Journal of Business and Retail Management Research

This paper charts the sustainability aligned mandate on retail infrastructure roadmap with respect to (i) resilience to vulnerability of ageing retail infrastructure (ii) value-bridge between business of retail growth with responsible consumption to enhance implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. (iii) possibility of Sustainability aligned- retail Infrastructure rating tool (iv) adaptability of Retail Infrastructure across ASEAN, SAARC, Middle east and North Africa along with research notes on future best practices in European Union, North America and Latin America. The overall fabric of special issue of the Journal of Business & Retail Management Research (JBRMR) themed on Impact of Sustainable Development Goals on Retail Infrastructure received an array of innovative, substantive and robust submissions. Modelling and coordination mechanisms with respect to retail infrastructure competitiveness with sustainability addressed the alliance coordination mechanisms on Retail Infrastructure from the governance lens (Ongsakul, Parameswar and Dhir, 2019). The next paper on the Promoting Responsible Service Policy attributes perceived service recovery performance on retail infrastructure sustainability (Nuansi & Ngamcharoenmongkol, 2019). The complaints and issues resolution play a significant role in ensuring reputability of retail infrastructure. This opens innovative avenues for retail research frontiers with respect to redesign, retrofit, rejuvenation in facets of Retail Infrastructure. Sustainable development in practice with a reality check-based case analysis on a reputable retail leader underscores the dynamic recast, reconstruct and revitalization needs for retaining leadership position in retail infrastructure (Withisuphakorn, Batra, Parameshwar and Dhir, 2019). While the Retail Infrastructure Alliance model underscore the role of services, two papers in this special issue build Retail services as a value bridge, namely, the paper on the influence of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on Customer-Based Store Equity (Soonsiripanichkul and Ngamcharoenmongkol, 2019) and brand personality’s role to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand (Auemsuvarn, 2019). 

Coordination needs in alliances; nature of alliance governance and competitiveness of alliances are interdependent dimensions in alliances. Coordination needs are affected by technology transfer and strategic complexity which might result in alterations in the nature and background of the alliance. This research examines the effect of complexity in technological transfer, strategic specifications of the partners and prior experience of the firm in the target country on the nature of alliance governance and alliance competitiveness. Total Interpretive Structural Model (TISM) has been developed to determine the hierarchy amongst these factors. The findings provide important inferences on the factors that affect competitiveness of contractual alliances. Results suggest that nature of alliance – being contractual agreement or a joint venture influences the competitiveness of the alliance.

Given that developing effective, accountable and transparent institutions are the targets of sustainable development goals (SDGs), a shift toward more responsible actions are required for service providers. The present study attempts to establish the role of complaint invitation as the service providers’ responsibilities on the advancement of customer complaint handling performance. A scenario-based experiment was carried out in a retail banking service setting. Two types of the service providers’ response to service failure (invited complaint vs. customer-self complaint) are compared in terms of customer perceived justice and satisfaction of service recovery. Results from multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) suggest that inviting customer to complain can result in higher perceived justice and satisfaction than when the complaint is raised by the customer. Furthermore, invited complaint has a greater impact on perceived interactional justice and satisfaction for customers with low coping potential. This study suggests that understanding the role of service provider’s accountability, service managers can more effectively develop and execute customer complaint management policy which contributes to business sustainability.

Purpose: This paper attempts to analyze sustainable development initiatives undertaken by businesses and discuss them in relation to the literature on sustainable development and triple bottom line. Extant literature lacks studies that provide a detailed account of the application of sustainable development initiatives in the real business case. 
Methodology: The paper utilizes a case study methodology to understand the method by which sustainable development is efficiently pursued by an organization.  The case of sustainable development efforts pursued by L’Oréal is discussed. 
Findings: L’Oréal effectively pursues sustainable development initiatives without compromising on its economic prosperity. Moreover, it is evident that organizations must embed sustainable development principles in all their activities in order to achieve the triple bottom line.
Practical Implications: The paper contributes to the practitioners by providing a detailed account of the ways and means by which sustainable development is efficiently pursued by an organization. This can act as a guideline for decision making in a different business context for taking up sustainable development initiatives.
Research Implications: The paper provides a practical approach for taking up research on sustainable development forward and suggests that future research must incorporate business cases as a method to discuss the implementation of sustainable development activities. 
Social Implications: This paper attempts to bring forward a business case wherein sustainable development is pursued and provide evidence to demonstrate that sustainable development is possible.
Originality/Value: This paper is amongst the few papers that go beyond the theoretical and empirical assessment of sustainable development. The case analysis determines that sustainable development must be an organization-wide initiative and requires a long-term commitment to being successful.
 

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) commenced globally in 2015. The execution of the SDGs is described as "Localizing the SDGs" to emphasize the role of local establishments and local players. The concern of SDG-related issues and concepts appears to be rising and is in line with the appreciation of its considerable potential. During the last decade, the concept of brand equity has been considerably utilized (or localized) in the context of the store, which is termed customer-based store equity (CBSE). We contribute to this localizing viewpoint by studying how the inclusion of the SDGs, particularly corporate social responsibility (CSR), influences local store equity. We propose eight major means by which the SDGs play a key role in creating CBSE, including 1) building store awareness; 2) developing consumer-self imagery; 3) engaging with store personality; 4) enhancing perceived store credibility; 5) enriching store reputation; 6) evoking store feeling; 7) cultivating store trust and loyalty; and 8) improving store perceived quality. We discuss the implications of our research propositions and provide directions for future research.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in a nation’s economy, particularly in developing countries. Brand personality has been studied extensively in the literature and adopted almost exclusively by major global brands of large corporations in developed countries. A well-established brand personality allows firms to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. However, brand personality is not widely used across SME product categories, partially because investment in brand personality requires a long-term commitment. Drawing upon anthropomorphization theory and customer-brand relationship theory, this paper proposes two major ways that brand personality plays a key role in fulfilling the SDGs, including 1) building customer-brand relationships and 2) developing competitive advantage for SMEs in developing countries. Implications for future research and managerial practice are provided.