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The literature on export channels suggests that intermediary resources, namely intermediary competence and availability, are critical for export success. However, little is known about how the beneficial effects of intermediary resources differ amongst integrated, independent and dual channel structures. One difference between these channel structures is the degree of reliance on independent intermediaries. This study aims to investigate (1) the impact of intermediary resources on export venture success, that is, export sales performance and channel maintenance costs and (2) the moderating role of the degree of reliance on independent intermediaries.

Empirical testing was conducted using survey data collected from 204 Japanese industrial exporting ventures. To test the proposed hypotheses, this study estimated a structural equation model with the maximum likelihood estimation procedure.

Evidence shows that two aspects of intermediary resources have different beneficial effects on export venture success. Specifically, intermediary availability leads to export venture success by decreasing channel maintenance costs, whereas intermediary competence is not always beneficial for it. Furthermore, this study finds that reliance on independent intermediaries positively moderates the impacts of intermediary competence and availability.

Previous studies emphasise the importance of intermediary resources and export channel structures. However, the question of whether export channel structures determine the performance benefits of intermediary resources is unanswered. By addressing this question, this study provides helpful insight into how exporting managers can implement channel strategy and access intermediary resources to achieve export success.

The purpose of this paper is to uncover how buying companies use sourcing intermediaries to manage supply risks in global sourcing.

The authors carry out an explorative qualitative study of the clothing industry, interviewing key respondents who occupy different positions in the supply chain, including sourcing intermediaries, retailers, and brand marketers.

Sourcing intermediaries carry out a broad range of supply risk management functions, including design availability and support, and the operation of high risk markets. The authors identify different sourcing intermediary types, characterised by the set of functions they handle.

By analysing a limited set of in‐depth interviews in one industry the authors have traded off broader analytical generalization for in‐depth exploration and theory building. Therefore, future research should test the findings in other industries and across broader populations.

Sourcing intermediaries carry out valuable supply risk reducing functions in global sourcing and must be considered as alternatives to direct sourcing or international purchasing offices.

The paper contributes by identifying the supply risk management functions that sourcing intermediaries carry out for buying companies. The paper also contributes by uncovering different types of sourcing intermediaries, determined by the collection of functions handled.

Develops an additional theoretical extension on channel decisions to the basic transaction cost model (TCM) by combining insights from production economy and industrial structure analysis methods with the existing TCM approach. The data for this study were obtained from survey questionnaires of 119 importing firms in Korea. The empirical results showed that production economy and industrial structure approach with previous TCM extended explanatory power of research model on channel style decisions.

This paper examines the relevance of the expert systems approach to information retrieval. First, the purpose and nature of expert systems are outlined, and it is argued that only in domains with relatively limited and clear‐cut rule‐sets will such systems be viable in the near future. The expert systems approach is then related to the provision of interfaces for OPACs and IR systems. Intermediary systems, designed to clarify through dialogue the terms of a client's information need, are described, and the prospects for such systems are discussed. It is argued that relatively straightforward ride‐sets should suffice, and that useful systems may therefore be available fairly soon. Since they could facilitate access to general as well as to specialised information, the potential demand for such systems would seem to be enormous.

Many small‐ and medium‐sized firms lack the resources to conduct adequate foreign market research. Inexperienced managers often do not know where to begin. Once the decision has been made to investigate foreign opportunities, the new‐to‐international manager is faced with more than 200 alternative potential markets. Internationally experienced firms have a shorter list of alternatives because they are already operating in some of these markets, yet the number of possible alternatives is likely to exceed 100 countries. It is not feasible to fully assess all these alternatives. A more practical approach is to begin by screening these alternatives in order to identify a small number of potential markets. Subsequent to screening, potential markets should be subjected to an in‐depth analysis of cultural, legal, local cost, intermediary availability, and other vital environmental conditions.

This chapter measures the contribution of financial development to economic growth in Russia. The expansion of banking system causes institutional improvement in the economy, which results in extended and sustained economic growth due to changes in financial institutions. This chapter proposes the novel idea of principal component analysis (PCA) to overcome these problems. Then, the PCA method provides loading factors that condense financial information into a few orthogonal factors, which are used as explanatory variables. The study indicates that financial development explains both per capita GDP and its growth rate. The explanatory power of the models improves by adding control variables and econometric safeguards such as correcting for nonstationarity and multicolinerity. However, utilizing the PCA method to obtain an orthogonal set of variables to represent financial development, deepening, and concentration improves the performance of the model even further.

