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Paper Report

for the Research Method course

Instructor: 楊立人

Dep. of Business Administration

698610234 簡碩辰

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Catalog

Chapter 1 Introduction of paper …………………………………………………P 3

Chapter2 Critique of paper ………………………………………………………P 8

Appendix Chart1, Chart2, Research framework …………………………………P15

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Chapter 1 Introduction of Paper

1. Source of paper

This paper is searched in the Journal of International Marketing (Vol 18 , No3,

2010,pp.1-17), published by the American Marketing Associations. The journal

is included in the SSCI database. The reason I choose this paper is that I’m

interested in the topic of supplier-distributor relation for which I think useful in

future business practice. Furthermore, the journal is qualified with high reference

value for me.

2. Research background and motive

Distributor governance is always an important issue and a challenge for companies.

This challenge is particularly salient in an emerging market such as China which

its scattered and evolving distribution system driven by continuous reforms in its

social and economic institutions. Thus, important for firms to design effective

governance strategies that simultaneously motivate and control various types of

distributors. Extant literature has conceptualized two major types of governance

strategies-economic and relational based-that are known to enhance distributor

performance in developed economies effectively. The unanswered question is:

Would these governance strategies be effective in markets that have distinctively

different business cultures?

3. Scope limitation

The scope of research is limited in four representative industries in China for

which independent distribution is the primary method, according to the China

Market Yearbook. These industries include electronics, architectural and fitment

materials, lighting, and cosmetics.

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4. The void of literature

The effective governance strategies (economic and relational-based) have to be

testified in emerging countries, such as China. The researchers added the role

approaches come from social exchange theory as well as other two variables-

stage of channel relationship and market uncertainty into the research framework.

The role approaches have not been extensively applied in inter-firm relationship

research before and the two variables is set particularly for the China changing

environment and its numerous new distributors.

5. Research process

Choosing the research topic

Searching and arranging the literature

Designing the research framework

Setting the research methods and tools

Designing the questionnaire

Checking reliability and construct validity

Making the conclusions

Doing the survey via interviews

Analyzing the data

Collecting and arranging the data

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6. Research methodology

The researchers adopt quantitative methodology to the research. The analysis

comprises two stages. In the first stages, the researchers evaluated the reliability

and construct validity of the independent and dependent constructs using

Cronbach’s alpha coefficients and confirmatory factor analysis. After establishing

the reliability and construct validity, they represented each construct by its

summary score. In the second stage, they estimated the analysis equations using

the moderated regression approach.

7. Results of research

The results of research is as followings two charts. The first is the result of

reliability and construct validity measuring by using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients

and confirmatory factor analysis. The second is the outcome of moderated

regression approach.

Chart 1

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8. Findings and conclusions

There are five main points about results and findings:

(1). The findings suggest that managers should tailor their governance strategies to

to different types of distributors through their classification based on role

orientations. In short, the results don’t advocate customized, firm-specific

strategies but propose a finer typology of distributor policies.

(2).The effects of a misfit condition are asymmetric. Governance misfit depresses

channel performance but has no effect on channel satisfaction. This asymmetry

indicates that researchers should further investigate the governance misfit

conditions. A possible explanation lies in the short-term nature of channel

performance and long –term nature of channel satisfaction. It is possible that

the negative consequences of governance misfit take time to affect channel

Chart 2

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satisfaction, which was not fully reflected in the cross-sectional data set.

(3). Contrary to the general impression that Chinese distributors have strong

inclinations toward profit maximization, the results of the study imply that

this may be a gross overgeneralization. Economic governance strategies work

for distributors that operate with an economic orientation but are less effective

for those that operate in a normative role. For distributors that regard the

exchange relationship as among friends, an overutilitarian may be offensive

and cast doubts on their future relationship.

(4) .This study reveals that governance strategic fit depends on whether the

distributor relationships are new or established. The finds suggest that a

dynamic model of governance strategy will pay off in continuing to motivate

theses distributors. Managerially, the finding runs contrary to conventional

wisdom, which states that it generally benefits firm to spend more time with

new rather than established distributors.

