Theories of Change - Literature review Example

131077 "Patterns of day to day travel by consumers result from the spatial layout of society. Conversely, these intricate patterns of movement are important agents in affecting the spatial structure of society," Huff, 1960, p.159 from Potter (1982, p.1). Retailing, in the unrecognisably altered, globalised present economy, has changed, is changing and evolving every moment with an unprecedented speed. It is not particularly easy to conceptualise this change with all its confusing dimensions; but study and research in this direction could be interesting and useful and definitely not an exceedingly difficult task. Such studies depend on the assumption that these public spaces are part of the bigger picture and indicators of values and identities. "What we would assert, however, is that notwithstanding these complexities, it is possible at a given moment of time to investigate the manner in which particular public spaces such as shopping centres not merely reflect but play an active role in the objectification and thereby in the transformation of the values and identities of shoppers," Miller et al (1998, p.193. Even though constant technology updating is the root cause of many changes, present and future, both, there is a firm opinion that advances in technology and e-commerce will have no effect on retailing, which, does not look acceptable at the moment. "With each successive development in communications technology comes a corresponding leap in the number of ideas with which it requires us to cope," says Douglas Rushkoff, in Markham (1998. p.220). Retailing had always been a contributor and a pointer of the social landscape and a measurable standard of economic and social trends and evolutions. Retailing and its changes cannot be studied in isolation of the social demography. "retailing exerts considerable influence on the morphology and functioning of Western cities.Retail change has occurred in the context of wide-ranging socio-economic trends," Bromley and Thomas (1993, pp. 2-3). Today's changes are controlled by the fact that world has reduced into a global village and distances do not mean any great disadvantage in the present world. Today, working hours and their limitations have paled into insignificance and services are available all over the world at any moment of time or day. "Once customers were no longer constrained by the tyranny of distance, the retail structure underwent an explosion of new forms and specializations" Jones and Simmons forecasted in 1990 (p.449). Talking of UK alone, in 1950s, retailing work was dominated by counter sales and sales assistants. Today's self-help was unknown to the earlier societies and people waited to be attended to, which slowly changed into self-service, that could be sometimes uncomfortable and time consuming, even though reduces work force. "Self-service was a virtually unknown trading method in many parts of the UK, and virtually unknown trading method in many parts of the UK, and in grocery retailing for example, there were just 600 retail outlets which could be classified as 'self-service in the whole of the country, accounting for just 1.4 percent of sales," Wrigly (1988, p.15). Kent and Omar agree that external environments like globalisation, technological environment, education, demographic change, households of different culture and different countries who are used to diverse retail markets, lifestyles, occupations, social change, economic growth, inflation growth, earnings, spending and savings, interest rates, competition, health and safety, environmental responsibilities, political and legal environment, social environment, change in styles and personal requirements all are responsible for changing the retail environment and marketing. They also believe that main change should adhere to natural environment and the support to protection policies of practical approach and sustainability. They argue that change will bring uncertainties, risks, structural uncertainties and unknowables into retail industry. They insist on advance planning with the prediction of environment. "It is important to distinguish between the features of the environment that can be predicted and planned for well in advance, and features that are less controllable, but must still be taken into accountHowever, the retailer's ability to manage the business environment will involve ways of understanding and modelling it to meet its requirement," Kent and Omar (2003, p.50). Kent and Omar explain the Retail Lifestyle using innovation, accelerated development, maturity and decline to show market share growth, as opposed to time. The Wheel of Retailing goes through Trading-up stage, Vulnerability state and Market entry stage. Accordion Theory of change is based on movement of retailers from general to special positions. "The growth of urban communities allowed profitable segmentation in consumer markets for which the old general store could not cater," Kent and Omar (p.53). Conflict (Non-cyclical) theory, according to Kent and Omar, who agree with Martenson, can be grouped into two, one that imitates the innovator, another, avoiding direct competition. According to this theory, international conflict is the main driving force behind the retail change. "Changes are invariably led by an innovative outsider, and forced onto existing players; non-respondents can survive, but at a reduced level" Kent and Omar (p.54). Another theory of Environmental Evolution (Non-cyclical change), says that retailing changes can be explained in ecological terms. "Business that best adapt to their environment are