Mar 9, 2009 12:00 PM, By MICHAEL GARRY

A study published by AMR Research in late 2007 quantified what most chain retailers have long recognized, to their great chagrin: namely, the frequent inability of stores to carry out plans developed at headquarters consistently and uniformly across a chain.

This could apply to practically any plan hatched by headquarters, but most often it impacts the merchandising arena. For example, one of AMR's findings noted that only 37% of head-office merchandisers are completely confident in the ability of store operations to execute merchandising and promotional strategies; another found that only 59% of merchandisers feel that merchandising and promotional instructions and initiatives are executed by store operations in the intended fashion.

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