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The purpose of this paper is to establish a reference model that will allow us to understand the factors that influence the omnichannel management of an organization in a business-to-business (B2B) context.

In building the model, a partial least squares structural equation modeling approach was followed. More than 1,000 executives with a C-level profile (chief executive officer, chief marketing officer or chief digital officer), from manufacturers and wholesalers, in various industries worldwide were contacted. The final sample consisted of 124 C-level executives in multinational B2B companies from 35 countries worldwide.

The principal finding is that optimal omnichannel management must involve a customer-centric proposition forming the basis for individualized marketing that tailors the company’s portfolio of solutions to suit each client. To ensure this, customer knowledge at each touchpoint is essential. The results show that the main predictor of B2B omnichannel management is sales and marketing, even above channels. The principal conclusions are that the model shows that good omnichannel performance is measured by the performance of the industrial buyer. Loyalty and experience are primary measures of this customer’s performance.

Research into omnichannel management in the B2B field is scarce, especially concerning the creation of models for decision-making.

The paper seeks to examine the changing landscape of supply chain management, marketing channels of distribution, logistics and purchasing.

The authors examine and take stock of the changing nature and landscape surrounding the related disciplines of supply chain management, marketing channels of distribution, logistics and purchasing. This examination highlights the considerable evolution and significant advances occurring within and between these disciplines.

The authors find that this new landscape provides both opportunities and challenges for future scholarship and practice in these related disciplines.

The examination and findings should be of value to those attempting to understand the evolving nature and interrelationship of these fields, and those who currently practise within them.

The purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of how information technology (IT) resources influence a firm’s channel power development. Specifically, this study hypothesizes that two types of IT resources (i.e. IT infrastructure resources and IT human resources) are key antecedents to channel power and that information management capability is a key mediator between IT resources and channel power.

The hypotheses are tested using survey data gathered from a sample of Chinese companies. The analyses are performed using partial least squares technique.

The results suggest that both of the two IT resources play key roles in enhancing a firm’s channel power, but they do so in different ways. Specifically, while IT human resources can enhance a firm’s channel power by strengthening both information acquisition and dissemination capabilities, IT infrastructure resources can influence channel power only by enhancing a firm’s information acquisition capability.

The measurement of IT resources might potentially be influenced by subjective divergence. In addition, information management contains many sub-processes, and this study only examines two of them: information acquisition and information dissemination.

The findings suggest that managers should develop/improve both IT infrastructure and human resources to enhance channel power by building stronger information management capability. More importantly, the findings reveal that IT human resource can provide more benefits as it strengthens both information acquisition and dissemination capabilities.

This study extends the existing literature by investigating how a firm’s IT resources affect its channel power. The results of this study provide insightful guidance for managers and researchers in how to better manage IT resources to improve channel governance performance.

This paper aims to study the positive impact of functional conflict and conflict management in improving supplier–reseller relationship performance in multi-channel setting (reseller together with supplier’s sales reps). The authors develop four hypotheses, including direct and mediated effects, about conflict management, conflict and the impact on channel performance.

The authors’ sample of suppliers in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry in Brazil consists of an interesting setting of multi-channel distribution, as suppliers deal with sales reps in combination with reseller channels to offer products to customers. The sample is representative of the industry, including more than 60 per cent of the ICT suppliers. The model was tested with partial least squares in the context of ICT industry in Brazil.

The empirical test shows that although an increase in functional conflict improves channel performance (direct effect), an excessive increase may amplify the dysfunctional conflict, thereby damaging channel performance (indirect effect). The negative interplay between the two natures of conflicts is counterbalanced with conflict management. Results show that conflict management improves channel performance by decreasing the harmful effects of dysfunctional conflict. This paper contributes to the theory by deepening our understanding of conflict, a critical challenge underlying supplier–reseller relationships in marketing channels. For managers, this research clarifies the importance of considering and managing conflict of different nature in the context of multi-marketing channels.

The contribution of the authors’ study is twofold. First, they develop an integrative mediating model with key constructs of multi-channels’ conflict and channel performance. They incorporate the causal relationships between functional and dysfunctional conflict, conflict management and channel performance into a single conceptual framework. This integrative mediating model to the best of their knowledge has not been developed before. Second, they provide managers with a broad understanding of conflict management implications to supplier’s multi-channel strategy, and how functional conflict can actually be beneficial for channel performance.

In mature global business-to-business (B2B) product markets, management of external sales channels, governed by contractual relationships, is a key determinant of business performance. However, existing sales channel management literature lacks focus on contractual governance and reseller management success. The purpose of the study is to systematically review different governance theories in relation to sales channel management and to show which factors are the most influential in making or keeping external sales channels effective.

A case study on a large B2B information and communication technology (ICT) company is used to reflect on the way the different theoretical governance perspectives explain sales channel management success. Interviews and mini-questionnaires were used to collect data.

