Final answer:
A strategic channel alliance is when one company uses another company's marketing channel to sell its products. It's a collaboration that can help companies expand their reach without significant individual brand marketing efforts, but is distinct from practices like collusion among oligopoly firms.
option b is the correct
Step-by-step explanation:
The concept being described is a strategic channel alliance, which is an innovation in marketing channels whereby one company uses another company's marketing channel to sell its products.
This specific arrangement allows firms to access new market segments or improve the efficiency of the product distribution without the need for creating their own marketing channels.
It offers a practical solution in scenarios like the beverage industry where creating a brand name and marketing efforts on the scale of large firms such as Coca-Cola or Pepsi is challenging due to their well-established market presence and consumer loyalty. Collaborative efforts such as strategic channel alliances, however, may raise concerns regarding collusion, which is when firms within an oligopoly work together to control prices and output rather than competing with each other.