Analysis of Antitrust Challenges to Category Captain Arrangements

Suppliers' roles in category management: A study of supplier–retailer relationships in Finland and Sweden

“…According to these authors, suppliers with dominating roles in CM collaboration can disadvantage competitors through advance knowledge of the pricing, merchandising, and promotional strategies of competitors-and by working to gain an advantage for their own products. This kind of CM activity is far from the ideal 'win-win-win' collaboration that is envisaged, in which all partiesretailers, suppliers, and consumers-benefit from CM arrangements (Desrochers et al, 2003;Gruen & Shah, 2000;Kurtulus & Toktay, 2004).…”

“…The difference between Finnish and Swedish suppliers with respect to weight of control might be due to cultural differences in supplier-retailer relationships between Finland and Sweden. In more consensus-seeking Sweden, retailers are likely to conduct CM cooperatively with several suppliers for each category; in contrast, Finnish retailers usually build their CM activities on so-called 'category captain' arrangements, whereby market-leader suppliers are likely to take significant responsibility for formal CM decision-making (Desrochers et al, 2003). However, further studies are needed to shed more light on these issues.…”

“…As other studies have noted, if retailers collaborate with a few strong suppliers, this can lead to a lack of objectivity and overall dilution of quality in the CM process (Dewsnap & Hart, 2004;Gruen & Shah, 2000). In this regard, Desrochers et al (2003) have stated that the primary concern in such arrangements is that strong suppliers (so-called 'category captains') can control outcomes in particular categories, receive preferential treatment, and exclude competitors from having input. According to these authors, suppliers with dominating roles in CM collaboration can disadvantage competitors through advance knowledge of the pricing, merchandising, and promotional strategies of competitors-and by working to gain an advantage for their own products.…”

“…In particular, the study focuses on the question of whether a supplier's power over CM tactics is dependent on its size in terms of market share in a product category. In this regard, Desrochers et al (2003) have asserted that large suppliers are likely to take significant responsibility for CM decision-making whereas smaller suppliers are likely to be largely excluded from CM collaboration. In both Finland and Sweden, these matters are of topical importance because large retailers have taken a strong position in supply chains for fast-moving consumer goods (Lindblom, 2003).…”

Resource alignment in the category management of builders’ merchants

“…However, some authors are hesitant towards the benefits associated with supplier collaboration in category management (e.g. Desrochers, Gundlach and Foer, 2003;Bandyopadhyay, Rominger and Basaviah, 2009), and others suggest that supplier collaboration is only suitable for some of the retailer's categories (Kurtulus and Toktay, 2005).…”