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Incumbent retail organisations need to develop new capabilities to adapt with the increasingly competitive retail landscape. Despite the growing relevance of innovation in retail practice, the strategic management of innovation in retailing is still vastly under-researched. This explorative study thus aims to investigate how incumbent retail firms can organise for innovation from an organisational ambidexterity perspective.

A single-case study of an established Swedish retail firm was conducted from December 2016 to July 2018 and followed up in June 2021. The authors followed the process of implementation of organisational changes aimed to increase innovation in the company, particularly the introduction of a digital marketing initiative and a corporate innovation hub. Data collection was based on nine semi-structured interviews and participant observations and unstructured interviews from 13 meetings and workshops. An abductive approach to data analysis was followed, iteratively comparing theoretical concepts and empirical data using open, axial and selective coding to distil findings into aggregated themes.

Given the inherently limited formalisation of innovation processes in most retail organisations, structural ambidexterity appears to be necessary when the aim is radical, strategic retail innovation. Structural mechanisms are able to safeguard the space and resources to focus on long-term research and projects with higher risk and uncertainty; however, integration of innovation activities to the mainstream organisation is critical. Pursuing contextual ambidexterity, wherein instead of structural solutions, employees are empowered to divide employees' time between innovation-related and efficiency-related tasks, is more likely related to retail innovations that are incremental and operational.

The paper contributes to the emerging topic of strategic management of innovation in retailing, by explicating how incumbent retailers can organise for innovation depending on the type of innovation that is aimed for, using organisational ambidexterity as a novel perspective.

Augmented reality (AR) technology currently plays a central role in the retail sector, rapidly changing consumers’ behaviours and retailers’ strategies. The purpose of this paper is to identify the behavioural changes that have occurred due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the retail sector, and how AR technology can be used as a valid and useful response to these new consumer habits.

Exploratory research was conducted to determine how AR has helped people shop differently than they did before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic by evaluating two retail-sector AR applications (apps). In-depth interviews were conducted and assessed using thematic analysis.

This paper identifies a new paradigm involving COVID-19 and AR by identifying several factors that are related to the rapid spread of COVID-19 and have modified consumers’ shopping habits. Additionally, it shows how interactive technologies, such as AR, are useful tools that can be employed to overcome retailing crises driven by external environmental factors, such as COVID-19, and enhance shopping experiences.

This research reveals the role of AR technologies in transformed economic and social contexts. By investigating the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated consequences, i.e. isolation, quarantines and lockdowns; the fear of contracting the virus and the new needs of people to shop while social distancing, this study enriches AR research with a fourth characteristic, augmented social distance.

The major objective of the study is to investigate the effect of selected customer retention strategies (fair pricing, online marketing and frequent communication) on perceived service quality and organisational performance within the retail sector in Zimbabwe. Also, the study sought to understand the moderating role of ICT on the effect of customer retention strategies on perceived service quality and organisational performance.

A cross-sectional survey of 280 employees within Zimbabwe's retail sector was adopted and respondents were selected using simple random sampling method. A structured questionnaire with Likert type questions was used to gather data.

The study findings indicate that the performance of organisations within the retail sector is influenced by superior service quality, selected customer retention strategies and also moderated by the use of ICT.

The study contributes to the business management body of knowledge by assessing the effect of selected customer retention strategies (fair pricing, online marketing and frequent communication) on perceived service quality and organisational performance within the retail industry of an emerging economy. The study is also unique in that it used ICT to moderate the effect of selected customer retention strategies on perceived service quality and organisational performance.

This paper aims to investigate place marketing and branding at the micro-place scale through the case study of St Christopher’s Place in London (UK). This study illustrates the distinctive differences of micro-place marketing, in comparison to city and country levels.

An exploratory case study was conducted through a sequential mixed methods approach involving direct observation, semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and social media analysis. Analysis of data was performed by using thematic analysis and triangulation of quantitative measures collected through the questionnaire and social media analysis.

Analysis of data illustrated noticeable differences of place management at the micro-place level compared to city or country scale of place marketing and branding. The function of emotional marketing leading to value co-creation is more effective at this level, establishing close and personal ties between occupiers and customers. Yet, measurement of micro-place marketing and branding value creation is difficult to achieve.

This study draws attention to the unique value and benefits of place branding at smaller spatial scales. Findings contribute to the place micro-brand concept by adding knowledge of micro-places through place management activities comparing them with city and country scales, and emotional marketing value co-creation practices, including challenges relating to measurement.

The purpose of this paper is to present a strategic management framework for a successful digital transformation (DT) roll-out aimed at enabling organisational resilience. The study aims to identify the critical areas of consideration for management to strategically approach DT in order to build resilience.

