles are studied in this dissertation. Furthermore, means to improve cost-efficiency and to decrease environmental impacts originating from transportation are researched. Hypothetical Finnish dry port network and Rail Baltica transport corridor are studied in this dissertation. Benefits and disadvantages are studied with different methodologies. These include gravitational models, which were optimized with linear integer programming, discrete-event and system dynamics simulation, an interview study and a case study. Geographical focus is on the Baltic Sea Region, but the results can be adapted to other geographical locations with discretion. Results indicate that the dry port concept has benefits, but optimization regarding the location and the amount of dry ports plays an important role. In addition, the utilization of dry ports for freight transportation should be carefully operated, since only a certain amount of total freight volume can be cost-efficiently transported through dry ports. If dry ports are created and located without proper planning, they could actually increase transportation costs and delivery times of the whole transportation system. With an optimized dry port network, transportation costs can be lowered in Finland with three to five dry ports. Environmental impacts can be lowered with up to nine dry ports. If more dry ports are added to the system, the benefits become very minor, i.e. payback time of investments becomes extremely long. Furthermore, dry port network could support major transport corridors such as Rail Baltica. Based on an analysis of statistics and interview study, there could be enough freight volume available for Rail Baltica, especially, if North-West Russia is part of the Northern end of the corridor. Transit traffic to and from Russia (especially through the Baltic States) plays a large role. It could be possible to increase transit traffic through Finland by connecting the potential Finnish dry port network and the studied transport corridor. Additionally, sulphur emission regulation is assumed to increase the attractiveness of Rail Baltica in the year 2015. Part of the transit traffic could be rerouted along Rail Baltica instead of the Baltic Sea, since the price level of sea transport could increase due to the sulphur regulation. Both, the hypothetical Finnish dry port network and Rail Baltica transport corridor could benefit each other. The dry port network could gain more market share from Russia, but also from Central Europe, which is the other end of Rail Baltica. In addition, further Eastern countries could also be connected to achieve higher potential freight volume by rail.

Avaliação e caracterização da qualidade da carne de peito (Pectoralis major) de matrizes pesadas em final de ciclo produtivo

Este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar as características da qualidade da carne de matrizes pesadas de descarte. Para isto, foram coletadas 40 amostras de filés de peito (Pectoralis major) de matrizes da linhagem Ross com 68 e 69 semanas de idade. As coletas foram divididas em duas, com 20 amostras coletadas em cada uma delas. No tempo zero (após o resfriamento) foi medido o pH e coletados fragmentos para a avaliação do valor R. Nos tempos 4 e 24 horas post-mortem, foram feitas as seguintes análises: pH, valor R, cor objetiva, perda por exsudação (drip loss), capacidade de retenção de água (CRA), capacidade de absorção de água (CAA), perdas de peso por cozimento (PPC) e força de cisalhamento (FC). Houve diferença (p < 0,05) para os valores médios de pH entre os tempos zero (após o resfriamento), 4 e 24 horas que foram de 6,49; 5,78; e 5,65, respectivamente. O resultado médio encontrado para CRA foi de 26,45. Para a cor objetiva, os resultados médios para o L*, a* e b* foram de 52,20; 3,64; 0,51, respectivamente. Portanto, conclui-se que, quando observados os resultados das análises para os parâmetros perda por exsudato, perda de peso por cozimento e capacidade de absorção de água, a carne de peito das matrizes pesadas apresenta ótima qualidade tecnológica apesar de apresentar problemas na sua textura.

Efeitos da radiação gama na cor, capacidade antioxidante e perfil de ácidos graxos em amendoim (Arachis hypogaea L.)

A irradiação gama é eficiente para eliminar a contaminação fúngica em grãos de amendoim. Este apresenta proteínas de alto valor biológico, minerais, vitaminas E, complexo B e alta concentração de lipídios. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o efeito da aplicação de radiações gama na cor, fenólicos totais, atividade antioxidante e perfil de ácidos graxos em amendoim (Arachis hypogaea L.). Os cultivares IAC-Tatu ST e IAC-Runner 886 foram submetidos a radiações gama com doses de 5,0; 7,5; 10,0; e 15,0 kGy e armazenados em temperatura ambiente. Não foram verificadas diferenças significativas na cor dos amendoins IAC-Tatu ST. Diferenças significativas foram detectadas para a luminosidade e o Croma do IAC-Runner 886. Os fenólicos totais diferiram significativamente entre o controle com 33,27 mg.g-1 e o tratamento com 10,0 kGy com 58,60 mg.g-1 no IAC-Tatu ST, neste parâmetro não foram observadas diferenças significativas no IAC-Runner 886, cujo controle foi 51,59 mg.g-1. Para atividade antioxidante não foi verificada diferença significativa com a dose de 10,0 kGy, recomendada para eliminação fúngica de amendoim. Na dose de 10,0 kGy, verificou-se a diminuição de ácidos graxos saturados, o aumento dos insaturados e o aumento de ácido linoleico. A relação oleico/linoleico diminuiu, justificando novos estudos correlacionando armazenamento e estabilidade oxidativa.

