Towards returns management strategies in internet retailing

The digital transformation of the retailing industry in recent years has had a profound effect on consumers’ behaviour on a global scale. When shopping and browsing online, consumers are not able to “touch and feel”, which means that product returns are inevitable. The fashion industry has particularly suffered from high return rates, which fluctuate between 30% and 50%. The industry has been struggling to strike a balance between competitive customer service, profitability and company sustainability targets.Against this backdrop, the purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the development of returns management strategies in internet retailing. Returns management in an online environment encapsulates both the return policy and the return process. The former has an impact on consumers, whilst the latter refers to the company itself. Four studies provide evidence to serve the purpose of the thesis. First, the author investigates how the return policy affects purchase decisions (Study I and Study II) and second, how internet retailers manage their return processes (Study III). Finally, the author sheds light on the way effective strategies for returns management can be established (Study IV).Two quantitative studies and two qualitative studies were conducted. More specifically, in Study I and Study II, data were collected from consumers through an online survey. Study III followed an exploratory multiple case study design, while in Study IV, data were collected through a confirmatory multiple case study.The findings of this thesis have significant implications for theory and practice. This research extends the returns management literature by uncovering mediating and moderating mechanisms of interest. The notion of fit between returns management and business intent can prove to be a valuable tool with extensive applicability to a wide range of returns-related decisions. This research also presents an array of identified misalignments that can assist supply chain managers in designing effective and robust returns management strategies in the internet retailing domain

Object and feature based modelling of attention in meeting and surveillance videos

MPhilThe aim of the thesis is to create and validate models of visual attention. To this extent, a novel unsupervised object detection and tracking framework has been developed by the author. It is demonstrated on people, faces and moving objects and the output is integrated in modelling of visual attention. The proposed approach integrates several types of modules in initialisation, target estimation and validation. Tracking is rst used to introduce high-level features, by extending a popular model based on low-level features[1]. Two automatic models of visual attention are further implemented. One based on winner take it all and inhibition of return as the mech- anisms of selection on a saliency model with high- and low-level features combined. Another which is based only on high-level object tracking results and statistic proper- ties from the collected eye-traces, with the possibility of activating inhibition of return as an additional mechanism. The parameters of the tracking framework thoroughly investigated and its success demonstrated. Eye-tracking experiments show that high- level features are much better at explaining the allocation of attention by the subjects in the study. Low-level features alone do correlate signi cantly with real allocation of attention. However, in fact it lowers the correlation score when combined with high-level features in comparison to using high-level features alone. Further, ndings in collected eye-traces are studied with qualitative method, mainly to discover direc- tions in future research in the area. Similarities and dissimilarities between automatic models of attention and collected eye-traces are discusse

3D-Effects in Total Stability Evaluations

This master’s dissertation has been performed in cooperation with Tyréns and the Dept. of Construction Sciences, LTH. We have investigated if it is possible to increase the total stability for excavations with retaining structures and if each side of an excavation could be treated as a separate 2D-case with additional theories to approximate its 3D-effects. End-surface theories from the Commission on slope stability (CSS) report 3:95 could possibly be used to consider 3D-effects although they are originally created for slopes without structural support. Neither is there any information regarding the interaction between these separated 2D-systems. The intention of this master’s dissertation is to validate that these theories mentioned can be used and that it is reasonable doing so. It is done by evaluating three different kinds of systems namely > Generalised sloped excavations where corners and thus interactions between sides are introduced into the model but without structure to examine endsurface- and additional 3D-effects where the applied theories are valid. > Generalised excavation with retaining structure to determine corner-, endsurface- and structural effects. > The theories evaluated are then applied to a real life case with material- and structural parameters evaluated from the Västlänken project. Here the possibility of excavating a 70x70x15 m (length, width, depth) is investigated. For all of the modelling steps; analytical and numerical calculations have been performed, where Slope/W has been used to aid the analytical calculations and Plaxis- 2D and 3D have been used for 2D and 3D modelling. Evident in the results assembled in this work is that 2D-analytical calculations underestimates the total stability (FS) for an excavation when compared to numerical calculations. Applying the end surface theory from CSS report 3:95 generates results similar to the ones generated by 3D modelling, but on the safe side. This final comparison was made without considering the stabilising effect that can be accounted for due to the retaining structural connections in the corners

