The Institutions of the German Retail Sector - A Historical and Comparative Insitutionalist Analysis of a German Non-core Industry

• Applicant: Dr. Michael Wortmann
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2013 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 248342541

Most historical as well as more functional comparative analyses of different forms of capitalism (Hall and Soskice, Whitley, Streeck, Thelen and others) assume that German economic institutions are homogenous across industries The project follows Lehndorff et al. who have criticised that by these concepts of a German Model the institutions in the manufacturing sector are assumed to represent the whole of the system, although they actually constitute only one segment of the economy; the institutional trajectories of non-core industries might follow a logic quite different and independent from that of the core sectors. The project focuses on a big non-core industry that has emerged parallel to industrialisation and is deeply rooted in the Mittelstand tradition of independent shopkeepers. The main objectives are: (1) The core objective of the empirical research is a detailed (thick) causal explanatory reconstruction of the development of the institutions that have shaped the German retail sector and the political struggles behind them, focusing on the domains of industrial policy and regional planning, corporate governance, supplier relationships, vocational training, industrial relations and the welfare state.(2) An international comparison with the retail sector institutions of the UK, France and Italy will primarily serve the purpose of inspiring the empirical analysis and checking the causal explanations of the German case.(3) The project asks about the relationship between the institutional domains, foremost from the historical perspective: to what degree is there coherence and possibly homogeneity stemming from successful interest representation of small retailers in all domains and a dominant Mittelstand core discourse (Lehmbruch)?(4) A comparison with the institutions of the German core sectors (i.e. the German Model) serves to sharpen the view for specificities of the retail sector. Questions about the independence or interdependence between the institutions of the two sectors and their historical development will also be raised.The research project will contribute to the understanding of the retail industry as one of the biggest German economic sectors. It will for the first time explore the viability and usefulness of a historical and comparative institutionalist approach to a typical non-core sector. Finally, it will make a contribution to institutionalist debates about a more differentiated conceptualisation of overall German economic institutions, by introducing a concept where non-core sector institutions are not just modifications of those of the core sectors, i.e. of the German Model, and where these institutions have developed along their own specific trajectories, that need to be analysed - especially in a time when the importance of non-core industries is growing and their institutions and practices are increasingly also affecting those of the core sectors.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants