ABSTRACT
The field of retail organisation is large and diverse and needs compartmentalisation if a wide range of disparate research studies are to be drawn together and synthesised. Unlike the subjects of consumer behaviour (Chapter 1) and retail location (Chapter 2), however, there is no clear-cut theoretical or methodological basis on which to do this. Our approach is therefore largely an arbitrary one, in part embracing systematic differences in the form of retail organisation and in part containing a historical perspective. The main sections we have identified, nevertheless, constitute for us those areas in which we feel there has been most productive research undertaken or where additional research inquiries are most required.
