Managing Internal Marketing Channel Conflict: A Proposal for Narrative Epistemology

Abstract

This article calls for extending the understanding and management of the channel conflict that occurs between competing sales teams inside a manufacturer organization. This internal battle occurs as the sales teams try to sell manufacturer products to two different channel members (e.g., retailers, wholesalers, etc.) in the same market and, as a result, compete for quotas, sales targets, promotional budgets, etc. The article argues that by drawing on narrative epistemology, which has extensively been applied in management research, marketing scholars and practitioners can gain novel insights through which understanding and management of internal channel conflict could be enhanced. An epistemological review of the extant literature on the topic in the field of Industrial Marketing is presented. Drawing on the narrative method, three narratives told by competing groups in the context of Pakistan’s evolving fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) distribution channel are constructed, and an empirical model is developed for narrative analysis. It is shown that the understanding of various narrative logics and alignments can help in positive interventions in the channel story network.