The Changing Roles of Food Retailing

Abstract

The UK food retailing sector has undergone a radical transformation over the last 70 or so years. It has become a sector dominated by very large businesses with considerable power over both the upstream and downstream supply chain. The scale and power of those leading retailers has attracted considerable academic focus and political attention. In the first two decades of the twenty-first century, global concern has emerged via a number of grand challenges including sustainability. Retailers have increasingly sought to address issues of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability, both to stave off criticism and for reasons of operational efficiency. The scale of the UK’s leading food retailers thus becomes a two-edged sword; should these retailers be co-opted in the fight for global sustainability or radically challenged as the cause of many of the problems? This chapter reviews the changing roles of food retailers, their steps in CSR and then poses the question as the future role of retailers in this changing environmental landscape.

Citation

Sparks, L. (2018), "The Changing Roles of Food Retailing", Lavorata, L. and Sparks, L. (Ed.) Food Retailing and Sustainable Development, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 101-117. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78714-553-520181007