A recent article in McKinsey Quarterly defines one of the key values that distributors offer to manufacturers in terms of getting a product efficiently into markets that are fragmented, either geographically or by size of industry or company. It serves to remind us that the local knowledge of a distributor of its market and customers is its greatest asset.
 
The article looks at the high-tech industry -companies that make computing, telecom and networking equipment. They have in recent years sold directly to customers or to resellers online or through their sales forces and have become less dependent on traditional distribution partners. But as OEMs look for …