Direct Selling Under Scrutiny: Assessing Analytic Direct Selling Models

Direct selling (DS) is simultaneously a business model, a channel of distribution, and an activity engaged in by its distributors. In this paper, we provide a framework for analyzing and discuss academic research on the DS distribution model. We focus in particular on research that develops economics-based analytic models to examine business and legal issues. This focus is motivated by the fact that analytic models are sometimes used as part...