Comments on: Job In A Box: The Mobile Professional http://www.johnon.com/462/job-in-a-box.html I think there's an opinion on that subject lying around here somewhere.... Sun, 19 May 2013 03:13:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 by: Peter http://www.johnon.com/462/job-in-a-box.html#comment-77852 Thu, 03 Jan 2008 01:13:44 +0000 http://www.johnon.com/462/job-in-a-box.html#comment-77852 Thanks John. With you. I can see the defensibility aspect to a channel. The problem with online is there are limited barriers to entry, although I guess part of the advantage is an established audience? Google springs to mind.... Thanks John. With you.

I can see the defensibility aspect to a channel. The problem with online is there are limited barriers to entry, although I guess part of the advantage is an established audience? Google springs to mind….

]]> by: john andrews http://www.johnon.com/462/job-in-a-box.html#comment-77806 Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:49:10 +0000 http://www.johnon.com/462/job-in-a-box.html#comment-77806 @Peter: Sure. I use "channel" to describe the distribution channel, as exists in traditional product sales. When a product first exists, it is available only from the manufacturer directly. As demand increases, that producer seeks efficiencies in distribution, to cost effectively satisfy market demand via retailers. This might includes logistics (e.g. transportation), all aspects covered by supply chain management, incuding some customer service, and a portion of sales and marketing. An easy example is the local Chinese fast food restaurant, which is an independently-owned and operated business, but which signs on with a distributor who provides basically "Chinese fast food in a box" -- e.g. sliced and dyed pork-like substance anywhere within the region served. The local owner-operator relies on the distributor for everything he needs to run his restaurant, and doesn't have to negotiate terms with every bok choy and fortune cookie supplier individually. That distributor is part of the distribution "channel" for Chinese food products. It is an outlet for manufacturers who get their product onto that distributor's available products list, where it is chosen by owner-operators, often as the only choice available. The distributor serves the retailer who can now get everything in one place easily. As the channel matures, distributors use their buying power as leverage with manufacturers for better pricing. Manufacturers use the distributor as leverage against competitors who might also want to be distributed in that region. Consumers lose as every Chinese fast food place serves the exact same stuff (because they only buy from distributors), but gain as prices decrease due to competitive pressures. So-called "gourmet" Chinese restaurants gain as they break free of the channel and offer fresher, unique foods (those which are difficult to commoditize via distribution channels). The cycle repeats, as specialty distributors appear to serve the gourmet market (think Farmer's Markets as examples of specialty distrbution channels). If my internship at Becton-Dickinson Consumer Products taught me anything, it was the value of the distribution channel. Own that, and with a good legal department you can own a market even with an inferior product (Note: Becton Dickinson's products are not at all inferior... in fact they are often far superior. It takes more than brute force channel dominance to be in the Fortune 400 overall, Fortune 10 in the health sector, and <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/mostadmired/2007/snapshots/51.html">#3 on Fortune's List of Most Admired Companies list</a>). As for "new new media", it is a name for the modern approach to current online media, since New Media was used simply to indicate Online/Electronic media some years ago. @Peter: Sure. I use “channel” to describe the distribution channel, as exists in traditional product sales. When a product first exists, it is available only from the manufacturer directly. As demand increases, that producer seeks efficiencies in distribution, to cost effectively satisfy market demand via retailers. This might includes logistics (e.g. transportation), all aspects covered by supply chain management, incuding some customer service, and a portion of sales and marketing.

An easy example is the local Chinese fast food restaurant, which is an independently-owned and operated business, but which signs on with a distributor who provides basically “Chinese fast food in a box” — e.g. sliced and dyed pork-like substance anywhere within the region served. The local owner-operator relies on the distributor for everything he needs to run his restaurant, and doesn’t have to negotiate terms with every bok choy and fortune cookie supplier individually.

That distributor is part of the distribution “channel” for Chinese food products. It is an outlet for manufacturers who get their product onto that distributor’s available products list, where it is chosen by owner-operators, often as the only choice available. The distributor serves the retailer who can now get everything in one place easily. As the channel matures, distributors use their buying power as leverage with manufacturers for better pricing. Manufacturers use the distributor as leverage against competitors who might also want to be distributed in that region.

Consumers lose as every Chinese fast food place serves the exact same stuff (because they only buy from distributors), but gain as prices decrease due to competitive pressures. So-called “gourmet” Chinese restaurants gain as they break free of the channel and offer fresher, unique foods (those which are difficult to commoditize via distribution channels). The cycle repeats, as specialty distributors appear to serve the gourmet market (think Farmer’s Markets as examples of specialty distrbution channels).

If my internship at Becton-Dickinson Consumer Products taught me anything, it was the value of the distribution channel. Own that, and with a good legal department you can own a market even with an inferior product (Note: Becton Dickinson’s products are not at all inferior… in fact they are often far superior. It takes more than brute force channel dominance to be in the Fortune 400 overall, Fortune 10 in the health sector, and #3 on Fortune’s List of Most Admired Companies list).

As for “new new media”, it is a name for the modern approach to current online media, since New Media was used simply to indicate Online/Electronic media some years ago.

]]> by: Peter http://www.johnon.com/462/job-in-a-box.html#comment-77626 Wed, 02 Jan 2008 09:30:51 +0000 http://www.johnon.com/462/job-in-a-box.html#comment-77626 Great article. Could you expand on this a little. "They want to see more control, which means more “channels”. It will take some time (2 years?) but it will happen fast. If you’re not building some piece of that new new media, you really need to re-think your online strategy. There is a TON of opportunity". New new media? Great article.

Could you expand on this a little. “They want to see more control, which means more “channels”. It will take some time (2 years?) but it will happen fast. If you’re not building some piece of that new new media, you really need to re-think your online strategy. There is a TON of opportunity”.

New new media?

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