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.