Service ecosystem perspective in the retail industry
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7433/s107.2018.03Keywords:
retail concept; institution; institutional arrangement; ecosystemAbstract
Purpose of the paper: This conceptual paper explains how the retail concept (latent concept) emerges as an ecosystem through the generation of institutional arrangements and, for this reason, through the evolution of specific institutions that affect the retail concept and the actors involved.
Methodology: The study is based on the Service-Dominant Logic (S-D Logic) and Viable System Approach (VSA) frameworks. The S-D Logic framework is applied in order to define institutions and institutional arrangements surrounding the ecosystem, and the VSA framework helps to explain the “emergent” nature of the ecosystem resulting from institutional arrangements.
Results: The identification of relevant institutions and institutional arrangements within the retail concept highlights the emergence of the retail concept as an ecosystem from the service perspective.
Research limitations: The proposed approach in this conceptual paper could be enriched with other theoretical perspectives and empirical explorations.
Practical implications: In the process of retail evolution, it is useful for practitioners to manage a systemic view of the retail concept following the ecosystem paradigm because it provides a framework for understanding the entangled relationships among the industrial production, agriculture, logistics, distribution and consumption sectors that integrate resources and exchange value belonging to the same retail system. They follow the shared purpose of surviving and co-creating value through different actors in the market.
Originality of the paper: The ecosystem paradigm is used to explain the latent concept of retail and to express the process of interaction among a multiplicity and variety of emerging institutions through resource integrations in the retail market.
References
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BARILE S., POLESE F. (2010), “Smart service systems and viable service systems: applying systems theory to service science”, Service Science, vol. 2, n. 1-2, pp. 21-40.
BARILE S., SAVIANO M. (2011), “Foundations of systems thinking: the structure-system paradigm”, in Various Authors, Contributions to Theoretical and Practical Advances in Management. A Viable Systems Approach (vSa), International Printing, Avellino.
BARILE S., PELS J., POLESE F., SAVIANO M. (2012), “An introduction to the viable Systems approach and its contribution to marketing”, Journal of Business Marketing Management, vol. 2, n. 2, pp. 54-78.
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BARILE S., LUSCH R., REYNOSO J., SAVIANO M., SPOHRER J. (2016), “Systems, networks, and ecosystems in service research”, Journal of Service Management, vol. 2, n. 4, pp. 652-674.
BARNARD C.I. (1938), The Functions of the executive, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
BASU A. (1998), “An exploration of entrepreneurial activity among Asian small businesses in Britain”, Small Business Economics, vol. 10, n. 4.
BATRA R., SINHA I. (2000), “Consumer-level factors moderating the success of private label brands”, Journal of Retailing, vol. 76, n. 2, pp. 175-191.
BEER S. (1972), Brain of the firm, The Penguin Press, London.
BETRAND M., KRAMARZ F. (2002), “Does entry regulation hinder job creation? Evidence from the French retail industry”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 117, n. 4, pp. 1369-1414.
BOEHM D.N., HOGAN T. (2013), “Science-to-business collaborations: A science-to-business marketing perspective on scientific knowledge commercialization”, Industrial Marketing Management, vol. 42, n. 4, 564-579.
BROMLEY R.D.F., THOMAS C.J. (1993), Retail change: contemporary issues, Routledge, London.
BRUNI R. (2014), Dinamiche impresa-contesto-cliente e retail di prossimità, Aracne, Roma.
BUCKLEY W. (1967), Sociology and modern systems theory, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall, NJ.
BUCKLEY W. (1968), Modern systems research for the behavioural scientist, Aldine Transaction, Chicago, IL.
BUCKLEY W. (2008), “Society as a complex adaptative system”, Emergence: Complexity and Organization, vol. 10, n. 3, pp. 86-110.
CASTALDO S. (2008), (a cura di), Retail e channel management, Egea, Milano.
CLARK A. (1993), Associative engines, MIT Press, Boston, MA.
DE KERVENOAEL R., HALLSWORTH A. CLARKE. I. (2006), “Macro-level change and micro level effects: a twenty-year perspective on changing grocery shopping behaviour in Britain”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, vol. 13, n. 6, pp. 381-92.
