Retail Philanthropy: Firm Size,Industry, and Business Cycle

This article investigates the effects of firm size, profitability, industry affiliation, and the business cycle on retailer philanthropy. The importance of industry and firm effects on giving was analyzed with regression models using industry-fixed effects as well as firm strategy variables. The analysis included instrumental variables methodology to account for simultaneity in the charitable giving–profits relationship. Data were gathered from the IRS Corporate Statistics of Income Sourcebook, data that provide firm size class measures covering the entire firm size distribution ranging from small retailers up to large multi-national retail firms. Retailer philanthropy was measured as the ratio of charitable contributions to total receipts. Important findings include a cubic relationship between retailer philanthropy and firm size; industry effects stronger than those observed for retail profit; and the absence of business cycle effects. The empirical research relating retail charitable giving to firm attributes including firm size and advertising, industry and business cycle factors are unique in the business ethics literature. Prior studies regarding the importance of industry on charitable giving utilized data across broad sectors of the economy. Firms from different sectors could be expected to differ in philanthropic approach due to differences in public contact as well as differences in public relations exposure. The strong industry effects reported for this sample of exclusively retail firms, with similar public contact, provide strong evidence for the importance of industry in determining firms’ charitable strategies.     

How Firm Strategies Impact Size of Partner‐Based Retail Networks: Evidence From Franchising

How do firms' partnering strategies impact the size of their partner‐based retail networks? We draw on agency theory to address this question in the context of franchising. Our econometric analyses (based on 9 years of longitudinal balanced panel data) include assessment of data nonstationarity and estimation of a dynamic panel data model that accounts for unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity. Our findings indicate that franchisee network size is driven more by franchisor strategies that mitigate agency costs than by strategies that simply lower entry and ongoing costs and barriers for franchisees.     

Retail Micro-Marketing Strategies and Competition

The goal of this paper is to open the debate about the effect of customer specific retail marketing on competition. Segmentation and targeting based on loyalty card information affects horizontal and vertical relationships. Few retailers can take advantage of the power connected to the ownership of customer information. Consumers benefit from a more targeted approach to value creation but the distribution of such value varies widely, as a consequence of micro-targeting. A second goal is to test a new way of conducting joint research with practitioners. An online community was set up for the discussion of micro-marketing related issues. Online, the authors have been able to test the hypothesis and deliver the survey questionnaire to participating retailers who, in turn, can access results through the community website: www.partnership4loyalty.com.     

Retail Value-Based Pricing Strategies: New Times,New Technologies,New Consumers

The global marketplace is continually shaped by changing realities, including the recent economic downturn and ever-increasing adoption of new technologies. The results of these changing realities affect every element of consumers’ shopping behavior, as well as their value perceptions. This article examines how recent changes in the environment and technology have spurred changes in how consumers perceive value, as well as in how retailers communicate their value offers. Furthermore, this introductory article highlights how the 14 contributions in this special issue of the Journal of Retailing on pricing relate to these areas of change.     

Firm Size,Wages and Production Technology

Large firms pay higher wages than small ones. In this paper, the employer-size wage effect is derived with the help of a simple Nash-bargaining model where size is captured by the extent to which the production technology exhibits economies of scale. It can be shown that under reasonable assumptions an increasing returns to scale technology leads to higher wages than a constant or decreasing returns to scale technology.     

Internationalization, Strategic Behavior, and the Small Firm: A Comparative Investigation

Previous research on the internationalization of the small firm explored the relationship between the adoption of a global orientation and strategic thinking. However, there was difference in opinion between those arguing that there is a positive relationship between the two variables and others who contended that small firms may internationalize by adopting a passive or reactive approach to the external environment. Within this context, this study sets out to further the discussion by comparing the experience of small enterprises with their medium and large-scale counterparts. In doing so, it draws upon the findings of survey of 1,000 internationalized enterprises located in the main urban conurbations of England. The results suggest that overall there is little disparity in strategy development among internationalized enterprises of different sizes. However, whereas the incidence of strategic behavior among medium and large businesses increases with the complexity of international operations, this is not the case for small firms.     

Survey on Competing in Network Industries: Firm Strategies, Market Outcomes, and Policy Implications

We review the recent literature on market structure, firm strategies and public policy in network industries. In particular, we focus on the latest applied work, including case studies and empirical work as well as refinements of the established theoretical results. We group each set of results along two dimensions: Static (within-generation) and dynamic (across-generations).     

Retail Food Failures and Recovery Strategies in Switzerland

Abstract

Food retailers risk a loss of image or even a loss of the customer if they do not learn to react effectively to failures and improve their service strategy. First of all, the present research develops a typology of retail failures and recovery strategies for the food retail market in Switzerland. In the second step, the importance of the failures and the effectiveness of the recovery strategies employed by retailers are examined. Finally, three practical recommendations are given to retail managers in order to improve the service policy in food retailing.     

The Impact of Resources and Strategic Orientation on Small Retail Firm Performance

This study examined the relationship between firm resources, strategic orientation, and performance in small retail firms. Surveys were mailed to small retailers throughout Tasmania, Australia. Responses (n = 384) showed resources positively related to performance were informational (business information systems) and access to financial capital. Strategic orientation (prospector and defender/analyzer) were positively related to performance. Further, both a prospector and defender/analyzer orientation positively mediated the relationship between resources and performance, the former being the stronger mediator. The results of this study demonstrate which firm resources relate to small retail firm performance, and the positive effect, in particular, of a prospector strategic orientation.     

