环境英文作文（精选6篇）
1.环境英文作文 篇一
I read a piece of news recently. It says that in Japan marly businessmen ave selling fresh air to customers.and now it is becoming more and more
popular. Why--Fresh air is getting less and less in Japan, and so is it in the U. S. A.
In fact, environmental pollution is a very serious problem the whole world is facing.
it is mainly caused by the waste products released from artificial substances, industrial
production and increased consumption of goods. Bedsides, the use of chemical substances
in agriculture also causes environmental pollution. Look at the sky, you can see that dense smoke is being released from the high and big chimneys; those dirty and poisonous substances are flowing into the rivers that we use for drinking water and millions of tons of waste products are heaping around us.How to change this conditionMore and more countries are trying to work out some effective means to bring it under control, but no great success has been made.
2.环境英文作文 篇二
Organisations nowadays are increasingly embedded in a fast changing social world characterized by both internal and external forces influencing their actual operation.Alongside the trade liberalisation initiated via World Trade Organisation,business today takes into full swing.Nevertheless,precious opportunities bring new challenges.This is especially the case for multinational companies like Nokia.Long recognised itself as the market leader in mobile communications,the company has been persistently making known"connecting people"as its mission.Connecting people,more than just the buzz words,reflects Nokia's solid commitments to providing values to consumers,employees,and the whole community while serving as a compass guiding its future direction(Nokia's Corporate Brochure 2005)[1].
2 Nokia's External Environment Response and In-ternal Adaptation
2.1 External Environment Response
Since organisations are placed in different geographical locations and are engaged in different business activities with different customers,suppliers,market segments,their external environment is unique to them(Capon 2004)[4].At the macro level,external environment consists of such prevailing aspects as political sector,economic situation,socio-cultural domain,technological innovation,legal and ethical issue(known as PESTLE analysis).Refer back to Daft's(2004)[5]illustration,this is the general environment organisations are set under.At the industry level,on the other hand,factors funnelled down into more specific as their bearings on business performance are greater and more direct.For hitech industry like Nokia,this mainly comprises market size and movement,competitors,customer dynamics,relationship with various suppliers,and inner corporate ability in new products'research and development.
Market size and movement is one important signal.Competition becomes intense when firms are aggressively keen to expand their market share.This is possible following the trend of globalisation.For uprising firms,accessing to wider market will generate more economic return and achieve greater influence if they coordinate business well.Nokia's redirection from American market to the Asian Big Two reflects such pioneering vision.Noticing earlier that American and other high-growth markets move closer to maturity from annual turnover as well as from competitor's launch of hot-selling products,Nokia sensitively found potential in Asia's two most populous countries and focused on these markets to strengthen its leader position.The result proves to be blessing as sales went up substantially and as Nokia extended further by building factories and research centres in these two regions.
2.2 Nokia's Internal Adaptation
Consideration of broad external environment is of importance for business,but it needs to be balanced and integrated with company's internal resources and capabilities(Mellahi,Frynas,and Finlay 2005)[6].In reality,companies which can adeptly react to the outside environment usually have unique suitable internal system In order to be efficient and effective,internal environment is shaped and reshaped to form a specific corporate identity.This is revealed in Nokia's mission,its strategy,business values and as a whole the corporate culture.Committed itself to taking responsibilities to every potential stakeholder,Nokia aims at engendering customers'satisfaction through various interactive activities such as survey,focus group discussion,strengthening its brand reputation,improving employee well-being as well as motivating their performance by offering comprehensive training programmes,establishing good relationships with suppliers,and paying close attention to the social community(Nokia 2006)[2].
What the corporate stresses is not simply the prominence in its product quality,innovation and operational efficiency,but i sees employees'needs,enthusiasm and their loyalty,together with contribution to an eco-society as equal vitality.This corporate culture,in relation to strategy and environment,is noted as adaptability culture(Daft 2004)[5]in which external strategic focus and flexibility are its main characteristics.Echoing to the industry's desirability for responsiveness,Nokia's cohesive corporate culture will reinforce the overall business undertaking.Nevertheless,with the rising number of potential competitors in this industry and the shorter period in the launch of new products,the market is featured as highly uncertain.In turn,it also signifies demanding task for Nokia to coordinate on basis of its internal competencies to forge continuously sound corporate image and gain increasing brand value.
3 Conclusion
Every business organisation carries with its own social characters.Its strategy,structure and value it treasures can only make sense in its typical operation context.No strategy can be said as the best without pinpointing the nature of industry in which it is adopted.Strategies are contingency-based.Against the globa backdrop,the need for constantly judging and evaluating outside environment becomes more,not less,crucial.Nokia's developmen may offer as an insightful example in its implementation of strategy connecting with environment.Fully aware of the hi-tech industry's complex and unstable external environment,the gian makes all the more importance the differentiation of its products In emphasizing business mobility,Nokia considers business party's interests and keeps the organisation in a state of flexibility From an internal perspective,corporate resources and capability enable it to take an early move into Asia's two promising countries.
参考文献
[1]Nokia's Corporate Brochure2005.Listening to customers,seeing opportunities,doing things differently,about Nokia.http://europe.nokia.com/BaseProject/Sites/NOKIA_MAIN_18022/CDA/Cate-gories/AboutNokia/Company/_Content/_Static_Files/bout_noki-a_uk.pdf(Accessed:25March,2006).
