Effective Management of Global Distribution Network of a Growth Company

摘要

Growth companies face numerous challenges on their journey from SMEs to MNCs and ultimately public limited companies. The growth can be achieved organically and/or through acquisitions, but in both the importance of marketing channel and distribution network cannot be ignored. Therefore, companies are forced to design their distribution network and make effective distribution management strategy that can achieve and afford the fast growth. This research explores the effective management of a global distribution network of a growth company. The research employed an explorative and qualitative case study. To achieve the objective of this study, both theoretical and empirical research were conducted. Theoretical section covers different components related to distribution network of a growth company by analyzing different literature. This literature is used to create a preliminary framework to guide this research. Thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. The data was collective through semi structured interviews and from two workshops designated for this process. The data is later used to inductively refined the preliminary framework into a final analytical framework for the effective management of distribution network.The findings show that three main components for effective management of distribution network for a growth company are: total offerings, market segmentation, and distributors. Several factors related to these components were discovered by using in-depth empirical research. Furthermore, the discovered results emphasize on the importance of customer understating for effective management of distribution network for a growth company. Especially the linkage of the total offerings and market segmentation to managing distributors was considered important for the effective management of distribution network of a growth company.This research contributes to the body of knowledge on the global distribution network and its effective management for a growth company. The three important components found in this study, should be helpful for managers when designing and managing the global distribution network for a growth company. It also explains how and where managers need to concentrate when managing distribution network.