Franchising is fast becoming one of the most popular entry mode strategies for international retail companies when moving into international markets. Academic research, however, has only recently begun to examine international franchising within the context of retailer internationalisation. A...

Research into firm internationalisation has identified psychic distance as a key factor in explaining variations in both expansion patterns and organisational performance. Despite the substantial growth in research on the internationalisation of retailing, most contributions have been highly...

Sparks, in a case study of the takeover of The Southland Corporation (USA) by Ito‐Yokado and Seven‐Eleven Japan, raised a number of fundamental questions about the nature of retail internationalisation and our understanding of the subject. This paper returns to this subject and, using an...

The purpose of this paper is to assess the long‐term opportunity (or lack thereof) for Wal‐Mart in the UK. Wal‐Mart is the world’s largest retailer and the UK market offers a logical next step following Wal‐Mart’s 1997 entry into the European market via Germany. Retail...

Argues that for many retailers, competitive advantage in the home market has been based upon the development of strong store and corporate images as retailers strive to develop themselves as brands in their own right. The construction of store image, comprising both tangible and intangible...

Highlights the dearth of research on the range of issues surrounding the international environment and the impact on international marketing. Such issues concern trade and investment liberalization and protectionism, the role of multilateral institutions and the NGOs, and country, sector and...

There is limited understanding of how businesses, particularly in a global context, activate the marketing concept in order to become market‐driven. A study was conducted to delineate the activation process in an international setting, and some of the facilitating and impeding factors....

The trend towards internationalisation in many service industries has increased the need for both managers and academics to collect cross‐cultural/national consumer‐perceived service quality data. Failure to establish cross‐cultural equivalence and to detect differences in cross‐national...