扎根理论

A Grounded Theory Study on the Effect of Logistics Technology onthe Business Model in Retail IndustryQI Y an1, WU John2, LIU Jiajia21, 3. Business School, Beijing Wuzi University, Beijing, China, 1011492. DIDS, California State University San Bernardino, San Bernardino, U.S.A., CA. 92407Abstract: This research investigates the effect of logistics technology on the business model in retail industry by using grounded theory and taking Walmart as the object of study. By using the three level coding of grounded theory, analyzing data from Walmart, creating categories and the story lines, the authors shed light on evolution in logistics technology and its direct and indirect impact on business model innovation of retailing. The growth of Walmart was largely shaped by the introduction of new technologies, technological upgrades and transformations, information exchange and sharing, managers’ visions, and a culture of embracing innovations. These factors have played a crucial role on the business model innovation of retailer. The results not only can provide theoretical guidance to the retailer’s business model innovation directly, but also help lay the foundation for further quantitative research on effects of logistics technology on the innovation of business model of retailer.Keywords: Business Model; Grounded Theory; Logistics Technology; Walmart1 IntroductionModern information technology revolution has accelerated the appearances and application of new logistics technology widely, especially in the competitive retail industry. Today, the new logistics technology has penetrated into all aspects of the business operation in retail industry, as the representative of the world retail giants, Walmart has applied new logistics technology to enhance the efficiency of enterprise supply chain management, and to encounter the impacts of e-commerce, and at the same time the business model of Walmart has kept changing accordingly. Many enterprises in retail industry like Walmart, by continuously innovation of business model and technology, are leading the society economics to development.At the same time, in contrast with the prosperous development of enterprise, the theoretical study i s quite scarce about the effect of logistics technology on the business model of retail innovation. In the background of “business model to win” concept goes popular and the short of theory research of “effect of logistics technology on the business model of retail”. Research on logistics technology how to influence the retail business model innovation, not only has the widespread practical significance, but also has the theoretic value of exploiting. This can not only provide valuable theoretical guidance to the retail er’s business model innovation directly, but also help the quantization research for further systematic evaluation of effects of logistics technology on the business model of retail innovation.In here and now, quantitative research on this field is difficult, so this paper takes the grounded theory as study method which is used popularly in the field of innovation research. With the typical retail giant Walmart as the object of study, this paper take advantage of the three level code of grounded theory to create categories and the story lines, base on this, used the story lines to create out the conclusions: the factors about evolution of logistics technology, which direct or indirect impacting with business model innovation of retail business include: the influence of the external environment, accurate market positioning, scale expanding of business , introducing new technology, technological upgrading and transformation, information exchange and sharing, managers have farsightedness, technology continues to introduce, dare to innovation, rational use of resources, facilities, infrastructure construction, system seamless connection of humanity. The above factors play a crucial role on the business model innovation of retail.2 Research Foundation and Literature Review2.1 Research methods and thoughtsGrounded theory method (GT) is a systematic methodology in the social sciences involving the discovery of theory through the analysis of data.Grounded theory method was developed by Barney Glaser of University of Chicago and Anselm Strauss of Columbia University. They developed the constant comparative method, later known as Grounded theory method operates almost in a reverse fashion from traditional social science research. Rather than beginning with a hypothesi s, the first step is data collection, through a variety of methods. From the data collected, the key points are marked with a series of codes, which are extracted from the text. The codes are grouped into similar concepts in order to make the data more workable. From these concepts, categories are formed, which are the basis for the creation of a theory, or a reverse engineered hypothesis.According to the grounded theory method, this study takes Walmart Store as the object of study, based on collecting sufficient data, by taking advantage of the grounded theory method approach, in order to generate the conclusion of rooted in the Walmart business practices.2.2 The definition and development of logistics technologyLogistics technology is the professional technology that is connected to all of the logistics activities, which includes the technology of transport, technology of packaging, technology of handling, technology of storage, technology of distribution processing and technology of other logistics sectors, in a variety of tools, equipments, facilities and all kinds of methods, techniques and procedures. The direction of development of logistics technology is to meet the diversified logistics demand as the goal. With the development and the improvement of living standards of society, consumer demands become diversification and personalization. The form of production also become more varieties and miniaturize. All of these require the logistics technology development to flexible, intelligent, and green direction.At the same time, the enterprise’s production model, management model, and profit model changed accordingly.Generally, the logistics technology mainly