17-20 june 2015 - Warsaw

 

Description:

 

Defined by the Brundtland (1987) report as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”, sustainable development has increasingly figured in company policies and is today regarded as an important business goal by many stakeholders (Sheth et al., 2011). This topic concerns also retailers: as active intermediaries between producers and manufacturers, and customers, they can be in a singularly powerful position to drive sustainability (Jones & al., 2007).

Retailers have been implementing various practices that take account of sustainable development,: elimination of plastic bags at checkouts, reduction of CO2 emissions, internal codes of good conduct (e.g.in relation to child labor), improvement of employment practices (male/female wage parity, hiring of handicapped workers, etc.), and so forth. In the UK, Tesco uses wood products from certified sources and Sainsbury’s tries to combating obesity. In France, Monoprix encourages people to change their consumption patterns by purchasing products for their quality-of-life characteristics, including sustainable development in their design. Until now, researchers analyzed only sustainable development from the firms’ point of view but there are still relatively few academic studies that focus on sustainable development in the field of retailing. As said Susan Hackerman: "Retailing with a difference. Retailing with a conscience. Retailing is not about maximizing profits” (quoted by Morrison and Humlen, 2013).

Confronting the views of researchers from different countries (Poland, UK, Spain, Germany and France), this symposium aims to analyze and compare sustainable development strategies in European field of retailing, focusing particularly on store brand strategies During this times of crisis and uncertainty, retailers can choose to focus more on economic topics than sustainable problems. Thus, the panellists will compare different European retailer's strategies in order to analyze the place of sustainable development and its role in economic performance.

 

The aim of this symposium is to analyze and compare sustainable development strategies in European field of retailing. Seen as a think tank, this symposium will be the time to share the best practices and initiatives of retailers on sustainable development and to imagine and develop new perspectives for tomorrow. We hope to attract European researchers specialized in marketing or retailing in order to cooperate on subjects of common interest associated to sustainability (such as CSR, ethics…). The final aim of the symposium will be to prepare a common publication between researchers about retailing and sustainability in Europe. 

 

 

 

Participants:

 

COLLA Enrico

Novancia School Paris

Enrico Colla is Emeritus Professor of International Retailing in Novancia Business School in Paris, currently in charge of Centre for Research in Commerce, where he coordinates research on Marketing Channels, Multichannel retailing , E-commerce and Sustainable Development. He has published ten books and over fifty academic articles in different retail subjects: strategies of international retailers, comparative retailing, industry-distribution relationships and the impact of legislation on retailing. He has mainly  based his research on extensive field surveys, with the support of firms and professional bodies.

 

 

DOMANSKI Tomacz

International and Political Studies Faculty, University of Lodz

Tomacz Domanski runs the Department of International Marketing and Retailing of University of Lodz. He carries out research and teaching programs in international marketing with special emphasis on international retailing strategies and marketing communications.

 

 

 

LAVORATA Laure

University  East of Paris – Institute of Research in Management

Laure LAVORATA is professor at the University East of Paris (UPEC). She supported her HDR in December 2010 on the theme of "the study of applied ethics in marketing: theoretical and empirical contributions" and coordinates an ANR project on the following theme: "Food Retail, Consumption and Sustainable Development". Her research focuses on the ethics of retailers, marketing ethics and sustainable marketing. Her latest publication is "Influence of retailers’ commitment to sustainable development on store image, consumer loyalty and consumer boycotts: Proposal for a model using the theory of planned behavior", published in Journal of Retailing and Consumers Services, in 2014.

 

 

RUIZ MOLINA Maria Eugenia

Department of Marketing and Market Research, University of Valencia

Maria-Eugenia Ruiz-Molina is Associate Professor in the Marketing Department of University of Valencia, where she earned her PhD in Business Administration and Management. She has been also lecturer at several universities – Universitat Jaume I in Castellón, Polytechnical University of Valencia, University at Albany and the Open University of Catalonia (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya). Her current research interests are retailing, ICT and consumer behavior.`

 

 

 

SCHRAMM-KLEIN Hanna

Universitat Siegen - Institute of Business Administration

Univ.-Professor Dr. Hanna Schramm-Klein holds the Chair in Marketing at Siegen University, Germany. As vice-provost at the University of Siegen, she additionally is responsible for university Marketing and Research Internationalization. She studied Business Administration and International Business at Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, Germany. She received her Ph.D. and her post-doctoral degree (Habilitation) at Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany. She has been lecturer and visiting professor at several universities such as University of St. Gallen (Switzerland), University Gabriela Mistral, Santiago de Chile, University of Graz (Austria). 

 

 

SPARKS Leigh

University of Stirling

Leigh Sparks is Professor of Retail Studies at the Institute for Retail Studies, University of Stirling, Scotland, UK. He was an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge, and completed his Ph.D at St. David's University College, Lampeter. His research concentrates on aspects of the broad areas of structural and spatial change in retailing. Since arriving at Stirling he has been involved in the generation of over c£2m of research funding. This research has been disseminated widely through a number of books, many reports and over 125 academic and professional articles.