Theory to practice: HIV/AIDS policies in operation within British retailing

Despite recent scientific advancements, Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV)/ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) remains a serious health issue for those involved in employee management. The introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) has meant that increased numbers of HIV/AIDS infected workers are able to remain in employment, fully protected by this legislation. Because of the nature and characteristics of retail employment, it is suggested that retailers have an increased likelihood of encountering employees and/or customers with the disease, compared with most other industries. This paper examines one particular aspect of the challenge facing retailers, notably that of the ‘operationalization’ of their HIV/AIDS policies into practices, especially in terms of company selection rocesses, education and training, employee relations and employee assistance programmes. Data were collected from a number of leading retail companies, ¹ from which, important observations can be made with regard to retailers' attitudes towards employee welfare in general, and in relation to HIV/AIDS in particular. The research results indicate potential discrimination in terms of employee selection involving a significant number of major retailers, and little comprehensive education/training on HIV/AIDS occurring, despite evidence of disruptive behaviour by staff. In addition, the findings provide evidence that even major companies find it difficult to balance issues of employee welfare against the financial concerns of the organization, in terms of assisting affected employees.     

Unlocking the potential to influence government skills policy: a case study of the UK construction industry

Despite a series of national policy initiatives aimed at addressing skills shortages in a number of sectors, little evidence of longer‐term change is apparent. This paper examines concerns expressed by small businesses that their local views are not sought or considered when national training policies and initiatives are either being developed or being implemented, and that the investment in skills development does not appear to adequately represent their skills needs. The research was carried out on the UK construction industry, which is characterized by a small number of large contractors who employ mainly managerial and professional staff, and a large number of small, micro‐ and self‐employed firms that provide, on a subcontract basis, the majority of the industry's demand for a skilled manual workforce. The identification and delivery of vocational education and training at an industry level rests firmly on addressing the skills needs of the small and micro‐type organizations and not those of the large construction firms, although it is the voice of the larger firms that appears to dominate the skills and training development agenda. The public policy model that articulates the requirements for training and skills development in the UK is based on sector‐specific skills councils. This model is examined in relation to the construction sector by drawing upon the experiences of the South Wales region as a case study. Findings indicate that the current construction skills framework, upon which public policy is formulated and delivered, fails to adequately reflect the structure, skills and training priorities of the industry. The tensions that exist in this system are highlighted and the implications for reform of public policy articulation with regard to sector skills councils are discussed.     

零售商主导的纵向约束及规制研究综述

本文依据外部性理论,对零售商主导的纵向约束研究进行系统综述,分析各种纵向约束方式的福利效应以及相应的规制政策,以此对我国零售业实施相关的反垄断政策提供一定的理论指导和经验借鉴.     

Organizational climate for innovation and creativity – a study in Swedish retail organizations

ABSTRACT

Innovation in retailing is under-investigated in academia and yet a highly relevant concern given the current changes in the retail landscape. Although retailing is often characterized by a dynamic and highly competitive environment, retail organizations are not often considered as ‘innovative,’ at least when compared with manufacturing industries, or when using existing innovation frameworks in academic literature. There are many aspects of innovation discussed in literature and a need to consider different ways of looking into retail’s innovativeness. Among them, the importance of organizational climate on influencing creativity and innovation may help explain how to enable innovation in service organizations, such as retailers. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the climate for innovation and creativity and examine how retail organizations perceive it. We applied a mixed-methods approach using an established organizational climate survey and semi-structured, one-on-one interviews regarding the innovation climate and other aspects of innovation management in the companies. The study shows that despite retail organizations still struggling to incorporate innovation on a strategic level and move beyond incremental developments in their operations, retailers score positively on being innovative regarding certain dimensions of the organizational climate survey. This indicates that retailers (especially conventional ones) could benefit from challenging current practices and moving towards becoming more active and strategic innovators since their organizational climate to a certain extent allows for it. Respondents within the organizations also express a need for better innovation support, whether it is through established structures and processes or an improvement in the current conditions of the organizational climate. How retailers could enable themselves to become more active innovators – based on what we know that retailers look more towards entrepreneurship and continuous development as a driving force rather than formalized innovation practices per se – is a potential avenue for further research.     