EDVARDSSON B., TRONVOLL B., GRUBER T. (2011), “Expanding understanding of service exchange and value co-creation: a social construction approach”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 39, n.2, pp. 327-339.
EMERY F. (ED.) (1969), Systems thinking, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth.
ESPEJO R., HARNDEN R. (1989), The viable system model: interpretations and applications of Stafford Beer’s VSM, Wiley.
FERNIE J., SPARKS L. (2014), Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new challenges in the retail supply chain, Kogan Page Publishers, London.
FISHER A.G. (1939), “Production, primary, secondary and tertiary”, Economic Record, vol. 15, n. 1, pp. 24-38.
FORNARI D. (2009), Tendenze distributive. Le nuove sfide del marketing di filiera, Egea, Milano.
FOURASTIÉ J. (1951), “Productivity and Economics”, Political Science Quarterly, vol. 66, n. 2, pp. 216-225.
GEERTZ C. (1973), The interpretation of cultures, Basic Books, New York.
GIDDENS, A. (1984), The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration, University of California Press.
GOLINELLI G.M. (2000), L’approccio sistemico al governo dell’impresa. L’impresa sistema vitale, 1st ed., Cedam, Padova.
GREIMAS A.J. (1966), “Eléments pour unethéorie de l’interprétation du récitmythique”, Communications, vol. 8, n. 1, pp. 28-59.
GROVES A.M. (2001), “Authentic British food products: a review of consumer perceptions”, International Journal of Consumer Studies, vol. 25, n. 3, pp. 246-54.
GRIFFITH R., HARMGART H. (2008), “Supermarkets and planning regulation”, CEPR Working Paper, n. 6713.
HANNAN M.T., FREEMAN J. (1977), “The population ecology of organizations”, American Journal of Sociology, vol. 82, n. 5, pp. 929-964.
JACKSON M.C. (2000), Systems approaches to management, Springer Science and Business Media, New York, NY.
KANDAMPULLY, J. (2012), Service as the new paradigm in retailing, Service Management, Springer, New York, NY, pp.1-6
KAST F.E., ROSENZWEIG J.E. (1972), “General systems theory: application for organizations and management”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 15, n. 4, pp. 447-465.
ILBERY B., MAYE D. (2006), “Retailing local food in the Scottish-English borders: a supply chain perspective”, Geoforum, vol. 37, n. 3, pp. 352-367.
LUGLI G. (2009), Marketing distributivo. La creazione di valore nella distribuzione specializzata, UTET, Torino.
LUGLI G., PELLEGRINI L. (2002), Marketing distributivo, UTET, Torino.
MATURANA H.R., VARELA F. (1975), “Autopoietic systems”, Report BCL, vol. 9, n. 4, pp. 37-48.
O’DWYER M.L., RYAN E. (2002), “Management development - a model for retail business”, Journal of European Industrial Training, vol. 26, n. 9, pp. 420-29.
PANTANO E. (2014), “Innovation drivers in retail industry”, International Journal of Information Management, vol. 34, n. 3, pp. 344-350.
PADDISON A., CALDERWOOD E. (2007), “Rural retailing: a sector in decline?”, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, vol. 35, n. 2, pp. 136-55.
PASTORE A., PELLEGRINI L., RAVAZZONI R. (2001), “La dimensione settoriale dell’innovazione: la distribuzione commerciale”, Sinergie, n. 55, pp. 85-122.
SANSONE M., BRUNI R., COLAMATTEO A., PAGNANELLI M.A. (2017), “Dynamic capabilities in retailers’ marketing strategies: defining an analysis model”, Mercati and Competitività, vol. 2, pp. 17-42.
SAVIANO M., CAPUTO F. (2013), “Managerial choices between systems, knowledge and viability”, in Barile S. (Ed.), Contributions to Theoretical and Practical Advances in Management. A Viable Systems Approach (VSA), vol. 2, Aracne, Roma, pp. 219-242.
SCHATZI T.R. (1996), Social practices: a Wittgensteinian approach to human activity and the social, Cambridge University Press.
SCOTT W.R. (2014), Institutions and organizations: ideas, interests and identities, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
SILTALOPPI J., KOSKELA-HUOTARI K., VARGO S.L. (2016), “Institutional complexity as a driver for innovation in service ecosystems”, Service Science, vol. 8, n. 3, pp. 333-343.
