Value Creation in Category Management Relationships: A Comparative Analysis

Category management is a collaborative approach between food manufacturers and retailers to manage product categories rather than individual brands. The purpose of the research is to explore value creation within category management and category partnership relationships through data resource sharing to meet changing consumer needs. Consumers are switching to unbranded label products in food retail categories for improved value. The research focuses on creating value in a collaborative relationship comparing branded and non-branded suppliers. It looks at the situation from both the manufacturer and retailer perspectives, and the pilot research findings have shown the role of the category captain is changing and becoming an integral part of the research. Category management is evolving to meet changing consumer and shopper needs. The shopper is the person who purchases the product on behalf of the final consumer. The role played by all the suppliers' is changing and the data findings are uncovering that a trusted relationship with the supplier is becoming more important than the traditional reliance on the category captain who was always seen as the most knowledgeable and trusted supplier. An understanding of retailer needs through a stronger collaborative relationship focused predominantly around the retailer strategies, along with the provision of more detailed and consumer focused insight are emerging as the secret to a long and collaborative category management relationship. Literature reviews had previously revealed the importance of data sharing from the growth in the use of technology by both the supplier and the retailer, however the interviews are starting to reveal that direct shopper feedback from face to face discussions is providing more valuable and meaningful insight to underpin the traditional quantitative data. The research methodology is taking a phenomenological stance using predominantly qualitative interviews. The pilot findings have indicated the need for deeper research using 'participant observation' by observing the supplier category manager and the retail buyer in their natural working environments, and tracing the relationship process from the activity at the supplier end through to the final meeting with the retail buyer. The author who is a newcomer to research is also completing an interview diary after each interview to assess his own performance and seek to make ongoing improvements to the interviews. There will be 20 interviews completed by Easter 2017, half with suppliers and the remainder with the full tier range of retailers. The analysis is currently in progress alongside further interviews and planned to be completed by September 2017. The final thesis write-up will be completed by December 2017, and the DBA viva planned for March 2018

Reducing Childhood Obesity: Food Innovation Consultancy Challenge

The module accounted for a third of the students final year, and had a major impact on their overall degree classification. Students therefore committed over 20 hours per week to attend the seamless teaching and also significant individual and group work in their own time. They were responsible for managing the client, timekeeping, teamwork and peers alsomarked each other whichcontributed to the final grade. This was the first year the module has ran, student feedback from student voice and Module Evaluation Questionnaires has allowed the module team to improve further for next year. 2018 19 NSS Scores were 100% for Food Marketing Management and 97% for Food & Nutrition, the highest scores achieved in Sheffield Hallam University. 2019-20 has already welcomed Innocent Drinks, Taylors of Harrogate and Warburton’s to propose challenges to make a difference, and will include packaging reduction, and the changing consumer tastes to assisthealth benefits. We welcome the challenge

Commensurations of Out(F_n)

Let \Out(F_n) denote the outer automorphism group of the free group $F_n$ with $n>3$. We prove that for any finite index subgroup \Gamma<\Out(F_n), the group \Aut(\Gamma) is isomorphic to the normalizer of $\Gamma$ in \Out(F_n). We prove that $\Gamma$ is {\em co-Hopfian} : every injective homomorphism $\Gamma\to \Gamma$ is surjective. Finally, we prove that the abstract commensurator \Comm(\Out(F_n)) is isomorphic to \Out(F_n).Comment: Revised version, 43 pages. To appear in Publ. Math. IHE

Harmonic Splittings of Surfaces

We give a proof, using harmonic maps from disks to real trees, of Skora's theorem (Morgan-Otal (1993), Skora (1990), originally conjectured by Shalen): if G is the fundamental group of a surface of genus at least 2, then any small minimal G-action on a real tree is dual to the lift of a measured foliation. Analytic tools like the maximum principle are used to simplify the usual combinatorial topology arguments. Other analytic objects associated to a harmonic map, such as the Hopf differential and the moduli space of harmonic maps, are also introduced as tools for understanding the action of surface groups on trees.Comment: 28 page

