Sondologics, a manufacturer of video, audio, and gaming accessories products, was experiencing pricing and distribution problems in its channels. Numerous retailers were complaining about unfair price competition from unauthorized retailers, i.e., gray marketers, on standalone websites or Amazon's Marketplace, offering discounts of up to 30% off list price. The company estimated that about 10% of its retail volume in the United States was being generated by unauthorized retailers. Compounding the problem, gray marketers and authorized retailers alike were selling at below-list prices, which violated the Sondologics MAP (minimum advertised pricing) policy. Sondologics was considering numerous initiatives to address the MAP and gray-market problems, including retaining a third-party service to monitor pricing and distribution in the channel. Students are asked to develop recommendations that would promote sales while protecting the name-brand image and price points of Sondologics' products.

This case looks at a new start-up company, d.light Design, as it was seeking to go to market in India with its solar-powered LED lamps in 2009. Sam Goldman, founder and chief customer officer of d.light, was in New Delhi, India; his business-school friend and co-founder Ned Tozun was in China, the site of the company's manufacturing plant. One of the key decisions Goldman and Tozun needed to make was whether d.light should focus on just one distribution channel in India, or multiple channels. The startup had limited capital, so it needed to get the distribution question right to generate revenue quickly. The case thus combines an entrepreneurial problem with an emerging-market, or bottom-of-the-pyramid, channel design challenge. This case does not focus on product design or manufacturing challenges but rather on questions of: The constraints d.light faced in creating an aligned distribution channel. These constraints can have legal, environmental, and/or managerial foundations; Demand-side misalignments in the channel structure that will occur if d.light chooses one or another of the considered channels in the case, namely, (a) the RE (rural entrepreneur) channel, (b) the village retailer channel, or (c) the centralized shops channel; What mix of channels―or what single channel―d.light should focus on in the Indian market; The financial return possible based on d.light's current cost structure and overhead expenditures in India.

Align Inc. is a start-up company with a revolutionary, patent-protected new technology for straightening teeth called Invisalign. Invisalign is a set of invisible plastic aligners made to each patient's specific needs that substitute for metal or ceramic braces in adults (it is not sold for children's orthodontic needs). The company has created tremendous consumer awareness and affect for its product, yet sales results are dismal. Requires the reader to analyze the reasons for such poor sales and what to do to remedy the problem.

Mary Kay is one of the best-known direct sellers of women's cosmetics in the world. Its channel strategy is to use independent beauty consultants, who are independent distributors, to sell directly to consumers. Its compensation plan is multilevel, providing commissions to distributors on their own sales as well as the sales of the distributors they recruit. At the time of the case, the company is grappling with a well-established change in consumer behavior--the decline of the stay-at-home mom as she returns to the workforce--combined with the opportunities offered by Internet selling. Focuses on the company's efforts to move with consumer demand and behavior, while remaining true to its core goal of "Improving Women's Lives." Discusses ways Internet technology can be used throughout the company's channel and supply chain structure, not just as a route to market.

Michaels Craft Stores is the largest arts and crafts retailer in the United States and in the world. Its CEO, Michael Rouleau, wants to expand the chain to 1,000 stores by 2006. The key constraint is the lack of sophistication among Michaels' supplier base, which is made up of over 1,000 suppliers, many of which are small, creative companies with little computer or logistics knowledge. As a result, the cost of running Michaels' supply chain is high. Describes the company's efforts to build the sophistication of its suppliers through educational Vendor Flow Training courses that teach suppliers how to adopt state-of-the-art practices for improved efficiency in supplying their channel.

Verklar is the leading maker of roof windows based in Europe. Its Austrian subsidiary has historically dominated the Austrian market, with about 85% market share. However, at the time of the case, its market share has dropped to about 75%, and many of its dealers have either dropped the line entirely or are buying not from the company, but from the few remaining large dealers who still buy directly from Verklar. This has prompted the president of the subsidiary to devise a new way--called the Quota System--to run the distribution channel in the country to improve performance. Asks the reader to examine the sources of market share decline and whether the proposed Quota System solves the channel's problems.