Between informational transparency and opacity: toward a "wave" model applied to the distribution channel[Entre transparence et opacité informationnelle : vers un modèle des "vagues" appliqué au canal de distribution]

The issue of information sharing or non-sharing between members of a distribution channel has been of interest to many marketing and logistics researchers for many years. The debate revolves around the relevant level of informational transparency for a distribution channel to achieve sufficient performance. Based on a bibliometric analysis of 67 articles from two leading academic journals, the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management and the International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, this article highlights the presence of two antithetical visions: one focuses on the benefits of information sharing, the other insists on the risks associated with it. From this observation, whose major limitation is to privilege the binary character of the opposition between informational transparency and informational opacity, the authors propose a programmatic reflection that suggests the possible existence of a "wave" model in which, on the contrary, a succession of phases of information sharing and non-sharing is identified according to the occurrence of critical incidents during the relationship.