In many developing countries, the majority of citizens make their living through microenterprises- informal, tiny businesses that barely yield enough to survive. Without financial services, most of these entrepreneurs find growth simply impossible. The Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA), a nonprofit established in 1984, stepped into the gap by providing micro-loans ($50-$500) to the poorest of the poor entrepreneurs, through village banks that are administered by the people they serve. The FINCA program has been amazingly successful at breaking the vicious cycle of poverty for its clients. Check out their story on the Web at www. finca. org. Why has the FINCA approach worked so well? Do you think it would work in poor communities in the United States? Why or why not?

Northern lights electronics just completed plans to distribute its new tablet. the product has several unique features that differentiate it from competitor products. the marketing team plans to begin a roll-out with to only one traditional retailer for the first two months. this strategy will give consumers the perception of the product’s stand-out personality and increase demand. marketing will proceed with for the next four months, where it plans to distribute to three other retailers, as well. for the last six months of the year, it will initiate distribution agreements with discount retailers and online retailers, and any other electronics store that wants to carry it. the marketing team is confident that the tablet will cycle through the first three stages of its product life cycle quickly. as the tablet reaches maturity during the second half of its first year in the market, it is good strategy to proceed with as described above. intensive distribution; selective distribution; exclusive distribution exclusive distribution; selective distribution; intensive distribution tertiary level distribution; secondary level distribution; mono-level distribution mono-level distribution; secondary level distribution; tertiary level distribution