[closed] What is an example of a distribution chain in a business?

Size and scope – e.g. can it afford an in-house sales force?

Marketing objectives – revenue or profit maximisation?

Does it have established distribution network or does it need to extend its distribution option

How much control does it want over distribution? The longer the channel, the less control is available

the series of businesses or organizations that are involved in transporting, storing, and selling goods to customers. For example, a manufacturer sells the product to a distributor who sells the product to retailers (= stores) that then sell the product to customers:

Any manufacturing organization will have supply chain to deliver the product to customer from getting a request for purchase.

Ex: Any customer want to buy Dell Product, He has to place the order to Dell either online or thru our sales team. After placing the order, it goes to manufacturing team -- inspection team--warehouse--logistics--delivery--techsupport (if reqd for installation). so the entire path termed as supply chain. Thought it looks simple in paper, in real it gets into complexity because of certain legal/process requirements.

But distribution business is different than supply chain, once product delivered to a distributor, it goes to whole seller, retailer to consumer. in some cases product goes thru multiple retailers before getting to consumer. the entire mechanism termed as distribution.

Supply Chain in text book terms is how an organization transfers value from one part of its organization to another and finally to the end customer. While the definition is all encompassing the applicability and framework will differ depending on the type on industry you are in and the customers you are trying to serve. Also importantly supply chain can be used to differentiate a business, to create differentiation or cost advantage. Lets take an example of a Car Manufacturer with large market share, typically you will find a large dealer and post sales service network, this approach is vital for a product like a car, where you need to be where the customer is and service his needs given nature of the product. So the network stretches from OEM (Order Equipment Manufacturer), Assembly unit, Paint, upholstery, Quality and Inspection, Transport vendors, distributors, sales and marketing, to the Show room and in addition a service and repair network. Please keep in mind this business services a large geography where customers are spread out and you to need to go where the customer is at. This involves managing a large network of people, resources and movement of good. You will therefore see most Automotive companies being the pioneers in quality frameworks to reduce defects, improve time to market and therefore reduce cost. Such model will also heavily rely on information and forecasting systems ( E.g. Just in Time (JIT, LEAN).. good reference reading look up "Schonberger"

Finally objectives that a company set is to maximize its share holder returns given the market and customers they serve. Schonberger articulated this as parameters for differentiation, Quality, Speed, Flexibility and Value. These Principles could be applied completely differently in another industry for e.g. Mobile Networks.

Another big driver for differences in Supply chain model is as follows
1. Degree of customization
2. Degree of Interaction
3. Degree of Labor intensity

Now with the above few frameworks I have spoken about , would request you draw up the difference that could exist between a Car Manufacturer lets Take Toyota as an e.g, take Boeing as another industry, and Hilton Chain of Hotels.

you will soon discover that markets ( loosely used as the business segment) dictate the supply chain model until suddenly along comes a player who redefines the way it can serve the market , e.g. Amazon ( more and more people now Shop online) or what ATM's and Internet/ Mobile Banking did to the way Bank ran their processes.

Hope you find this useful, do write back in case of any further queries . All the Best