New directions for international retail joint venture research

Abstract

This paper contends that a range of questions arising from the geographical and organizational dynamics of international retail joint ventures have been bypassed by studies in the international retail field. It argues that, despite its importance as a corporate growth strategy, comparatively less is known about the way in which retailers have employed joint ventures in international markets. Based on a review of the literature and illustrated with examples of international retail joint venturing activity, this paper reveals several gaps in our understanding of the internationalization process of retail firms. Suggestions for further research are made throughout the paper on the basis of gaps in the retailer internationalization literature.     

Core competences,strategy and performance: the case of international retailers in China

This research aims to analyse the central role of core competences in retail internationalisation. The authors analyse field data generated from in-depth interviews of top Chinese subsidiary managers, using the principles of the grounded theory methodology. The inductive process identified two types of core competences in the subsidiaries of international retailers: basic competences and architectural competences. This classification leads to research propositions on the impact of the core competences on strategy choice, and on the performance of the subsidiaries of international retailers.     

Convergence and divergence in consumer behavior: implications for international retailing

Converging technology and disappearing income differences across countries will not lead to homogenization of consumer behavior. Rather, consumer behavior will become more heterogeneous because of cultural differences. As consumer incomes converge across countries, the manifestation of value differences will become stronger. This phenomenon makes it increasingly important to understand values of national cultures and their impact on consumer behavior. Retailing strategies for one country cannot be extended to other countries without adaptation. Hofstede’s model of national culture is applied to understand differences in consumer behavior across countries. Examples are provided of consumption differences, their relationships with culture discussed, and selected implications for international retailing management detailed.     

The Relationship between marketing performance,logistics performance and company performance for retail companies

Abstract

The objective of this research is to demonstrate the importance of logistics and marketing to overall company performance. The focus is on the relationship between logistics and marketing, because, in the intra-organisational context, the different perspectives of these two functions can lead to conflict between short-term objectives. Consequently, effective coordination between these two organisational units, not only at an intra-organisational, but also at an inter-organisational level, is extremely important. The theoretical assumptions are tested empirically through an investigation of the retailing industry.     

Contextualizing international strategy by emerging market firms: A composition-based approach

We present a composition-based logic toward international expansion by emerging market firms (EMFs) – firms that use compositional investment, compositional competition, and compositional collaboration to create a unique competitive advantage in global competition. This view explains how EMFs creatively adopt a composition-based international strategy, enabling them to compensate for their weaknesses while capitalizing on their strengths during global competition where they offer a competitive price-value ratio suited to mass global customers who are cost sensitive. We also explicated the working conditions (i.e., strategic resource-seeking motivation, subsidiary autonomy delegation, and cross-border sharing system) that fortify the outcome of composition. Using survey data from 201 EMFs, our analysis supports these key arguments. A composition-based lens provides a new understanding of why and how emerging market businesses can survive in international competition for some period of time without possessing traditionally defined monopolistic advantages.     

shopper taxonomy for retail strategy development

Segmentation of shoppers has been explored by many academic researchers and business practitioners seeking to understand shopping behaviour or to develop marketing strategies for particular customer groups. Market segmentation holds the key to successful marketing strategy as it encourages understanding of the key variables that differentiate specific segments.

The shopper taxonomy determined through this study is based on a set of variables that is relevant and appropriate for shopper segmentation and reflects the key aspects important to shoppers in motivating shopping behaviour towards a specific retail location. This taxonomy extends the proposed motivational taxonomy of Westbrook and Black (1985), derived from Tauber's (1972) earlier research. Westbrook and Black defined this taxonomy through shopping motives, and identified categories of product-oriented, experiential and a combination of product and experiential shoppers. Their research findings, however, pointed to a six-cluster typology, defining department stone shopping around seven motivations aligned with evaluating options and acquiring the products, engaging in the sales process and gaining stimulation and affiliation through the retail environment.

The “apathetic”, “shopping-processed involved” and “choice optimisation” shopper segments described by Westbrook and Black align with the “have to” “experiential” and “practical” “segments found in this study in terms of their focus on the shopping activity itself and the affiliation and stimulation motives associated with the shopping activity. Other associations between shopper segments across the two studies are less clear, and may be explained through the differing purposes for which the studies were undertaken and resulting variation in the measures used to define the motivational constructs.     

