The stresses of retail internationalization: lessons from Royal Ahold's experience in Latin America
The stresses of retail internationalization: lessons from Royal Ahold's experience in Latin America
Written prior to the financial crisis of the world’s third largest retailer following its announcement of accounting irregularities on February 24 2003, this paper uses a case study of Ahold’s struggles to manage significant investment in the unpredictable business environments of Latin America to focus attention on the stresses internationalization poses for the retail firm. It offers a picture of retail multinationals facing distinctive organizational challenges as they seek to transpose internal and inter-firm practices to markedly different institutional environments, and of a highly contested retail internationalization process – not least by the suppliers of finance. It concludes by drawing out five lessons for retail internationalization theory from Ahold’s experiences.
A postscript then summarizes the events following Ahold’s revelation of significant accounting irregularities through to the announcement of its decision on 3 April 2003 to withdraw from South America. That postscript assesses what further insights the corporate scandal has revealed about Ahold’s management of its significant investment in the region.
ahold, divestment, latin america, merchant economy, particularistic economies, retail internationalization, stakeholder capitalism
221-243
Wrigley, Neil
e8e2986a-fbf0-4b27-9eef-1b5e6a137805
Currah, Andrew
960de820-cf28-4d20-927e-19bb3cd51bda
July 2003
Wrigley, Neil
e8e2986a-fbf0-4b27-9eef-1b5e6a137805
Currah, Andrew
960de820-cf28-4d20-927e-19bb3cd51bda
Wrigley, Neil and Currah, Andrew
(2003)
The stresses of retail internationalization: lessons from Royal Ahold's experience in Latin America.
International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 13 (3), .
(doi:10.1080/0959396032000101336).
Abstract
Written prior to the financial crisis of the world’s third largest retailer following its announcement of accounting irregularities on February 24 2003, this paper uses a case study of Ahold’s struggles to manage significant investment in the unpredictable business environments of Latin America to focus attention on the stresses internationalization poses for the retail firm. It offers a picture of retail multinationals facing distinctive organizational challenges as they seek to transpose internal and inter-firm practices to markedly different institutional environments, and of a highly contested retail internationalization process – not least by the suppliers of finance. It concludes by drawing out five lessons for retail internationalization theory from Ahold’s experiences.
A postscript then summarizes the events following Ahold’s revelation of significant accounting irregularities through to the announcement of its decision on 3 April 2003 to withdraw from South America. That postscript assesses what further insights the corporate scandal has revealed about Ahold’s management of its significant investment in the region.
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Published date: July 2003
Keywords:
ahold, divestment, latin america, merchant economy, particularistic economies, retail internationalization, stakeholder capitalism
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Local EPrints ID: 14220
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/14220
ISSN: 0959-3969
PURE UUID: f9a4bf09-c1ad-4455-a38b-10ff11a18991
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Date deposited: 10 Feb 2005
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:38
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Author:
Andrew Currah
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