Major UK Retail Research Articles

Nutrition knowledge, and use and understanding of nutrition information on food labels among consumers in the UK

Based on in-store observations in three major UK retailers, in-store interviews (2019) and questionnaires filled out at home and returned (921), use of nutrition information on food labels and its understanding were investigated. Respondents’ nutrition knowledge was also measured, using a comprehensive instrument covering knowledge of expert recommendations, nutrient content in different food products, and calorie content in different food products. Across six product categories, 27% of shoppers were found to have looked at nutrition information on the label, with guideline daily amount (GDA) labels and the nutrition grid/table as the main sources consulted. Respondents’ understanding of major front-of-pack nutrition labels was measured using a variety of tasks dealing with conceptual understanding, substantial understanding and health inferences. Understanding was high, with up to 87.5% of respondents being able to identify the healthiest product in a set of three. Differences between level of understanding and level of usage are explained by different causal mechanisms. Regression analysis showed that usage is mainly related to interest in healthy eating, whereas understanding of nutrition information on food labels is mainly related to nutrition knowledge. Both are in turn affected by demographic variables, but in different ways.

Variable reduction, sample selection bias and bank retail credit scoring

This paper investigates the effect of including the customer loan approval process to the estimation of loan performance and explores the influence of sample selection bias in predicting the probability of default. The bootstrap variable reduction technique is applied to reduce the variable dimension for a large data-set drawn from a major UK retail bank. The results show a statistically significant correlation between the loan approval and performance processes. We further demonstrate an economically significant improvement in forecasting performance when taking into account sample selection bias. We conclude that financial institutions can obtain benefits by correcting for sample selection bias in their credit scoring models.

Competitive intelligence in practice: empirical evidence from the UK retail banking sector

This paper presents the findings of an empirical study of the major UK retail banks, the purpose of which was to investigate, not only how they operate their competitive intelligence gathering activities, but the degree to which they "buy-in" to the information sharing attitude. The findings were applied to a best practice model which provides a clear picture of the current status of CI in these establishments and the attitudes of senior managers toward such activity. Recommendations are made on the improvements which would be required for the sector to be considered effective and efficient operators of CI practice.

Impact of front-of-pack 'traffic-light' nutrition labelling on consumer food purchases in the UK

Front-of-pack 'traffic-light' nutrition labelling has been widely proposed as a tool to improve public health nutrition. This study examined changes to consumer food purchases after the introduction of traffic-light labels with the aim of assessing the impact of the labels on the 'healthiness' of foods purchased. The study examined sales data from a major UK retailer in 2007. We analysed products in two categories ('ready meals' and sandwiches), investigating the percentage change in sales 4 weeks before and after traffic-light labels were introduced, and taking into account seasonality, product promotions and product life-cycle. We investigated whether changes in sales were related to the healthiness of products. All products that were not new and not on promotion immediately before or after the introduction of traffic-light labels were selected for the analysis (n = 6 for ready meals and n = 12 for sandwiches). For the selected ready-meals, sales increased (by 2.4% of category sales) in the 4 weeks after the introduction of traffic-light labels, whereas sales of the selected sandwiches did not change significantly. Critically, there was no association between changes in product sales and the healthiness of the products. This short-term study based on a small number of ready meals and sandwiches found that the introduction of a system of four traffic-light labels had no discernable effect on the relative healthiness of consumer purchases. Further research on the influence of nutrition signposting will be needed before this labelling format can be considered a promising public health intervention.

“It's nice to get a wee treat if you've had a bad week”: Consumer motivations in retail loyalty scheme points redemption

Research into loyalty schemes focuses primarily on business (strategy) rather than consumer perspectives. This paper investigates consumer motivations in retail loyalty scheme points redemption, through a qualitative study of participants in a major UK retail loyalty scheme. Academic research tends to neglect investigation of points redemption, despite its probable significance to consumers and certain value to businesses. The research identifies planned behavior towards redemption goals, plus interruptions by various circumstances and events. Self-gifting for reward and/or therapy purposes is common. Redemption activities have positive implications for consumer perceptions of the scheme and the retailer and appear to enhance future purchasing behavior. From these findings, this paper draws implications for theory and practice.

The impact of product design on supply chain risk: a case study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the increasingly important issue of the impact of product design on supply chain risk management in an era of global supply arrangements. The need to include product design considerations in the development of global supply chain strategies is highlighted.Design/methodology/approach – The research methodology is based on an in‐depth longitudinal case study of a major UK retailer. Data collection tools included observation of supplier meetings/workshops, semi‐structured interviews and access to key company documentation and archives.Findings – This paper provides a framework for design‐led supply chain risk management and thus presents a case for recognising design as more than a creative function but as a platform to manage risk in supply chains.Research limitations/implications – The empirical research reported in this paper is specific to the clothing manufacturing and fashion retail industry. Though the findings will most likely apply to all industries ...

