Professor Steve Wood
Professor of Retail Marketing and Management
Qualifications: BA (Hons); PhD; PGCAP
Email: sm.wood@surrey.ac.uk
Phone: Work: 01483 68 3113
Room no: 13 MS 03
Office hours
Please sign up on the noticeboard outside my office (13MS03) to meet me during my formal student office hours or drop me an email to let me know that you are coming.
If for any reason I cannot make these formal student office hours, I will make this clear on the noticeboard outside my office.
Further information
Biography
Professor Steve Wood is Chair in Retail Marketing and Management at Surrey Business School, University of Surrey and an Advanced Institute of Management (AIM) Scholar. He was previously Reader in Strategy at University of Southampton. His research focuses on the following:
(1) Strategic decision-making (particularly related to retail store locations, portfolio management and forecasting);
(2) The financing and restructuring of retail corporate structures;
(3) The strategic internationalisation of retailing.
He has published across a range of journals that sit on the business management and economic geography divide including Journal of Economic Geography; Environment and Planning A; The Service Industries Journal; Regional Studies and International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research amongst others. Steve has recently completed a research project funded by the Nuffield Foundation focused on understanding retailers’ strategic decision-making relating to location planning (with Dr Jonathan Reynolds, University of Oxford).
Steve teaches across retail management, strategy, marketing and has experience of programme leadership and convening a wide array of modules. He consistently achieves high student evaluations for his teaching, typically employing a mix of formal lectures, seminars and case studies to maintain student engagement and improve the learning experience. Steve is currently external examiner for undergraduate programmes in management & economics at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
Prior to 2005, Steve spent three years at Tesco PLC advising on store development strategy both domestically and abroad, and worked as a Retail Analyst for Verdict Research, a London-based retail consultancy. He is an active member of the Society for Location Analysis (SLA), the European Association for Education and Research in Commercial Distribution (EAERCD) and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS).
Outside of work, Steve is a Governor of Ash Manor School, Surrey (http://www.ashmanorschool.com/).
Research Collaborations
2009/10 'Data, Intuition and Social Context: Managing Knowledge in Retail Location Decision-Making' (with Dr Jonathan Reynolds, Said Business School, University of Oxford). Funded by Social Science Small Grants Scheme, The Nuffield Foundation (£7,000).
2008 Project for SONY on "Loss Leading and Predatory Pricing in the UK Retail Industry" (with Dr A G Hallsworth).
2007/08 Lead researcher on the Business Engagement Project for Advanced Institute of Management (AIM) on the UK Retail Sector. Research involved qualitative interviews with major retail organisations regarding emergent themes for retail-specific management research (£10,000)
Wood, S., Adams, R., Lowe, M., Neely, A. (2008) ESRC Business Engagement Project: A Scoping Study of Contemporary and Future Challenges in the UK Retail Sector. Advanced Institute of Management (AIM), April 2008.
2007 Invited Keynote presentation entitled ‘Store location forecasting and network planning: an introduction’ at Euroforum Retail Marketing Conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 22nd May.
2005/06 Academic advisory panel on the Tesco plc funded project: ‘Consumer Responses to Supply Chain Transformation in the UK convenience store sector’ (along with Prof Cliff Guy; Prof Michelle Lowe and Prof Neil Wrigley). The final report fed into the Competition Commission Investigation in 2007/08.
Publications
Journal articles
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(2013) 'Revisiting the US food retail consolidation wave: Regulation, market power and spatial outcomes'. 2013 Edition. Oxford University Press Journal of Economic Geography, doi: 10.1093/jeg/lbs047
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(2013) 'Knowledge management, organisational learning and memory in UK retail network planning'. Taylor & Francis The Service Industries Journal, 33 (2), pp. 150-170.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209755/
Abstract
The forecasting of sales from potential store development opportunities is typically supported by quantitative modelling techniques which vary in their sophistication and practical application between retail firms. While previous research suggests analysts reach outcomes by blending modelled knowledge with intuition and experience, how this occurs in practice is only partially understood. By adopting a qualitative methodology involving interviews with experts, this paper makes an incremental contribution to the literature by detailing how tacit knowledge is synthesised with modelled, codified knowledge to affect the decision-making of senior management in UK-based retail firms. Analysis can also extend to post-opening reviews that offer the opportunity to improve local marketing and product ranging, and from which key lessons can be drawn for subsequent forecasting. Efforts are made by many large retailers to retain expertise and develop institutional ‘memory’ by codifying tacit knowledge, though these processes often rely upon the expertise embedded within broader intra- and extra- firm social networks. Success therefore appears to comprise structured but flexible forecasting routines alongside a focus on learning, continuity and communication within analyst teams.
