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This study aims to differentiate two types of relationship exploration – substitute relationship exploration (SRE) and complementary relationship exploration (CRE) – and examine their effects on a distributor’s detection capability in relationship governance with upstream suppliers and innovation capability in services to downstream customers.

The authors obtained 176 responses from distributors in the semiconductor industry in China. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical moderated regressions are used to test the hypotheses.

CRE increases both detection and innovation capability, whereas SRE reduces detection capability and increases innovation capability. Market uncertainty weakens the effect of detection capability but strengthens that of innovation capability on distributor performance.

First, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to differentiate SRE and CRE, thus enriching the relationship marketing literature. Second, drawing on information economics, the authors uncovered the differential effects of SRE and CRE on detection and innovation capabilities. Third, market uncertainty moderates the effects of the two capabilities on distributor performance.

Distributors should be aware that there are different types of relationship exploration and, for that reason, should explore potential suppliers based on their business needs and firm conditions. The results of this study show that both SRE and CRE are beneficial for distributors’ innovation capability, but SRE reduces their detection capability. Practically, firms need to be aware of the trade-offs associated with different types of relationship exploration. Moreover, when market uncertainty is high, distributors should pay more attention to innovation than to detection capability building.

This study conceptualizes and differentiates between two forms of relationship exploration. By linking them with distributors’ capability building and performance, the authors provide theoretical and practical implications.

Previous research in the area of distributor performance proposed different scales, mostly in western, developed country context. These studies also lacked the consideration of dynamic interaction between variables, which determine the distributor’s performance. This paper proposes a composite Distributor Performance Index (DPI) to evaluate distributors’ performance based on at the “Enables” and “Results”, taking a system dynamics approach. The model results have been discussed and validated, in business marketing channel. The context of this study is India, an emerging market.

Paired channel relationship constructs are used to conjointly compare the perspectives of Indonesian manufacturers and their connecting distributors when engaging and relating across each shared marketing channel. The purpose of this paper is to hypothesize long-term orientation (LTO) and role-performance as joint drivers that positively influence dependence, satisfaction, and trust constructs for each manufacturer and distributor domain.

A structural equation modelling-comparative model is developed, tested, and validated for the Indonesian manufacturing sector. The sample size is 140 pairs of medium-to-large-sized manufacturers and their connecting distributors. The respondent is individual who is responsible and knowledgeable in dealing with his/her company’s manufacturer or distributor.

Both the manufacturer-distributor LTO and their role-performance jointly drive the outcomes of the shared marketing channel relationship, and both parties’ behaving similarly (except for the influence of their role-performance onto their partner’s satisfaction).

This study have not investigated possible two-way interactions between constructs across the channel. Combined, paired, manufacturer and distributor dataset questions can expose the connectivities relationships between the partners. The insignificant influence of role-performance on economic satisfaction within the manufacturer domain requires further research on the possible presence of mediating construct(s) between those constructs, and on the broadening of the definition of satisfaction. Past channel research revealed that trust interacts with satisfaction, yet this study does not find significant interactions between the outcomes constructs.

In Indonesia each marketing channel’s manufacturer and distributor management team should jointly enhance both their shared long-term relationship, and their respective role-performance. This long-term view is implementable through long-term marketing channel contracts.

This study contributes to marketing channel theory with the LTO and the role-performance of a channel partner jointly driving the other partner’s economic satisfaction, trust, and their dependence specifically within the Indonesian context. The benchmarking of a marketing channel’s performance within a trusting and satisfying channel relationship sets the framework for the development of future optimization studies (of at least the five connectivities constructs used herein).

Building on the resource-based view (RBV), this study examines the differential roles of internal and external social capital (SC) in enhancing the marketing innovation (MI), competitive advantage and financial performance of Korean small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in export markets.

In total, 197 valid cases were obtained from Korean manufacturing SMEs in the consumer goods sector. Then, a path analysis was employed to test the proposed hypotheses.

First, SME internal SC positively influenced MI, whereas external SC positively influenced foreign distributor's MI (or foreign distributor MI). Second, SME MI was positively associated with foreign distributor MI. Third, no statistical differences were found in the strength of the paths from foreign distributor and SME MI to competitive advantage. Meanwhile, foreign distributor MI positively affected financial performance more than SME MI. Fourth, SME competitive advantage predicted a positive financial performance. Finally, the effect of SME MI on financial performance had an inverted “U” shape.

This study fills a research gap in the MI literature by identifying MI in terms of its actors (SMEs and their foreign distributors) and examining the differential roles of internal and external SC in MI.

Realizing the importance of personal interaction in business relationships between manufacturers and distributors, this study aims to explore the role of personal interaction in relationship value, and subsequently in distributor performance, in a transition market, Vietnam.

A sample of 472 distributors in the south of Vietnam was surveyed to test the theoretical model. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

It was found that personal interaction drives product support, information support, and delivery performance perceived by distributors. In addition, product support, information support, and delivery performance are key factors that nurture the value of relationships between manufacturers and distributors. Finally, relationship value is a determinant of distributor performance.

