【正文】 ds on whether it uses massmerchandisers or highquality boutiques.2) The firm’s sales force and advertising decisions depend on how much training and motivation dealers need.E) In addition, channel decisions involve relatively longterm mitments to other firms as well as a set of policies and procedures. F) In managing its intermediaries, the firm must decide how much effort to devote to push versus pull marketing. 1) A push strategy involves the manufacturer using its sales force and trade promotion money to induce intermediaries to carry, promote, and sell the product to end user. a. Push strategy is appropriate where there is low brand loyalty in a category, brand choice is made in the stores, the product is an impulse item, and product benefits are well understood. 2) A pull strategy involves the manufacturer using advertising and promotion to induce consumers to ask intermediaries for the product, thus inducing the intermediaries to order it. a. Pull strategy is appropriate when there is high brand loyalty and high involvement in the category, when people perceive differences between brands, and when people choose the brand before they go to the store. Review Key Definitions here: marketing channels, merchants, agents, facilitators, push strategy and pull strategyChannel Development A new firm typically starts as a local operation selling in a limited market, using existing intermediaries. If the firm is successful, it might branch into new markets and use different channels in different markets. A) Today’s successful panies are also multiplying the number of “gotomarket” or hybrid channels in any onemarket area. B) Companies that manage hybrid channels must make sure these channels work well together and match each target customer’s preferred ways of doing business. C) Customers expect channel integration, characterized by the following features:1) The ability to order a product online and pick it up at a convenient retail location.2) The ability to return an online ordered product to a nearby store of the retailer.3) The right to receive discounts based on total online and offline purchases.D) Different consumers have different needs during the purchase process.E) Nunes and Cespedes argue that in many markets, buyers fall into one of four categories:1) Habitual shoppers.2) High value deal seekers.3) Varietyloving shoppers.4) Highinvolvement shoppers.F) The same consumer may choose to use different channels for different functions in making a purchase.G) Consumers may seek different types of channels depending on the particular types of goods involved. 1) Some consumers are willing to “trade up.” 2) Others are willing to “trade down.” Value Networks A supply chain view of a firm sees markets as destination points and amounts to a linear view of the flow. The pany should first think of the target market, and then design the supply chain backward from that point. A) This view has been called demand chain planning. B) An even broader view sees a pany at the center of a value network—a system of partnerships and alliances that a firm creates to source, augment, and deliver its offerings. C) A value network includes a firm’s suppliers, its suppliers’ suppliers, its immediate customers, and their end customers. D) A pany needs to orchestrate these parties to enable it to deliver superior value to the target market. E) Demand chain planning yields several insights:1) The pany can estimate whether more money is made upstream or downstream.2) The pany is more aware of disturbances anywhere in the supply chain that might cause costs, prices, or supplies to change suddenly. 3) Companies can go online with their business partners to carry on faster and more accurate munications, transactions, and payments to reduce costs, speed up information, and increase accuracy. F) Managing this value network has required panies to make increasing investments in information technology (IT) and software. G) Marketers have traditionally focused on the side of the value network that looks toward the customer. In the future, they will increasingly participate in, influence their panies’ upstream activities, and bee network managers. Review Key Definitions here: hybrid, channel integration, demand chain planning, and value networkTHE ROLE OF MARKETING CHANNELS Why would a producer delegate some of the selling job to intermediaries? Delegation means relinquishing some control over how and to whom the products are sold. Producers do gain several advantages by using intermediaries.A) Many producers lack the financial resources to carry out direct marketing.B) Producers who do establish their own channels can often earn a greater return by increasing investment in their main business.C) In some cases direct marketing simply is not feasible.D) Intermediaries normally achieve superior efficiency in making goods widely available and accessible to target markets. 1) Through their contacts, experiences, specialization, and scale of operations, intermediaries usually offer the firm more than it can achieve on its own. Figure shows one major source of cost savings using intermediaries.Channel Functions and Flows A marketing channel performs the work of moving goods from producers to consumers. It overes the time, place, and possession gaps that separate goods and services from those who need and want them. A) Members of the marketing channel perform a number of key functions. Figure shows how a distributor increases efficiency.B) Some functions constitute a forward flow of activity from the pany to the customer.C) Other functions constitute a backward flow from customers to the pany.D) Still others occur in both directions. Figure shows five flows. E) A manufacturer selling a physical product and services might require three channels:1) A sales channel.2) A deliv