ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the development over time of the distribution channel. When trying to understand these 'mechanisms' found the most critical issue to be the relationship between change and stability in channel development. Change and stability were found to be interconnected in a very complex way. The chapter aims to show how a network approach can be applied when analysing channel development. It discusses the crucial relationship between change and stability. It agrees that the system or division-of-work approach has certain advantages as a model of distribution channels. The major strength of this model is that it provides powerful descriptions and analyses of an existing channel structure. A network perspective should provide a better way of analysing dynamics in the actor structure. Traditional models tend to identify the individual actors from the perspective of the channel as a whole, with too strong an emphasis on the unity and integrity of the channel.
