From product to total solution: An enriched channel perspective

In the last decade, a fundamental phenomenon came to the fore in the business environment: more and more companies are offering total solutions to their customer instead of standardized products or services. Although this trend has already been studied extensively in literature, little has been said about the impact of this phenomenon on the supplier’s channel management. This article develops propositions concerning the influence of a total solutions strategy on a company’s channel management, rooted on an extensive literature review and case-based research in the Belgian industrial market.