Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management Volume 1 Number 4

La mode sans frontières? The internationalisation of fashion retailing

Christopher M. Moore Received: 30th September, 1996

Institute for Retail Studies, Department of Marketing, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, UK; tel: 01786 467 392; e-mail: c.m.j.moore@stir.ac.uk

Christopher Moore is Principal Researcher and Lecturer in Fashion Marketing at the Glas­gow Caledonian University, Scotland.

A B S T R A C T KEYWORDS: own-brand, niche market, interna­tionalisation, push-and-pull factors, capsule collection, master franchising, wholesaling channel

This paper examines the internationalisation activities of eight French fashion retailers, with particular reference to their motivations and methods of entry into the UK retail fashion sector. The research results suggest that the 'new wave' of French fashion retailers (ie those estab­lished within the past 20 years), take a more proactive approach to cross-border expansion than their more established counterparts. Expanding further the traditional motivations for internationalisation, as well as emphasising the importance of wholesaling and master-

franchising to fashion retailer market entry, the research provides a valuable insight into the pan-national activities of fashion retailers. The paper concludes by making a case for further research into this much neglected, but very important area.

INTRODUCTION 'High levels of market concentration, exceptional customer own-brand loyalty

and retailer-controlled supply chains — these are perfect conditions for a foreign fashion retailer to enter and quickly gain share within the UK fashion retail market!' (Director of Buying, French youthwear retailer)

The British retail fashion market, as sug­gested in the opening quote, is something of a paradox, a contradiction. Despite regressive sales growth, competitive trad­ing conditions and the existence of highly successful indigenous fashion retail chains, the UK fashion sector has become the focus for expansion by an unprece­dented number of foreign fashion retail­ers. Within a European context, the British fashion market is unique; both in terms of levels of market concentration and penetration of fashion retailer own-brands.1 While numerically, single outlet, family-owned businesses predominate (accounting for 97 per cent of the total number of fashion retail businesses in 1994),- market power, as measured by share of total fashion retail sales, lies unequivocally with a very few, publicly owned, multi-outlet businesses (0.3 of the total number of businesses accounted for 55 per cent of sales turnover in 1995).3 The two largest fashion retailers, the Bur­ton Group and Marks & Spencer, cumu­latively shared a 34 per cent market share in 1995.4 These market dominating retail­ers have achieved success through the

Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management Vol. 1 No. 4. 1997. pp. 345-356, © Henry Stewart Publications, 1361-2026

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pursuit of scale economies, the benefit of collaborative buyer-supplier relationships and the expensive replication of successful trading formats. Allied to this concentra­tion in market power has been the development of the fashion retailer own-brand, as fashion retailers seek to maxi­mise the advantages borne from their market strength, through the development of lifestyle marketing, communicated through the medium of precise own-brand imagery to expertly defined target market groups.3 Fashion retailer own-brands are more successful than manu­facturer brands, have a market penetration in excess of 60 per cent and are the focus of the product marketing strategies of all the major fashion retail players.6

Yet, regardless of such obvious barriers to success, foreign fashion retailers have nevertheless been attracted to the British market, and research relating to total foreign retailer UK investment in the past 15 years indicates that 63 per cent of such investments are located within the fashion and accessories sector.7 French, Italian and American fashion retailers continue to be the most prolific entrants (as measured by the total number of businesses), operating through franchises, joint ventures or their own stores. Of these entrants, French retailers are the most significant, and account for over 50 per cent of the total number of foreign fashion retailers oper­ating within the UK.8 Further analysis of their trading strategies identifies an almost exclusive focus upon precise niche markets, notably those of lingerie/under­wear, young female casualwear and high fashion/couture. Within the UK, these segments are typically regarded as high risk, high reward (with a higher than average mark-up) and are very competi-tive.9

Within this context, this investigation (which is part of a wider longitudinal study of fashion retailer internationalisa­tion), seeks to identify both the motiva­

tions and the methods of entry adopted by French retailers currently operating within the UK retail fashion market. As a preliminary to this process, literature relating to retailer internationalisation will be reviewed, particularly that which relates to motivations and methods of internationalisation.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Motives and methods While the works of Belussi10 and White­head11 have provided useful insights to the internationalisation of fashion retailing at company level, and Crewe and Lowe,12

Moylan13 and Ramshaw14 have sought to identify the key issues associated with international sourcing and branding, fashion retailer internationalisation is generally under-represented in the litera­ture. Instead, greater significance is given to the international activities of grocery retailers, such as in the work of Alexander et al.15 and Fernie.16 This seeming research neglect is somewhat anomalous given that Dawson17 identifies that internationalisa­tion is more common among non-food retailers than food retailers and suggests that more opportunities exist for fashion retailer internationalisation on the basis that fashion, unlike food, is less bound by cultural dimensions which might other­wise limit its transferability into foreign markets. This assertion is also reflected in the work of Crewe and Lowe18 and Huat Chua.19 Again, it is Dawson who makes the most significant contribution to our understanding of the international success of non-food, and particularly fashion retailers. Figure 1 is adapted from this work and provides a resumé of the key features of fashion retailer international­isation.

