The importance of retail strategy for pharmacies

Limited academic research has focused on the retail management of pharmacies since prior studies have primarily addressed the professional service aspect of pharmacy operations. Particularly absent is the investigation of a pharmacist’s retail strategy and its relationship with non-prescription pharmacy performance. Moreover, this paper postulates that a pharmacy’s natural abilities in the form of organisational characteristics, resources and capabilities are important antecedents to the development of a retail strategy. We propose that the retail strategy and pharmacy performance relationship, which is the focus of this paper, does not operate in isolation and critical organisational antecedents are an influencing factor.

Workplace human rights reporting: a study of Australian garment and retail companies

The opening of the Australian economy in a globalised world has led to Australian garment and retail corporations moving their manufacturing overseas and acquiring goods from overseas providers. This is usually better for the corporations’ bottom-line, as they can purchase goods overseas at a fraction of their local cost, partly due to cheap labour. Australia is one of the many OECD countries not to have a well regulated environment for workplace human rights. This study examines 18 major Australian retail and garment manufacturing corporations and finds that workplace human rights reporting is poor, based on content analysis of their annual reports, corporate social responsibility reports and websites. This is probably due to the failure of the Australian Government to provide adequate oversight by promulgating mandatory reporting standards for both local and overseas operations of Australian companies. This permits corporations to avoid reporting their workplace human rights standards and breaches.

How intimate are Australian e-business retail supply chains?

The adoption of electronic commerce strategies is becoming an important means of assisting industries, and indeed whole economies, to gain significant net benefits. The extent to which e-commerce-based strategies, such as quick response and efficient consumer response, might have an effect on local economies depends in part on how readily they are being adopted. The dominant form of adoption of these strategies is to be found in the business-to-business forms of e-commerce. To be successful, business partners must be in a position to develop customer intimacy through sharing of information, to improve their stock replenishment practices, and enhance their levels of online customer support. This paper presents the initial results of a national survey completed in the retail sector of the Australian economy, that assesses how well Australian industry is responding to these e-commerce challenges.

Globalisation and manufacturing strategy in the TCF industry

Purpose – The textiles, clothing, and footwear (TCF) industry has struggled in Australia since the government commenced dismantling tariffs. By sourcing from Asia, middlemen undercut established suppliers, and retail chains set benchmark low prices with their imported “house” labels. The policy-makers predicted that local producers would become more efficient, and export to make up for lost sales, but the media paints a picture of rising imports, retrenchments, and factory closures. The research objective was to discover what strategies the survivors (actually) employ in adapting to the pressures of globalisation.

Design/methodology/approach – More than 30 companies were involved in the study, ranging from small family businesses to subsidiaries of big multinationals. Each case study was based on an interview with a senior executive, normally followed by a plant tour. This methodology suits a fresh topic, as it avoids preconceptions and imposes no bounds.

Findings – Results show that the policy change was based on “pie in the sky” forecasts. Increasingly, TCF production is transferred to cheap offshore locations, generally via subcontracting plus the “badging” of foreign designs. To survive, local factories should focus on quality and customer service, preferably in niche markets (like uniforms), or for specific customer groups, and develop technologically advanced products. A move down the supply chain into retailing can also assist. Large multinational corporations that engage in foreign direct investment dominate the management literature.

Originality/value – This paper presents a different perspective, neglected in international operations management, whereby domestically oriented businesses attempt to defend themselves against the adverse consequences of globalisation.

Prediction intention to quit in the call centre industry: does the retail model fit?

Purpose – Models of workplace turnover are rarely assessed in contexts other than that in which they were developed. This reduces their generalizability and their usefulness in providing managers with guidance as to what they might do to reduce workers intentions to quit. The purpose of this study is to test a model derived from a study of shop floor retail salespeople in the call centre environment.

Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire measuring the variables in the model was completed by 126 call centre representatives recruited from 11 call centres in Melbourne, Australia.

Findings – Although the model was supported, the interactions among the variables differed. In particular, stressors played a bigger, albeit indirect, role in the intention to quit.

Practical implications – Call centre managers need to consider carefully the aspects of the work environment that may be stressful. If appropriately addressed, turnover may be reduced, and productivity increased.

