“…For example, the Dutch retailer, Ahold, that had previously pursued a "hands-off" management style -operating US divisions as little more than holding companiesfrom 1995 changed its strategy with an initiative labelled 'Project Compete' and commenced the back office operational integration of its US fascias (Wrigley, 1997a). Such trends had parallels elsewhere within the US retail market, most notably in the US department store sector where there had been high profile Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings following failed leveraged restructurings, involving Macy's, Allied and Federated Department Stores, which led to a similar push toward centralised, consolidated and more efficient operations (Wood, 2001;. In addition, scale-related advantages and the centralisation of practices out of view of the customer were also met with increasingly larger retail formats, notably the 150,000 sq ft + supercenters.…”