Retail Buyer Control Systems: Implications of Buyer Behavior Strategies for Performance

Abstract

This study investigates management control systems in retailing and examines how they connect to retail buyers’ behavior strategies and retail performance. We test hypotheses with a structure equation modeling (SEM) based on survey data from 149 merchandising division heads at Japanese supermarkets. The results reveal that outcome-based control promotes buyers’ price negotiation orientation while behavior-based control encourages buyers’ innovative behavior orientation. Moreover, both of these distinct behavior strategies yield greater retail performance. This study contributes toward the development of a generalized model of how retailers can manipulate buyers’ behavior strategies from the management perspective by applying organizational control theory in the field of retail buying.