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Examines the influence of several size‐related factors on retail management′s choice of the organization′s functional division structure and multiunit operating system based on data collected from a sample of retail department store personnel managers in the United States. Suggests that the retail organization′s size and the number of functional divisions employed are directly related. After nearly two‐thirds of a century, department stores continue to use the basic functional‐division organization developed by Paul Mazur which has been modified into a model that includes: merchandising, publicity and promotion, store operations, finance and control, and personnel. The study further reveals a link between the organization′s size and retail management′s choice of a multiunit operating system. Implications are provided to assist management in evaluating the appropriateness of the firm′s functional division structure and operating system in response to several key factors.

Research in strategic human resource management (HRM) has focused mainly on the effects of HRM practices or systems on organizational effectiveness. However, institutional theory argues that besides being financially successful, organizations also need legitimacy to survive. Owing to the tension between competitive and institutional pressures, organizations balance between the degree of conformity and the degree of differentiation from competitors regarding HRM. The purpose of this paper is to address how institutional pressures help shape HRM.

Using the concepts of leeway, human agency and strategic choice, differences in three types of institutional fit are highlighted: innovative, conformist and deviant. A comparative case study approach is used in order to illustrate the framework, using document analysis and 43 interviews in three organizations in The Netherlands.

This paper shows how balancing competitive and institutional pressures in organizations affects HRM. The cases illustrate the proposed theoretical framework, showing leeway, human agency, strategic choice and the nature of institutional fit. The organizations each illustrate a type of institutional fit. Moreover, not the institutional context itself, but the organization's response seems to make a difference for the nature of institutional fit.

While previous studies focus on the effects of HRM on organizational effectiveness, this paper examines how the balance between competitive and institutional pressures affects HRM and aims to show that institutional fit can contribute to strategic HRM by providing insight in this more balanced goal setting of organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors influencing retail managerial turnover.

The Organizational Model of Employee Persistence provided the theoretical framework for this longitudinal study. Responses to the Organizational Survey of Managerial Integration were obtained from 528 managers in three randomly‐selected retail organizations.

By identifying and facilitating organizational behaviors that lead to a more integrative work climate, retail organizations might reduce costs associated with turnover. Managers' perceptions of integration (connectedness or engagement with the organization) based on their organizational experiences and relationships significantly explained turnover.

The 54 specific items that comprise the construct, integration, can be used as baseline data. Other implications for research include further critique of the model and testing both within the USA and internationally; re‐examination of the factor structure of the instrument; adaptation to non‐managerial populations and to non‐retail settings; and structural equations modeling to determine directionality of the variables.

Organizations might pay closer attention to the career development needs of their managers through formal and informal opportunities for career development. In addition, organizations might address issues associated with worklife balance.

This study introduces a new model of employee turnover and the concept of integration to the turnover literature. The findings underscore the importance of management development in creating and sustaining an organizational climate conducive to retaining managerial employees.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship that exists, if any, between employee appearance and organizational identification in the context of apparel retail stores.

Salespeople from a variety of apparel retail stores were interviewed using a semi‐structured technique.

Salespeople's level of identification was related to the congruency they perceived to exist between their identity and store's identity. Those who identified with their employment organization felt uncomfortable when the apparel items they wore to work were inconsistent with the store's identity. Additionally, those who identified with their employment organization did not feel uncomfortable wearing apparel items from that store to engage in activities outside of work.

The study contributes to the body of literature on employee‐organization identification by providing evidence of a relationship between appearance and identification. Future research is needed to examine the relationship with a random sample of employees from additional employment contexts.

Participants indicated that their level of identification was positively related to their level of job satisfaction, which in turn was negatively related to their intention to leave. Apparel retail store managers may be able to use appearance‐related factors to select employment candidates who will most likely experience identification with the apparel retail store. Furthermore, potential apparel retail salespeople should be encouraged to consider image congruency when applying for employment.

In this study, a first effort was made to investigate the previously hypothesized relationship between employee appearance and employee‐organization identification.

The need for retailers to internationalize is a growing reality in developed markets. Research examining problems in this process argues that the barriers to internationalization should be studied based on the situation in each country, and that public organizations which implement policies to support internationalization do not always adapt to company needs. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the limited existing research on the subject of Spanish retail internationalization, analysing the problems faced by SMEs and the role of public support organizations in helping them.

By means of in-depth interviews with experts, the authors first, analysed the barriers faced by Spanish retailers in their internationalization processes, and found a predominance of endogenous as opposed to exogenous barriers. Second, the authors studied the appropriateness of support policies for retail needs and identified a significant mismatch.