Untapped potential: How the G20 can strengthen global governance

The G20 has two distinctive features that make it a unique forum in global politics. First, it is one of the few existing global platforms where different international institutions and regional organisations can coordinate across a vast array of issue areas and emergent policy fields. Second, it is an institution that brings together heads of government which control roughly 80% of world GDP. Despite these features, the G20 lacks constitutive authority of its own, bound by a consensus principle which sharply delimits its scope of action. Notwithstanding its circumspect authority, no recent international body has garnered more attention from transnational civil society groups and advocacy networks than the G20. Most of this attention is critical and points to legitimacy problems. We argue that these legitimacy problems derive from a perception of untapped potential and undue privilege for great powers. Against this backdrop, we submit that a more active and institutionalised forum – with clear decision-making procedures for exercising authority – could help mitigate resistance and contribute to a more legitimate global governance system overall

Value Creation or Destruction: The Role of Private label in UK Grocery Category Management Decisions

Category management is a collaborative approach between food manufacturers and retailers to manage product categories rather than individual brands. It operates at both strategic and operational levels and seeks to create value ultimately for the consumer. The paper contributes to the literature and practice. It uses a qualitative interview study of twenty five senior practitioners and explores the role of private label products within UK grocery categories as consumers continue to switch due to lower prices and comparable quality to the traditional brands. The research also examines how private label manufacturers can create value within the category management relationship and how they can aspire to category captainship if they generate retailer specific and differentiated category strategies. The paper accepts its limitations and explains how further research in this important field of retailing is necessary to update the literature and help practitioners navigate their way through turbulent sector change

The Escape Fraction of Ionizing Radiation from Galaxies

The escape of ionizing radiation from galaxies plays a critical role in the evolution of gas in galaxies, and the heating and ionization history of the intergalactic medium. We present semi-analytic calculations of the escape fraction of ionizing radiation for both hydrogen and helium from galaxies ranging from primordial systems to disk-type galaxies that are not heavily dust-obscured. We consider variations in the galaxy density profile, source type, location, and spectrum, and gas overdensity/distribution factors. For sufficiently hard first-light sources, the helium ionization fronts closely track or advance beyond that of hydrogen. Key new results in this work include calculations of the escape fractions for He I and He II ionizing radiation, and the impact of partial ionization from X-rays from early AGN or stellar clusters on the escape fractions from galaxy halos. When factoring in frequency-dependent effects, we find that X-rays play an important role in boosting the escape fractions for both hydrogen and helium, but especially for He II. We briefly discuss the implications of these results for recent observations of the He II reionization epoch at low redshifts, as well as the UV data and emission-line signatures from early galaxies anticipated from future satellite missions.Comment: 43 pages, 9 figures, accepted in ApJ, comments welcom

Food Innovation Consultancy Challenge: 'Live' Learning and Professional Development with an Industry Client

Abstract What makes you stand out in the market for that great graduate job? In the competitive market for graduate jobs, securing a good degree no longer sets you apart from other candidates – this workshop will show academics how to improve student employability through 'real life' learning in collaboration with leading UK industry businesses. The Food Innovation Consultancy Challenge is part of Sheffield Business School's 'live' strategic pillar offering students consultancy opportunities collaborating with key industry partners. The module forms one-third of students final year grading and has a significant impact on their degree classification. It is designed to improve professional skills through applied learning from a topical real life challenge. Through seamless teaching it provides integrated, exponential, problem-based and active learning, and develops team working and individual skills to get students 'career ready'. Over eighty students worked with Asda Stores plc on a sugar reduction project on Asda Brand biscuits in line with Public Health England targets to help reduce childhood obesity. Students were presented with a brief by the client and using primary and secondary research, along with commercial evaluations provided recommendations for Asda Bourbons, Custard Cream and Milk Chocolate Digestives. The project allowed students to reflect on their career development and future plans, and by using appropriate models and career management theory provide individual input to a group task. The module included a speed dating session with Asda management and culminated with the students presenting their recommendations at Asda House to an academic and Asda panel. The author would like to share the success of the student experience and recommendations to the client with BAM delegates. This academic model is one that satisfies student and industry requirements by providing work experience and self-reflection, action planning and improving student employability. The module was such a success that it appeared in the press in The Grocer and on the BBC. It has become the focus of 'live' module delivery across the whole of the courses within SBS

Mapping where the poor live:

Poverty reduction, Hunger, Poverty maps, Program design, Understanding where the poor live, Spatial distribution of poverty,