Towards a framework for the study of franchising as an operating mode for international retail companies

In recent years franchising has become a popular operating strategy for companies competing in the global marketplace. In particular, international retailing companies have increasingly been adopting franchising as a marketentry mechanism. While this growth in the popularity of franchising has led to increased research interest in the topic, there has only recently been a recognition of the need to consider franchising within the wider context of retailer internationalization activity. This paper attempts to provide a framework for the study of franchising as a strategy for retailers expanding into international markets. The discussion examines key findings to date from the established literature on international franchising concerning the motivations underlying internationalization, the internationalization process itself and the operating problems encountered. It is argued that a careful examination of findings from the international franchising literature can provide further development of retail internationalization conceptualization.     

Equity ownership and control of international joint ventures in the retail sector

Abstract

This study examines the relationships that exist between consumers' perceptions of a retail environment and their emotions, satisfaction and behavioural intentions with respect to that shopping setting. A model of these relationships is developed and then tested in two distinct retail settings—shopping centres and traditional retailing areas. The results show that, in general, positive perceptions of a retail environment have a positive influence on positive emotions, on repatronage intentions, and on the desire to remain longer in the shopping area in both retail settings. However, some interesting differences emerge between shopping centres and traditional retailing areas: (i) the internal environment has a stronger effect on emotions in shopping centres than in traditional retailing areas; and (ii) the internal environment has a negative effect in shopping centres on the disposition to pay more.     

Change in international market strategy as a reaction to performance decline

While a great deal of research has explored how international marketing strategy influences performance, researchers have paid scant attention to understanding changes to international marketing strategy resulting from firm reaction to past performance. In this study, organizational learning theory addresses when and how international marketing strategy will change. Employing data from over 500 exporters, the results, which are consistent with theoretical predictions, indicate that (1) firms are generally not prone to inertia and do, in fact, change their international marketing strategy when facing declines in performance, and (2) that the direction of change depends on the level of competition in the specific foreign market, with firms adapting their international marketing strategy in low competitive markets and standardizing their international marketing strategy in highly competitive markets. The paper includes implications for academics and practitioners.     

Market and partner selection processes in international retail franchising

This paper adopts a qualitative, case study approach to examine the market and partner selection processes of retailers operating internationally via franchising. Despite the increasing prevalence of franchising as an entry mode for international retailers, little research exists that considers how these firms choose franchise markets and franchise partners. The paper proposes a conceptual framework of the market and partner selection process that exhibits opportunistic and strategic behavior. Firms adopting a strategic approach undergo a market screening process before market attractiveness factors ultimately lead to the market selection decision. In the strategic partner selection process that follows, finance, business know-how, local knowledge, a shared understanding of the business and brand, and, ultimately, chemistry between the partners are the key factors influencing partner selection. In the case of an opportunistic approach to market and partner selection, the process reverses, with partner selection directly influencing market selection.     

Translating strategy into action: The importance of an agile mindset and agile slack in international business

There is growing recognition that agility, the ability to respond quickly, is essential for international business (IB) in times of daunting challenges. Drawing on the resource-based view, we argue that agility is more than a capability and therefore should be investigated from a broader perspective. The current study offers insights for the IB literature by introducing agile resources (mindset and slack) as drivers of marketing strategy effectiveness capability. An agile mindset drives firms to seek out and introduce new management methods and approaches by encouraging their members to be alert to new and innovative ways of doing things. Agile slack refers to unutilized resources that can be quickly deployed in new strategic initiatives. An analysis of survey data from 179 managers via structural equation modeling shows that an agile mindset and agile slack strongly drive marketing strategy effectiveness capability. Marketing strategy effectiveness is a crucial driver of international performance. Nevertheless, the results suggest that while agile resources are important drivers of marketing strategy effectiveness, they do not influence performance directly. Hence, a firm’s ability to exploit resources through capabilities is critical, and to be truly agile, firms must invest in agile slack resources. Managers are advised to improve their firm’s effectiveness and performance by adopting an agile mindset while relying on agile slack resources.     

Exploring the effect of retail sector and firm characteristics on retail price promotion strategy

This study examines why retail price promotion strategies vary across retail sectors and across firms within sectors. Using hierarchical linear modeling and a sample of 38 firms from 11 retail sectors, the authors investigate how two sector-level characteristics, related to product assortment perishability and heterogeneity, and three firm-level characteristics, related to retailer differentiation, number of stores, and average store size, influence price promotion decisions. The results indicate that assortment heterogeneity moderates the positive influence of perishability on price promotion activity; scale and scope also have significant effects. These results offer fresh insight into the ongoing debate surrounding stable versus promotional pricing, suggesting that the benefits of a particular strategy are driven largely by a complex interaction between sector-level characteristics as well as firm-level cost advantages.     

