The Market and Place

However, the process of moving product from manufacturer to end consumer can sometimes be quite lengthy, involving wholesalers, distributors and retailers (in a traditional retail environment) or research companies, extraction, transportation, refining and gas stations (in the case of gasoline). Each type customer in the process is a distribution channel for the participant "upstream," but the relationship is transaction based and typically involves a "pull" system (the customer places an order which prompts the movement of inventory to the next level) (Cravens, 1997, p. 223).

As products have increased in complexity and has markets have expanded to the global level, the distribution of those products has also increased in complexity and companies have realized benefits to forming strategic alliances in order to gain additional benefit and competitive advantage from their distribution methods. Where distribution channels are individual organizations linked vertically (but each interested in maximizing its own performance), other companies have re

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ristics, how the product is going to be manufactured, the materials which will be used, and how the product will be positioned in the market. Packaging details, including what type of packaging and how any printed material will be handled, are also determined at this time. All companies go through the product definition process; some companies have a more formal process in place than others. The product planning stage does not require extensive financial resources, and is a critical "first step" for all organizations regardless of whether it is a formal process (Cravens, 1997). The steps in product planning include customer needs analysis, idea generation, screening and evaluation, business analysis, product development, marketing strategy development, market testing and commercialization (Cravens, 1997). Thus no product can be launched without these considerations, although not all companies have a formal process in place to address each of these steps. When there is no formal product planning process in place, companies often find that they are unable to realize their business goals. This is because the company is not addressing specific consumer needs so much as it is manufacturing a product to particular technical stand
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Approximate Word count = 3931
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page)

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