most likely to survive through identifying and adapting to changes in the demographic, social and economic characteristics of consumers, in the use of technologies and their response to retail competition," Kent and Omar (p.54). Retail logistics, change and challenges written by John Fernie and Leigh Sparks do not agree totally with Kent and Omar. They say that consumer beliefs and needs have altered to a large extent. Consumers have become over ambitious in their requirements and very demanding in their approach. Starting from the freshness and availability of goods, till the prompt and instantaneous delivery to their homes, consumers show impatience and need of high attention. They demand home deliveries at the time of their choosing. They need all material to be available in excellent condition at all times irrespective of the season. Today's consumers are more like spoilt children. In his article "The breaking of the fourth wave: recent out-of-turn developments in Britain1" John Fernie says that the present 'fourth wave' is of US origin, and is viewed as a major threat to town centres, because of new retail formats and there were many reasons for 1990's over optimistic predictions and unreasonably high expectations. "The tightening of planning policy guidelines has been partially responsible for the downgrading of initial estimates, especially for factory outlet centers, where several key developers have accelerated their search for sites in other parts of Europe because of the lack of development opportunities in the UK," (Ibid). According to Fernie, this can create a better and more disciplined future for retail industry, resulting in continuous excellence. There will be service benefits by appropriate integration of demand and supply. Fresher and higher quality production will be available all the time at all places, and not just in chosen cities or supermarkets. "With the appropriate logistics, products should be of a better presentational quality, could possibly be cheaper, have a longer shelf life and there should be far fewer instances of stock outs," http://www.kogan-page.co.uk/fernie/logi-01.pdf He also feels that a good logistics system should help to provide 'a competitive advantage for the retailer' and improve service and reduce costs. Fernie talks about future trends, further developments and insists that it could be taken in the current global perspective in this very challenging and competitive business arena. Comparative studies with other countries with professional insights from Fernie are interesting. Almost all his inputs are research based, covering even the minutest changes in the retail industry. He offers critical perspectives of past and current ideas with objective opinions on important issues. He tackles controversial topics in his change theory and offers possible explanations. He also examines all aspects of retailing, present and future distribution and changes that are taking place every moment. This does not mean that Kent, Omar and Fernie are unaware of the pitfalls of home shopping and distant selling. Some of the problems of distant selling could be extremely difficult. : a. "Misleading or inadequate description of the article; b. Misleading or inadequate description of the seller; c. Misleading or inadequate description of the contract terms to be applied (including prices, credit and delivery terms)" New Home Shopping Technologies (1992, p.29). Also there will be delays in delivery, sometimes no delivery at all, damage of goods in transit, no immediate replacement, no approach point, other than some vague, distant addresses, no prompt refunds, and also not responding to consumer queries and complaints, to name a few. "The major shortcoming of home shopping transactions is that they allow no pre-purchase inspection of the goods ordered," New Home Shopping Technologies (p. 35). But nobody can prevent the major change that is overtaking the retail industry and when both studies are taken into account, even with its pitfalls, home marketing cannot be controlled and could be a major retail industry of future. Problems and issues have to be tackled as the change overtakes. Environmental theory looks perhaps the most practical of all the theories and would naturally outlast the rest of them. BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. Bromley, Rosemary D.F. and Colin J. Thomas (1993), ed., Retail Change, Contemporary issues, UC Press Limited, London. 2. Holdren, Bob R. (1960), The Structure of a Retail market and the Market behavior of Retail Units, Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 3. Jones, Ken and Jim Simmons (1990), The Retail Environment, Routledge, London. 4. Kent, Tony and Omar, Ogenuyi (2003), Retailing, Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire. 5. Miller, Daniel, Peter Jackson, Nigel Thrift, Beverley Holbrook and Michael Rowlands (1998), Shopping, Place and Identity, Routledge, London. 6. New Home Shopping Technologies (1992), Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Head of Publication Services, Paris. 7. Potter, Robert B (1982), The Urban Retailing System, Gower and Retailing and Planning Associates, Aldershot. 8. Simmons, James (1964), The Changing pattern of Retail Location, The University of Chicago. 9. Wrigley, Neil (1988), Store Choice, Store Location and Market Analysis, Routledge, London. ONLINE SOURCES: 1. http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/(4jke1q45ye4zuc45pzn2m03m)/app/home/contribution.aspreferrer=parent&backto=issue,3,7;journal,33,38;linkingpublicationresults,1:100127,1 2. http://www.kogan-page.co.uk/fernie/logi-01.pdf 3. Read More