Please use these questions to guide your preparation. You do not need to turn in your answers
[UConn] = requires a UConn NetID to access. [HBS] = in HBS Course Pack for course
Required Content
[MM] Chapter 10 “Channels of Distribution” (10-1, 10-3a)
- 10-1 “What are Distribution Channels, Supply Chain Logistics and Why Do We Use Them?
- People often assume that the most efficient way to go-to-market is to try to directly reach your targeted customers. How might going through intermediaries actually reduce go-to-market costs?
- Define the three potential roles that an organization can play in a go-to-market network
- What is the difference between a supply chain partner and a channel partner?
- 10-3a “Revenue Sharing”
- (Please see the sidebar “Mark-ups vs Margins” on p. 158 of MM if the difference between these two terms is unfamiliar to you)
- Why is it useful to separate out the costs of production from the costs of retailing when analyzing your costs?
- What is the “double marginalization problem”
- What is the value of beginning from a targeted consumer/end-user price when determining how to split margins among channel partners?
HBS Online Channel Margins Tool
- Use this tool to explore margins and end user selling prices under different production costs and channel structures (click orange squares)
[UConn] Coughlan & Jap (2016) A Field Guide To Marketing Strategy (Ch 3, 5)
- Chapter 3 “How Do Customers Want to Buy?”
- In the marketing mix, our “Product” strategies are guided by our understanding of _____ the customer wants to buy. Our “Place” (otherwise known as “channel”) strategies are guided by our understanding of ____ the customer wants to buy.
- Explain the six categories of benefits that customers receive from channel strategies.
- How might these benefits map to increased customer convenience (i.e. lower transactions costs) over the three-phase purchase process from earlier this semester?
- Chapter 5 “What Functions and Costs Are the Responsibility of Each Channel Member?”
- Explain the five categories of channel functions and the typical cost components of each of these functions.
- Explain the three important rules of strategic channel design
- What is the “Equity Rule” in channel management?
- How might you integrate the quantitative margin analysis concepts from the other two readings and with the concepts in this chapter to evaluating “fair” margins within a network of channel partners?