The research study is based on the 3Ps framework: (1) people (culture, capabilities, engagement and well-being), (2) processes (systems) and (3) plant (technological infrastructure and tools). The research methodology is a qualitative study comprising semi-structured in-depth interviews, conducted with industry experts in different sectors undergoing major digital disruptions such as financial services, mining, oil and gas, energy and retail.

The research findings show that the successful roll-out of an organisation’s DT is largely driven by the people elements incorporating organisational culture, workforce skills and training and employee well-being. It also highlights that it is critical for organisations to invest in technological infrastructure, once the people elements have been addressed, as they are the drivers of technology implementation.

A bigger and broader sample size can validate the elements and structure of the DT framework in South Africa.

The study’s discussion unlocks understanding about: (1) what are the key enablers for successful DT; (2) what hinders organisations from realising the value of digital investments and (3) a strategic framework for the digital roll-out.

Technology is impacting employees at both a personal and professional levels. Ensuring that DT rollouts are strategical implemented lowers the impact on technostress and strengthens resilience.

The value and practical implication of this study is that the developed strategic framework can be used by managements to enable the smooth adoption of DT toward building organisational resilience in developing countries such as South Africa with low digital maturity.

This article explores the emergence of organizational digital transformation in the rapidly advancing technological era. It discusses the origins, driving forces, strategies, challenges and broader implications.

The article employs a scoping review methodology that synthesizes knowledge from the existing literature, research, case studies and other relevant sources.

The findings underscore the pivotal role that organizational digital transformation plays in an era of relentless technological advancement. Leadership, organizational culture and technological enablers are identified as crucial drivers of innovation and competitiveness within organizations. The article also emphasizes ethics as a crucial element of digital transformation, focusing in particular on concerns about data privacy and the morality of artificial intelligence. Additionally, the author talks about anticipated future trends that are anticipated to influence the future of digital transformation, such as the growing influence of artificial intelligence, the trend toward hyper-personalization and the emergence of quantum computing.

The assessment has failed to provide recommendations for the actual implementation because it has mainly concentrated on conceptual and strategic aspects. Furthermore, it does not clearly define the criteria for choosing real-world examples, which limits the representation of the different industries, size ranges of organizations and outcomes associated with digital transformation.

The article stresses the significance of paying attention to the forces driving digital transformation while navigating ethical and societal concerns. In addition to highlighting the importance of anticipating future trends for strategic planning in the rapidly changing digital landscape, it emphasizes the advantages as incentives for organizations to invest in digital initiatives.

The investigation demonstrates how technology contributes to progress while posing complex ethical and change management issues. In light of increased connectivity, data analytics and artificial intelligence, it highlights the crucial need for societal adaptability and highlights the crucial role that cooperative human–machine coexistence plays in responsible development and transformative societal evolution.

The article stands out because it examines organizational digital transformation in-depth while considering its historical roots, ethical implications and future prospects. It is a priceless contribution to the field because real-world case studies and a scoping review provide a distinctive viewpoint and a comprehensive view of the effects of digital transformation on organizations and society.

Regarding the retail internal supply chain (SC), both retailers and research are currently focused on reactive food waste reduction options in stores (e.g. discounting or donations). These options reduce waste after a surplus has emerged but do not prevent an emerging surplus in the first place. This paper aims to reveal how retailers can proactively prevent waste along the SC and why the options identified are impactful but, at the same time, often complex to implement.

The authors follow an exploratory approach for a nascent topic to obtain insights into measures taken in practice. Interviews with experts from retail build the main data source.

The authors identify and analyze 21 inbound, warehousing, distribution and store-related options applied in grocery retail. Despite the expected high overall impact on waste, prevention measures in inbound logistics and distribution and warehousing have not been intensively applied to date.

The authors provide a structured approach to mitigate waste within retailers' operations and categorize the types of barriers that need to be addressed.

This research provides a better understanding of prevention options in retail operations, which has not yet been empirically explored. Furthermore, this study conceptualizes prevention and reduction options and reveals implementation patterns.

This paper aims to study the extent of use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the modern organization; to comprehend the changing nature of future jobs in the context of application of AI; and to study the impact of AI on the economy of the country with special reference to the job market. Given the critical scenario of labor intensive Indian economy, the paper intends to show how AI shall affect rather coexist with human intelligence or labor.

