British co-operative societies as retail innovators: Interpreting the early stages of the self-service revolution

This article examines the early stages of the self-service and supermarket innovations in post-war Britain. It does so in the context of co-operative retailers and in particular investigates both why such organizations were pre-eminent in the adoption of self-service as well as how they interpreted the innovation. These ideas are framed within a more general discussion of the ‘models’ of retail innovation and especially the notion of format innovations.     

Business model innovation: How the international retailers rebuild their core business logic in a new host country

Although research into the business model has received increasing attention, few studies have so far been conducted on business model innovation in an international context. The purpose of the study is to identify different patterns of business model innovation which enables international retailers to rebuild their core business logic in new host countries. On the basis of comparing and contrasting the business model changes of 15 international retailers from various home countries to one single host country (China), our study provides an in-depth understanding of business model innovation in the context of international business. By looking at the firms’ capabilities in rebuilding their core logic in the setting of a host country, we reveal six routes of retail business model innovation. Utilizing the lens of organizational learning theory and internationalization, we identify three patterns of resource deployment by international companies in the process of developing business model innovations. Our study, therefore, provides insights and guidance for multinational companies in general, international retailers in particular, as for how to successfully adapt their business model from home country to host country.     

Innovation,formal vs. informal R&D,and firm size: Some evidence from Italian manufacturing firms

On the basis of data from two recent surveys on innovation diffusion in Italian manufacturing industry, this paper shows that informal R&D is an important part of the total R&D undertaken by small and medium sized firms. Nevertheless, when an output indicator such as the number and the nature of the innovations introduced by firms of different size is used, it emerges that small firms have introduced mainly incremental rather than major innovations. The paper therefore suggests that systematic R&D undertaken by large firms within structured laboratories is more effective (in terms of product innovations) than occasional R&D carried out by small firms.     

Business Strategy and Performance: An Assessment of Retailers in Guatemala

Although competitive strategy has attracted much attention in the literature, a limited number of studies have attempted to investigate the strategy-performance nexus within the context of local business units in emerging economies. This study investigates the relationship between competitive strategies and business performance among industry in Guatemala, Central America. Data from 364 retail firms in Guatemala suggest that in terms of both financial and operating performance retailers employing a combination of the cost leadership and differentiation strategies outperformed those adopting only one of the two pure strategies.     

European retail giants and the post-LBO reconfiguration of US food retailing

The late 1980s era of leveraged buyouts (LBOs) and dramatically increased levels of corporate debt saw some of its most profound impacts in the US food retail industry. Highly leveraged food retailers committed to servicing their huge debt burdens were forced to divest assets and cut capital expenditure programmes, while rival non-LBO retailers found entry or expansion attractive in markets dominated by IBO firms. In addition, well-capitalized European food retailers, seeking to enter and develop their operations in the USA, were presented with major opportunities. This paper considers the US expansion of the European food retail giants Ahold and Sainsbury during the LBO and post LBO periods. Within the wider context of the deleveraging of the US food retail industry in the 1990s, an accelerating rate of consolidation and a progressive gaining of competitive advantage by the larger multi-regional US chains, the challenge of the European retail giants in the post-LBO reconfiguration of the US industry is assessed.     

Market and Product Diversification: The Evidence From Retailing

This study explored the number of international regions in which retailers operate, the assortment of product categories they offer their customers, and the effects of these market and product category diversification strategies on retail sales volumes. The analysis used sales data about 246 global large-scale retail stores from diverse industries and countries of origin. We found that both strategies have positive effects on retail sales volumes. The two strategies interact such that the positive effect of market expansion on retail sales volumes is larger for retailers who also follow a strategy of greater product category diversity.     

The Role of Distribution Channel Agents in Promoting Innovative Activity in Small Retail Businesses: A Case-Study of IT Adoption

The successful application of information technology (IT) offers the retailer, large or small, a decisive source of competitive advantage. Smaller retailers, however, have generally been slow to embrace the new technologies of sales data capture, analysis and communication. Within the distribution channel, four intermediary agents - wholesalers, trade associations, voluntary groups and franchisors - are well-placed to encourage more widespread take-up of IT among small retailers. The role of each agent is examined through the presentation of survey-derived information, and it is suggested that none of these agents has exploited widely this potential to promote innovation adoption. However, the presence of identifiable geographical and organisational clusters of small retailers using IT illustrates the important role being played by some of these agents in promoting IT adoption and indicates ways in which many others could encourage innovative activity.     

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.     

Efficiency and effectiveness of small retailers: The role of customer and entrepreneurial orientation

While it is generally agreed that a customer and entrepreneurial orientation enhance company performance in large multi-national organizations, relatively little is known about how these variables influence the small retailers that form a substantial part of national economic well-being. This study investigates the potential influences of these factors on the performance of small retailers in Switzerland, because this nation has long had a reputation for creativity, innovation and a customer focus. Performance is viewed as a two dimensional concept including an effectiveness and an efficiency perspective. Data for this study were collected through personal interviews from 261 SMEs. While customer orientation is found to be positively related to both efficiency and effectiveness, results only show a positive impact from entrepreneurial orientation on effectiveness. At the same time, entrepreneurial orientation is found to be a driver of customer orientation, and thus having an indirect impact also on efficiency for the small retail firms. All in all, the study shows that small retailers do indeed put an emphasis on both customer and entrepreneurial orientation in spite of their limited resources. It also stresses that this will increase their competitive advantage. In the light of existing literature, limitations and future research directions are subsequently addressed.     