Motivations Hollander20 provides an early explanation of retailer motivations, and these include

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Figure 1 Factors which enable fashion retailer internationalisation

• Small format size: requires limited capital investment, minimum management costs

• Relative ease of market entry and exit • Precise consumer targeting • Transferability of a single brand

product and store identity • Suitability for franchising the concept/

brand • Associated cachet of connection with

foreign retailer • Economies of replication

Source: Dawson (ref. 17).

political, socio-economic and commercial reasons. Kacker21 cites 'push' and 'pull' factors which encourage the retailers to internationalise; the former are prompted by limiting home market conditions, the latter to opportunities that exist within the foreign market. Alexander- provides use­ful examples of each type. Among those he identifies are:

— Push: domestic market maturity, for­mat saturation, restrictive regulatory environment, hostile competitive environment, poor economic condi­tions, negative social conditions

— Pull: underdeveloped retail structure, favourable exchange rates, niche opportunities, innovative retail culture, large market, good socio-economic conditions

While acknowledging the use of such cat­egorisations as a means of understanding trading conditions and retailers' relative market positions, Alexander argues that these do not adequately explain retailers' actual responses to such conditions. Fol­lowing from Williams,23 Alexander argues that retailers can be either proactive or reactive in their response to both domes­tic and international market opportunities.

A proactive approach seeks foreign market entry, not for reasons of domestic market saturation but for those of international market opportunity. Conversely, a reactive response is born, not for reasons of inter­national entrepreneurship, but because of the pressures associated with domestic market saturation.

Modes of entry Sparks24 identifies a range of entry methods available to the internationalising retailer and, in so doing, draws a con­tinuum whereby a retailer can choose to have little actual involvement in a foreign market through a non-controlling interest, or can have direct involvement by expanding through its own operations. Dawson, by identifying the mechanisms by which foreign market operations can be established, provides a critique of the relative advantages and disadvantages of each approach. These are identified in Figure 2.

Sparks25 maintains that the process of retailer internationalisation is much more than the opening of outlets, but also includes the transference of a multiplicity of dimensions, ranging from managerial expertise to local consumer intelligence. He identifies an inverse relationship between levels of direct involvement and levels of knowledge transfer, whereby as direct involvement decreases, so levels of knowledge transfer or borrowing increase. A franchise arrangement pro­vides an equilibrium whereby when a franchiser's direct involvement is matched by local market knowledge and financial investment of the franchisee.

Survey details A total of eight French fashion retailers, currently operating within the UK, were included in this study. Participants were selected on the basis that they had been operating within the UK for at least three years and had two or more outlets within

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Figure 2 Critique of methods to establish international retail operations

Mechanisms

Internal expansion

Merger or take-over

Franchise-type agreement

Joint venture

Non-controlling Interest

Advantages

• open to any size of firm • experimental openings

possible, with moderate risk and cost

• ease of exit, esp. in early stages • allows rapid prototyping

• substantial market presence achieved quickly

• immediate cash flow • management team in place

already • possibility of technological

transfer to home firm • may be a means of gaining

locations for later transfer to a chosen format

• rapid expansion • low cost to franchiser • marginal markets can be

addressed • local management can be used • variety of agreements available • use locally competitive

marketing policy • means of overcoming entry

barriers • possible to link with firm

established in the market • help in climbing learning curve • possible to move later to either

exit or make full entry into market

• find out about market with minimal risk

• knowledgeable management

Disadvantages

• long time to establish substantial presence

• senior management see action as a diversion

• requires full locational assessment

• more difficult if host market is far from the home market

• difficult to exit if mistake is made

• evaluation of take-over target is difficult and time consuming

• suitable firms may not be available

• substantial top management commitment necessary

• possibly complex legal requirements

• necessary to recruit suitable franchises

• difficult to control foreign franchises

• may become locked into an unsatisfactory relationship

• necessary to share benefits • difficulty in finding a suitable

partner

• passive position • investment made with little

influence

Source: Dawson (ref. 17).

