ades, their origin in terms of how flows emerge has never been explained (Rosenbloom & Larsen, 2008). Obviously, flows in marketing channels did not just suddenly appear as an act of nature. They must have been created and nurtured by people and institutions participating in marketing channels. In fact, it is mainly the marketing functions performed by marketing institutions and people that serve to bring the flows into existence and keep them going. In other words, flows follow from functions and institutions. As the work of marketing expressed in terms of functions is
specified, institutions emerge and evolve to perform them and, in turn, channel flows linking all parties in the channel together appear.