Retail Integration Strategies in the EU: Scandinavian Grocery Retailing

Until recently, restructuring activity in the EU retail industry has primarily been domestically oriented and focused upon growth opportunities in the retailers' home market. Alongside the on-going harmonization and integration of European markets, grocery retailers have become increasingly interested in cross-border integration activity. Although a salient feature of Scandinavian grocery retailing, this (r)evolution of the industry has attracted only minor attention in academic literature. This paper examines the motives and strategies underlying the intensified integration activity of Scandinavian grocery retailers in general and their integration across national as well as industry boundaries, in particular. The analysis of recent integration events displays a fairly balanced distribution between proactive and reactive motives, albeit the former motive tends to dominate in the case of grocery retailers' integration activity across industry borderlines. Above all, the proactive motive has been apparent in many of the recent partnerships established laterally between Scandinavian grocery retailers and other companies.     

Bridge,Focus, Attack,or Stimulate: Retail Category Management Strategies with a Store Brand

We investigate a monopolist retailer's category management strategy where the main strategic decisions are how to horizontally position a store brand relative to the incumbent national brands and how to price the store and national brands for retail category profit maximization. We analyze a market composed of two consumer segments with differing tastes and heterogeneity with respect to willingness to pay and a product category consisting of two competing national brands and one store brand. We find that contrary to the existing literature, it is not always optimal for a retailer to position its store brand against the leading national brand; instead there are many situations where it is best to position the store brand close to the weaker national brand or to position it in the “middle” so it appeals to both national brands' target segments. In the process we identify four distinct category management strategies that a retailer can use with a store brand. In three of these the optimal store brand price is the brand's monopoly price, while in the remaining one strategy the price is lower. We also suggest an easy to implement means for a retailer to determine which strategy is best to use, depending on the particular competitive environment present before the introduction of the store brand and the relative quality of the store brand. We find that the store brand entry is most beneficial to the retailer when the national brands are moderately differentiated. Finally we show that introducing a store brand not only allows the retailer to garner a higher share of the channel profits through higher retail margins, but also often provides the retailer the benefit of increases in national brand unit sales as well as incremental sales from the store brand. JEL Classification: M310     

Information Strategies and the Theory of the Firm

Information costs play a key role in determining the relative efficiency of alternative organisational structures. The choice of locations at which information is stored in a firm is an important determinant of its information costs. A specific example of information use is modelled in order to explore what factors determine whether information should be stored centrally or locally and if it should be replicated at different sites. This provides insights into why firms are structured hierarchically, with some decisions and tasks being performed centrally and others at different levels of decentralisation. The effects of new information technologies are also discussed. These can radically alter the patterns and levels of information costs within a firm and so can cause substantial changes in organisational structure     

长三角零售业发展的现状、问题与对策

长三角地区已成为我国经济发展水平最高、综合经济实力最强和零售业最为发达的地区之一。文章对长三角地区的零售业现状和发展趋势作了较为系统的分析。并对长三角地区零售业发展中存在的问题和解决的办法提出了建议。     

Small Firm Marketing in China: A Comparative Study

This paper examines the influence of Chinese cultural values on marketing practices in different socio-cultural settings and business contexts, for example the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and China. 20 Chinese small firms in China were selected and their owner-managers were interviewed. Findings of interviews undertaken by Brooksbank et al. (1992) with 20 British small firm chief marketing executives, and Siu (1997) with 26 Chinese owner-managers in Hong Kong, were collated to form a database for comparison purposes. The research results suggest that the specific marketing practices of Chinese small firms in mainland China are different from those of their counterparts, for example, British and Hong Kong Chinese small firms. A tentative model is developed explaining the factors that appear likely, on the basis of this research, to affect the marketing performance of small firms in China.     

New Technology and The Small Firm

This paper examines how and why the role of small business has become more important over time. A special focus is placed on the role of small business in the New Economy.     

Retail Shelf Allocation: A Comparative Analysis of Heuristic and Meta-Heuristic Approaches

This research presents a retail shelf-space decision model that incorporates a nonlinear profit function, vertical and horizontal location effects, and product cross-elasticity. We propose a linear programming formulation of the nonlinear profit function that can solve the shelf-space problem optimally. We describe potential advances in heuristic and meta-heuristic algorithms and compare the approaches through simulations and a field experiment. We discuss the impact of the number of item facings, vertical location, and horizontal location (e.g., we find the vertical location effect is approximately double the size of the horizontal location effect on profit performance).     

零售业低碳化与促进中国低碳零售发展的政策选择——基于企业的自然资源基础观

基于企业的自然资源基础观,把零售企业低碳化的实践活动由低到高分为内部经营、外部协调和可持续发展三个层次,每一层次的活动都会影响到零售企业相应的竞争优势。当前,国外零售企业的低碳经营涉及到以上全部三个层次,而中国内资零售企业的低碳经营主要限于第一个层次,与国外差距较大,致使内资零售企业无法获得领先者优势和未来制高点优势。     

Retail Banking and Customer Behaviour: A Study of Self Concept,Satisfaction and Technology Usage

Prior research has investigated the effects of self-image congruence on satisfaction and brand preference. With the help of empirical research, the paper argues that, while self-image congruence may be related to customer satisfaction in a normal context, it may not necessarily affect satisfaction levels when customers are using technology-based self-services. Furthermore, during encounters involving self-service technologies, customers might experience satisfying or dissatisfying incidents which may not be related to their overall satisfaction and brand preference levels. The paper discusses implications for brand managers in the retail banking sector and suggests future research directions.     

城市新居民区零售商业:发展思路和经营策略

近年来 ,随着我国城市化进程的加快 ,大量的新居民区如雨后春笋般涌现出来 ,但与之配套的新居民区零售商业的发展却不尽如人意。本文在初步分析其客观必然性的基础上 ,重点对我国城市新居民区零售商业的发展思路和经营策略进行了阐述