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Britain. Six of the companies were sur­veyed using semi-structured, face-to-face interviews at their Paris offices, while the other two retailers were interviewed by telephone.

Company executives responsible for international expansion were interviewed, and these included company owners/chief executives, export managers and buying directors. All interviews were conducted in summer 1995 and spring 1996. For reasons of confidentiality, none of the participating organisations can be identi­fied. However, the sectors within which these companies operate are identified in Table 1.

The primary aims of the face-to-face and telephone interviews were to:

— identify their motivations for entering into the UK market;

— to examine the methods of entry adopted by these retailers.

The interview transcripts were analysed using thematic-keyword content analysis, and ordered in terms of frequency of occurrence and interviewee emphasis.

DISCUSSION

The extent of international activity Commentators, such as McGoldrick,26

have alluded to something of a mismatch

Table 1: Participating fashion retailers categorised by product sector

Sector

Menswecar Young female casualwear Childrenswear High fashion/design house Young male/female casualwear Men's underwear and accessories Total

Number

1 2 1 2 1 1 8

between the level of research attention afforded to retailer internationalisation and the extent to which retailers actually participate in such activity. Indeed, McGoldrick maintains that international involvement is the minority activity for most retailers. As a preliminary to this research discussion, it is important to highlight the significance of foreign market trading to the total turnover of each of the retailers surveyed. The per­centage contribution of foreign turnover is illustrated in Table 2 and Figure 3 below.

While international trading is clearly important to the turnover of all the retail­ers who were willing to disclose these figures, it was particularly significant to three retailers who offer high profile brands to precise target groups. Their international dependence and success is in line with Dawson's observations, detailed in Figure 1.27

MOTIVATIONS FOR ENTRY In common with Alexander's28 earlier contention that retailers' motivations for international involvement are both varied and complex, this study identified that motivations varied:

— according to the 'age' of the company. — depending on the country selected for

entry.

Of the eight fashion retailers surveyed, six were established or had changed owner­ship within the past 20 years, while the remainder had been trading for over 40 years. Of the newer retailers, all had engaged in international trading within the first seven years of trading (not neces­sarily within the UK), while the more established retailers had traded in France for 30 or more years before engaging in international activity. Their respective motives for internationalisation are pre­sented in Table 3.

The 'younger' fashion retailers were

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Table 2: Foreign market sales turnover as a percentage of total sales

Retail sector

Mcnswcar Childrcnswcar Young male/female casualwear Men's underwear & accessories High fashion/design house Young female casualwear Young female casualwcar Young female casualwcar High fashion/design house

Contribution of foreign market turnover to total turnover 1995

51% N/A N/A 77% 58% 37% 54% 80% 85%

evidently more proactive in their outlook and were motivated by the commercial possibilities that existed in other coun­tries, unlike their more established coun­terparts who sought international involvement primarily for reasons of domestic market limitation. Participants suggested that differences in corporate culture and organisational outlook had a direct bearing on approaches to interna­tionalisation, as reflected in this statement from one export manager, 'The newer fashion retailers have emerged with a mentality where everyone thinks inter­nationally, and the market is not just France, but the world. It is natural for them that international activity should come early on'.

Table 3: Primary motives for internationalisation

Internationalised within 7 years

Transferability of brand Identified niche markets Demographic opportunities Availability of a trading partner Underdeveloped competitive structure Technological capability

Internationalised after 30 years

Restricted domestic market growth Maturity in demand Increased domestic competition Domestic economic conditions

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Motivations for entry into the UK That the French should find any motiva­tion at all to enter the UK retail fashion market is surprising given the structural and trading characteristics previously identified. However, rather than being prohibitive in nature, the 'younger' retail­ers suggested that such market features afforded them important opportunities within the UK. They suggested that the market dominance enjoyed by the major British fashion chains had resulted in a fashion market that:

— lacked product differentiation between competing fashion firms;

— was bereft of product innovation, par­ticularly within the young casualwear markets;

— had become dependent upon price as a means of competition, an established feature of French fashion competition.

Motivated by such competitive opportuni­ties, the French retailers argued that their success within the UK could be attributed to innovative appeal of their branded col­lections and is best illustrated by one interviewee's comments: 'Our motivation was simple. The British customer was looking for something different from the high street, but could not find it. We are able to offer them stylish clothes and the cachet of a French brand is an added incentive for them to purchase.'

