innovation in distribution channels an evolutionary approach anna nyberg

250 Pages·2008·3.75 MB·English

INNOVATION IN DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
AN EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH
ANNA NYBERG
AKADEMISK AVHANDLING
Som for avlaggande av ekonomie doktorsexamen
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INNOVATION IN DISTRmUTION CHANNELS
AN EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH
4t\
STOCKHOLM SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
," EFI, THEECONOMIC RESEARCHINSTITUTE
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ORGANIZATIONANDMANAGEMENT
ManagementandOrganisationTheory(A) Prof.Sven-ErikSjostrand
PublicManagement (F) Prof.NilsBrunsson
InformationManagement(I) Prof.MatsLundeberg
ManandOrganisation(PMO) Prof.JanLowstedt
IndusnnaIProduction(T) Prof.ChristerKarlsson
MARKETING
InformationandCommunications(CIC) AdjProf.BertilThomgren
RiskResearch(CFR) Prof.LennartSjoberg
Marketing,Distributionand Industrial Dynamics(D) Prof.Lars-GunnarMattsson
DistributionResearch(FOR) ActingProf.RichardWahlund
EconomicPsychology(P) Prof.LennartSjoberg
ACCOUNTING, CONTROLANDCORPORATEFINANCE
AccountingandManagerialFinance(B) Prof.LarsOstman
ManagerialEconomics(C) Prof.PeterJennergren
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EconomicStatistics(ES) Prof.AndersWestlund
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INNOVATION IN DISTRmUTION CHANNELS
AN EVOLUTIONARYAPPROACH
ANNA NYBERG
t4l
STOCKHOLM SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
,~t~, EFI, THE ECONOMIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE
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ADissertationforthe
1",,-' DegreeofDoctorofPhilosophy,Ph.D.
...1
'!~ " StockholmSchoolofEconomics 1998
©EPIandtheauthor
ISBNNR91-7258-487-4
Keywords:
Distributionchannels
Marketingchannels
Innovation
Evolution
Retailing
Distributedby:
EFI,StockholmSchoolofEconomics
Box6501,S-113 83 Stockholm,Sweden
ElandersGotab,Stockholm, 1998.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Although I tend to regard this thesis as mine, it is only with the help of many
people that it has come into being. I would like to thank some ofyou here.
Let me first thank my three advisors for their invaluable support. Lars-Gunnar
Mattsson, inspired confidence, challenged my ideas and shared his knowledge
about theory and the empiricalfield. Lars-ErikGadde provided apposite and
insightful comments in good humour. Staffan Hulten, suggested this line of
inquiryand provided supportalong theway,both as my advisor and as a research
colleague.
Iwould also like to expressmy gratitude toTorsten and Ragnar Soderbergs
Stiftelser, whose financial supportwas essential to this research project.
Working with historical material has taught me the joys of archive research. Not
only are archives a source ofwritten material, but one meets knowledgeable and
helpful people there. I am very grateful to Bengt Drugge at the Hakon archives,
Yvonne Winblad at Konsumentforeningen Stockholm's archives, Thomas
Karlsson at Praktiskt Butiksarbete and Carina Lindstrom at DLF. Nils Erik
Naslund of Dagligvaruleverantoremas Forbund took time to answer my
questions and gave me access to their archives and at Handelns
Utredningsinstitut I also had the opportunity to talk to Barbro Johansson and
Folke Larsson, the persons behind some of the HUI investigations. In collecting
archive material for the case descriptions, I have enjoyed the good
companionship of Hans Kjellberg whose research interests are tangent to mine.
Nils-Erik Wirsall has been an invaluable source of inspiration and facts. Among
the generous persons who have taken time to read and give helpful comments
on the materialI would especially like to direct my gratitude to Anders Forssell,
Johny KJohansson, Carina Holmberg and PatrikHidefjall. C G Engstrom and
Barbro Thuresson generously shared reference material. I would like to thank
Hcikan Lindgren for support and inspirations and for making the EHF seminar
series an inspiring forum for presenting and discussing research on trade.
I have presented earlier versions of the chapter on the introduction of the self
service format on three occasions - at the 1997 Nordic Workshop on
Interorganisational Research, at the EHF Symposium on Innovations,
Competition and Institutions in Trade and at the Prins Bertil Seminar on
Evolutionary Economics and Empirical Research. I wish to express my gratitude
both for the opportunity to presentmy work at these occasions and for the many
constructive comments and reactions.
