Nicholas Alexander’s research while affiliated with Lancaster University and other places

The retail arcade was an innovative format that proliferated across the urban landscape in the late nineteenth century. However, it has attracted limited research attention from business historians. This article addresses this research gap by identifying the reasons for arcade development and the business relationships that enabled their widespread commercialisation. The retail arcade provided a thoroughfare between two centres of urban activity. The realisation of this transitional retail space required civic support and a commercial framework that facilitated the reification of experiential retailing. It provided financial rewards to multiple business interests whose complex relationships underpinned its operational characteristics. Britain provides the research context. Adopting an institutional logics theoretical perspective, this paper considers the interinstitutional shaping of this hybrid organisational form over more than half a century. A rare and rich source of archival material facilitates the study of quotidian activity within this innovative retail format.

Purpose Building on Walter Benjamin's philosophical reflections on aura and authenticity, this article aims to conceptualise and theorise brand aura. Design/methodology/approach This article extends understanding of brand aura within the management, marketing and tourism literature with reference to Benjamin's framing of aura and authenticity in time and space. Findings Within a Benjaminian framework this article theorises brand aura and offers a conceptualisation of the antecedents of brand aura. It explores the duality of what is termed here as artefactual authenticity and existential authenticity. It illustrates the central role of consumers' mémoire involontaire in the realisation of brand aura. Within this Benjaminian framework, the article explores how artefactual authenticity is preceded by brand essence, while existential authenticity precedes brand essence. Implications for the management of the service encounter are discussed with reference to territorial legitimacy and historical testimony in the context of the firm's role in supporting consumer experiential engagement. Originality/value This article advances theoretical understanding of how consumers engage experientially with brand aura and how firms curate brand aura.

This article considers the role of a transformational retail setting in the development of an iconic brand identity in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The focus of this research is Liberty of London. Through experiential engagement and augmented admission, Liberty created a retail environment that challenged existing practices. Coupled with the development of a brand identity enhanced through authoritative advocacy and consumers’ allegorical encounters with the firm’s core brand message, Liberty achieved the symbolic substantiation of a distinct taste regime through the market-mediation of authenticity. We discuss how brand representation in a transformational retail setting in the metropolitan market of the late nineteenth century legitimised and structured consumer expectations in a context of growing middle class demand for merchandise with enhanced aesthetic qualities and associated lifestyle values.

This article explores the role of institutional voids in the internationalisation of proto-modern brands in London from the mid-1820s through to the early 1850s. Internationalising firms addressed institutional deficiencies in the market through the establishment of retail operations identified here as international maisons spéciales and by adopting marketing strategies designed to legitimate their proto-modern brands. Together, these organisational and strategic marketing responses enabled firms to overcome institutional voids and shape market norms. These mutually supporting organisational and marketing innovations occurred at a much earlier date than the literature currently suggests.

This article considers the international retailing activities of Tiffany of New York between 1837 and 1914. Using data from the company archive alongside other sources, the findings indicate that five factors were determinants of sustainable international retailing: a centralized organizational structure, a stable ownership structure, existing international engagement, a strong brand identity, and a relevant international retail format. Placing Tiffany's activities in its wider commercial and consumer context, the findings illustrate the organizational changes and asset combination required to support the development of early international retail operations. The article contributes to theoretical understanding of the dynamics of retail internationalization.

Mitchell Ian . Tradition and Innovation in English Retailing, 1700 to 1850: Narratives of Consumption. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2014. xvi + 223 pp. ISBN 9781–409443209, $154.50 (hardback). - Volume 17 Issue 2 - Nicholas Alexander

This article considers the international retailing operation of Liberty of London in Paris between 1889 and 1932. Using data from the company archive, the article challenges assumptions regarding the nature and role of early retail activity in the internationalisation process. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from the marketing and management literature, the article considers Liberty’s Paris operation from entry stage activity in the late 1880s through to the divestment process in the early 1930s. Detailed consideration of this firm shows that the specialist retailer with distinct firm specific assets developed in the domestic market was operating internationally in the late nineteenth century.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the franchise relationship in China, focusing on the relational constructs of power, control, support and conflict in this developing franchise environment. Agency theory has dominated franchise research. A more rounded theoretical interpretation of the franchising relationship is offered by employing both agency theory and institutional theory perspectives. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopts an interpretive approach, employing in-depth interviews with franchisors and franchisees in nine franchise organisations operating in the retail sector in China. It contributes a fuller understanding of how to manage the research process in China. Findings – The study reveals how the relational constructs of power, control, support and conflict are manifest in the franchise relationship in China. The explanatory power of agency theory is apparent when viewed in terms of the vertical agency problem. However, free-riding outside the franchise system, in the form of counterfeiting, mitigates against the occurrence of free-riding within it. With regard to institutional theory, we demonstrate that the regulatory institutional pillar is a crucial foundation for the franchise relationship. Practical implications – The study offers insights for franchisors and franchisees considering franchise relationships in China. Originality/value – For the first time in the literature, this study offers insights into key elements of the franchise relationship in China. Employing both agency and institutional theories facilitates a rounded explanation of the developing franchise environment in China.

Globalisation creates threats and opportunities for retailers in both international and domestic markets. Recently, researchers established a framework for examining the development of supra national marketing segments to explain acculturation to the global consumer culture (AGCC) (Cleveland & Laroche, 20079. Cleveland , M. and Laroche , J. 2007. Acculturation to the global consumer culture: Scale development and research paradigm. Journal of Business Research, 60: 249–259. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2006.11.006 [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®]View all references). The research presented here extends their work by examining demographic and cultural drivers of AGCC and the impacts of global acculturation on ethnocentrism towards international retailers among a cross-section of US consumers (N = 492). Findings suggest that, to varying degrees, demographics and individualism impact four of the dimensions of AGCC, while the dimensions of AGCC impact ethnocentrism for food and fashion retailers. Cosmopolitanism and social interaction consistently reduce ethnocentrism towards retailers among the sample data.