SIVADAS E., BAKER-PREWITT J.L. (2000), “An examination of the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction, and store loyalty”, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, vol. 28, n. 2, pp. 73-82.
SMITH A., SPARKS L. (2000), “The independent small shop in Scotland: a discussion of roles and problems”, Scottish Geographical Journal, vol. 116, n. 1, pp. 41-58.
SPOHRER J.C., MAGLIO P.P. (2010). “Toward a science of service systems”, in Handbook of service science, Springer, Boston, MA, pp157-19
VARALDO R., DALLI D. (2011), “Le relazioni strategiche tra industria e distribuzione”, Sinergie, n. 61-62, pp. 255-294.
VARGO S.L., LUSCHR. F. (2004), “Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing”, Journal of Marketing, vol. 68, n. 1, pp. 1-17.
VARGO S.L., LUSCH R.F. (2008), “Service-dominant logic: continuing the evolution”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 36, n. 1, pp. 1-10.
VARGO S.L., MAGLIO P.P., AKAKA M.A. (2008), “On value and value co-creation: a service systems and service logic perspective”, European Management Journal, vol. 26, n. 3, pp. 145-152.
VARGO S.L., LUSCH R.F. (2016), “Institutions and axioms: an extension and update of service-dominant logic”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 44, n. 5, pp. 5-23.
VILLAS-BOAS S.B. (2007), “Vertical relationships between manufacturers and retailers: inference with limited data”, The Review of Economic Studies, vol. 74, n. 2, pp. 625-652.
VON BERTALANFFY L. (1968), General system theory, George Braziller, New York.
WOLFE M. (1955), “The concept of economic sectors”, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 69, n. 3, pp. 402-420.
WOODLIFFE L. (2004), “Rethinking consumer disadvantage: the importance of qualitative research”, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, vol. 32, n. 11, pp. 523-531.
WRIGLEY N., LOWE M. (1996), Retailing, consumption and capital: towards the new retail geography, Longman, London.
WRIGLEY N., LOWE M. (2002), Reading retail-geographical perspective on retailing and consumption spaces, Arnold, London.
BARILE S., PASTORE A. (2002), “Forme, caratteri e divenire sistemico dei rapporti con la distribuzione ed il consumo”, in Golinelli G.M., L’approccio sistemico al governo dell’impresa. Valorizzazione delle capacità, rapporti intersistemici e rischio nell’azione di governo, 3, Cedam, Padova.
BARILE S. (2008), L’impresa come sistema. Contributi sull’approccio sistemico vitale, Giappichelli, Torino.
BARILE S. (2009), Management sistemico vitale (vol. 1), Giappichelli, Torino.
BARILE S., POLESE F. (2010), “Linking the viable system and many-to-many network approaches to service-dominant logic and service science”, International Journal of Quality and Service Science, vol. 2, n. 1, pp. 23-42.
BARILE S., POLESE F. (2010), “Smart service systems and viable service systems: applying systems theory to service science”, Service Science, vol. 2, n. 1-2, pp. 21-40.
BARILE S., SAVIANO M. (2011), “Foundations of systems thinking: the structure-system paradigm”, in Various Authors, Contributions to Theoretical and Practical Advances in Management. A Viable Systems Approach (vSa), International Printing, Avellino.
BARILE S., PELS J., POLESE F., SAVIANO M. (2012), “An introduction to the viable Systems approach and its contribution to marketing”, Journal of Business Marketing Management, vol. 2, n. 2, pp. 54-78.
BARILE S., SAVIANO M., POLESE F., DI NAUTA P. (2012), “Reflections on service systems boundaries: a viable systems perspective. The case of the London Borough of Sutton”, European Management Journal, vol. 30, n. 5, pp. 451-465.
BARILE S., SAVIANO M. (2014), “A new systems perspective in retail service marketing”, in Handbook of Research on Retailer-Consumer Relationship Development , IGI Global.(pp. 197-218).
BARILE S., LUSCH R., REYNOSO J., SAVIANO M., SPOHRER J. (2016), “Systems, networks, and ecosystems in service research”, Journal of Service Management, vol. 2, n. 4, pp. 652-674.