Black middle class township shoppers: a shopper typology

Due to an increase in spending power amongst Black middle class, this growing segment has become a lucrative investment opportunity for many retailers in South Africa and most emerging markets. The purpose of this study is to segment township consumers according to their demographics, life stage, attitudes towards township shopping centres and Living Standards Measure, to understand shopping patterns of township consumers. A survey among Soweto Black middle class township respondents was conducted, and maximum likelihood factor analysis was used to identify attitudes towards township mall factors. The study revealed five factors namely entertainment, convenience, mall essence, staff and mall basics, which were all consistent with previous studies, with the exception of staff and mall basics, which was revealed in this study. A K-means cluster analysis was then used to segment township shoppers according to their attitudes. Four shopper segments were discovered, namely disappointed crusaders, upcoming loyals, social seekers and local loyals, which, despite investigating shopper attitudes in place of shopper behaviour alone, were similar to well-establish shopper typologies. Each segment was profiled according to demographic variables, attitudes as well as shopping patterns. Results, therefore, suggest that retailers and developers need to consider the unique needs and differences among Black middle class consumers when developing retail strategies as they reveal unique characteristics from typical shopper typologies. Given similarities in some emerging countries such as India, the findings of this study could be generalized to other middle class consumers from emerging markets. Similar shopper segments may arise, which may be consistent with previous shopper typology studies and new segments unique to emerging market middle class consumer may be unveiled.     

Do Promotions Increase Store Expenditures? A Descriptive Study of Household Shopping Behavior

An important question for retailers is whether promotions induce households to increase their in-store expenditures or merely reallocate a predetermined shopping budget. Should expenditures be fixed, retailers might decrease their profitability when running promotions by displacing expenditures from high margin to lower margin products. Using household level store receipts and an extended AIDS model, we provide evidence that while household expenditures do increase with promotions, there is also a significant reallocation of expenditures among the different categories. This implies that retailers have to choose carefully which products are promoted, if promotions are to increase profits.     

Succeeding in the Big Middle through technology

Big Middle retailers serve the mass market composed of mainstream consumers and face competition from both other Big Middle retailers and specialized (niche) retailers that want a share of the Big Middle consumer market. How can Big Middle retailers leverage technology to strengthen their competitive position? The authors explore this question by offering a framework for characterizing the Big Middle and a consumer-based taxonomy for classifying technology strategies in the retailing arena. In particular, the authors emphasize the following key points: (1) most technological advancements in retailing in the twenty-first century will relate to information technology; (2) many technologies have the potential to both cut the cost of retailer operations and enhance service to customers; (3) the adoption of these technologies requires significant upfront investments; (4) successful retailers in the Big Middle are in the best position to adopt these technologies because of their deep pockets and because they can pass on part of the costs to their vendors; (5) Big Middle retailers must take a longer term view with respect to returns on their technology investments; and (6) Big Middle retailers should consider consumers’ reactions to these technologies and be cautious about “overengineering.” In this regard, this editorial points to several directions for further research in the realm of technology investments by retailers.     

Social Marketing: Using Stages of Change Model to Assess HIV/AIDS Testing Intentions Among University Students in Ghana

This research sought to utilize the stages of change model to assess HIV/AIDS testing intentions among university students in Ghana. A quantitative research method using a questionnaire based on a random sampling method was employed to interview 167 students of the University of Ghana Business School in Accra. The analysis of variance and one-sample t-test statistical methods were employed to establish the relationship between variables. The study found that most university students in Ghana (80.9%) are at precontemplation, contemplation, and preparation stages. This suggests that social marketing intervention programs encouraging university students to know their HIV/AIDS status have not been effective, since most university students in Ghana have not yet taken action to test for HIV/AIDS. The study also found some university students at more than one stage at a time.     

