The emergence of electronic commerce has led many companies to complement their reseller networks with direct-to-the-customer Internet sales. This inevitably creates conflict. The way companies view and manage channel conflict is consid-ered to be an important success factor. Accordingly, the purpose of this research was to explore and describe managers' perspectives on conflict in multiple market-ing channels, with a focus on the Internet. To ground the research, personal, open-ended interviews were conducted with managers at Ducati and SAS. The results of these interviews, along with an ex-tended literature review, formed the foundation for a survey among resellers of those companies. The results of this research question some of the premises in the channel conflict literature. Specifically, goal incompatibility and inadequate communication were found to have a direct and negative effect on resellers' performance. In contrast, channel conflict per se was not detrimental to firms. It is postulated that it is the causes of conflict, and not necessarily conflict itself that are harmful. Clearly, goal incompatibility and inadequate communication are damaging to performance of firms. If companies do not attend to goal compatibility and communication among chan-nel members, resellers are likely to end the relationship or otherwise behave in their own interests. For example, resellers that represent multiple firms are likely to discriminate against a company with whom they have poor communication and incompatible goals. Consequently, producers are encouraged to promote open communication with their channel members and ensure that their goals and those of their resellers are in alignment. A tangible example of the importance of goal compatibility is found in the fact that a firm that involves its resellers in its Internet sales achieves positive outcomes. To put it simply, channel integration yields lower conflict and higher performance.

Purpose - The intangible character of services makes it difficult for customers to evaluate a service offering before consumption. Scent offers a powerful means of making services tangible. Therefore, this paper aims to contribute to the understanding of how scents can be used for services marketing purposes. Design/methodology/approach - The paper presents an overview of studies, mainly from the area of retailing, indicating how scents can be used in services, and this is followed by a number of examples of such applications. Findings - The paper finds that, although there are examples of service providers utilising scents to tangibilise, enhance and differentiate services, this area has been relatively neglected in marketing literature. Practical implications - By adding the component of scent to their offerings, service providers have the opportunity to create a competitive advantage. When using scents in services marketing, managers should consider the aspects of presence, pleasantness, congruity and memory of scents. Originality/value - No other paper with a specific focus on scent as a tangibiliser, enhancer and differentiator of services has been found in marketing literature. This paper provides important insights into the use of scents for services marketing purposes.

The emergence of electronic commerce has led more and more companies to, in addition to using resellers, add the Internet to sell directly to its end customers, something that inevitably will create channel conflict. The way companies handle such conflict is considered an important success factor. The importance of this issue, along with the lack of research focusing upon it, created the foundation for this study. In addition to the dysfunctional aspects of conflict, this study aimed at capturing the functional aspects of conflict as perceived by management. Hence, the research problem of this thesis was to explore and describe managers' perspectives on conflict in multiple marketing channels, with a focus on the Internet. Based on the literature review, a frame of reference was created comprising both text and a graphical display, which defined the boundaries of this research. An interview guide with open-ended questions was then developed from the frame of reference to address the following issues: 1) the causes of channel conflict; 2) how the seriousness of channel conflict can be assessed; and 3) the approaches that can be used to reduce channel conflict. A qualitative research approach was adopted and case studies were conducted. The empirical data were collected through personal interviews at Ducati and Scandinavian Airlines. Even though the respondents described some channel conflict, it must be noted that the management of both companies emphasized that they have a very good working relationship with their resellers, although on rare occurrence they have encountered problems. Furthermore, although they had experienced some conflict due to the addition of the Internet, there was no more channel conflict because of the Internet than before that channel was added. In addition, the Internet can in fact reduce channel conflict, as both companies referred to the use of an Extranet for this purpose. Results from this study also indicate that one of the generally accepted causes of channel conflict-differing perceptions of reality-should be replaced with communication problems, since differing perceptions of reality seem to be the result of poor communication. Moreover, when assessing whether a channel conflict has positive or negative implications for a company, it seems that one important factor to look at is its impact on the company's brand.