Power, Countervailing Power and Switching Capability in Marketing Channels: Case study, Handmade Carpet Art-industry of Iran

One of the most important behavioral aspects in relation among the main members of marketing channel is power and dependence. In this research, to measure the aspect of power we have looked through the source of power and countervailing power and we have considered prominent switching capability about dependence. We have also considered the relationships between the two main members of marketing channels in handmade carpet art – industry. On the assumption that the source member of channel, more powerful member, is the carpet merchants and target member, the other source or weaker (less powerful), is the producers of handmade carpet. In fact the purpose of this research is studying the relations among the power of carpet merchants, countervailing power of producers, and potential ability of them in finding suitable substitute distributive from perceptive aspect of merchants as main members in this channel. Statistical sample of this research was chosen by simple random sampling method. Required information is acquired using a questionnaire and collected information is investigated through LISREL software. The result of the analysis of research data has expressed that there is an opposite relation between the source of power and switching capability.