[2]Nokia2006.Nokia global.http://www.nokia.com/A402767(Ac-cessed:25March,2006).
[3]Capon,C.2004.Understanding Organisational Context.London.
[4]Daft,R.2004.Organization Theory and Design.United States of America.
[5]Mellahi,K.Frynas,J.G.and Finlay,P.2005.Global Strategic Man-agement.Oxford.
[6]Nokia2006.Nokia global.http://www.nokia.com/link?cid=EDI-TORIAL_780(Accessed:25March,2006).
[7]Mintzberg,H.1987.The strategy conceptⅠ:five Ps for strategy,California Management Review,Fall:11-24.
3.旅游和环境的英文作文 篇三
My American friend Tom and I went to Beijing by plane last summer.
On the first day，we visited the Palace Museum and Tiananmen Square. The next day，we climbed the Great Wall. We took lots of photos. Although we felt tired，it was a fantastic experience. The third day we relaxed. Then we had the Beijing roast duck for lunch. I think it is the most delicious food in the world. Tom is interested in Chinese culture，so we drank tea and saw Beijing Opera in Lao She Teahouse in the evening. Finally，we did some shopping and flew back to Guilin.
4.环境保护作文100字英文 篇四
THE EARTH,our dearest mother--BUT,my friends,do any of you have considered how serious the problem will be when the earth is polluted,the air is not fresh,the forest is not flourishing?The environment pollution exist everywhere,the earth will lose its luster noon.my friends,shold we still keep insensible?our earth mother is not smiling anymore,doesn‘t it do something to us?Let‘s moving,my dear classmates,carry out environmental protection with a trifle to make the earth a pure land,and,let it hold a charming smile!
地球 ，我们最亲爱的母亲。但是 ，当大地被污染 ，当空气不再新鲜，当森林不再茂密.亲爱的朋友 ，您想过吗? 这是一个多么严重的问题!污染环境的问题随处可见，地球母亲即将失去往日的光彩。朋友，请问我们还能够无动于衷吗?朋友们.对于污染环境的问题 随处可见 ，母亲不在微笑。难道我们不心痛吗? 亲爱的同学们，让我们行动起来，从小事做起.展开环保活动，还母亲一片净土.让我们的母亲从新拥有一个迷人的微笑。
5.保护环境英文演讲稿 篇五
随着英语的流行，越来越多的人讲英语，而英语演讲是提高其英语综合运用能力的一个重要的手段。下面小编整理了保护环境英语演讲稿，供你参考.篇一：保护环境英文演讲稿
Honorable judges, ladies and gentlemen.Today，we are gathering here to discuss a very hot issue.how to find harmony in a new age between man and nature? Where modern science and technology are concerned I am only a layman I have to say.However, living in this “new age” , seeing my dear ones suffering from respiratory diseases from time to time, finding the beautiful colors of green and blue are being replaced by that of gray and pale, and realizing that our mother planet is getting more and more unhealthy;I cant help trying to offer my idea and my trivial efforts to look for the answer of the question.As the ancient Greek oracle goes: know thyself.I think in answering this above-mentioned question, this precondition is also very important.Who are we? This is a question, which should be answered not only by those specialists, but also by every one of human beings.Some people may proudly say: we are the masters of nature.It is true that the idea of “man can conquer nature” has dominated peoples mind for years, and it is true, man has kept acting like a master and doing whatever things he wants for thousands of years.However, as the consequence of this kind of “leadership” , now the “master” seems to be confronted with problems that are far beyond his control.Facts are really very ample.The
green house effect leaves islands and cities along the coast, such as this oriental pearl-Shanghai, in danger of the disaster of being drowned;the holes of the ozone layer make the earth less suitable to live for some creatures including human beings;the phenomena of EL Nino and La Nina leave the land with serious flood and drought, and the diseases, caused by pollution, are increasing at an incredible speed...Seeing all these facts, can we still ignore the counterattack of nature? We are not the masters of nature.Facing all the disasters made by ourselves, we, mankind as a whole should realize that we are just a normal member of the big family of nature.Any mistreatment towards nature will meet only with the revenge from her.By saying so, I do not mean we should give a sudden stop to any development.Because that will result in a threat to the existence of human society.I mean we should treat nature equally, leaving the chance of existence and development to nature as we are obtaining the same thing, and thus we will get the situation of win-win.I am very pleased to find that now more and more people, from every corner of the planet, have come to realize that harmony with nature is the only way to universal and continuous progress and prosperity.And I think that is why we come here from all over the country to discuss this topic today.I want to end my speech by quoting from Mr.Nixon.“Our destiny offers, not the cup of despair, but the chalice of opportunity.” The future is not ours to see of course.However, by seizing firmly the opportunities, by knowing clearly about ourselves, we, human beings, can doubtlessly achieve the real harmony with nature!
