The ravages of the ongoing recession have been creating unwanted incentives for distributors and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers of General Electric's lighting and industrial products businesses to deal more in the gray market. The often opaque nature of gray market transactions also increases opportunities for counterfeit products to enter the sales channel. In response, the company is taking steps to discourage its partners from buying from or selling to unauthorized sources.

In a letter to authorized distributors last month, the company announced changes to its OEM agreements and distributor special price agreements (SPAs) designed to ensure when customers buy from authorized distributors they can have confidence that the product was procured from the manufacturer.

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Thank-you from the staff of Electrical Marketing.