5 Richard Chinomona / Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business 3-2 (2012) 5-16 Abstract Purpose - Distribution channels cannot function without cooperation. While evidence suggests channel power plays a funda- mental role in fostering successful manufacturer-dealer channel cooper- ation in Western countries distribution systems, little is known empiri- cally as to how dealers’possession of non-mediated powers influence SME manufacturers’ cooperation in Asian developing countries. Research design, data, methodology - Drawing upon the extant dis- tribution channels literatures; this study conceptualizes a model and examines the effects of dealer’s non-mediated powers on manufactur- ing SME firms, as well as the mediating influence of trust, relation- ship satisfaction and commitment. A survey of 400 manufacturing SMEs in Taiwan empirically supports the proposed hypothesis. Results - The model is acceptable in terms of overall goodness of fit. Acceptable model fit are indicated by χ 2 /(df): 2.35, GFI .90; 璋 RMSEA values .08; IFI, TLI and CFI values .90. Our results in 瑾 璋 - dicate that, GFI (0.910), IFI (0.937), TLI (0.903), CFI (0.936), and RMSEA (0.079) and therefore, achieved the suggested thresholds. Conclusions - The results of this study have some managerial im- plications for managers in the dealer’s firms. The overall implication from the findings is that managers can utilize expert, referent and tra- ditional legitimate powers to attain channel cooperation with manu- facturing SMEs in addition to garnering their trust, relationship sat- isfaction and commitment. Keywords : Non-mediated Power, Trust, Relationship Satisfaction, Relationship Commitment, Cooperation. JEL Classifications : C10, C80, L20, M31. 1. Introduction A surfeit of studies in channel power literature indicate the sig- nificant and expansive effects of channel power upon Business-to-Business (B2B) channel relationships, and it is evident from such findings that power plays a consequential role in in- tra-channel cooperation (Wilkinson, 1996; Maloni and Benton, 2000; * Department of Logistics,Vaal University of Technology, Private Bag X021, Vanderbijlpark 1900, South Africa. Tel.: +0027-16-9—0-90–6; +0027-71-02–-7–88. E-mail: rchinos@hotmail.com. Hingley, 2005). According to the extant literature, non-mediated pow- er increases channel member trust, satisfaction, commitment, and co- operation while mediated power has contrasting effects (see among others, Anderson and Weitz, 1992; Kumar et al., 1995; Benton and Maloni, 2005). Through relational exchange governed by shared trust, genuine commitment, and mutual desire to satisfy relationship expect- ations, the use of long term relationship marketing, rather than short term oriented relationship centering on self interest, are more likely to increase intra-channel cooperation (Skinner et al., 1992; Brown et al., 1995; Abdul-Muhmin, 2005). In view of its significance, efforts de- voted to the investigation of the use of non-mediated power and its subsequent effects between channel members have grown considerably. Regardless of the fact, a review of related literature highlights that prior research so far largely address the role of non-mediated power in business relations between large firms or takes manufacturers/sup- pliers as influencers (Benton and Maloni, 2005). Scant attention dis- tinguishes individual types of non-mediated power (e.g., Johnson et al., 1993; Ke et al., 2009)or only tackles single type of non-mediated power empirically (e.g., Sahadev, 2005 Ketilson, 1991). Furthermore, previous studies largely build upon concepts and findings in devel- oped countries ( Geyskens and Steenkamp, 2000Zhao et al., 2008; Sahadev, 2005). In order to shed more light and provide better in- sight into the current subject, this research attempts to investigate the effect of dealers’non-mediated power on small-medium enterprise (SMEs) manufacture’s/suppliers’ channel cooperation and the mediating influence of its trust, relationship satisfaction and commitment in the context of a developing country- Taiwan. While SMEs have already become the engine of economic growth in both developed and less developed countries (Coulter and Coulter, 2002; Houghton and Winklhofer, 2004; Russel-Bennet, 2007 Yun and Jeong, 2012), their inherentscale limits their capability to exercise power to negotiate and bargain with large firms. Within the domains of channels of distribution and relationship marketing context, SME manufactures/suppliers mainly rely on their dealers and thus are not likely to act as influencers to demonstrate their channel non-mediated power in order to dominate channel activities in a long standing viewpoint. Therefore, there is an emerging call to look at the effects of dealers’ non-mediated power in a dealer-manufacturer dyad. Besides, a view addressing the influences of various individual types of non-mediated power in a single study provides an integrated com- prehension in their simultaneous effects on SME manufacturers’trust, relationship satisfaction, commitment and channel cooperation. The rest of the remaining sections of this study will provide theo- retical background, followed by the conceptual model and research The Role of Dealers’Non-Mediated Power in Fostering SME Manufacturers’ Cooperation: SME Manufacturers’ Perspective 1) Richard Chinomona*