(5) .In different market uncertainty conditions, this study doesn’t show that the

impacts of governance fit differ. In the study, market uncertainty was a dummy

variable, which may have sacrificed some variations of this construct and led

to the insignificant differences under high-versus low-market-uncertainty

conditions. Further investigation of this contingent effect are needed.

Nonetheless, the results offer managers several implications. General

guidelines for market uncertainty recommend hedging or transferring risk

to other partnership firms. In contrast, the results suggest that aiming for

better strategic fit is a viable alternative.

Finally, this study has several limitations that need to be recognized and could be

enriched through further research efforts. First, because of its centrality to

governance strategies, the issue of governance fit requires further replication.

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Second, the contingency factors of governance fit deserve more theoretical work.

Third, China was chose as an exemplar research context, but other contexts in both

emerging and developed economies could further confirm the findings and advance

current knowledge on international marketing channels. Fourth, it is necessary to

recognize that our use of personal interview as a data collection method may

embed social desirability effects that may bias our findings. The use of single

informant for each firm also has its limitations.

Chapter 2 Critique of Paper

1. Title

• Does the title make clear the major variables?

The title contains all the essential variables in the study, including distributor

governance, distributor role, relationship stages and market uncertainty.

However, it is hard to find the exact relationships between the variables just

through the title.

• Have vague and ambiguous terms been avoided?

In my opinion, there are not any ambiguous terms appearing in the title.

2. Statement of the problem

• Have the variables of interest been identified?

The statement of the problem is as following: Would these governance

strategies be effective in markets that have distinctively different business

cultures? From this statement, it’s obvious that governance strategy is

an important independent variables which would affects the channel

performance, the dependence. Nevertheless, it is hard to infer the moderate

variables ( Relationship stages, Market Uncertainty ) and the other

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independent variable ( Distributor role) in the research framework.

• Is the problem clearly stated?

The problem is clearly stated in the statement because it show the exact

purpose of the study: To find out a good way to govern distributors in China.

From this problem statement, the researchers was going to figure out the

problem by using extant literature and adding the new elements into the study

construct a new theory.

3.Related literature

• Is the related literature and sufficient?

The extant literature is abundant which used by the author to deduce well each

constructs. The source of literature is clearly showed in the paper. In addition,

all the deduced content has been empirically proved in the former literature,

ensuring the validity and reliability of following study except on the aspect

of market uncertainty. Although the construct of uncertainty was not

empirically proved, it is still well deduced through the literature. In short, the

related literature is very sufficient to enhance the quality of the paper.

• Are the connections between the present study and the previous research and

theory made clear?

They are all clear. The construct of governance strategies is come from the

former business literature. The construct of distributor role orientation is form

the role theory in other domain. And the two moderate variables are also well

linked with previous research. The authors use many literature to support the

constructs put in the framework consolidating the structure of study.

4. Hypotheses

• Are the hypothesis explicit?

They are explicit. For example, the construct of distributor role orientation is

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deduced from related literature as following picture:

The blue part is the deduction process of role orientation. It interacted with two

dimensions of governance strategies which is also well deduced. This

interactions make the final result of channel performance and channel

satisfaction.

• Do the hypotheses follow logically from the statement of the problem?

The hypothesis follow logically from the statement. The point is to find out the

way to govern the distributions in China. Thus, the task of research is to study

how suppliers interact with their distributors and consider that is there other

moderate elements which affects the relations between independent variable

and dependent variable. In order to figure out the interaction between the

variables by good measuring of data, it is important to define well the different

constructs by the supporting of extant literature. The four major hypothesis

indicates the relations between the variables. With the well defined constructs,

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the interactions can be well measured, constructing good logic with the

problem statement.

5. Subject

• Is the method for selecting the sample explicit?

The sample is explicit. The survey was conducted to the 191 distributor

manager. And the presurvey was conducted to the 20 distributor and supplier

manager respectively in order to elevate the validity and reliability before

questionnaire revising. The demographic information of sample is clearly

provided in the paper.

