The strong positions achieved by the industry leaders in the sales and distribution channel 
create consuming challenges for other competitors. For example, Group Schneider from 
France had unsuccessfully attempted to build a position in the US electrical equipment 
market for over a decade prior to purchasing Square D. The acquisition was logical 
because it provided Schneider with access to Square D’s channel. The difficulty of 
achieving sufficient, high quality distribution and channel access is further illustrated by 
the number of developers of new technologies which sell their businesses or create 
alliances with industry leaders in order to gain distribution access.