Effects of Distribution Channel Management on Sales Performance: A case Dire Dawa National Cement factory

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of distribution channel management on the sales performance of Dire Dawa national cement factory. In this study, the researcher set out to evaluate the effect of channel design, channel administration, and channel management technologies on the sales performance of Dire Dawa national cement factory. The study used a survey design that allowed sampling, thus reducing the time and cost of conducting a study. For selecting the sample, a simple random sampling technique was used. Out of 102 questionnaires distributed to Dire Dawa National Cement factory distribution channel members, 90 (88.2%) questionnaires were collected and the remaining 12 (11.8%) questionnaires were not collected due to loss from the respondents and refusal of the respondents to fill the questionnaire. The closed-ended questions and Likert-type statements enabled the researcher to collect quantitative data. A causal research design, also known as an explanatory research design was used to establish relationships between variables. The study empirically investigated how distribution channel design, channel administration, and channel management technologies were found to positively predict sales performance. The collected data have been analyzed by using descriptive and inferential analysis. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20. Correlation analysis was used in this study to look into the strength of the relationships between the variables and the multiple linear regression analysis was also used to examine the effects of distribution channel management on sales performance. The findings discovered that channel design, channel administration and channel management technology have significant effects on the sales performance of Dire Dawa national cement factory. Based on the underlying assumption, the following were recommended for the study; the channel members should have good working procedures, management, and administration to carry out efficient distribution to improve the sales performance of the company.