Retail Management: A Strategic Approach (11th Edition)

Book Preface

Our major goal is to present you with the most current, comprehensive, reader-f iendly book on retail management that is possible. We want you to get thoroughly immersed in the subject matter, see how re1ail strategies are formed, look at the activities of a wide range of actual retailers (large and small, goods and services. domestic and global), and explore the possibility of a full-time career in retail management. Read through this preface and see what’s available to you.

The concept of a strategic approach to retailing is the cornerstone of this book. With a strategic approach, the fundamental principle is that the retailer has to plan for and adapt to a complex, changing environment. Both opportunities and constraints must be consid­ered. A retail strategy is the overall plan or framework of action that guides a retailer. Ideally, it will be at least one year in duration and outline the mission. goals, consumer market. overall and specific activities. and con1rol mechanisms of the retailer. Without a pre-defined and well-integrated strategy, the firm may flounder and be unable to cope with the environment that surrounds it. Through our text, we want you to become a good retail planner and decision maker and be able to adapt to change.  Since the first edition of Retail Management: A Strategic Approach, we have sough110 be as contemporary and forward-looking as possible. We are proactive rather than reactive in our preparation of each edition. That is wby we take this adage of Wal-Mart’s founder, Lhc late Sam Walton, so seriously: ·’Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else.”

What’s New to This Edition 

L All data and examples are as current as possible and reflect Lhe current economic situation. We believe it is essential that our book take into account the economic environment that has adversely affected so many businesses and consumers.

2. The opening vignettes are all updated and highlight the titans of retailing.
3. The applied boxes in each chapter are all new or substan1ially updated. Here are the topics:
a Technology in Retailing
b Retailing Around rhe World
c. Ethics in Retailing
d. Careers in Rerailing
4. There are 30 shorter cases. as well as 8 comprehensive cases-all new or substantially revised. Every case is based on real companies and real situations.
5. Substantive changes have been made in each chapter. For example. in Chapter 1: An Introduction to Retailing, to properly capture the importance of the economic situation facing retailers today, we introduce a new chapter appendix: “Unclerst,u,ding the Recent Economic D0wn1urn in the United States and Around the Globe:· The appendix covers the events leading ro the economic downturn, the global nature of the downrurn, the effect of the downturn on retailing, and strategic retailing options in weak economic times.
6. Our Web site, www.pearsonhighered.com/berman, has been fully updated and enhanced. It includes an updated Computer assisted Strategic Retail Management Planning template, linked to the content presented in Chapter 3: Strategic Planning in Retailing along with additional resources and career information to enhance your learning experience.