The effects of information and technology on the relational orientation of marketing channels: Impact on structure and performance

In the mid-1960s, business strategy focused on growth through vertical acquisition. Forward and backward integration resulted in vertical marketing systems where exchange activity was coordinated through authoritative control. By the mid-1980s, many businesses were discovering that greater financial returns could be achieved by outsourcing less-familiar channel activities and focusing corporate resources on core competencies. This emphasis shifted business strategies away from vertical integration toward contractual relationships in conventional channels that involved normative mechanisms to manage the coordination of exchange activity.;Though the marketing channels literature acknowledges that communication plays a vital role in facilitating exchange, limited attention has been directed toward understanding the moderating effect of interorganizational technology and information enabled by the technology. This dissertation addresses this gap by developing a model of the effect of information and technology on the relational orientation of marketing channels. The hypotheses are tested using data collected by surveying 410 logistics professionals from the Canadian Association of Logistics Managers, and 514 purchasing managers who are members of The Purchasing Management Association of Canada. The empirical results suggest that channel managers rely on synchronous communication, enabled by direct forms of technology (face-to-face and telephone), for the establishment and maintenance of exchange relationship, whereas mechanical technologies (mail and fax) have the greatest influence on the cooperation and coordination of channel activity. Electronic technologies (EDI and inter-firm data links) are under-utilized at present, but have potential to affect both strategic and tactical interorganizational communication.;This dissertation makes at least three distinct and important contributions to the understanding of the effects of information and technology in relationship marketing in channels of distribution: (1) Development of a conceptual model to empirically test the effect of information technology on the structure of relational exchange in marketing channels; (2) Separation of interorganizational systems into two distinct dimensions of communication (value of shared information and adoption of technology); and, (3) Separation of the construct of interorganizational communication into strategic and tactical communication.