In the trend of international development, multinational corporations should face three major international challenges: global integration and coordination, regional differences and responses and global innovation and learning. The backgrounds and motivations that enterprises adopt the strategy of internationalization are different. Whereas, enterprises to implement international strategies will inevitably involve the design and layout of channels. Therefore, ¡§Distribution Channel Strategies¡¨ are the major business strategies of the overseas subsidiaries of multinational corporations. Today is the era of ¡§who controlling the channels will win.¡¨ Besides providing superior quality products or service, enterprises should have adequate channels to, with lower cost or shorter transferring time, give customers convenient points to purchase and send the products to the target market, therefore, to create a good business performance. This thesis focuses on the distribution channel strategies of multi-national companies and gives a case study of ¡§Taiwan Furukawa.¡¨ We investigate internal and external environments and the business performances of two distribution channel strategies, and use case study method to the empirical analysis, which belonging to a single case design with a single design pattern of the subject. Three industry analysis methods, including value chain analysis, SWOT analysis, and five force analysis, is adopted to analyze the internal and external environments. We find that the sharp drop in revenue alerted Taiwan Furukawa to investigate the agencies and corporate customers in the sales network. They found the problem is that the business objectives of the agencies and Taiwan Furukawa are inconsistent, causing a significant reduction in sales volume. Then, the revenue has grown significantly after Taiwan Furukawa adopting ¡§direct sales¡¨ and ¡§zero-stage channel¡¨ substituting for ¡§indirect sales¡¨ and ¡§one-stage channel,¡¨ respectively. Above all, we find the ¡§zero-stage channel¡¨ has three functions, including direct sales, information channel, and customer service.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has recently (2005) become a sizzling topic for discussion (Lewis 2004). It is not only the subject of conversations among engineers but also the center of focus for venture capital investors and start-ups. However, behind these glamorous scenes, there are many failures in product launches, unsuccessful business operations, and worth thinking business opportunities. Is it our expectation for this revolutionary technology too high or the business strategy is fundamentally wrong? As with other emerging new technologies, adequate distribution channels are required to bring commercialized RFID products to people’s daily lives. However, as with different commercial products, dissimilar product nature and characteristics require different distribution channel strategy. / Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has recently (2005) become a sizzling topic for discussion (Lewis 2004). It is not only the subject of conversations among engineers but also the center of focus for venture capital investors and start-ups. However, behind these glamorous scenes, there are many failures in product launches, unsuccessful business operations, and worth thinking business opportunities. Is it our expectation for this revolutionary technology too high or the business strategy is fundamentally wrong? As with other emerging new technologies, adequate distribution channels are required to bring commercialized RFID products to people’s daily lives. However, as with different commercial products, dissimilar product nature and characteristics require different distribution channel strategy.

Digital transformation has led to major shifts in the customer landscape and the roles of distribution channel partners, resulting in implications for the distribution channel strategy of manufacturing firms. Whereas previous research in the field focused primarily on the impact of the shifting customer landscape, a gap in the literature was identified concerning digital transformation in relation to a manufacturing firm's distribution channel strategy. This study therefore aims to explore how the distribution channel strategy of manufacturing firms is affected by digital transformation and what the main challenges are for manufacturers, in order to address these implications. Building on existing work on multi-channel strategies and technological advancements, the main research question is: How can manufacturing firms adapt their distribution channel strategy in the face of digital transformation? An exploratory case study on a manufacturing firm was conducted utilizing semi-structured interviews as the main source of data, and analysis of the case study indicates that digital transformation affects the strategic choices of manufacturing firms related to their end users and channel partners. Based on the findings, the thesis contributes with practical considerations: that manufacturers should adapt the distribution channel strategy by focusing on the transformation of culture towards a holistic ecosystem approach to an integrated multi-channel strategy and by promoting win-win channel partner relationships. Also, the thesis makes a theoretical contribution by generating empirical evidence from a case study of a manufacturing firm, highlighting strategic challenges in the face of digital transformation. / Den digitala transformationen har lett till skiften i hur produkter konsumeras av kunder och vilken roll återförsäljare har i leveransen av dessa, vilket haft konsekvenser för distributionsstrategin för tillverkande bolag. Tidigare forskning har fokuserat på multi-kanalstrategier och hur dessa kan utformas av tillverkande bolag, medan färre studier gjorts på den direkta inverkan av den digitala transformationen på ett tillverkande bolags distributionskanalsstrategi. Således identifierades ett gap i tidigare forskning och därför ämnar denna studie utforska konsekvenserna för distributionskanalsstrategion för ett tillverkande av den digitala transformationen samt hur denna kan anpassas för att addressera dessa konsekvenser. Genom att bygga vidare på tidigare forskning inom dessa områden ställs den huvudsakliga forskningsfrågan: hur kan tillverkande bolag anpassa distributionskanalstrategin för att möta konsekvenser av digital transformation? Med den nuvarande forskningen som utgångspunkt genomfördes en undersökande fallstudie av ett svenskt tillverkande företag med semistrukturerade intervjuer som huvudsaklig datainsamling. Analysen av fallstudien visar att digital transformation påverkar de strategiska omständigheterna för ett tillverkande bolag kopplat till förändrande kundbeteenden och rollen av återförsäljare och betonar vikten av samarbete för att integrera distributionskanaler. Baserat på dessa resultat bidrar studien med praktiska överväganden för utformningen av en distributionsstrategi. Slutligen bidrar studien även till forskningen med empiriska data från en fallstudie av ett tillverkande bolag och visar på dess strategiska utmaningar till följd av digital transformation.

Healthcare is a very important and intimate service virtually all people use at least at some occasion in a lifetime. It is also highly complex and variable with heterogeneous patients requiring individualised attention in order to be effectively treated. This requires large resources in terms of labour, knowledge, skill, and time which is why in the past, improving productivity has been difficult. Information and communications technology, ICT, has been seen to have potential to improve productivity in e.g. diagnosing, devising treatment plans, communicating with patients and clinical staff, and record-keeping if applied correctly. During mainly the 1990s, the banking sector changed its distribution channel strategy to focus increasingly on Internet banking rather than local branches. If parallels are drawn between the two, such as comparing local branches to clinics, what can a rheumatology department learn? A case study was conducted at Karolinska University Hospital's Department of Rheumatology. Existing communication pathways associated with the clinic-patient communication were identified, theory and knowledge of the banking sector change was compiled and some current efforts of ICT integration in healthcare were briefly reviewed. Finally, the project sought to provide a future vision for communications in rheumatology. Examples of risks and difficulties considered were legal issues, patient safety and the current compensation for the clinics, which today represent a major limitation for strategy formulation. The study identified several key issue areas to consider when implementing ICT in healthcare and the importance of aligning ICT with workflow. Parts of the banks strategic choices are also applicable in healthcare, e.g. using a multi-channel strategy where different customer segments are targeted with different channels. Further, a unified customer management system containing input from patient as well as provider is highly recommended, together with an online portal increasing accessibility for patients. Most importantly, all distribution channels and ICT systems considered for use should be thoroughly integrated with day-to-day workflow.