But while the motivation to seize opportunities derived from unfulfilled market demand is in no way unique to the UK, the research identified motiva­tions found to be uniquely associated with UK market entry. These motivations, some of which were shared by the retail­ers interviewed, are identified below.

Personal ambition The personal aspirations of those who own retail businesses involved in inter-nationalisation are rarely considered in the

literature related to motivation. However, this dimension was identified as being highly significant within the research. One owner suggested that entry into the UK was initially a matter of satisfying personal ambition, since he believed that the UK was the most important and most difficult market to enter and develop. On occasion, this motivation was regarded as nothing other than 'blind ambition' and one buying director stated that, 'we knew that we were in the UK because the owner felt we had to be there. But she could never really tell us the reason why!'

Market prestige With an international reputation as leaders in product quality (derived from col­laborative buyer-supplier relationships), experts in own-brand development and operations management, the French parti­cipants indicated that the British fashion sector has a world-class reputation. As a result of this international standing, fashion retailers, seeking an international reputation, must have a presence within the UK market. UK participation was felt not only to enhance a retailer's inter­national reputation, but also assisted the expansion of those retailers into other countries. As one export manager explained, 'Within fashion, a successful brand must be positioned as an inter­national brand. Involvement in the UK is vital to the development of such a reputa­tion. With the US, the UK market is the most influential. UK trading holds kudos, other countries want you if you trade suc­cessfully in the UK!'

Access to British consumers Within the research literature, little men­tion is made of the role of the consumer as a pre-entry motivation. However, in this study (and perhaps unexpectedly), the French companies suggested that certain

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segments of the UK market, such as the teenage and female casualwear segments, were the most innovative and experi­mental in Europe. And while the main UK fashion chains were criticised for fail­ing to respond to such characteristics, the French fashion houses regarded such con­sumer experimentalism as a market opportunity. These were frequently addressed in the form of 'capsule collec­tions'; tailored ranges designed to suit British market need. While uneconomic in terms of scale when compared to pan-national collections, the British collections were used as 'trial and inspiration' ranges, the successful elements of which were integrated into mainstream collections. 'The British collections, for the young female market in particular, are very experimental. But that is great for us, for we get to trail lines, but without the risk since the market is receptive to new ideas, and we can then take the best parts, through our quick response, into our other markets', explained one buying director.

Exposure to own-brand development Recognising the expertise of UK fashion retailers in own-brand development, the majority of those surveyed suggested that their expertise of trading within Britain served to inform and direct their brand management. One suggested that UK trading had encouraged improvements in their standards of merchandise presenta­tion and these improvements had 'fed back' to improve the visual merchandising practices of the company in other coun­tries. Similarly, another retailer, operating within the teenage casualwear market, adopted a store interior, designed specific­ally by and for the British market, into their domestic and worldwide operations. Explaining that the British stores were able to sustain 30 per cent higher prices than the French stores, the company indi­cated that after the French stores were

refurbished, these experienced a compar­able increase in mark-up.

Access to media exposure Given the representational nature of the fashion brand, media exposure by way of fashion publications, personality endorse­ment and television coverage (such as MTV), was identified as crucial to fashion success, particularly within the high fashion/heavily branded markets. In order to gain access to an international media platform, a presence in London, in par­ticular, was described as vital. The rela­tionship between a UK presence and media exposure is explained by one sales director, who said, We had opened stores all over Europe and had got some local coverage. When we opened in Knights-bridge, WOW! everyone wanted to know us and the world loved us when Princess Diana wore us!'

METHODS OF ENTRY

Wholesaling: a useful preliminary None of those retailers surveyed entered the UK market by joint venture or through acquisition. Instead, all entered by a two-stage approach. The first stage, through wholesale agreements, was com­mon to all the companies. Wholesaling was seen as a means of:

— entering a foreign market by selling to a local retailer without financial risk or significant resource investment;

— testing market reaction to the brand/ product/concept;

— generating a customer following; — developing relationships with possible

franchise partners; — generating market information, re siz­

ing etc.

However, while the previous literature has suggested that minimum resource investment and non-controlling interest is tantamount to knowledge dependence and

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non-participation on the part of the inter­nationalising retailer, most of the com­panies involved in this research maintained high levels of control over their wholesale cutomers in order to pro­tect brand identity. Typically, regulation related to pricing, visual presentation and methods of promotion. For one presti­gious retailer, control extended to their right to veto the stocking of rival brands by the wholesale customer.