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(2012) 'Establishing territorial embeddedness within retail TNC expansion: the contribution of store development departments'. Regional Studies, Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/634483/
Abstract
Establishing territorial embeddedness within host regions in international retail expansion is well-known to be important, although the processes underpinning its realisation are less explicit. This research analyses some “emerging practices” of international expansion planning by drawing on interviews across a sample of store development departments. The role of analysts within host regions in evaluating economic, institutional, cultural and social contexts and appraising the viability of market-entry methods and store formats is explored. The competitive and regulatory dynamism of regions means that behaviour which encourages greater embeddedness following market entry can be particularly helpful in strengthening the marketing and development strategies of international subsidiaries.
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(2012) 'Managing communities and managing knowledge: strategic decision making and store network investment within retail multinationals'. Oxford University Press Journal of Economic Geography, 12 (2), pp. 539-565.doi: 10.1093/jeg/lbr038Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209753/
Abstract
The manner in which knowledge is spatially generated, reproduced and diffused is of interest to students of economic geography and business management alike. This paper seeks to contribute to these debates by drawing on the results of a year-long study with analysts working in location-planning departments of multinational retailers to determine: a) how different types of knowledge are mediated within organisational contexts to inform store development; and b) the extent to which analysis can be successfully formalised into “best practice”. We find that while quantitative models of sales forecasting have become established, analysis on a dayto- day basis sees judgements made by analyst “communities” without perfect data, as experience and intuitive insights contribute to corporate decision-making. Furthermore, a number of communities-of-practice across the retail firm, consisting of actors with different backgrounds and agendas, contribute to outcomes. Understanding the power relations embedded within (and across) these communities is essential to conceptualise the store expansion process.
- . (2012) 'Leveraging locational insights within retail store development? Assessing the use of location planners’ knowledge in retail marketing'. Geoforum, 43 (6), pp. 1076-1087.
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(2011) 'Organisational rigidities and marketing theory: examining the US department store c.1910-1965'. ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD SERVICE INDUSTRIES JOURNAL, 31 (5), pp. 747-770.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209756/
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(2011) 'The intra-firm context of retail expansion planning'. Pion Environment and Planning A, 43 (10), pp. 2468-2491.doi: 10.1068/a43503Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209757/
Abstract
The benefits that rigorous analysis can have for retail store portfolio management in guiding and informing investment decisions (store expansion; closure; extension; refascia and acquisition) is well established within the economic geography research literature. However, studies of retailers addressing location planning in practice have identified wide variation in the sophistication of techniques and resources employed as well as in terms of the credibility that such research and analysis receives from senior management within the firm. By drawing on a qualitative research project involving some 40 location planning analysts, consultants and managers at UK-based retailers, we differentiate between three approaches to store portfolio decision-making that differ in terms of resource allocation, sophistication and legitimacy. We seek to explain those differences that are embedded within the context of intra-firm relations and social communities by drawing on theories from strategic management concerning core rigidities, lock-in and legitimisation, and review the challenges that location planners face in gaining legitimacy within the organisation, along with strategies appropriate for increasing their acceptance and influence across the firm.
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(2011) 'Book review. The Economic Geography of the UK
Neil M. Coe and Andrew Jones (eds.)'. Oxford University Press Journal of Economic Geography, 12 (1), pp. 321-323.doi: 10.1093/jeg/lbr040Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209754/
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(2010) 'Conceptualising innovative customer-facing responses to planning regulation: the UK food retailers'. ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD SERVICE INDUSTRIES JOURNAL, 30 (12) Article number PII 927249143 , pp. 1967-1990.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209758/
- . (2010) 'Retail location planning: the state of the art'. European Retail Digest, Spring, pp. 54-63.
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(2010) 'Location decision-making in retail firms: evolution and challege'. Emerald International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 38 (11/12), pp. 828-845.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209759/
Abstract
The paper has three objectives: first, to reflect on the contribution of this journal to the study of retail location assessment and decision-making; second, to use the results of a questionnaire survey of retailers to assess the employment of location assessment techniques a decade since a similar survey conducted by Hernández and Bennison (2000); third, in the light of these results, to conclude what likely challenges the location planning profession will face over the next decade.
- . (2009) 'Guest Editorial: Special issue of papers from the EAERCD’s 15th International Conference on Research in the Distributive Trades, University of Surrey, UK'. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 4 (19), pp. 313-315.
