A Case Study in Gray Markets

• DOI: 10.22533/at.ed.342220407

• Palavras-chave: gray market, marketing channels, pricing issues

• Keywords: gray market, marketing channels, pricing issues

• Abstract:

  This dissertation analyzes the emergence of international gray markets, their impact on manufacturers and other members of the marketing channel and the strategies used by some companies when dealing with the gray market problem. This study uses the case of a sophisticated, high-technology firm that manufactures consumer products and packaged goods as the focus of the research. First, I report some examples describing the general gray market problem and assess a description of gray schemes in the consumer goods industry. Then I approach some issues in pricing schemes used by companies dealing with gray markets and describe the current status of the legal aspects referring to gray markets. Then I make the appropriate links of the literature review to the firm studied in this case. In this thesis, the firm in the case study will be referred to as TechDisk. I characterize the nature of gray markets for TechDisk and show the major issues that the firm faces when dealing with gray markets. Finally, a conclusion on the behavior of companies facing gray markets is drawn based upon the observations collected from the literature and based on the data from TechDisk.

• Número de páginas: 71