Channel Choice in Foreign Markets: Capabilities and Transaction Cost Approaches

Author(s):  
Hidesuke Takata
1987 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Anderson ◽  
Anne T. Coughlan

Manufacturers introducing an industrial product to a foreign market face a difficult decision. Should the product be marketed primarily by captive agents (company salesforce and company distribution division) or by independent intermediaries (outside sales agents and distributors)? This is an issue of downstream vertical integration. The authors explore the issue through an empirical investigation of distribution channel choice in foreign markets by U.S. semiconductor companies. Using original interview data, they develop scales to measure key variables. With these measures they build a logistic regression model of what factors affect the form of the distribution channel chosen in various foreign markets. The results indicate that integration is associated with the degree of transaction specificity of assets in the distribution function and whether or not the product being introduced is highly differentiated. There is evidence that the product will be sold through whatever channel is already in place, if any. Further, American firms seem more likely to integrate the distribution channel in highly developed industrialized countries (Western Europe) than in Japan and Southeast Asia, which are more culturally dissimilar. Implications for managers faced with a channel choice are explored.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 347-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Cristina Martins Antunes ◽  
Hortênsia Gouveia Barandas ◽  
Francisco Vitorino Martins

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how headquarters’ managers perceive – cultural, administrative, geographic and economic (CAGE) – distance between countries and its influence on the strategy of international subsidiaries. Design/methodology/approach This study applies the transaction cost and behavioural theory and presents an exploratory and qualitative methodology approach through six semi-structured in-depth interviews to evaluate managers’ perceptions of distance between countries. Findings The research findings show that cultural and economic distances indeed have a major influence on subsidiary strategy and a smaller impact of administrative and geographic dimensions, which results into forced changes on the marketing-mix, i.e. product, price, design and brand, as well as on the level of autonomy granted to foreign subsidiaries. Research limitations/implications The limitation is related to the home country and the entry mode of foreign direct investment. The findings presented here reflect the nature and behaviour of Portuguese companies with subsidiaries. Practical implications The research provides recommendations for managers to be aware of the influence of more than one dimension of distance between countries to improve their decision-making of standardisation-adaptation strategy for foreign subsidiaries. Furthermore, the study stresses that managers’ perceptions may lead to the conclusion that proximity and knowledge of foreign markets does not make international business easier. Originality/value This empirical research not only tests the transaction cost theory and behavioural theory on managers’ decisions to invest abroad but also promotes organisational changes to achieve the suitable strategy for international subsidiaries. The study contributes to the area of international business by positing six research propositions concerning distance between countries to be tested in future studies.


2020 ◽  
pp. 51-81
Author(s):  
D. P. Frolov

The transaction cost economics has accumulated a mass of dogmatic concepts and assertions that have acquired high stability under the influence of path dependence. These include the dogma about transaction costs as frictions, the dogma about the unproductiveness of transactions as a generator of losses, “Stigler—Coase” theorem and the logic of transaction cost minimization, and also the dogma about the priority of institutions providing low-cost transactions. The listed dogmas underlie the prevailing tradition of transactional analysis the frictional paradigm — which, in turn, is the foundation of neo-institutional theory. Therefore, the community of new institutionalists implicitly blocks attempts of a serious revision of this dogmatics. The purpose of the article is to substantiate a post-institutional (alternative to the dominant neo-institutional discourse) value-oriented perspective for the development of transactional studies based on rethinking and combining forgotten theoretical alternatives. Those are Commons’s theory of transactions, Wallis—North’s theory of transaction sector, theory of transaction benefits (T. Sandler, N. Komesar, T. Eggertsson) and Zajac—Olsen’s theory of transaction value. The article provides arguments and examples in favor of broader explanatory possibilities of value-oriented transactional analysis.


2019 ◽  
pp. 121-143
Author(s):  
Riccardo Resciniti ◽  
Federica De Vanna

The rise of e-commerce has brought considerable changes to the relationship between firms and consumers, especially within international business. Hence, understanding the use of such means for entering foreign markets has become critical for companies. However, the research on this issue is new and so it is important to evaluate what has been studied in the past. In this study, we conduct a systematic review of e-commerce and internationalisation studies to explicate how firms use e-commerce to enter new markets and to export. The studies are classified by theories and methods used in the literature. Moreover, we draw upon the internationalisation decision process (antecedents-modalities-consequences) to propose an integrative framework for understanding the role of e-commerce in internationalisation


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 195-208
Author(s):  
Hannes Boepple ◽  
Janine Göttling ◽  
Marie-Christin Papen ◽  
Florian U. Siems

For companies, complaints are a valuable customer reaction to dissatisfaction. They enable the company to respond to customer issues to prevent them from changing supplier or spreading negative word-of-mouth communication. Previous research identified various influencing factors of complaint behaviour. However, it has been scarcely considered which aspects influence the selection of the complaint channel (e. g. telephone, social media). Therefore, a 1x2 experimental study (n = 244) was conducted. Results reveal effects of personal characteristics (aggressiveness, argumentativeness and social anxiety) on complaint channel choice. A moderating effect of failure severity was also partially found. From a managerial perspective, it is recommended to provide various complaint options. This would allow the disappointed consumer to choose an adequate complaint channel depending on his or her personality.


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