Foreign Hypermarket Retailers in China

Spatial Penetration, Local Embeddedness, and Structural Paradox

Bibliographic Data

ID4486301
AuthorsLing Zhang (0000-0003-0442-8701, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84112‐9155), Y D Wei (0000-0002-8510-388X, University of Utah)
Year2015
Volume105
Issue4
Pages528-550
Publication date2015-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeographical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0016-7428 • E-ISSN: 1931-0846
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1931-0846.2015.12090.x
OpenAlexW2113416669
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited32

As the world economy shifts towards services, transnational corporations (s) in the service sector have accelerated their expansion in emerging economies. This paper examines the development and embeddedness of foreign hypermarket retailers in China. It also analyzes the spatial penetration patterns of retail s, the impacts of home and host economies on their local embeddedness, and how they resolve the structural paradox between enforcing standardization and conducting localization. The expansion of retail s has been influenced by the gradual liberalization policies of the Chinese government. Spatially, they expanded in two directions: from the eastern costal region to the central and western hinterland, and along China's urban hierarchy from larger cities to smaller cities. While home economies greatly influenced their initial strategies, foreign hypermarket retailers are constantly adjusting to better embed in the Chinese market and to more effectively resolve the structural paradox

Business · Centrality · China · Diversification (marketing strategy · Economic geography · Economics · Economy · Embeddedness · Geography · Hierarchy · Hypermarket · Liberalization · Market economy · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Marketing · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy

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