Strategy as practice: interactive governance spaces and the corporate strategies of retail transnationals

Palmer, Mark; O’Kane, Paula

doi:10.1093/jeg/lbm015

Cited by 21 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…Characterized by some as part of human geography's cultural, institutional, or relational "turns" (Crang, 1997;Amin and Thrift, 2000;Amin, 2001;Bathelt and Glückler, 2003;Yeung, 2005a), scholars with a wide range of empirical and theoretical interests have considered or studied how socio-spatial practices influence a diverse range of phenomena and processes: learning and innovation (Gertler, 2003;Amin and Cohendet, 2004;Faulconbridge, 2006;Hall, 2008;, industrial organization (Bathelt et al, 2004;Glückler, 2005;James, 2007;Jones, 2007;Palmer and O'Kane, 2007;Pain, 2008), market systems (Crewe et al, 2003;Gibson-Graham, 2008;Berndt and Boeckler, 2009), networks and globalization (Amin, 2002;Hess, 2004;Murphy, 2006a), livelihood strategies (Smith and Stenning, 2006;Stenning et al, 2010), development (Radcliffe and Laurie, 2006;Abbott et al, 2007), race, class, and gender relations (Cameron and Gibson-Graham, 2003;Slocum, 2007;Dowling, 2009), neoliberal governance (Larner, 2005;Larner and Laurie, 2009;Dowling, 2010), and consumption and householding (Barr and Gilg, 2006;Mansvelt, 2009). A common link between these literatures is an explicit interest in what can be broadly defined as 'socioeconomic practices': the stabilized, routinized, or improvised social actions that constitute and reproduce economic space, and through and within which diverse actors (e.g., entrepreneurs, workers, caregivers, consumers, firms) and communities (e.g., industries, places, markets, cultural groups) organize materials, produce, consume, and/or derive meaning from the economic world.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theorizing practice in economic geography: Foundations, challenges, and possibilities

Jones

Murphy

2010

Progress in Human Geography

197

175

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This is the unspecified version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Theorizing practice in economic geography: foundations, challenges, and possibilities Abstract: Over the last decade or so there has been an identifiable shift in the interests of many economic geographers towards a concern with practices: stabilized, routinized, or improvised social actions that constitute and reproduce economic space, and through and within which socioeconomic actors and communities embed knowledge, organize production activities, and interpret and derive meaning from the world. Although this shift has gained significant momentum its general theoretical significance remains somewhat unclear and the concept is vulnerable to criticisms that it is incoherent, too 'micro-scale' in emphasis, unable to provide valid links between everyday practices and higher-order phenomena (e.g., institutions, class structures) and that, in some cases, it lacks a sound political economy. This paper argues that whilst it undoubtedly has limitations, the practice-oriented shift represents an ongoing development of a longstanding and heterodox field of social scientific interest from both within and beyond the subdiscipline. We first highlight the diverse strands of economic geography scholarship that have an explicit interest in practices and then propose an epistemological and methodological framework for a practice-oriented economic geography. The framework is based on the polemical argument that insight from both critical realist and actor-network perspectives can provide the basis to better demarcate practices in relation to their social and spatio-temporal dimensions. It goes on to outline a reformulated retroductive methodology to assess the impacts and theoretical significance of particular economic-geographical practices. The paper concludes that practice offers a potentially powerful, yet complementary, epistemological tool that can create conceptual space for the study of a wide range of socioeconomic and geographical phenomena. Permanent repository link

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theorizing practice in economic geography: Foundations, challenges, and possibilities

Jones

Murphy

2010

Progress in Human Geography

197

175

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“…In addition, we earlier acknowledged the role of institutional investors, and, to a lesser extent, shareholder activism in influencing standards of corporate behaviour and disclosure Clark and Hebb, 2005;Hebb and, Wójcik, 2005). Given these array of pressures, Palmer and O'Kane (2007) argue that economic geographers should consider the discursive nature of corporate governance. In doing so, the direction of strategy is determined through processes of "argumentation" as retail TNCs must win acceptance and approval from key stakeholders for their strategies (Palmer and O'Kane, 2007).…”

