Faculty Publications

Japanese Distribution System: The Impact Of Newly Designed Collaborations On Wholesalers' Performance

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Distribution, Japan, Keiretsu, New collaborations, Performance, Wholesalers

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Industrial Marketing Management

Volume

37

Issue

1

First Page

104

Last Page

115

Abstract

In January 1995, the Kobe earthquake devastated a major part of Kobe's distribution infrastructure. Apart from the expected complaints about lost sales, wholesalers reported some surprising comments after the reopening. Wholesalers stressed the advantages of newly designed distribution channels, especially the opportunity to end longstanding business relationships known as keiretsu. This study is concerned with the recent development of vertical collaboration in the Japanese distribution channel. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the supplier's service to wholesaler, the supplier's offerings to the wholesaler, and buyer's service to the wholesaler did contribute to the enhancement of the performance of the wholesaler. The three factors explained 16% of the wholesaler's performance. The regression analysis also showed that the wholesaler's intra-logistics activities contributed to the improvement of the performance of the wholesaler and explained 5% of its performance. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Department

Department of Marketing

Original Publication Date

1-1-2008

DOI of published version

10.1016/j.indmarman.2006.12.003

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