• Does the sampling allow for generalization to the population of interest?

There are three doubts about the sampling:

(1) The sample is limited in the four industries.

(2) Does the only one informant in each firm represents exactly the firms?

(3) The interview approach exist bias possibility?

These three doubts decrease the generalization ability of the sampling. I think

the first doubt is influential because it is hard to generalize the sampling

when considering the limitation.

6. Procedures

• Do the procedures include appropriate operational definitions of the

independent variables?

The operations definitions of governance strategies-economic and normative is

clearly provided in the paper. But it is mentioned that there are two major

factors for the measuring of two dimensions: self-interest seeking motives and

the incentives of utility maximization. On the other hand, the operational

definitions of the other independent variable- distributor role orientation

is provided. They are:

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(1) The perceptions of responsibilities

(2) Expectations of suppliers

(3) Evaluations of their relationships with suppliers

7. Instruments

• Are the instruments adequately described?

The researchers used three major statistical instruments to measure quantitative

data:

(1) Confirmative factor analysis

(2) Cronbach’s alpha coefficient

(3) Moderated regression

They are all clearly provided in the paper.

• Is information on the validity and reliability of the instruments provided?

The validity and reliability are elevated by the presurvey to the 40 managers

who provide specialized insights for the researchers. The validity and reliability

are also confirmed by the confirmative factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha

coefficient. The result is in the chart 2 above.

8. Analysis of data

• Have the statistics been interpreted appropriately?

The alpha coeffient is clearly measured and provided in the paper (chart 2).

Most of coefficients are above 0.8. The SFL is also clearly measured and

provided. Most of them in the result are above 7.0. With high alpha coefficient

and SFL, the validity and reliability are confirmed. The results of moderated

regression are showed in the chart1. The interactions between different is

revealed throught numbers in the chart. The positive number means the

positive effect, while the negative number means the opposite effect.

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• Are the statistics appropriate for the level of measurement of the data?

Yes. They come from the measurement of the data.

9. Results

• Are the results of all hypothesis tests presented?

Yes, they are all provided in the above chart 1 and chart 2.

• Are the statistics interpreted correctly?

Yes, they are interpreted correctly in the paper.

• Are the results clearly presented?

The statistic results is clearly presented in the chart1 and chart 2.

• Are the connections between the results and theory and related literature

shown?

Yes. Due to the severe hypothesis inference and adequate statistics

measurement, the three parts ( results, theory and literature) are tightly related.

10. Conclusion

• Are the conclusions clearly presented?

The conclusions are clearly presented through the positive hypothesis results.

The positive hypothesis results are supported by the good data measuring .

• Do the conclusions follow logically from the results of the study?

Yes. They are also logic because of positive hypothesis results. As the

hypothesis was well constructed, the positive results relate logically to the

problem statement.

• Has the author avoided reaching conclusions that are not directly supported by

the outcomes?

No, despite some insignificant results of the research, they are not avoided and

all provided in the paper.

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11. Implications and applications

• Does the author present implications of the study results?

Five major implications are presented:

(1) Governance strategies value in the fit conditions

(2) Asymmetric effects of misfit condition

(3) Gross overgeneralization of profit maximization

(4) The value of continual motivating to the distributors

(5) Insignificant differences under two level market uncertainty

• Are the implications presented based on the results of the study and not

on what the author hoped or expected to be true?

The most part of study results conforms to the expectations of the authors.

• Do the applications follow logically from the results of the study?

The applications follow logically from the results of the study. The study results

provide suppliers the policy to manage their distributors by classifying them

and use the different strategies to the different types of distributors. This

application is logically related to the study because it is the outcome of the

study.

12. Is the summary clear, concise, and sufficiently complete?

The abstract is precise and complete. It contains the objectives of study, the

research framework and the research outcome. However, it doesn’t mention the

business implications of the study. In short, it does provide a relatively complete

picture about the research.

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Appendix

Research framework

Chart 1

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Chart 2