Results show that the current international economic climate and restricted access to financing, combined with the small size of retailers, their lack of experience in internationalization processes, and the potential that still remains in the local market, are an inducement not to venture into other markets. Additionally, there is a lack of awareness on the part of public organizations about the reality and needs of the retail sector. In addition, the study of retail internationalization as a discipline seems to be in constant flux.

It would be pertinent to consider the findings in the light of a number of limitations of the study. The sample did not consist of retailers but its representatives. The reliance upon a single nation sample could also be viewed as a limitation.

The authors provide Spanish retailers with ideas about the problems they are facing which they will find useful as a starting point for strategic thinking about their internationalization prospects.

As for Spanish promotion organizations, they should consider the results of this research and further study the needs of retailers in their internationalization processes while also identifying which companies have the greatest potential for operating in foreign markets.

It is the first time a research for Spain is conducted that highlights the needs of developing a plan to support the internationalization of the retail sector and provide specific lines of action.

Describes a framework which can be used by retail organizations in planning the introduction of a process of continuous quality improvement. The framework consists of four sections – organizing, systems and techniques, measurement and feedback, and changing the culture. Outlines the key features of these sections. Also outlines a five‐stage process by which the framework can be used by the executive management of any retail organization.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

The paper sets out to explain how vertically integrated organisational marketing systems can integrate the marketing decision‐making process of suppliers, manufacturers, and marketing channel members and also to make clear why it is necessary for marketers to use marketing intelligence and why they need to pay attention to security issues.

The work is based on a literature review and is an extension of earlier work relating to the cultural similarities and differences of Japanese and Korean people. A number of marketing frameworks are made explicit and this represents a critical appreciation and extension of the body of knowledge.

Vertically integrated organisational marketing systems facilitate the relationship marketing approach and ensure that a customer service policy is implemented. Practising managers can adopt a customer service approach that embraces the concept of organisational learning. By viewing mutuality as the main objective, business relationships can be developed that are based on trust and are sustainable. Should a number of marketing skill gaps be identified, action can be taken to rectify the situation.

Future research should establish how organisational learning can transform an organisation's marketing culture; how the internet can enhance network arrangements; and how marketers can devise a customer service policy and produce marketing contingency plans.

Marketers can establish how a customer relationship management‐monitoring system ensures that the marketing decision‐making process in partner organisations promotes the use of joint project teams and facilitating technology.

Marketers can devise a marketing governance mechanism that embraces the concepts of customer service and organisational learning.

Examines the role of public relations within the UK retail sector and seeks to determine whether retailers use public relations strategically ‐ as a means of managing their relationships with key stakeholder publics ‐ or simply as a tactical publicity function. Identifies, in an exploratory study conducted in four major UK retail organizations indicative of the different types of retail institutions within the UK, the main characteristics of the public relations functions and compares these with those associated with each of the four models of public relations identified by Grunig and Hunt (1984). Looks at the relationship between the marketing and public relations functions, analysing whether public relations operates as an independent function free of control from marketing or whether it operates simply as a sub‐function of marketing. Considers to what extent public relations can be said to play a strategically important role within the UK retail sector. Highlights the considerable diversity in the way in which public relations is practised within the retail organizations studied, and suggests the need for more extensive research to identify the reasons for this diversity in the way the public relations function operates within the UK retail sector.

The long‐awaited NEDO report on the distributive trades in Europe is published this month. It sets out to draw the attention of British distributors to the opportunities resulting from UK membership of the European Economic Community. The booklet examines opportunities for direct expansion by British distributors into other member countries, and also outlines ways in which British distributors could form links with similar organisations in other countries to exchange information or to ensure effective representation of their joint interest within the EEC Commission. The report was initiated by the EDC for the Distributive Trades, who set up a Common Market Working Group to prepare it. Members of this Working Group are listed in the panel opposite; the Chairman was Dr. James Jefferys of the International Association of Department Stores. The bulk of the report consists of a detailed examination of the distributive trade structure in each of the nine member countries of the EEC; this adheres to a regular pattern of a brief description of the retail scene, statistics on manpower and sales, comparative share of sales by form of organisation, and lists of leading retail companies. This section is preceded by an overview of the retail trades and the wholesale trades in Europe, and a description of existing methods of collaboration in European distribution. The third part of the report consists of two case‐studies — a UK company which diversified into Europe, and a French company which expanded into Italy. Finally there are ‘Check lists for Action’ — a list of points for consideration by companies contemplating entry into the EEC; and a suggested method of assessment of how changes in prices of supplies may affect distributors' purchasing policy. In the following pages we confine ourselves to a summary of the first — and most significant — part of the report: present situation and future prospects, an examination of the comparative retail and wholesale structures in the EEC countries, and the opportunities for the UK distributor which are presented. The central section of the report — on ‘Country Studies’ — contains a mass of essential data and statistics, much of it not previously available, which does not easily lend itself to condensation.