LA POLITICA DISTRIBUTIVA NEI MERCATI ESTERI FRA CANALI OFFILINE E ONLINE: IL CASO DELLA NUOVA SIMONELLI

A lot of studies have found that internal factors (i.e., size, age, experience, management attitudes, innovation capabilities, etc.) influence the firm’s export performance. Among these factors, the ability to develop close relationships with foreign distributors has been proven to be a critical success factor. The primary purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of manufacturer-foreign distributor relationships in the internationalization process and in the competitiveness of industrial firm. The empirical research is based on a case study analysis, regarding an Italian manufacturing SME in the United States. This firm represents an “excellent case” of Made in Italy in the professional espresso machines industry. One of the most important emerging trends in the American market is the diffusion of e-commerce, that is changing the marketing channels’ structure and the commercial relationships. This trend is causing a serious problem of “channel conflict”, creating new challenges for the manufacturer. A section of the paper aims to investigate this problem from an industrial firm’s perspective.