Georgios Tzimas

B.Sc. Geography, University of the Aegean (Mytilene, Greece)

M.A. GIS for Business and Service Planning, University of Leeds (Leeds, UK)

Understanding local geographies of retail development and retail regulation: Corporate strategies of multiple food retailers in three medium sized cities in Greece.

Supervisors: Martin Hess and Neil Coe.

Retail Globalisation, Impacts of retail corporations in local markets, Conceptualising TNC activity, Retail location and locational strategies and decision-making in retail corporations, Retail regulation and planning, Greece.

The aim of this research is:

• To develop a framework for analysing retail development and retail regulation at the local scale in an emerging market.

The following two objectives are being set forth in order to achieve the aim of the research:
- To examine the entry and operation of retail TNCs and national multiple retailers at the local scale in an emerging market, through the notions of embeddedness and governance.
- To assess the role of the local regulatory system in shaping retail development and to examine the contested regulatory practices at local and national level.

The implementation of the research objectives involves the fieldwork study of the operations of  a Domestic Retailer and a Retail TNC in three medium sized cities in Greece: Larisa, Katerini and Komotini.