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Barriers to ‘industrialisation’ for interwar British retailing? The case of Marks & Spencer Ltd

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  • Peter Scott
  • James T. Walker

Abstract

Research on international differences in retail productivity has highlighted formidable environmental barriers to the ‘industrialisation’ of mass retailing as a driver of declining British interwar productivity growth in this sector (and in services more generally). We examine evidence for such barriers, using a case study of a firm that built its interwar expansion strategy on ‘American’ retail methods – Marks & Spencer (M&S). We find that, rather than facing barriers to the adoption of American mass retail practices, M&S reaped major productivity gains from this process. This adds further evidence to an emerging literature rejecting the barriers to industrialisation thesis for retailing.

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  • Peter Scott & James T. Walker, 2017. "Barriers to ‘industrialisation’ for interwar British retailing? The case of Marks & Spencer Ltd," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(2), pages 179-201, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:bushst:v:59:y:2017:i:2:p:179-201
    DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2016.1156088
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    Cited by:

    1. Basker, Emek & Vickers, Chris & Ziebarth, Nicolas L., 2018. "Competition, productivity, and survival of grocery stores in the Great Depression," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 282-315.

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