Self-started versus Family Inherited Businesses: A Comparison of Managing Unorganized Food Grocery Retail Stores in an Emerging Economy

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing the difference in food grocery retail store logistic management between self-started and family inherited retail businesses. The study has been carried out through in-depth personal interview of 40 unorganized grocery retail stores in Lucknow Uttar Pradesh, using a structured questionnaire. Simple statistical techniques such as descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation have been applied on the survey data. Chi-square test has been used to analyze the statistical difference in the processes of retail store management between self-started and family inherited business grocery stores. Findings indicate that those who joined the family run businesses are younger in age as compared to the ones who self-started their grocery stores. Similarly, the average retailing experience of self-starters is (10 years) and family inherited retails is (5 years), showing significant difference statistically, implying that both the groups have different level of retailing experiences. The study also analyzes the difference in methods of logistics management across the different types of unorganized retailers. Analysis indicates that both self-started and family inherited retail businesses follow similar management practices. There are a limited number of in-depth studies on unorganized retail operations based on primary data analysis. The findings of this study provide practical insights on difference in profile of self-started versus family inherited retail businesses and adoption of logistics processes in managing their stores.

Delineating entrepreneurial orientation efficacy on retailer’s business performance

“…They are quickly losing market share in cities, than in rural markets (Reardon and Hopkins, 2006). Small retailers are unprepared to meet the new challenges (Ali et al, 2017).…”