Evaluating food retailing efficiency: the role of information technology

Information and internet-based technologies have fostered new supply chain initiatives in food retailing but little research has evaluated performance and efficiency impacts. A distance function based on three key performance measures for food retailers is used to evaluate store performance and efficiency. The effects of store format, membership in a chain, unionization, and the adoption of a variety of information technologies. Supply chain technologies are groups into three general categories including data sharing technologies, decision sharing technologies, and technologies that support product assortment, pricing, and merchandising decisions. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007