Systemic Analysis of Competition between SSM and Small-to-Medium Retailers (SMR) in Korea

As the number of SSM (Super Supermarket) has been growing, there are being deeper conflicts between large companies and Small-to-Medium Retailers (simply ‘SMR’ herein). To resolve the conflict, the government enacted the system of limiting business of large enterprises. It brought about the growth of sales of small retailers in the short run. However, unintended effects were caused by the system. This research, by adopting system thinking, aims to analyze underlying structure of conflicting relationships between SSM and small retailers and find political alternatives through a simulation model which is developed based on the factors involved in the retailing system.