Abstract
Retail trade is one of many links of the food supply chain to the consumer. Therefore, the efficiency of its operation is influenced by the earlier located links in the chain, first of all by agriculture, processing, logistics, and wholesale trade, as well as by consumers. The research problem in this paper, specified in the form of questions, is as follows: Has the 2020 pandemic reduced the performance of food retailing functions in less-developed regions of Poland? What is the assessment of the degree of their implementation? What directions should be taken at the micro and macro level to increase resilience to the negative effects of future crisis phenomena, in the implementation of the functions of this trade? The cognitive aim of the study was to examine the degree of performance of economic and social functions by the food retail trade in Poland, after one year of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (with the example of the Lubuskie region). For its implementation, four research hypotheses were formulated. The work was carried out in three stages, theoretical-interpretative, methodological, empirical, and consisted of three parts. In the experimental part, the method of CATI interviews with store owners/managers and the method of advanced statistics, classification, and visualization were used. The article brings new cognitive and normative value concerning food retailing in Poland. The results of the study enabled the realization of the aim of the paper and the verification of the hypotheses. The conclusions are presented in the summary of the individual parts of the empirical data analysis and in the conclusion of the paper. The paper contributes to the literature a new recognition of the degree of performance of the seven examined functions by food retail units, during the pandemic.
Highlights
Since the second half of the Twentieth Century, among the representatives of science, there has been a change in the orientation of economic thought from neoclassical, associated with neoliberal thinking about the processes of management, towards a new paradigm, on which the concept of sustainable development is based
What directions should be taken at the micro and macro level to increase resilience to the negative effects of future crisis phenomena, in the implementation of the functions of this trade? The cognitive aim of the study was to examine the degree of performance of economic and social functions of food retailing in Poland, during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic
Decisions were made: firstly, to identify these functions regarding food retail and analyze the degree to which they were being realized during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and, secondly, to examine the underlying factors of the aforementioned functions and the need to strengthen these factors, to maintain the efficiency of food retailing in future crisis situations
Summary
Since the second half of the Twentieth Century, among the representatives of science, there has been a change in the orientation of economic thought from neoclassical, associated with neoliberal thinking about the processes of management, towards a new paradigm, on which the concept of sustainable development is based. Taking into account the recommendations arising from these theories was supposed to lead to an increase in the degree of economic convergence between less developed and highly developed countries, such as in the EU, and to a reduction in the previously growing wealth and income polarization of the world population [9]. This beneficial de facto phenomenon has occurred in Europe, as evidenced by the reduction in the Gini coefficient, which was 35.6 points in 2005 and fell to 30.2 points in 2019 [10].
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