garret (02/22/83)
I'm an MBA student at the University of Washington, and am presently writing a survey paper on distribution channels for software in the business microcomputer market. A channel is defined as a set of interdependent organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for consumption. For example, one channel in software distribution might consist of a programmer, a software packaging company and a Computerland store. An important stage in the distribution of a product involves its definition along the following dimensions: 1. Product uses/technology 2. customer groups 3. geographic location. This determines, to a great extent, the channel(s) of distribution to be used. I would be interested in receiving both general and specific responses on this topic. A general response might be a comment on trends in this area, while a specific response would be relevant if you have been involved in the writing or marketing of software for the business microcomputer market. I would be interested in how your product was defined, along the dimensions mentioned above, the channel(s) of distribution used, and the relative success or failure of channels used. The results of this study will be posted on net.misc. Thank you. Lalitha Ramachandran Seattle, WA