| This dissertation examines the management of multiple channel distribution (MCD) strategies, in which the same product line is sold to the same target market by more than one channel. Such strategies potentially lead to important benefits: greater market coverage, enhanced service delivery provided by combined channels, higher sales, and ultimately better firm performance. With these benefits, however, come a variety of serious challenges, particularly with regard to established channel relationships. Because of these challenges, firms vary in the success with which they implement MCD strategies.; In the study, a survey of marketing and sales managers was combined with secondary data from a market research firm to examine the impact of superior channel alignment capabilities on MCD strategy success. Results from the study suggest that capabilities related to both tracking and rewarding downstream channel intermediary activities lead to improved outcomes in terms of service delivery, market coverage, and firm performance. Because such capabilities can be developed and enhanced, these results are of considerable interest to marketing channel managers. They provide a collection of managerially actionable procedures by which the challenges involved with MCD implementation can be mitigated. By tracking and compensating downstream intermediaries appropriately, suppliers can successfully implement MCD strategies while minimizing their destructive effects on downstream relationships. |
