Power, conflict, and cooperation: The impact of guanxi in Chinese marketing channels

This paper tests the impact of guanxi on behaviors among firms in a Chinese marketing channel. Guanxi is operationalized in this paper as emotional closeness and interactive state. We find that the emotional closeness between channel-boundary personnel of firms has a positive impact on their exercise of noncoercive power, a negative impact on their exercise of coercive power, and a negative impact on the perceived conflict between them. In addition, emotional closeness has an indirect but positive impact on perceived cooperation. Interactive state between the boundary personnel of two firms has a positive impact on a firm exercising noncoercive power and a negative impact on perceived conflict between them. At the same time, it is positively related to a firm exercising coercive power. This shows not only the significant influence of guanxi on a firm's channel behaviors but also the constructive effects of both emotional closeness and interactive state on marketing channel behaviors in China.     

Exploring the role of expert power in channel management: An empirical study

Expert power is recognized as a non-coercive source of power, which can be effectively employed in the context of channel management. The paper attempts of look at the impact of expert power on certain channel relationship variables. The behavioral variables considered in the study are the use of behavior-based coordination strategy, use of problem-solving approach for conflict resolution, collaborative communication, cooperation and trust. An empirical study conducted among the computer hardware dealers in India supports the hypothesized linkages between expert power and other relationship variables.     

The effects of influence strategies on dealer satisfaction and performance in Taiwan's motor industry

The studies of influence strategies in channel relationships have focused on western, individualistic countries. This study seeks to extend the empirical findings in Taiwan's motor industry to elucidate differences among diverse context. The results reveal that the promise strategy must be separated from coercive strategies and the request strategy must be separated from noncoercive strategies under the context of Taiwan's motor industry. Moreover, discrimination between economic and social satisfaction helps relationships between influence strategies and satisfaction and the effects of satisfaction on performance to be understood. The dealer's satisfaction is positively related to his performance, and social satisfaction is more important than economic satisfaction.     

The use of influence strategies in interdependent relationship: The moderating role of shared norms and values

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of interdependence on the influence strategies and investigate the moderating role that “shared norms and values” play in the relationships between interdependence and influence strategies. The results reveal that when the degree of total dependence between suppliers and retailers gets higher, the suppliers adopt fewer hard coercive strategies and more promise and noncoercive strategies. When retailers dependent much more on suppliers, suppliers adopt more hard coercive strategies and fewer noncoercive strategies, but there is no significant effect on promise strategies. Under a higher degree of shared norms and values, the negative relationship between total interdependence and hard coercive strategies, and the positive relationship between total interdependence and (1) promise strategies and (2) noncoercive strategies increase. Moreover, the relationship between interdependence asymmetry and influence strategies is also moderated by shared norms and values. It implies that under a higher degree of shared norms and values and a higher extent to which retailers depend on suppliers, suppliers adopt fewer hard coercive strategies and more promise and noncoercive strategies.     

Managing channels of distribution in the age of electronic commerce

The emergence of electronic commerce (e-commerce) has created a new business paradigm, one that presents marketers with noteworthy opportunities and challenges. Perhaps the greatest impact is in the area of channel management. The top issue for many business-to-business (B2B) firms today is channel conflict. In this paper, we investigate the effect of introducing the Internet channel into an already complex, multichannel distribution system from the perspective of the supplier firm. We describe strategies for proactively managing conflict, both externally with channel partners and internally among the subunits responsible for managing the channels. Twelve propositions for research are developed; eight relate directly to the marketing mix and four focus on channel communication and coordination. All of the research propositions offered are mechanisms by which suppliers can influence the level of channel conflict they experience. Dedicated channel management groups, documentation of channel strategies, and superordinate goals are identified as strategies for minimizing unwanted conflict.     

Channel power, commitment and performance toward sustainable channel relationship

The primary purpose of this article is to expand our understanding of the sophisticated utilization of independent incentives and its influence on channel relationship commitment and performance toward sustainable channel relationship and competitive advantage. On the basis of a conceptual framework, this paper develops an analytical model to explore the correlations among channel power, relationship commitment and channel performance under the implementation of diverse independent incentives. The proposed model is empirically tested using LISREL and questionnaire survey data sampled from the liquid crystal display TV manufacturer-dealer channels of the optoelectronic industry in Taiwan. The results reveal that the sophisticated utilization of independent incentives through channel relationship commitment as the key mediator determines the channel performance; furthermore, relative to contractual incentives, relationship-building incentives appear to be more effective in promoting channel relationship commitment, thus leading to superior channel performance toward the ultimate goal of sustainable channel relationship management.     

