This specialization is ideal for individuals who currently work in or are targeting opportunities in consulting and strategy, industrial sales and buying, marketing management, entrepreneurship and business development.

One critical component of value creation for customers in marketing that is often overlooked is how customers want to buy. The ability to make its products and services available to customers at the right place and time is a key source of explosive value and the purview of marketing channel strategy.

We will unpack “the black box” of organizational channels, distribution and retailers that create the routes to market between the firm and its end user or customers. In this course, you will learn how to capture and leverage this value through the careful selection of channel partners, the application of appropriate incentives and pricing agreements, the design and management of multiple channels.

We also discuss how these ideas extend to and should be applied to social business channels in emerging economies and entrepreneurship (startup) environments as well as the latest challenges in selling on third party platforms/marketplaces. In doing so, the goal is to provide you with the relevant frameworks, tools, and processes for more effective management of these areas, including the advantages, limitations, common uses and some best practice examples. This is accomplished through case studies and exercises, lectures, and guest lecturers.

Praktisches Lernprojekt

Learners will gain an understanding of how to build, incentivize, and redesign efficient and effective routes-to-market for products and services via the use of intermediaries such as wholesalers, retailers, and a range of possible channel partners. Through the use of lectures, case studies, and guest speakers, learners will be able to assess, evaluate, and recommend changes to build, improve, and revise new and existing channel strategies.

New sources of value, outside of the traditional product and service offering, are identified that better accommodate and ultimately optimize "how the customer wants to buy." Strategies for improving purchase convenience, service offerings, and information at the right place and time across omnichannel settings are identified and critiqued.