Improving marketing channel control through power and exchange

Effective channel management control is necessary to marketing planning. The flow of power and exchange in distribution systems has received extensive attention in the literature in recent years, however, internal structuring patterns precipitating these interactions have received cursory attention. This paper presents an initial conceptualization of a social systems model which illustrates why power phenomena exist and how these phenomena flow through role interactions among members of a channel of distribution. Implications for managerial action are presented in which managers utilize sources of power which have the greatest possibility of achieving control.     

The integration of microcomputers in marketing research and decision making

This paper focuses on the integrative and pervasive use of microcomputers in marketing research and managerial decision making. The marketing research process is conceptualized as consisting of six phases. At each phase, microcomputer applications and illustrative software are identified as implications for the practice of marketing research discussed. Next the paper illustrates the use of microcomputers in selected application areas such as market segmentation, sales forecasting, new product development, pricing and decision support and expert systems. Guidelines for the selection of microcomputer software in specific situations are provided. The paper concludes with some observations on the future applications of microcomputers in marketing research and decision making.     

On interfirm power, channel climate, and solidarity in industrial distributor-supplier dyads

Despite surging interest in relational exchange in marketing channels, the link between the interfirm power-influence process and relational exchange remains disjointed. This study intends to connect that link by highlighting (a) the moderating effects of channel climate on the interfirm power-influence process and (b) the main effect of influence strategies on a relational exchange element, solidarity of a dyad. Specifically, the author proposes that channel climate, as manifested by dyadic trust and dyadic relationship continuity, moderates (a) the link between asymmetry of interfirm power and the use of influence strategies and (b) the reciprocation of influence strategies. In turn, the use of influence strategies is posited to affect solidarity of a dyad. The results of hypotheses’ tests, based on the analysis of industrial distributor-supplier dyads, (a) partially confirm the moderating effects of dyadic trust and dyadic relationship continuity and (b) fully confirm the main effects of influence strategies on dyadic solidarity. Keysuk Kim is an assistant professor of marketing at Oregon State University. His research interests include behavioral process in marketing channels and comparative study of interorganizational relationships. His research has appeared in theJournal of Marketing, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, and other journals.     

生产商领导和中间商领导渠道博弈的比较研究

用博弈论的方法对营销渠道中生产商与中间商关系的分析表明:生产商主导营销渠道能够降低渠道的无效率,对于消费者将更加有益,它优于中间商主导营销渠道和渠道无领导。     

基于社会需求导向的《营销渠道管理》课程教学的思考

营销渠道管理作为企业营销活动的重要环节之一,承担着商品资本转变为货币资本的重要职能,而营销渠道管理人才的综合素质和能力对评价企业渠道效率的高低有直接的影响,因此培养以社会需求为导向的营销渠道管理人才是渠道管理教学中值得探索和思考的问题。本文以应用型本科渠道人才的培养为例,从营销渠道管理的理论教学和实践教学两方面探讨如何进行课程的教学。     

Channel member satisfaction: Controversy resolved

This study investigates the satisfaction-sources of power model of channel member behavior within an industrial channel of distribution. Specifically, the study sought to explain the controversy and inconsistencies found in previous empirical tests of the satisfaction-sources of power model. The results support previous findings that channel member satisfaction is directly related to noncoercive sources of power, and inversely related to coercive sources of power. For the first time franchisors are told what sources of power to manage to increase franchisee satisfaction. And finally, no support was found for French and Raven's classificational scheme for sources of power.     

Frontiers of the marketing paradigm in the third millennium

The domain and theories of marketing have been expanding since the origins of the discipline. Since the 1970s marketing science has been organized around the exchange paradigm. Marketing concepts apply to all forms of exchange, whether it is goods, services, personages, places or ideas, and whether it is between individuals, for-profit and nonprofit firms, governments and NGOs. Marketing theories evolved from a firm oriented view to encompass the exchanging dyad. More recently the paradigm expanded to a network level of explanation, and relational theories have come to the fore. But even as the field struggles to grasp its new fields of explanation, there is a Kuhnian shift happening at its boundaries. The shift significantly bends the marketing worldview as well as the theoretical tools and methodologies we use to study it. In this paper we develop a three-tiered explanation of the emerging field of marketing—its subphenomena (consumer experiences and sensory systems), its phenomena (marketing networks), and its superphenomena (sustainability and development).     

