The analysis of performance in one single and dual channels

Abstract

Suppliers routinely decide whether to distribute their products through one single channel or dual channels. Conventional wisdom says that dual distribution channels outperform one single channel based on the whole supply chain’s performance in the capacity and the supplier’s profit. However, this paper finds that the channel structure in the distribution plays an important role in these performances. The results show that at least one of the dual channels should be centralised in order to outperform the single centralised channel and two decentralised channels always do better than one single decentralised channel.