The research on implementation of AI in different industries and its effect on job market are at a nascent stage. There is a dearth of literature. Hence, this study followed a qualitative approach to have a better understanding of the research questions as Bhattacherjee (2012) confirms that employing an interpretive paradigm (qualitative analysis as the analysis of data, e.g. data from interview transcripts) is the more productive way to study social order and that it is achieved through “subjective interpretation of participants involved, such as by interviewing different participants and reconciling differences among their responses using their own subjective perspectives”. Sample selection: The selection technique utilized is purposive sampling. The respondents in this research are the general managers and HRs from different companies. A total of 14 senior professionals from various sectors were approached for the interview out of which seven people gave their consent to take interview. Seven senior HR professionals, mainly general managers and HRs from various sectors viz. oil and gas sector, manufacturing, healthcare, construction, media, power and energy and retail were interviewed to understand how they are using AI in their respective fields. Inclusion Criteria: (1) Generally, the people covered under the research are from the decision-making level of their companies so they are in a position to give strategic perspective as well as day to day implication of implementation of AI. (2) Respondents have adequate knowledge of the respective industry to which they belong. (3) Respondents have reasonable industry of dealing with Human Resource Management and national economy as a whole assessment tool and its administration procedures. A narrative approach was adopted to have a better understanding of the research questions and comprehend their views regarding implementation of AI in their respective companies. A semi structured open ended interview was administered to steer the discussion around the research questions. The respondents were interviewed over the phone and each respondent shared their stories. Analysis of data: The narrations were then transcribed by online transcriber website otter.ai.com. The common keywords as prescribed by the website are as: AI, strategy, learning and implementation. The extracts of the discussions are noted in the next segment of the paper. As and when required this research also used secondary data from the journals, literature available in the websites to understand the implementation of AI globally.

A country where the government itself admits 90% of its workforce belongs to informal sector and conspicuously exits a multi-faceted stark digital divide (Huberman, 2001; DiMaggio et al., 2001; Guillen, 2006; Servon, 2002) wherein gap of digital divide is significant between the rural and urban India (Dasgupta et al., 2002; Nath, 2001; Singh, 2007; Mahajan, 2003; Dutta, 2003) talking of educating, applying and implementing AI seems to be “ a distant dream” but an “ambiguous ambition ”

Prior to implementation of AI that India has to ensure, the basic hygiene factors of informal sector labor force like social security, 2008, low wages and lack of legal protection, unpaid overtime and occupational health problems, poor bargaining power, working without leave under coercion, child care issues and health ailments(for which mere legislation or statutarization is just a formality executed than taking real action) to take the majority of Indian workforce to attain the motivational factor to acquire the knowledge and skill of AI and to implement it.

The AI and its adoption are still at their embryonic stage in Indian companies. With the adoption of such sophisticated technology, in one side, the organizations are dreaming of efficiency, higher productivity and better organizational performance whereas on the other side requirement of changing skill sets and decreasing manpower, creating fear among the mass, which results in hard resistance against the implementation process of AI. On the other hand, lack of expertise and high cost of adoption is also hindering AI to implement in the organizations. The adoption and implementation stage of AI vary from organization to organizations, as well as functions to functions. While the marketing departments of several organizations are using advanced level of AI, there, the HR departments are using AI at the very initial stage. But it is evident from the above discussions that adoption of AI in business functions is inevitable and only it is a matter of time. With the COVID-19 pandemic this has become the utmost necessity for many organizations, particularly who works across the globe. HR partners of the businesses are also adopting AI at a fast pace to do away with the mundane works and deliver efficient services to the stakeholders. It is understood from the discourse that the prerequisite for a successful implementation of AI across the industries throughout the country, needs a concerted effort from industries, academia and government.

The answer lies in Keynesian economics. The central tenet of which is government intervention rather investment to stabilize and progress the economy by way of spreading Internet connectivity, basic literacy and computer literacy, then only truly AI can be effective in a greater scale.

A study on application of artificial intelligence in the pandemic era from a wider perspective, this work is an empirical investigation into the benefits and limitations of artificial intelligence for human potential and labour -intensive pandemic ridden Indian economy.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of several intrinsic motivations driving consumers' intention to buy using a mobile app, namely: shopping gamification, focussed attention, shopping enjoyment and socialness, through the mediating role of shopping engagement. The online shopping experience is investigated in its dual role as direct driver of the intention to buy using a mobile app and as moderator of the shopping engagement – intention to buy using a mobile app path.

The empirical analysis was performed in China due to the extensive usage of mobile shopping apps amongst the Chinese population. A structural equation model was estimated on 893 valid and complete structured questionnaires collected amongst a sample of Chinese consumers.

Findings confirm that intrinsic motivations (i.e. shopping gamification, focussed attention, shopping enjoyment and socialness) indirectly influence the intention to buy using a mobile app channelled by shopping engagement. Most remarkably, results show that the online shopping experience positively moderates the shopping engagement – intention to buy using a mobile app path.

The novelty of the paper lies in the conceptual and empirical evidence provided on shopping gamification, within the retailing marketing domain. The study investigates other related intrinsic motivations that jointly with shopping gamification directly influence shopping engagement and indirectly impact mobile shopping intention. The paper provides insights into the moderating role of online shopping experience, a key aspect when the challenge concerning gamification is considered.