The effect of exclusive distribution on the sales of ready-made meals in online retail

This study examines the impact of exclusive distribution on sales for online retailers and the moderating effects of product assortment (width and depth) and within-category competitive intensity on this relationship. This study used panel data for 3285 ready-made meal products which are newly introduced from August 2018 to August 2021 at a leading online grocery retailer in Korea. The random-effects panel regression was applied to test the proposed model. The results show that exclusive distribution increases sales, and this effect is intensified with greater product depth and greater within-category competitive intensity. These findings provide useful implications for retailers to increase their likelihood of success when adopting an exclusive distribution strategy. This study also contributes to expanding the scope of the literature on the effect of exclusive distribution on sales in the context of online retail.     

E-book pricing and vertical restraints

This paper empirically analyzes how the use of vertical price restraints has impacted retail prices in the market for e-books. In 2010, five of the six largest publishers simultaneously adopted the agency model of book sales, allowing them to directly set retail prices. This led the Department of Justice to file suit against the publishers in 2012, the settlement of which prevents the publishers from interfering with retailers’ ability to set e-book prices. Using a unique dataset of daily e-book prices for a large sample of books across major online retailers, we exploit cross-publisher variation in the timing of the return to the wholesale model to estimate its effect on retail prices. We find that e-book prices for titles that were previously sold using the agency model decreased by 18 percent at Amazon and 8 percent at Barnes & Noble. Our results are robust to different specifications, placebo tests, and synthetic control groups. Our findings illustrate a case where upstream firms prefer to set higher retail prices than retailers and help to clarify conflicting theoretical predictions on agency versus wholesale models.     

The competitive response of small,independent retailers to organized retail: Study in an emerging economy

This study aims to decipher the competitive response of small, independent retailers in an emerging economy – India – to the onset of competition from large, organized retailers. The competitive behaviour is comprehended in terms of patterns of retail functional and business strategies, in further classifying the retailers into strategic groups, and finally by assessing the performance of these clusters. The study is based on a primary field survey of 605 grocery shops in two cities in India. The findings of the research point towards the presence of distinct strategies, strategic groups, and the positive impact on small retail performance of adopting distinct retail functional and business strategies.     

New Evidence on Determinants of Intellectual Property Litigation: A Market-Based Approach

Abstract

We contribute to the economic literature on patent litigation by taking a new perspective. In the past, scholars mostly focused on specific litigation cases at the patent level and related technological characteristics to the event of litigation. However, observing intellectual property (IP) disputes suggests that not only technological characteristics may trigger litigation suits, but also the market positions of firms, and that firms dispute not only over single patents but often over portfolios. This paper examines the occurrence of IP litigation cases in Belgian firms using the 2013 Community Innovation Survey with supplemental information on IP litigation and patent portfolios. The rich survey information regarding firms’ general innovation strategies enables us to introduce market-related variables such as sales with new products, as well as sales based mainly on imitation and incremental innovation. Our results indicate that when controlling for firms’ IP portfolios, the composition of sales in terms of innovation and imitation has additional explanatory power regarding litigation propensities. Firms with high sales from innovations are more likely to become plaintiffs in court. Contrastingly, firms with high sales from incremental innovation and imitation are more likely to become defendants in court and, moreover, are more likely to negotiate settlements outside of court.     

Stock market,credit market,and heterogeneous innovations

The relative importance of credit market development and stock market development in boosting innovation remains a long-standing debate issue. In this study, we document how different types of financial markets development affect heterogeneous innovations. Using a broad sample across 42 developed and emerging economies and a generalized difference-in-differences identification strategy, we find that stock market development leads to significantly higher substantive innovation, especially in young and small firms, but has negative impact on incremental innovation. Conversely, credit market development promotes incremental innovation, especially in mature and large firms, but has negative impact on substantive innovation. Further analyses indicate that stronger shareholder protection enhances the positive impact of stock market on substantive innovation, while stronger creditor rights enhance the promoting effect of credit market on incremental innovation, and even turn the negative impact of credit market on substantive innovation into positive. Our paper provides new insights into the heterogeneous effects of credit market and equity markets on the real economy.     

Making working in retailing interesting: A study of human resource management practices in Danish grocery retail chains

This paper discusses how five retail chains in the Danish grocery industry attempt to make low-wage, low-status store-level retail jobs as checkout operators and sales assistants interesting. It does so from the perspective of both retailers and employees. Following analysis of the social and institutional context of Danish grocery retailers, we identify three types of retail employees (transitional workers, core employees and career seekers), who have different motivations and aspirations for working in grocery retailing. The central challenge for retailers is to make store-level retail jobs interesting to the different employee types. Although retailers mainly focus their attention on career seekers, we find that working in retailing is interesting for all employee types because the retailers are currently able to meet their respective motivations and aspirations. Nevertheless, we identify several areas in which retailers can improve their practices.     

