Innovation and institutional change in Swedish retailing 1720-2020

Description

The project will analyse the transformation of Swedish retailing 1720-2020. The retail sector, including both wholesale and retail trade, is important, but its history has not been written in a comprehensive manner. The focus is on institutional change and important innovations during the period 1720-2020. Institutions refer to legislation, but also to the informal agreements and rules that have affected retailing. Innovations, new technologies and new forms of organisation, will include the impact of general purpose technologies, and general organisational changes (Taylorism, horizontal and vertical integration), on retailing, but also the more specific changes, such as new formats and new solutions such as department stores, self-service, or single-storey warehouses. The major shifts in institutions and innovations identified will form the basis for an overall periodization. The project is based on assembling secondary sources, but some gaps will be filled with primary research.