Revisiting exercise of power strategies from the perspective of information processing

The digitization of channel management changes how firms acquire, interpret, and analyze information, which needs to be considered when evaluating the efficacy of exercising power strategies on interfirm cooperation. Drawing insights from the three mechanisms of interorganizational information processing capability, we identify contingent factors that may affect the relationship between firms' exercise of power strategies and interfirm cooperation at the firm (i.e., IT capability), dyadic (i.e., relationship quality), and network (i.e., network density) levels. We analyzed data sampled from 288 manufacturing firms and found that manufacturers' IT capability weakens the negative effect of exercising coercive power and the positive effect of exercising noncoercive power on interfirm cooperation. At the dyadic level, relationship quality between manufacturer and distributor weakens the negative effect of exercising coercive power on interfirm cooperation. Finally, at the network level, distributors' network density strengthens the positive effect of exercising noncoercive power on interfirm cooperation. Our findings contribute to the marketing channel literature by shedding new light on the effects of the exercise of power on interfirm cooperation in this digital era and offer actionable managerial insights.     

Power source drivers and performance outcomes of functional and dysfunctional conflict in exporter–importer relationships

Although conflict is natural in buyer–seller relations, the issue has largely been studied in domestic market settings despite increasing globalization and the surge of cross-border inter-firm relationships. This research focuses on two different types of conflict, functional and dysfunctional, and examines how these are linked to coercive and non-coercive power bases and performance outcomes in exporter–importer relationships. Using survey data from 105 pairs of exporters and their foreign distributors, we find that only in the exporter group the use of coercive power by the foreign distributor lowers functional conflict. However, the use of coercive power by the overseas partner increases dysfunctional conflict and the use of non-coercive power reduces such conflict across both exporters and importers, although in the importer group this link is not significant. The results also suggest that functional conflict enhances performance only among importers. The use of problem solving conflict resolution boosts functional conflict's impact on performance among exporters, but adversely affects the performance effect of such conflict in the importer group. Nonetheless, problem solving resolution negatively affects the impact of dysfunctional conflict on performance in both the exporter and importer groups. Moreover, we find that power distance boosts the impact of dysfunctional conflict on performance in the relationship across the groups of exporters and importers. Implications of the findings for international marketing theory and practice are discussed, and limitations of the study considered along with future research directions.     

The impact of coercive and non-coercive forms of influence on trust, commitment, and compliance in supply chains

A major premise in managing channel relationships is encouraging cooperation to achieve the aims of the relational partners. This often requires a balancing act between utilization of influence across the supply chain to motivate decisions, while employing tactics that do not damage the future of the relationship. This paper builds and tests a model of how influence strategies affect relational elements, specifically trust and commitment, which both promote strong inter-firm relationships and act as mediators of joint action, specifically cooperation and compliance across channel partners. Results suggest that coercive strategies are counterproductive in encouraging cooperation and compliance either directly or through relational intermediaries, while non-coercive influence produces positive outcomes and effects on intermediaries. Low levels of coercive influence do appear to generate positive outcomes. Managerial implications and future research based on these results conclude the paper.     

Transient Solidarities: Commitment and Collective Action in Post‐Industrial Societies

Solidarity has long been considered essential to labour, but many fear that it has declined. There has been relatively little scholarly investigation of it because of both theoretical and empirical difficulties. This article argues that solidarity has not declined but has changed in form, which has an impact on what kinds of mobilization are effective. We first develop a theory of solidarity general enough to compare different forms. We then trace the evolution of solidarity through craft and industrial versions, to the emergence of collaborative solidarity from the increasingly fluid ‘friending’ relations of recent decades. Finally, we examine the question of whether these new solidarities can be mobilized into effective collective action, and suggest mechanisms, rather different from traditional union mobilizations, that have shown some power in drawing on friending relations: the development of member platforms, the use of purposive campaigns and the co‐ordination of ‘swarming’ actions. In the best cases, these can create collective actions that make a virtue of diversity, openness and participative engagement, by co‐ordinating groups with different foci and skills.     

Toward a social fitness perspective on contract design: Contract legitimacy and influence strategy

The effectiveness of contracts in terms of cooperative efficiency and relational outcomes in interorganizational relationships has become critical in today's volatile markets. However, extant research on the effect of contracts on trust has found inconsistent results, possibility because of its overwhelming focus on an economic fitness perspective at the expense of a social fitness perspective. Drawing insights from institutional theory, we focus on legitimacy building in interfirm contract design, investigate how contract legitimacies (i.e., regulative, normative, and cognitive) influence the effectiveness of interfirm contract design, and further explore the moderating effects of influence strategies that are applied in the process of contract implementation. Using longitudinal field survey data and archival data, this study finds that the three types of contract legitimacy play different roles in influencing compliance and trust and that noncoercive influence strategies can improve the effectiveness of regulative and normative legitimacy better than coercive influence strategies on trust. The findings offer new theoretical and managerial insights into the role of institutional environments in the effectiveness of contract design in manufacturer–distributor relationships.     

A diagnostic model of private control and collective control in buyer-supplier relationships

This study examines the control-based governance in buyer-supplier relationships. Building on boundary spanning theory and governance literature, we propose an integrated model that consists of exchange parties' private control (aimed at individual gains) and collective control (aimed at joint gains) in boundary spanning activities, along with their structural antecedents and relationship consequences in interorganizational governance. Using data collected from manufacturer-distributor dyads, we demonstrate that a buyer-supplier relationship characterized by a high degree of distributive justice and low degrees of goal difference and power asymmetry promotes exchange parties' collective control while inhibiting private control in boundary spanning conduct. The impact of private and collective controls on dyadic relationship performance is further mediated through governance costs and returns. Specifically, private control results in conflict and transaction costs that undermine dyadic relationship performance, whereas collective control leads to solidarity and reciprocity that sustain dyadic relationship performance. Recognizing and distinguishing between private control and collective control is essential to managing boundary-spanning behavior in buyer-supplier relationships and to solidifying relationship performance in supply chain and channel management.     

Managing supplier-retailer relationships: From institutional and task environment perspectives

This study develops an integrated model of managing channel relationships that involves task and institutional environment perspectives. Using survey data from automobile dealers in China, the authors provide empirical evidence to demonstrate the utility of the legitimacy-based institutional environment perspective in clarifying channel relationship issues, which have been considered mostly only from an economic efficiency-based task environment approach. As the institutional environment perspective's factors, imposition asymmetry and bypassing have indirect impacts on trust in supplier and the level of conflict in a channel relationship. As the task environment standpoint's factors, explicit contracts and supplier's transaction-specific investments (TSIs) are posited to have direct effects on trust in supplier and the level of conflict, however, the hypothesized relationship between supplier's TSIs and the level of conflict is not supported. The results also indicate both building a retailer's trust in its supplier and lowering the level of conflict lead to improved relationship performance.     

Cooperative membership and farmers’ choice of marketing channels – Evidence from apple farmers in Shaanxi and Shandong Provinces,China

Cooperatives are established to improve farmers' production conditions, to increase their bargaining power and to enable them to benefit from modern value chains. In China, farmers are members of a cooperative for multiple reasons. Little is known on whether and how cooperative membership affects farmers’ choice of marketing channels. This paper examines determinants of farmers’ choice of marketing channels, especially how cooperative membership impacts upon this choice. Our analysis is based on survey data collected in 2015 among 625 apple growing farm households in the provinces Shaanxi and Shandong. We employ endogenous switching probit models to deal with potential endogeneity of membership in estimating the determinants of marketing channel choices. We find that cooperative membership has a positive impact on selling to wholesalers and a negative impact on selling to small dealers, but no significant impact on selling to the cooperative itself. As products sold through cooperatives generally comply with relatively stringent food quality and safety standards, these results imply that policies promoting cooperative members to sell their products through cooperatives are likely to have a significant impact on food quality and food safety in China.     

The role of program fairness in asymmetrical channel relationships

Managing distributor compliance with manufacturer-initiated programs is critical to both program success and relationship enhancement. This study examines how a manufacturer might better motivate distributors with varying levels of dependence. Previous research suggests that two variables influence distributor compliance: economic incentives and dependence dynamics. Drawing from fairness heuristic theory, this study extends previous research by investigating the role of fairness in affecting compliance and long-term relationships. The authors observe the contingent effect of fairness along various levels of distributor dependence. In the context of a naturally occurring program, the authors collect data from a focal manufacturer's distribution channel and find that (1) fairness perceptions have significant impacts on both compliance and relational outcomes, (2) the efficacy of program fairness declines as distributor dependence increases, and (3) distributor dependence increases the effect of economic incentives on compliance. The authors discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.     