Thank you.篇二：保护环境英文演讲稿
Dear headmastersteachersclassmates and friends:
My name is zhang I am very excited to stand here to tell you about environment.When I was youngI always dreamed that I lived in a beautiful country.There were many flowers and trees around our counld hear the birds singing and see the children dancing.The streets were clear and the the air was very fresh!How nice it was!But that only was a dream of mine!How I wish that it would be come true!So I think we should do something to protect our environment.Everyone should make a contribution to protect the environment.Taking care of our environment is very you liveyou can do something around your neighbourhood.Have you ever thrown any litter onto the ground?Have you ever drawn pictures on public walls?Have you ever spat in a public place?Have you ever cut down trees?If your answers are “No”it means that you have already helped protect our environment.It is our duty to keep our envionment clean and tidy.You might ask yourself“Have I ever picked up some rubbish and thrown it into a dustbin?Have I ever collected waste paper or bottles for recycling?Have I ever planted any trees or flowers in or near my neighbourhood?”If your answers are“Yes”it means that you have already done something useful to improve the environment.Now I want to say :Let`s do our best to make our world more beautiful!Thank you!
篇三：保护环境英文演讲稿
6.环境英文作文 篇六
Wilkinson ( 2001) divides studies about marketing chan- nels into three stages: channel structures, channel behaviors, and channel relationships. In the first stage, researchers tried to find out ways of optimizing the efficiencies and benefits of managing marketing channels. In the second stage, researchers tried to unveil the power and conflict between channel mem- bers. In the third stage, researchers tried to find out ways of re- ducing or eliminating opportunistic behaviors through mutua commitment and honest. Actually, some scholars had begun to study marketing channels from the perspective of network gov- ernance.
In most of these studies, many scholars have used the po-litical economy framework ( Achrol, Reve and Stern, 1983; Frazier, 1999; Hutt, Mokwa and Shapiro, 1986, Stern and Reve, 1980) . Scholars implicitly have ascribed active choice behavior to channel members while stressing efficiency in gov- erning channel relationships. They have considered the implica- tions of environmental uncertainty or dependence on environ- mental resources for dyadic channel relationships ( such as conflicts and cooperation, Dwyer, Schurr and Oh, 1987 ) , power balances ( such as power - dependence relationships, Frazier, 1983) , and relationships with entities outside the dy- ads ( such as regulators and other actors, Dutta, Heide and Bergen, 1999 ) from traditional economic efficiency perspec- tives. In the process, scholars have largely overlooked the u- biquitous influences of the institutional environments and how inter - organizational relationships such as marketing channels are embedded in the larger social context ( Granovetter, 1985; Grewal & Dharwadkar, 2002) . Recent advances in organiza- tion theory suggest that organizations strive for both economic fitness, which emphasizes the competition for scarce resources and underscores the importance of the task environment, and social fitness, which stresses the pursuit of legitimacy in the eyes of important societal stakeholders and pinpoint the signifi- cance of the institutional environment.
The term governance has been broadly defined as a“mode of organizing transactions” ( Williamson and Ouchi, 1981) . A more precise delineation was offered by Palay ( 1984 ) , who defines it as “a shorthand expression of the institutional frame- work in which contracts are initiated, negotiated, monitored, modified and terminated. ”Heide ( 1994 ) states that govern- ance is a multidimensional phenomenon that encompasses the initiation, termination and ongoing relationship maintenance between a set of parties.
In this paper, the authors propose that marketing chan- nels are inter - organizational relationships in the na- ture. When companies are governing marketing channels, they are actually governing inter - organizational relationships. This is an institutional process. The primary measuring standard of the governing effects is legitimacy, but not the traditional effi- ciency.
2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDS AND MOD- EL
Institutional theory holds that a company's institutional en- vironment is made up of the norms and values of its stakeholde- rs, which include customers, investors, guilds, trustee coun- cils, governments, and partners. According to institutional the- ory, a company adopts some structure, behavior or process to satisfy other stakeholders. This behavior of seeking external recognition is the result of the institutional environment's influ- ence. Therefore, legitimacy becomes a key concept in institu- tional theory.
Suchman ( 1995) “a generalized assumption or percep- tion of the actions of an entity are desirable, proper, and ap- propriate within some socially constructed norms, values, be- liefs and definitions. ”Legitimacy requires companies' behav- iors to be consistent with public cognition and emotional expec- tations. That is, companies will adopt those structures, behav- iors, and processes that are considered as effective, appropri- ate, and popular. Accordingly, companies are not rationally pursuing efficiency but conforming to external rules and norms, so as to make their behaviors be accepted, understood, and recognized by other stakeholders. Therefore, gaining legitimacy is of great importance to companies that operate within the insti- tutional environment. In order to gain legitimacy, many aspects of organizational structures and behaviors are designed and per- formed to be accepted by the institutional environment but not to pursue efficiency.
Marketing channels governance is a part of a company's op- erations. The decisions, behaviors, and processes of governing channels must be consistent with the company's strategy. They all have to be accepted, understood, and recognized by other stakeholders. This is an institutionalized process. Therefore, gai- ning legitimacy of their channel - governing decisions, behav- iors, and processes is also of great importance. Market channel won't be one of the sources of sustained competitive advantages if the decisions, behaviors, and process are not legitimate.