Expressions of interdependence and equality alongside persevered personal relationships are important in managing daily business activities and in avoiding bad will at the reseller’s grass-root level. Future-oriented planning, long-term-oriented support and jointly set incentive systems are important for reseller management. Degree of professional management sets resellers apart through shifts in power balance.

A multi-theory governance perspective offers a holistic view over reseller management and provides a comprehensive view over different sales channel management issues and their relative importance.

The findings highlight the importance of long-term orientation and cooperation in setting up a reseller management system to gain and nurture distributors’ trust and commitment towards the manufacturer.

The study is the first to comprehensively use governance perspective in studying reseller management.

In dual distribution channel systems, integrated channels (manufacturer-owned) and independent channels (distributor-owned) are likely to adopt destructive behaviours. To suppress such behaviours, manufacturers need to implement conflict management systems. The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating role of conflict-learning capability (CLC) in the relationship between conflict management system and destructive behaviour. This study also investigates whether interactions between conflict management systems and CLC improve the overall channel performance.

Using survey data from 157 Japanese industrial manufacturers, this study conducted regression analyses and mediation analyses.

The results show that boundary and compensation systems have different effects on destructive behaviours. On the one hand, compensation systems with strong CLC have a larger impact, although those with weak CLC can also suppress destructive behaviours to some degree. On the other hand, boundary systems with strong CLC suppress destructive behaviours, but those with weak CLC do not. In addition, this study reveals that manufacturers with strong CLC can indirectly improve overall channel performance by implementing conflict management systems and suppressing destructive behaviours.

Previous studies reveal that boundary and compensation systems suppress destructive behaviours. However, these studies neglect the importance of organisational capability in the successful implementation of conflict management systems. By focusing on CLC, this study advances our understanding of dual distribution and channel conflict.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse the shifting perspectives on the organising and the managing of “distribution”, characterised as channels, systems or networks.

The paper is based on a review of previous research, identifying three periods featuring diverse conceptualisations: the early distribution literature, the channel management perspective and today’s network approaches.

The study shows that the early literature relied on holistic framings. This perspective was replaced by the narrower channel management view, influenced by concepts from two evolving approaches: marketing management and behavioural/social schools-of-thought. Changing business conditions eroded the basis for channel management and paid the way for current arrangements, featuring network-like conditions.

Several reviews of distribution have been published, primarily focusing on the specific features of the perspectives applied. This paper emphasises dynamic aspects by attempting to explain how and why new perspectives emerge and the reasons for their reduced significance over time.

In recent years, many firms from developing countries (LDCs) have engaged in foreign direct investment (FDI). Interestingly some of these firms locate their investments in developed countries (DCs) (i.e., upstream FDI), instead of in countries economically similar to or less than their home countries (i.e., downstream FDI). However, only a few researchers have examined the issues related to upstream FDI. Furthermore, when examining FDI, most studies have focused on manufacturing subsidiaries but paid less attention to sales subsidiaries. Due to the differences in nature, management of manufacturing and sales subsidiaries should be different. Using a case study approach and focusing on the behaviors of Taiwanese firms, we address two research questions: (1) what are the channel strategies adopted by the sales subsidiaries of Taiwanese high-tech firms (i.e., multinational corporations (MNCs) from LDCs (LDCMNCs)) in DCs? and (2) how do these subsidiaries manage their channels in DCs? Our findings are: (1) LDCMNCs tend to use multiple sales channels, to work with large national distributors, and to adopt high touch channels to market products in DCs; (2) to reduce channel conflict, less powerful LDCMNCs tend to adopt multiple independent channel system, instead of dual channel system; and (3) due to limited resources, LDCMNCs make more effort on designing channel conflict prevention mechanisms than designing channel conflict resolution mechanisms, emphasize more on building relationships with distributors and tend to use financial incentives/high-power incentives than use other types of incentives to motivate distributors. The findings of this study are helpful for LDC firms to operate their sales subsidiaries more effectively in DCs.

With the rapid growth of consumer sales being fulfilled through omni-channel retailing, the purpose of this paper is to explore the subsequent impact on the levels of consumer retail returns experienced through online sales and the emergent returns management strategies being affected by retailers in relation to network configuration and returns management processes.

The authors uses a mixed methods approach from an interpretive perspective. It is appropriate to describe the approach in terms of convergent design, since the authors have collected both qualitative and quantitative data.

Return rates for online retailing can be double those for stores, while return levels for “considered purchases” remain similar. The findings suggest that omni-channel returns management has yet to fully mature and the authors find challenges for network design and returns processes in offering a seamless solution.

For practitioners the authors identify a number of challenges and offer insights to improve performance in returns management process, while for academic colleagues the authors propose a number of avenues for further research both in the qualitative and quantitative fields.

While a significant body of extant literature exists, in researching the generalized retail returns management process this paper make a contribution by addressing the emergent managerial implications of omni-channel retail returns.