Mitigating supply chain risk through improved agility: lessons from a UK retailer

Success in a volatile market is achieved by the ability to respond to changes in demand as well as anticipating changes and responding to uncertainties and opportunities that may emerge. However, the continued rise in global sourcing and manufacturing has significantly extended supply chains for many companies and has added to their complexity. In this paper, we present an example of how risk assessment tools helped a major UK retailer mitigate supply chain risk and become more responsive in a global market.

Sed quis custodiet? Employee theft in UK retailing

PurposeEmployee theft is a significant part of retail losses from shrinkage, yet has been comparatively underexplored compared with shoplifting. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impacts of different forms of staff theft and fraud upon retail crime losses and analyse the characteristics of offenders.Design/methodology/approachThe approach is based on a statistical analysis of the details (from retail records) of all staff offenders apprehended for theft by four major UK retailers over a two‐year period. The results are then compared with shrinkage losses for these retailers to discuss the implications of the findings.FindingsRetailer concentration upon customer theft is difficult to explain given the significance of perceived staff theft on losses from crime. Only a small percentage of staff offenders were caught by retailers, but estimation problems were caused by the fact it was difficult to value the exact amount stolen over time by serial offenders. The majority of people apprehended were young and were believed to have stolen comparatively small amounts of cash or goods. In contrast, a small number of large‐scale offenders were responsible for 47 per cent of total known staff theft. Only a relatively small proportion of known staff crime involved collusion, the major losses were caused by theft of cash, major fraud losses, merchandise and refund fraud.Practical implicationsThe implications of this study are significant for retailers. They suggest that retailers may concentrate on smaller‐scale wrongdoers rather than major frauds and that retailers may benefit from switching part of their loss‐prevention resources from shoplifting and minor staff offending to more considerable in‐house frauds.Originality/valueThe paper presents original data based on the characteristics of actual apprehended thieves rather than a discussion based primarily on shrinkage estimates). It presents new information for the academic community concerning the impact of different types of theft and fraud and challenges part at least of retailing conventional wisdom about “Who steals?” and “How?” It is valuable both to the academic community and to retail practitioners.

Employee financial participation: evidence from a major UK retailer

PurposeThe bulk of research on approved profit sharing and SAYE schemes tends to focus on the effects of their presence/absence, which says little about how effectively such initiatives are implemented, particularly with regard to different categories of employee. This paper seeks to contribute towards filling that gap through comparing responses between different categories of employee, and the relative effects of differing forms of financial participation.Design/methodology/approachThe paper shows that the population for the study consisted of employees in a large (153,000 employees) retail organisation in the UK. A stratified proportionate random sampling procedure was adopted to include employees at the managerial/non‐managerial levels and in shareholder/non‐shareholder groups. A total of 1,000 questionnaires were mailed to a broad spectrum of employees and a total of 430 usable returns were received. The survey results were analysed using regression analysis.FindingsThe paper found that more junior employees are less likely to choose to actively buy into profit sharing and share ownership schemes; among workers in the lower job bands, the rewards accruing from participation in such schemes are likely to be the least, yet it is there that the effects of any undermining of collective solidarities are likely to be particularly pronounced.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper shows, while based on the case of a single large enterprise, this case study highlights something of the contradictions and limitations of flexible reward systems.Originality/valueThe paper highlights the divergent effects of individualized forms of participation. On the one hand, financial participation lengthens the reward cycle; employees will be encouraged to remain with the firm, to maximise their shareholdings. On the other hand, a greater individualisation of reward systems will undermine notions of collective solidarity; workers will have different agendas according to individual choices made regarding the scale of participation in such schemes. This central contradiction will be particularly pronounced among workers in the lower job bands, where the rewards accruing from participation in such schemes is likely to be the least, yet it is there that the effects of any undermining of collective solidarities is likely to be particularly pronounced.