Section: International Retailing and The Governance Implications Of Ementioning

confidence: 95%

Financing internationalisation: a case study of an African retail transnational corporation

Okeahalam¹,

Wood

2009

Journal of Economic Geography

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Economic geographers are directing increasing attention to international expansion by leading retail TNCs. However, there has been minimal examination of the financing methods of these firms and, while the major retail TNCs have supply relationships in subSahara Africa, so far none have opened stores on the continent. Therefore in this paper we analyse expansion into sub-Sahara Africa by a second tier retail TNC (Shoprite) and explore its financing strategy. We find that the food retail sector in sub-Sahara Africa is experiencing strong growth with high financial returns. We identify a pecking-order to financing the firm -with a preference for internal funding through retained earnings preceding long-term debt, and limited issuance of equity as a last resort. Given the efficiencies of debt financing, this preference is interpreted as reluctance to dilute returns to shareholders and as a pragmatic approach to financing expansion in 'particularistic' business environments.

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“…In this respect, a growing literature has thus consolidated the argument that economic globalization at the corporate level is producing radical changes in the nature of the world's largest firms (Dicken 2007;Yeung 2009). What is also clear from studies of firms in many different industries is that organizational globalization in these firms -what can be termed corporate globalization -is neither a uniform nor unproblematic process and that strategies and approaches for achieving a degree of corporate globality vary enormously between firms within and across industries (Jones 2003;Palmer & O'Kane 2007;Faulconbridge & Muzio 2009a). Furthermore, and central to the arguments of this chapter, is that the emergence (or otherwise) of corporate globality (and the degree to which it is successful) is heavily dependent on the key role of senior managers and a range of globalized working practices (Kipping 1999;Gluckler & Armbruster 2003;Gluckler 2005;Jones 2007;Faulconbridge 2008;Hall 2006;.…”

Section: ) Corporate Globalization: the Context Of Developing Globalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the key arguments emerging from this literature is that corporate globalization is producing both new kinds of global managers (Faulconbridge & Muzio 2009a) and new geographies of global managerial practice (De la Torre et al 2000;Yeung 2005b;Palmer & O'Kane 2007;Faulconbridge & Muzio 2009b). This represents the entry point for this paper.…”

Section: ) Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

New Geographies of Global Managerial Practice: The Case of Business Services

Jones¹

2012

Spaces of International Economy and Management

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Economic globalization is radically transforming the ways in which firms in all sectors organize themselves and operate in the global economy, not only in terms of the physical locations of offices and employees, but also with respect to organizational form, corporate strategy and the way in which work itself is undertaken. Managerial professionals are thus at the forefront of a major transformation of the way in which key wealth generating activity is now taking place in the global economy. However, this paper will argue that the management literature has been relatively slow to engage with these transformations, tending to remain focused on conventional concepts of the geographic space occupied by firms and their employees. In order to develop this proposition, the paper provides a critical overview of the key transformations of global managerial practice that are developing in the contemporary global economy. It draws on more than a decade of research into transnational business service firms in banking, management consultancy, legal services, accountancy and advertising. It examines how the working practices of international managerial professionals have responded and adapted to increasingly interconnected global markets for their services, which has been accompanied by a radical transformation and internationalisation of their working practices. In particular, it examines how the practices of corporate control and the need for a common global corporate culture are bound into new and dynamic corporate geographies that present significant challenges for existing place-focused concepts of global corporate operation.

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Strategy as practice: interactive governance spaces and the corporate strategies of retail transnationals

Cited by 21 publications

References 83 publications

Theorizing practice in economic geography: Foundations, challenges, and possibilities

Theorizing practice in economic geography: Foundations, challenges, and possibilities

Financing internationalisation: a case study of an African retail transnational corporation

New Geographies of Global Managerial Practice: The Case of Business Services

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