Time: 10:00-11:30, 22 April 2026
Speaker: Lanlan Cao is Professor of Marketing at NEOMA Business School in France. Her research focuses on strategic responses and value creation by retail firms under environmental change, covering international retailing, digital transformation, omnichannel coordination, artificial intelligence, and new technology innovation management. Her work has been published in Journal of Retailing, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Journal of Interactive Marketing, International Business Review, and other international journals. She currently directs NEOMA's master's program in retail management.
Abstract:
Does GenAI create or destroy value? Drawing on the resource-based view, we argue that the answer depends on whether GenAI complements or conflicts with a retailer's existing resources. Using an event study of 88 GenAI adoption announcements by U.S. retailers, we find that investor reactions are negative on average - suggesting that, in typical retail configurations, GenAI conflicts with customer relationship resources. However, this effect varies systematically across firms. It is amplified for retailers serving predominantly female clientele, where relational resources are central. It is attenuated for retailers with physical stores, where complementary assets mitigate risk. For service-oriented retailers, the reaction is modestly negative, reflecting their vulnerability to perceived artificiality. This study contributes to innovation management by identifying boundary conditions of GenAI value creation and resolving the paradox of how micro-level productivity gains can coexist with firm-level value destruction. Our findings suggest that GenAI adoption should be evaluated not as a binary decision, but as a strategic fit problem.
