To correctly identify opportunities and threats to their product,

To correctly identify opportunities and threats to their product, marketing managers need to understand the marketing environment in which their products operate.

Choose a product or service and determine how to make it available to the end user. Using your textbook and the articles from the databases in the AIU library, develop a distribution system for the product or service that you have chosen.

Click here for the research requirements and guide for this assignment.

Week 3 Research

• Give an overview of the following distribution channels:
  • Channel levels: Direct versus indirect distribution
  • Channel organizations: Conventional, vertical, horizontal, and multichannel marketing systems
• Analyze your target market’s needs, and explain what you know about your target market and what it wants from a channel of distribution.
• Determine which of the following channel members you will use, and explain why:
  • Indirect: Retailer, wholesaler, dealer, manufacturer’s rep, and so forth
  • Direct: Catalog, telephone, sales force, and so forth
• Discuss how many channel members you will use (intensive distribution, exclusive distribution, or selective distribution), and explain why.
• Recommend a channel organization (conventional, vertical, horizontal, or multichannel marketing system), and explain why.

Your report must include a reference list. All research should be cited in the body of the paper. In-text citations and corresponding references should be included in your paper. For more information on APA style, please visit the APA lab. The paper should be written in third person, which means that pronouns like “I”, “we”, and “you” are not appropriate. The use of direct quotes is strongly discouraged.

Your assignment should contain a cover page, an abstract page, and a reference page in addition to the body. The body of the paper should be 2–3 pages in length, starting with a brief 1-paragraph introduction and ending with a short conclusion. The entire submission will be 5–6 pages in length.

Please submit your assignment as a Word document in APA format using the attached template.

Individual Project Rubric

Grading Criteria	Percentage
Deliverable requirements addressed; understanding of material and writer’s message and intent are clear.	35%
Scholarly research which supports writer’s position properly acknowledged and cited direct quotations may not exceed 10% of the word count of the body of the assignment deliverable (excluded title page, abstract or table of contents if used, tables, exhibits, appendices, and reference page(s). Inclusion of plagiarized content will not be tolerated and may result in adverse academic consequences.	20%
Critical thinking: Position is well-justified; logical flow; examples provided where appropriate.	20%
Structure: Includes introduction and conclusion; proper paragraph format; reads as a polished academic paper or professional presentation, as appropriate for the required assignment deliverable.	10%
Mechanical: No spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors.	10%
APA: Deliverable is cited properly according to the APA Publication Manual (6th ed.).	5%