BARNARD C.I. (1938), The Functions of the executive, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
BASU A. (1998), “An exploration of entrepreneurial activity among Asian small businesses in Britain”, Small Business Economics, vol. 10, n. 4.
BATRA R., SINHA I. (2000), “Consumer-level factors moderating the success of private label brands”, Journal of Retailing, vol. 76, n. 2, pp. 175-191.
BEER S. (1972), Brain of the firm, The Penguin Press, London.
BETRAND M., KRAMARZ F. (2002), “Does entry regulation hinder job creation? Evidence from the French retail industry”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 117, n. 4, pp. 1369-1414.
BOEHM D.N., HOGAN T. (2013), “Science-to-business collaborations: A science-to-business marketing perspective on scientific knowledge commercialization”, Industrial Marketing Management, vol. 42, n. 4, 564-579.
BROMLEY R.D.F., THOMAS C.J. (1993), Retail change: contemporary issues, Routledge, London.
BRUNI R. (2014), Dinamiche impresa-contesto-cliente e retail di prossimità, Aracne, Roma.
BUCKLEY W. (1967), Sociology and modern systems theory, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall, NJ.
BUCKLEY W. (1968), Modern systems research for the behavioural scientist, Aldine Transaction, Chicago, IL.
BUCKLEY W. (2008), “Society as a complex adaptative system”, Emergence: Complexity and Organization, vol. 10, n. 3, pp. 86-110.
CASTALDO S. (2008), (a cura di), Retail e channel management, Egea, Milano.
CLARK A. (1993), Associative engines, MIT Press, Boston, MA.
DE KERVENOAEL R., HALLSWORTH A. CLARKE. I. (2006), “Macro-level change and micro level effects: a twenty-year perspective on changing grocery shopping behaviour in Britain”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, vol. 13, n. 6, pp. 381-92.
EDVARDSSON B., TRONVOLL B., GRUBER T. (2011), “Expanding understanding of service exchange and value co-creation: a social construction approach”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 39, n.2, pp. 327-339.
EMERY F. (ED.) (1969), Systems thinking, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth.
ESPEJO R., HARNDEN R. (1989), The viable system model: interpretations and applications of Stafford Beer’s VSM, Wiley.
FERNIE J., SPARKS L. (2014), Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new challenges in the retail supply chain, Kogan Page Publishers, London.
FISHER A.G. (1939), “Production, primary, secondary and tertiary”, Economic Record, vol. 15, n. 1, pp. 24-38.
FORNARI D. (2009), Tendenze distributive. Le nuove sfide del marketing di filiera, Egea, Milano.
FOURASTIÉ J. (1951), “Productivity and Economics”, Political Science Quarterly, vol. 66, n. 2, pp. 216-225.
GEERTZ C. (1973), The interpretation of cultures, Basic Books, New York.
GIDDENS, A. (1984), The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration, University of California Press.
GOLINELLI G.M. (2000), L’approccio sistemico al governo dell’impresa. L’impresa sistema vitale, 1st ed., Cedam, Padova.
GREIMAS A.J. (1966), “Eléments pour unethéorie de l’interprétation du récitmythique”, Communications, vol. 8, n. 1, pp. 28-59.
GROVES A.M. (2001), “Authentic British food products: a review of consumer perceptions”, International Journal of Consumer Studies, vol. 25, n. 3, pp. 246-54.
GRIFFITH R., HARMGART H. (2008), “Supermarkets and planning regulation”, CEPR Working Paper, n. 6713.
HANNAN M.T., FREEMAN J. (1977), “The population ecology of organizations”, American Journal of Sociology, vol. 82, n. 5, pp. 929-964.
JACKSON M.C. (2000), Systems approaches to management, Springer Science and Business Media, New York, NY.
KANDAMPULLY, J. (2012), Service as the new paradigm in retailing, Service Management, Springer, New York, NY, pp.1-6
KAST F.E., ROSENZWEIG J.E. (1972), “General systems theory: application for organizations and management”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 15, n. 4, pp. 447-465.
