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The paper seeks evaluate to the comparative progress of Asda in the UK since its surprise takeover by Wal‐Mart in 1999. Wal‐Mart expected to become the number 1 retailer in the UK and many commentators saw massive problems ahead for local retailers. These expectations were not met; this paper investigates why.

Asda's progress is considered through a brief discussion of the company's history to 1999, an investigation of the changes Wal‐Mart subsequently made to Asda's operations, the comparative impact of these changes and then a consideration of the restrictions on impact deriving from organisational, competitive and environmental factors.

Despite the strong rhetoric on entry, the commercial reality has seen only moderate success for Asda and a widening gap to the market leader, Tesco. Explanation for this includes competitive strategy and reactions, market restrictions particularly in land‐use planning and unwillingness by Asda (Wal‐Mart) to alter their focused store format strategy in line with competitor actions and market directions.

The analysis is at a macro corporate and national level, drawing mainly on published data. Research implications include the rebalancing of considerations of organisational competence and market environment factors on international success. A focus on political and non‐market activities is suggested, though an unwillingness of companies to reconsider strategic directions is also indicted as a key factor.

Implications for national and international strategic decision making at the corporate and governmental levels are identified. Businesses can use the findings to re‐consider their positioning and actions. Reflections on hyperbolic reactions to takeovers might also be provoked.

No other paper has considered the market level changes in connection with Asda since its take‐over by Wal‐Mart and sought explanations for the relative (lack of) performance. The conclusion, that Asda has not been as successful as reported in the literature and the media, is original.

The objectives of this paper are two‐fold. First, it seeks to rectify an imbalance within the employment literature by focusing upon the important but neglected retail sector. Secondly, it attempts to conceptualise such employment relations within a broader theoretical framework.

British retailers have been at the forefront of logistical changes. By taking control of distribution channels they have transformed their operations. Much of the process by which this has been achieved is well covered in the literature. This paper looks at the macro issues involved and the under‐pinning concepts in logistical transformation in retailing, and attempts to synthesize and provide an overview of the literature. The paper concludes by raising a series of questions about the future.

Britain is currently undergoing a severe economic recession which has increased the number of registered unemployed to over 3 million. Employment has fallen dramatically, with certain manufacturing industries recording employment declines of over 40 per cent since 1978. This article examines recent trends in retail employment and is based on a more detailed paper on retail employment and the recession presented to the Annual Conference of the Institute of British Geographers in January.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the logistical transformation of British retailing over the last three decades and to discuss likely challenges that face logistics managers in the future.

Reviews the key works on retail logistics, including the research undertaken by the authors over the last 20 years.

Illustrates how retailers have control of the supply chain in the UK, drawing upon examples from both the grocery and fashion sectors. Challenges for the future include macro‐environment issues such as climate change and recession in addition to improvements in existing in operations with regard to e‐fulfilment and implementation of technologies such as RFID.

This paper provides one of the few contributions to appraise the research undertaken on retail logistics in the UK over the last 20‐30 years.

Customer loyalty as a concept is inherently attractive to retail businesses. In many companies however, customer loyalty is operationalised through the activities of an often part‐time and transient workforce. The case illustration presented here, and in particular the analysis of employee responses on issues of loyalty scheme construction and operation, raises two main issues. For any retailer operating a loyalty scheme, these findings raise considerable management implications.

Reports on an investigation of the buying behaviour of air freight forwarders and tests the validity of one particular model of buying behaviour. The dominant buyclass in freight forwarding is seen to be a modified rebuy and the model is seen to be appropriate. The significance of service rather than price is again noted as a factor for business exploitation.

Investigates employment in the distributive trades — considering it is the second largest order in the UK Standard Industrial Classification of 1968. Says that June 1980 employment totalled 2.7 million workers, but that the retail trades — largest sub‐division of the distributive trades ‐ employed 1.87 million people in the UK. Recognizes that since the mid‐1950s there has been a rapid increase in the female labour force and also in part‐time working. Analyses both trends, focusing on impact and importance in UK retailing, examining the importance of female part‐time labour in the spread of superstore retailing. Discusses recent trends in the UK labour force using much information from results over time, and the role of part‐time labour in retailing — looking also at UK superstore development. Finally, looks at survey results presenting these in tabular format. Examines the impact of ‘new technology’ in the UK and how it will affect workers. Concludes by stating this aspect of retail development is long overdue a reasoned appraisal.

In this article the authors present the results of recent research into the much neglected, but increasingly important, area of marketing information systems in banking. Interviews were conducted with most of the major UK banks, the results of which, combined with literature review, give insight into the penetration of marketing information systems in retail banking, and suggest ways forward for banks in their implementation of marketing information systems.