Already for a long time retailers take back products. In this paper we explore the factors contributing to the decision of combining vs. separating inbound and outbound flows during the return handling process. We do so through a comparative analysis of the operations in nine retailer...

In most western countries, grocery retailers are faced with maturing domestic markets with a year-to-year sales growth close to zero. Moreover, most Western-European markets are characterized by a high concentration rate, with a combined market share of the top five players easily exceeding 70%....

We develop two models to test hypotheses on the specific impact of brand and category characteristics on consumer stock-out responses. Our empirical results show that both characteristics are important determinants. Consumers are more product loyal in hedonic product groups than in utilitarian...

Blue ocean strategy seeks to turn strategic management on its head by replacing ‘competitive advantage’ with ‘value innovation’ as the primary goal where firms must create consumer demand and exploit untapped markets. Empirical analysis has been focused on case study...

Recently, retailers have begun considering which brands they can delist without reducing customer satisfaction, losing category sales, or increasing store switching behavior. Although several studies have considered assortment reductions, none has explicitly investigated the impact of total...

Depending on the shopping context, consumers may develop different mental representations of complex shopping trip decision problems to help them interpret the decision situation that they face and evaluate alternative courses of action. To investigate these mental representations and how they...

The contemporary rise of China in the new geo-economy is increasingly pressurising the spatial distribution of financial activity in mainland China and Hong Kong. With the re-emergence of Shanghai, many people foresee the furture demise of Hong Kong as the most important financial centre for the...

This study examines the changing competitiveness of financial centres in mainland China and Hong Kong based on the geography of equity listing of mainland Chinese firms. Pre-listing firm characteristics are used to explore firms’ motives for listing on a particular exchange and whether...