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302. Marcia Baker ships orchids and other perishable flowers from her greenhouses near San
Francisco to florists thousands of miles away in cities such as New York, Boston, and
Philadelphia. Since the flowers must reach the florists as quickly as possible, the best mode of
transportation for Marcia to use would be:
303. Which type of wholesale organization would be most useful to a small manufacturer that
has shipments that are too small to fill a truck or railcar?
304. Kidder Manufacturing wants to ship a large quantity of its goods across the country. They
have contacted Wayback Shipping, Inc., to find out what the shipment would cost. Wayback has
shown Kidder how it can arrange to use a combination of barges, trains, and trucks to complete
the shipment at a low cost. Wayback's strategy is an example of:
Mini-Case
"We've got a number of important issues to discuss today," began Dee Stribyute as she opened
the weekly marketing manager's meeting for Lite Bite Foods. Lite Bite is a producer of low fat,
low calorie snack foods. The other managers attending the meeting were her two top assistants,
Mark Etter and Rhea Taylor.
"First, sales were hurt last year when we had to recall our almond chocolate bars because of
concerns about contaminated ingredients. We've got our work cut out for us to recover from that
setback. Many stores quit carrying our products, and even the ones that continued to do so put
less emphasis on displaying and promoting them. We've got to get our products into as many
stores as possible. Consumers shouldn't have to go all over town trying to find our snacks. We
also need to make sure that our products are displayed and promoted in a way that attracts
attention." Dee looked at her assistants, and saw that they seemed ready to make some
proposals. However, she decided to get another important issue out on the table before stopping
to discuss solutions, so she continued with her comments. "The other big concern is the cost of
moving our goods. Distribution costs are a major part of the overall cost of selling our goods.
What can we do to make the flow of products from our kitchens to our ultimate consumers more
efficient?" Having laid out her concerns, Dee sat down at the head of the table, saying to her
assistants, "O.K. guys, I'm ready for suggestions."
305. The need for Lite Bite to recall its almond chocolate bars suggests that it had to be very
concerned with:
306. Dee's comments about the need to get Lite Bite products into additional retail outlets
suggests the company wants to use a(n):
307. Dee's suggestion that the company needed more control over the way its products were
displayed, priced, and promoted prompted a lot of discussion. Mark suggested that the company
should manage these marketing functions for its products at the retail outlets. Mark appears to
be suggesting that Lite Bite use a(n):
308. Currently, Lite Bite uses a lot of intermediaries to help distribute its products.
Collectively, the organizations that participate in getting finished goods from Lite Bite to the
ultimate consumers of its products are all part of the:
309. After listening to all of the challenges and issues, Rhea said she wanted to propose a
more sweeping change. "Mark has already suggested doing some of the retailer's job for them. I
say go even further—let's just do away with all of the intermediaries. We can perform all of their
functions ourselves," she said. She went on to explain that, "Since we won't have to deal with
intermediaries, my suggestion is bound to simplify the distribution process and cut costs
dramatically." Rhea's suggestion:
310. Explain why you agree or disagree with the following statement:
"Marketing intermediaries must charge a high enough price for the functions they perform to earn
a profit. Therefore, the cost of distributing goods can almost always be reduced by eliminating
marketing intermediaries from the channel of distribution."
311. What is utility? What are the major types of utility? Give an example of how marketing
intermediaries can provide each type of utility.
312. What is a wholesaler? Describe the difference between merchant wholesalers and agents
and brokers. Identify three types of limited-function wholesalers.
313. Retail distribution strategies can take three different forms. Identify the three forms and
give examples of products that would be marketed using each strategy.
314. Identify and describe the four basic types of distribution systems that are used to link
firms in a formal relationship.
315. What is logistics? Describe the types of issues you might deal with if you specialized in
logistics.
