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.