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger? The Impact of the 1918 Spanish Flu Epidemic on Economic Performance in Sweden

We study the impact of the 1918 influenza pandemic on economic performance in Sweden. The pandemic was one of the severest and deadliest pandemics in human history, but it has hitherto received only scant attention in the economic literature – despite important implications for modern-day pandemics. In this paper, we exploit seemingly exogenous variation in incidence rates between Swedish regions to estimate the impact of the pandemic. Using difference-in-differences and high-quality administrative data from Sweden, we estimate the effects on earnings, capital returns and poverty. We find that the pandemic led to a significant increase in poverty rates. There is also relatively strong evidence that capital returns were negatively affected by the pandemic. On the other hand, we find robust evidence that the influenza had no discernible effect on earnings. This finding is surprising since it goes against most previous empirical studies as well as theoretical predictions

Genetic evidence of farmed straying and introgression in Swedish wild salmon populations

Escaped farmed Atlantic salmon represent a well-documented and ongoing threat to wild conspecific populations. In Norway, the world-leading producer of farmed salmon, annual monitoring of straying and genetic introgression by farmed escapees in wild salmon rivers has been carried out since the late 1980s. In this study, we applied molecular and statistical methods routinely used in the Norwegian monitoring programme to investigate the magnitude of escaped farmed salmon and genetic introgression in salmon rivers on the west coast of Sweden, where suspected escapees have been observed. Our results confirm that escaped farmed salmon stray, successfully spawn, and produce offspring at levels similar to those observed in neighbouring Norway. These findings raise concerns over population productivity and long-term viability and highlight the need for more permanent monitoring of the presence and consequences of escaped farmed salmon in Swedish salmon rivers. Our results further illustrate that farmed gene flow may constitute a transboundary problem with potential international implications

Beroendeanalys inom privat sektor

In this master thesis the use of dependency analyses within the private sector was evaluated through a case study of a privately held company. Today’s methods for dependency analysis are primarily meant to be used on a societal level and the aim of this thesis was to further the use of this kind of analysis. The use of a societal method within the private sector required the method to be modified but has worked well and generated satisfying results. The thesis concluded that dependency analysis can be used as a methodical approach to mapping and analysing a privately held company’s dependencies and as a supplement in risk management processes.Analys av beroenden inom komplexa produktionskedjor I dagens samhälle kan produktionskedjor i fabriker bestå av flera hundra olika tillverkningssteg. Vad händer när ett av dessa steg inte fungerar som det ska? Vilka effekter får det längre ner i produktionskedjan och hur kan det förebyggas? Dessa frågor har i detta examensarbete besvarats med hjälp av beroendeanalys. I detta examensarbete testas en metod som tidigare använts för att analysera hur olika verksamheter inom den offentliga sektorn påverkar varandra. Vad händer exempelvis med kollektivtrafiken om inte gatukontoret fungerar som det ska? På samma sätt som dessa verksamheter behöver varandra för att fungera, kan produktionssteg inom en verksamhet vara beroende av varandra för att kunna färdigställa en slutprodukt. Problematiken beskriven ovan kan analyseras genom så kallad beroendeanalys. Genom att undersöka hur var och ett av produktionsstegen är beroende av andra för att själv fungera kan dessa beroenden kartläggas och en helhetsbild av verksamheten skapas. På grund av beroenden inom en organisation kan en störning i en fabrik sprida sig genom produktionskedjan och påverka andra fabriker. Bränder, maskinhaverier, strömavbrott och andra störningar kan på detta sätt påverka en verksamhet i betydligt större utsträckning än störningens geografiska omfattning. Med information från beroendeanalysen om vilka delar som påverkar varandra och hur, kan dessa störningar förebyggas och förmildras. Beroendeanalysens användbarhet inom privat sektor testades genom en fallstudie av ett företag inom tillverkningsindustrin. Analysen gjordes genom att en specifik metod för beroendeanalys valdes ut och justerades för att sedan tillämpas på företaget ifråga. Fallstudien och examensarbetet visade att beroendeanalys fungerar väl inom den privata sektorn och kan med fördel anpassas till olika situationer