The Implications of Mismatching Organizational Decision-making and Communication Structures within US Retail Firms: the Role of Scanner Data

Scanner data processed in an efficient manner can provide retail organizations with a powerful managerial tool that can be used to support corporate buyers' merchandising decisions, manage inventory, provide retail sales support, and evaluate individual store performance. In the light of such potential, we examine how the distribution of scanner-generated information interacts with the locus of decision-making authority and affects the relationship between corporate buyers and store managers. We suggest that to avoid potential intra-firm conflicts between the corporate and store levels, the communication structure within an organization should be matched with a decision-making structure that shares a similar level of decentralization.