MAPP Working Papers, The MAPP Centre, Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus
No 66:
Retail and wholesale buying behaviour for two different food products in six Eastern European countries
Lars Esbjerg ()
and Hans Skytte ()
Abstract: Executive summary
1. The structure of retailing and
wholesaling in Eastern Europe has been significantly altered by
privatisation and liberalisation in the transition from central planning to
market economy. Furthermore, many western retailers faced with saturated
domestic markets have expanded into Eastern Europe in an attempt to take
advantage of the opportunities created by the liberalisation.
2. The
aim of this study is to increase our knowledge of retail and wholesale
buying behaviour in Eastern Europe by examining the buying behaviour for
fish and cheese products in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania. 95 semi-structured interviews were conducted with
industry experts, retail buyers and wholesale buyers of fish and cheese.
3. To structure the discussion of buying behaviour for fish and cheese
in Eastern Europe, a simple model of buying behaviour is constructed by
combining elements from Dawson, Shaw and Blair (1992), Hansen and Skytte
(1998) and Sheth (1981).
4. With regards to retail buying behaviour,
results show that buying functions are organised differently. Retailers in
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are smaller than their counterparts in the
Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland and hence do not have the resources
necessary to employ people whose sole task it is to buy fish or cheese.
Buying therefore often becomes a management responsibility. Furthermore,
whereas buying committees are in widespread use in Central Europe, none of
the Baltic retailers had such committees.
5. The most important
criteria used by retail buyers in Eastern Europe to evaluate products and
suppliers of fish and cheese are price and financial conditions, the
suppliers’ range of products, the way the supplier does business as well as
quality.
6. The differences in the organisation of buying functions
found between retailers were also found for wholesalers. The most important
evaluative criteria used by wholesale buyers are price and financial
requirements, quality, reliability of suppliers and marketing support
offered.
7. The paper concludes with a discussion of managerial and
theoretical implications and areas for future research. We propose that in
the long term, the best strategy for Danish food exporters is to approach a
number of key retailers and establish close relationships with these
retailers in order to fulfil their specific requirements. Theoretically, we
conclude that retail and wholesale buying behaviour in Eastern Europe can
be analysed using concepts developed for studying retail buying behaviour
in Western Europe. Finally, we believe that further research is needed
regarding the importance of individual criteria, the relationship between
economic development and the buying behaviour of retailers and wholesalers,
and the decision-making processes of retail and wholesale buyers in Eastern
Europe.
Keywords: Buying behaviour; Retail trade; Wholesale trade; Food; Eastern Europe; (follow links to similar papers)
35 pages, December 1, 1999
Before downloading any of the electronic versions below
you should read our statement on
copyright.
Download GhostScript
for viewing Postscript files and the
Acrobat Reader for viewing and printing pdf files.
Full text versions of the paper:
wp66.pdf 
Download Statistics
Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Helle Vinbaek Stenholt ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ()
or Helena Lundin ().
Programing by
Design by Joakim Ekebom
