Management of traditional retail markets in the United Kingdom: comparative case studies

The paper examines the current state of the management of traditional retail markets (TRM) in the United Kingdom. TRM are indoor and outdoor markets located in town and city centres across the UK, selling food, household goods, clothing and the like. The paper employs comparative analysis approach of multiple cases using an analytical framework draws from place management and retail business management literature. The study investigates eleven retail markets in the UK, including seven run by Local Councils, two privately run and two operated by Charity Trusts. The paper identifies the management challenges of TRM lie at the intersect between its private-like business entity and the management overseen by local authorities, whose roles and functions are mainly on delivering public services. Although some council markets struggle, it remains a popular model for TRM because it offers social space and inclusion which other types of markets lack. The study also highlights that the environment within which TRM operate, such as policy, infrastructure, business and entrepreneurial aspects play an important role in influencing the performance of the markets. The paper contributes to the retail literature conceptual and empirical understanding of TRM management – the area which has been mostly neglected and under-researched. It offers an integrated analytical framework, including four dimensions of policy, infrastructure, business and entrepreneurial environment (PIBE) to advance the current limited understanding of this traditional form of retailing and sheds light on future research in this area

Multiple dimensions of disruption, energy transitions and industrial policy

In this perspective article, we critically explore ‘disruption’ in relation to sustainability transitions in the energy sector. Recognising significant ambiguity associated with the term, we seek to answer the question: What use has ‘disruption’ for understanding and promoting change towards low carbon energy futures. First, we outline that different understandings and dimensions of ‘system disruption’ exist with different linkages to institutional and policy change. This variety points out a need to research in more detail the particular effects of differing low-carbon innovations in terms of their disruptive consequences for whole socio-technical systems. Thus, disruption can be utilised as a useful conceptual tool for interrogating in more detail the ways in which energy systems are changing in particular contexts. Second, we reflect on the relationship between ‘green industrial policy’ and disruption. In some contexts ‘energy disruption’ has been facilitated by green industrial policy, and it would seem that the profound changes said to be on the horizon in terms of disruption are also a motivator of green industrial policy. New industrial policy can be an important way in which the negative consequences of disruptive change, such as job losses, can be managed and facilitated

Housing performance evaluation: challenges for international knowledge exchange

Developing effective building performance evaluation and feedback processes is a vital part of global efforts to reduce building energy use and gain insight into the actual performance of buildings and technologies. Although attempts have been made to introduce internationally agreed models for these processes, it is clear that various countries are producing different approaches according to their cultural, institutional and policy differences. Knowledge exchange is potentially a key means of developing a shared understanding of values, meanings and practices in relation to building performance evaluation. This paper identifies cultural and institutional barriers in the European Union for international building performance communities of practice utilizing knowledge exchange, from an experiential ‘real-world’ perspective. The preparation of a 30-month research project to help develop building performance evaluation in Poland and an associated bilateral symposium is closely evaluated through an action research case study in terms of the stakeholders, the national contexts in which they operated and the key challenges they faced. Recommendations are then made in terms of the support needed to develop more responsive research programmes in relation to developing international knowledge exchange, and the capacity-building elements required for these international communities of practice