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

大多数对不同形式资本主义的历史和功能比较分析（Hall和Soskice， Whitley, Streeck， Thelen等人）假设德国经济制度在各个行业都是同质的。该项目遵循Lehndorff等人的观点，他们批评德国模型的这些概念认为制造业部门的制度代表了整个系统，尽管它们实际上只构成了经济的一个部分；非核心产业的制度轨迹可能遵循与核心产业完全不同的、独立的逻辑。该项目专注于一个与工业化并行出现的大型非核心产业，并深深植根于独立店主的中小型企业传统。主要目标是：(1)实证研究的核心目标是对塑造德国零售业的制度及其背后的政治斗争的发展进行详细（厚）因果解释重建，重点关注产业政策和区域规划、公司治理、供应商关系、职业培训、劳资关系和福利国家等领域。(2)与英国、法国和意大利的零售业机构进行国际比较，主要是为了启发实证分析和检验德国案例的因果解释。(3)该项目首先从历史的角度询问了制度领域之间的关系：在何种程度上，所有领域的小零售商的成功利益代表和占主导地位的中小企业核心话语（Lehmbruch）之间存在一致性和可能的同质性？(4)与德国核心部门（即德国模式）的制度进行比较有助于提高对零售部门特殊性的看法。关于两个部门机构之间的独立性或相互依赖性及其历史发展的问题也将被提出。该研究项目将有助于了解零售业作为德国最大的经济部门之一。它将首次探讨历史和比较制度主义方法对典型非核心部门的可行性和实用性。最后，它将通过引入一个概念，即非核心部门机构不仅仅是核心部门机构（即德国模式）的修改，而且这些机构沿着自己的特定轨迹发展，从而为制度主义者关于整体德国经济制度的更差异化概念化的辩论做出贡献。这是需要分析的——尤其是在非核心产业的重要性日益增长，它们的制度和做法也越来越多地影响到核心行业的时候。

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.