Organizational Development: Case of Retail Enterprises Structure
Organizational Development: Case of Retail Enterprises Structure

Author(s): Igor V. Denisov, Alexander L. Bobkov
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Social Sciences, Economy
Published by: Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze
Keywords: Organizational structures; organizational development; cluster analysis
Summary/Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this study is to prove the repetition of the organizational structure changes of enterprises. From the point of view of our research objectives, such paired scientific concepts as vertical and horizontal; tall and flat; mechanical and organic can be considered as two basic types of organizational structures. The hypothesis of the authors is that these two types of structures dialectically replace each other, and qualitatively change in the process of enterprise growth. However, at the same time, these structures retain their defining properties of either serial or parallel at each new level of development.Design/methodology/approach: The retail sector was chosen as the object of analysis as its structure can be characterized by separate retail points, allowing the use of statistical data processing. A common method for determining groups that combine objects that are homogeneous by certain criteria is cluster analysis. This is a means of exploratory analysis designed to naturally partition the initial data set into groups. To identify clusters, the computer program IBM SPSS Statistics was used. The analysis was carried out according to the data of retailers in the Czech Republic.Findings: As a result of this analysis, six clusters were identified. By analyzing the average values of the variables in these clusters, four groups of trading organizations can be distinguished. The first group includes 1,105 small trade organizations, employing the smallest number of people (on average 5.4) and, for the most part, represents individual small shops. The second group (491 organizations) includes retail chains of small shops. The third group (70 organizations) includes fairly large individual stores such as supermarkets. Finally, the fourth group (29 organizations) includes large retail chains, employing on average more than 200 people and with over 23 outlets. Research/practical implications: The results of the cluster analysis as a whole confirm the hypothesis. But of course, this research should be considered only as a first step. To obtain more convincing proof for the alternation of successive and parallel organizational structures, a more in-depth study is required, which includes an analysis of the structure of specific organizations. Originality/value: The results suggest that the general scheme of retail organization evolution can be categorized as universal, since the approaches underlying it can be used when taking into account the necessary features of retail organizations in any country or separate region with a market economy.

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