Discus Designing Distribution Networks and Applications

Discus Designing Distribution Networks and Applications
1. What differences in the retail environment may justify the fact that the fast-moving
consumer goods supply chain in India has far more distributors than in the United States?
2. A specialty chemical company is considering expanding its operations into Brazil, where five
companies dominate the consumption of specialty chemicals. What sort of distribution network should this company utilize?
3. A distributor has heard that one of the major manufacturers from which it buys is considering going direct to the consumer. What can the distributor do about this? What advantages
can it offer the manufacturer that the manufacturer is unlikely to be able to reproduce?
4. What types of distribution networks are typically best suited for commodity items?
5. What type of networks are best suited to highly differentiated products?
Discus Designing Distribution Networks and Applications
6. In the future, do you see the value added by distributors decreasing, increasing, or staying
about the same?
7. Why has e-business been more successful in the PC industry compared to the grocery industry? In the future, how valuable is e-business likely to be in the PC industry?
8. Is e-business likely to be more beneficial in the early part or the mature part of a product’s
life cycle? Why?
9. Consider the sale of home improvement products at Home Depot or a chain of hardware
stores such as Tru-Value. Who can extract the greatest benefit from going online? Why?
10. Amazon.com sells books, music, electronics, software, toys, and home improvement products
online. In which product category does e-business offer the greatest advantage compared to
a retail store chain? In which product category does e-business offer the smallest advantage
(or a potential cost disadvantage) compared to a retail store chain? Why?
11. Why should an e-business such as Amazon. com build more warehouses as its sales volume
grows?