2. 1 Inter - Organizational Studies
Inter - Organizational institutions
Institutional theoryinsiststhatweshouldstudy organizations' environments so as to better study and understand companies' behaviors and explain organizational phenomena ( Meyer & Rowen, 1977) . Institutional theory divides envi- ronments into institutional environments and task environment, which have different influence on organizations. Organizations should take into account the task environment and the institu- tional environment as well, since organizations are always in- fluenced by the institutional environments and they are institu- tionalized organizations. Institutional theory stresses that organi- zations are able to take initiatives to change their environments so as to better survive and develop. According to institutional theory, a company is operating within a social framework of norms and values. Their economic behaviors are constrained by technology, information, income, and social constructs as well. Being consistent with social expectations is beneficial to their survival and successes ( Baum and Oliver, 1991; Car- roll and Hannan, 1989; Di Maggio and Powell, 1983; Oli- ver, 1991 ) . Organizations improve their legitimacy, re- sources, and surviving capabilities through following up so as to gain benefits.
2. 2 Inter - Organizational Imitations
Inter - organizational imitation of practices and structures plays a central role in several theories of organizational actions ( Haunschild, 1993) . For example, theories of organizational learning argue that organizations copy other organizations, let- ting others absorb the costs of experimentation or discovery ( Dutton & Freedman, 1985; Levitt & March, 1988; Lant & Mezias, 1990 ) . Strategic choice theories suggest that imita- tion can be a strategic response to competitor activities, so sec- ond - movers take the advantages of the fact that the risks asso- ciated with product development have been absorbed by first - movers ( Lieberman & Montgomery, 1988 ) . Institutionaliza- tion theory argues that organizations copy practices that adopted by others in an effort to gain legitimacy ( Di Maggio & Powell, 1983) .
It is self - evident that inter - organizational imitations are of great importance. But how do organizations imitate? Haun- schild & Miner ( 1997) indicate three modes of inter - organi- zational imitation, including frequency - based imitation, trait - based imitation, and outcome - based imitation. With frequency - based imitation, organizations tend to imitate ac- tions that have been taken by large numbers of other organiza- tions. Several theoretical rationales have been marshaled to sup- port frequency imitation, and considerable empirical evidence documents its occurrence. According to early institutionalre- search, firms adopt practices and structures that many other firms have adopted because when many firms adopt a practice, the legitimacy of that practice is enhanced ( Tolbert and Zuck- er, 1983; Di Maggio and Powell, 1983) . This effect can oc- cur because the desire for legitimacy leads firms to adopt legiti- mate practices ( Meyer and Rowan, 1977 ) . In trait - based imitation, organizations may also selectively imitate practices that have been used by some subset of other organiza- tions. Arguments for trail imitation have generally emphasized the importance of social processes. Early institutional theorists ( e. g. , Di Maggio and Powell, 1983) suggested that firms a- dopt the practices of “legitimate”organizations and that legiti- macy is inferred from traits like large size and suc- cess. Organizations may also seek to acquire status by imitating higher - status organizations ( Fombrun and Shanley, 1990 ) , which are usually large and successful. With outcome - based imitation, organizations use the outcomes that occur after other organizations use a practice or structure to determine whether they should adopt. Thus, neither the number nor the character- istics of others doing practice “A”is important. Instead, it is the apparent outcomes that occur after other organizations do “A”that determines whether“A”will be imitated. Practices or structures that produced positive outcomes for others will be im- itated; those that produced negative outcomes will be avoi- ded. Selective imitation does not arise from features of other us-ers but from perceived consequences of the practice. Companies are not limited to only one of the three modes. During the com- petition, the imitation mode they will apply varies with their competitors and decisions.
2. 3 Inter - Organizational Power and Dependence
The most comprehensive theoretical statement on inter - organizational power and dependence was a 1978 book by Pfef- fer and Salancik, which presented a detailed theoretical dis- cussion as well as the results of a number of the authors' earlier empirical works. Pfeffer and Salancik began with four key prem- ises: organizations are first and foremost concerned with sur- vival; in order to survive they require resources which they cannot generate internally; as a consequence, organizations must interact with elements in the environment on which they are depend, which often include other organizations; survival is therefore based on an organization's manage its relations with other organizations. Because organizations depend on elements in their environment for resources, those groups can make claims on them, and organizations may find themselves attemp- ting to satisfy the concerns of these environmental constituen- cies. According to Pfeffer and Salancik, there are three crucial factors that determine to which one organization depends on an- other: the importance of the resource to the organization's sur- vival, the extent to which a particular group inside or outside the organization has access to or discretion over use of the re- source, and the extent to which alternative sources of the re- source exist.
One important feature of Pfeffer and Salancik's discussion is their point that dependence can be mutual. Just as one organ- ization can depend on another, two organizations can simulta- neously depend on each other. Power becomes unequal when one organization's dependence exceeds the other's.
3 CONCLUSION
In order to survive organizations should first be recognized by other organizations or stakeholders. That means they should acquire legitimacy first. Only after acquiring legitimacy can or- ganizations create efficiency through operating resources they obtained from their interaction with the task environment and facilitate organizations sustained development. Therefore, or- ganizations should first consider the legitimacy of their deci- sions, behaviors, and processes in their operations, and then pursue efficiency. In this way, organizations can survive and develop in the long run.
