Paper info

A Network Perspective of Distribution on the Industrial Markets

Nadezda Kolesnik

The paper was published at the 27th IMP-conference in Glasgow, Scotland in 2011.

Introduction.
Sophistication of distribution is conditioned by increased customization on the resource
level, integration on the activity level and specialization on the actors level (Hulthen &
Gadde 2009). Management of contemporary distribution becomes extremely complex task
due to environmental dynamism, which leads to inevitable lack of prediction and control.
Today there is an urgent need for academic research to systematically investigate aspects of
distribution network management.
This paper aims to shed light on the distribution on industrial market from the network
perspective in order to capture mechanism of coordination, inter-firm cooperation,
management and value creation opportunities.
The research questions for this study are to investigate how network theory
contributes to understanding of the distribution process. The research questions are to be
considered as follows:
RQ1: What are the current changes and trends in distribution?
RQ2: What are stimulation and blocking factors for the networks development in Russia?
that set limits or create new opportunities for distribution network?
RQ3: What is the mechanism of distribution network operation on the emerging markets?
The following plan of dissertation was adopted:
1. Distribution on the industrial markets
1.1. Approaches to distribution and functions
1.2. Distribution arrangement on the industrial markets
1.3. Distribution networks
2. Distribution networks in Russia
2.1. Networks on the industrial markets
2.2. History path dependence in distribution: case of Russia
2.3. Stimulating and blocking factors for network development in Russia
3. Distribution network management
3.1. Case study and business context analysis – distribution in chemical industry
3.2. Mechanism of interaction in chemical distribution network
3.3. Managerial implication