Electronic document management in chain companies of the FMCG-segment

This article considers the features of electronic document management at retail trade enterprises of the FMCG-segment. The paper observes the types of document flow at chain companies and examines the process of implementation of electronic document management system. The notions of “electronic document management” and “electronic data interchange” are also distinguished in the article.The paper explores positive changes caused by the introduction of electronic document management and the complexity of its implementation. The study reveals that in the Russian Federation the process of mass introduction of electronic document management in the chain retail companies of the FMCG segment has been ongoing for about ten years, though has reached the highest level of its activity in the last two years. At present day, the major part of chain retail companies in the FMCG-segment has already started to actively work with the Electronic Data Interchange system. Moreover, in recent years the number of partner-enterprises that join this system has been steadily increasing.The results of the study show that introduction of electronic document management in chain companies of the FMCG-segment allows to reduce the time spent for processing documents and to track all stages of the core business processes more effectively. It also ensures information security, improves staff discipline and the quality of service, which in its turn significantly improves management efficiency of the company in general.

The Mediating Role of Sales Performance in the Effect of Antecedents on Sales Force Satisfaction: In the Case of Top Three Chain Retail Stores Operating in Ethiopia

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of antecedent variables on salesforce Job satisfaction mediated by salesforce performance. Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire from top three chain retail stores engaged in retailing business operating in Ethiopia. Although a total of 450 questionnaires were distributed to sales persons of these companies, 380 questionnaires were returned and used at the end of the data collection process, which gave the response rate of 84 per cent. The ability, effort, self-efficacy, and job core characteristics have a significant Pearson correlation of 0.493, 0.105, 0.288, and 0.391 respectively at 0.01 confidence interval with sales performance. On the other hand, five constructs of the study ability, effort, self-efficacy, fixed compensation, and job core characteristics influenced sales performance significantly at 95% confidence interval with a sig. level of 0.000, 0.004, 0.002, 0.000, and 0.000 respectively. The result of the study indicated that six variables which are ability, effort, self-efficacy, fixed compensation, job core characteristics, and sales performance influenced job satisfaction significantly at 95% confidence interval with a sig. level of 0.000 for all variables.

Activist Business

Chapter one investigates the intellectual and political origins of activist business and analyzes them within the context of the New Left, earlier leftist thinkers, and an even older tradition of social movement businesses. These thinkers charged that a wide range of Americans were excluded from a postwar consumer culture that celebrated the white, suburban, heterosexual, obedient, and conventional family of four as the normative social and economic unit. Unlike most conventional businesses, activist entrepreneurs responded by seeking to achieve three fundamental non-financial goals: to advance and disseminate the ideologies and values of a range of social movements; to offer an alternative to chain retail by making small business more democratic, participatory, collaborative, and spiritually fulfilling; and to create “free spaces” where marginalized people and activists could publicly assemble and collaborate. Some activist entrepreneurs sought to challenge capitalist imperatives of management ownership and profit maximization and believed that they could create businesses that were minimally capitalist or even non-capitalist. This chapter also addresses the criticisms activist businesses faced.