Since late 1990s, some scholars have begun to elaborate and argue the institutional environment's influences ( Handel- man and Arnold, 1999; Homburg, Workman, and Krohm- er, 1999; Mc Farland, Bloodgood, and Payan, 2004 ) . Grewal and Dharwadkar ( 2002) indicate that the institution- al environment influences the channel attitudes, behaviors, processes, and structures. They proposed a theoretical frame- work and logic for studying the institutional environment's in- fluence on dyadic channel relationships. They developed three institutional processes ( regulating, validating, and habitual- izing) and their underlying mechanisms according to the vari- ous attributes of the institutions and legitimacies, and elabo- rate on how these processes might influence channel relation- ships. Reacting to Grewal and Dharwadkar's calling for empiri- cal studies on the institutional environment in marketing chan- nels, Mc Farland, Bloodgood, and Payan ( 2004 ) applied institutional theory to examine channel reaction behaviors in supply chains, attempting to explain why fellow channel members imitate one another's behaviors. The study explains how the institutional environment influence channel behaviors and processes. They argued that institutional isomorphism can provide a rationale for the take - for - granted channel behav- iors, which are not able to be explained with economic ration- ality.
In order to study the roles of the institutional environment in marketing channels, we should first know what the institu- tional environment in marketing channels is. Based on institu- tional theory ( Meyer & Rowan, 1977; Di Maggio & Powell, 1983; Scott, 1987) , we divide institutions into regulatory in- stitutions, normative institutions, and cognitive institu- tions. We can describe the rules, expectations, and habitual behaviors by dividing the three institutions ( Scott & Meyer, 1983) . But the power and acting space the organizations get are double - edged and locked - in. On the one hand, organi- zations must conform to rules, expectations, and habitual be- haviors required by the institutional environment, which might be a constraint. On the other hand, organizations can tactically use the institutional environment as a resource and an entry bar- rier as well. Therefore, the institutional environment might be an extraordinary competitive advantage.
3. 1 Legitimacy in Marketing Channels
In the past decades, sociologists have offered a number of definitions of legitimacy. Pfeffer and his colleagues stressed that legitimacy is an evaluation, but highlighted cultural conformity rather than overt self - justification ( Downing & Pfeffer, 1975; Pfeffer, 1981; Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978 ) . In this view, legitimacy connotes“congruence between the social val- ues associated with or implied by organizational activities and the norms of acceptable behavior in the larger social context” ( Downing & Pfeffer, 1975 ) . Meyer and Scott ( Meyer & Scott, 1983; Scott, 1991 ) also considered legitimacy as stemming from congruence between the organization and its cul- tural environment. However, they focused more on the cogni- tive than the evaluative side ( Suchman, 1995 ) . Organiza- tions are legitimate when they are understandable, rather than they are desirable. “Organizational legitimacy refers to the ex- tent to which the array of established cultural accounts provide explanations for an organization's existence” ( Meyer & Scott, 1983b: 201; Di Maggio & Powell, 1991) . Suchman's defini- tion of legitimacy includes the both aspects. He defines legiti- macy as “a generalized perception or assumption that the ac- tions of an entity are desirable, proper, or appropriate within some social constructed system of norms, values, attitudes, and definitions” ( Suchman, 1995) .
Our definition of legitimacy in channel governance is based on Suchman's definition. We define channel governance legitimacy as “the extent to which the decisions, behaviors, and processes are accepted and recognized by other stakeholde- rs when they are governing inter - organizational relationships in channels”.
The institutional environment requires legitimate behav- iors, so managing legitimacy is of great importance. We argue that managing legitimacy is a dynamic and continuous process ( figure 2) , including gaining legitimacy, maintaining legiti- macy, and repairing legitimacy ( Suchman, 1995) . Besides, the gained legitimacies are not always effective, since they have lives. When one kind of legitimacy can not satisfy the organization's demand for surviving and developing or a new le- gitimacy is needed, the organization will begin a new process. Therefore, legitimacy managing is a dynamic and loop process.
When evaluating effectiveness and performance of a company's channels structures, behaviors, and processes, we should consider both efficiency, which is influenced by the task environment, and legitimacy that is stressed by institution- al theory. An organization's demand for legitimacy is bigger than that for efficiency. Efficiency is only guaranteed in the long run after the organization has gained legitimacy. We can completely understand and explain the process of forming and implemen- ting decisions and explain the problems organizations encounter in channel governance through combining efficiency and legiti- macy. The ultimate goal of organizations is not to pursue legiti- macy and efficiency, but to gain sustained competitive advan- tages so as to ensure long - term survival and development ( figure 3) .
Based on the above discussions, we propose proposition 1 and proposition 2.
H1: Organizations' channel governance decisions, be- haviors, and processes are embedded in specific institutional environment. The judging standard of channel governance is the extent to which the decisions, behaviors, and processes are accepted and recognized by other stakeholders. The extent de- termines the possibility of gaining efficiency.
H2: Managing Legitimacy is a dynamic process, during which organizations will apply different strategies to gain, maintain, and repair legitimacy soas to make the extent to which their decisions, behaviors, and processes are accepted and recognized become higher and higher ( figure. 4) .
CHANNEL GOVERNANCE MODEL AND STRATEGY MA- TRIX
3. 2 Theoretical Model
Channel governance is a kind of inter - organizational rela- tionship governance in the nature. The fundamental objective of channel governance is to make marketing channel be one of the sources of organizations' sustained competitive advantages so as to ensure their long - term survival and development. In order to survive, organizations need to gain efficiency. But it is of more importance that their strategies and behaviors should be legiti- mate. Organizations should consider long - term benefits as their ultimate objective when they are governing marketing chan- nels. This requires them to apply different governing mecha- nisms to obtain legitimacy and efficiency. Guo ( Guo, Zhan, Hou, Zhou, and Xiao, 2004) argued that the sustained com- petitive advantages gained from channel governance should not only be measured by efficiency, but also be measured by the legitimacy of strategies and behaviors. They expressed the standard as “channel governance efficacy” ( figure 5) .
All companies are institutionalized ones, whose channel governance decisions and practices are influenced by both the institutional environment and the task environment. With regard to marketing channel governance, the task environment is highly related to uncertainties and dependence an organization encounters, while the institutional environment has an impact on the legitimacy of its decisions, strategies, and prac- tices. Managers should first take into account the demands of both the institutional environment and the task environment when they are governing marketing channels. Then they decide the channel structures and choose appropriate governing mecha- nisms and strategies to gain legitimacy and efficiency. In the end, they will achieve high channel governance efficacy, making marketing channel a real source of sustained competi- tive advantages.
Managers should not attempt to reduce uncertainties and dependence at the expense of legitimacy. When managers are trying to increase legitimacy, they are actually reducing the uncertainties and dependence at the same time. Therefore, strategically speaking, managers should reduce uncertainties and dependence in market channels during the institutionalized process of channel governance.
H3: Companies first pursue the legitimacy of channel governance decisions, behaviors, and processes. The higher the legitimacy is, the higher is the possibility of achieving high efficiency.
3. 3 Channel Governance Strategy Matrix
It may lead to misunderstanding by separate the task envi- ronment from the institutional environment in marketing chan- nels, letting believe that the institutional environment and the task environment are independent. But actually, they are not mutually exclusive but concomitant. The two different environ- ments have different impact on marketing channel governance.
Scott ( 1995 ) divided both the institutional environment and the task environment into weak and strong and get a two di- mensional matrix with four combinations ( figure 6) . He pro- posed that different organizations are located on different posi- tions in the matrix.
Referring to Scott's Matrix, we propose that organizations belong to different quadrants in different stages of their develop- ment. Companies should apply different governing mechanisms and relevant strategies to gain legitimacy and efficiency, so as to improve their channel governance efficacy.
H4: Organizations can apply different combinations of governing mechanisms in accordance with the institutional envi- ronment and the task environment's influence.
H4. 1: When the institutional environment's influence is stronger than that of the task environment, organizations should pay more attention to legitimacy mechanisms.
H4. 2: When the institutional environment's influence is weaker than that of the task environment, organizations should pay more attention to efficiency mechanisms.
4 CASE DISCUSSION
In this paper, we conduct a case study to explain our propositions. We study the development of Avon and Amway in China. Since their entry into China's market, they have experi- enced two tremendous changes of China's policy. The first change forced to transform their operation patterns. The second one gave them a chance to develop. During the first change, the two companies chose different transforming path. The second change just begins. Our analysis tries to figure out why they chose different transforming paths during the first change and what they should do to deal with they second change, especial- ly what Avon should do to deal with the problems raised by the second change.
4. 1 Different Transforming Paths
In a response to the policy change, Avon and Amway transformed the operation modes. They both saw the big pros- pect of China market and wanted to survive and achieve fast de- velopment in China. So their operations have to conform to legal requirements and satisfy other stakeholders. After the release of the “Notice on the Relevant Issues concerning Foreign Invest- ment Pyramid Sales Enterprises' Change of Sale Modes”, the first thing that both Avon and Amway had to do was to transform their operation modes so as to gain pragmatic legitimacy that is required by legal institutions. Therefore, Avon began to set up counters and stores in China's tier - 1, tier - 2, and tier - 3 cities through cooperating with its distributors. Amway set up a- bout 110 counters with its own investment. Avon totally changed its original operation modes and its transformation is considered as a successful example of combining abidance by the rules and market operations. However, Amway's transformation is more like temporary compromise. Although Amway set up 110 - plus counters according to the Notice, these counters are just Amway's outlets.
Actually, their choices of transformation paths are closely related to their strategies and their respective core capabili- ties. Their choices of different modes are based on their core competences and inherent advantages. They both realized that the closer their transformation directions are to their core capa- bilities and inherent advantages, the lower the expense will be and the higher the possibilities of achieving successes.
Avon was founded by David Mc Connell in 1886 and was respected as the originator of direct sales. There are only two levels ( SM - FD) in Avon's system of direct selling. All its in- comes are based on sales. Avon never used words like “up - line or down - line” . This system is totally different from the pyramid sales. Miss Avon only sells products but never persuade anybody to participate in alliances. SM is rather a small distrib- utor in Avon's original sales chain. The only difference is that there was no counter at that time. Therefore, Avon's transfor- mation is reasonable and logic.
Avon's traditional mode is single level marketing. Selling products at fixed places has been invented and promoted by Avon Philippines in 1970s. Avon found that the mode invented by Avon Philippines has a good effect on covering new custom- ers, recruiting and training sales representatives, providing services to the representatives and customers, and building the company's image. Therefore, Avon decided to transform to sell products through wholesaling and retailing. Avon applied and approved the new mode of“store plus salespersons”later, but this was just an alternative choice for Avon. Actually, Avon had transformed from a direct sales enterprise to a traditional manufacturer, which sells its products through wholesaling and retailing. In order to sell products, Avon set up counters in de- partment stores, wholesale products to distributors and retail- ers, and set up stores of their own.
