Supply Chain Organisation for Proximity Distribution: Comparison between French and Japanese Models
authors
keywords
- France
- Japan
- Convenience stores
- Proximity stores
- Supply chain organisation
- Proximity
document type
ARTabstract
Convenience stores (CS) – or local stores-take different forms worldwide reflecting national market characteristics. In France, the mass retail sector is led by a few powerful retailing groups along directive lines. Power is more diffuse in Japan, with intermediaries playing a significant role and regulating the supply chains along more collaborative lines. Using a grid to analyse seven dimensions of proximity, we compare business models which include supply chain organisation for local store chain in Japan (so-called convenience stores) and in France (so-called proximity stores). What we identify is significant convergence amongst local store chain models relating to most of the aforementioned dimensions of proximity except for the inter-organisational proximity in which lies some major divergences.
