Title: Developing causal relationships for an industrial distributor performance index

Authors: Dinesh Sharma, B.S. Sahay, Amit Sachan

Addresses: Management Development Institute, Mehaurali Road, Gurgaon 122001, India. ' Institute of Management Technology, Raj Nagar, Ghaziabad 201 001, India. ' Management Development Institute, Mehaurali Road, Gurgaon 122001, India

Abstract: A distributor|s performance has direct linkage with the supplier|s performance. In this paper, taking the system dynamics approach, the causal loop diagram is developed to capture the dynamic interaction among various variables that determine a distributor|s performance. A Distributor Performance Index has been proposed that includes the performance |enablers| and |result| variables. This paper also proposes a two-dimensional typology of distributors and discusses the implications to the manufacturer.

Keywords: distributor performance; performance index; system dynamics; causal relationships; distributor typology; manufacturing; industrial distributors.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2007.013452

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2007 Vol.4 No.6, pp.631 - 646

Published online: 29 Apr 2007 *

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