Amway has been famous for its pyramid sales mode all o- ver the world. Sales are achieved within the multi - level net- work made up of sales representatives and customers. Amway's core capabilities and inherent advantages determined that Am- way would not set up too many counters and stores. Discarding pyramid sales, Amway won't be Amway any more. “Amway” stands for “the American Way”. Amway left too much imagi- native space for Chinese customers when it entered China in 1995. After its transformation, Amway began to recruit sales- persons through the stores. In early 2005, Amway decided to stop recruiting new salespersons and manage its 70000 - plus salespersons according to their geographic locations so as to ap- pear to be normative and effective. Actually, Amway has been retaining the essence of stimulation mechanisms of pyramid sales after its transformation, which is a key driving force for its rocket development after the transformation.
The way of implementing sales is the key to distinguish pyramid sales and traditional sales. Amway looks like other commodity manufacturers after setting up stores, but actually the stores are just extensions of its previous distribution cen- ter. Up till now, Amway only set up about 110 stores in Chi- na. Amway has repeatedly stressed that its salespersons should not sponsor sales training programs in the cities which have no Amway stores. Therefore, the stores are just symbols. They are just Amway's storehouses and outlets. The real sales are a- chieved through person to person sales.
Amway's advertisements are used to prove that it has trans- formed and is not a traditional pyramid sales enterprise any more. But actually, advertising is the basis of pyramid sales in China. When pyramid salespersons are confronted with customers' challenges, they will reply with “it is impossible to cheat you because this product has been advertised by CCTV”.But all Amway's advertisements are only limited to Nutrition that has brought huge sales and profits to the company.
Amway has left people a impression that it is good at polit- ical public relations. Because of its political public relation ca-pability, Amway was not force to really change its operation mode.
4. 2 Who Suffer From Setbacks
According to the description above, Amway's sale is far better than Avon's since their transformations in 1998. Our anal- ysis provides several accounts that might explain the disequilib- rium.
First of all, Avon's transformation from direct selling to traditional stores caused twitches to Avon's development. Avon had to take time to adapt to the sudden change. In the contrast, Amway just set up about 110 stores, which are just symbols of its transformation. Amway's operation mode does not change in the nature. For Amway, it is just an investment in channels in- stead of twitches. Although Amway's sale once fell to 10 million RMB in the r early stage of its transformation, that was just the temporary result of the release of the Notice.
As a sale method that has been existed in western coun- tries for decades, pyramid sale do have its own merits. It is said that the newly issued “Regulation on Direct Selling Ad- ministration”also acknowledges this. Amway did not seek in- comes from its salespersons. It was a honest enterprise. Since its transformation in 1998, it gained even more living space, since other pyramid sales enterprises were suffering from twit- ches raised by sudden transformation.
Secondly, most of Avon's profits were taken away by its distributors since its transformation, since most of the stores were invested by the distributors. Amway invested all its stores. When Avon chose to transform to stores, its purpose was to occupy the national market. This could be testified by its rap- id expanding speed. Avon wanted to set up stores in most of China's tier - 1, tier - 2, and tier - 3 cities, it was impossi- ble for itself to invest in all the stores. Avon had to cooperate with regional distributors. Avon could save money and time as well through cooperation with distributors. But Avon had to sep- arate part of its profits to the distributors, or the distributors would not make investment. This is part of the reason why Avon's sale was only one fourth of Amway's.
In the contrast, Amway's prices did not change after the transformation, since its operation mode was the same. A pre- requisite for pyramid sales is high price, which include the profits of multilevel salespersons. The extra high price of Am- way products had always been challenged by Chinese consum- ers.
In the end, Amway's success of dodging policy makes those companies that really transformed look like victims. For example, Avon suffered a lot from its real transforma- tion. Amway achieved fast development when Avon was suffer- ing from twitches.
Based on the above analysis, we can find that both Avon and Amway have gains and pains during their first round of competition. Although Avon's sale was only one fourth of Amway's, its image as“a good boy”had been recognized. This was proved by the first license of pilot direct selling. Beside, its sale had been improved to four times of that before the trans- formation. Amway developed even faster and its sale had excee- ded one billion US. dollar. But it has left an impression of “the bad boy”.
4. 3 Avon's Conflicts with Its Distributors
Avon encountered conflicts with its distributors at very be- ginning of the second round of competition with Amway. We ar- gue that the conflict is inevitable, because Avon didn't take in- to account the extent to which its decision and plan of the pilot direct selling are accepted and recognized by the distributors, and threactions the distributors would take. At the present, Avon had set up more than 6000 stores and 1700 counters, most of which are invested by its distributors. Avon once prom- ised 34% to 40% profits when it persuaded the distributors to invest in setting up stores and counters. After implementing pi- lot direct selling, sales would skip the distributors and the salespersons could pick up goods directly from Avon. It was ob- vious that the stores would be stroked.
We argue that the conflict is inevitable out of the following reasons.
