Retail Format Innovation amongst Clothing Specialty Retail Multiples and their Product Sourcing Network

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24730365
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Commerce
• Research Institution: Aoyama Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: AZUMA Nobukazu 青山学院大学, 経営学部, 准教授 (70368554)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 流通 / 小売 / 専門店 / チェーンストア / 商品調達 / 衣料品 / SPA / 業態

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The past couple of decades of Japanese retailing have observed a rapid growth of virtually integrated clothing specialist retail multiples. It has been marked as one of the phenomenon that have had substantial impacts upon the advance in Japanese retailing. Having such a trend as the background of the research, this study aimed at identifying the key environmental factors that may have played a considerable role in the formation and the sizeable growth thereafter of this particular retail type from a historical perspective, integrating four important schools of research approaches in this topic area. Upon the basis of this, it shed light on the increasing inter-type competition amongst the specialty store multiples. Market positions amongst these players have changed dramatically in Japanese retailing since the 1990s. It was revealed that one of the driving forces of the competitive advantage in this process is the effectiveness of retailers' inter-organisational sourcing networks.

Free Research Field

商学