International value chain processes by retailers and wholesalers — A general approach

Coordinating the international retailing firm: Exploratory models and evaluations of structural, systemic, and cultural options

“…It is not localisation and globalisation advantages, but adaptation/configuration and coordination that form options for the general international strategy or orientation of a firm (see Swoboda, Foscht and Cliquet, 2007). The authors take the view that a trans-national firm is characterised more by a specific form of coordination than by localisation and globalisation advantages.…”

Exploring key logistics characteristics supporting embeddedness in retailers’ geographical expansion

“…Geographical expansion renders a wide range of different institutional, cultural and organisational challenges (Wrigley and Lowe 2010), including logistics-related ones as the complexity of logistics operations tend to increase with internationalisation (e.g. Marchet et al 2016;Schmidt and Wilhelm 2000;Swoboda, Foscht, and Cliquet 2008;Swoboda and Anderer 2008). Instead of supplying one single market, logistics needs to supply multiple sales markets.…”

“…For instance, internationalisation incentives (Corstjens and Lal 2012), market selection (Swoboda, Schwarz, and Hälsig 2007), market channels (Agatz, Fleischmann, and Van Nunen 2008;Appel 2016;Huang and Sternquist 2007), entry mode strategies (Doherty 1999;Picot-Coupey, Burt, and Cliquet 2014), and retail format (Swoboda and Elsner 2013) are all topics that have been addressed extensively. Alongside these business and marketing-oriented research streams, logistics has been acknowledged as a crucial prerequisite and a key ingredient for successful geographical expansion (Abrahamsson and Rehme 2010;Creazza, Dallari, and Melacini 2010;Marchet et al 2016;Swoboda, Foscht, and Cliquet 2008). For instance, logistics has been considered to be 'the backbone of the internationalisation process' (Marchet et al 2016, p. 74) and Abrahamsson, Aldin, and Stahre (2003) argue that the retailer's logistics operations should 'support strategic market moves' of the company such as expansion into a new market.…”

“…For instance, logistics has been considered to be 'the backbone of the internationalisation process' (Marchet et al 2016, p. 74) and Abrahamsson, Aldin, and Stahre (2003) argue that the retailer's logistics operations should 'support strategic market moves' of the company such as expansion into a new market. Despite this, a majority of research on retailers' geographical expansion has been geared towards market-oriented processes and other customer-facing elements (Wood and Reynolds 2014), neglecting the 'back-end', supply chain processes (Haag, Sallnäs, and Sandberg 2019;Swoboda, Foscht, and Cliquet 2008). An exception is research conducted by economic geographers on how larger US and western European retail transnational corporations (TNCs) adapt their distribution and supply networks to new markets mainly in Asia (e.g.…”

Retail Branding and Store Loyalty

“…In particular, grocery retailing is the largest retail sector, is regarded as multi-domestic, employs international strategies with direct, frequent contact with consumers and with high local responsiveness (Bianchi and Ostale 2006;Swoboda, Elsner, and Morschett 2012), transfers retail formats from a home country to a host country (Goldman 2001), and balances centralized and decentralized decision making (Dawson 1994). Relatively high levels of investments are required for the internationalization of grocery retailers, such as investments in the development of store networks and local supply chain processes (Swoboda, Foscht, and Cliquet 2008) that represent a high ratio of total retail costs (Einarsson 2008) and that are specific to a particular format (e.g., tight in the case of discounters). Finally, formats are retail products that are offered in a relatively homogeneous store network and offer a range of retail-specific marketing-mix instruments, such as assortment, store layout, or location (Currah and Wrigley 2004).…”