Master franchising: a new form of cross-border alliance? After an initial entry into the UK through wholesale channels, the second stage of market development was found to be through in-store concessions, master-fran­chise agreements, company-owned stores or a combination of all three approaches. The advent of the second stage did not necessarily result in the abandonment of the first. Four companies retained their 'wholesaling channel' alongside franchise networks or company-owned stores. Unlike their UK counterparts, who invariably seek distribution exclusivity through their own outlets, the French did not regard stockists of their merchandise as competitors, provided, of course, that these did not engage in unauthorised dis­counting. Maximum distribution and loyalty to their product range/brand was felt more important than issues of exclu­sivity and loyalty to specific retail outlets.

Within their domestic market, franchis­ing was found to be the most common method of market development. Similarly, each of the eight companies surveyed had used this method as a means of inter­national expansion, and for the majority, only when the search for a suitable fran­chise partner was exhausted, was the deci­sion taken to operate company-owned stores or in-store concessions. Adopted by seven of the eight retailers for UK trad­ing, master franchising was found to involve the typical recruitment of a UK

franchise partner. However, unlike typical franchise arrangements where the fran­chisee has limited, but sufficient financial and commercial resources, the master-franchise method instead links the foreign retailer with an established trader with significant human, financial and physical resources. Among those UK master-fran­chise partners identified in this research were:

— companies that currently operate fran­chises for a variety of other inter­national fashion brands;

— established and successful fashion retailers;

— established fashion wholesalers/dis­tributors.

Typically, master-franchise agreements were found to give the master-franchise partner:

— exclusive rights to distribute the French retailer's product range within the UK;

— exclusive rights to trade under the retailer's name and to adopt their trad­ing format and identity;

— total responsibility for all aspects of UK trading;

— authority to operate their own stores, sub-franchise to other parties or oper­ate a wholesale division to distribute the product range within the UK.

Typically, the master franchisee would be committed to a guaranteed annual buying budget, a store-opening programme covering a 3-5 year period, and in a minority of cases, a 'royalty fee'. As a route to internationalisation, master fran­chising was found to differ markedly from traditional franchise arrangements, pri­marily in relation to issues of control, relationship power and the reciprocal exchange of knowledge and expertise. Consequently, one interviewee remarked that the master-franchise arrangement was

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more like a form of joint venture as opposed to a traditional franchise deal.

Control Primarily for reasons of franchisee expert­ise, the master-franchise approach resulted in a significant devolvement of operational control on the part of the French franch­iser. Indeed, for one company, this opera­tional devolution was absolute and the resulting relationship became purely transactional. It was described as follows: 'Our trust in our UK partner is total. We leave them totally to promote and manage the brand and company in the UK. Really, all we do is supply the goods and they provide the necessary payment'. While the devolvement of responsibility was not as extreme in every case, it was nonetheless significant in all. Respondents emphasised the need for mutual trust and explained how responsibilities were passed incrementally as relationshps strength­ened.

Frequently described as a 'hands-off approach, the comment of a buying direc­tor succinctly explains the reasoning behind this method. We operate in ten countries and we are still a very small company. Our strength is in our design, in the product and our image. We cannot possibly get involved in the running of every country's operations — we would cease to be productive. But get a like-minded partner, and leave them to do their job. We still retain the most import­ant control element, the product. That's what matters.'

Relationship power The British master franchise partners were identified, not as passive pipelines for the distribution of the French fashion retailer's stock, but were instead seen to be very active participants in their respec­tive partnerships. Their involvement included:

— inputs into product design and development;

— commmissioning external designers, manufacturers and suppliers to develop products that would either supplement or replace items in the French collec­tions which were deemed inapprop­riate for the UK market;

— commissioning advertising campaigns to suit the UK market better;

— developing of store formats; — developing and implementing organ­

isational systems, management pro­cedures, distribution networks and personnel policies.

Their 'right' to have an active involve­ment in such decisions was defended by one respondent: 'These are very experi­enced people who have made significant investments in this business. They have every right to have their say. This master franchise set-up is not about putting a gun to their head and telling them what to do, like the tradition fashion franchise. It is a partnership in every sense.'

Reciprocal exchange While in 'traditional' franchise arrange­ments the franchiser is typically the key source of knowledge and expertise, within these master-franchise partnerships, the franchisees were seen to make important contributions, not only to UK trading, but within the other markets that their respec­tive franchisers were involved in. In par­ticular, their ideas and experience in such areas as distribution, information tech­nology and market positioning, were acknowledged by five of the companies surveyed.

