From Franchise to Homegrown: Carrefour’s Exit and HyperMax’s Rise in the Gulf as a Case of Field Reconfiguration, Isomorphic Pressures, and Semi-Peripheral Assertion

OUS Academy in Switzerland
Sep 19, 2025
11 min read

Author: Ahmed Al-Fahd

Affiliation: Independent Researcher

Abstract

In late 2024 and through 2025, the Gulf grocery landscape experienced a rapid and coordinated brand transition: the long-standing Carrefour banner, operated regionally by Majid Al Futtaim (MAF), was withdrawn in Jordan (November 2024), Oman (January 2025), Bahrain (mid-September 2025), and Kuwait (mid-September 2025), while a new proprietary banner—HyperMax—was rolled out to take its place. This article offers a sociological and management analysis of the transition, situating it within three complementary theoretical frames: (1) Bourdieu’s theory of fields and forms of capital (economic, social, cultural, symbolic), (2) world-systems theory with its core–periphery–semi-periphery logic and global commodity chains, and (3) institutional isomorphism (coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures). Methodologically, the paper employs a qualitative case study using publicly available reports and sector analysis to reconstruct the event timeline, identify strategic drivers, and evaluate stakeholder implications for consumers, suppliers, workers, and regulators.

We argue that HyperMax represents a deliberate act of field re-positioning by a semi-peripheral actor: a move to convert franchise-embedded capital into locally owned brand capital, increase strategic autonomy, accelerate omnichannel integration, and align with national priorities around food security, SME development, and localization. While the pivot promises operational control, cost rationalization, and reputational risk management, it also entails material risks: customer trust transfer, rebranding costs, supply chain robustness, and intensified competition. The case illuminates a broader trajectory in Gulf retail—where homegrown banners and regional champions increasingly assert brand sovereignty—offering lessons for management and policy on how to orchestrate large-scale brand migrations without eroding stakeholder value.

Keywords: HyperMax, Carrefour exit, GCC retail, brand transition, food security, institutional isomorphism, world-systems theory, Bourdieu, omnichannel, SME localization

1. Introduction

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) grocery sector has been historically shaped by the interplay of international brands and strong regional operators. For decades, the Carrefour brand—franchised and operated in multiple Middle Eastern markets by Majid Al Futtaim—served as a recognisable anchor for consumers and a dependable procurement platform for suppliers. In a striking shift spanning November 2024 to September 2025, MAF exited the Carrefour banner in Jordan, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait and launched HyperMax as its proprietary replacement.

This article examines the strategic and sociological underpinnings of this transition. Rather than treating it as a mere rebranding exercise, we situate the case in a world-systems perspective, conceptualise it as a field reconfiguration in Bourdieu’s sense, and analyse its institutional drivers through the lens of isomorphism. We contend that HyperMax’s emergence exemplifies a semi-peripheral retailer asserting autonomy from a global franchisor logic, converting dependence into ownership while promising closer alignment with local producers, consumers, and policy agendas.

We pursue three questions:

Strategic Why: What strategic, institutional, and sociopolitical dynamics explain the shift from Carrefour to HyperMax?
Operational How: How did the transition unfold across countries, stores, workforces, and supply chains, and what continuity mechanisms were used?
Stakeholder So-What: What are the implications for consumers, suppliers/SMEs, employees, competitors, and public policy (especially food security and SME development)?

2. Methodology and Data

The study uses a qualitative case study approach grounded in triangulation of recent business reporting, press statements, and sector analyses on the exits and launches in Jordan, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait. We reconstruct an indicative timeline, extract claims around local sourcing, employment, and store counts, and interpret these through established theoretical frameworks. The aim is analytic generalisation rather than statistical inference, producing a thick description that enables theoretical contribution and managerial insight.

3. Context: GCC Grocery Retail, Franchising, and Localization

GCC grocery retail has evolved through a hybrid model: international brands (often via franchise) coexisting with powerful regional operators and homegrown banners. This model historically traded off global brand capital (symbolic assurance, category management routines, purchasing scale) against local adaptation (cultural fit, procurement flexibility, policy alignment).

Three context features are salient:

Food Security and Local Value Chains. Policymakers across the region have emphasised food security, traceability, and resilience. Retailers are under pressure to deepen ties with domestic agriculture, fisheries, and SMEs, reinforcing local procurement and shortening supply lines.
Omnichannel and Last-Mile. Post-pandemic consumption normalised online grocery and hybrid fulfilment. Owning brand architecture can speed up digital product launches, loyalty ecosystems, and pricing experiments.
Reputational and Geopolitical Risk. Global franchises can inherit reputational exposure from distant corporate decisions. In politically charged moments, regional operators face consumer mobilisation that blurs brand accountability. A proprietary brand can be narratively insulated and locally repositioned.

