The magnitude of evolutions in marketing channels has led to a major shift in the theoritical models developed by the research in business, mostly in marketing and strategic management. Three main research areas can be envisioned: analysis of retailing, both in terms of retail evolution and search of productivity gains at the store level, analysis of marketing channels, that greatly benefits from the progress of a contractual theories of interoganizationnal relations, and the development of theories of strategies management of the distributive firm. Even if these constructions are based on little unified theoritical frames, they show how researchers tend to formulate managerial guidelines for channel members : producers, wholesalers and retailers.
