Are co-operation and trust being confused with power? An analysis of food retailing in Australia and the UK

Category management has been promoted as a mechanism to achieve closer working relations between suppliers and retailers. The premise has been that category management should result in a reduced reliance on the use of power as an element of the relationship and increased levels of cooperation. However, power is an element of any relationship and exists even when not activated. Further, the premise rests on the notion that cooperation is a polar opposite of power. This research confirms that food industry managers perceive the use of power in solely negative terms. Power can be defined operationally as the ability of one channel member to influence the marketing decisions of another channel member and hence must be related to cooperation. This paper reviews the nature of dependence, power and cooperation and explores the role of these constructs in the practice of category management. The results of continuing research in the area of category management relationships are reported.