In 1995 and 1996 I worked withStaffan Hulten on two MTC Research Reports on
daily goods retailing. This work was a startingpoint for my work in this empirical
field and knowledge gained in those studies was also useful in this thesis,
especially with respect to the chapter on the all-channel. The financial support for
those studies from Svensk Servicehandel, Livsmedelsekonomiska
Samarbetsniimnden and Stiftelsen Lantbruksforskning, is gratefully
acknowledged, as well as the importantcontribution ofMTC acting as a link
between research and industry. Financial support from Tore Browaldhs och Jan
Wallanders Stiftelser in an earlier stage of my work is also gratefully
acknowledged.
The D-section at the Stockholm School of Economics has provided a supportive
and stimulating environment to work in. For this I would like to thank my
colleagues: Per Andersson, Gunnar Alexandersson, Karolina Brodin, Olle
Hammarkvist, Susanne Hertz, C F Helgesson, Michael Kaplan, Karl Oskar
Kallsner, Dimitrios Ioannidis, Anders Liljenberg, Anders Lundgren, Bengt
Molleryd, Lena Nordenlow, Ivan Stehota, Kristoffer Strandqvist, Magnus
Soderlund, Bertil Thomgren, Mats Vilgon. A special thanks to Susanne Ostlund,
as a friend and as acolleague.
Rune Castenas is-truly a doctorate student'sbest friend, not only for being a
wizard of doctorate studentfinancing, but also for his interest and
encouragement. Ann-Charlotte Edgren has been very helpful in practical matters.
I am also very grateful to George Cook, who not only checked myEnglishwriting
butalso offered helpfulsuggestions and ideas "beyond the call ofduty".
My parents and my sister Karin have cheered me onwhen courage faltered, as
have many thoughtful friends - thank you! Finally, I would like to thank Sten
Nyberg for ideas, inspiration and support.
Stockholm in August, 1998.
Anna Nyberg
Contents
PARTI
Chapter1. Background and purpose 1
Introduction 1
Evolutionary economics 2
Some earlier studies of distribution innovations 3
Research objective 5
Delimitations 6
Method and limitations of method chosen. 6
Sources 9
KeyConcepts 10
Structure of the study 12
Chapter2.TheDistributionChannel 14
Introduction 14
Distribution channels - brief history of thought. 14
The microeconomics approach. 14
Some key concepts of the behavioural
approaches to distribution channels 21
Bringing economic and behavioural explanations together 30
A typology of change in distribution channels 38
Areas ofchange 39
Characteristics and characterisations of change 41
Chapter3.Evolutionin Industrial Systems. 44
Introduction 44
Foundations of evolutionary theory in biology 45
Three primary forces ofbiological evolution 46
Comparing genetic to cultural evolution processes. 47
The forces of cultural evolution 48
Comparing cultural evolution to evolution in economic systems. 52
Evolution in the Economy and Technological Innovation 53
Innovations - sources, content and magnitude 54
Selection round 1 - innovation - actor match 59
Insiders and outsiders 59
Modular or interdependent systems 62
Effectsoffirm sizeand ofdegreeof
vertical integration on innovation adoption 62
Selection round 2 - actor selection and market outcomes. 64
Dominant design and isomorphism 66
Collateral assets 68
Mobilising the assets of others 70
Path-dependence and lock-ins 70
Chapter4. EvolutioninDistributionChannels. 72
Introduction 72
The unit of analysis 72
Innovations in distribution channels - sources, content and magnitude 74
Selection round 1 - innovation to actor match 78
Position in the channel 79
Modular or interdependent systems 81
Effects offirm size and ofdegree of
vertical integration on innovation adoption 82
Selection round 2 - actor selection and market outcomes. 84
Dominant design 85
Collateral assets 87
Mobilising the assets of others 88
Path dependence and lock-in 89
Active opposition to the success of an innovation. 91
PART II
Chapter5. Introduction ofthe Self-serviceFormatin
Swedish GroceryRetailing 95
Introduction 95
The self-service innovation defined 96
Antecedents of self-service 97
Background to Swedish introduction 99
First successful introduction of self-service 102
Reasons for KFS and other consumer cooperative
societies to maintain uniform prices 104