A comparative study of codes of ethics in health care facilities and energy companies

Though written corporate codes of ethics have been touted as a panacea for the embarrassments and uncertainties of the past two decades, the absence of clear evaluation procedures severely compromises their usefulness. An ethnographic study comparing development processes and compliance outcomes in large health care facilities and energy companies shows that neither of the two industries has encountered much success with a codes of ethics program. Companies that distribute copies of their code of ethics seldom ensure the process is completed or that employees understand the purpose of the document, and staff responsible for the code give it a low priority relative to their overall responsibilities. Contrary to expectations, health care facilities are no more likely to develop or implement codes of ethics effectively than are energy companies. More extensive research is needed in order to generate the data necessary for the development of realistic standards for the evaluation of codes of ethics.Isaac D. Montoya, is President of Affiliated Systems Corporation, a management and research consulting practice specializing in the health care industry. He has worked with numerous hospitals, medical schools, and government entities in developing health care systems around the world. He has developed training programs for health care personnel, administrators, and Boards of Directors as well as taught at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He serves on a number of Boards of Directors and Federal grant review committees.Alan J. Richard, is a Research Assistant for Affiliated Systems Corporation. Recently, he helped prepare a statistical analysis of Ryan White funding priorities for Harris County HIV Services. He is currently engaged in an evaluation of cocaine abuse treatment modalities at Riverside Hospital in Houston, Texas.     

Responses to out-of-stocks and on-shelf availability in UK fashion retailing

The purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes and approaches adopted by fashion retailers when presented with an out-of-stocks (OOS) issue and to measure in store on-shelf availability (OSA) of one particular fashion retailer across a sample of stores across the United Kingdom. The research was carried out in three phases. The first two phases used participants' observation/mystery shopper techniques to determine shop-floor representatives' responses to an OOS situation in the jeans category of seven retailers and then to measure the OOS/OSA of a sample of 10 stores of a middle market fashion retailer in the United Kingdom. A comparison with the electronic inventory database readings was then carried out. The final phase involved interviews with head office management to explore possible differences between headquarters (HQ) policy and store operations. The first phase of the research revealed that all retailers had processes available to them at store level to solve OSA issues, but six of the seven retailers could not solve the problem. From the in-depth survey of OSA in the sample of stores, availability was on average 79% against a database availability figure of 90%. The difference of 11% is mainly related to inventory inaccuracy. The interviews with head office management did reveal that the differences in attitudes between HQ staff and store staff could be attributed to a lack of communication to train staff adequately on processes to solve OOS issues.     

Swedish food retailers promoting climate smarter food choices—Trapped between visions and reality?

Food retailers are important actors in the development of a more environmentally sustainable food system. They are powerful in their procurement role and have the potential to promote and encourage consumers to buy climate smarter food. While food retailers have developed environmental visions, policies and goals, a major question is to what extent these commitments translate into action in the products sourced and promoted. This paper aims to explore the ways and extent to which food retailers assist consumers to make climate smarter food choices, more specific to reduce their meat consumption, and to identify potential and perceived difficulties towards doing this. The empirical data is based on interviews with 17 Swedish food retail representatives. The findings indicate that food retailers address climate change in their environmental policy statements and have environmental targets for retail operations, such as energy and transport efficiency and recycling of waste. Moreover, retailers promote and encourage consumers to buy organic, local, and seasonal food and to minimize food waste. No initiatives are taken to help consumers reduce their meat consumption. Yet, there is a growing consensus among scientists that meat production is a large contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Food retailers seem reluctant to guide consumers to climate smarter food choices if it means reducing the meat range or the promotion of meat. To broaden the range of high quality and more expensive meat is seen as a more feasible option. The meat category is perceived as important to attract new and keep loyal customers.     

How Retailers’ Recommendation and Return Policies Alter Product Evaluations

This research investigates the interactive effects of retailers’ recommendations and return policies on consumers’ post-purchase evaluations of products which yield a mixed attribute performance. This article presents an account of the consumers’ post-purchase product evaluation process, in which counterfactual thinking plays a central role. Two studies show that consumers’ post-purchase evaluations of products, which yield a mixed attribute performance, tend to be more favorable under lenient return policies than under restricted return policies when retailers offer recommendations during the pre-purchase decision-making process, but more favorable under restricted return policies than under lenient return policies when retailers offer no recommendations.     