Slotting allowances: a time series analysis of aggregate effects over three decades

Slotting fees and related discounts are important but controversial mechanisms for obtaining shelf space in marketing channels for consumer packaged goods. The theoretical field is divided between the efficient market and the market power schools of thought. Results from empirical studies and analytical models point in different directions. This paper analyzes trends in key macro economic variables to see if the patterns are more consistent with an underlying market efficiency model vs. a market power one. The data span 30+ years and focus on retailers in the marketing channel for food and kindred products. The variables studied include new product introductions, retail selling area, consumer price indices, profitability, cost of goods sold and selling expenditures. Efficient market explanations do not fare well in the analyses in comparison with market power explanations for practically all the variables studied. The paper conlcudes with recommendations for regulators and retail management.     

The synergistic effect of market orientation and learning orientation on organizational performance

Although a large body of research theoretically asserts a positive relationship between market orientation and organizational performance, fewer empirical studies demonstrate it using multiple and varied organizational performance measures. Additionally, a series of recent studies have theoretically proposed, but not empirically demonstrated, that a firm’s learning orientation is likely to indirectly affect organizational performance by improving the quality of its market-oriented behaviors and directly influence organizational performance by facilitating the type of generative learning that leads to innovations in products, procedures, and systems. This empirical study supports all of these specific contentions and the more global notion that higher order learning processes may be critical in creating a sustainable competitive advantage in the firm. William E. Baker is an assistant professor of marketing in the School of Business Administration at the University of Vermont. His research interests include both individual and organizational learning. He has published in the areas of consumer decision making, advertising effectiveness, and market-based organizational learning. James M. Sinkula is an associate professor of marketing in the School of Business Administration at the University of Vermont and the director of its MBA Program. His research interests lie primarily in the areas of organizational information use and market-based organizational learning. He has publications in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing, and others.     

Some observations on the state of the art in marketing research

This paper provides some observations on the state of the art in marketing research. The primary and secondary thrust of the articles published in the Journal of Marketing Research during 1980–1986 is briefly reviewed to identify important areas of inquiry. In each of these areas, we summarize recent developments, highlight the state of the art, offer some critical observations, and identify directions for future research. A cross-classification of various techniques and problem areas is also presented and some observations are made on the application of these techniques to address specific substantive and methodological issues in marketing research.     

基于博弈论的制造商分销渠道设计研究

分销渠道设计是渠道管理的前提，科学合理的分销渠道设计会给营销渠道管理工作减轻相应的负担。该文从制造商的角度出发，建立了渠道设计中制造商与中间商的博弈模型，并在此基础上提出制造商在渠道选择中应采取的相应策略。     

Ethnodomination in the channels of distribution of third world nations

Ethnodomination refers to the predominance of a particular ethnic group in a channel of distribution. While ethnodomination has been virtually ignored in the marketing literature, it is a fact of life in many third world marketing systems. Overseas Chinese dominate the trade of rice and pineapples in the Philippines, Hindu Sikhs dominate the trade of cloth in Afghanistan, the Otavalo Indians dominate the trade of handwoven textiles in Ecuador, and so on. International marketers need to be aware of ethnodomination for several reasons. First, ethnic marketers can offer costeffective communication and distribution skills for use in cooperative marketing programs. In return, international marketers can ofter them access to marketing management information systems and alternative sources of finance. Also, ethnic marketers are often subject to political and legal harassment which may make them more risky partners. Finally, they may have cultural practices that are quite different from the cultural practices of the rest of their host country.     

Furthering the integration of marketing and logistics through customer service in the channel

Recent emphasis on customer service in both the academic and trade literature reveals a growing but confusing body of knowledge. Both the marketing and logistics disciplines have offered varying definitions of customer service, but have failed to offer a comprehensive framework which represents customer service and its related marketing and logistics issues. This article offers the viewpoint that customer service is a conceptual unifying factor for integrating marketing and logistics. The channel system is introduced as the vehicle by which buyer/seller relationships must be analyzed to understand formation of buyer expectations, interaction of marketing and logistics activities, and subsequent customer service performance. The institutional, behavioral, and physical dimensions of channel activity influence many of the marketing and logistics decisions made by management. The framework offered in this article differs from previous efforts in that customer service is the output of the unified activities of marketing and logistics. It considers marketing and logistics decisions jointly, re-evaluates and expands the production function in logistics, and ties customer service to customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction.     

