Channels of distribution are basic to the marketing strategies of firms, and have been shown to be a key element in the marketing mix. The author here undertakes a comprehensive…
Abstract
Channels of distribution are basic to the marketing strategies of firms, and have been shown to be a key element in the marketing mix. The author here undertakes a comprehensive review of channels literature, primarily to identify and assess the adequacy of the various mainstream conceptual schemes which have emerged. Economic‐based arguments have largely been at the core of channels literature, although these have been partially offset by the concepts of the organisational and behavioural schools. The author concludes that whereas every conceptual approach reviewed has added something to our cumulative knowledge, no single approach has yet reached a point of adequate conceptualisation based on his own basic criteria. As yet channels literature is mainly descriptive, and has virtually no predictive power.
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This paper presents a systematic method for classifying research on international channels of distribution. It is used to examine 79 articles published during an 18‐year period…
Abstract
This paper presents a systematic method for classifying research on international channels of distribution. It is used to examine 79 articles published during an 18‐year period (1988‐2005). Based on content analysis, each article is classified by its primary research framework. Two frameworks are identified: (1) structural ‐ based on the economic and organizational aspects of international channels of distribution; and (2) behavioral ‐ based on the exchange relationship between channel members from different national environments. This simple organizing system offers a comprehensive way to analyze scholarship that has emerged in the field. For managers, it can bring the theoretical and practical developments together in an understandable fashion as they seek to interpret and apply research findings. For scholars, it may bring focus to an increasingly complex area of international business and guide future research efforts.
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James R. Brown, Robert F. Lusch and Laurie P. Smith
A conceptual model was developed of distribution channel members′manifest conflicts and their satisfaction. From this model, hypothesesare generated, aimed at untangling the…
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A conceptual model was developed of distribution channel members′ manifest conflicts and their satisfaction. From this model, hypotheses are generated, aimed at untangling the causal relationship between these two constructs. Both a meta‐analysis of previous research and this first longitudinal study of distribution channel behaviour in the aircraft industry in North America of distribution channel behaviour uncovered a negative, contemporaneous relationship between satisfaction and conflict. Empirical study in the channel for an industrial product found the effect of channel member satisfaction over time to be mediated by the extent of manifest conflict. The impact of manifest conflict was found to be mediated by the degree of channel member satisfaction. In other words, channel member satisfaction and manifest conflict within the channel were both antecedents and consequences of each other.
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Gunnar Bakkeland and Pierre R. Berthon
Some understanding and form of inter‐organisation management is necessary and desirable if a channel is to maintain or achieve satisfactory performance as a competitive entity …
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Some understanding and form of inter‐organisation management is necessary and desirable if a channel is to maintain or achieve satisfactory performance as a competitive entity (Stern and El‐Ansary 1992). Although this view is not novel (of. Alderson 1954,1957), it has not been the subject of extensive research (Frazier 1983), and interorganisational coordination in distribution channels has perhaps received less focus as a survival requirement (Dwyer and Oh 1988) than it deserves. Stern and El‐Ansary (1992) seem to reflect traditional points of view when stating that power is the major means available to achieve coordination and co‐operation among channel members. Power, however, gives rise to channel dependence and interdependence issues, (of. Pfeffer and Salancik 1978; Gaski 1984; Brown, Lusch and Muehling 1983), and issues of interorganisational governance mechanisms which for some years have also interested institutional economists, (of. Williamson 1993, 1991, 1986, 1981, 1975, Ouchi 1980) and economic sociologists, (of. Granovetter, 1985, Granovetter and Swedberg 1992). The marketing literature (of. Heide and John 1992; 1990; 1988) has questioned Williamson's somewhat simplistic treatment of opportunism as an underlying behavioural norm, central as this is to his transaction cost paradigm. Since Heide and John's [1992] work on the role of norms in marketing relationships, there is a distinct possibility that insufficient further research has been done in order to allow comparisons of their findings with those of other studies that differ with regard to cultures, settings, and time periods. Maintaining focus on the transaction between dyadic exchange partners as a fundamental activity in marketing channels (of. Achrol, Stern, and Reve 1983), the objectives of this article are to examine the existence or otherwise of relational norms between dyadic exchange partners serving as a governance mechanism safeguarding against opportunistic behaviour in the presence of transaction‐specific assets. The work of Heide and John [1992] shed much light on this, but examined the dyad from the perspective of a strong buyer facing a large number of small suppliers. We will focus on a strong supplier, facing a large number of small buyers, currently, but not indefinitely, bound to it by legislation and contract. The perspective adopted will be that of many small buyers (phar‐macies) from a monopolistic ethical drug wholesaler, at the time of dismantling of a statutory wholesale drug monopoly in Norway.
The buyer‐seller relationship in international consumer markets isinvestigated from the behavioural point of view. Seventeen matched‐pairrelationships between Cypriot exporters…
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The buyer‐seller relationship in international consumer markets is investigated from the behavioural point of view. Seventeen matched‐pair relationships between Cypriot exporters and their corresponding British import customers comprised the research sample. The majority of these relationships were described as successful, with success being measured by the degree of satisfaction received from them. They exhibited the following common characteristics: exercise of an asymmetrical power which had an expertise base, prevalence of a low level of conflict of a functional and overt nature and existence of a high level of voluntary co‐operation. Overall, it was revealed that relationship management is a crucial component of a firm′s export behaviour and a determinant of its future export development.
This study re-evaluates the criteria in the choice of exchange partners from the buyer’s and seller’s perspective within the context of inclusive tour production and reveals…
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This study re-evaluates the criteria in the choice of exchange partners from the buyer’s and seller’s perspective within the context of inclusive tour production and reveals priorities to such criteria among the business actors, providing theoretical frameworks for a wider understanding of the criteria within a tourism context. The study is based on a study of cooperative relationships between European tour operators and Norwegian sub-suppliers. It deploys a qualitative research approach (personal interviews) inspired by grounded theory. The resultant data present critical three consideration embracing (1) market capacity (its ability to acquire customers), (2) purchase price and the attaching conditions and (3) confidence/reliability as criteria of selecting the exchange partners. Lastly nine future agendas are suggested in a bid to theory development.
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This study provides a comprehensive framework of adaptation in triadic business relationship settings in the service sector. The framework is based on the industrial network…
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This study provides a comprehensive framework of adaptation in triadic business relationship settings in the service sector. The framework is based on the industrial network approach (see, e.g., Axelsson & Easton, 1992; Håkansson & Snehota, 1995a). The study describes how adaptations initiate, how they progress, and what the outcomes of these adaptations are. Furthermore, the framework takes into account how adaptations spread in triadic relationship settings. The empirical context is corporate travel management, which is a chain of activities where an industrial enterprise, and its preferred travel agency and service supplier partners combine their resources. The scientific philosophy, on which the knowledge creation is based, is realist ontology. Epistemologically, the study relies on constructionist processes and interpretation. Case studies with in-depth interviews are the main source of data.
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James B. Brown, Robert F. Lusch and Harold F. Koenig
An empirical investigation examining the environmental uncertainty regarding inventory ordering which confronts a retailer in dealing with its suppliers is described. Of…
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An empirical investigation examining the environmental uncertainty regarding inventory ordering which confronts a retailer in dealing with its suppliers is described. Of particular interest is how this uncertainty impacts on retailers' behavioural relationships with their suppliers. The findings indicate that increased levels of environmental uncertainty regarding inventory ordering result in higher levels of retailer‐supplier conflict. Suppliers that can offer retailers better customer service in order to reduce environmental uncertainty can improve their relations with retailers and thus develop a more efficient distribution system.