53,889 research outputs found

    Large UK retailers' initiatives to reduce consumers' emissions: a systematic assessment

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    In the interest of climate change mitigation, policy makers, businesses and non-governmental organisations have devised initiatives designed to reduce in-use emissions whilst, at the same time, the number of energy-consuming products in homes, and household energy consumption, is increasing. Retailers are important because they are at the interface between manufacturers of products and consumers and they supply the vast majority of consumer goods in developed countries like the UK, including energy using products. Large retailers have a consistent history of corporate responsibility reporting and have included plans and actions to influence consumer emissions within them. This paper adapts two frameworks to use them for systematically assessing large retailers’ initiatives aimed at reducing consumers’ carbon emissions. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) is adapted and used to analyse the strategic scope and coherence of these initiatives in relation to the businesses’ sustainability strategies. The ISM ‘Individual Social Material’ framework is adapted and used to analyse how consumer behaviour change mechanisms are framed by retailers. These frameworks are used to analyse eighteen initiatives designed to reduce consumer emissions from eight of the largest UK retail businesses, identified from publicly available data. The results of the eighteen initiatives analysed show that the vast majority were not well planned nor were they strategically coherent. Secondly, most of these specific initiatives relied solely on providing information to consumers and thus deployed a rather narrow range of consumer behaviour change mechanisms. The research concludes that leaders of retail businesses and policy makers could use the FSSD to ensure processes, and measurements are comprehensive and integrated, in order to increase the materiality and impact of their initiatives to reduce consumer emissions in use. Furthermore, retailers could benefit from exploring different models of behaviour change from the ISM framework in order to access a wider set of tools for transformative system change

    Identifying the unique characteristics of independent fashion retailers in Scotland by utilising Porter’s generic competitive strategy model and the marketing mix

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    Independent retailers in the fashion sector make a substantial contribution to the UK economy at the time of significant change on the high street due to financial pressures and the growth of online trade. They provide an element of creativity and innovation to a homogenous retail landscape. The independent fashion retailer creates a destination and individual identity by presenting a unique offering and differentiated experience. Whilst independent retailers are important to the future of our high street, research is limited, particularly in the area of fashion independents. Therefore this research examines and identifies the unique characteristics of independent fashion retailers within Scotland. The research adopts a case study approach, qualitative methods of data collection in order to fulfil the aim and objectives of the study. Porter’s Generic Competitive Strategies and the marketing mix were utilised as a means of drawing out the individual aspects and unique characteristics of the independent fashion retailer.Los minoristas independientes en el sector de la moda hacen una contribución sustancial a la economía del Reino Unido en el momento de un cambio significativo debido a las presiones financieras y el crecimiento del comercio en línea. Proporcionan un elemento de creatividad e innovación a un paisaje minorista homogéneo. El distribuidor independiente de moda crea un destino y una identidad individual al presentar una oferta única y una experiencia diferenciada. Mientras que los minoristas independientes son importantes para el futuro, la investigación es limitada, sobre todo en el área de empresas independientes de la moda. Por lo tanto, esta investigación examina e identifica las características únicas de los minoristas independientes de moda en Escocia. La investigación adopta un enfoque de estudio de caso, métodos cualitativos de recolección de datos con el fin de cumplir con los objetivos del estudio. Las Estrategias Competitivas Generales de Porter y la mezcla de mercadeo se utilizaron como un medio de extraer los aspectos individuales y las características únicas del minorista de moda independiente

    Seller strategies on eBay: Does size matter?

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    We examine seller strategies in 1177 Internet auctions on eBay, to understand the diversity of strategies used, and their impacts. Dimensions of strategic choice include the use of a ‘Buy it Now’ option, the level of the starting price, and the use of a secret reserve price. A major focus of our analysis is on differences across sellers with different volumes of sales. The largest volume sellers (termed “retailers”) in our sample employ uniform selling strategies, but lower volume sellers exhibit a wide variety of strategic choices. While some components of sellers’ strategies appear important in raising seller revenue, including starting the auction with a ‘Buy it Now’ offer, the overall impact of seller strategy choices on the outcome appears to be quite small. We interpret this as evidence for the competitiveness of the online auction market for frequently traded items with conventional retail alternatives. An exception is provided by the use of a secret reserve price, which raises the winning bid conditional on a sale, but reduces the probability of a sale. Depending on sellers’ risk aversion and impatience, this may also be an efficient outcome

    Theory and evidence on pricing by asymmetric oligopolies

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    We present an analysis of markets with many asymmetrically positioned retailers that compete for the business of both informed and uninformed customers for a homogenous good, such as software, music, book or a brand-name appliance. We show that two forms of asymmetry, one related to loyal segment sizes of retailers and one related to the positioning of firms, completely explain the observed price dispersion in such markets and the multitude of asymmetrical strategies adopted by retailers. The stochastic dominance of empirical mixed strategy measures is used to test the theory with data on 968 books from 10 online retailers

    International expansion and buyer-driven commodity chain: the case of TESCO

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    This paper is prepared within the project ‘The Emerging Industrial Architecture of the Wider Europe; the Co-evolution of Industrial and Political Structures ’ funded by the ESRC programme ‘One Europe or Several?’ * Authors would like to thank Nick von Tunzelmann for his valuable comments in earlier draft versions. Following the collapse of Communism, central European countries have experienced an invasion of foreign investment in many sectors. The sectors that target consumers directly have found an opportunity to gain market share with considerable long-term profit potential. Thus, investments by western retailers are quite large when compared to other industries1. These multinational

    Using Transaction Utility Approach for Retail Format Decision

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    Transaction Utility theory was propounded by Thaler to explain that the value derived by a customer from an exchange consists of two drivers: Acquisition Utilities and Transaction utilities. Acquisition utility represents the economic gain or loss from the transaction. Where as transaction utility is associated with purchase or (sale) and represents the pleasure (or displeasure) of the financial deal per se and is a function of the difference between the selling price and the reference price. Choice of a format has been studied from several dimensions including the cost and effort as well as the non-monetary values. However, the studies that present the complete picture and combine the aspects of the tangible as well as intangible values derived out of the shopping process are limited. Most of the studies, all of them from the developed economies, have focussed on the selection of a store. They represent a scenario where formats have stabilised. However, in Indian scenario formats have been found to be influencing the choice of store as well as orientation of the shoppers. Also, retailers are experimenting with alternate format with differing success rates. The author has also not found a study that has applied this theory. It is felt that the Transactional Utility Theory may provide a suitable approach for making format decisions.
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