A comparative analysis of greening policies across supply chain structures

In this paper, we examine an apparel serial supply chain whose players initiate product “greening.” We consider situations in which the players cooperate or act individually. Our problem is motivated by recent developments in the supply chains of global apparel players. We build game theoretic models and show how greening levels, prices and profits are influenced by channel structures. We also study the impact of greening costs and consumer sensitivity towards green apparels. We propose a two-part tariff contract to coordinate the green channel. Our key contribution lies in the model of decision making of various supply chain structures and analyzing its impact on the players and supply chain. The problem throws interesting insights into the strategies of apparel players and their key decisions.     

Uncertainties, resources, and supplier selection in an emerging economy

Focusing on supplier selection, this article addresses two questions: (1) What are the antecedents that lead to the adoption of various types of selection strategies? (2) What impact do these strategies have on supplier performance? We build a research model showing how both the uncertainty-based and resource-based views drive market-focused and relationship-focused supply selection strategies. Further, we argue that market-focused and relationship-focused selection strategies may have different effects on supplier performance. Specifically, market-focused selection has a positive influence, whereas relationship-focused selection has an inverted U-shaped effect on supplier performance. In addition, the interaction between these two strategies exerts a significant positive influence on supplier performance. Survey data collected from 208 Chinese manufacturers are used to test our hypotheses.     

Managing channel coordination in a multi-channel manufacturer-retailer supply chain

With the rapid development of e-commerce and the adoption of dual channels, increasingly manufacturers and retailers are implementing differentiated branding and profit sharing strategies in order to improve channel coordination and supply chain performance. In this study, we focus on the strategic roles played by differentiated branding and profit sharing in a multi-channel manufacturer-retailer supply chain. We use an analytical model to investigate this issue. Our results show that although differentiated branding effectively alleviates channel competition and conflict, it is general not sufficient to achieve full channel coordination, and an additional coordination mechanism is necessary. The additional coordination mechanism we consider is profit sharing, using the Nash bargaining model. Based on our results, we derive optimal market strategies and identify probable paths for future research.     

Power and firm profitability in supply chains: french manufacturing industry in 1993

The paper examines the relationships between the power of suppliers and buyers and the profitability of sellers who are situated in supply chains between both sets of firms. A review of the literature on power in exchange relations shows there are several power concepts which may have a different impact on seller profitability and whose impact possibly can offset each other. This may be the source of the conflicting evidence on this topic. A failure to distinguish among the concepts may also lead to an underestimation of industry effects relative to resource effects as drivers of firm profitability. The paper uses a new data base of the Banque de France on French manufacturing industry. The anlayses examine whether different power concepts may be empirically identified and what their relationships are with seller profitability. The findings point to the existence of multiple power concepts and indicate that, in the sample, industry effects are more important than firm effects (as measured by relative market share) in explaining seller profitability. The findings also suggest that buyer power explains a much larger percentage of the variance in seller profitability than supplier power. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The direct and indirect effects of core and peripheral social capital on organizational performance

Research summary : In this paper we adopt a core‐periphery approach to specify the direct and indirect effects of social capital on organizational performance. We suggest that social capital deriving from stable task relationships between organizational members has a direct positive effect on organizational performance. Said effect depends, in both strength and functional form, on whether actors involved in stable dyads are located at the core or at the periphery of the organization. We also argue that core and peripheral social capital affect performance indirectly by moderating the organization's ability to leverage its human capital to improve performance. Results from a 48‐year study of the National Basketball Association support our arguments and bear important implications for strategic human resource practices and organizational performance in competitive settings. Managerial summary : Stable work relationships among employees generate trust, more efficient work routines, common understanding and thus higher organizational performance. These benefits depend on the location of such stable relationships in the organization. Relational stability among core organizational members has an immediate, strong impact on performance, an effect that plateaus as stability grows. Stable relationships between core and peripheral members have instead a weaker, yet linear effect on performance. The location of stable relationships is also critical to leverage the talent of core employees, whose contribution to performance is stronger when relational stability is high in the organizational core, yet hindered by stable relations between core and periphery. Such findings provide relevant implications for strategic human resource management, in particular for choices regarding team composition and managing stars. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.