THEHUMANASPECTOFDISTRIBUTION 273
has sucha pervasiveimpactonthebusiness,greatcareshouldbetakenbeforechang-
ingthestatusquo.
TerminationsofchannelmembersnotperformingatminimumperfOlmancestandards
shouldbeemployedonlyasa lastresort.Correctiveactionsarefarlessdestructiveandmain-
tainthegoodwillthatissocrucialinchannelrelationships. Thisrequiresthatthechannel
managerattempttofindoutwhythesechannel membershaveperformedpoorlyandthen
implementa strategytocorrectthesedeficiencies.
Sometimesa producerdecidesthatanentirelynewchannelneedstobeadded,oran
existingonedeleted.A manufacturerofcameraaccessoriesmightdecidethathewantstoreach
theskilledamateurmarketinadditiontotheprofessionalphotographermarket.Thiswould
meandesigninga differentchannel,andlearningabouta differentsetofintermediaries.
TheHumanAspectofDistribution
Achannelofdistributionbyitsverynatureismadeupofpeople.Ideally,a channelmem-
bershouldcoordinatehisorhereffortswithothermembersinsucha waythattheperformance
ofthetotaldistributionsystemtowhichheor shebelongsis enhanced.Thisisrarelythe
case.PartofthisIc.ckofcooperationisduetotheorganizationstructureofmanychannels,
whichencouragesa channelmembertobeconcernedonlywithchannelmembers imme-
diatelyadjacenttothem, fromwhomtheybuyandtowhomtheysell.Asecondreasonis
thetendencyofchannelmemberstoexhibit theirindependenceasseparatebusinessoper-
ations.Itisdifficulttogaincooperationunderthisarrangement.Fourhumandimensions
havebeenincorporatedintothestudyofchannelbehavior:roles,communication, conflict,
andpower.Itisassumedthatanunderstanding ofthesebehavioralcharacteristicswillincrease
theeffectivenessofthechannel.
Role
Mostchannelmembersparticipateinseveralchannels.Establishingtheroleofa channel
membermeansdefiningwhatthebehaviorofthechannelmembershouldbe.Forexam-
ple, a basicroleprescriptionofthemanufacturermaybetomaximizethesalesofhis/her
particularbrandofproduct.Thisconnotesthatthemanufactureris toactivelycompetefor
marketshare,andaggressivelypromotehisorherbrand. Theroleprescriptionsofinde-
pendentwholesalers,however,arelikelytobequitedifferent.Sincewholesalersmayrep-
resentseveralcompetingmanufacturers,hisorherrolewouldbetobuildsaleswithwhatever
brandsaremostheavilydemandedbyretailers.Therefore,a majorissueinchannelman-
agementrelatestodefiningtheroleprescriptionsofthevariousparticipantsinordertoachieve
desiredresults.Thisisaccomplishedthrougha carefulappraisalofthetaskstobeperformed
byeachchannelmemberandclearcommunicationoftheserolestothemembers.
Communication
Channelcommunicationissendingandreceivinginformationthatisrelevanttotheoper-
ationofthechannel.Itiscriticalforthesuccessofthechannelmembertoworktocreate
andfosteraneffectiveflowofinformationwithinthechannel.Communicationwilltake
placeonlyifthechannelmemberisawareofthepitfallsthatawait.Thechannelmanager
should thereforetrytodetectanybehavioralproblemsthattendtoinhibittheeffectiveflow
ofinformationthroughthechannelandtrytoso lve theseproblemsbeforethecommuni-
cationprocessin thechannelbecomesseriouslydistorted.
