Interlocking directorates and the knowledge transfer of supermarket retail techniques from North America to Britain

Abstract

This paper considers the importance of interlocking directorates in knowledge transfer within the retail sector. In doing so it provides a discussion of the types of knowledge and more especially the importance of tacit knowledge. Such ideas are set against a more detailed review of the changing perspectives on the role of interlocking directorships. These discussions serve as a conceptual framework to a major case study of knowledge transfer between North America and British food retailers in terms of the innovation of self-service and the development of supermarkets in post-war Britain.