Edifying Retailer-Wholesaler Ethical Relationship: A Basis for Good Governance in Retail Sector

Abstract

Retailers are dependent upon wholesalers as the latter provide the regular and uninterrupted supply of merchandise to the former even sometimes on credit basis. The retailers are,thus, expected to maintain sound relations with wholesalers on the basis of ethical retail practices. In fact, in the extant literature there is not even a single study on perceptions of wholesalers about ethical retail practices. This study is, thus, an endeavor to bridge the gap in extant literature on retailing ethics. This piece of work explores empirically the retailer - wholesaler ethical relationships for good governance in retail sector empirically. The study is based upon the data obtained from seventy wholesale firms from Jammu city in J&K through an instrument. The wholesalers viewed retailers ethical in most of the issues except untimely payments of bills and even payment of less amounts as agreed upon, which creates severe problem for the wholesalers who are ultimately liable to manufacturers. The study shall be highly useful for business concerns, retailers, wholesalers, and government for the policy guidelines and potential researchers for new thrust.

Keywords: Ethics, Wholesalers, Retailers, Demographics, Merchandise

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