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Promoting Retail Innovation: Knowledge Flows during the Emergence of Self-Service and Supermarket Retailing in Britain

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  • Andrew Alexander

    (School of Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, England)

  • Gareth Shaw
  • Louise Curth

Abstract

The notion of innovation underpins many studies of change within the literatures of retail management and the new retail geography. However, conceptualisation of the innovation process within retailing has remained surprisingly partial, with insufficient attention being given to the processes of knowledge management and learning within the firm. The authors illustrate the importance of such themes by reference to the key organisational and technological changes surrounding the development of self-service and supermarket retailing in Britain during the postwar years 1945–65. A conceptual framework derived from a reading of the business-management and economic geography literatures is employed to analyse the innovation transfer and related knowledge-management processes that influenced retail change during this critical period.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Alexander & Gareth Shaw & Louise Curth, 2005. "Promoting Retail Innovation: Knowledge Flows during the Emergence of Self-Service and Supermarket Retailing in Britain," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 37(5), pages 805-821, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:37:y:2005:i:5:p:805-821
    DOI: 10.1068/a3741
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gareth Shaw & Louise Curth & Andrew Alexander, 2004. "Selling Self-Service and the Supermarket: The Americanisation of Food Retailing in Britain, 1945-60," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(4), pages 568-582.
    2. Susan L. Cornish, 1997. "Product Innovation and the Spatial Dynamics of Market Intelligence: Does Proximity to Markets Matter?," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(2), pages 143-165, April.
    3. Sachwald, Frederique, 1998. "Cooperative agreements and the theory of the firm: Focusing on barriers to change," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 203-225, April.
    4. Meric S. Gertler, 2001. "Best practice? Geography, learning and the institutional limits to strong convergence," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 5-26, January.
    5. Oerlemans, L.A.G. & Meeus, M.T.H. & Boekema, F.W.M., 1998. "Do networks matter for innovation? The usefulness of the network approach in analysing innovation," Other publications TiSEM b5b01e96-86f7-4fdf-95c0-4, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    6. Nonaka, Ikujiro & Nishiguchi, Toshihiro, 2001. "Knowledge Emergence: Social, Technical and Evolutionary Dimensions of Knowledge Creation," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195130638.
    7. John Seely Brown & Paul Duguid, 1991. "Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning, and Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 40-57, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Morelli, Carlo, 2009. "Modern British Retailing in the Late 20th Century: Increasing Value?," SIRE Discussion Papers 2009-59, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    2. Maixe-Altes, J. Carles & Castro Balaguer, Rafael, 2013. "Structural Change in Distribution Markets in Peripheral Europe: Spanish Food Retailing, 1950-2007," MPRA Paper 49570, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Reinartz, Werner & Dellaert, Benedict & Krafft, Manfred & Kumar, V. & Varadarajan, Rajan, 2011. "Retailing Innovations in a Globalizing Retail Market Environment," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 87(S1), pages 53-66.
    4. Andrew Alexander & Simon Phillips & Gareth Shaw, 2008. "Retail Innovation and Shopping Practices: Consumers' Reactions to Self-Service Retailing," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(9), pages 2204-2221, September.
    5. Malin Sundström, 2019. "Climate of Data-driven Innovation Within E-business Retail Actors," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 8(2), pages 79-87, June.
    6. Andrea Davies & James Fitchett, 2015. "In the Family Way: Bringing a Mother-Daughter (Matrilineal) Perspective to Retail Innovation and Consumer Culture," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 47(3), pages 727-743, March.

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