The Research Group on marketing, internationalisation and management of the distribution channel (MARKINADIS) originated in 2005 as a result of a grant for research groups awarded by the General Directorate for Research and Technology Transfer of the Valencian Government, through which the Marketing Research Group (GIMK) (GRUPOS05/057) was established and consisted of researchers from the universities of València, Castellon and Castile-La Mancha. 

The researchers who comprise the team have extensive research experience in marketing, internationalisation and management of distribution channels, as evidenced by their participation in various projects evaluated by ANEP, either as principal investigators or as project members:

• New perspectives in the internationalisation process of Spanish retail companies: a comparative analysis (ECO200908708).
• Management of promotions and private labels for an efficient development of the retailer's marketing strategy (SEJ2005-06105).
• Opportunities and challenges of information and communication technologies for the development of marketing strategies and their impact on consumer behaviour (SEC2002-04326-C03-03).
• Development of Information Technology (IT) for the management of commercial distribution companies (1FD97-1939).
• Strategic marketing plan for the mushroom industry in Castile-La Mancha (1FD97-2029).
• Evaluation of the Internationalisation Plan 2000-2002 for the General Directorate of Trade Policy. Spanish Ministry of Economics.

Thus, the group's research activity is characterised by an interest in explaining the internationalisation processes of companies along the marketing channel. This includes aspects such as:

• The internationalisation strategy of retail companies, investigating the dynamic capabilities of those companies that internationalise. The company’s marketing strategy must be adapted to different countries, while the dynamic capabilities allow the continuous reconfiguration of the company resources and offerings in markets.
• Internationalisation processes in the agri-food sector.
• The multi-channel strategy of international companies, how marketing channels should be integrated in such a way that the combination of traditional and online channels produces beneficial effects in the form of synergies, and expansion of the customer base. 
• Consumer behaviour in the face of the internationalisation of companies, how consumers from different countries perceive the offer of retail companies. 
• Consumer behaviour in the virtual environment, analysing the acceptance of online sales and how the integration of the online channel with traditional ones influences consumer satisfaction and loyalty. This is done by adopting a cross-cultural approach, i.e. comparing the Spanish consumer with that of other countries. 
• The impact of public aid for internationalisation, investigating what influence it has on the design of the international strategy and to what extent it effectively allows the company's international expansion to be expanded and accelerated effectively. 

These objectives and the research activity performed by the applicant team comprise a consolidated research career as a group through the dissemination of publications in prestigious journals, participation in research projects and participation in transfer activities. All the members collaborate in other national and international research groups.

Finally, all the researchers of the group have been part of the Organising Committee of the 17th. Conference of the European Association for Education and Research in Commercial Distribution, held in July 2013 in Valencia and two of them were Co-Chairs.