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Internationalization in the Process of the Czech Retail Development

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Internationalization in the Process of the Czech Retail Development MARKETING A OBCHOD INTERNATIONALIZATION IN THE PROCESS OF THE CZECH RETAIL DEVELOPMENT Jozefina Simová Introduction written on the subject of retail internationalizati- on. There is an extensive knowledge on the in- The retail internationalization has accelera- ternationalization of retail operations in literature ted dramatically over last years and has made focusing mainly on: [3] retailing a global industry. Originally internatio- • the motives for retail internationalization [1], nalization activities represented moves among [19]; developed economies; however, later retailers • the geographical flows of investment inclu- shifted their retail expansions to developing ding studies of specific flows [2], [25]; economies. [9] They have rapidly expanded their • the temporal dimensions of investment; retail operations, the scale and geographical • case histories of individual firms [27]; scope of their sourcing operations, their regional • the impact of internationalization, particularly and global buying networks to source a variety of “new” concepts on less developed retail of goods for both home and overseas markets, environments; and distribution and logistic systems to many • methods and typologies of investment [23]; countries in East Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin • internationalization of large and small retail America. [4, p. 449] operations [10]; Socio-economic and political changes especi- • transfer of retail formats to developing econo- ally in Central and Eastern Europe following the mies [9]; fall of the Iron Curtain in the late 1980s led to • the strategic localization of transnational retai- emergence of new markets further east. In the lers [5]. 1990s, these countries introduced economic re- forms accompanied by the process of transition Various approaches ranging from studies of the of property from the state to private ownership, whole retail sector, to specific store formats and private enterprise development, procedures re- the activities of individual retail firms were used in lating to demonopolisation, decentralisation and the studies. Despite an effort of many academics, creation of new structures. The transition process these theories are not without their shortcomings. brought special conditions and produced a lot of The most common criticism is that they do not changes in all sectors of economy including all bring a clear definition of “retail” internationaliza- cultural, economic, political and social institutions, tion. What is more, the theories showed to have retailing, people, their behaviour and attitudes as limited value due to confusion that comes from consumers in general. The transition process of the attempt to apply theories developed in other centrally planned economies to free market econo- sectors. mies also influenced retailing to a great extent and This paper does not attempt to bring a com- created opportunities for international retailers to prehensive review of the theory on retail inter- expand their retail activities to these markets. As it nationalization. The objective of the paper is to had never happened before, the transition process contribute to the present knowledge of the retail provided a great opportunity to monitor and study internationalization by describing the entry of the changes in retailing sector. It thus contributed to international retailers into the Czech market in the present knowledge not only of retail evolution, the context of the retail development after 1990. but also to retail internationalization. [21] In order to understand the internationalization Changes in retailing have attracted a lot of process of the Czech retailing stimulated by the attention of many academics and much has been economic transition and evaluate changes in the strana 78 2 / 2010 E + M EKONOMIE A MANAGEMENT MARKETING A OBCHOD retail sector, it was necessary to review the role ted about 25-50 percent of the level of retailing in and functioning of the retail trade in the Czech western countries. Republic in chronological order. For this reason The retail sector was characterised insufficient the paper attempts to examine and describe the capacity of selling space and unsuitable structure changes in retailing in the Czech Republic inso- of stores. Quality of retail outlets was also behind far as what has happened since 1989 with a spe- the mentioned standard of western economies. The cial focus on retail internationalization process. It equipment and the inventory of most stores were of describes the retail structure (formal ownership, negligible values. Shops were small. The average organisation and composition of retailing) prior size of a shop was about 80 