Methodology
The propositions developed in relation to the literature review were used as themes to
inform the data collection throughout the research process. Questions relating to
each proposition (or theme) were developed as part of the interview protocols and
supporting evidence examined in the context of these four themes. Data were collected
in Singapore and Malaysia, consisting of in-depth interviews, retail observation,
and collation of industry and firm materials, including corporate reports and
promotional planning documents. The two countries used in this research were chosen
to provide information richness, as the two countries offer a contrasting perspective on
retailing in Asia – one with a relatively advanced, multinational economy (Singapore)
and one with a slower-growing economy (Malaysia). Culturally, Singapore has
socioeconomic, political, and educational systems most similar to those of the USA, but
has a heritage and culture more similar to that of the PRC (Tan, 2002). Malaysia, on the
other hand, has a greater mix of ethnicities, including a strong Muslim influence, as
well as large numbers of ethnic Chinese and Indonesian residents. In addition,
Malaysia is unique with its predominance of hypermarket retail formats, a system that
is less popular in the smaller land mass Singapore.
The research design adopted a case-study approach, with two general cases
(the New Singaporean and Malaysian supermarket retail industries) made up of two
embedded cases each (retailers and manufacturers operating within each country).
Data was collected in two phases for the research, phase one consisting of individual
observational site visits to supermarkets in Singapore and Malaysia, where two days
(one weekday, one weekend day) were spent monitoring the use and frequency of retail
sales promotion methods in each store sampled. These observation studies were
included first, to enable the researcher to become familiarised with the industry setting
and, second, as a means of providing comparison between interview data and observed
trends, as well as overall triangulation of literature, interview data and observational
data. A total of 16 retail sites in each country were observed twice (one weekday
observation, one weekend), resulting in 64 separate observation pro-formas, where both
the use of different sales promotion techniques and the frequency of that use was
recorded. The retail sites included in the observation studies were chosen on the basis of
a convenience sample, although efforts were made to include examples of each major
supermarket chain operating in the individual countries combined with a range of local
and multinational, urban and suburban, and different-sized stores.
Two visits were also made to regional headquarters of each of six different
supermarket chains in Singapore and eight in Malaysia. The supermarkets used in both
countries were chosen to achieve theoretical and literal replication, and thus represent
major retailing styles in each country as well as comparative pairs between countries.
Phase two of the research consisted of depth interviews with supermarket
managers/category managers in each of the supermarkets sampled, in order to both
qualify and supplement the results of the observational study. The research design for
the in-depth interviews included four clusters of interviewees (local retailers, local
manufacturers, multinational retailers and multinational manufacturers), and
research interviews were conducted with employees participating from within the
14 supermarket firms identified.
Interviewee selection was based on a number of criteria. For foodmanufacturing firms
the criteria were: food product category in which they operate; level of experience within
the food industry; access to interviewees in a number of key roleswithin the firmand; level
of involvement with retail. Essentially, those manufacturing interviewees included in the
study either currently operated in the same product category, or had done so in the
recent past, and had a high level of experience within the food product industry
(had generally worked in that industry for ten years or more). Additionally, interviewees
represented a wide range of roles within the manufacturing firms represented. For
example, interviewees from one manufacturing firm included the trade service manager,
responsible for overseeing and approving sales promotion deals, the key account
executive, who negotiates with supermarkets directly, and the business development
representative, who is responsible for evaluating the relative success of sales promotions
applied in the supermarket industry. Retailing firms (and retail interviewees) were also
chosen to fulfil a number of criteria, albeit less detailed than the manufacturer selection
criteria. These criteria were namely that: all major supermarket retail firms in each
country were included in the sample; firms from different regional areas were included to
account for any potential differences; interviewees were (or had been) directly involved in
the negotiation process for sales promotionswithmanufacturers and, in caseswhere sales
promotion decisions were mainly made by head office; had a thorough understanding of
this process (through the dissemination of firm sales promotion activity reports).
Data gathered from in-depth interviews were subject to a content analysis
procedure in order to identify emergent themes and patterns among interviewee responses. The researcher and a peer coder familiar with the content
analysis procedure performed the content analysis. Measures were taken to ensure
reliability and validity in the analysis, including calculation of percentage match and
agreement coefficients for each set of coding completed (Krippendorff, 1980). As the
research was qualitative in nature (and thus large volumes of interview text were
coded), summary percentages of thematic match of individual respondent comments
are given in the results to highlight levels of support for each proposition. In addition,
specific comments that serve to illustrate particular points relevant to the development
of the resultant industry guidelines are given throughout the results section of this
paper. Observational data were subject to simple proportion and frequency
calculations, as were supporting industry data gathered from evidential materials
such as company reports and sales promotion plans.