A Multi-Agent Simulation of Retail Management Practices

TL;DR

This paper presents an agent-based simulation model to study how human resource management practices like empowerment and employee development impact retail productivity, based on a case study with a UK department store.

Contribution

It introduces a novel multi-agent simulation framework for retail management, integrating empirical data from a real store to analyze management practices.

Findings

Empowerment and employee development influence retail productivity.

The simulation provides insights into management practices in complex retail environments.

Empirical evidence supports the potential of ABMS in retail management analysis.

Abstract

We apply Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation (ABMS) to investigate a set of problems in a retail context. Specifically, we are working to understand the relationship between human resource management practices and retail productivity. Despite the fact we are working within a relatively novel and complex domain, it is clear that intelligent agents do offer potential for developing organizational capabilities in the future. Our multi-disciplinary research team has worked with a UK department store to collect data and capture perceptions about operations from actors within departments. Based on this case study work, we have built a simulator that we present in this paper. We then use the simulator to gather empirical evidence regarding two specific management practices: empowerment and employee development.