square meters. In to 1989. It then discusses how decentralisation, 1989, the socialist concept of the retail trade was liberalisation and privatisation policies brought characterised by constant shortages, long lines, by the economic transition in the 1990s influ- shoddy goods and poor quality of service. [22] enced the development of retailing, and, finally The economic transition in the Czech Republic it characterises changes in this sector in terms in the 1990s radically changed the structure and of retail internationalization and concentration development of the entire retail sector. The deve- tendencies. lopment of retailing was so dynamic that retailing The data presented in the paper were obtai- became the sector where transformation was ned by the secondary research on existing and accomplished in a relatively short time. available resources and publications. It should Evaluating the internationalization process of be stressed that a typical feature of the dynamic the Czech retailing, the following four periods can development of he Czech retailing in the 1990s be distinguished in its development after 1990: was a lack of accurate data on the retail network 1. Period 1990-1994 was characterised by and its structure in the official statistics. The first a high demand and low supply, fragmented retail census was conducted in 1999. Similarly, retail structure and weak competition. the sources of the precise data and statistics 2. Period 1995-1997 in which market on international retailers operating in the Czech was partially saturated (supply equalled market are rather limited. demand) with a slow economic growth, growing competition and increasing con- 1. Development of the Czech Re- centration in retailing. 3. Period 1998-2000 was characterised by tailing in the Process of the Econo- economic stagnation and recession. In mic Transition this period the market was already satura- In 1989, there were almost 43,000 retail stores ted (supply in the market was higher than in the Czech Republic. About 27,000 stores were demand) with a strong competition, stagna- owned by state and approximately 17,000 stores ting purchasing power and continuing con- were owned by co-operatives. The retail structure centration trends in retailing. [24, p. 121] Period after 2001 in terms of the number of shops per 1,000 inha- 4. till today has been cha- bitants, the number of inhabitants per shop and racterised by extensive development of the retail turnover per capita was underdeveloped. As retail network and growing market share of shown in Table 1 below, retail provision represen- the international retail chains. Tab. 1: Czech retail trade in comparison to the retail trade in western countries (1989) No. of Number of Selling space Number of Retail turnover Country shops/ people per (m2) /1000 people/ 1 per capita 1000 people shop people food store (USD) Czech Republic 4.2 240 328 432 1,900 Germany 5.1 190 893 381 4,000-6,000 France 7.8 130 692 286 4,000-6,000 Source: [20, p. 113] E + M EKONOMIE A MANAGEMENT 2 / 2010 strana 79 MARKETING A OBCHOD Tab. 2: Foreign investors participating in privatisation of the retail trade and service sector (1993) Foreign Type of Book value of Purchase price of Czech company investor participation stake (CSK mill.) stake (CSK mill.) Maj a.s. Praha 76.04 % K-mart (USA) 245 330 (department store) of shares Department stores in Brno, Hradec Kralove, K-mart (USA) Direct sale 663 930 Pardubice, Plzeň, Liberec Tchibo 32 % of Balirny Jihlava 36 94 (Germany) shares Sara Lee 100 % of Pražírny a balirny Praha 163 100 (Holland) shares Darex Praha Zane May 75 % of 33 (department store) (USA) shares Potraviny Praha 4, 8, 9 Delhaize Le Lion Direct sale 68 106 (partial) (Belgium) Fukuoka Jisho 36 % and 4 % Interhotel Jalta Praha and Miki Tourist 324 688 of shares (Japan) Source: [8, p. 88] Each period of the retail development is discus- opened borders and freed importation of foreign sed in more detail below. goods. Shortages in the market were thus eli- minated by imported goods. Foreign goods re- 1.1 Retail Development in the presented mainly by a few luxury items with very high profit margins could not effectively compete Czech Republic in 1990-1994 with the shoddy and cheap products that most The transition process that started in 1989 consumers were buying. Penetration of foreign began the qualitatively new period in the deve- products into the consumers’ markets, and a bet- lopment of Czech retailing. Organisational and ter satisfaction of consumers’ needs were later ownership changes caused by decentralisation, allowed by setting up exchange rates at more demonopolisation and eventually privatisation of realistic levels. This increased the level of com- the retail trade were the most significant changes petition among domestic suppliers and forced in the retail sector in the early 1990s. Both forms them to
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