Stephen J. Arnold and Monika Narang Luthra
Identifies the effects associated with the entry of a large format (“big box”) retailer into a new market, especially a smaller one. A large format retailer can be a discount…
Abstract
Identifies the effects associated with the entry of a large format (“big box”) retailer into a new market, especially a smaller one. A large format retailer can be a discount department store, category specialist, warehouse club, superstore, supercenter or hypermarket. In order to identify these effects, a review was made of published and unpublished studies. In addition, interviews were conducted among key informants including developers, urban planners and professionals, economic development officers, retail executives and store managers. The result of this research includes a documentation, analysis and discussion of numerous effects, including benefits to the consumer, differences in the demographics of large format store shoppers, rapid growth in the sales and market share of the new entrant, growth in the community economy, growth and decline in various commercial sectors, decline in the economy of nearby markets, creation and losses of jobs, and increases and decreases in market efficiency. Given these effects, suggests implications for each community stakeholder. Listed are a large number of questions for future research.
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John Fernie and Stephen J. Arnold
Wal‐Mart is the world’s largest retailer with ambitious plans to increase its international sales. Europe is a logical target for Wal‐Mart to consolidate and build upon…
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Wal‐Mart is the world’s largest retailer with ambitious plans to increase its international sales. Europe is a logical target for Wal‐Mart to consolidate and build upon acquisitions in Germany and the UK. This paper assesses the opportunities for Wal‐Mart in these markets and in France, which has the highest level of sales through food retailers in Europe. While Wal‐Mart has made an impact in both Germany and the UK, it has not been as successful as originally envisaged. Moreover, its growth aspirations have been frustrated by the difficulty in making further acquisitions in Germany and France because of the nature of ownership of targeted companies.
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Discusses Wal‐Mart’s entry into Europe. Explains the factors that have contributed to the success of the company, for example an efficient logistics system, extensive internal…
Abstract
Discusses Wal‐Mart’s entry into Europe. Explains the factors that have contributed to the success of the company, for example an efficient logistics system, extensive internal communications, and a capacity for innovation and reinvention. Outlines Wal‐Mart’s strategy for expanding into Europe, which is based on acquisition. Details the main challenges to Wal‐Mart’s entry into Europe, namely the size of the competition and cultural differences.
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The world’s best retailers – Ahold, Benetton, Carrefour, Home Depot, IKEA and Wal‐Mart – reflect several common characteristics: inspirational leadership, a motivational…
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The world’s best retailers – Ahold, Benetton, Carrefour, Home Depot, IKEA and Wal‐Mart – reflect several common characteristics: inspirational leadership, a motivational organisational culture, innovativeness, adaptability and consumer and community relevant behaviours.
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A proliferation of optical products has resulted from the need to find a replacement for microfilm for storing images, to improve mass data storage technologies and to gain…
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A proliferation of optical products has resulted from the need to find a replacement for microfilm for storing images, to improve mass data storage technologies and to gain control over the distribution of commercial databases. Developers of CD‐ROM products need to follow a strategy that includes the following principles: (1) Focus on innovation rather than the technology; (2) Determine customers' needs; (3) Become expert in the available technologies; (4) Make a commitment to excellence; (5) Prepare a strategic plan; (6) Get a head‐start on the competition. Companies that have already been successful in CD‐ROM product development include R.R. Bowker, Disclosure and General Motors. The chances for success are greater for companies that can introduce new products and services frequently. Several companies have developed families of CD‐ROMs with a common interface, giving multiple users access to the information at the same time.
Elke Pioch, Ulrike Gerhard, John Fernie and Stephen J. Arnold
This paper aims to explore Wal‐Mart's varying performance in Europe and eventual exit from the German market by singling out the role of consumer acceptance of Wal‐Mart's market…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore Wal‐Mart's varying performance in Europe and eventual exit from the German market by singling out the role of consumer acceptance of Wal‐Mart's market propositions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses the macro‐constructs of institutional theory to interpret and conceptualise micro‐level consumer data. Data were collected via telephone surveys in two regional German and UK markets in 2002/2003. Salient patronage norms in each market were established and Wal‐Mart's as well as its competitors' performance on those norms were assessed.
Findings
In the German context, the institutional theory approach to explaining Wal‐Mart's problems clearly foreshadows market failure and exit. In UK market, no clear pattern between retailers adhering to salient patronage norms, patronage behaviour and market position could be established. The constructs of institutional theory were more likely to predict and explain market failure than success.
Research limitations/implications
Research in two regional markets limits the applicability of findings. Nevertheless, some key issues seem to indicate overall market performance. The telephone survey approach carries inherent problems, which however have only marginally impacted on the relevance of the findings.
Originality/value
The use of institutional theory constructs adds a further dimension to the discussion of international retailer success/failure and can constitute a valuable tool in the repertoire of the divestment and failure literature.
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This paper ranks university faculties, accounting doctoral programs, individual behavioral accounting researchers, and the most influential articles based on Google Scholar…
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This paper ranks university faculties, accounting doctoral programs, individual behavioral accounting researchers, and the most influential articles based on Google Scholar citations to publications in Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research (AABR). All articles published in AABR in its first 15 volumes are included and four citation metrics are used. The paper identifies the articles, authors, faculties, and doctoral programs that made the greatest contribution to the development of AABR. Such an analysis provides a useful basis for understanding the direction the journal has taken and how it has contributed to the literature (Meyer & Rigsby, 2001). The h-index and m-index for AABR indicates it compares favorably among its peers. Potential doctoral students with an interest in behavioral accounting research, “new” accounting faculty with an interest in behavioral accounting research, current behavioral accounting research faculty, department chairs, deans, and other administrators will find these results informative.
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The documentalist, librarian or intermediary has been the central figure in the growth of online since the early 1970s. But many of today's online gurus and would‐be gurus…
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The documentalist, librarian or intermediary has been the central figure in the growth of online since the early 1970s. But many of today's online gurus and would‐be gurus conveniently omit references to that vital force in online. It's as if the actual online users have been forgotten or have not come to the attention of the newly‐minted online experts.
In Poetic Justice, Martha Nussbaum (1996) offers one version of an argument frequently repeated in the history of law-and-literature scholarship; to wit, that the literary…
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In Poetic Justice, Martha Nussbaum (1996) offers one version of an argument frequently repeated in the history of law-and-literature scholarship; to wit, that the literary imagination performs a salutary function with regard to many domains of modern public life. While law and economics are governed by logics of bureaucratic rationality and utilitarian calculus, literature, in particular the novel, presents a counterdiscourse, inviting us to empathize with others, expanding our moral sense, emphasizing the importance of affect and imagination in the making of a just, humane, and democratic society. Nussbaum's broad goal is a commendable one; concerned that “cruder forms of economic utilitarianism and cost-benefit analysis that are…used in many areas of public policy-making and are frequently recommended as normative for others” are, in effect, dehumanizing, she argues for the importance to public life of “the sort of feeling and imagining called into being” by the experience of reading literary texts (1996, p. 3). This sort of feeling and imagining, Nussbaum explains, fosters sympathetic understanding of others who may be quite different from us and a deepened awareness of human suffering.