Ambient scent and consumer behavior: a field study in a florist's retail shop

Numerous studies have shown that ambient scents influence human behavior including customers' behavior in real retail environments. However, the effects of scents in a closed-in plant and flower shop have not yet been examined. This study proceeded to measure customer behavior in two different situations taking place in a French flower shop: when lavender aroma was diffused and when it was not. The results showed that lavender aroma increased both the number of customers who bought plants and/or flowers and the amount of purchasing.     

Cones of diversification in a model of international comparative advantage

The hypothesis that all countries belong to a single cone of diversification is often used in studies of international trade. However, contrary to this hypothesis, the range of capital–labour input ratios in US industries does not encompass the range of capital– labour endowment ratios in the world’s economies. Furthermore, among countries with capital–labour endowment ratios below the range of US capital–labour input ratios, wage rates are much lower than in the US. In this paper, the one-cone hypothesis is assessed relative to a two-cone alternative by clustering countries with similar factor proportions, estimating regressions for gross national product and net exports, testing for equality of coefficients, and approximating the posterior odds on one- and two-cone models. Rejecting the one-cone hypothesis, the paper presents estimates of a two-cone model and considers their implications for factor flows and the prospects of emerging market economies.     

Gender differences of shoppers in the marketing and management of retail agglomerations

This paper aims to first identify gender differences in perception and evaluation of retail agglomerations, and second, discuss the implications of these differences for marketing and management. Based on a conceptual model 2151 agglomeration shoppers were surveyed using interviewer-administered questionnaires. Structural equation modelling revealed that accessibility, parking and infrastructure are perceived differently between gender groups. The attractiveness in terms of satisfaction, retention proneness and patronage intention was also evaluated distinctively. Nevertheless, when examining the impact of the perceived attributes on agglomeration attractiveness, there was no difference. In both settings, the retail tenant mix and the atmosphere are the main antecedents of attractiveness. Finally, an importance–performance analysis offers managers a method for prioritising their marketing efforts considering gender differences.     

Job dissatisfaction among retail employees: a study of three leading UK retailers

Despite the general awareness that working in retailing is unattractive to many workers, relatively little is known about which aspects of retailing are actually disliked, or how that varies across groups within the workforce, employers, or types of store. Initial analyses from an extensive survey of UK retail employees show that statistically significant variations exist in terms of dislike of retail employment and particular aspects of that employment. Exploratory factor analysis shows that while a general dimension of discontent is identifiable, there are also specific concerns, such as among more senior staff who are particularly concerned about long hours, and younger employees frustrated at a perceived lack of career progression. However, there is also a dimension of relative contentment with work circumstances among large numbers of female part-time workers and older staff.     

The effects of shopping value on retail outcomes: a comparison between department stores and hypermarkets

Shopping in various retail formats involves both utilitarian and hedonic value. Taiwan residents shop at department stores and hypermarkets frequently, compared to other retailers. This study contrasts the differential effects of shopping value on retail outcomes in department stores and hypermarkets. The results support predicted relationships: (1) in the department store context, (a) hedonic shopping value perceived by shoppers is higher than utilitarian shopping value; (b) hedonic shopping value has a greater effect on satisfaction and word-of-mouth than utilitarian shopping value; and (2) in the hypermarket context, (a) utilitarian shopping value perceived by shoppers is higher than hedonic shopping value; (b) utilitarian shopping value has a greater effect on satisfaction and repatronage intentions than hedonic shopping value.     

Agility and flexibility in international business research: A comprehensive review and future research directions

This study explores 134 articles on agility and flexibility research published in the top-nine international business (IB) journals. Accordingly, we critically analyze, map and structure flexibility and agility research in IB, and synthesize the findings into an integrative framework. The paper identifies a wide range of definitions of the concept and a lot of work on its conceptualization. However, studies at the individual and institutional levels of analyses are scarce, and the concept is under-theorized, as there is a dearth of real theoretical underpinnings in this research stream. Thus, in addressing this gap, more qualitative and interdisciplinary research is needed.