TRANSPORT & THE MARKETING PHILOSOPHY: DISTRIBUTION AS A WEAPON OF ATTACK

RHM is one of the principal groups in the food trade who run their distribution on an in‐house basis, and in the view of disinterested observers, it is not only an efficient operation but one which adheres to the “total concept” philosophy of PDM. Bob Beckham's view is that distribution is a customer‐satisfying process in response to a marketing initiative, or a consumer demand, and he warns that it is too easy for the distribution manager to become over preoccupied with the sectional interests of transport costs to the detriment of the overall purpose of the business. This is a summarised version of a paper paper delivered to a seminar organised jointly by the Institute of Marketing and the Centre for Physical Distribution Management.