Proximate composition and quantification of fatty acids in five major Brazilian chocolate brands

The objective of the present study was to characterize the centesimal composition and quantify fatty acids in regular and diet chocolate brands with emphasis on trans fatty acids. Regular and diet dark chocolate samples from the major brands analyzed were purchased from different local supermarkets in the city of Maringá. The brands were labeled with letters and five lots of each brand with three chocolate units per lot were analyzed in triplicate. We observed that the diet chocolates from the same brands presented larger lipid contents. The main fatty acids observed were saturated fatty acids (SFA), myristic acid (14:0), palmitic acid (16:0), and estearic acid (18:0). Among the monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and trans fatty acids, oleic acid (18:1n-9), linoleic acid (18:2n-6), and elaidic acid (18:1-9t) predominated. The trans fatty acid contents found in the analyzed samples were lower than and/or in accordance with the limits proposed by the Brazilian regulation.

Development and optimization of a HPLC-RI method for the determination of major sugars in apple juice and evaluation of the effect of the ripening stage

The sugars in apple juice prove its authenticity and its sensory and nutritional properties. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a simple analytical method using high performance liquid chromatography with refractive index detection (HPLC-RI) to determinate and quantify the sugars sucrose, D-glucose, D-fructose, and D-sorbitol polyol in apple juices, as well as to analyze the juices from the Fuji suprema and Lis Gala cultivars at three ripening stages. The analytical performance parameters evaluated indicated that the method was specific for the compounds analyzed, and the linearity of the calibration curves of sugars showed high correlation coefficients (close to 1.0). The limits of detection and quantification are consistent with recommendations available in the literature for this type of matrix. Sample preparation is simple and generates small amount of residues. Over 70% of the sugars were determined in the juices of apples at the pre-ripe stage, with an increase during senescence. This method is applicable for the determination of sugars in juices and evaluation of apple ripening.

Interactions of decision mechanisms in an entrepreneurial firm’s journey to become a major player in its industry

This study discusses the interactions of different decision-making mechanisms in the process of change of a successful entrepreneurial dairy firm in Vietnam. The purpose of the study is to construct a theoretical framework, which explains the interactions between effectual and causal decision-making processes in different phases of business, and to provide a real life example with practical recommendations for entrepreneurs and managers. In order to achieve this purpose, a preliminary theoretical framework was built, using process theories applied to different decision making modes, referred to as causation and effectuation. The case was studied through ethnographic research method, with three semi-structured interviews, one unstructured interview, secondary data and observations within four months in 2013-2014. After the data was analyzed, a modified framework was drawn from the result. The finding of this study shows that there was an interaction between effectual and causal decision-making processes in different stages of the company’s development. The entrepreneur applied effectual decision-making process to develop a unique business model and a new dairy market segment. However, when a new market demand arose, the company’s resources became insufficient, they thus had to shift to causation process to adapt to market change. Simultaneously, with better-accumulated resources, the entrepreneur continued the effectuation process to create another brand new dairy market segment. This study, thus, contributes to effectuation theory, emphasizing the necessity of combining effectual and causal decision-making processes in different phases of business. It is suggested that business would develop with an effectual process until a business model is viable for growth. It continues to use this process up to a certain degree. When the market changes, the company needs to collect more means to adapt to the changes. They need to set new goals and this is a shift to the use of causal process, which builds on prediction. It uses goals and teleology as driving mechanisms and tries to exploit and fill potential resource gaps to achieve these goals. At the same time, there are new iterations that look to establish new lines or types of business with the given means, which are now well established. This again employs effectual mechanisms, which are based on evolutionary process, until they reach the stage of viable tested business model. Moreover, this study hopes to provide know-how to entrepreneurs and managers of small companies in similar situations, suggesting how to combine effectual and causal decision-making processes to deal with various circumstances in different times.

Hindenburg, Ludendorff et son Etat-major devant la villa Imhoff [reproduction réduite d'une photographie prise vers 1917] : [photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol]

Référence bibliographique : Rol, 58714

[Portrait du] Major General [Charles Vere Ferrers] Townshend : [photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol]

Référence bibliographique : Rol, 59158

Mustafa Kemal et son État-major : [photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol]

Référence bibliographique : Rol, 59897

Mustafa Kemal et son État-major : [photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol]

Référence bibliographique : Rol, 59898