Marketing Channel Syllabus

Course No.： Class：

课程名称：营销渠道 Course Name：Marketing Channel
Week Hour/Total Hour：2/36 Credit：2
Instructor：Dr. WANG, Rui Semester：Fall 2009

Contact Information：Office369；Tel：62767444; Email: rwang@gsm.pku.edu.cn。

Office Hour： Tuesday 1pm-2pm. I will be more than happy to talk to you during my office hour or by
appointment.

1. COURSE DESCRIPTION
The distribution channel is one of the four Ps of the marketing mix, providing many essential services to end-
customers that the firm cannot efficiently provide itself. But, the distribution channel is not just a conduit
through which the firm reaches its end market. The channel members are customers in their own right, with
their own needs. Further, they market not only the firm’s products but also competitors’ products and,
increasingly, their own private label products. Thus, channel members are conduit, customer, and competitor
rolled into one, and their motivations and objectives are often not aligned with those of the firm.

2. COURSE OBJECTIVES
Selecting and managing the channel is the focus of this course. My objective is to inculcate in you the ability to
develop, implement, critically evaluate, and hone the “go to market” strategy for a firm.

Therefore the concrete course objectives are listed as follows:

- To provide an in depth, colorful picture and understanding of marketing channels
- To expose marketing techniques to identify and work on channel problems
- To motivate, encourage and assist students to develop their own indigenous decision making skills
- To assist students to develop a balanced view of in between the realms of marketing theory and practice.

3. TENTATIVE SCHEDULE (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

Week Date Agenda Assignments
1 No Class
Course Introduction &
2
Overview of marketing channels
Part I Channel Strategy (Chapter 1-5)

3 Concept of Channel & Channel Design

4 Channel Analysis

5 Retailing Group Assigned

Part II Channel Structure (Chapter 10-13)

6 Wholesaling

1
 7 Other Channel Institutions & Logistics Issues

8 Beer Game Location: Computer Lab

9 Case 1 Case 1 Due

Part III Channel Management (Chapter 6-7)

10 Channel Power

11 Channel Conflict Proposal Due

12 Case 2 Case 2 Due

Part IV Channel Governance (Chapter 8-9)

13 Strategic Alliances

14 Vertical Integration

15 A final review of marketing channels

16 Group Project Presentation Final Report Due

17
Final Exam
18

4. TEACHING METHOD
A mixture of lectures and discussions, with student presentations.

5. USE OF HIGH-TECH TOOL IN LECTURES

PowerPoint, Videos

6. COURSE MATERIALS
Course materials include cases and related articles.

7. RECOMMENDED BOOKS
The following textbook is recommended.
“Marketing Channels”, by Anne T. Coughlan, Erin Anderson, Louis Stern, and Adel I. El-Ansary, 7th edition,
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Publishers, 2006.
翻译本：营销渠道(第 6 版), 作者： 安妮•T•科兰 等，第 6 版，出版社： 电子工业出版社

8. OTHER MATERIALS
9. REQUIREMENTS AND ATTENDANCE POLICY

2
 Much of the learning in this course will occur in class as you share your ideas, thought processes, analyses,
and questions with each other. Therefore, attendance at all class sessions is expected. Except in an unforeseen
emergency, I expect to be informed beforehand if you need to miss a class. I will regularly check the attendance
without any notice.

10. GRADING AND EVALUATION:

Final grades will be determined by your performance in the areas described according to the following weights.

Course requirement % of grade

Class participation 15% (Individual)
Final Exam 35 (Individual)
Case Reports 15 (Group)
Group Project 35 (Group)
TOTAL 100%

Grading Scale & Policies:

A 90-100 B+ 82-84 C+ 72-74 D 60-63

A- 85-89 B 78-81 C 68-71 F Below 60
B- 75-77 C- 64-67

Exams
There will be a final exam. The contents are covered from the lectures and cases, and other assignments
and games in class.
A make-up exam will only be offered in cases of documented death in the immediate family, a job
interview, and participation in a university-sanctioned activity or with a medical excuse signed by a licensed
medical professional.

Case Reports and Discussion

Your group will be responsible for writing two case reports to answer some appointed case questions.
Your written report for each case should be no longer than TWO pages, double space. It is important that you
hand in the report on time and each group only needs to submit one report. Your group needs to decide by
yourself how to divide the work. No late report will be accepted.

Group Project
Working in groups, you will complete a semester long project which explores the concepts of channel
design and management. The objective is to allow you to examine these facets in the context that interests you
most, and provide you with an opportunity to generate recommendations as to how marketing channel decisions
can be used to arrive at a competitive advantage. You are free to pick one of the suggested topics or pursue a
different one that you find particularly interesting or relevant.
A brief 1-2 page proposal identifying the topic of the report, why it is interesting, and the sources of
information and data you plan to use is due around the mid-term. The final project report is due at the end of the
class. It should not exceed ten double-spaced pages with one-inch margins all around and a minimum font size
of 12. Figures, tables etc. can be presented in an appendix that is not included in the page limit, but their
contribution to your report should be integrated within the ten pages of text. Also there could be a presentation
of your project before the final exam.