Distribution and Societal Development: The Shape of Marketing in a World of Diverse Nations

Abstract

Marketing scholars have posited that a country's pattern of distribution can be associated with the level of societal development. This study lends empirical support for this relationship. Three groups of nations were created from 37 societal measures. The country groups' distribution structures were characterized in terms of 19 measures of channel structure, representing the degree of channel integration, wholesaler size, wholesale services, retail form, and the pervasiveness of supermarkets. The findings show that most developed nations have a distribution structure that differs from that of the least developed nations. The moderately developed nations have elements similar to both other groups of nations, yet important differences also exist.