| The emergence of the Internet has forced a large number of firms toexplore Internet-based channels of distribution, i.e., online-channels, tomarket their products. The purpose of adding online-channels to theirexisting channel systems is to increase and sustain their competitiveadvantage, and to eventually enhance their financial performance.However, addition of an online-channel into existing channel systems canbe met with opportunities as well as threats. Countless firms have rushedto build online-channels to access millions of potential online customersdirectly, but empirical studies failed to provide direct evidence onwhether online-channels addition could enhance the financialperformance of the firm. The foreign research have provide a theoreticaldirection for online-channels addition practices, but the study of theonline-channels addition effect on firms’ financial performance does notreach such an agreement. Based on the pioneer work, this researchconsiders that the channel strategy affects online-channels additionperformance. In this research, an attempt was made to fill in this literature gapfrom three financial measure perspectives, i.e., Return on Asset (ROA)measure an Return on Equity (ROE) measure. Empirical data comes fromthe publicly available data source, and limit to only those traditional firmsestablished online-channel during2005to2010. Therefore, this researchselects115listed companies and divides them into3types on the base ofchannel strategy, such as Indirect Channel Group, Direct Channel Groupand Hybrid Channel Group. Through Mean value test and multiple linearregression with all samples and group samples, the empirical analysis ofthe impact of online-channels addition on enterprise performance finallyconclude the following conclusions:(1) the effect of online-channelsestablishment on performance is significantly negative in the short-term;(2) Companies added online-channels to their direct channel systems orhybrid channel systems have better performance than the ones withindirect channel systems. Besides, the positive effect of online-channelestablishment in the long-term (the fourth year after the addition ofonline-channels) is also found. But due to the limited sample, it’s notstatistical significant and offer immediate avenues for further research. |
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