Biography

Andrew Alexander is Chair in Retail Management in The Surrey Business School, where he was previously Senior Lecturer and Reader. He joined the University of Surrey following appointments at the University of Exeter and the Manchester Metropolitan University. Andrew completed an ESRC-funded PhD at the University of Exeter, and holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and BA (Hons) degree (University of Wales).

Andrew’s areas of research expertise include the long–term development of retail systems, the practice of retail management and the marketing and management of town centres. He has received research project funding for this work from organisations including the AHRC, the Leverhulme Trust, the Nuffield Foundation, the British Council and the Canadian High Commission, as well as from retailers. He is the author of more than 50 journal papers, book chapters and research reports, and his work has been widely profiled in the local, national and international media (including the BBC and the Economist).  

He has acted variously as a research grant referee and rapporteur for the ESRC (UK), and for the Arts and Humanities Research Council (Canada), and as an advisory group member to the British Retail Consortium . He is on the editorial advisory boards of the Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, and the Journal of Place Management and Development.   

Andrew supervises PhD and DBA research students. He would welcome research proposals from prospective PhD candidates particularly in relation to the long–term development of retail systems, the marketing and management of town centres and international retailing. He has been the recipient of Faculty Enrichment Funds from the Canadian High Commission to develop a teaching programme on retailing in North America.

Research Interests

Retail location planning; managing and marketing urban centres; retail history; international retailing

Publications

Journal Articles (since 2000)

Links provide abstract and publisher information.

D. Nell, S. Philips, A. Alexander and G. Shaw, 2011, “Helping Yourself: Self-Service Grocery Retailing and Shoplifting in Britain, c.1950-1975” Cultural and Social History Vol. 8 (3) 371-191 

Alexander, A., 2010, “Past, Present and Future Directions in the Study of the History of Retailing”, Journal of Historical Research in Marketing Vol. 2 (3) 356-362

Bailey, A.R., Shaw, G. Alexander, A. and D. Nell, 2010, “Consumer behaviour and the life-course: shopper reactions to self service grocery shops and supermarkets in England c.1947-1975”, Environment and Planning A Vol. 42 (6) 1496-1512

A. Alexander, D. Nell, A. Bailey and G. Shaw, 2009, “The co-creation of a retail innovation: shoppers and the early supermarket in Britain” Enterprise and Society Vol.10 (3) 529-558

D. Nell, A. Alexander, A. Bailey, A and G. Shaw, 2009, “Investigating shopper narratives of the supermarket in early post-war England, 1945-75” Oral History, Vol. 37 (1): 61-73

A. Alexander, S. Phillips and G. Shaw, 2008, "Retail innovation and shopping practices: consumers’ reactions to self-service retailing" Environment and Planning A, Vol. 40 (9): 2204-2221

A. Alexander, 2008, "Format development and retail change: supermarket retailing and the London Co-operative Society" Business History, Vol. 50 (4): 489-508

A. Alexander, D. Cryer and S. Wood, 2008, "Location planning in charity retailing" International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management ,Vol. 36 (7): 536-550

J. Hamlett, A. Alexander, A. Bailey and G. Shaw, 2008, "Regulating UK supermarkets: an oral-history perspective" History & Policy http://www.historyandpolicy.org/ [published online 23rd April 2008]

G Shaw and A. Alexander, 2008, "British co-operative societies as retail innovators: interpreting the early stages of the self service revolution" Business History, Vol. 50 (1): 62-78

J. Hamlett, A. Bailey, A. Alexander and G. Shaw, 2008, "Ethnicity and consumption: South Asian food shopping patterns in Britain, 1947-1975" Journal of Consumer Culture, Vol. 8 (1): 91-116

A. Alexander and S. Phillips, 2006, "'Fair play for the small man': perspectives on the contribution of the independent shopkeeper, 1930-c1945" Business History, Vol. 48 (1): 69-89

A. Alexander and A. Nicholls, 2006, "Rediscovering producer-consumer involvement. A network perspective on Fair Trade marketing", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 40 (11/12): 1236-1253

G. Shaw and A. Alexander, 2006, "Interlocking directorates and the knowledge transfer of supermarket retail techniques from North America to Britain", International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, Vol. 16 (3): 375-394

H. Oppewal, A. Alexander and P. Sullivan, 2006, "Consumer perceptions of corporate social responsibility in town shopping centres and their influence on shopping evaluations", Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 13 (4): 261-274

