Electrical Industry Roundtable 2014 - 9

there are a lot more questions for distributors to review - there's not
a real identity to some of these players that are coming to the market.
There is a threat that they will by-pass our distribution channel if they
don't see value in it potentially disrupting the market level pricing
etc.
KERR: What about brand equity? The people looking at products that
aren't necessarily known here, but what about the brand equity for
what you have got to do?
KERR: Mr. Syer?
SYER: A couple of things... I would say that globalization has had
a huge impact, including very specifi c issues that arise with the
enforcement of codes and standards and safety. This can become very
expensive. The assumptions about product safety that existed with
domestic and North American manufacturers are no longer valid. The
truth is that there is no robust, proactive enforcement
mechanism for a code or safety violation for product
'X' that comes in a container from China. The
interme diaries are left exposed to issues after the
fact.
Globalization is a recent phenomenon, but is
rapidly maturing. Canada is a smaller partner in
what is becoming fortress North America. We're
beginning to see the homogeneities form across
that fortress. This helps the rep community as
organizations are fl attened and sales forces are
restructured, but it negatively impacts us in other
ways. For example, an 'A' item in Canada is a 'C'
item in North American, by defi nition. Many of our
members fi ght that battle daily. While Canada is offi cially bilingual,
Spanish is the second most spoken language in North America. This
makes support of Francophone customers a lower priorty in the
continental context. It's a challenging time for Canada.
KERR: What about the nature of globalization pressures on changing
the go-to-market model? Is it fostering more specialized distribution?
CHAMNEY: What I can tell you is that we're getting signifi cant
pressure from our manufacturers to bring them into niche markets...
completely different markets that are branded and we don't know
how to get into. As such, we can adapt and do that, or we tell them
they should be outsourcing to another representative - either in a
brand-new channel or something that's more traditional.
Canadian Electrical Wholesaler JUNE 2014
9
Steve Branscombe, David Syer,
John Kerr.
Electrical Industry Roundtable 2014

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