East Asia’s retail revolution: Diffusion of organized retailing and varieties of market development in Korea and Taiwan

Abstract

Global diffusion of organized retailing over the last several decades brought extensive worldwide standardization of retail formats and technologies. Such development, however, has not led to the success of the same set of retailers but to varied prominence of core players across markets. Few studies comparatively analyse local market environments to assess this variation, and those that do rarely look beyond local policy measures or idiosyncratic consumer tastes. Presenting a sociological institutionalist alternative and comparing Korea’s and Taiwan’s paths to organized retail development, this article highlights how local business groups relied on network-hierarchy logics to coordinate and control new businesses amid MNC entry and global diffusion of retailing. The resulting dynamics of competition and cooperation illustrate the significance of institutionalized market environments for MNC performance. The study contributes to the comparative capitalism literature by highlighting institutionally embedded strategic behaviours of organizations as crucial contributors to continued national economic diversity amid heightening globalization.