Retailing in the Transition Economies of Poland and Romania: A Comparative Analysis

This research compares and contrasts the current state of development in the retailing industry in the transition economies of Poland and Romania. Two issues examined in this research are (a) the process of market reforms and resulting developments in store-based and non-store retailing, including the competition among large multinational retail chains and small local retail stores, and (b) the structure of the retail industry in terms of market share of 17 different categories of retailers within their respective sectors, namely, grocery retailers, specialty retailers, and non-store retailers, and overall growth registered by these retailers in the last 5 years (2004–2009). Managerial implications of the findings in terms of the opportunities and challenges in different categories of retailing business in the two countries are discussed, and directions for future research are identified.     

Impact of hypermarkets on consumption and distribution in rural areas: case study of Ubon Ratchathani in northeastern Thailand

Hypermarkets in East Asian countries have reached a turning point in their life cycle, where local expansion has become essential for further development. Unfortunately, existing studies on retail internationalisation have paid little attention to rural development. To address this gap, this study evaluates the impacts of hypermarkets on local consumption and distribution in Ubon Ratchathani, a regional city in northeast of Thailand. Results of the study showed that hypermarkets have succeeded in converting high-income level consumers in Ubon into customers. However, because Ubon does not have a sizeable middle-class population, hypermarkets have reached out to tourists and the local low-income groups. Second, although hypermarkets are direct and strong competitors to small domestic retailers, the domestic retailers in Ubon managed to survive better than expected. This could be due to the fact that hypermarkets are largely inaccessible to the poor, despite their low price policies, comfortable store layout and engaging entertainment options. Third, hypermarkets have not greatly influenced the distribution of agricultural products in Ubon. They continue to depend on traditional middlemen, who also act as educators to farmers and collect farming products efficiently. The findings of this study suggest that if hypermarkets want to expand further in rural areas, they need to attract new customers and introduce changes in the existing distribution network to capture the traditional advantage enjoyed by local domestic retailers, especially with regard to agricultural produce.     

The changing structure of Hungarian retailing: Prospects for foreign retailers

Since the mid‐1980s many innovations and developments have taken place in Hungarian retailing, notably because of the recognition by the government that weaknesses in the distribution system can be a fundamental handicap to the efficiency of the whole economy. Some of the changes in Hungarian retail organization date back to the two periods of reform in 1968 and the early 1980s. Those reforms which in the retail sector were designed primarily to encourage innovation and diminish the bureaucracy of large organizations are examined, as well as the major factors in the economy which continued to frustrate many of their beneficial effects.

The subsequent effects of deregulation measures since 1985 on retailing are analysed, particularly the main changes which have occurred in the structure of retailing, e.g. accelerated establishment of private retailers; the expansion of self‐service; the forward integration of importers, manufacturers and wholesalers; the hiving off of the small units belonging to large state multiples and cooperatives. In addition, how these governmental market‐oriented policies have affected the marketing strategies of some of the major Hungarian retailers, and the relationships they arc now forging with foreign retailers are also examined. Finally, the various entry methods utilized by foreign retailers are assessed, and the constraints in the retail infrastructure which still remain to be overcome if more foreign retailers than hitherto are to be encouraged to enter this market.     

The HIV/AIDS crisis and corporate moral responsibility in the light of the Levinasian notions of proximity and the Third

This paper focuses on the set of problems regarding the HIV/AIDS crisis in the specific domain of corporate moral responsibility within a context of the Levinasian notion of proximity (infinite responsibility) and the Third. Against a totalitarian, homogeneous society, Levinas opens the way to a social pluralism, which has its sources in the disquiet provoked by the strangeness of the Other's face. Corporate responsibility, understood from this point of view, would not reduce institutional relations to an anonymous world of neutrality. Corporate responsibility is unconditional in the sense that to be responsible is not a question of choice, but one of deep liberty, the liberty of taking the burden of the infinite responsibility for the Other – customers, employees, the public at large and those who suffer in the world. This paper argues that it would then also mean that society (individuals, NGOs and governments) in accordance with the spirit of the Levinasian philosophy of infinite responsibility could exert pressure on corporations, such as pharmaceutical companies. Owing to their power, they could change their present responsibility policies to a more affirmative and engaged responsibility with regard to those who are ill and who suffer death or debilitation from HIV/AIDS and other prevalent diseases in the poorest parts of the world today.     

