Fall Semester 2013 Wisconsin School of Business. Marketing Marketing Channels 3335 Grainger Hall 11:00-12:15 TR

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1 Fall Semester 2013 Wisconsin School of Business Marketing Marketing Channels 3335 Grainger Hall 11:00-12:15 TR Professor John R. Nevin Office Hours: Office: 3457 Grainger Hall 9:30-10:45 TW Phone: and as available in my office Fax: or by appointment jnevin@bus.wisc.edu Purpose of the Course The course will study the elements and management of marketing channels. For our purposes, a marketing channel is viewed as an inter-organizational system that is imbedded within a supply chain and is involved in the task of making products and services available for consumption. The focus of this course is on how institutions can effectively and efficiently transmit anything of value from its points of conception (services) or production (goods) to its points of usage (business-to-business or business-to-consumer). The course is oriented towards the following career paths: Marketing or Brand Management: marketing channels and distribution are a critical element of any marketing strategy and a major reason why tactics succeed or fail. Supply Chain Management: channels are imbedded in the center of the supply chain and the channel functions account for many of the supply chain activities. Consulting: diagnosis and solution of problems caused by going to market in a suboptimal manner. Entrepreneurship: the first task of the entrepreneur is to find the market, which makes distribution a high priority. General Management: distribution is a high-cost function with great impact on both revenues and margins. In this course, we will analyze marketing channels using a framework for analysis that can be used for consumer product sales, business-to-business sales, and sales of services. We will first discuss how to interpret the demands customers have for the productive outputs of the channel. We will then show how to describe the productive activities of channel members that produce these valued service outputs. We will identify the types of gaps that can exist in channel design and how to close them. We will then discuss channel strategy and how to manage the channel to control channel conflict and enhance channel coordination through the constructive use of channel power. Throughout these sessions, we will use a lecture/discussion format along with discussing cases.

2 The orientation of this course is toward the management of relationships within and among organizations that are linked together in a distribution system. The successful management of these relationships, whether through the creation of consistent incentive systems for all channel members or through the exertion of other types of influence, is crucial for the long-term competitive viability of the firm. It is important to point out that channel issues are usually complex. Supplier/channel relationships are inherently adversarial and complex and therefore less susceptible to facile analysis. The student will have to deal with ambiguity in solving channel problems. The future employers, ultimate customers and society need and seek students who have been challenged and can adequately deal with ambiguity in solving problems. Course Material The required course material consists of a required textbook and a packet of readings and cases. The required textbook is: Bert Rosenbloom (2013), Marketing Channels: A Management View, South-Western, Mason, OH (Eighth Edition) (Referred to as Text in the syllabus). The above text is available from Amazon and/or University Book Store. The readings and case packet is available from the School of Business Copy Center. Teaching and Grading Approach The course will rely on a seminar/case discussion format. Each student is expected to contribute regularly to class discussion on a voluntary basis and as called upon by the instructor. To a substantial extent, the benefit that a student derives from the assignments is related to his/her willingness to expose his/her own viewpoints or conclusions to the critical judgment of the class, and to his/her active participation by building upon or evaluating critically the judgment of others. Your grade will be based on the following components: Cases 2 Written 50 pts) Exams 2 Hourly 100 pts) Class Participation Total Points 100 points 200 points 100 points 400 points The two hourly exams are in essay format and they will cover the material contained in the lectures, discussions, readings, and cases.

3 Cases The cases provide a pedagogical way to bring the "real world" of channels into the classroom. The reader of a case is launched into the kind of situation he/she might face some years later as a manager or entrepreneur. Through class discussion, certain marketing concepts will emerge which can be vividly retained because of the concrete context. Cases enhance the concepts in the class lectures and readings while the lectures and readings serve to enhance the meaningfulness of cases. Cases have the virtue of requiring students to think of themselves as decision-makers who must make decisions in situations with less than perfect information. There are informal (non-written) short cases from the text that will be discussed in class and six formal (written) long cases that have been assigned for this course. All students should carefully read each case for class discussion. Each student team consisting of approximately 4 members will be expected to write two formal cases. The written group case has an upper limit of eight pages (typed, double-spaced excluding appendices). A copy of the written team case reports is to be submitted at the end of class on the day they are due. None will be accepted late. Feel free to update any of your cases to the current time period as an aid to conducting your case analysis and recommendations. There will be a process to evaluate the contribution of individual members to team case performance. Class Participation Your course grade will depend on your contribution to class discussion, both to the case analysis and the regular class sessions. Your participation grade will be determined based on the quality of your input. Sheer quantity of comments, with little depth or relevance to the focal issues, will not be rewarded. Past experience indicates that it is difficult to do well in this course unless you attend class on a regular basis. Other If you have to miss class on a particular day, it is your responsibility to get notes from a classmate. While the lectures will build on the readings and assignments, each one will introduce a substantial amount of new material. I will also rely on the informal and formal cases and case discussion to introduce new material.