Originality/value – This paper demonstrates that the model of turnover derived from shop floor salespeople is generally robust in the call centre setting. It provides management of call centres with some guidance as to the factors associated with turnover and areas that can be addressed to reduce it.

Implemetation of electronic commerce and human resource strategies in an Australian retail banking context

As organisations deploy eCommerce and internet technologies for competitive advantage and to satisfy increasingly demanding customers, they will need to develop human resource (HR) strategies that prepare their employees to work with these technologies effectively. Little systematic investigation has been undertaken to discover how companies manage their HR functions to achieve these outcomes. In the retail banking sector these issues have become very important with increased competition, industry changes and heightened competition. This paper examines HR management strategy in one Australian bank as it moves towards online service provision and adopts other eCommerce applications. The paper draws on theoretical insights from Porter’s (2001) views of competitive advantage from the internet and writers discussing the informational society (Castells, 2001) and post-fordist organisations (Clegg, 1990). An analysis of interview data from this case study shows the issues that one bank is dealing with as it seeks competitive advantage from its customer service offerings while it revises its HR strategies.

A retail supply chain risk assessment conceptual model

Supply chains are increasingly relying on information and communications technologies and in particular electronic commerce to facilitate transactions between supply chain partners. The adoption of these enabling technologies brings several enhancements to the conduct of business including gains in efficiency. However there are also drawbacks inherent in these technologies that include threats that are imposed on businesses that use them. This paper presents a study on retail supply chains and the risks and vulnerabilities that cooperating supply chain partners are exposed to when adopting these technologies. In particular, the paper discusses the various threats and vulnerabilities of retail supply and presents a conceptual model of such risks.

Linking eCommerce and human resource strategies: a case study in a large Australian retail bank

The implementation of eCommerce technologies has considerably changed how employees in the banking industry interact with customers. For example, some customers use electronic banking applications to such an extent that they find little or no need to go into a branch. This change has had a significant impact on the way that jobs are designed and the way that employees are being managed. The preliminary findings from the case study of a large bank in Australia indicate that moving customers out of the branch to an online environment has created unforeseen issues for the way employees interact with customers and this in turn has changed the way that they do their jobs. The key challenge for banks in the future is how to form effective relationships with customers without some kind of face-to-face interaction. This impacts how organisations recruit and retain their staff as well as the level and type of skills required for jobs redesigned after the implementation of eCommerce applications. It is also an important factor in employee satisfaction.

Loyalty program attributes and their influence on retail customer satisfaction

This paper empirically examines the extent to which loyalty program attributes explain variations in satisfaction with the retail offer. Two dimensions of loyalty program attributes are introduced including hard attributes and soft attributes. Store satisfaction is examined in terms of the elements of the retail offer. The results suggest that emphasis on hard and soft attributes enhance customer satisfaction with a retailers’ merchandise, trading format, customer service and customer communication. Additionally, hard attributes have a more significant influence than soft attributes on satisfaction with all elements of the retail offer excluding merchandise.

Supporting disconnected operations in mobile computing

Mobile computing has enabled users to seamlessly access databases even when they are on the move. However, in the absence of readily available high-quality communication, users are often forced to operate disconnected from the network. As a result, software applications have to be redesigned to take advantage of this environment while accommodating the new challenges posed by mobility. In particular, there is a need for replication and synchronization services in order to guarantee availability of data and functionality, (including updates) in disconnected mode. To this end we propose a scalable and highly available data replication and management service. The proposed replication technique is compared with a baseline replication technique and shown to exhibit high availability, fault tolerance and minimal access times of the data and services, which are very important in an environment with low-quality communication links.

The role of brand orientation in explaining retail offer advantage

We provide a conceptualisation and operationalisation of brand orientation within the context of retailing. We then empirically test this operationalisation in terms of a retail offer advantage across the dimensions of merchandise, trading format, customer service and customer communication. Our results suggest that the degree to which a retailer values brands and its practices are oriented towards building brand capabilities provides a valuable theoretical framework to explain variations in retailers' advantage over their competitors.