When Tony Met Bobby

Abstract

When Tony met BobbyIn June 1999 Wal-Mart intervened spectacularly in an agreed merger between Asda and Kingfisher by paying »6.7 billion to take over Asda outright. Reactions ranged dramatically (Whysall, 2001); this was the death-knell of British retailing or the redemption of British consumers. Whatever the view, Wal-Mart buying a major retailer such as Asda, and in such a significant European market, was a landmark in the globalisation of retailing.One issue around this takeover attracted considerable speculation at the time and has been the focus of discussion specifically (Hallsworth and Clarke, 2001) and generally (Burt and Sparks, 2001) in papers in this journal. Some months previous to the takeover, a meeting apparently took place in Downing Street between the Prime Minister and Wal-Mart. The very fact this meeting occurred, and at that time, is intriguing. Secrecy surrounding the meeting increased speculation over the contents of any discussion. It was raised in Parliament and during investigations on retailing by the Select Committee on the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs. Over time, however, the meeting has faded from public attention and consideration. Yet, it still remains potentially significant. The introduction from January 2005 of the Freedom of Information Act potentially opened a window on this previously`secret' meeting. This commentary concerns the meeting itself and the use of the Freedom of Information Act to obtain information about it. It raises questions about lobbying, secrecy, and retail change and is another window on Pal and Medway's (2008) commentary oǹ working the system'.

Regulation in practice: Power, resources and context at the local scale in UK food retailing

“…Within retailing for example, this agency at various spatial scales is evident in responding to (and affecting) regulation at a national level in host markets as part of international expansion (Sparks, 2008), or equally appealing against local decisions within specific local geographies in domestic markets (Guy and Bennison, 2007). This places an emphasis on the availability and usage of resources by corporate actors as well as by state level agents, whether this is in the form of material resources, knowledge, power or social capital (Bathelt and Glückler, 2005).…”

Large format stores and the introduction of new regulatory controls in South Korea

“…We confirmed that the store format with the greatest impact on traditional markets and their SME traders is the large discount store rather than the supermarket. Importantly, too, rivalry is keenest from re-energised local incumbents rather than strictly from TNCs -meaning that Arguably, many of the regulatory laws which were legislated in developed countries in the 1980s and the 1990s have declined recently: sometimes with lobbying from transnational retailers (Sparks 2008). In some developed countries, local governments still use regulatory laws, but fewer developed countries see their central government driving forward regulations on large distribution enterprises.…”

Tesco in Korea: Regulation and Retail Change

“…The role of government is more difficult to predict. As revealed by Sparks () and predicted by Clegg (), powerful global retailers do not just write letters of protest. They gain access to the highest levels of government specifically in the hope of having laws changed.…”