4. Event Timeline (Indicative)

Jordan: Carrefour stores ceased operations in early November 2024; HyperMax was announced as the replacement across the entire Jordan network (34 stores).
Oman: Carrefour completed its exit by early January 2025; HyperMax was positioned as successor brand.
Bahrain: Carrefour ceased trading in mid-September 2025; HyperMax launched with six stores and an explicit emphasis on partnerships with local farmers, producers, suppliers, and SMEs (reports referenced more than 250 partners and around 1,600 jobs).
Kuwait: Carrefour exited in mid-September 2025, closing a 10-month sequence of withdrawals in the four markets.

While precise store-level operational details vary by country, the choreography emphasised continuity (same locations and teams where possible) and localisation (supplier partnerships, employment retention, and service levels) to protect consumer trust during the brand switch.

5. Theoretical Lenses

5.1 Bourdieu: Fields and Forms of Capital

Bourdieu’s framework interprets markets as fields structured by positions, struggles, and the accumulation of various forms of capital:

Economic capital: purchasing power, margins, cash flow, and asset base;
Social capital: durable networks with suppliers, regulators, and communities;
Cultural capital: category and merchandising know-how, sourcing competencies, and quality codes;
Symbolic capital: brand prestige, trust, and recognition.

Under the Carrefour franchise, MAF deployed a bundle of capitals tethered to a global banner’s symbolic capital. The HyperMax pivot is a strategic conversion: transferring the accumulated economic, social, and cultural capital from a franchise scaffold to a proprietary banner, and rebuilding symbolic capital under local ownership. This conversion aims to retain classic strengths (assortment, price discipline, supply chain routines) while gaining autonomy to adapt narratives (local sourcing, national vision alignment) and experiment with omnichannel propositions without franchise constraints.

The field thus reconfigures: a regional actor moves from delegated authority (licensee of a global brand) toward brand sovereignty, challenging the field’s symbolic hierarchy by substituting a transnational name with a local signifier tied to place, producers, and policy agendas.

5.2 World-Systems Theory and Global Commodity Chains

World-systems theory views the global economy as a hierarchy of core, semi-periphery, and periphery. Retail franchises often channel core-origin brand architectures across semi-peripheral markets. HyperMax’s rise can be read as a semi-peripheral assertion: a capable regional operator internalises brand ownership, recasting itself from distributor of a core symbol to producer of a regional symbolic good (a brand) embedded in local supply chains.

Through the lens of buyer-driven global commodity chains, HyperMax seeks to re-route power in the chain: controlling standards, assortment, and procurement to privilege domestic producers and SMEs. In principle, this can increase value capture in the semi-periphery, build resilience against import shocks, and support import substitution where feasible without sacrificing consumer choice.

5.3 Institutional Isomorphism

The institutional literature highlights how firms become similar in response to shared pressures:

Coercive isomorphism: regulation and policy frameworks (e.g., food security, SME development, localisation targets, national visions).
Mimetic isomorphism: imitation under uncertainty (adopting homegrown banners as peers demonstrate successful localisation strategies).
Normative isomorphism: professional norms and managerial ideologies (omnichannel integration, sustainability reporting, supplier development).

HyperMax can be read as a product of simultaneous pressures: regulatory nudges and policy narratives (coercive), the demonstrative success of regional champions with local banners (mimetic), and the profession’s consensus on digital/last-mile integration and ESG (normative). The result is a convergence toward locally owned grocery brands anchored in national narratives and digital ecosystems.

6. Strategic Rationale

6.1 Autonomy and Cost Structure

Operating a proprietary brand can lower royalty and compliance obligations, accelerate assortment innovation, and streamline pricing and promotion strategies. Autonomy allows faster adaptation to inflation, FX volatility, and port logistics shocks—recurring features in food retail.

6.2 Reputational Risk Management

Franchise arrangements diffuse brand accountability. In politically sensitive contexts, consumer mobilisation may target global marks regardless of local operator practices. Owning the brand enables message control, local brand storytelling, and selective decoupling from reputational risks that originate elsewhere.

6.3 Local Sourcing and Food Security

HyperMax’s launch communications in Bahrain emphasized partnerships with farmers, producers, suppliers, and SMEs. Localization can shorten lead times, increase freshness, and anchor domestic value chains—aligning commercial logic with policy priorities around food security, SME formalisation, and rural livelihoods.

6.4 Omnichannel and Data Sovereignty

Brand sovereignty supports tighter integration of e-commerce, apps, loyalty, dynamic pricing, and last-mile logistics, with greater data ownership (customer, supplier, inventory). This datafication improves demand forecasting, reduces waste, and personalizes promotions—key to grocery margins.

