Exploring channel conflict in an emerging economy: the small retailer’s perspective

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore channel conflict from the small retailer’s perspective in the context of emerging economies. The study investigates the factors and probable outcomes of perceived channel conflict. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative research design is adopted. This study involves semi-structured in-depth interviews with 14 small retailers, selected through the purposive sampling technique, in a capital city of North India. Findings This exploratory study reveals five key reasons for channel conflict in the context of small retailers: coercive sources of power, retailer dependence, competitive intensity, retailer characteristics, and distributors’ role performance. The findings also highlight channel exit and passive acceptance as two probable outcomes of perceived channel conflict. Conflict may also lead to changes in the channel structure, which may significantly affect the success of multinational firms in emerging economies. The paper concludes with a discussion and presents an agenda for further research. Originality/value Channel conflict is a well-researched area, but the context of most existing studies has been larger retailers in developed economies. The findings of this study provide the reasons for and outcomes of the channel conflict encountered by small retailers in emerging economies. This study should be of interest to marketing managers, especially of consumer packaged goods firms, who want to succeed in emerging economies. These managers can use insights from the study to manage channel conflict in the context of small retailers.

Improving distribution and business performance through lean warehousing

“…In total, 13 per cent of the sampled firms were from Jordan (12 firms), 32 per cent from Saudi Arabia (29 firms are similar in the way they run their operations and the overall business environment (Belwal and Belwal, 2017). This applies also to most distribution channels in emerging markets (Satyam et al, 2017). Moreover, recent research (e.g.…”

“…Distribution is the logistics function, which is responsible for the physical movement of goods and services downstream the supply chain towards retailers and end users (Eng, 2016;Rexhausen et al, 2012;Satyam et al, 2017). Warehousing and distribution functions have long been studied jointly due to their major role in the outbound logistics operations and delivering goods to retail stores (Hübner et al, 2016;Rexhausen et al, 2012; Von der Gracht and Darkow, 2010;).…”

“…Hence, the following two hypotheses are developed: Literature acknowledges the role of distribution in supporting other functions in the organization and achieving higher customer satisfaction (Jaca et al 2012;Rexhausen et al, 2012;Towers and Xu, 2016;Villarreal et al, 2009;Pires et al, 2017;Shah and Khanzode, 2017). A well-coordinated distribution channel enables firms to deliver goods and services to end customers in a timely, efficient and effective way (Jaca et al 2012;Towers and Xu, 2016;Appelqvist et al, 2016;Hübner et al, 2016;Satyam et al, 2017). This largely relates to the efficient and effective management of transport scheduling, deliveries, achieving a perfect order while maintaining an acceptable level of service (Rexhausen et al, 2012;Villarreal et al, 2009).…”

“…However, coordinating warehouse operations from a lean perspective have been given less attention than other logistics functions (Gu et al, 2010;Bozer, 2012;Sharma and Shah, 2015;Shah and Khanzode, 2017). The importance of studying lean in warehousing and distribution operations is that any performance improvement in the distribution operations will ultimately be reflected in the logistics performance of downstream retailers (Pires et al, 2017;Hübner et al, 2016) and the whole distribution channel (Satyam et al, 2017).…”

Analysis of enablers for vertical integration to enhance rural employability

“…Shahidullah and Haque (2010) proposed a closer linkage between the producers and processors through vertical integration in the value chain for a reasonable price, quality, lead time and overall control of the supply chain. Lamont (1992) discussed the concept of the vertical and horizontal integration for the potato seed industries in The Netherlands and Northern Ireland whereas similar kinds of such studies are reported in the literature such as business relationship improvement (Hadjikhani and Thilenius, 2005;Gebauer et al, 2007), vertical integration (Nugent and Hamblin, 1996;Cook, 1997;Howe, 1998;Jennings, 2001;Leach et al, 2001;Charlebois and Camp, 2007;Gueimonde-Canto et al, 2011;Lamprinopoulou and Tregear, 2011;Dabas et al, 2012;Ding and Mahbubani, 2013), level of vertical integration selection (Priyadarshi and Routroy, 2018), comprising of subtopics such as strategic management (Parker et al, 2015), internationalization of retailing for rural entrepreneurs (Mudambi, 1994;Muñiz-Martínez, 1998;Johansson, 2002;Aygün and Oeser, 2017;Satyam et al, 2017), distribution (Brockman and Morgan, 1999), strategic ties (Orozco Quintero and Berkes, 2010;Dunham et al, 2012;Yi et al, 2012;Mehrotra and Verma, 2015), rural entrepreneurship (Saunders and Bromwich, 2012), economic performance (Peyrefitte et al, 2002), women entrepreneurship (Khera and Nayak, 2009;Yadav and Goyal, 2015;Bhardwaj, 2018) and improved information exchange among the supply chain members (Trim and Lee, 2006;Nandonde and K...…”