The proposed knowledge exchange programme, in partnership with a leading UK retailer, addresses a core business problem relating to the internationalisation of retailing. High street retailers face increasing global competition both in the UK and in international markets. Sustainable international growth is imperative for UK retailers to retain their competitive position and this has significant implications for the UK economy. In the past, the record of UK retail internationalisation has been mixed. This project will help UK firms optimize their international strategy and hence support the overall UK economy. The applied research focuses on international franchising which is an area where there is a significant gap in both business and academic knowledge. The work will benefit the user community (the partner and UK retailers generally) and will contribute to the development of new theory on internationalisation. The economic downturn in the UK has seen a renewed focus on internationalisation by UK retailers. Yet internationalisation is the sector is difficult - differences in consumers around the world usually mean the retail offer has to be adapted; the retail brand has to "work harder"; emerging markets (where the greatest new opportunities are) are generally more culturally different and inherently riskier. Retailers also need to have a multi-channel strategy and provide an integrated shopping experience across channels. Franchising is often central to retailers internationalisation strategy as it enables them to expand quickly, keeping pace with shopping mall development, provides a certain amount of local market knowledge and expertise, with a minimal amount of risk. However, retailers also want their partners in other countries to help build their brand and the extent to which they are prepared to do this is influenced by the franchise model. The aim of this research is to help the user group optimize their franchising model especially as it relates to emerging markets, specifically Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and certain areas of the Middle East. Performance comparisons will be made between franchising and other modes of international operation (wholly owned and joint venture operations). The proposed research will also benefit the academic community. Franchising can be seen as a "Cinderella" topic in international marketing and international business research, compared with the allied topics of joint ventures and strategic alliances. What literature there is in existence is predominantly USA-centric, heavily focused on franchising in the domestic market and heavily focused on restaurant and hotel franchises. The academic literature has failed to keep up with the fact that franchising is increasing in its usage by businesses and especially by retailers. While there is some recognition in the literature that franchising is a valuable means to develop a business abroad (e.g. Watson et al, 2004), what studies there are tend to treat franchising as a uniform practice and fail to take account of the specific franchise terms that can result in vastly different franchising models and hence different outcomes for the franchisor. The methodology for the applied research to be undertaken during the knowledge exchange programme uses mixed methodologies: content analysis, qualitative interviews and quantitative data analysis. The study will combine data from a range of sources including interview and survey data from partners in the emerging markets and existing company data. The work is to be managed under an existing confidentiality agreement.

As the web becomes pervasive and deeply entrenched as part of our daily routines, more people than ever have the basic tools to express themselves through creative activities including: producing and editing video clips, composing music, and creating design artefacts and artworks. Yet sceptics including professionals often criticise this newly found freedom for destroying established business models, and for contributing to a cultural divide by fracturing our common culture into cultural bolt-holes . This proposal seeks to bring the creative public (including user groups and communities) to work alongside the producers (including the professional designers), by mindfully harvesting the public contributions as cultural resources to transform traditional in-house design and reduce R&D wastage; and to induce creativity, and social innovation. We will collaborate with Marks and Spencer to build and test a platform that facilitates contribution to the cultural production of design, exploitation of existing digital tools, and development of new tools. The platform will make available an array of digital tools to encourage interactivity and to further contribute to a register of cultural resources in terms of: a wiki of design artefacts (product forms, functions, etc.); and repertories of 'data' on how users perceive, appropriate and incorporate products into their lives, how well products fulfil their needs, how they imbue meaning and explore their individual, social and cultural identities through them, and how communities are formed through consumption and use. The cultural register provides a repository of cultural resources, which encourage reuse across and within different socio-cultural and business contexts. Our project fits RiTW well in that it enables us to engage directly with user groups and a consumer products brand to test the potential transformational impact of 'user innovation' as cultural production with consumer communities, which could feed into other areas of 'open design'.The ultimate aim of our research is to create a cultural register of design objects that facilitates sharing and reuse by the producers and the creative public through better use and exploitation of digital tools.The project team brings together reseachers with a background in design, user and open innovation, and ubiquitous computing. We will adopt a user driven approach to the design and development of a series of tools that bridging the socio-cultural gaps between user and business communities. The project team will leverage our strong connections with key industrial, public sector and academic groups in UK and internationally, ensuring that the proposed research will have maximum impact to communities of practice and creative and cultural industries.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

The retail sector is a crucial part of the UK economy accounting for 11% of UK economic output and nearly 16% of GB employment in 2014 (Rhodes, 2014). The UK government recognises the importance of the sector and its potential to contribute to economic growth and published 'A Strategy for Future Retail: Industry and Government Delivering in Partnership' in 2013. A UKCES report (Vokes and Boehnke, 2014) highlights key themes for the sector including attracting talent, image of the sector (as employers), employee retention and progression and employee issues relating to technological innovation/change. A great deal has been written about diversity and inclusion, and prior to that equality and equal opportunities, in the business, academic and public policy domains. Yet much of this literature focuses on the negative effects of inequality or lack of diversity or on making the business and moral case for adopting diversity policies and relating diversity to organisational performance. While this has been a worthy focus, what is lacking is a clear understanding of the processes involved in bringing about a major programme of organisational change in a large company or public sector organisation and understanding what it is that makes diversity policies actually work and achieve the desired results. The research focus on a major British retail company who are collaborative partners with the University of Leeds provides a unique opportunity to access a large organisation during a period of strategic change. The proposal has been user-led with the research objectives and topics being discussed and agreed with the company and emerging from an initial exploratory study commissioned by them with members of the research team. Using a case study approach focusing on the company, the team will investigate diversity and inclusion in relation to a number of Human Resource (HR) issues: retention and inclusivity, career success, progression and development and the intersectionality of protected characteristics under UK legislation (The Equality Act, 2010). The research objectives cover these topics. The research design uses mixed methodologies including face to face interviews with employees, HR staff, directors and senior managers. There will be a shadowing/observation study with regional teams in the company. Survey data will be collected at two intervals. The research team will analyse the data on an ongoing basis throughout the longitudinal study, with themes emerging and building as the data grows. This organic process will mean that the company will be provided with interim reports on the findings at various stages along the way. DELIVERABLES SUMMARY 1) Direct benefits for the employees, senior management and Directors of the company. Research findings to be shared in a business-friendly manner with regular presentations and full involvement of the company in the process 2) Generalizable findings to be disseminated through academic channels: research conferences and seminars, journal articles and business channels: business conference presentations and seminars, business networks, institutions (e.g. 30% Club, 2% Club, Women in Business), Executive Education and teaching 3) Policy engagement including a parliamentary briefing and an event targeted specifically at policymakers. Proactive use of the key findings to stimulate progress in all sectors