从经销商的观点来探讨经销商与供应商联合行动之影响因素—以台湾汽车业为例(1)

從經銷商的觀點來探討經銷商與供應商聯合行動之影響因素—以台灣汽車業為例1從經銷商的觀點來探討經銷商與供應商聯合行動之影響因素—以台灣汽車業為例DeterminantsofJointActioninDistributor-SupplierRelationships:ThePerspectiveoftheDistributorinTaiwan’sAutomobileIndustry賴其勛*邴傑民**簡倍祥***林高偉****Chi-ShiunLaiJamesPingPei-HsiangChienKaw-WeiLin（ReceivedAug.20,2001；FirstRevisedJul.26,2004；AcceptedSep.26,2004）摘要：本研究探討汽車經銷商與供應商之間的聯合行動，不僅增加關係交易中行為因素的研究，並在經濟動機的考量之外，探究策略動機對聯合行動的影響。結果發現，從經濟動機而言，經銷商的動機性投資與特殊資產愈多，對供應商的依存度也愈高，使得經銷商願意配合供應商，共同採取聯合行動，進而提升經銷商的績效；從策略動機而言，經銷商投入的特殊資產越多，市場的競爭強度越激烈，則經銷商會提供給顧客更多差異化的服務，然而為了服務差異化，以獲取競爭優勢，就會與供應商採取聯合行動，進而提昇經營績效。關鍵詞：聯合行動、依存度、服務差異化、汽車業Abstract:Thestudyisintendedtoexploredeterminantsofjointactioninautomobiledistributor-supplierrelationships.Itprovidesmoreresearchinbehavioralexchangeand,inadditiontoeconomizingmotives,includesstrategizingmotivestoexploretheirimpactsonthejointaction.Fromtheeconomizingmotivesperspective,thedistributordependenceincreasesasthedistributormotivationalinvestmentandspecializedinvestmentincrease.Asadistributordependsmoreonitssupplier,thejointactionwillincrease;thereforeitsperformancewillbebetterimproved.Fromthestrategizingmotivesperspective,thedistributorservicedifferentiationincreasesasthedistributorspecializedinvestmentandcompetitiveintensityincrease.Asadistributorprovidesmoredifferentiateservicestocustomers,thejointactionwillincrease;thereforeitsperformancewillbebetterimproved.Keywords:jointaction,dependence,servicedifferentiation,automobileindustry作者感謝兩位匿名評審委員提供之寶貴意見。*國立雲林科技大學企業管理系副教授AssociateProfessor,DepartmentofBusinessAdministration,NationalYunlinUniversityofScience&Technology**大葉大學事業經營研究所副教授AssociateProfessor,GraduateInstituteofBusinessAdministration,Da-YehUniversity***國立中正大學企業管理研究所博士候選人Ph.D.Candidate,DepartmentofBusinessAdministration,NationalChungChengUniversity****大葉大學事業經營研究所碩士MBA,GraduateInstituteofBusinessAdministration,Da-YehUniversity臺大管理論叢DEC2004第十五卷第一期p1-p222I.IntroductionRecentstudiesonmarketingchannelsshowanincreasingpropensitytowardsrelationalexchanges,forinstance,trust,commitment,andlong-termorientation,tonameafew.Nevertheless,theseresearchesmostlyfocusedonattitudinalelementsandfewengagedinbehavioralelements(Kim,1999).Itisobviousthatsuccessfulrelationalexchangeshouldtakebothattitudeelementsandbehavioralelementsintoconsideration(Nevin,1995;Wilson,1995).Consequently,thebehavioralelementsofrelationalexchangeareworthyoffurtherstudies.Jointactionisoneaspectofbehaviorelementsofrelationalexchange.InTaiwan’sautomobileindustrydistributorsoftenengageinjointactionwithsuppliersinordertopromotecompetitiveability.Theobviousphenomenaareseen,forinstance,thattheyjointlycollectmarketinformation,conductcustomeranalysis,setupsalesobjectives,andplanpromotionprograms.Needlesstosay,jointactionwillproducebenefitsbuttherealsoexistrisks(PillingandZhang,1992),forexample,increasingcomplexities,mutualdependence,andinformationasymmetrycausingtransactioncoststoincrease.Becausejointactionneedsmuchinvestmentinpersonnel,timeandmoney,carelessfailurecouldresultingreatloss.Therefore,itisnecessarytounderstandthefactorsthataffectafirm’stakingthestrategyofjointaction.Onthebasisoftheabovereasons,thisstudyexploresjointactionsbetweendistributorandsupplierinTaiwan’sautomobileindustry,toseethedeterminantsofjointactionandtheimpactofjointactiononadistributor’sperformance.Suggestionsarethenmadetodistributorsandsuppliersfortheirfuturereferenceintakingjointaction.II.ResearchhypothesesIntransactioncostanalysis,theadoptedgovernancehasbeentowardbilateraltoolstocurtaildyadicopportunismcooperatively(Heide,1994);jointactionisoneformofbilateralgovernance.AsHeideandJohn(1990)pointedout,specializedassetsanduncertaintyarethemajordeterminantsthatevokemorebilateralgovernancebetweendistributorandsupplier.Kim(1999)recognizedthatforadistributor,environmentaluncertainlymainlyoriginatesfromcustomersandcompetitors.AsanextensionofKim’s(1999)research,thepresentstudyproposesthatinfluentialfactorsonjointactioncomeprimarilyfromspecializedassets,customeruncertaintyandcompetitionuncertainty.AsshowninFigure1,thefactorsthataffectdistributorandsupplierincludedistributor’sdependenceandservicedifferentiation,ofwhichdistributordependenceand從經銷商的觀點來探討經銷商與供應商聯合行動之影響因素—以台灣汽車業為例3itsinfluencefactorrepresenttheeconomicfactor,whereasservicedifferentiationanditsinfluencefactorrepresentthestrategicfactor.Kim(1999)pointsoutthatpastresearchmostlyfocusedontransactioncosteconomicfactorbutignoredstrategicfactorthatobtainedtransactionbenefit.Consequently,bothwarrantmoreresearchattentionsimultaneously.Withregardtotheeconomicfactorthatreliesontheconceptoftransactioncosttheory,itproposesthreefactorsthatinfluencedistributordependence,are:(1)customervolatility,(2)distributormotivationalinvestment,and(3)distributorspecializedinvestment.Ontheotherhand,thestrategicfactoralsoproposesthreefactorsthatinfluenceservicedifferentiation.Thethreefactorsare:(1)distributorspecializedinvestment,(2)customerheterogeneityand(3)competitiveintensity.Inaddition,distributor’sspecializedinvestmentandcompetitiveintensityhavedirectimpactonjointactio