Conclusion
The consequences of disclosure for various market participants, be they suppliers, competitors, or capital market
constituents is an undoubtedly nuanced issue. Nonetheless, some themes seem well established. For example, it is often
argued that a firm may withhold information that conveys favorable market conditions in order to avoid entry by potential
competitors. In recent years, the competitive landscape has undergone dramatic shifts with suppliers aggressively opening
direct-to-consumer pathways. As more and more suppliers find themselves in the retail arena, views of firm strategy have
evolved accordingly. In this paper, we demonstrate that the trend toward dual distribution also has ramifications for views
of disclosure.
In particular, we demonstrate that when a supplier can both provide goods to a retailer and provide goods directly to
consumers (say via an online arm), a retailer who is privy to positive market information may be willing to publicly share
that information. By disclosing good market news, the retailer may attract competition, but this competition also stands to
shift the focus of the retailer’s own supplier. Entry by independent competitors, in effect, creates a de facto partnership
between the supplier and its retailer. This, in turn, translates into a lower wholesale price and thus potentially greater
retailer profit. Moreover, since the benefit of lower wholesale prices is most pronounced in the best of economic times, the
retailer’s desire to reveal its information is strongest precisely when the entrant most welcomes receiving it.
The results confirm that the changing marketplace necessitates an adjustment to our views of proprietary disclosure
and its consequences. This shift also suggests future areas of study. For example, the expansion of dual distribution may
have consequences for information sharing among supply chain partners. More broadly, it may be worth examining if and
how accounting practices can shape the formation of dual distribution networks and alter the relative importance of
bricks-and-mortar stores vs. online sales channels