Modelling retail system dynamics : an application to the system of major retail centres in the St. John's metropolitan area, 1960-1980

• Main Author: Koh, Ngiap-Puoy
• Other Authors: Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dept. of Geography
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 1990
• Subjects: Retail trade > Newfoundland and Labrador > St. John's > Mathematical models; St. John's (N.L.) > Commerce > Mathematical models; Newfoundland; Canada; Newfoundland studies; University of Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses2/id/145675

Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1991. Geography Bibliography: leaves 142-147. A dynamic retail simulation model is applied to the St. John's metropolitan system of major retail centres for the period 1960-1980. The original model describing spatial competition among retail centres is modified in this study to incorporate a description of retailers' decision making behaviour and to account for planning constraints on retail centre growth. Time series data on size of major retail centres is calculated from municipal assessment records and used to calibrate the model. Simulation results from the calibrated model capture the pattern of retail system development in St. John's in terms of both relative centre sizes and the behaviour of individual centre trajectories. It was found that there was no need to calibrate parameters corresponding to individual centres, which strongly suggests that the model is robust and thus potentially useful as a planning tool.