List price: $24.00 (that's 30% off!)
Anne and Erin, professors at the Kellogg School and INSEAD respectively, are the two lead authors. So be forewarned -- this is an academic textbook. It's challenging, rigorous, and thought provoking.
The sixth edition is organized around a comprehensive framework for channel strategy. Each chapter walks through a different element of the framework. This approach integrates a wide range of material while making it easy to sample just the strategic topics that are relevant to your business.
Here are a few of my favorite sections in this book:
- Chapter 3 describes a methodology for segmenting customers in a channel. (Namely, focus on how end-user customers buy and what value they seek from their channel. Don't simply measure which products they buy or who they are.)
- Chapters 7 and 10 present frameworks to analyze two common channel strategy decisions - Should we sell direct or use distributors? How many distributors should we authorize?
- Chapter 11 is a wonderful and practical synthesis of Erin's 20+ years of research on creating effective and profitable strategic alliances in distribution.
- Chapter 14 demonstrates how their channel strategy framework applies to electronic channels. (There are many excellent e-commerce examples throughout the book.)
- Chapter 15 provides a great overview of the fundamental issues facing the wholesale distribution channel. It's a dramatic improvement over previous editions of this book.
The book is also chock-full of detailed case studies and examples from a wide range of industries, both domestic and international.
Marketing Channels is a must-own for anyone who thinks strategically about marketing channels and supply chains. As both a channel strategy consultant and one of Erin's former students, I can personally vouch for the validity of their insights into channel strategy. You will not be disappointed by the quality and rigor of thinking in this book.
The book also has its own website , although there is not very much content on the site yet.
This is the 5th edition of the original book that developed the theories that explain the structure and behavior of marketing channels. There is still nothing better. For those who understand the significance of channels, it provides a clear roadmap for the analysis of changes. For those who do not, it will explain channel member behavior and illuminate recent successes due to channel management (Walmart, Dell Computer), so that you can understand how the lessons can be applied to your business.
I recommend this book to all business managers, not just to read once, but to keep in your office and refer to often through the years in order to navigate the high seas of channel change.
To have the material presented the way it is in this software (ie-using really cool multimedia), makes it not only very understandable, but very interesting as well. I'd certainly say this is a must for a student or anyone else interested in Biostatistics.
Adel Darwish is eminently qualified for the job of investigating Saddam's empire, having been a veteran foreign correspondent in Iraq before he was thrown out for reporting a major missile testing mis-hap and thus revealing Saddam's secret missile development program.
The hard cover edition of Unholy Babylon has been updated and corrected and is probably well worth the extra investment.
Read this book to understand what is happening now. It has been the source book (sometimes not acknowledged) for several "informed analyses."...
What I like best about this books is how is repeats itself over and over. The kids love it. Towards the end of the book, they were saying it along with me.
The illustraions are INCREDIBLE!!!
If you're a teacher, I highly suggest you get this book. If you're a parent, I highly suggest you buy this book. You won't be sorry.