Institutional Theory and the Evolution of Marketing Channels in Emerging Economies: Setting a Research Agenda

The story of the growth of emerging economies is about the growth of their marketing institutions. Marketing channels are the key marketing institution in enabling the flow of goods and services. However, marketing scholars typically rely on models and theories devised in the developed economies to study the marketing channels in emerging economies, and these include theories based on political economy-based frameworks that emphasize power and dependence. We argue that often the institutional drives to gain legitimacy provide a powerful lens to understand the evolution of marketing channels. In this conceptual paper, we illustrate our arguments through a few examples, and provide an agenda for future research.