Manufacturer‐Distributor Relationships and Channel Service Quality

In today's marketplace for fast‐moving consumer goods, many brands exist with similar characteristics. Development and maintenance of product differentiation becomes increasingly difficult to realize for manufacturers. Consequently, non‐price competition particularly by offering high quality customer services, becomes increasingly important as a marketing instrument by producers towards distributors. In this article, an empirical investigation has been conducted into the interrelationships between customer services offered by an international beverage manufacturer and customer sentiments towards partnership and dependence. It appears that despite the well‐established premium brand offered by the manufacturer and the context of a long‐term relationship, customer service significantly affects customer dependence and closeness of the relationship. Furthermore, a high degree of partnership increases customer perceptions of dependence and quality of services. In the long run, manufacturer‐distributor relationships striving for service quality and partnership will benefit from mutual reinforcement.