4 Professor John R. Nevin Fall Semester 2013 Marketing Marketing Channels 3335 Grainger Hall Topical Outline DATE TOPICS COVERED REQUIRED READING PART I: MARKETING CHANNEL SYSTEMS Sept. 3 (T) Introduction to the Marketing Channels No Assignment Course Sept. 5 (R) Marketing Channel Concepts Ch. 1 (Text); JCPenney Case (Text) Sept. 10 (T) Channel Participants Ch. 2 (Text); Hyde-Phillip Chemical Corp. Case (Text) Sept. 12 (R) Channel Member Business Models Dent, Distribution Channels Sept. 17 (T) Retail Channel Decisions Written Case #1: Organickidz: Marketing Strategy Sept. 19 (R) Behavioral Processes in Marketing Ch. 4 (Text), pp ; Barnes & Noble Channels: Cooperation and Conflict College Bookstores Sept. 24 (T) Behavioral Processes in Marketing Ch. 4 (Text), pp Channels: Role, Power and Communication Sept. 26 (R) Conflict Among Channel Partners Written Case #2: Levi s at Wal-Mart Oct. 1 (T) The Environment of Marketing Channels Ch. 3 (Text); McDonald s Case (Text) PART II: A THEORY OF DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL STRUCTURE Oct. 3 (R) Demand and Supply Side Channel Analysis No Assignment Oct. 8 (T) Demand/Supply Gap Analysis No Assignment Oct. 10 (R) Channel Roles (Flows) Written Case #3: Veklar Austria PART III: DEVELOPING THE MARKETING CHANNEL Oct. 15 (T) Strategy in the Marketing Channel Ch. 5 (Text); Microsoft Retail Stores Case (Text); Snap-On Tools Corp. Case (Text)

5 DATE TOPICS COVERED REQUIRED READING Oct. 17 (R) Designing Marketing Channel Decisions Ch. 6 (Text); Star Chemical Co. Case (Text) Oct. 22 (T) Managing Trade Customers Presenter: Doug Raftery, Former Vice President, Customer Business Development, North America, P&G Oct. 24 (R) First Hourly Exam Oct. 29 (T) A Strategic Channel Decision Written Case #4: Natureview Farm Oct. 31 (R) Selecting the Channel Members Ch. 7 (Text); Aldi Case Text; Intermerc, Inc. Case (Text) Nov. 5 (T) Target Markets and Channel Design Ch. 8 (Text); Ben & Jerry s Case (Text) Strategy PART IV: MANAGING THE MARKETING CHANNEL Nov. 7 (R) Motivating and Evaluating Channel Ch. 9 (Text) and Ch. 14 (Text); Koering Members Company Case (Text); General Electric Company (Text) Nov. 12 (T) Logistics/Customer Service and Channel Written Case #5: Laura Ashley and Federal Management Express Strategic Alliance; Ch. 13 (Text) Nov. 14 (R) Product Issues in Channel Management Ch. 10 (Text); Nespresso Case (Text) Nov. 19 (T) Pricing Issues in Channel Management Ch. 11 (Text) Nov. 21 (R) Channel Management: A Live Case Presenter: Joe Fahey, Vice President, Product Planning, ECHO Incorporated Nov. 26 (T) Nov. 28 (R) Promotion Through the Marketing Channel Ch. 12 (Text); American Olean Tile Company Case (Text) Thanksgiving Break No Class PART V: ADDITIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON MARKETING CHANNELS Dec. 3 (T) Franchise Marketing Channels Written Case #6: San Francisco Coffee House; Ch. 16 (Text); Dec. 5 (R) International and Cross-Cultural Issues in Ch. 18 (Text); Carrefour Case (Text) Marketing Channels Dec. 10 (T) Dec. 12 (R) Electronic and Service Marketing Channels Ch. 15 and 17 (Text) Second Hourly Exam