Tuesday, June 22, 1999
Changes in consumption patterns benefiting the environment can be achieved by working together with suppliers in offering environmentally friendly products and communicating this to customers. Large supermarket companies can generate competitive advantages by good environmental management, despite the relatively small impact that supermarket chains have on the environment. Dimitri Oetiker, a resident of Oslo and a graduate of the University of Amsterdam, draws this conclusion in his final thesis based on a case study at the Swiss food retailer Migros. His thesis describes how a supermarket company can become the center of a 'green network' ranging from suppliers, stores and customers to product recycling.
Royal Ahold, the international food retailer, today presented its 1999 Retail Award to Oetiker, a 27-year-old economics graduate. Dutch employers' chairman Hans Blankert handed Oetiker a cheque for the equivalent of USD 5,000 (E 4500). Blankert headed an independent jury that described the winning thesis during the awards ceremony as 'critically written but with a touch of idealism and making a hard to grasp subject tangible.' The jury further said that 'the subject is of current interest, well positioned and well argued.'
Jury member and Ahold executive vice president Jan Andreae stressed that the exchange of knowledge and expertise is of vital importance to Ahold. 'Knowledge and the sharing of this knowledge play a key role in ourcompany. Knowledge is more than just a well-filled data-base, it is mature expertise on how to be in contact with the customer and joint venture partners, and also developing the acute observation and sensitivity skills that are needed to anticipate the requirements today that customers will express tomorrow,' says Andreae.
The winning thesis was one of over 30 submitted to Ahold by university graduates, covering retail-related issues ranging from personnel management and electronic commerce to the design of a future checkout. One thesis described knowledge management within highly internationally diversified companies, emphasizing the increasing interest of students in this field as well.
The Royal Ahold Retail Award was initiated in 1995 and aims to stimulate research into retail-related subjects.