ILBERY B., MAYE D. (2006), “Retailing local food in the Scottish-English borders: a supply chain perspective”, Geoforum, vol. 37, n. 3, pp. 352-367.
LUGLI G. (2009), Marketing distributivo. La creazione di valore nella distribuzione specializzata, UTET, Torino.
LUGLI G., PELLEGRINI L. (2002), Marketing distributivo, UTET, Torino.
MATURANA H.R., VARELA F. (1975), “Autopoietic systems”, Report BCL, vol. 9, n. 4, pp. 37-48.
O’DWYER M.L., RYAN E. (2002), “Management development - a model for retail business”, Journal of European Industrial Training, vol. 26, n. 9, pp. 420-29.
PANTANO E. (2014), “Innovation drivers in retail industry”, International Journal of Information Management, vol. 34, n. 3, pp. 344-350.
PADDISON A., CALDERWOOD E. (2007), “Rural retailing: a sector in decline?”, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, vol. 35, n. 2, pp. 136-55.
PASTORE A., PELLEGRINI L., RAVAZZONI R. (2001), “La dimensione settoriale dell’innovazione: la distribuzione commerciale”, Sinergie, n. 55, pp. 85-122.
SANSONE M., BRUNI R., COLAMATTEO A., PAGNANELLI M.A. (2017), “Dynamic capabilities in retailers’ marketing strategies: defining an analysis model”, Mercati and Competitività, vol. 2, pp. 17-42.
SAVIANO M., CAPUTO F. (2013), “Managerial choices between systems, knowledge and viability”, in Barile S. (Ed.), Contributions to Theoretical and Practical Advances in Management. A Viable Systems Approach (VSA), vol. 2, Aracne, Roma, pp. 219-242.
SCHATZI T.R. (1996), Social practices: a Wittgensteinian approach to human activity and the social, Cambridge University Press.
SCOTT W.R. (2014), Institutions and organizations: ideas, interests and identities, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
SILTALOPPI J., KOSKELA-HUOTARI K., VARGO S.L. (2016), “Institutional complexity as a driver for innovation in service ecosystems”, Service Science, vol. 8, n. 3, pp. 333-343.
SIVADAS E., BAKER-PREWITT J.L. (2000), “An examination of the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction, and store loyalty”, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, vol. 28, n. 2, pp. 73-82.
SMITH A., SPARKS L. (2000), “The independent small shop in Scotland: a discussion of roles and problems”, Scottish Geographical Journal, vol. 116, n. 1, pp. 41-58.
SPOHRER J.C., MAGLIO P.P. (2010). “Toward a science of service systems”, in Handbook of service science, Springer, Boston, MA, pp157-19
VARALDO R., DALLI D. (2011), “Le relazioni strategiche tra industria e distribuzione”, Sinergie, n. 61-62, pp. 255-294.
VARGO S.L., LUSCHR. F. (2004), “Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing”, Journal of Marketing, vol. 68, n. 1, pp. 1-17.
VARGO S.L., LUSCH R.F. (2008), “Service-dominant logic: continuing the evolution”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 36, n. 1, pp. 1-10.
VARGO S.L., MAGLIO P.P., AKAKA M.A. (2008), “On value and value co-creation: a service systems and service logic perspective”, European Management Journal, vol. 26, n. 3, pp. 145-152.
VARGO S.L., LUSCH R.F. (2016), “Institutions and axioms: an extension and update of service-dominant logic”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 44, n. 5, pp. 5-23.
VILLAS-BOAS S.B. (2007), “Vertical relationships between manufacturers and retailers: inference with limited data”, The Review of Economic Studies, vol. 74, n. 2, pp. 625-652.
VON BERTALANFFY L. (1968), General system theory, George Braziller, New York.
WOLFE M. (1955), “The concept of economic sectors”, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 69, n. 3, pp. 402-420.
WOODLIFFE L. (2004), “Rethinking consumer disadvantage: the importance of qualitative research”, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, vol. 32, n. 11, pp. 523-531.
WRIGLEY N., LOWE M. (1996), Retailing, consumption and capital: towards the new retail geography, Longman, London.
WRIGLEY N., LOWE M. (2002), Reading retail-geographical perspective on retailing and consumption spaces, Arnold, London.
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2018-12-28
