Yagmur Gunduz
Supported by The William Lind Foundation
Yagmur Gunduz is a PhD researcher in the Department of International Business and Strategy at Henley Business School, University of Reading. Her research investigates the mass fashion industry in 20th century Britain through a strategic management lens, looking at how variety chain stores and department stores created and captured value through competitive and corporate strategies. She uses extensive archival sources including materials from Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, House of Fraser and John Lewis to see how firms responded to industry changes and competitive dynamics.
Her second working paper is on value creation and value capture through mergers and acquisitions, using a historical case study approach to examine the acquisition strategies of Debenhams and House of Fraser. The big merger wave of the 1920s and the subsequent consolidation strategies of the 20th century shaped the British retail landscape. To look at these dynamics she will use the University of Glasgow Archives which holds the corporate records of House of Fraser (FRAS). These archives will provide her with critical information on how the company pursued acquisitions to achieve economies of scale, rationalisation and competitive advantage. By looking at financial reports, board meeting minutes and strategic documents her research will contextualise how department store chains used acquisitions as a means to long term growth and assess whether these strategies led to value capture or value destruction.
I am grateful to receive a Research Fellowship from the University of Glasgow to work on my research on the M&A of House and Fraser. This fellowship will allow me to delve into the company’s mergers and acquisitions – and therefore the broader patterns of corporate growth and value creation in the British mass fashion industry. By getting up close and personal with these documents I’ll be able to see how House of Fraser navigated industry consolidation, adapted to market change and positioned themselves in the shifting retail landscape.
