Product market competition and human resource practices in the retail food sector
Article Type: Abstracts From: Human Resource Management International Digest, Volume 17, Issue 6
Davis E., Freedman M., Lane J., McCall B., Nestoriak N., Park T. Industrial Relations (USA), April 2009, Vol. 48 No. 2, Start page: 350, No. of pages: 22
Purpose – Studies how the entrance of Wal-Mart and similar enterprises into retailing has affected retail firms’ human resource practices. Design/methodology/approach – Sets out a model of skill acquisition and turnover to identify how an existing retailer might change its labor market strategies in response to a new competitor in the market. Uses data from the longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Program at the US Census to estimate whether staff turnover increases when mass-merchandisers enter the market and if existing retailers change their human resource practices in response to this. Findings – Concludes that US retailers have not made rapid adjustments to their human resource practices despite the competition increasing in this sector. Research implications/limitations – Describes the research method and the analysis. Originality/value – Examines if firms react to increased competition by adapting their human resource practices. ISSN: 0019-8676 Reference: 38AJ507
Keywords: Retail trade, Human resource management,Competitive strategy, USA
