ABSTRACT
Many of the conflicts in the marketing system arise through an imbalance between the efficient use of marketing resources and institutions and the effective fulfIlment of the varied demands of consumers. As the previous chapters have shown, this is not the only reason for conflict within marketing but at a broad scale many conflicts have this root cause. Within capitalist societies there is often pressure placed on government o control and stabilise the eqUilibrium between the conflicting actors in the marketing system. Specific policies then become a response to a particular conflict as the following examples illustrate. The control of hypermarkets in Belgium has developed as a response to the problems these channels have produced for other retailers and for the less mobile sectors of society . The imposition by colonial bureaucracies of a system of market centres in East Africa was a response to the perceived lack of marketing opportunities available to the rural population. Price regulation policies in Britain are a response to possible abuses of near monopoly situations by producers or retailers. Policies in France to provide independent retailers with a pension and to allow them to close their business is a response to a particular problem facing this minority group. The establishment of government controlled Agricultural Marketing Boards in Australia can be a policy which ensures a reliable marketing procedure for agricultural producers. These few examples show the very wide range of public policies which may be used to influence marketing systems. In these examples the ultimate purpose of the policy is either to protect some group, often a minority, from potential exploitation or to make marketing a more efficient sector of the economy.