Communicating corporate social responsibility: an exploratory case study of a major UK retail centre

Abstract Corporate 'social responsibility [CSR] is neither a fad nor an optional extra. The interest in it is reflective of a deeper change in the relationship between companies and their stakeholders. Healthy business requires a healthy community, and should be contributing to its creation and maintenance. The public increasingly wants to know about companies that stand behind the brands and products presented to them. And use their power to reward ‘good’ companies and punish the ‘bad’ ones. (Lewis, S. 2001). CSR is becoming ever more important in the modern business environment, as is evident by the fact that most leading public companies include a specific statement on their CSR policy within their annual reports. Indeed, changing societal expectations, increasingly intrusive media reporting, and ever more sophisticated and powerful pressure groups have caused all organizations to consider more carefully their wider social responsibilities not only out of altruistic reasons, but because of the need to consider the potential impact of their policies on their wider stakeholder relationships. It is argued in academic and professional writing that CSR orientated organizations benefit from a series of tangible and intangible benefits, when stakeholders are informed of their orientation. Corporations have reacted to these calls and this belief in a business case and are implementing CSR programmes or corporate change to bring about new corporate mindsets, and are in‐turn communicating the results of these programmes. However, in order to be able to effectively communicate it is necessary that organizations clearly understand the concept of CSR, both from a managerial perspective and homogeneous and individual stakeholder perspective. Aiming to help address this lack of understanding, the proposed paper provides a case examination of stakeholder and management perspectives of CSR in the North West of England in a retail setting. The study was conducted in 2003 around a Major UK retail centre using a mix method approach that drew out management cognate viewpoints on CSR and quantitatively tested these findings against stakeholder viewpoints on CSR. The study is served as a pilot for future studies into the area. It found that within the context of the case that the managers and stakeholders (when taken as one homogeneous group) shared a similar view of the concept of CSR. Additionally, the weaknesses of the research pilot brought to the surface methodological improvements that could impact on future researches into the area. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Professional Competition, Economic Value Added and Management Control Strategies

This paper examines a failed change initiative (the implementation of economic value added, EVA™) in an in-depth case study of a major UK retailer (RetailCo, a pseudonym). The paper locates this change initiative within inter-professional competition between on the one hand the finance managers and on the other hand the buyers and merchandisers in RetailCo. Finance managers sought to strengthen their professional jurisdiction and enhance their financial and symbolic rewards by imposing stricter controls over buyers and merchandisers, which the latter resented as an undesirable intervention into their work practices and mobilized their influence and work knowledge to ensure the abandonment of EVA. This boundary work involved the use of a multiplicity of entry points centred on control strategies and the fundamentals of retailing. Implications for professional competition and organizational change are considered.

The relative influence of organisational commitment and job satisfaction on service quality of customer‐contact employees in banking call centres

An inter‐disciplinary approach is adopted to provide a deeper understanding of the human resource‐service quality relationship. The paper tests the relationships organisational commitment and job satisfaction have with service quality of customer‐contact employees. Hypotheses are constructed by reviewing literature in the areas of human resource management and services marketing. A study comprising 342 employees was conducted in four telephone call centres of a major UK retail bank. Investigates how different forms of organisational commitment and job satisfaction influence the service quality delivered by contact employees. Findings indicate that job satisfaction and organisational commitment of employees have a significant impact on service quality delivered. The affective component of commitment was found to be more important than job satisfaction in determining service quality of customer‐contact employees.

Representing knowledge: instances of management information.

Against the backdrop of discussions about the 'Information Society', the 'Informational Economy' and the role of IT in realizing organizational change we examine how representations of 'organizational knowledge' are constructed and used in work settings. We do this through the explication of ethnographic materials that detail the realization and use of Management Information (MI) in a major UK retail bank undergoing massive organizational change. We focus in particular on explicating how existing metric information was drawn upon to construct a representation of the work of the bank for those involved in managing that work. Systems designers have been increasingly interested in offering ways of conceptualizing the problem of 'knowledge' with a view to embedding these properties in systems. In the quest to develop representations of procedural knowledge to support work we argue that it is first necessary to understand how representations are actually created and used in work to support existing work practices.

Career management and the changing psychological contract

This study was carried out in a major UK retail bank over a seven‐year period. The initial survey in 1993 revealed the lack of a strategic approach to career management and a negative psychological contract. The follow‐up survey was carried out in March 2000. The research findings reveal a failure by management both to provide the tools necessary for career management and successfully to change the nature of the psychological contract. The “new” contract transferred responsibility to employees for managing their own career and was considered by employees as a violation of the “old”, paternalistic psychological contract. The “new” contract in this organisation was seen to be a regressive move from a relational contract to a transactional contract. Little progress had been made by management to gain acceptance of the new contract during the period of the research.

