Product Distribution Strategy Research Articles

How to Distribute Green Products in Competition with Brown Products? Direct Selling versus Agent Selling?

In order to respond to and take advantage of consumers’ growing interest in green products, an increasing number of firms are expanding their market share by introducing green versions of their brown products. However, firms are faced with the challenge of how to distribute green products to avoid mutual encroachment with brown products. To solve this problem, this paper constructs a Stackelberg game model consisting of a manufacturer (leader) and a retailer (follower), in which the manufacturer provides brown and green products, and then develops two channel structures for green products to be sold through the manufacturer (direct selling) and the retailer (agent selling). The results show that the manufacturer’s choice of green product distribution channels is affected by the direct selling costs and the market share of green consumers and their product preferences. When the direct selling cost is zero or consumers are green, the manufacturer always chooses direct selling. However, with an increase in the direct selling costs, if green consumers have a large difference in their preference for green and brown products, the manufacturer chooses agent selling, and vice versa. In particular, the impact of the market share of green consumers on the profits of the manufacturer is different in the two channel structures. The higher the market share of green consumers under agent selling, the more beneficial it is for the manufacturer. However, under direct selling, the profits of the manufacturer show an “inverted U” trend with the increase in the market share of green consumers. In addition, under certain conditions, the direct selling channels opened by the manufacturer are not necessarily to sell green products, but to maximize the market share of brown products. The strategy is to set high prices for green products in direct selling channels to stimulate consumers to buy brown products. These findings can provide insights for manufacturers to design appropriate green product distribution strategies.

Product distribution strategy in response to the platform retailer's marketplace introduction

An increasing number of online retailers (e.g., Amazon.com and JD.com) who are established as pure resellers are providing marketplace services allowing suppliers to directly sell products to consumers. These platforms’ hybrid roles of resellers and marketplaces make it possible for suppliers to distribute vertically differentiated products through the reselling or the marketplace channel. However, the suppliers’ product distribution choices are affected by the platforms’ marketplace introduction decisions, which is largely neglected in previous research. To investigate such interactions, this paper develops a game model where a supplier sells low- and high-end products through a platform retailer. The supplier makes the product distribution decision in response to the retailer's marketplace introduction choice. Our analysis shows that the game equilibrium is affected by the product differentiation level and the order-fulfillment fee charged by the retailer. First, the retailer prefers to offer the marketplace service when the order-fulfillment fee is relatively high. Second, we derive conditions under which each of the four distribution modes (pure reselling, pure marketplace, and two hybrid selling modes with different products selling in different channels) emerges in equilibrium. We disclose that the pricing right and the strategic use of the double marginalization from reselling play critical roles in the equilibrium results. Our main results highlight the importance for platform-based retailers to consider suppliers’ strategic product distribution responses when opening their platforms.

Carbon tax policy analysis based on distribution channel strategy.

This paper establishes a theoretical model to study the carbon tax policy based on a firm's different distribution channel strategy. First, we examine the firm's optimal distribution channel strategies in the absence of government policy intervention. Then, on the assumption that the firm is owned by the society as a whole and taking into account the environmental impact of the firm's decisions, we describe the product distribution strategy that optimizes social welfare. Through the comparison of the above two situations, we find that without the intervention of government policies, the firm's decision may deviate from the decision that optimizes social welfare. Finally, on the basis of the analysis, we propose a carbon tax policy for retailers in distribution channels under different firm distribution strategies. We hope that with the intervention of carbon tax policy, firm decisions can achieve optimal social welfare.

Decision support system for truck scheduling in logistic network through cross-docking strategy

In recent years, companies around the world need to find new ways to reduce costs, increase productivity, improve product quality, and meet various customer demands. Each Distribution Center (DC) or warehouse is specifically designed to minimize costs in the company’s supply chain. Cross-docking is a logistics technique that eliminates storing and picking up items at warehouses. Cross-docking has several advantages compared to other product distribution strategies from both an economic and an environmental point of view. Cross-docking decisions are influenced by many factors such as the level of product demand, the cost of stock-outs, and the distance from suppliers to customers. This research builds a Decision Support System (DSS) that can help companies to ensure sustainability in the supply chain. This study assumes the demand is deterministic which is indicated by Economic Order Quantity (EOQ). This system can detect the time and quantity of certain items that experience cross-docks accurately. If the customers’demand cannot be fulfilled by the warehouse, then the goods are categorized as out of stock. By knowing the time and quantity of goods at the time of the cross-dock, the warehouse manager can make operational decisions quickly and accurately related to the resources such asoperators and forklifts.

