[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Washington, DC (May 21, 2018) — The NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Dancer, CEO and Founder of the Network for Channel Innovation, as Research Leader of the 12th edition of Facing the Forces of Change® to be published in late 2019.
Facing the Forces of Change®, the most respected research study of wholesale distribution industry future trends, has been updated and published every three years since 1982. Because NAW is the only national wholesale distribution organization that represents companies in all lines of trade in the industry, its Facing the Forces of Change® report is the most comprehensive study of the future of the wholesale distribution industry. It is known for the accuracy of its five-year predictions about the economy and trends in wholesale distribution.
Through the years, distribution executives and their management teams have used Facing the Forces of Change® to facilitate both short- and long-term strategic planning at their companies.
According to NAW Institute Executive Director Patricia A. Lilly, “We’re delighted to have Mark Dancer head the research effort for our next report because of his 30 years of experience within our industry, and because he has already authored four future-leading research studies for the NAW Institute. Mark understands this industry extremely well, and he is passionate about helping distributors drive innovation, solve problems, and strengthen their capabilities so that they can perform well against disruptors within their markets. Distributors are facing unprecedented challenges, and winning in business today is about embracing change as an opportunity for innovation.”
Dancer adds, “As we launch our efforts to research the next Facing the Forces of Change® report, we are mindful of the 36-year legacy of reporting on game-changing forces and helping distributor leaders transform their businesses. We also understand that more is required. That’s why we are innovating our research process to go beyond interviews and surveys to include new methods that will directly engage distributors and uncover opportunities for innovation. We will share preliminary findings as we go, through blog posts and interim reports. We will listen to the advice of today’s leaders and those that are stepping up in the next generation. We will provide actionable roadmaps and challenge all distributors to step up. Ultimately, our goal is to reimagine the distributor business model as a platform for innovation and to help distributor leaders become acknowledged masters of business transformation.”
###
About NAW and the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence
The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) was created in 1946 to deal with issues of interest to the entire merchant wholesale distribution industry, thereby freeing affiliated associations to concentrate on the concerns specific to their lines of trade. NAW is a federation of wholesale distribution associations and thousands of individual firms that collectively total more than 30,000 companies.
The role of the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence is to sponsor and disseminate research into strategic management issues affecting the wholesale distribution industry. The NAW Institute aims to help merchant wholesaler-distributors remain the most effective and efficient channel in distribution.
About Network for Channel Innovation
Mark Dancer founded the Network for Channel Innovation to drive awareness, advocacy and excellence for channel innovation, and to enable an exchange of ideas between channel leaders on business transformation, technology adoption, social impact and community engagement. For more than 30 years, Mark has worked with leading companies to achieve channel excellence across a wide range of industries in developed and emerging markets.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
