Marketing Channels in the Digital Age
Objectives
Marketing Channels, or the way we acquire customers and/or deliver them products and services, are a key success factor for many businesses, either start-ups and/or existing organizations. Digital has changed the way we serve consumers and other businesses, and channels are key in assuring Mental and Physical Availability of offerings. Businesses have experienced digital disruption in channels from Entertainment to Fast Moving Consumer Goods to Services and Retailing. We will provide you with the tools to understand the new channel configurations and how to handle this Marketing Mix element in a Digital environment, where we move from Multichannel to Omnichannel Marketing.
General characterization
Code
2587
Credits
3.5
Responsible teacher
Jorge Velosa
Hours
Weekly - Available soon
Total - Available soon
Teaching language
English
Prerequisites
Available soon
Bibliography
The material for the course is available in the detailed syllabus in two levels: Recommended
readings and additional readings (for those students who would like extra input). Most used references include:
- Robert T Palmatier, Louis W Stern, Adel I. El Ansary (2015), Marketing Channels 8th ed.,Pearson Prentice Hall
- Sunil Gupta (2018), Driving Digital Strategy, Harvard Business Review Press
- Thales Teixeira, Greg Piechota (2019) , How Decoupling Drives Consumer Disruption, Currency , New York
- Julian Dent, Michael White (2018), Sales and Marketing Channels , 3rd Edition, How to build and Manage distribution strategy, Kogan Page , UK
- Anne T Coughlan (2010), Marketing Channel Design and Management, in Kellogg on
Marketing, 2nd ed. chapter 11, edited by Alice M. Tybout and Bobby J. Calder, Northwestern University and John Wiley & Sons
- Anita Elberse (2013) Blockbusters: hit-making, risk taking and the business of entertainment, Henry Holt and Company
- Kasturi Rangan (2015), Developing and Managing Channels of Distribution, Core Curriculum Reading 8149 ,Harvard Business Publishing
- Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell (2006), Transforming your go-to-market strategy, The three disciplines of channel management, Harvard Business School Press, Boston Massachusetts.
Teaching method
The course will be a mix of theory, cases and discussions. A hands-on approach to the subject will be used with many examples and material from the field.
A high student involvement is expected in class discussions and case recommendations and should be accompanied by thorough preparation of cases and readings that are available via the syllabus that can be accessed on line. For the cases the discussion questions will also be available.
The on line material includes the presentation for the class together with the recommended and additional readings: the course allows for those who wish to explore the topic further to do so via extra material and advice, and we encourage you to do that.
We will have several individual assignments during the term that will be referenced in the detailed syllabus. There will also be a group assignment for the term.
Evaluation method
30% Group assignment for the term (includes peer review with a weight of 20%). Teams should involve students from more than one nationality, gender and from different backgrounds (e.g. previous university).
20% Class participation evaluation – we will have students discussing cases during several sessions. Unjustified absence to any case discussion will mean a zero grade for that class’s participation. Class participation grades will be based on the quality, listening evidence and frequency of your participation in case discussions, with grades from A to D (zero).
20% Assignments/exercise write-ups (individual)–there will be several write-ups. The write-up is strictly individual. Any plagiarism will be handled strictly and offenders will be punished according with the University rules.
30 % Final exam
Subject matter
- We introduce you to the key Marketing Channels topics, ideas and practices with the core theme of delivering benefits to customers.
- Build your skills on analyzing and improving and implementing alternative routes to market for a product or service.
- Introduce you to up-to-date topics on Distribution channels including digital channels, e-commerce, power and negotiation practices and Global Retailing.
In this course we address the marketing issues we face regarding the design, improvement and management of distribution channels and multiple routes to market. We use a framework of analysis that can be applied to different businesses, depicted below (Coughlan
& Stern 2001)
Programs
Programs where the course is taught: