The doctoral thesis investigates various strategies in the area of going and being
international of retail firms which is of undisputable relevance due to the fairly narrow
research status and the increasing internationalization of retail activities. Issues are
investigated concerning the choice of retail market entry modes i.e. the form ofinstitutional
arrangements that retailers use when entering foreign markets the retail format transfer i.e.
the management of internal processes and the external marketing program elements and the
coordination of retail activities i.e. the implementation ofthe marketing program by the
organizational structure. Regarding this three important research questions are addressed:1)
How do choose retailers their market entry mode in the area of conflict between full and
shared-controlled modes and how is this decision influenced by the internal and external
environment? 2) How can international retailers transfer their retail format successfully to
foreign countries by standardizing or adapting the internal and external elements of their
retail format? 3) How can retailers successfully coordinate the implementation of their retail
marketing program to culturally diversified markets? These questions are investigated on the
basis of established theories applied from the international management literature such as
institutional theory the resource-based view and the profit maximization theory. On the basis
of comprehensive primary and secondary datasets important implications are drawn for research
and practice.