Hypermarkets and the Small Retailers in Malaysia: Exploring Retailers' Competitive Abilities

The emergence of multinational retailers, especially in grocery retailing, has changed the retail scenario in Malaysia over the last decade. In the past, grocery retail formats such as supermarkets, minimarkets, and night markets dominated the Malaysian retail scene, consumers are now given the choice of shopping in large retail outlets where new retail formats such as hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, and superstores now thrive and are increasingly gaining in popularity. Interestingly, large retail concepts are predominantly associated with multinational retailers such as Carrefour, Makro, Giant, and Tesco. The presence of large retailers brings with it the question of dominance and implications of changing customer preferences. This study assesses the perception of small retailers toward their abilities to compete effectively in an industry where large, multinational retailers appear to be dominating. It appears, however, that the small retailers possess distinctive qualities in relation to their strategic inputs that can essentially differentiate them from their larger competitors. It is suggested that some regulatory measures especially by local authorities are necessary, but this must not be to a point of curbing healthy competition among the different types of retailers.     

Managing Innovation in SMEs: A Multiple Case Analysis of the Adoption and Implementation of Product and Process Design Technologies

This work offers the results of a study which describes the experiences of twenty-six small manufacturing firms, operating in the machine tool industry in Italy, which have recently adopted and implemented advanced production technologies. A multiple case study approach was used to explore the reasons for, and obstacles to adopting the new technology, to identify key critical factors in implementation management, and to describe the characteristics of an environment that nurtures innovation. Perceived advantages, internal constraints and external context were identified as the main variables that could explain the CAD-CAM adoption and implementation practices of these small firms. Based on an analytical framework comprising 26 factors regrouped into the three mentioned variables, three groups of firms, characterized by different technology management profiles are identified. However, the system of relationships that characterizes the customer-buyer-supplier relation and the network of "real" services offered to the firm appeared two critical factors.     

An innovation perspective on Chinese retailers' competitive advantage

Given the emergence of strong local retail firms in China over the last two decades, this paper aims to explore their competence enhancement and capability building process from the innovation perspective. Innovative measures on retail format, activity and governance dimensions of three leading local retailers in China are investigated using an in-depth case study approach. After each case is studied on the three dimensions, a cross-case analysis is conducted using thematic analysis to examine their innovative strategies and to explore their sources of innovation. The three cases share notable similarities in their strategies that are in sharp contrast to those of foreign retailers. On the retail format dimension, they have all achieved differentiation by formulating niche strategies and succeeded in creating a strong reputation among customers and retaining the same. On the retailing activities dimension, they have all developed a profit-making model through unique supply chain management and stressed construction of logistics centres and operational standardisation. On the governance dimension, they have established an efficient incentive and reward mechanism to motivate employees and encourage innovative practice. They have also built long-term collaborative relationships with their suppliers. Based on these three cases, it is also found that local embeddedness, latecomers' advantages, business agility and a risk taking entrepreneurial mentality are the crucial factors behind the generation of efficient innovations of China's local retailers. With these findings, this paper has extended and enriched existing knowledge on latecomers' catch up and service innovation. It has constructed an analytical framework for retail innovation by building on relevant attempts in the existing literature. A theoretical framework that explains how indigenous Chinese retailers have managed to successfully compete with foreign retailers in China using innovative strategies has also been established based on empirical data.     

Performance expectations of small firms considering radical product innovation

Performance expectations influence business decisions such as investment decisions and demand for supplies, particularly in small firms with limited strategic planning. Despite widespread use of performance expectations by firms and governments when making sales forecasts and economic outlooks, surprisingly little research exists about how small firms form performance expectations. This paper contributes to reduce this knowledge gap by analyzing performance expectations of small firm managers operating in markets with radical product innovations. This paper proposes a model and hypotheses, which explain performance expectations of small firm managers based on firms' current success, radical product innovation, and variables that indicate firms' ability to respond to customer needs for radical product innovation. Data from 200 decision-makers in a real decision-making context support the model. The results show that performance expectations in small firms are only to a limited extent a naïve extrapolation of current success: radical product innovation and small firm's ability to respond to customer needs for radical product innovation influence performance expectations.     

Retail trade and payment innovations in the digital era: a cross-industry and multi-country approach

Abstract

This article introduces a novel approach to payment innovations. It t identifies a cross-industry (retail trade and retail banking) and multi-country (USA, some Western European countries and Japan) approach to the interaction between these industries and the new retail payment systems from the 1970s to the mid 1990s. It documents and discusses the different trajectories that have been seen in the different competitive environments, particularly in regard to payment cards. It also analyses the involvement of bankers and retailers in the evolution of card payment systems and their contribution to the global adoption of bank cards. These processes have occurred within a framework in which sectoral boundaries have taken precedence over the payment alternatives associated with cross-industry solutions.