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製造商對配銷商解構行為的知覺與回應
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Manufacturer Perceptions and Responses to Destructive Behaviors
of Distributors
1. Purpose
Not all relationships can continue without damage or disruption, and the destruction of
marketing relationship is required. Understanding how manufacturer-channel relationships
are damaged is a critical component in marketing channel relationship (Hibbard et al., 2001;
Welch and Wilkinson, 2005; Samaha et al., 2011). Typically, the negative effect of perceived
conflict or opportunism overshadows the benefits associated with all other positive
relationship marketing activities (Samaha et al., 2011). Apparently, the rapid growth of
channel distributors has significantly increased power and constituted inevitable threats to
manufacturers; their destructive acts often lead to reduction in shelf or catalog space, causing
damage to manufacturers’ sales, profits, and reputation. A number of previous studies have
contributed to the understanding of distributors of channel relationship (e.g., Gu et al., 2010;
Kim, 2007; Ping, 1995; Samaha et al., 2011). For most manufacturers, having no distributors
means no sales and no profits. Therefore, this study investigates the perceptions of
manufacturers, their responses, and outcomes regarding destructive acts by distributors.
According to Hibbard et al. (2001) and Deutsch (1969), we define “perceived
destructive behavior” as any negative action of distributors that is perceived by the
manufacturers as damaging the channel functioning performance. This study developed and
tested a model of the perceptions of manufacturers including their responses to the
destructive behaviors of distributors. We focused on the following research questions: How
do network structure and channel relationship promote perceived destructive behaviors?
How do perceived destructive behaviors affect the response strategies of manufacturers and
channel performance? Is there a mediating effect between these relational factors?
We adopted theoretical perspectives related to network theory, transaction cost,
dependence perspective, relational exchange, and commitment-trust consistent with previous
studies that have integrated various perspectives to investigate interfirm relationship into a
single theoretical framework (Palmatier et al., 2007). We integrated these discrete theoretical
Chyi Jaw
, Professor, Department of Business Administration, National Yunlin University of Science and
Technology
Jyue-Yu Lo
, Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing Management, Shih Chien University,
Kaohsiung Campus
Hai-Chuan Wang
, Master, Department of Business Administration, National Yunlin University of Science
and Technology