includes the transportation technology, storage technology, handling technology, sorting and packaging technology and logistics information technology. A technical development is an evolutionary process, the development of logistics technology is no exception. Hints can be found form the summary of some important development phenomenon of logistics technology from mid nineteenth Century to the end of the twentieth Century. The modern logistics technology has been developed from the ship, train, automobile, airplane, pipeline transportation, to the development of tray, forklift, container, high rack warehouse and some logistics facilities, and developed to the three-dimensional warehouse of automation, computer management, Internet bar, warehouse management system, global positioning system automation and information, and finally to the development of intelligent bar code identification technology, the radio frequency identification technology, electronic commerce and intelligent transportation system. Overall, the logistics technology is moving towards diversification, intelligence, information, systemati zation, green, and humane direction evolution.3 Grounded Theory Analysis3.1 Open codingUsing the grounded theory method, the authors found out 41 core concepts from the Secondary data of Walmart, which is retrieved from the research and reports, publication sources as well as internet sources, and classified them into 13 main categories (B1-B13). The 13 main categories are: the influence of the external environment, accurate market positioning, scale expansion, the introduction of new technology, the technical updating and transformation, information exchange and sharing, has have farsightedness, technology continues to introduce, dare to innovate, rational use of resources, facilities, infrastructure, system seamless connection of humanity. The concept and category are listed in the following table:3.2 Axial codingIntegrated the data and the category of Walmart by grounded theory model of axial coding process, namely the process of relating codes (categories and concepts) to each other, via a combination ofinductive and deductive thinking. The basic framework of generic relationships is understood, to include categories related to (1) the phenomenon under study, (2) the conditions related to that phenomenon (context conditions, intervening -structural- conditions or causal conditions), (3) the actions and interactional strategies directed at managing or handling the phenomenon and (4) the consequences of the actions/interactions related to the phenomenon.Here, we can specifically stated as follows:Table 3.2 W almart Axial Coding Analysis Table3.3 Selective codingAccording to the analysis of the open coding, axial decoding, and combined with the analysis of data several times, the authors found that the development of the logistics system of Walmart can be the corecategory of the story line，with which the other categories of data can be connected to being one story.So based on the core category of the story line, the all categories of Walmart can be summarized as: Walmart always has the courage to face the changes of external environment, and the top management has have farsightedness about the development of the enterprise, size up the situation, innovation, accurate positioning of the market, constantly introducing new technology and new equipment, and the technical updating and transformation so as to reach the advanced level to meet the needs of enterprise development.When the related new technologies and equipments are used, they can improve the usefulness of relevant resources, maximize the potential ability of enterprises to create more profits, and improve efficiency. At last, by technology upgrading, the enterprise continues to expand the scale, become today’s retail giant with huge and sufficient strength and competitiveness.3.4 Theoretical memoingBased on the analysis of the above three kind of coding of Walmart, the theoretical memo can be obtained, the main factors affecting the business model of retail enterprises are: the external objective environment, market positioning, the introduction of new technology and use, information exchange and sharing, management ability, innovation ability, the utilization rate of resources, facilities, systems are closely linked. All of these factors through different ways have effect on the business model of retail enterprises, and those effects can be divided into three kind of ways:Influence of enterprise business model, financial model, and the model of supply chain. The reason that Walmart is able to defeat the opponents in the fierce competition of retail market, largely because it has a strong logistics system and advanced logistics technology as the support.4 ConclusionsWe used data from Walmart and the three levels coding of grounded theory to find out that the factors of evolution of logistics technology impacting business model innovation of retailer include: introduction of new technologies, technological upgrades and transformations, information exchange and sharing, managers’ visions, and a culture of embracing innovations. These factors have played a crucial role on the business model innovation of retailer. The results not only can provide theoretical g uidance to the retailer’s business model innovation directly, but also help lay the foundation for further quantitative research on effects of logistics technology on the innovation of business model of retailer.Funded Project:This paper is subsidized by the Beijing municipal commission of education on social science key project: SM201410037001.This paper is subsidized by “the Beijing Municipal Education Commission Business and Enterprise Service Innovation Research” (science and technology innovation platform, 0351407800).References[1].Sam Walton, John Huey, Sam Walton: Made In A merica: My Story, Doubleday Broadway, 1992[2][2].Morris, M., Schindehutte, M., Allen, J. The Entrepreneur’s Business Model: Toward a UnifiedPerspective, Journal of Business Research, 2003, (01)[3].Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Tucci, C.L. 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