Why does age matter?
It is important to bear in mind the average age of managers when it comes to negotiating transformation towards new concepts (the cloud, dematerialization, connected objects…)
The older a manager is, the greater the risk of a company transfer or sale, which is of course a risk for all brands.
However, to the credit of older managers, the structure of their organizations is generally more solid and their networks and market knowledge are superior.
The older a manager is, the greater the risk of a company transfer or sale, which is of course a risk for all brands.
However, to the credit of older managers, the structure of their organizations is generally more solid and their networks and market knowledge are superior.
We know that the age of a distribution network is a strategic element in a distribution policy. Large manufacturers of office equipment are currently experiencing the danger of seeing their faithful, but older partners being taken over by a competitor through a change of management or a merger with another structure.
This led us to compare the age of management within large brands’ channel partner networks to see if there are any notable differences between them.
As an example, we compared the ages of managers in the 20 largest distribution networks in France in the compuBase database.
This led us to compare the age of management within large brands’ channel partner networks to see if there are any notable differences between them.
As an example, we compared the ages of managers in the 20 largest distribution networks in France in the compuBase database.
Who is oldest in the distribution channel?
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The first thing we notice is that overall the graph is coherent in the form of the curves produced, peaking at between 50 and 54 years of age, with an average age of 51 years and 2 months. No distribution network has a graph that is totally different from the other brands. For all brands the manager’s experience ensures the network’s success.
However, there are differences in the average age of managers depending on the brands distributed. Within the top 20 largest networks, the maximum difference recorded is of 2 years and one month, that is to say that the average age of the oldest distribution network management, Sage (52 years 11 months) is 2 years and 1 month higher than the youngest, Netgear whose managers are on average 50 years and 8 months old.
If we extend the panel to include the 43 top networks the difference widens to 5 years and 3 months between Oracle (54 years and 8 months) and Kaspersky (49 years and 5 months).
Below is the average age of managers for the 20 top distribution networks (in terms of the number of partners referenced by compuBase) in France.
Brand Average age of manager Oracle 54 years 8 months Novell 53 years 9 months Minolta 53 years 0 months Sage 52 years 11 months Corel 52 years 8 months Intel Security - McAfee 52 years 7 months Adobe 52 years 5 months IBM 52 years 4 months Oki 52 years 4 months Lexmark 52 years 4 months Kyocera 52 years 2 months Fujitsu 52 years 2 months Viewsonic 52 years 1 months Toshiba 52 years 1 months Microsoft 52 years 1 months Sharp 52 years 0 months Nec 52 years 0 months Cisco 51 years 11 months Trend Micro 51 years 11 months Lenovo 51 years 11 months Quantum 51 years 10 months Panasonic 51 years 9 months Symantec 51 years 8 months Ricoh 51 years 7 months Sony 51 years 5 months Seagate 51 years 5 months Samsung 51 years 5 months Xerox 51 years 4 months Epson 51 years 4 months Sun 51 years 4 months HP 51 years 4 months Hitachi 51 years 4 months D-link 51 years 0 months Canon 50 years 10 months Apple 50 years 10 months Intel 50 years 8 months Netgear 50 years 8 months Brother 50 years 8 months Panda 50 years 3 months 3com 50 years 2 months Acer 50 years 2 months Dell 50 years 0 months Kaspersky 49 years 5 months
However, there are differences in the average age of managers depending on the brands distributed. Within the top 20 largest networks, the maximum difference recorded is of 2 years and one month, that is to say that the average age of the oldest distribution network management, Sage (52 years 11 months) is 2 years and 1 month higher than the youngest, Netgear whose managers are on average 50 years and 8 months old.
If we extend the panel to include the 43 top networks the difference widens to 5 years and 3 months between Oracle (54 years and 8 months) and Kaspersky (49 years and 5 months).
Below is the average age of managers for the 20 top distribution networks (in terms of the number of partners referenced by compuBase) in France.
Brand Average age of manager Oracle 54 years 8 months Novell 53 years 9 months Minolta 53 years 0 months Sage 52 years 11 months Corel 52 years 8 months Intel Security - McAfee 52 years 7 months Adobe 52 years 5 months IBM 52 years 4 months Oki 52 years 4 months Lexmark 52 years 4 months Kyocera 52 years 2 months Fujitsu 52 years 2 months Viewsonic 52 years 1 months Toshiba 52 years 1 months Microsoft 52 years 1 months Sharp 52 years 0 months Nec 52 years 0 months Cisco 51 years 11 months Trend Micro 51 years 11 months Lenovo 51 years 11 months Quantum 51 years 10 months Panasonic 51 years 9 months Symantec 51 years 8 months Ricoh 51 years 7 months Sony 51 years 5 months Seagate 51 years 5 months Samsung 51 years 5 months Xerox 51 years 4 months Epson 51 years 4 months Sun 51 years 4 months HP 51 years 4 months Hitachi 51 years 4 months D-link 51 years 0 months Canon 50 years 10 months Apple 50 years 10 months Intel 50 years 8 months Netgear 50 years 8 months Brother 50 years 8 months Panda 50 years 3 months 3com 50 years 2 months Acer 50 years 2 months Dell 50 years 0 months Kaspersky 49 years 5 months
This difference can be shown in terms of the deviation from the median (the panel consisted of 4681 companies representing 43 brands)
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