Paper info

Globalization and transition of distribution- analyzing two intertwined processes

Lars-Erik Gadde and Lars-Gunnar Mattsson

The paper was published at the 21st IMP-conference in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 2005.

Companies are all the time changing. These changes sometimes originate from ambitions of firms toactively improve their operations, while sometimes they are reactions to changes undertaken by otherfirms. In recent decades a couple of major reorganization efforts can be identified. In this paper we areconcerned with two examples of reorganizing. The first is the ongoing transition of distribution involving,for example, increasing use of customized solution. These changes have put ‘Supply Chain Management’ on the top of the management agenda. The other type of reorganizing is the enhanced interest in ‘globalization’, implying that an already highly internationalized firm increases the coordination of its operations over different geographical areas. The purpose of this work-in-progress paper is to conceptually investigate how the processes towards globalization and transition of distribution are related.Many companies are involved in both these reorganizations, which then become intertwined andinterdependent.Keywords: Globalization, Distribution, Supply chains, Reorganization, Channels.