A key limitation of this study is the heavy reliance on the hypothetico‐deductive approach. Business relationships of firms in transitional economies, due to differences in cultures and economies, might exhibit some differences in value drivers. An inductive approach may be a suitable alternative method to explore relationship value and its determinants in transition economies like Vietnam.

The results of this study suggest that manufacturers should invest more time and efforts in personal interaction with their key distributors to enhance the value of their relationships with those distributors.

This study is the first of its kind in Vietnam, which explores the role of personal interaction in relationship value in Vietnam.

This study seeks to investigate the benefits that trigger exporters' attitudinal commitment and examines their effects by taking into account the temporal dynamics of cross‐border interfirm relationships.

A qualitative field study led to the generation of hypotheses that were subsequently tested with structural equations modeling using data collected during two consecutive surveys of exporters.

The economic benefits that foster exporter's commitment include importer's specific investments, importer role performance, and exporter economic performance.

Importers can secure their foreign suppliers' commitment by investing in their business relationships and improving their distributive performance. They also need to monitor exporters' economic performance. The study highlights the importance of exporters' perceptions in building their commitment. Thus, importers need to communicate intensively about their actions to promote exporters' brands.

Unlike previous research, which has focused mostly on behavioral antecedents of commitment, this study depicts the exporting context using the exporter perspective and highlights the importance of economic benefits in shaping their attitudes. A mixed design involving both qualitative and quantitative methodologies facilitates this approach. Relational exchange theory's temporal assumptions about business relationships are reflected by the use of longitudinal data.

The importance of architectural marketing capabilities (i.e. marketing planning and implementation) in exporting ventures has been recognised. However, extant literature has not taken into account the explicit roles and required synergy between the exporter and their foreign distributor in delivering these capabilities. Drawing from the resource-based theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the complementarity of distributor implementation capability and market orientation with exporter planning capability.

The study was carried out using a survey. Data were collected from 147 Greek exporters who replied to our questionnaire and the hypotheses were tested using the full information maximum likelihood estimation procedure.

The results support the hypotheses about the importance of exporter planning capability on financial performance and the complementary role of distributor market orientation. Further, the authors find that the distributor’s implementation capability partially mediates the impact of the exporter’s planning capability on financial performance.

This study contributes to a better understanding about the complementarity of exporter and distributor capabilities. It demonstrates the crucial role of the distributor in the deployment of architectural capabilities for the export venture: the distributor’s market orientation and implementation capability have the final say in achieving higher levels of export performance.

Within the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) supply chain, one of the problems facing the distribution channel strategy is the presence of the gray market. The article shows two novel antecedents of the participation of official distributors in this gray channel: Negative impact on distributor performance and the relationship with their supplier. Knowledge of this background helps to preserve the strategy outlined for the official distribution channel.

Data were collected from 172 Spanish wholesale distributors and analyzed using PLS-SEM.

The authors found that the damage through negative affectation in the official distributor's performance and the cooperation provided by the manufacturer, have different effects. While affectation is shown to be a powerful antecedent of participation in the gray market, the effect of perceived manufacturer cooperation does not show strong results.

In business practice, these findings lead the manufacturer to keep transactions carried out in the gray market at low levels and provide cooperation to official distributors to guarantee the official channel strategy aimed at efficiency in the distribution of branded goods.

The background of the gray market discussed in the study has not been previously analyzed in the literature. In this way, the authors contribute to the knowledge of such a common problem as the presence of the gray market in the segmentation of distribution channels of high-demand products.

The purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents of channel performance in a multi‐level marketing (MLM) channel.

Personal interviews with 105 distributors from network marketing companies operating in Lithuania, provided data for this study. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation model (LISREL).

The findings suggest that trust, locus of control and shared values are moderated by channel commitment of the downstream channel members.

This study is limited to one country under investigation, therefore further research needs to be extended to other economies. Researchers might also identify additional variables affecting channel performance as well as undertake a longitudinal approach of the focal areas of commitment and channel performance.

This study is of managerial interest, as the framework suggested in this study may be applied by MLM firms to monitor their networks and evaluate multi‐level channel performance.

MLM channels offer a unique alternative and underutilized distribution channel for many companies, yet limited theoretical research has been accomplished in this arena. MLM channels are very interpersonal by their very nature and thus we extend the relationship marketing paradigm to MLM. In addition, transitional economies tend to have less developed marketing channels, and therefore are prime targets for MLM. Thus, this research specifically examines MLM in a transitioning economy.

Competition in the beverage industry is increasing on all fronts (advertising, price, product proliferation, service, etc.). As a result, distributors need to understand what is important to retailers and assess how they and their competitors are meeting those needs in the supply chain. In this paper a performance system is proposed to assess the distributor‐retailer interface based on the integration of a number of concepts including customer service, relationship exchanges, competitive benchmarking, order winners (consumer preference perceptions), and portfolio analysis.Various performance matrices are constructed which indicate the importance level and service effectiveness for categories of service provided to retailers. These importance/ performance matrices provide a basis for distributors to develop marketing strategies for categories of retailers, as well as for individual retailers.