The structure of reseller goals and performance in marketing channels

The typical view of a marketing channel is that of a manufacturer-designed and-controlled distribution system. However, today, marketing functions, as well as market power, are more evenly distributed in the channel. In organizing and managing the modern channel, it is important to understand the business circumstances and priorities confronting channel members. This article studies how reseller firms establish their goal hierarchies and how these goals are related to performance. It hypothesizes that goal priorities emerge in relation to the environmental imperatives faced by the firm. The article develops hypotheses that are tested on survey data collected from a sample of franchisee firms, using structural equation models. The results support all the hypotheses about the effects of primary goals on performance. The effects of secondary goals are not unequivocal but informative nevertheless. Overall, the study points to interesting theoretical and managerial conclusions. Ravi S. Achrol (raachrol@mail.wvu.edu) (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is the Kmart Professor of Marketing in the College of Business & Economics at West Virginia University. Previously, he has served on the faculties of the George Washington University and the University of Notre Dame. His areas of research interest include distribution channels, marketing strategy, interorganizational relations, and network organization. His articles have appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, Social Science Research, theJournal of Business Strategy, and various other publications. Michael J. Etzel (michael.j.etzel.1@nd.edu) (DBA, University of Colorado) is a professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame. He has previously served on the faculties of the University of Kentucky and Utah State University. His areas of research include marketing management and strategy, retailing, and buyer behavior. In 1996–1997, he served as chair of the Board of the American Marketing Association. His research has appeared in a variety of publications, most notably theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Research, and theJournal of Retailing.     

市场营销渠道关系中的几个焦点问题

市场营销渠道的功能是有效地进行商品流转 ,基于对渠道策略焦点问题的分析 ,我国企业在建立渠道网络时 ,应合理平衡成本与服务水平的关系 ,建立完整的关系营销渠道 ;选择适合企业发展的终端销售网点的密度决策 ;对销售渠道进行有效的评价 ;形成垂直营销系统     

Using physical distribution strategy for better channel management

Physical Distribution (PD) while given a great deal of attention in the marketing literature during the past decade, has not been examined explicitly in terms of how it interfaces with channel management. Yet an understanding of PD-channel management interfaces is necessary if the marketer is to play a role in shaping the firm's PD strategy so that it is more likely to foster channel member cooperation rather than conflict. PD interfaces with channel management in at least four areas: (1) defining channel member service standards, (2) making sure a proposed PD program meets these standards, (3) the selling of the program to the channel members, and (4) monitoring the program once instituted to determine if it contributes to fostering channel member cooperation. Regardless of how the manufacturer treats the PD function from the stand-point of his own internal organization structure, there is no escaping these PD-channel management interfaces. Consequently, the marketer who is concerned with the channels aspects of the manufacturer's overall marketing strategy has an important role to play in influencing the firm's PD strategy so that it helps to enhance channel member cooperation.     

Power,conflict, control,and the application of contingency theory in marketing channels

The confusing, and often contradictory, implications for channel strategy emerging from existing theories and empirical studies of power, conflict, and control in marketing channels are discussed. A contingency theory of organizational structure is integrated with propositions concerning the effects of conflict level of channel efficiency to illustrate a procedure for closing the action epistemic gap. Propositions derived from this synthesis of existing theories are presented for future testing.     

A suggested taxonomy for marketing thought: The case of lacking applied development and research in marketing

An examination of marketing literature reveals a surpricing deficiency of articles discussing theoretical applications in marketing. These deficiencies are largely in the area of specific, practical, everyday applied marketing. This article casts the literature into an overall taxonomy of marketing thought and development, highlighting the deficiency. Then the article discusses the deficiency positing reasons for its continued existence. It is thought that such a taxonomy might better help marketers identify critical need areas that might well result in unusually productive findings and advances important to all marketers. EDITOR'S FOOT-NOTE: Reviewers have agreed that marketing has no Taxonomy and needs one, but that a full study and statement would be a Herculean task. The paper published here is presented as a beginning and, as the author himself states, “in the hope to stir controversy, debate, and effort.”     

工程机械企业营销渠道整合研究——以中联重科为例

中国工程机械企业面临典型的"二元化"结构市场,其地域广阔和市场结构不成熟的特点,使得渠道变革成为无数工程机械企业又爱又恨的环节。本文以营销渠道整合理论为基础,以中联重科为对象,构建营销渠道整合的概念模型,提出了工程机械企业营销渠道整合的策略。     

我国农产品的营销渠道创新

农产品的营销渠道问题已经成为阻碍农产品市场繁荣与健康发展的主要因素，本文首先分析了我国农产品营销渠道的现状，然后提出了农产品渠道创新的原则，最后得出了农产品渠道创新的主要措施，希望对我国的农产品市场发展奄坼碴鉴，