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Intra-Firm and Inter-Firm Knowledge Transfers and Productivity in the Retailing Sector

Intra-Firm and Inter-Firm Knowledge Transfers and Productivity in the Retailing Sector. Dolores Anon Higon, Aston University Jeremy Clegg, Leeds University Irena Grugulis, Bradford University Allan Williams, University of Exeter Ödül Bozkurt, Bradford and Leeds Universities

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Intra-Firm and Inter-Firm Knowledge Transfers and Productivity in the Retailing Sector

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  1. Intra-Firm and Inter-Firm Knowledge Transfers and Productivity in the Retailing Sector Dolores Anon Higon, Aston University Jeremy Clegg, Leeds University Irena Grugulis, Bradford University Allan Williams, University of Exeter Ödül Bozkurt, Bradford and Leeds Universities Nicholas Vasilakos, Aston University IDEAS Factory, 25th of January 2005, Nottingham

  2. Literature Review • Productivity: • Productivity in services, and especially retailing, is significantly informed by non-material inputs; • These include the knowledge embodied in both the business plans of individual firms and in the skills of their workers; • The relationship of knowledge to labour productivity and of this to overall productivity is unclear in the food retail sector. • Knowledge Work: • “Knowledge work” does not necessarily entail “knowledgeable workers”; • Retail sector may include business strategies that vary significantly in terms of the generation of knowledge work: Those that rely on high degrees of personalised (tacit) knowledge in workers, and those that rely on extensive standardisation.

  3. Knowledge Transfer: • Knowledge transfer inside firms is crucial for their productivity • A central ownership advantage that multinational firms rely on is knowledge, which they transfer internally in the global organization; • We can therefore expect multinational food retailers to have competitive advantages (over domestic ones) derived from knowledge transfer. • Skills: • Knowledge transfer can involve the diffusion of business models that rely on knowledge work to variable degrees; • Multinationals’ business models may increase skills of the workforce through knowledge transfer; • Or these business models may rely on standardisation and deskilling of the workforce.

  4. Selected Issues on UK Retail Productivity and Innovation Nicholas V. Vasilakos Dolores Anon Aston Business School Nottingham, 25/01/2006

  5. Measures and Determinants of Retail Productivity • Most commonly seen measures of Productivity: • Labour Productivity (Y/L) • TFP • Selected factors claimed to affect productivity: • Size of business: For UK – the bigger, the better (Reynolds et al 2005]) • Planning regulation – barriers to enter-exit (Doms et al, 2001) • Innovation & Technological Sophistication (Doms et al, 2002) • Van Ark et al (2002) and Basu et al (2003) on ICT-intensity • The role of innovation: • Two types of innovation: • fundamental: self-service, marketing and ICT. • Incremental: e.g. managerial know-how, entrepreneurship etc.

  6. Econometric Problems / Concerns • Measurement errors: • of output – positively related to the service-intensity of the sector. • of prices – use of CPI may not always be an appropriate deflator (e.g. Nakamora [1999] ) • of inputs – e.g. if market rigidities (e.g. planning regulation – refer to trade unions/land) distort input prices) • “Put it down to market power..” (e.g. Griffith, 2004 or Reynolds, 2005) • Incorporating “quality of service” in productivity measures.

  7. Econometrics/ Data • Y = A F(L, K, M) • Focus: • Model “A” • Measurement of Real Output • Controls for: Market structure, Ownership (MNE, non-MNE), size, location. • Datasets: • ARD + FDI • FAME • Data we look for: licenses, skills (ESS ?)

  8. Data and Methods II Survey Research Analysis • Company-Level Questionnaire Survey: • 705 non-specialized retail stores from the FAME data base; top-30 initially contacted by telephone; • Target group: Management at head offices; • Target response rate: 30-40%, ie c 210-280. • Questionnaire will focus on: • Ownership; • Basic employment data; • Management’s assessment of sources of productivity in the sector; • Management’s evaluation of the relative importance of knowledge transfer in productivity; • Management’s evaluation of the relative importance of other factors including human mobility, market research, use of external consultancies, purchase/leasing/patenting of technology, suppliers, intra-company transfers.

  9. Data and Methods III Qualitative Case Studies

  10. Thank You Gracias Efharisto Paldeas

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