This article examines the ways that Australia's largest retail firms accessed and adapted external knowledge flows, largely from the USA, to develop discount department store chains from the late-1960s onwards. In doing so, it extends work on retail internationalisation by focusing on the importation, rather than the exportation of business models. The three firms – Coles, Myer and Woolworths – exhibited differing degrees of absorptive capacity in identifying and commercialising knowledge flows. This was reflected in fluctuating levels of success, the scope of store networks and relative positioning in the Australian market. Further, the role played by informal associations between managers in non-competing firms in different markets during the development of discount department stores in Australia advances the case for socialising analyses of business knowledge transfer more broadly.

中文翻译：

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吸收能力、国际商业知识转移和本地适应：在澳大利亚建立折扣百货公司

本文考察了澳大利亚最大的零售公司从 1960 年代后期开始获取和调整外部知识流（主要来自美国）以发展折扣百货连锁店的方式。通过这样做，它通过专注于进口而不是商业模式的出口来扩展零售国际化的工作。这三家公司——Coles、Myer 和 Woolworths——在识别知识流并将其商业化方面表现出不同程度的吸收能力。这反映在成功的水平、商店网络的范围和澳大利亚市场的相对定位上。更多，