The relationship between employees' perceptions of organizational climate and customer retention rates in a major UK retail bank

There has been increasing interest in the field of customer retention in the last two decades.Much of that interest has focused on the economics of customer retention and developing plans and strategies for companies to follow in order to improve customer retention. There has been little research into what determines customer retention, particularly from the perspective of organizational climate. This paper examines the relationship between employees' perceptions of organizational climate and customer retention in a specific service setting, namely a major UK retail bank. Employees' perceptions of the practices and procedures in relation to customer care at their branch were investigated using a case study approach. The findings revealed that there is a relationship between employees' perceptions of organizational climate and customer retention at a micro-organizational level. They suggested that organizational climate can be subdivided into five climate themes and that, within each climate theme,there are several dimensions that are critical to customer retention.

An investigation of the use of intranet technology in UK retail banks

Reports results of a two-part questionnaire survey of information technology (IT) managers at 21 major UK retail banks, some of whom are using intranets and some not, to determine the degree of acceptance of intranets in the UK banking sector and to reveal the extent, of and reasons for, the adoption of intranets in their back offices; to explore the existing problems of using intranets; and to reveal the potential usage and development of intranets in the near future. The response rates for banks using intranets and those not using intranets was 46.15% and 42.68% respectively. The results indicated that the respondents are very positive (80%) about using the intranet as an ideal platform for all their information systems and only 20% feel its utility is exaggerated. A phased approach is recommended for the introduction of an intranet which allows both users and administrators to learn and improve the intranet in the deployment process in a cost-effective way.

IT-enabled credit risk modernisation: a revolution under the cloak of normality

This paper focuses on IT-enabled credit risk modernisation in commercial retail banking. The empirical material is based upon a longitudinal case study conducted during 1993–1996 using an interpretive approach. It documents the introduction of a leading-edge computer-based decision support system into middle market corporate lending processes in a major UK retail bank. An analysis is constructed against the backcloth of contemporary social theory with the aim of stimulating debate regarding the ethics and politics of corporate risk positions. It is suggested that changes to the definition, assessment and management of credit risk in a major financial services institution, implemented through the introduction of a new technology and enacted in everyday acts of normal consumption, need debating. The paper concludes by asserting that if we turn aside from our responsibility to challenge the epistemological basis of contemporary risk assessment and management we may find that our social, political and economic landscape has changed without our consent.

Stocking for Shopping

There have been major developments in the theory and practice of inventory control during the 20th century. The developments have emerged from manufacturing industry but have been adopted by companies in other sectors, this has enabled them to reduce costs and improve their operating efficiency. This paper focuses on the retail sector and looks at how the developing theory of inventory control has been adapted to sever the needs of four major UK retailers.

`Are there no Limits to Authority?': TQM and Organizational Power

In this paper we examine some of the problematic assumptions and concepts underlying Total Quality Management (TQM) through a case study of a major UK retail bank. We question traditional approaches towards power which assume it to be the property of individuals or groups. For us, power should be understood to be a condition of social relations. Thus, it is erroneous to ask who has power. Instead, it is necessary to explore how power is exercised. Notwithstanding this, it is essential to recognize that power is not simply an external agency, but that it penetrates the very essence of our being. We explore the structural and inter-personal tensions which emerge between the bank's mortgage division and its branches over mortgage applications. We examine how TQM, through the medium of `quality partnerships' is used to address these tensions. The article reveals that TQM is both a condition and a consequence of organizational power relations. Not only is TQM constituted by these power relations, but it is itself a vehicle for struggle between competing groups and individuals. This suggests that the problems confronting TQM are far more embedded than is often assumed to be the case. Critically, through opening up the notion of power as `relational' rather than `propertied', it is our aim to illuminate the continuing exercise of, and potential for, resistance during the operation of TQM regimes.

Evaluating a technique used to measure environmental performance within agriculture-case studies

A methodology has been developed which can be used to assess the environmental performance of a farm. The computer-based system, known as EMA, utilizes a checklist auditing process based on both quantitative and qualitative data and looks, holistically, at the farm assessing a wide range of farming activities including crop production, crop protection, resource and waste management, livestock husbandry and conservation. The system relies on the use of eco-ratings which are activity based performance indices derived by comparing actual farm practices with what is perceived to be site specific best practice. The system utilizes a similar approach to that used in standard environmental management systems, such as ISO 14001, by providing a scale for performance measurement to allow monitoring of improvements and progress, and to permit performance highs and lows to be identified. The system has recently undergone piloting and evaluation in house, on farm and in collaboration with a major UK retailer, Safeway Stores plc. This paper describes this process and presents the findings in the form of case studies. A brief description of the system is included for completeness. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.