A Spatial Approach to Measuring Functional Spin-Offs in Marketing Channels

Abstract

The authors thank the Distribution Research and Education Foundation in Washington D.C. for its assistance in conducting the study. Thanks also to the Affirmative Action Faculty Development Program at California State University, Fullerton, for its support in completing the manuscript. The authors thank the editor and three anonymous reviewers at the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice as well as Douglas LaBahn and Lance Leuthesser for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of this article.

The authors propose a quantitative method for measuring the phenomenon of functional spin-off in marketing channels and demonstrate its use with data collected from senior executives of manufacturing firms in the United States. The concept of functional spin-off is useful for forecasting changes of channel structure as well as for planning the horizontal and vertical strategic alliances among firms. The innovative analytical technique of correspondence analysis provides a spatial map to reveal the spin-off pattern of twelve marketing functions. The results show that (1) functional spin-off is a measurable and verifiable phenomenon; and (2) increasingly, some distributive functions are expected to be performed by manufacturers, institutional customers, sales agents, and representatives, instead of where they are presently being performed.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Catherine T. Atwong

Catherine T. Atwong (Ph.D., Drexel University) is an associate professor of marketing, at California State University, Fullerton. Her research interests include quantitative techniques and marketing management. Her work involves developing and applying innovative methods and analytical techniques to improve marketing research and practices. Her most recent publication appears in American Business Review.

Bert Rosenbloom

Bert Rosenbloom (Ph.D., Temple University) is the G. Behrens Ulrich Professor of Marketing, and the associate dean for graduate programs in the College of Business Administration at Drexel University. He is widely published in the areas of marketing channels and management. His work appears in leading journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Global Marketing, and European Journal of Marketing, and others. He has authored nine books, including a leading textbook, Marketing Channels: A Management View. He is the editor of the Journal of Marketing Channels.