7. Stakeholder Analysis

7.1 Consumers

Continuity of service was prioritised through rapid store conversions and workforce continuity.
Assortment and quality hinge on sustaining fresh chains and balancing local and imported SKUs.
Pricing: brand migration opens leeway for price architecture and private-label development; consumer trust will depend on perceived fairness and reliability.

7.2 Suppliers, Farmers, and SMEs

Opportunity: Onboarding programs, volume commitments, and quality support can integrate SMEs into modern trade.
Challenge: Compliance with safety, traceability, and logistics standards may strain micro-suppliers; retailer-led capacity-building is essential.
Power dynamics: Retailer consolidation can increase bargaining power; transparent contracts and predictable payment terms matter for SME sustainability.

7.3 Employees

Retention and retraining: Staff continuity reduces consumer friction; retraining supports new systems, private-label standards, and digital fulfilment.
Career ladders: A growing proprietary brand can create clearer advancement paths in merchandising, data analytics, and operations.

7.4 Competitors

Market structure: A locally owned banner backed by a major operator recalibrates competition; rivals must respond on price, freshness, and convenience.
Differentiation pressure: Expect renewed investment in private label, local sourcing badges, and app-based loyalty.

7.5 Regulators and Public Policy

Alignment with national visions: HyperMax’s local-sourcing narrative fits policy agendas for SME development and food security.
ESG reporting: Formalisation of local chains can strengthen traceability and sustainability metrics.

8. Country Mini-Cases

8.1 Jordan (November 2024)

The Jordan shift was the earliest in the sequence, with the new banner announced to replace the full network. Public discourse noted political consumer pressure as a backdrop. Strategically, the move allowed rapid symbolic decoupling, while preserving store footprints and supply routines. The key challenge: speed of trust transfer—ensuring shoppers read HyperMax as equivalent or superior on price and quality.

8.2 Oman (January 2025)

Oman’s exit followed two months after Jordan, advancing the regional cadence. The Omani context underscores logistics and import dependence; localisation there must be carefully phased to avoid stockouts or price spikes. The operational emphasis likely fell on omnichannel continuity and fresh-category stability during the cutover.

8.3 Bahrain (mid-September 2025)

Bahrain’s launch highlighted six stores, an e-commerce offering, and explicit partnerships with over 250 local farms, producers, suppliers, and SMEs, along with around 1,600 jobs. Bahrain presents a coherent narrative of policy alignment (food security, Vision 2030) and community anchoring through local supplier integration.

8.4 Kuwait (mid-September 2025)

Kuwait’s exit concluded the four-market sequence within about ten months. The swift choreography suggests an orchestrated regional program rather than an ad hoc reaction. For Kuwait’s competitive arena, the immediate question is whether HyperMax re-enters with local stores (as in Bahrain) or recalibrates timing while the market adjusts.

9. Translating Theory to the HyperMax Playbook

9.1 Converting Capitals (Bourdieu)

Economic → Symbolic: Savings from royalties, tighter pricing control, and private-label margin can be reinvested in brand-building (sourcing stories, community programs).
Social capital: Long-standing ties with host governments and suppliers become the relational backbone of the new brand.
Cultural capital: Operational know-how from the franchise years (planograms, cold chain, category management) is recontextualised under HyperMax standards.
Symbolic capital: Trust must be earned—through consistent experience, guarantees on freshness, and credible after-sales service.

9.2 Semi-Peripheral Assertion (World-Systems)

Value capture: HyperMax can shift value upstream to domestic producers (e.g., farm-to-shelf programs).
Risk buffering: Reduced dependence on core brand decisions and reputational shocks increases resilience.
Regional identity: A local brand can articulate cultural resonance through religious calendar merchandising, local flavours, and community sponsorships.

9.3 Isomorphic Pressures

Coercive: Food security plans, SME procurement targets, and localisation incentives encourage domestic embedding.
Mimetic: Rival retailers’ success with local banners sets a template to emulate.
Normative: Professional norms around ESG dashboards, waste reduction, and digital loyalty push retailers toward similar playbooks.

10. Operational Levers and Risks

10.1 Assortment and Private Label

Private label will be central: it allows margin control and brand differentiation. The risk is quality variance in early phases. A staged approach—starting with staples and fresh produce where local partners are strong—can build credibility. Sensory testing, clear origin labelling, and generous satisfaction guarantees can accelerate adoption.

10.2 Supplier Development

Retailer-funded quality academies, cold-chain co-investment, and shared forecasting with SMEs reduce stockouts and waste. Multi-year contracts with transparent index-linked pricing can stabilise farmer incomes, aligning commercial incentives with policy objectives.

