Management

A Model of Distributor Firm and Manufacturer Firm Working Partnerships
Author(s): James C. Anderson and James A. Narus
Source: Journal of Marketing, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Jan., 1990), pp. 42-58
Published by: American Marketing Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1252172 .
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James C. Anderson & James A. Narus

A

Model of DistributorFirm and Manufacturer
Firm

Working Partnerships
A model of distributor firm and manufacturer firm working partnerships is presented and is assessed empirically on a sample of distributor firms and a sample of manufacturer firms. A multiple-informant research method is employed. Support is found for a number of the hypothesized construct relations and, in both manufacturer firm and distributor firm models, for the respecification of cooperation as an antecedent rather than a consequence of trust. Some implications for marketing practice are discussed briefly. M

ARKETPLACE trends have underscored the need for a better understanding of working partnerships between manufacturer firms and distributor firms. Sales through wholesaler-distributors have been growing at a rate faster than the U.S.

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