ABSTRACT
There are three reasons for producing this research collection. First, retailing continues to be relatively unstudied compared with other aspects of business, yet retailing is a large sector and one which underpins economic growth more and more. Secondly, developments in retailing in Asia Pacific are particularly rapid — so rapid and involving so much structural change as to justify the term transformation. Businesses are changing hugely and, rather less obviously, the implications of these changes for the competitive environment, for manufacturing, for supply chains, for consumer behaviour are considerable. Thirdly, internationalization, which came relatively late to the sector, is becoming a central part of the strategy of major businesses and the countries of Asia Pacific are, for many businesses, key arenas for competitive action. Research to understand the issues underlay the Fourth Asia Pacific Retail Conference which was held in Bangkok in late 2007 by the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School and the College of Management at Mahidol University. This conference brought together scholars from a number of countries and the current work represents some of their research. The first part of this Introduction defines and discusses the nature of retail transformation, and the second part sets out the more detailed studies which follow.
