Large investments in sparsely populated areas have the reputation to increase the attractiveness of these areas. This is said to lead to more investments, followed by growths in population, unemployment rates and tax revenues. Usually, city officials in Sweden trust in this formula and have the tendency to provide financial and other incentives for companies to start large investment projects in their towns (Hrelja, Isaksson, and Richardson, 2012). This thesis investigates the actual impact of such projects by the example of the large retail chain IKEA in Sweden. The development of three medium-sized cities in sparsely populated areas in Sweden which recently opened IKEA stores are compared to close-by cities and benchmark cities of a comparable size with respect to their unemployment rates, income, population, retail sales and trade indexes. The results will be used to predict the impact of the new IKEA store planned in Umeå.

La grande distribution en Roumanie est un phénomène récent qui justifie une étude. Ce phénomène est apparu dans les années 1992, après la chute du régime communiste en décembre 1989. Cet évènement a permis une libération des énergies dans tous les domaines, en particulier celui du commerce. La grande distribution s'est implantée à Bucarest et particulièrement à la périphérie pour ensuite s'orienter vers le centre-ville. La présence des axes de transport à l'entrée de la ville a facilité le groupement de plusieurs acteurs. En effet, le premier hypermarché s'est installé sur l'autoroute A1 près de Pitesti, au nord-ouest de Bucarest. Un deuxième groupement de sociétés s'est implanté à l'est de Bucarest, vers l'autoroute du Soleil qui relie la capitale au port Constanta. Le phénomène de la grande distribution s'est développé grâce à l'initiative des acteurs étrangers. Le manque des stratégies nationales explique que l'infrastructure et le transport sont insuffisants. Par son implantation périphérique, la grande distribution contribue à déplacer les limites de la ville. Cela montre à quel point l'activité commerciale détermine la périurbanisation et conditionne l'apparition de la zone métropolitaine bucarestoise / Hypermarket distribution is a rather recent phenomenon which justifies a study. It started in 1992 after the fall of the communist regime in December 1989. This event allowed a liberation of the energies in all the domains, in particular in the retail / trade. In the first time, large retailers took place in Bucharest and particularly in the suburbs. In a second time, it spread in the main town. The North of the capital is well enough served in highways. Thanks to the situation, a lot of commercial actors can settle in this place which becomes a trade area. We notice that the first hypermarket opened near the A1 highway towards Pitesti on the North West of Bucharest. A second group of companies goes to the East of Bucharest, next to the Sun highway which links the capital to the port Constanta. The phenomenon became more important thanks to foreign actors. The lack of national strategies explains that the utilities and transport's accessibility are insufficient. Because of its place around the town, hypermarket distribution moved the limits of the town. So we can observe that the trade is linked to suburbanization and marked the apparition of the metropolitan area of Bucarest