A. Alexander, G. Shaw and L. Curth, 2005, "Promoting retail innovation: knowledge flows during the emergence of self-service and supermarket retailing in Britain", Environment and Planning A, Vol. 37 (5): 805-821

S. Phillips, A. Alexander and G. Shaw, 2005,"Consumer misbehavior: The rise of self-service grocery retailing and shoplifting in the United Kingdom c.1950-1970", Journal of Macromarketing, Vol. 25 (1): 66-75

S. Phillips, and A. Alexander, 2005, "An efficient pursuit? Independent shopkeeing in 1930s Britain", Enterprise and Society, Vol. 6 (2): 278-304

L. Wilson, A. Alexander and M. Lumbers, 2004, "Food access and dietary variety among older people", International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, Vol. 32(2): 109-122

G. Shaw, L. Curth and A. Alexander, 2004, "Selling self service and the supermarket: the Americanisation of food retailing in Britain, 1945-60", Business History, Vol. 46 (4) October: 568-582

A. Alexander, 2003, "Business Improvement Districts: progress towards implementation in the UK", European Retail Digest, 37: 13-15

A. Alexander, 2002, "Retailing and Consumption: evidence from war time Britain", International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, Vol.12, (1): 39-57

R. Davies and A. Alexander, 2002, "Public-private partnerships in UK retailing: the dawn of a new era?", European Retail Digest, 35: 38-41

G. Shaw, L. Curth and A. Alexander, 2002, "A new archive for the history of retailing: The Somerfield Collection", Business History: Archives and Sources: 29-38

A. Alexander and J. Pollard, 2000,“Banks, grocers and the changing retailing of financial services in Britain” Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services Vol. 7 (3): 137-148

D. Medway, G. Warnaby, D. Bennison and A. Alexander, 2000, “Retailers’ reasons for involvement in Town Centre Management” International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management Vol. 28 (8): 368-378

G. Shaw, A. Alexander, J. Benson and D. Hodson, 2000, “The evolving culture of retailer regulation and the failure of the ‘Balfour Bill’ in interwar Britain” Environment and Planning A Vol. 32: 1977-1989

Book Chapters (since 2000)

G. Shaw, A. Bailey, A. Alexander, D. Nell and J. Hamlett (2012) “The coming of the supermarket: the processes and consequences of transplanting American know-how into Britain”, in Transformations of Retailing in Europe after 1945 edited by Ralph Jessen and Lydia Langer  Ashgate, Aldershot

G. Shaw, L. Curth, & A. Alexander, 2006, "Creating new spaces of food consumption: the rise of mass catering and the activities of the Aerated Bread Company" in Cultures of Selling: perspectives on consumption and society since 1700, Benson, J., Ugolini, L., eds., Ashgate, Aldershot

A. Alexander, 2004, "Marks, Simon: first Baron Marks of Broughton" in New Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford

A. Alexander, 2004, "Burton, Sir Montague Maurice" in New Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford

A. Alexander & R. Davies, 2003, "World retail trends and issues" in The Asia-Pacific Retail Conference, Yahagi, T., eds., Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc, Tokyo

A. Alexander, G. Shaw & D. Hodson, 2002, "Regional variations in the development of multiple retailing in England, 1890-1939" in A Nation of Shopkeepers. Retailing in Britain 1550-1990, Benson, J., Ugolini, L., eds., IB Tauris, London, pp. 127-154

R. Davies & A. Alexander, 2002, "Public-private partnerships in UK retailing: the dawn of a new era?" in British Retail Consortium Yearbook 2002, pp. 328-333

Books/Reports

D. Medway, A. Alexander, D. Bennison, G. Warnaby (1998) Retailer Involvement in Town
Centre Management  The Manchester Metropolitan University, ISBN 0953242102

Teaching

Core Teaching duties 2012:

Managing Retail Locations (UG Level 2)

MSc dissertation supervisor 

PhD and DBA candidate supervisor

Departmental Duties

Marketing and Retail Management Subject Group Leader 

Affiliations

Member of the editorial advisory board Journal of Historical Research in Marketing.

Member of the editorial advisory board Journal of Place Management and Development.

Member of the European Association for Education and Research in Commercial Distribution

Member of the European Business History Association

Member of the Association for Historical Research in Marketing (USA)

Member of the American Collegiate Retailing Association