Using transaction cost theory, considerable research in marketing has focused on the conditions under which firms would use direct or vertically integrated versus indirect or arms length channels of distribution. Data from the field, however, indicate that channel configurations are more varied...

Inspired by open systems theories like the structural contingency theory (Lawrence and Lorsch 1967), population ecology theory (Hannan and Freeman 1977), and resource dependence theory (Pfeffer and Salancik 1978), several marketing scholars have investigated how channels adapt and organize...