Direct Selling in the West and East:The Relative Roles of Product and Relationship ( Guanxi ) Drivers

高等直銷管理課程 指導教授： 陳 得 發 作者： Bill Merrilees Dale Miller 報告人：李君玲

AbstractThis study uses a study of direct selling in China by Luk, Fullgrabe, and Yi （ 1996 ） as benchmark.They replicate this study(Luk et al.1996) in Australia,making a few minor adaptations and some minor extensions,and compare the effectiveness drivers in the two countries.The study concludes that in each country both product elements and relationship elements affect direct selling effectiveness,but in relative terms,relationship elements are relatively more important in China.Cultural differences seem to be the main reason for this contrast between the samples from the two countries.

Luk, Fullgrabe ,and Yi(1996)ModelGroup orientation:ties of kinship and close personal relationship;Renqing:obligations to repay debts of gratitude sometime in the future,which can influence current exchanges;Ganqing(Friendships):economic relationships are linked with noneconomic relationship more often than in the West ； sharing fortunes together and confronting disasters together;Face:symbolizes a person’s social position or prestige ； allows connections and enables access to resources and people to get things done.

Replication StudyWe chose to replicate the study in a Western country,Australia,in 1996.As in the Chinese study,a regional city was selected for the Australian population frame.The sample was essentially a convenience sample of 100 representatives from one direct selling company,Amway.A snowball method was used so that a small high-ranking representatives were selected initially,and they in turn nominated other representatives.

Replication StudyThe survey instrument was very similar to that of Luk et al.(1996)An explicit question”They purchased from me , so I owed them a renqing”was omitted,because it would have limited meaning in Australia.Similarly the question”They gave me face”was altered to “They gave me respect”.Some questions were added to the list of Luk et al. （ 1996 ） .These questions related to price , convenience , and role of good personal relationships,and they were added to provide a fuller understand of the buyer-seller relationship.

Replication StudyThe survey instrument was administered by personally seeking the written completion of the questionnaires that were collected from the respondents and returned to the researcher.Of the 107 surveys collected,seven had incomplete responses and 100 were usable.The Chinese salespeople were all women,whereas the Australian sample had both women and men.The Chinese products were high involvement cosmetics,whereas the Australian products were more diverse and included low involvement cleaning products.

ResultsThe six-factor solution,which is indicated,explains 61.1% of the variance of reasons influencing customer commitment to purchase,as perceived by the salesperson.The six factors can be described as:

Factor 1:Reciprocity Factor 2:Good customer service Factor 3:Friendship Factor 4:Trust Factor 5: Good personal relationship Factor 6: Low price

ResultsThe guanxi concept, as a holistic concept, is not found in our Australia sample of salesperson customer relationships.In particular the elements of reciprocity,friendship,and trust are very relevant for our sample,but as separate factors.Overall four factors(factors 1,3,4 and 5),relating to the quality of the relationship,influence the commitment of customers to purchase as perceived by the salesperson.

Results

The main difference between China and Australia is that in China the elements of relationship marketing are more coherent and from a specific,cultural configuration,namely guanxi.In contrast,for Australia sample,there are several separate dimensions （ reciprocity,trust,friendliness,and good personal relationship ） of direct selling relationship marketing.

ImplicationIn broad terms we have ascertained that both product elements and relationship elements are perceived by salespeople as being important to the customer,for effective direct selling in both China and Australia, though relatively,relationship elements seemed to be some what more important in China.One of the implications of both product and relationship elements being relevant to China is that product knowledge and benefit selling skills are relevant to that country.Foreign and domestic direct selling companies operating in China can benefit from product-related Western skills in direct selling.On the other hand,Foreign companies in China would need to adapt the nature of their relationship selling format from a Western mode to a guanxi mode.

Implication The implications of results for direct selling in

Australia are multifaceted:

First,product knowledge and benefit selling skills are confirmed as very relevant to Australia,probably more so than relationship elements.Second,this study has identified the importance of reciprocity,friendship,trust,and overall personal relationship as important drivers to salesperson effectiveness,as perceived by the salesperson.

Implication

Third,relationship marketing is important for direct selling in Australia,but the training of salespeople has not fully integrated relationship marketing themes,orientation,and practices.Fourth, much more work needs to be done on the dimensions of relationship marketing for Australia.

ConclusionsSome of the components of guanxi,namely reciprocity,trust,and friendliness,were found be relevant to the Australia context,indicating that relationship marketing still forms a basis for direct selling in Australia.The main variation is that the nature of the direct selling relationship is different between Australia and China.The Chinese relationship marketing concept basis is firmly rooted in a holistic way,whereas in Australia the basis has not been fully established but appears to include the separate (and not integrated)dimensions of friendship,trust,and reciprocity.