Re-imagining retailers’ co-operatives

This article gives clarity to the area of retailers’ co-operatives. It provides a discussion on the different types of co-operatives and their identifying characteristics. This is to clear up common misunderstandings and misapplication of the word retail co-operative in the literature and popular culture and allow for further research in the area of retailers’ co-operatives. This article also provides a discussion of the drivers and developmental path for retail co-operation as a strategy for independent retailers. Three types of retail co-operation are discussed in this way namely buying groups, retailers’ co-operatives and retailers’ co-operative retail chains. The differences between a retailers’ co-operative retail chain and a corporate retail chain are then elucidated. Finally, managerial implications are provided surrounding retail strategy. This research is important as it provides greater understanding of a very successful retail format that has not been studied in depth, a format that allows for sustainable retail development and growth. This article enables further study in the area along with clarity on terms and dimensions.     

Medical Error Disclosure Training: Evidence for Values-Based Ethical Environments

Disclosure of medical and errors to patients has been increasingly mandated in the U.S. and Canada. Thus, some health systems are developing formal disclosure policies. The present study examines how disclosure training may impact staff and the organization. We argue that organizations that support “disclose and apologize” activities, as opposed to “deny and defend,” are demonstrating values-based ethics. Specifically, we hypothesized that when health care clinicians are trained and supported in error disclosure, this may signal a values-based ethical environment, and staff may be more committed to the organization. We surveyed 325 clinical care providers employed by a large hospital that had recently begun implementing disclosure policies and training. Disclosure training explained significant variance in perceptions of the ethical environment, and the ethical environment mediated the relationship between disclosure training and organizational commitment. Although this study explored disclosure of medical errors, organizational support for error disclosure is a concept that could be relevant for many types of organizations.     

Stock replenishment policies for a vendor-managed inventory in a retailing system

Using Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), the vendor determines the replenishment decisions at the location of buyers (retailers). This strategy is used primarily for handling demand fluctuations stemming from the Bullwhip effect, leading the system to prevent from holding excessive inventory that result in a reduction in the overall cost of the supply chain. The main advantages of VMI for vendors are higher levels of accessibility to inventory information and more direct contact with the customers. Similarly, VMI has some pros for the buyers, such as shared risk with upper levels of supply chain and reduction in their holding costs of inventory. In this paper, a vendor-managed inventory system is developed containing one vendor and two buyers in which the main assumption is that back-ordering and lost sales are permitted. In this system, (r, Q) and (R, T) replenishment policies are compared according to their performances to see which one performs more cost-efficiently when partial back-ordering is allowed. In accordance, mathematical models utilizing (r, Q) and (R, T) replenishment policies are developed, and algorithms for deriving the optimal replenishment decision variables are proposed. Moreover, significant differences between the two replenishment policies are discussed. The main finding obtained by this research is that when shortage is permitted, both (r, Q) and (R, T) replenishment policies under VMI have pros and cons in different contexts.     

Retailing Innovations in a Globalizing Retail Market Environment

In recent years, the combination of economic growth and population growth in emerging markets and less developed markets has accelerated the progression of globalization of retailing and globalization by retailers. The challenges faced by global and globalizing retailers (retailers who currently have or intend to establish a market presence in mature markets, emerging markets and less developed markets) can be more daunting compared to those faced by firms in other industries such as automobiles, steel, and computers. Retailing innovations that are responsive to the characteristics of distinctive national markets and broader aggregations of markets such as mature, emerging and less developed markets are critical to the success of global and globalizing retailers. Against this backdrop, this paper focuses on retailing innovations in the context of a globalizing retailing environment. It attempts to shed insights into the characteristics of retailing innovations conducive to superior performance in distinctive national markets and across broader aggregations of markets. Towards this end, we first examine the environmental conditions of markets in different development stages, namely mature, emerging and less developed markets, and explore consumer based, industry based, and legal/regulatory based challenges faced by globalizing retailers in these markets. Second, we show how these challenges can be transformed into opportunities with retailing innovations. We conclude with a roadmap for future research and present propositions on future development with respect to retailing innovations in these markets.