First of all, there exist a wide gap between the objectives of Avon and its distributors. Actually, Avon's operation mode in China is not pure single level direct selling, but is more like traditional stores that wholesale and retail simultaneously, since it does not have salespersons team, nor does it have stimulation mechanisms for salespersons. Its main income comes from stores and counters. Avon and its distributors form a relative loosely connected super - organization, whose dis- tinct feature is that the members maintain different and inter- dependent objective systems. Although both Avon and its dis- tributors have contributed to improving efficiency and saving costs so as to achieving channel objectives, they have differ- ent claims and opinions with regard to how to achieve the whole channel objectives. For example, as the only enterprise that got the license for pilot direct selling, Avon surely wants to improve its market share in China and competitiveness through the pilot direct selling, so as to realize its long - term development strategies. However, the distributors treat the pi- lot direct selling as ominous sign, since pilot selling did not only reduce their sales, but also make their inventories a bur- den.
Of course, Avon wants to see co - existence of the sales- persons and the distributors, providing superior service to Avon's terminal consumers. But this seems to be Avon's own wishful thinking. The channel conflicts caused by the differ- ences in their objectives will test the marketing skills and chan- nel governance capabilities of Avon's top management.
Secondly, the benefits of the salespersons and the distrib- utors are unbalanced. Different channel members play different roles. Each member has its own space and action range. What's more, each member will try to strive for a decision area that is unique to itself. At the present, Avon's income mainly comes from stores and counters, who are the main forces of providing services to customers and promoting Avon's development. However, the pilot direct selling will have a great influence on the counters and stores. Since salespersons have the right to pick up products directly from Avon, direct selling can reduce indirect and direct costs. Therefore, they have the price advan- tages. Maybe in the near future, most of Avon's income is gained by salespersons and the stores and counters would be- come Avon's exhibition hall and after - service stations. The benefits of the salespersons and the distributors will be unbal- anced.
Thirdly, there exist cognitive differences between Avon and its distributors. Avon believes that the advantage of direct selling lies in person to person sales, since salespersons can send products to consumers' homes and offices. The distributors hold that their patrons will become salespersons if Avon imple- ments direct selling, which will directly influence the incomes of their employees and lead to employee drainage. The stores are not pure stores any more after the implementation of direct selling, but outlets for Avon's direct selling. This makes the distributors unable to afford the high costs of running the stores. The cognitive difference between Avon and its distribu- tors is also one of the causes of the conflicts.
Finally, it is a result of the conflicts between multi - channels. At the present, consumers can buy appropriate Avon products from various channels, including counters, stores, internet stores, and informal channels such as gray channels and illegal stores. Of course, the stores and counters contribute the most to Avon before the implementation of pilot direct sell- ing, so Avon is highly dependent on them. Avon relies on high profit to keep its distributors' loyalty. Nevertheless, direct sell- ing requires lots of salespersons to show its competitive advanta- ges. In order to adapt to the rules of direct selling, Avon has to reduce its dependence on its distributors and pay attention to rear its salespersons. Since its transformation in 1998, Avon's distributors have contributed a lot to its development in Chi- na. Avon's implementation do direct selling will have a great impact on the stores' performance. The multi - channel conflict between person to person sales and traditional stores is a twitch that Avon experienced during its transformation.
It is obvious that Avon's decision and implementation of direct selling is not accepted and recognized by its distributors, leading to the conflict and hostile behaviors. Avon has to apply appropriate strategies and tactics to solve the problems.
5 DISCUSSION AND STRATEGIC IMPLICA- TIONS
5. 1 Discussions
Marketing channel has been considered as one of the sources of sustained competitive advantages. But few companies can really gain sustained advantages from market channel. In the long - range, the primary goal of a company is to survive and then develop. The competition becomes more and more in- tensive, so the importance of market channels increase. But in previous studies and practices, researchers and managers paid too much attention to the influences of channel governance de- cisions and behaviors on organizations' performance and over- looked the influences of the extent to which those decisions and behaviors were accepted and recognized by other stakeholders on organizations' efficiency.
5. 2 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research
Our study is explorative. Some concepts are not de-scribed in detail and need further complementation and im- provement. The institutional environment and the task envi- ronment may influence each other. But the influencing process might be very complicated, so we do not carry out a in - depth study.
5. 3 Strategic Implications
Our study suggests that it is important for managers to un- derstand how institutional environment shapes channel struc- tures and processes. Institutional environment ( 1 ) regulates, ( 2) validates and ( 3) gives meaning, to channel structures and processes. Although the influence of regulatory processes is clearly visible and discernible, problems may arise when man- agers deal with normative and cognitive institutions. By under- standing how these institutions constrain and facilitate channel structures and processes, managers should be able to ( 1 ) better manage their channel within the confines of the institu- tional environment and ( 2 ) devise strategies to think and move beyond the confines of the institutional environment.
摘要：营销渠道研究是营销研究的一个重要组成部分。随着市场中竞争性环境的变化以及营销理论的发展, 营销渠道研究的关注点从强调效率和利益转向强调权力和冲突, 进而转向联网以及关系和联盟。在研究渠道治理过程方面, 以往的营销渠道研究大多采用以效率为基础的任务环境视角, 而在很大程度上忽视了以合理性为基础的制度环境方法。本文提出, 营销渠道从本质上说是一种制度安排和跨组织关系。因此, 企业在治理营销渠道时, 必须关注其决策和行为的接受度与认可度。本文先是回顾了营销渠道治理和跨组织关系方面的理论与研究, 进而从中吸收有价值的观点, 提出了理论框架和一些命题, 并通过两则案例研究进行解释和检验。