Abstract:

Marketing channels are crucial and strategic assets to a firm. A better channel performance will improve a firm’s performance and bring it with competitive advantage. The widely application of information technology (IT) offers firms a new path to enhance their marketing channel management. This study develops a conceptual framework illustrating the impact of IT capabilities on the marketing channel management and control based on RBV. It suggests that a firm’s IT capabilities will affect its uses of channel power mechanism, guanxi mechanism and contract mechanism, which in turn will influence its channel satisfaction, its partners’ opportunism, channel profit. The paper ends with a discussion on future research questions and agenda implied by the framework.

Key words: IT capabilities, marketing channel, power, guanxi, contract