 Organisational rigidities and marketing theory: examining the US department store c.1910--1965Steve Wood The Service Industries Journal, 2009, vol. 31, issue 5, 747-770 Abstract: By analysing the US department store during the period c.1910--1965, this article deepens our understanding of the nature of the transition to phases of ‘maturity’ and ‘decline’ that are fundamental to models of retail change (retail wheel, retail life cycle). By employing a close reading of key marketing and management writing of the period, it finds that ‘lock-in’ to an organisational structure associated with a single downtown store posed significant obstacles to suburban branched expansion. Only partial organisational centralisation occurred with the formation of holding companies in the 1920s, which contrasted with chains of general-merchandise and some department store retailers that were efficiently structured and better able to exploit suburban growth. When major department store companies finally embraced branched expansion, they were forced to significantly revise their operational structures. Date: 2009 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:servic:v:31:y:2009:i:5:p:747-770 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/02642060902960784 Access Statistics for this article The Service Industries Journal is currently edited by Eileen Bridges, Professor Domingo Ribeiro, Ronald Goldsmith, Barry Howcroft and Youjae Yi More articles in The Service Industries Journal from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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