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Decision-makers must be well-informed to successfully impact the future of the business. The purpose of this study was to explore experiences of US fashion retail executives when making business decisions to understand what resources and strategies are utilized within the decision-making process. Additionally, the role of academic research within executive decision-making process was explored.

This study utilized a phenomenological approach to understand the experiences of fashion retail executives when engaging in business decision-making. Fifteen US fashion retail executives participated in the study. Data were collected through in-depth individual interviews and thematically coded to gain a holistic perspective of the decision-making process within the fashion retail industry.

As the result of the data analysis and interpretation, three topical areas emerged:: “Incredible Amounts of Information,” “Industry Specific Academic Research” and “Have a Clear Road Map.” The findings suggested that while the facts gleaned from internal and external data are of great importance to fashion professionals, insights gathered from social media are equally influential within the decision-making process. The authors identified five major strategies utilized consistently by fashion retail executives regardless of the type of business they represented: collaboration, adaptability, speed, gut instinct and creativity.

The results are important to fashion retail companies for improving internal decision-making processes. The identified resources and strategies of the decision-making process can be incorporated into fashion program curricula and considered as learning outcomes when preparing future industry professionals.

Limited studies have explored the decision-making process specific to the fashion retail environment, an uncertain and ever-changing industry. Further, the study shed light on the opportunity for academic research use in fashion retail decision-making and contributes to the literature by developing a fashion retail decision-making model.

US retail executives' perspectives of the future of apparel retailing were explored in this study. Data were collected through personal interviews conducted at the 1996 National Retail Federation (NRF) Convention in New York City. Current and future changes in demographic, consumer behavioural and technological trends impacting apparel retailing were studied; current challenges in the apparel retailing field were discussed and future business strategies were recommended. Respondents' predictions include the emergence of a new competitive culture focused on the development of unique products and business strategies beyond price‐based retail competition. Retail executives recommend the development of niche markets and strong product development programmes. Based on study results, implications for retail practitioners and researchers are discussed with relevant hypotheses inductively generated from study findings. The research was funded, in part, by the Graduate Student Research Fund, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, Iowa State University.

Banks in Pacific‐rim countries have widely and aggressively used retail banking and branch networking to provide services. However, it is widely believed that Machiavellianism is counter to conservative banking practices. This paper reports the research findings of the Machiavellian orientation of retail banking executives in Hong Kong and the relationship between Machiavellianism and job satisfaction in the banking sector. The results indicate that a relation between Machiavellianism and job satisfaction, but not career satisfaction, exists in retail banking executives.

Reports on the ethical beliefs of retail salespeople, managers and executives in South Africa. Little is known about the ethical perceptions of retailers despite the fact that retailing plays a vital role in the economy. A review of the ethics literature regarding retailing and sales is presented. A survey of 579 retailing employees was undertaken. Findings indicate differences in the ethical beliefs of salespeople when compared to managers. The specific differences are discussed, as well as implications and recommendations for retailers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the usefulness of Hakim's preference theory in the understanding of the attitudes of women retail senior managers and directors towards their career and non‐work lives. It provides a critical analysis of the main tenets of preference theory and evaluates the extent to which women have “free choice” in their careers.

A qualitative methodology consisting of 13 in‐depth interviews with women at senior executive and director levels in retailing was adopted. The interviews examined women's career paths and uncovered the choices and constraints impacting on their career progress and other aspects of their lives.

The findings demonstrate the complexity of careers and choices. While several women talk about the choices they have made, it is apparent that these choices have been constrained by extraneous variables, both at an individual and organisational level.

The findings from the paper can enhance practitioners' understanding of some of the choices and constraints women make in their working lives, which in turn might lead to improved organisational policies for women to better accommodate work‐life balance issues.

The paper questions whether choice equates to preference and assesses the usefulness of Hakim's preference theory as a means of understanding the careers of women in contemporary organizations.

Using survey data (n = 205) obtained from retail managers and executives of national retail chain store companies, we identified three leadership styles that were based on Quinn’s theoretical model of competing leadership roles. Three leadership clusters, labeled loner/internal‐focused, team builder/goal‐oriented, and conceptual producer/external‐focused, were identified through the use of a clustering technique. These three clusters were then compared on the basis of personal, organizational and managerial characteristics, using multivariate and univariate analyses of variance. The findings indicate that leadership styles are influenced by various factors such as personal values, job characteristics, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, career progression, and personal demographic characteristics. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

In the stakeholder marketing literature, there have been calls by several researchers to expand the stakeholder domain to incorporate a broader array of stakeholders. In developing this argument in this paper the authors aim to explore a set of stakeholder relationships in an international retailing context, notably those which exist between retail firms and investment banks.

Theoretical ideas are subject to empirical scrutiny from 34 in‐depth interviews with investment banks and senior retail executives from two retail multinationals.

Exploratory findings suggest that US investment banks' ideals were at odds with European retail firms – and both occupied “different thought worlds”. It is concluded that the relationships between financial stakeholders and the retail firm cannot be explained simply by reference to stylised economic interactions, but must also be examined in the light of the cultural contexts and different forms of market system within which different firms emerge, operate and interact.

New strategies such as internationalisation stretch resources and capabilities to a point where retailers invariably will be exposed to different stakeholder issues and stresses. Towards this end, this paper contends that the significant international re‐orientation under way in retailing must be understood within the wider context of stakeholder theory. The paper argues that the full potential of applying stakeholder marketing theory to the internationalisation process of retailers has yet to be realised. From this exploratory research, five research propositions are put forward that might serve as a guide to future research in this area.

Increased market segmentation is likely to be an emerging trend in management education in Australia. To date management education has been “production oriented”, concentrating on functional areas such as accounting, marketing and human resource management. The formal, institutionalised management education industry has sought to turn out functional specialists (B. Com., B. Bus. (accounting)) or generalist managers (M.B.A., B. Bus. (management)) with an underlying assumption that these graduates will function effectively in any industry.

Examines met expectations of retail trainees within a job context framework that consists of five job characteristics. The job characteristics of autonomy, skill variety, task significance, task identity, and feedback from others have been linked to job outcomes such as job satisfaction. Results indicated that for each job characteristic, expectations were higher initially than actually experienced one year later. Three of the five characteristics (feedback, autonomy, and skill variety) were important in predicting job satisfaction. Demographic variables of gender and work experience yielded significant differences of met expectations for two job characteristics.

This study was designed to discover what is believed to be important for a student to be successful in the retailing field, graduating from a four‐year college program. The research design was Q‐methodology, utilizing 47 statements on a Lickert scale sorted by 23 representatives of both the academy and retailing industry. The study found a distinct gap in the perceptions of industry respondents versus the academics included in the study. While industry believes that strong affective skills, such as “leadership” and “decision making” were the most desirable characteristics for future executives, the academy favors more interpersonal affective competencies and overall ranked cognitive skills higher than the other group. Further, the study found academicians believed that their opinions would mirror those of the industry. However, this was clearly not supported.