Part 2 book “Marketing an introduction” has contents: Marketing channels and supply chain management, retailing and wholesaling, communicating customer value - advertising, sales promotion and public relations, marketing in the digital age, and other contents. | CHAPTER 10 MARKETING CHANNELS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT AFTER STUDYING THIS CHAPTER, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO ● explain why companies use distribution channels and discuss the functions these channels perform ● discuss how channel members interact and how they organise to perform the work of the channel ● identify the major channel alternatives open to a company ● explain how companies select, motivate and evaluate channel members ● discuss the nature and importance of marketing logistics and integrated supply chain management 332 02/07/15 5:17 pm THE WAY AHEAD Previewing the concepts We now arrive at the third marketing mix tool – distribution. Firms rarely work alone in creating value for customers and building profitable customer relationships. Instead, most are only a single link in a larger supply chain and distribution channel. As such, an individual firm’s success depends not only on how well it performs, but also on how well its entire distribution channel competes with competitors’ channels. To be good at customer relationship management, a company must also be good at partner relationship management. The first part of this chapter explores the nature of distribution channels and the marketer’s channel design and management decisions. We then examine physical distribution – or logistics – an area that is growing dramatically in importance and sophistication. In the next chapter, we’ll look more closely at two major channel intermediaries – retailers and wholesalers. To get us started, we’ll take a close look at a mediumsized Spanish paint company, Pinturas Fierro, which has had to solve quite a few distribution and logistical issues as it has grown and entered international markets. Good management of the distribution system has been a key component in enabling this family firm to survive and thrive for over 70 years. Read on and see why. CHAPTER CONTENTS Supply chains
