University
of Washington
Geography
350
Review for second test
DEFINITIONS
business strategy
cannibalization
competitive strategy
corporate strategy
functional strategy
hermeneutics
leveraged buyout
localization
market segmentation
new retail geography
phenomenology
product differentiation
suppy chain
supply chain management
QUESTIONS
1. Why might a retailer deliberately engage in cannibalization?
2. How
does e-tailing complement in-store retailing,
from the consumer's
perspective? For what purposes and under
what circumstances do consumers seem to prefer one to the other?
What influences your decision to make internet purchases vs. in-store
purchases?
3. What did Forman et al. discover
about
consumers’ preferences for internet vs. in-store purchasing?
4. How is
internet retailing different from brinks-and-mortar retailing?
5. What characteristics does internet
retailing share with bricks-and-mortar retailing?
6. If a retailer
engages in both forms of selling, how can they complement
each other?
[Think of each of the elements
of marketing (place, placement, product mix, pricing,
promotion, distribution)]
7. How
does Bowen contrast warehouses and distribution centers (DCs)?
8. Why has there been such an increase in DCs?
9. From Bowen's research, what seem to be the major influences on
the location of warehouses and DCs? On the location of large
warehouses and DCs?
10. Why might a retail company decide to own its own distribution
network? Why might it decide to rely on external distributors?
11. What does Basker list as the sources of Wal-Mart's advantages
over other retailers?
12. According to Basker, what are the impacts of a Wal-Mart on
local labor markets, local competitors, local consumers, and suppliers?
13. What factors affect the profitability of each company in a
supply chain?
14. How do retailers create “distinctive competencies” – unique
assets on which they can earn economic rent based on their
uniqueness? In many cases, the products they offer are not
unique. Innovations in store design, online merchandising,
pricing, and advertising can be easily observed and copied by
competitors. What lasting or appropriable (define) differences
can a retailer create?
15. In what ways can one's consumption be interpreted as a
political statement?
16. In what ways can you view consumption as an expression of
individual identity? As an expression of group identity within a
broad culture? As an expression of the broad (e.g., national)
culture?
17. Compare two retailers with which you're familiar, by
comparing three compenents of their stores and three components of the
shopping experience they offer.
18. Identify three major trends in US food retailing (food
stores, not restaurants); give an example of each.
19. What "success factors" for food retailers did I list in
class? (If you weren't in class, see Seth 2001.)
20. In class, I reviewed a study reported by Huang et al. [2002]
on the local impacts of the opening of the first Wal-Mart supercenter
in a small metropolitan area. I summarized them as:
a) Geographic location
makes a difference.
b) Market segment makes a difference.
c) Pricing choices vary br product type.
d) Mid- and low-end supermarkets have to strategize
carefully.
Elaborate on two of these findings.
21. How might a sustained increase in fuel prices affect the
location of supermarkets?
22. Describe two overall implications or principles of the Macy's
case study I presented in class. (Identify each and briefly
describe how they were manufested in the case.)
23. How could retailers learn and serve the concerns and needs
within a market area?
24. Use the Wang
reading to answer this question: How does
(a) national (e.g., in
China) and local regulation of the location,
competition, and owenership of retailing affect
(b) the concentration,
location, operation, and success of
foreign-owned retailiers?
For example, how does
government regulation vary across China? What effect has that had
on the actions of international retailers?
25. What are the "Push
factors" vs. "Pull factors"
that have drawn Western retailers into new national markets?
26. Wang suggests two key dimesions of
success for a retailer: market penetration and financial
performance. How are they related? How
does he relate these two dimensions to
develop four stages of retail companies' international expansion?
27. What are some strategic differences in the international
expansion practices of
Western vs. Japanese vs. SE Asian retailers?
REFERENCES (in addition to the assigned readings)
Huang, C.L., Epperson, J.E., Cude, B.J. and Woo, B.J. 2002.
Wal-Mart supercenter: the new low-price food retailer in town. Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm and
Resource Issues 17(3): 6-12.
Seth, A. 2001. Who will win in global retailing? European Business Forum 6: 64ff.
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