CONCLUSIONS Sparks29 argued that retailer international­isation was a complex and frustrating topic and in many respects the findings of this research attest to such an analysis. But with no immediate signs of abate-

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ment in cross-border fashion retail expan­sion, this study makes a case for a fuller analysis of fashion internationalisation, at both a macro and operational level. Indeed it could be argued that greater research attention at company specific level would provide for a better under­standing of this complex subject.

The findings discussed have parallels in the established literature relating to retail­ers' motives and methods of international­isation, but also bring new dimensions to this debate. In particular, this research suggests that the 'new wave' of French fashion retailers have a more expansive view of market potential, as evidenced in their proactive approach to international market involvement and the wide range of motives which prompt their decision to export their businesses. In addition, the identification of the pivotal role that wholesaling plays in the international expansion of fashion retailing and the realisation of new forms of cross-border alliances (in the form of master-franchise agreements), serves to add an invaluable perspective to our understanding of the methods of retailer international expan­sion. Within this context, there is every justification to redeem fashion from it's 'poor relation' status, so that it may be more widely included in the canon of international retailing research.

REFERENCES (1) Hines, T. (1995) 'Strategies for Supply

Chain Management in Global Markets', The Journal of Clothing Tech­nology and Management, Vol. 12, No. 3, 96-111.

(2) Mintel (1995) Clothing Retailing, Vol. 6, Mintel Marketing Intelligence.

(3) Ibid. (4) Marks & Spencer/The Burton Group

(1996) Annual Report and Statement of Accounts 1996.

(5) Moore, C. M. and Leroy, С. (1995) 'Penetration du Pret a Porter Français dans le marche Brittanique?' The Jour­

nal of Clothing Technology and Manage­ment, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 129-162.

(6) Moore, C. M. (1995) 'From Rags to Riches — creating and benefiting from the fashion own brand', International

Journal of Retail & Distribution Manage­ment, Vol. 23, No. 9, pp. 19-28.

(7) Oxford Institute for Retail Manage­ment (1993) 'Trends in European Retail Expansion', Retail Week, 3rd September.

(8) See ref. 5 above. (9) See ref. 2 above. (10) Belussi, F. 'Benetton: Information in

Production and Distribution', SPRU Occasional Paper Series, University of Sussex.

(11) Whitehead, M. (1992) 'Britain's Lead­ing Retailer: Quality and Value World­wide', Cortco Case-study Conference Proceedings, London.

(12) Crewe, L. and Lowe, M. (1996) 'United Colours? Globalization and locational tendencies in fashion retail­ing', in Neil Wrigley and Michelle Lowe (eds) 'Retailing, Consumption and Capital', Longman, England.

(13) Moylan, P. (1991) 'Retailers review sourcing', Drapers Record, 28th Septem­ber.

(14) Ramshaw, J. (1993) 'A source subject', Drapers Record, 6th February.

(15) Alexander, N. (1992) 'Saturation and Internationalisation: The Future of Grocery Retailing in the UK', Inter­national Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 33-39.

(16) Fernie, J. (1995) 'International Com­parisons of Supply Chain Management in Grocery Retailing', in 'The Inter-nationalisation of Retailing', Frank Cass, London, pp. 134-147.

(17) Dawson, J. (1994) 'The International­isation of Retailing Operations', Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 10, pp. 267-282.

(18) See ref. 12 above. (19) Huat Chua (1992) 'Shopping for

women's fashion in Singapore', in R. Shields (ed) 'Lifestyle shopping: the

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subject of consumption', Routledge, London.

(20) Hollander, S. C. (1970) 'Multinational Retailing', Michigan State University, ML.

(21) Kacker, M. (1985) 'Transatlantic Trends in Retailing', Quorum, London.

(22) Alexander, N . (1995) 'Internationalisa­tion: Interpreting the Motives', in 'International Retailing', Macmillan, pp. 77-98.

(23) Williams, D. E. (1992) 'Retailer Inter-nationalisation — An Empirical

Enquiry', European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 26, No. 8/9, pp. 8-24.

(24) Sparks, L. (1995) 'Reciprocal Retail Internationalisation' in 'The Interna­tionalisation of Retailing', Frank Cass, London, pp. 57—96.

(25) Ibid. (26) McGoldrick, P. (1995) 'Introduction to

International Retailing' in 'Inter­national Retailing', MacMillan, London, pp. 1-13.

(27) See ref. 17 above. (28) See ref. 22 above. (29) See 24 above.

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