The causes of distribution channel conflict in Chinese telecommunication industry

Until now, there are some literatures discussing the conflict causes in western theory, especially in US theory. However, the differences between the situations of Chinese channel and western channel are neglected. In fact, the difference between them is important. Correspondingly, no literature discusses this problem concerning the causes of channel conflict in Chinese telecom industry (TI). This study, which was conducted empirically in China, with the method of survey, investigates the conflict causes in channel of Chinese TI. The results indicate that there are four causes of channel conflict: goal divergence, roles unclarity, expectations divergence and relationship disharmony. Three of these causes studied here are found to be similar to those in western channels, but the other conflict cause - relationship disharmony - is the particular conflict cause in Chinese TI.