Retail Internationalization and Urban Restructuring

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Retail Internationalization and Urban Restructuring RETAIL INTERNATIONALIZATION AND URBAN RESTRUCTURING IN CHINA: A STUDY OF FOREIGN HYPERMARKETS AND URBAN LAND WITH GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM AND REMOTE SENSING by Ling Zhang A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography The University of Utah December 2016 Copyright © Ling Zhang 2016 All Rights Reserved The University of Utah Graduate School STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL The dissertation of Ling Zhang has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: Yehua Dennis Wei , Chair 07/14/2016 Date Approved Thomas J. Cova , Member 07/14/2016 Date Approved Neng Wan , Member 07/14/2016 Date Approved Richard R. Forster , Member 07/14/2016 Date Approved Michael F. Timberlake , Member 07/14/2016 Date Approved and by Andrea R. Brunelle , Chair/Dean of the Department/College/School of Geography and by David B. Kieda, Dean of The Graduate School. ABSTRACT China’s retail sector has undertaken tremendous transformation since its opening to foreign investment in 1992. Retail transnational corporations have expanded rapidly in this emerging market. Yet relatively little is known about how they have embedded in the Chinese market and expanded spatially and temporally. China has experienced unprecedented urbanization since the onset of economic reform in 1978. Dramatic land use and land cover (LULC) change and urban expansion have taken place in the past three decades. Detailed time-series analysis of LULC change and urban growth in Chinese cities is still scant. This dissertation focuses on the expansion of foreign hypermarket retailers in China and the urban growth in one Chinese city, Suzhou. This research analyzes the penetration strategy and local embeddedness of foreign hypermarket retailers, examines their spatial inequality and dynamics at different geographical levels, and identifies their location determinants through binary logistic regression models. This study applies random forest classification to multitemporal Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images of Suzhou for LULC change analysis, employs landscape metrics and Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis to investigate urban growth patterns, and develops global and local logistic regression models to identify determinants of urban growth. The results indicate that spatiotemporal expansion of foreign hypermarket retailers has been largely dictated by the gradual liberalization policy of the Chinese government. Their local embeddedness has been impacted by both home and host economies. Relative gaps in foreign hypermarkets among three macro regions are narrowing while absolute gaps are widening. Provincial foreign hypermarket distribution has shown significant clustering in the Yangtze River Delta since 2005. Their distribution in Shanghai has changed from dispersion to intensified clustering and shown a clear trend of suburbanization. This study confirms that the random forest algorithm can effectively classify the heterogeneous landscape in Suzhou and LULC change has accelerated from 1986 to 2008. Three urban growth types, edge-expansion, infilling, and leapfrog are identified. Compared with the global model, the geographically weighted logistic regression model has overall better goodness-of-fit and provides more insights to spatial variations of the influence of underlying factors on urban growth. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... xi Chapters 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background .......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Literature Review and Research Objectives ........................................................ 3 1.3 Data and Methodology ......................................................................................... 9 1.4 Organization of the Dissertation .........................................................................11 1.5 References .......................................................................................................... 12 2 FOREIGN HYPERMARKET RETAILERS IN CHINA: SPATIAL PENETRATION, LOCAL EMBEDDEDNESS, AND STRUCTRUAL PARADOX ................................... 17 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 17 2.2 Literature Review ............................................................................................... 19 2.3 Research Background and Context .................................................................... 24 2.4 Spatial and Temporal Penetration of Foreign Hypermarket Retailers ............... 29 2.5 Local Embeddedness and Structural Paradox of Foreign Retailers ................... 38 2.6 Conclusion and Discussion ................................................................................ 46 2.7 References .......................................................................................................... 48 3 SPATIAL INEQUALITY AND DYNAMICS OF FOREIGN HYPERMARKETS IN CHINA .............................................................................................................................. 53 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 53 3.2 Theoretical Framework and Research Background ........................................... 55 3.3 Data and Methodology ....................................................................................... 58 3.4 Retail Transformation and Hypermarket Retailing in China ............................. 64 3.5 Foreign Hypermarkets in Regional and Provincial China ................................. 66 3.6 Location Determinants of Major Foreign Hypermarket Retailers ..................... 71 3.7 Expansion Patterns of Major Foreign Hypermarket Retailers ........................... 76 3.8 Spatial Clustering and Suburbanization of Foreign Hypermarket in Shanghai . 82 3.9 Conclusion and Discussion ................................................................................ 86 3.10 References .......................................................................................................... 91 4 RANDOM FOREST CLASSIFICATION FOR LAND USE AND LAND COVER CHANGE ANALYSIS IN SUZHOU USING MULTITEMPORAL LANDSAT TM IMAGES ........................................................................................................................... 95 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 95 4.2 Materials ............................................................................................................. 97 4.3 Methods ............................................................................................................ 100 4.4 Results .............................................................................................................. 107 4.5 Discussion and Conclusion .............................................................................. 115 4.6 References ........................................................................................................ 116 5 SPATIOTEMPORAL DYNAMICS AND SPATIAL DETERMINANTS OF URBAN GROWTH IN SUZHOU................................................................................................. 120 5.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 120 5.2 Data and Methodology ..................................................................................... 122 5.3 Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Urban Growth .................................................... 134 5.4 Spatial Determinants of Urban Growth ............................................................ 145 5.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 155 5.6 References ........................................................................................................ 157 6 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 161 6.1 Findings ............................................................................................................ 161 6.2 Contributions .................................................................................................... 165 6.3 Limitations and Future Research...................................................................... 166 6.4 References ........................................................................................................ 167 vi LIST OF TABLES Tables 2.1 Major foreign hypermarket chains in China, 2012 ..................................................... 28 2.2 Rank and retail sales of foreign hypermarket chains in China, 2012 ......................... 28 2.3 Distribution of foreign hypermarkets along China’s urban
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