10.3 Logistics and Last-Mile

Omnichannel grocery is logistics-intensive. Cross-docking, micro-fulfilment centres, and dark-store nodes reduce picker congestion and improve on-time delivery. A proprietary brand can unify app, loyalty, and delivery SLAs under one design system, enhancing NPS and repeat purchase.

10.4 Pricing Architecture

Grocery demand is price-elastic in key staples. EDLP vs. Hi-Lo trade-offs should reflect store catchment demographics and competitive density. Analytics can refine zone pricing while avoiding regulatory sensitivities.

10.5 People and Culture

Frontline retention during brand transition is vital; crew continuity preserves tacit knowledge. Investing in data literacy and fresh-category mastery (butchery, bakery, produce handling) sustains differentiation beyond banners and paint.

10.6 Regulatory and Reputational Risk

A local brand does not eliminate reputational risk; it relocalises it. Clear grievance channels, rapid recall protocols, and public transparency around sourcing and safety build symbolic capital over time.

11. Scenario Outlook (2026–2028)

Optimistic: HyperMax reaches scale parity with the legacy network, achieves >25% private-label penetration, and becomes a procurement hub for regional SMEs, lowering shelf prices and improving freshness.
Base Case: The brand consolidates with selective growth; trust metrics normalise after 12–18 months; omnichannel reach deepens through loyalty stack integration.
Cautious: Supply bottlenecks and price volatility slow adoption; competitors use promotional intensity to target switchers; policy targets require stepped-up supplier development.

Key lead indicators: on-time delivery rate, fresh shrink reduction, private-label satisfaction scores, supplier payment cycles, and repeat-purchase frequency among top deciles of loyalty members.

12. Managerial Implications

Design a “trust transfer” program. Map the specific reasons customers valued the legacy brand and over-deliver in those nodes (e.g., produce freshness guarantees, no-quibble returns).
Stage the local-sourcing ramp. Start with high-capability partners; publish quality scorecards to motivate continuous improvement.
Align incentives. Use multi-year supplier contracts, joint planning, and ESG-linked bonuses to stabilise SME participation.
Codify omnichannel standards. Integrate app, loyalty, and last-mile with clear SLAs; communicate service reliability as part of the brand promise.
Institutionalise learning. Treat the brand migration as a live laboratory; capture learnings, diffusing them across countries.

13. Policy Implications

SME Onboarding Platforms. Governments can co-invest in traceability and cold-chain standards to quicken SME readiness.
Procurement Transparency. Voluntary reporting on local content and payment terms de-risks SME participation.
Food Security Metrics. Retailers can be incentivised to maintain diversified sourcing, strategic stocks, and waste reduction.

14. Limitations

This case relies on publicly available reports; some operational data (e.g., contract terms, exact turnover of private label) are not disclosed. Future research could use mixed methods, combining consumer panels, supplier interviews, and transaction-level data to evaluate welfare effects and competitive dynamics more precisely.

15. Conclusion

The Carrefour-to-HyperMax transition is not merely a name change; it is a field realignment that converts long-accumulated economic, social, and cultural capital into a new configuration of symbolic capital under local ownership. Read through world-systems theory, it marks a semi-peripheral actor claiming greater value capture and narrative autonomy in a regional grocery chain. Under institutional isomorphism, it echoes convergent pressures toward localisation, SME inclusion, and digital integration.

Whether HyperMax matures into a durable regional champion will depend on executing a delicate choreography: safeguarding consumer trust, strengthening local supplier capability, advancing omnichannel reliability, and sustaining transparent, policy-aligned practices. If successful, the case will stand as a landmark in Gulf retail—showing how brand sovereignty can be mobilised to serve both competitive strategy and public value.

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News Sources Consulted for Factual Timeline

Reuters: “Majid Al Futtaim replaces Carrefour in Jordan with new Arab grocery chain.” (November 5, 2024).
Gulf News: “Carrefour exits more GCC countries; Kuwait stores shut after Bahrain, Oman, Jordan.” (September 2025).
Khaleej Times: “Carrefour exits four countries in ten months as HyperMax expands.” (September 2025).
Zawya (Press Release): “Majid Al Futtaim launches flagship grocery brand HyperMax in Bahrain.” (September 2025).
Retail Insight Network: “Carrefour ceases operations in Oman.” (January 8, 2025).
Times of India (Middle East): “Carrefour exits Kuwait to become HyperMax across four countries.” (September 2025).
Trade/Industry Digests referencing HyperMax launch, Bahrain store count, and local sourcing partnerships (September 2025).