- . (2009) 'The globalization of retailing, vol 1-2'. ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD BUS HIST, 51 (6), pp. 978-980.
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(2009) 'Financing internationalisation: a case study of an African retail transnational corporation'. OXFORD UNIV PRESS JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, 9 (4), pp. 511-537.doi: 10.1093/jeg/lbn056Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209760/
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(2008) 'Reinterpreting the great US department store bankruptcies of the 1980s - a catalyst to strategic structural change'. Emerald Journal of Management History, 14 (4), pp. 404-423.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209761/
Abstract
Purpose –The financial restructuring of the US department store industry is commonly interpreted as a time of corporate excess, value-destruction and ultimately collapse. This research aims to re-analyse these events using qualitative methods to understand the background to the leveraged transactions and to review the implications that their failure had for the longer term strategy and structure of the US department store industry. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on two extensive periods of fieldwork in the United States when the author interviewed (n=28) many of the protagonists of the 1980s restructuring period and those who inherited the management of the bankrupt businesses in the 1990s. By adopting a qualitative perspective, we are accessing social and human perspectives of these developments as well as their wider effects. Findings – The leveraged transactions were conceptually an appropriate attempt to centralise the structure of the industry but their execution was not possible under such extreme financial distress. However, bankruptcy protection provided the environmental conditions to realise the benefits of more efficient strategic and subsequent wide-ranging structural change. Originality/value – This research differs from economistic readings of the period that analyse changes in market value of the constituent firms and the more reactionary journalistic accounts. The paper re-casts the failed financial restructuring in a new light, underlining the regenerative effects of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection in promoting firm revival, alongside visionary leadership. Keywords - leveraged buy-outs; corporate restructuring; department stores; retail history; qualitative research Paper type - Research paper
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(2008) 'The importance of context in store forecasting: the site visit in retail location decision-making'. Palgrave Macmillan Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, 16 (2), pp. 139-155.doi: 10.1057/jt.2008.3Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209762/
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to investigate how practical store location decision-making balances formal modelling with the less well-studied informal qualitative inputs. By using case studies from one major UK food retailer, we find that informal knowledge has to be considered seriously alongside quantitative models despite the inclusion of such knowledge often proving challenging. In particular, the site visit has a key role in contextualising factors that are difficult to represent in formal “modelled” data, and in calibrating the inputs to models that are becoming increasingly advanced. We conclude that conceptualising the role of knowledge management in retail store decision-making has been under-theorised but can offer a key to advancing our understanding of this process still further.
- . (2008) 'Location planning in charity retailing'. International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 36 (7), pp. 536-550.
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(2007) 'Convenience store location planning and forecasting - A practical research agenda'. Emerald International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 35 (4), pp. 233-255.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209763/
Abstract
Purpose: To compare the accepted techniques of location analysis in the food sector with the realities of “real world” forecasting in convenience store (c-store) retailing. To offer a conceptual framework for c-store operators intending to become more strategic in their small store location planning but currently lacking established expertise or extensive research budgets. Approach/Methodology: Outlines potential best practice based on industry experience, and contact and discussion with location analysts and retail consultants, as well as a wide ranging examination of the academic literature in this area. Research/practical implications: First, to briefly detail the strategic regulatory motivations and location planning implications of the major UK food retailers entering this market. Second, to summarise the established sales forecasting techniques in food retailing. Third, to review why these established approaches are difficult to apply to convenience stores in neighbourhood markets. Fourth, to detail basic approaches that should be further developed by small store operators lacking budgets to develop specialist location planning departments. Originality/value: Academic conceptualisations of location planning in the convenience store sector are largely absent from the literature. This paper adopts a practical perspective
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(2007) 'Market power and regulation: The last great US department store consolidation?'. Emerald International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 35 (1), pp. 20-37.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209764/
Abstract
Purpose – To examine the impact of the merger of the two largest US department store companies on the competitive state of the sector and specifically the anti-trust implications of the consolidation. Approach – Based on semi-structured interviews with leading US department store executives as well as an ongoing close dialogue with US retail analysts. Findings – The consolidation raises considerable anti-trust issues with the creation of a $30bill sales company. Consistent with previous recent rulings, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has adopted a broad view of the department store market from the standpoint that the consolidation is essentially defensive – in short, the sector is failing because it is not a separate and distinct market. However, the divestiture of 75 stores will give competitors footholds in new markets thereby changing the geography of competition in many catchments. This is likely to be the largest consolidation that the competition authorities will effectively allow, representing the last opportunity for the sector to become a more robust competitor against alternative formats that have intervened in its key product lines. Originality/Value – Recent restructuring of the US department store industry has generated a relatively limited academic literature, despite considerable M&A activity, subsequent organisational reorganisation, and sales of $88 bill per year. Transformation of the competitive landscape of the industry raises important issues of market regulation and corporate strategy.
