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Antitrust Regulation and the Restructuring of Grocery Retailing in Britain and the USA

Author

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  • N Wrigley

    (Department of Geography, University of Southampton, Southampton, S09 5NH, England)

Abstract

In this paper it is demonstrated how disparities which emerged between British and US grocery retailing in the 1980s—in corporate concentration, power relations, profitability, return on capital employed, and in geographical structure—owe a considerable amount to the differential nature of the regulatory environments in which the industries operated. In particular, the author focuses upon antitrust (competition) legislation and its differential interpretation and enforcement in the two countries. Following a survey of that legislation, the regulatory experience of grocery retailing in the postwar period is considered in detail. The hostility of the US regulatory environment to the development of big capital in retailing throughout much of the period is contrasted with the benign regulatory environment experienced by UK grocery retailers. Finally, the implications of this differential regulatory experience during a more recent period of nonenforcement and regulatory convergence are considered.

Suggested Citation

  • N Wrigley, 1992. "Antitrust Regulation and the Restructuring of Grocery Retailing in Britain and the USA," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 24(5), pages 727-749, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:24:y:1992:i:5:p:727-749
    DOI: 10.1068/a240727
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Christopher Moir, 1990. "Competition in the UK Grocery Trades," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Christopher Moir & John Dawson (ed.), Competition and Markets, chapter 8, pages 91-118, Palgrave Macmillan.
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    Cited by:

    1. C M Mason & K N McNally, 1997. "Market Change, Distribution, and New Firm Formation and Growth: The Case of Real-Ale Breweries in the United Kingdom," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 29(3), pages 405-417, March.
    2. Alan Hallsworth & David Evers, 2002. "The Steady Advance of Wal-Mart across Europe and Changing Government Attitudes towards Planning and Competition," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 20(2), pages 297-309, April.
    3. N Wrigley & A Leyshon, 1993. "Commentaries," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 25(11), pages 1545-1557, November.
    4. A Hughes, 1996. "Retail Restructuring and the Strategic Significance of Food Retailers' Own-Labels: A UK—USA Comparison," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 28(12), pages 2201-2226, December.
    5. Nicky Gregson & Louise Crewe & Kate Brooks, 2002. "Discourse, Displacement, and Retail Practice: Some Pointers from the Charity Retail Project," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 34(9), pages 1661-1683, September.
    6. R Shackleton, 1998. "Exploring Corporate Culture and Strategy: Sainsbury at Home and Abroad during the Early to Mid 1990s," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 30(5), pages 921-940, May.
    7. Leigh Sparks, 1997. "From Coca-colonization to copy-Cotting: The Cott corporation and retailer brand soft drinks in the UK and the US," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(2), pages 153-167.
    8. Brett Christophers, 2014. "Competition, Law, and the Power of (Imagined) Geography: Market Definition and the Emergence of Too-Big-to-Fail Banking in the United States," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 90(4), pages 429-450, October.
    9. T Marsden & N Wrigley, 1995. "Regulation, Retailing, and Consumption," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 27(12), pages 1899-1912, December.
    10. Nebahat Tokatli & Yonca Boyaci Eldener, 2002. "Globalization and the Changing Political Economy of Distribution Channels in Turkey," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 34(2), pages 217-238, February.
    11. I L Head & V A Lawson & N Komninos & L G Smith & M Reed & G R McBoyle & A Blowers & R Gascoigne & A G Phipps & S J Smith & A Kellerman, 1994. "Reviews: North, South and the Environmental Crisis, Viva: Women and Popular Protest in Latin America, Technology in the Gardens: Research Parks and Regional Economic Development, Achieving Environment," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 26(1), pages 153-166, January.
    12. N Wrigley, 1997. "Foreign Retail Capital on the Battlefields of Connecticut: Competition Regulation at the Local Scale and its Implications," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 29(7), pages 1141-1152, July.
    13. Alex Hughes, 1997. "The changing organization of new product development for retailers' private labels: A UK-US comparison," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(2), pages 169-184.
    14. Venturini, Luciano, 1998. "Countervailing Power And Antitrust Policy In The Food System," Conference Papers 14489, University of Minnesota, Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy.
    15. G L Clark, 1992. "‘Real’ Regulation: The Administrative State," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 24(5), pages 615-627, May.
    16. Neil M Coe, 2004. "The Internationalisation/Globalisation of Retailing: Towards an Economic – Geographical Research Agenda," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(9), pages 1571-1594, September.
    17. Alex Hughes, 2005. "Corporate Strategy and the Management of Ethical Trade: The Case of the UK Food and Clothing Retailers," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 37(7), pages 1145-1163, July.
    18. Neil Wrigley, 2001. "Local Spatial Monopoly and Competition Regulation: Reflections on Recent UK and US Rulings," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 33(2), pages 189-194, February.
    19. David T. Merrett, 2020. "The Making of Australia's Supermarket Duopoly, 1958–2000," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(3), pages 301-321, November.
    20. Alex M. Mutebi, 2007. "Regulatory Responses to Large-format Transnational Retail in South-east Asian Cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(2), pages 357-379, February.
    21. L Sparks, 1996. "Challenge and Change: Shoprite and the Restructuring of Grocery Retailing in Scotland," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 28(2), pages 261-284, February.
    22. Gareth Shaw & Andrew Alexander & John Benson & Deborah Hodson, 2000. "The Evolving Culture of Retailer Regulation and the Failure of the ‘Balfour Bill’ in Interwar Britain," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 32(11), pages 1977-1989, November.
    23. Nebahat Tokatli, 2003. "Globalization and the Changing Clothing Industry in Turkey," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 35(10), pages 1877-1894, October.
    24. Steve Wood, 2001. "Regulatory Constrained Portfolio Restructuring: The US Department Store Industry in the 1990s," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 33(7), pages 1279-1304, July.
    25. A Hughes, 1999. "Constructing Competitive Spaces: On the Corporate Practice of British Retailer—Supplier Relationships," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 31(5), pages 819-839, May.

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