Product Sourcing and Distribution Strategies under Supply Disruption and Recall Risks

When product recalls happen, firms not only have to incur additional logistics costs but also suffer from a damaged reputation. Besides, they may also supply disruption risk, under which a supplier could fail to deliver the quantity ordered at all. In this study, we discuss how to mitigate supply disruption and recall risks in the perspective of ( outbound) product distribution strategy in joint with ( inbound) sourcing decision. Specifically, we compare the dedicated and uniform distribution strategies as follows: in the dedicated strategy, the firm divides its market into several regions, and ships products from different suppliers based on the regions; whereas, in the uniform strategy, the firm serves the entire market by randomly shipping the products from several suppliers without distinguishing their sources. Through the comparison of both strategies, we show that the role of recall risk is different from that of supply disruption on the sourcing and distribution decision. In particular, single sourcing is optimal when both recall risk and disruption probability are low; dual sourcing with the dedicated strategy is optimal when the disruption probability is moderate and the recall risk is high; dual sourcing with the uniform strategy is optimal when the disruption probability is high. We also find that the positive correlation in recalls improves (undermines) the performance of the uniform (dedicated) strategy. In contrast, the positive correlation in supply disruptions only undermines the performance of the uniform strategy.

Product Geographical Distribution under Recall Risk

When product recalls happen, firms not only have to incur additional logistics costs but also suffer from a damaged reputation. Besides, they may also supply disruption risk, under which a supplier could fail to deliver the quantity ordered at all. In this paper, we discuss how to mitigate supply disruption and recall risks in the perspective of (outbound) product distribution strategy in joint with (inbound) sourcing decision. Specifically, we compare the dedicated and uniform distribution strategies as follows: in the dedicated strategy, the firm divides its market into several regions, and ships products from different suppliers based on the regions; whereas, in the uniform strategy, the firm serves the entire market by randomly shipping the products from several suppliers without distinguishing their sources. Through the comparison of both strategies, we show that the role of recall risk is different from that of supply disruption on the sourcing and distribution decision. In particular, single sourcing is optimal when both recall risk and disruption probability are low; dual sourcing with the dedicated strategy is optimal when the disruption probability is moderate and the recall risk is high; dual sourcing with the uniform strategy is optimal when the disruption probability is high. We also find that the positive correlation in recalls improves (undermines) the performance of the uniform (dedicated) strategy. In contrast, the positive correlation in supply disruptions only undermines the performance of the uniform strategy.

Krispy Kreme: The Franchisor That Went Stale

The case depicts Krispy Kreme's franchise system growth and decline as a lesson to entrepreneurs running a company as a franchisor. Burton D. Cohen, retired senior vice president and chief franchise officer for McDonald's Corporation from 1980 to 1999, explains the strengths and weaknesses in Krispy Kreme's franchising strategy during the period from 1997 to 2006. Areas examined in the case include: franchisee agreements, accounting practices, volatility in stock valuation, franchise system growth, franchise ownership structure, product distribution strategy, and commissary growth. The case depicts how Krispy Kreme started and how it ended up in a low point.Students learn: 1.

Asymmetric product distribution between symmetric manufacturers using dual-channel supply chains

This paper investigates the optimal product distribution strategy for a manufacturer that uses dual-channel supply chains. We assume that two symmetric manufacturers facing price competition distribute products through (1) a retail channel only, (2) a direct channel only, or (3) both retail and direct channels. Our most notable result is that even though the two manufacturers are symmetric, a subgame perfect equilibrium always arises, including an asymmetric distribution policy, where one manufacturer distributes products only through the direct channel, while the other manufacturer distributes through both the direct channel and the retail channel. A practical implication of this result is that a symmetric distribution policy is not necessarily optimal for a manufacturer encountering price competition. In particular, when another competing manufacturer distributes products through its dual channels, a manufacturer should not similarly adopt a dual-channel distribution strategy just to counter the rival's dual-channel strategy. Such a symmetric dual-channel distribution strategy would trigger the most intense inter-brand competition, eroding not only the rival's profit, but also its own profit.

Corporate, Product and Distribution Strategies in the European Life Insurance Industry

This paper examines corporate, marketing and product distribution strategies in the cost and revenue efficiency across a sample of life insurers that operate in European markets with the highest insurance concentration and density. We predict that these strategies are also affected by segmentation and cross-country differences in regulatory type (“alpine” vs. “atlantic”), which facilitate managerial opportunistic behaviour in choice of distribution strategy. This contrasts with the standard market efficiency hypothesis, which predicts that firms that adopt one of three generic strategies (cost, customer focus and product differentiation) are more efficient than rivals that fail to adopt one of these strategies. Our results support the prediction of the market imperfection hypothesis that firms with non-exclusive distribution systems are less costly and profit-efficient. We also find that firms surviving the recent financial crisis rely on exclusive distribution channels, product differentiation and experience the highest degree of change in cost efficiency over time of increasing deregulation. These findings imply that imperfections in these markets are driven by a combination of tax incentives, regulatory arbitrage and technology transfer of larger firms that exploit their size and dominance to use multiple distribution systems, which are more costly and profit-efficient.

E-Commerce and Operations Research in Airline Planning, Marketing, and Distribution

Many e-commerce principles were pioneered in the airline industry. These include the first business-to-business electronic information exchange and industrywide electronic marketplace. This environment provided unprecedented opportunity for operations research (OR) modeling. By the mid-1980s airlines used customer shopping data to calibrate traveler-demand-and-choice models, analyzed multichannel product-distribution strategies with simulation, and practiced dynamic pricing through yield management. Airlines continue to derive billions of dollars annually from these and derivative models. The availability of reliable, low-cost communications via the Internet is providing new modeling challenges within the airline industry and is also providing similar opportunities in other industries.