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(2006) 'Life after PPG6: recent UK food retailer responses to planning regulation tightening'. Taylor & Francis International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 16 (1), pp. 23-41.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209765/
Abstract
Despite ever tightening retail planning regulation in the UK, the leading food retailers have continued to add floorspace in a remarkably consistent manner, progressively increasing their domination of the market. This paper examines the innovative responses of those firms to planning legislation – responses which have included: working within the constraints of that regulation; exposing and exploiting flaws in the legislation, and circumventing its impacts by expansion into more fragmented markets. Such responses, have in turn led to the further adaptation of planning regulation in order to close a series of loopholes that the leading food retailers have been quick to exploit to aid their expansion plans. The paper concludes by examining more broadly what these developments imply for organizational adaptation and corporate restructuring.
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(2006) 'Convenience store sales forecasting - art before science?'. Oxford Institute of Retail Management European Retail Digest, 15, pp. 15-18.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209768/
Abstract
The science of store location decision making and sales forecasting has received a huge degree of attention throughout retail management and retail geography research. This literature has focused on the conceptualisation of techniques for determining the optimal location and sales, primarily of the food supermarket.
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(2003) 'Investment bank analysts and knowledge in economic geography'. Environment and Planning, 35, pp. 381-387.doi: 10.1068/a3638
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(2002) 'Organisational restructuring, knowledge and spatial scale: the case of the US department store industry'. Wiley Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geographie, 93 (1), pp. 8-33.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209770/
Abstract
Recent economic geography literature has underlined the role of tacit/local knowledge in embedding firms within their locales, characterised by the work on "learning regions", "territorial embeddedness", "institutional thickness" and "new industrial spaces". This paper contributes to this theoretical debate, using evidence from organisational restructuring of the U.S. department store industry to argue that, in contrast, retailers are using codified/universal knowledge, supported by tacit/local knowledge to successfully operate their retail operations across a range of spatial scales. As such, no one form of knowledge is exclusively relied upon but rather a blend of knowledges reduces costs and increases responsiveness across space.
- . (2002) 'The limits to portfolio restructuring: lessons from regional consolidation in the US department store industry'. Regional Studies, 36 (5), pp. 515-529.
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(2001) 'Regulatory constrained portfolio restructuring: the US department store industry in the 1990s'. Pion Environment and Planning A, 33 (7), pp. 1279-1304.doi: 10.1068/a33208Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209769/
Abstract
The US department store industry has undergone a recent round of strategic acquisition-based portfolio restructuring. This paper analyses one such acquisition, studying how its geography is restructured in the premerger stage to conform to the Federal Trade Commission's 'fix-it-first' policy and to improve the strategic fit of the transaction. The article then investigates evidence, and analyses the effects, of a new era of stricter FTC enforcement, where divestiture may no longer be sufficient in cases of horizontal market overlap. Fundamentally, the paper considers the nature of 'real' regulation in action, as rules partially dictate investment decisions.
- . (2001) ''Consuming Interests: The Social Provision of Foods''. Progress in Human Geography, 25, pp. 137-138.
Reports
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(2008) ESRC Business Engagement Project: A Scoping Study of Contemporary and Future Challenges in the UK Retail Sector. Advanced Institute of Management (AIM) Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209767/
- . (2007) Relocalising Food Shopping. Consumer Responses to Supply Chain Transformation in the UK Convenience Store Sector. University of Southampton
Teaching
Current Teaching Responsibilities
Managing and Marketing Retail Locations (Undergraduate Level 2)
International Retailing (MSc Level)
International Retailing (Undergraduate Level 3)
Departmental Duties
Previously acting Subject Group Leader for Retail Management within School of Management, University of Surrey (2009/10).
Chair of the Organising Committee for the European Association of Education and Research in Commercial Distribution (EAERCD) 2009 Conference, University of Surrey, July 2009. International conference with 110 delegates.
Programme Director of Masters Entry Programme/ Graduate Diploma in Management Studies (GDMS) (2005/06-2009/10)
Member of the invited committee: “Vice Chancellor’s Think Tank” (2005-2010)
School of Management Careers Officer (2005-2007)
Affiliations
Membership of External Bodies
Society for Location Analysis (SLA)
The European Association for Education and Research in Commercial Distribution (EAERCD)
Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM) Scholar
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)