Satisfaction Construct (SATDIR) Based Approach to Managing Channel Members Relationships : A Case Study of Ariel

For past few decades channel relationships and its management has been the focus of academic research. The interest of researchers and marketers was on relationship building and development, and many marketing scholars have recognized the need for a comprehensive examination of the relationship aspects of buyer-supplier exchange and the components that influence relationship development and satisfaction. However, there is a new school of thought i.e. LINKAGE research which states that motivation being the same the improved relationships are a function of construct of satisfaction. Linkage research focuses on Relationship building across disciplines and recognizes that competition occurs between networks of firms. Therefore, improving channel relationship requires understanding the construct of satisfaction and then customizing strategies across the construct to match the channel members. It was within this backdrop that the current study was undertaken. The current study focuses on studying the construct of satisfaction across various types of channel members in a bid to understand the variance in the construct. A descriptive study was undertaken to meet this objective. The population for the current study was Retailers, dealers, wholesalers and distributer of Ariel detergent. Two level sampling plan was used for the current study i.e. judgmental sampling which was further supported by snowball sampling. Sample size was 50 respondents in the tri city area (i.e. Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula) at various levels in the supply chain of Ariel. The results of the study indicated that the relationship management of the channel members was a function of satisfaction construct. The results of the study indicated that the satisfaction construct varied across the type of channel members, suggesting that companies needed to customize their strategies for managing channel member relationships more efficiently and effectively