VARIETY ENGINEERING IN THE CHANGING COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT OF JAPANESE RETAIL DISTRIBUTION

The authors propose to define the revolution occurring in Japanese ret ail distribution from a systems-theoretic perspective, and to identify factors leading to the success of certain types of retailers and the decline of others. It is proposed that large general merchandising sto res and national supermarkets are meeting the increased variety of the environment brought on by the bursting of the Japanese economic bubbl e, increased price consciousness of consumers, government deregulation s and appreciation of the yen. These retailers are redefining their fu nctions to enhance their internal variety, leading to greater efficien cy and lower consumer prices. In contrast, traditional retail outlets, such as department stores and small individually-owned stores, have n ot been able to review their operations within the context of the chan ging environment and are trapped within their traditional business par adigms and reference models. As a result, they are facing decline. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.