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Networks of organizational learning and adaptation in retail TNCs
Author(s) -
Currah Andrew,
Wrigley Neil
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
global networks
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.685
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1471-0374
pISSN - 1470-2266
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0374.2004.00078.x
Subject(s) - reflexivity , adaptation (eye) , business , globalization , competence (human resources) , portfolio , industrial organization , context (archaeology) , marketing , economic geography , knowledge management , management , sociology , economics , market economy , computer science , psychology , paleontology , social science , finance , biology , neuroscience
In this article we contribute to a growing body of literature concerned with the socio‐cultural dynamics of learning and adaptation inside firms. Specifically, we apply a ‘competence‐based’ view of the firm to a newly emerging breed of retail‐industry transnational corporations (TNCs). We situate these firms within the context of ‘relational networks’ and then consider – from a geographical perspective – the complex interplay between ‘extra‐firm’ networks and ‘intra‐firm’ networks, and between store‐based learning and organizational adaptation. We argue that the competitiveness of the retail TNC increasingly rests upon its ability to adapt the portfolio of retail formats to different and rapidly changing business environments by mobilizing and blending knowledge from multiple locations. This, it is suggested, is leading to the emergence of a ‘reflexive’ or ‘hybridized’ model of retail globalization.