NOTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND MACROMEASUREMENTS Available to Purchase

A clear definition is only one requirement in understanding and measuring a concept. A system of notations is also required. The crudest channel notational form is the familiar one of a line connecting two or more channel levels with an indication of the level type. For example: M‐W‐R‐C is a three level channel made up of a manu‐facturer (usually one, in the manner befitting normal manufacturer oriented channel concepts), and an unspecified number of wholesalers, retailers and consumers. No indication is provided of such dimensions as the number at each level, the nature of the flow (though the assumption is it is all going in one direction in which the manu‐facturer is the origin and the consumer is the destination), the volume and value of product involved, the time period concerned, and the characteristics of the involved middlemen (both wholesalers and retailers) in terms of their operating methods, product assortments, size distribution, geographic location and dispersion, ownership and control, etc.