Impacts of Retail Internationalisation on Emerging
Markets: Towards a Theory using the Network Approach
Amelia Yuen Shan AU-YEUNG, Ph.D.
Principal Lecturer
Kingston Business School
Kingston University
ABSTRACT
Internationalisation of retailers into emerging markets has been a centre of attention to many retail scholars and practitioners in the last 15 years or so. As foreign retailers enter and transfer their knowledge and practice to these markets, a series of transformation in the host market is triggered. The impacts of the internationalisation of retailers into emerging markets are pervasive. Their influence permeates almost every corner, affecting a wide range of stakeholders from government policy makers, suppliers, local retailers, to consumers. In order to fully understand the impacts of retail internationalisation, a strong theoretical framework is needed. As there has not been much research in this area and a strong theoretical foundation is lacking, this paper, as a working paper, aims to develop an analytical framework, by drawing on network theories, for a study of impacts of retail internationalisation on emerging markets. China is chosen to be the context of study due to its unprecedented development in the retail sector and its accelerating growing importance to international retailers. It is found that there is heavy involvement of the government in the retail sector in China despite its gradual removal of regulatory restrictions. The competition between indigenous and foreign retailers, and between foreign and foreign retailers, is becoming more intriguing. These, together with the unique Chinese consumer culture, create an interesting enigma in the China retail sector. Given this enigma, a network approach to the study of interaction among all the actors in the market would enable revelation of valuable insights on the impacts of retail internationalisation in the market because of the powerful ability of network analysis in unravelling complicated, important and dynamic interactions among actors within a particular social context. By drawing on related theoretical concepts, an analytical framework for studying impacts of retail internationalisation on emerging markets, in particular, China, is proposed at end of the paper.
