A specialty chemical company is considering expanding its operations into Brazil, where five companies dominate the consumption of specialty chemicals. What sort of distribution network should this company use?

A distributor has heard that one of the major manufacturers from which it buys is considering going direct to the consumer. What can the distributor do about this? What advantages can it offer the manufacturer that the manufacturer is unlikely to be able to reproduce?

Why has the online channel been more successful in the computer hardware industry compared with the grocery industry? In the future, how valuable is the online channel likely to be in the computer hardware industry?