In the context of a market characterized by the enduring legacy of socialism through governmental ownership of retail businesses, the continued presence of domestic retailers, and increasing levels of competition, this article examines the organizational challenges faced by, and the strategic responses adopted by, a group of leading food and general merchandise retail transnational corporations (TNCs) in developing networks of stores in the post-WTO-entry Chinese market. On the basis of extensive interview-based fieldwork conducted in China from 2006 to 2008, the article details the attempts of these retail TNCs to embed their operations in Chinese logistics and supply networks, real estate markets, and consumer cultures—three dimensions that are fundamental to the achievement of market competitiveness by the retail TNCs. The article illustrates how this process of territorial embeddedness presents major challenges for the retail TNCs and how their strategic responses vary substantially, indicating different routes to the achievement of organizational legitimacy in China. The article concludes by offering an analysis of the various strategic responses of the retail TNCs and by suggesting some future research propositions on the globalization of the retail industry.
The globalization of the retail industry is rapidly becoming a defining characteristic of the world economy. In the past decade, the heightened competition and increased regulatory restrictions of Western retail markets, together with the opportunity for growth offered by the emerging markets of East Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and, more recently, Russia and India, have motivated an elite group of food and general merchandise retail transnational corporations (TNCs)—primarily Carrefour (France), Wal-Mart (United States), Metro (Germany), and Tesco (United Kingdom)—to expand and diversify their business operations across a variety of markets1 (Wrigley 2000b; Coe 2004; Coe and Hess 2005; Wrigley, Coe, and Currah 2005; Coe and Wrigley 2007). While the internationalization of the retail industry is not a new phenomenon, the speed and breadth of the coverage of foreign markets in the past decade has been unprecedented and has prompted increasing attention from both academic researchers and policymakers. The geographic and economic dimensions of the retail industry are being reconfigured in radical ways, affecting the economies of cities, regions, and nations; the competitiveness and strategic choices of both distribution and manufacturing companies; and the welfare of consumers.
China represents one of the most attractive market destinations for the retail TNCs (AT Kearney 2007). Since the start of economic reforms in 1979, the countrys gross domestic product (GDP) has experienced an average annual growth rate of 9.4 percent (National Bureau of Statistics of China 2007). The improved living standards have induced consumers to upgrade their consumption patterns, making China the worlds seventh-largest retail market in 2007 with retail sales of $860 billion (“Retailing in China” 2006). It comes as no surprise, then, that since the mid-1990s, several retail TNCs have focused their investment strategies on China. Nevertheless, navigating the complexities of the Chinese business system requires the retail TNCs to adopt appropriate organizational and operational strategies. Drawing on insights from recent conceptualizations of the retail TNCs that have stressed their necessarily high territorial embeddedness in host-economy cultures of consumption, planning and property systems, and logistical and supply-chain operations (Wrigley, Coe, and Currah 2005), this article investigates the organizational2 challenges to the retail TNCs that are posed by those business-system complexities and the strategic responses that the retail TNCs have adopted. Based on insights into the Chinese retail market and operations of the retail TNCs in that market obtained via in-depth qualitative interviews conducted in China from 2006 to 2008, the article suggests key elements of a wider future research agenda on the role and impacts of retail TNCs in the post-World Trade Organization (WTO)-entry Chinese retail market.
The article is structured as follows. The next section presents an overview of the rise of the retail TNCs and the changing geo-economy of the food retail industry. The third and fourth sections discuss the theoretical framework and research methodology of our study. The fifth and sixth sections offer an assessment of the key institutional changes that have reconfigured the economic and geographic dimensions of the Chinese food retail industry and the consequences of these changes. The seventh section analyzes the major organizational challenges that the retail TNCs have faced in attempting to embed themselves in the Chinese market and the strategic responses of the retail TNCs to these challenges. The article
is a guidebook to the sources and processes in which the TNCs are trying to do their work. Finally, the article covers developments in the Chinese food retail sector, trends, the Chinese food economy, trends and the consequences of TNC reforms. An overview of the main current trends, economic and policy developments and a summary of recent developments in these areas are provided in this article. Introduction The introduction to this overview of trends has been a source of tension between the public and political leaders of the United States as well as, in recent times, among the Chinese. An approach that began as an alternative to the Western consensus (Dakota) has become a reality. The current state of affairs in China has left a significant gap between a traditional (non-Chinese) middle class and all other income groups, especially in the urban areas, with many young people unable to make ends meet and still living in poverty. The problem has been exacerbated by poor public education. In the end, this has led to a major deterioration in the quality of education; some children, particularly those in middle-class families, lack academic, creative, creative skills. As a result a growing number of students are without formal training and do not have the resources to participate effectively in a highly competitive industry. Increasingly, the growth in urban centers is turning cities into places where children from poor families are constantly being squeezed or underpaid. Such a shift of middle class urbanization is becoming harder to manage because it involves having to maintain and even accelerate the growth on a regular basis. This trend threatens the stability of the Chinese economy and results in increased indebtedness. As China’s infrastructure, which accounts for more than 80 percent of its gross domestic product, has improved, the level of debt has declined considerably. When it comes to developing a responsible and efficient business model, developing a responsible and efficient business model requires a significant level of planning, leadership and leadership experience, and a degree of technical proficiency, such as a computer. This means that not only is China very good at developing and executing its own technology, but it also develops the most efficient and profitable business models at the cost of the least amount of work it has to do. When China is able to manage its own development, it is able to become a serious contender in the world of food manufacturing. To help achieve these goals, the National Agricultural Administration (NAA) is responsible for overseeing and developing the national food distribution systems and working with China’s private companies to deliver high-quality and sustainable products at a lower standard in the international setting. Although agriculture is still the largest source of global food imports, the NAA has seen a significant growth in the sector as a whole. The government’s mandate is to make food a top priority of public policy, to invest in sustainable food production solutions in regions along the country’s borders, and to develop sustainable food and nutritional technologies that can make China the world’s second-largest producer