Exploiting Asymmetries of Motivation

Clayton Christensen recommends looking for less obvious channel partners who will be motivated to sell your product; and avoid the established, more obvious distributers, who won't. What he is talking about here is basically channel innovation.

One case that Christensen uses to illustrate this idea is Honda's entry into the United States motorcycle market. At that time, Harley-Davidson dealers were not interested in selling the Honda Super Cub (a small, cheap motorcycle) -- partly because their cost base forced the dealers to chase the big margins. They were not motivated to sell it.

Power equipment and sporting goods retailers, on the other hand, were very interested in selling the Super Cub -- a motorcycle provided them with relatively high margins, compared to what they were currently selling. These retailers were very motivated to sell the Honda Super Cub.

You can guess who they chose as a channel partner.

In Taiwan, there are many established convenience stores, like 7-Eleven, part of Taiwan's Uni-President Group. This chain, if I were trying to sell a product in Taiwan or China, would be one that I would avoid like the plague since they have no motivation to sell my products. They would also squeeze me dry on price.

This is one of the key questions you should ask when looking to sell a product into China, Taiwan, South Korea, or any other new country-market: Will this distributor really be motivated to sell my product? If the answer is no (and for most established channels it will be), you have to look for less obvious possibilities.

Here's an interesting article about Honda.