Digitalization, financial technologies and the internet have rapidly advanced the business ecosystem posing a disruptive threat to how operations are fundamentally performed. Global hospitality and tourism companies face this challenge and have been early adopters in this field. This study aims to examine the role of blockchain technology in strengthening the marketing mix (product, price, place and promotion) and the its related impacts on the tourism industry.

This research adopts a systematic literature review approach to synthesize and assess the literature published on blockchain in tourism and tends to build a conceptual framework that depicts the relationships between different constructs.

The results show a lot of interest in using blockchain technology due to numerous advantages to tourism industry. This innovative technology can change this sector radically; assist small economies in strengthening and transitioning to the level of developed economies; and assist tourism companies in eliminating corruption, establishing a secure network and promoting equality between small and large entities.

Through industry examples demonstrating real-life use cases such as startups operating on the application of blockchain in tourism, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is a first attempt to draw the impact of blockchain technology on product, price, place, promotion (4Ps) in tourism sector. The proposed nine relationships can facilitate the future researchers in advancing the state-of-art on how blockchain-based technologies can shape the customers experience through promoting confidentiality, co-creation and effective destination planning.

Examines the interfunctional linkages between product distribution and after‐sales service support functions in business organizations operating in marketing channel environments. Also discusses managerial and logistic implications of the process of selecting product distribution and service support channels in the context of specific market segments of a particular product industry. An examination of the operations of two computer equipment manufacturing firms indicates that in “low substitutability” environments, such as in the case of specialty products, manufacturing firms tend to centralize both product distribution and service support functions. In contrast, in “high substitutability” environments, such as in the case of commodity products, manufacturing firms tend to decentralize both product distribution and service support functions. These case studies suggest that both product distribution and after‐sales service support strategies are closely linked to each other. Also, several product‐, firm‐, and industry‐related attributes, which dictate the choice of product distribution and after‐sales service support channels, were identified for the computer‐equipment industry.

A survey was conducted among academic and special libraries to determine the extent to which these libraries have discontinued subscriptions to printed abstracting and indexing services as a result of the accessibility of equivalent databases online. Significant levels of cancellation were reported by libraries of all types. However, decisions to discontinue were only partly influenced by online access in some libraries and not at all influenced by online access in some others. It appears that online access has so far had only a relatively small effect on cancellation decisions. Some barriers to a more widespread migration to online access are identified. A noteworthy finding is that new libraries tend to move directly into electronic access on demand without ever going through the print on paper phase. A great accelerated level of migration is predicted for the next five to ten years.

The successive waves of the Covid-19 SARS-II pandemic and the attendant lockdown imposed by the governments worldwide drove the economic activities to a halt. Offices and factories closed, production of goods and services declined and supply chains got severely disrupted. Many companies were embattled with the grim reality of shrinkage of aggregate demand, first due to supply shock and later due to loss of jobs and wages. Amidst all this, the handling and shipping of commodities became extremely complex. As the pandemic shifted consumer preference in favour of digital platforms, more and more fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies were confronted with multiple strategies and choices of an appropriate distribution channel to ensure smooth delivery of raw materials and products. The present study aims to study this shift and its implications in the Indian context.

A mix-method approach, integrating quantitative and qualitative analysis, is employed to investigate the factors influencing the selection of distribution channels amongst general trade, modern trade, e-commerce and hyperlocal for FMCG companies in India. The first phase of the study uses exploratory factor analysis (EFA), followed by the application of analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach in a fuzzy environment to realise the priority weights and ranking of the identified factors. Finally, sensitivity analysis is performed to confirm the robustness of the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) outcomes.

The study revealed that modern trade has emerged as the most favoured channel in the post-pandemic Indian economy. It has the potential to disrupt general trade. The study also revealed that the hyperlocal delivery model is not economically viable, and the partnership of FMCG companies with these applications is at best a short-term solution. However, it must be submitted that due to its sheer capability to ensure quick deliveries within a confined geographic area, hyperlocal delivery will gain momentum with the advancement of technology.

This study can be seen as the first attempt to investigate the issues related to the selection of the distribution channels in the FMCG sector of India using multi-criteria decision-making technique (MCDM).