Although a market segment can meet all criteria for viability, a firm may choose to not
pursue the segment. Which of the following is a reason why this might occur?
a. A competitor has already targeted the segment.
b. Targeting the segment could lead to antitrust concerns.
c. The segment has no synergy with the firm’s mission.
d. The segment is difficult to reach via communication and/or distribution.
e. The segment’s members are not easily identifiable.
Which of the following changes occurring in today’s economy has NOT been caused by
the growth of the Internet?
a. increase in product selection
b. shifting demand patterns
c. privacy and security concerns
d. rising prices for most products
e. audience and media fragmentation
Walmart offers many different private-label brands including Sam’s Choice, Equate, and
Ol’ Roy. Overall, what is the primary reason that Walmart would offer these and other
private-label brands?
a. increased profit margin
b. reduced marketing costs
c. lowers the risk of a product failure
d. lower inventory costs
e. enhances Walmart’s image
In today’s economy, personal selling has evolved to take on elements of customer
service and marketing research. Why is this the case?
a. It is less expensive to deliver service and conduct research with the sales staff.
b. It is more time efficient because salespeople are already interacting with customers.
c. Personal selling focuses more on developing customer relationships than on
generating transactions.
d. It allows salespeople to earn higher commissions for doing more work.
e. None of the above is correct.
Many firms have shifted to balanced strategic planning because traditional planning and
measurement approaches are not able to capture:
a. key competitive information to drive marketing planning.
b. real-time customer satisfaction metrics.
c. the value created by an organization’s intangible assets.
d. either internal or external innovation.
e. real-time financial performance metrics.
With respect to the different components of the total product offering, supplemental
products play the important role of:
a. meeting basic customer needs.
b. delivering the main core benefits of the product offering.
c. adding symbolic benefits to the product offering.
d. delivering the minimum level of quality demanded by customers.
e. differentiating the product offering from competing products.
With regard to Blue Ocean Strategy, the Four-Actions Framework is designed to
challenge traditional assumptions about marketing strategy by asking four key
questions. Which of the following IS NOT one of these questions?
a. Which factors should be reduced well below the industry’s standard?
b. Which factors should be raised well above the industry’s standard?
c. Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered?
d. Which factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated?
e. Which factors used throughout the industry should be copied?
With respect to the consumer buying process, __________ is perhaps the most
important factor that affects the time, effort, and expense dedicated to the search for
information.
a. the degree of risk
b. the consumer’s expertise
c. the consumer’s brand loyalty
In the purchase of a product, time, effort, risk, and opportunity costs are all examples
of:
a. nonmonetary costs.
b. soft costs.
c. intangible costs.
Assume a customer planning to purchase a Wii U gaming console made this statement:
‘Given the expense and all the hype about the new Wii U, it ought to be the best gaming
console ever made.’ What type of expectation does this customer have about the Wii U?
a. an ideal expectation
b. a normative expectation
c. an experience-based expectation
Marketing goals can be defined as:
a. quantitative guidelines that help firms achieve desired results.
b. broad, qualitative statements of desired accomplishments.
c. performance process controls.
d. specifications by which performance will be assessed.
e. precise statements of desired accomplishments.
The role of ethics in marketing strategy can be distilled into one word. Without
__________, marketers run the risk of alienating stakeholders and inviting financial
ruin.
a. reputation
b. trust
c. responsibility
__________ segmentation is the most powerful form of segmentation in consumer
markets because it uses actual product usage to make distinctions among market
segments.
a. Demographic
b. Behavioral
c. Psychographic
A customer’s decision to purchase one product or group of products over another is
primarily a function of:
a. the convenience of acquiring the product or group of products.
b. how well that choice will fulfill that person’s needs and satisfy his or her wants.
c. the product’s features relative to competing products.
d. the product’s price.
e. the availability of the product or group of products.
While Madison was shopping for coffee makers at Target, she recognized many of the
brands that were available. Although she was looking for a machine made by Mr.
Coffee, she bought a coffee maker by Hamilton Beach because Target was out of all Mr.
Coffee machines. What type of brand loyalty is Madison exhibiting?
a. brand recognition
b. brand preference
c. brand insanity
Retailers use __________ extensively. This occurs when the retailer compares sale
prices to regular prices, such as when Best Buy promotes a DVD player as ‘Regularly
$99, Now $49.’
a. reference pricing
b. EDLP
c. odd pricing
d. value-based pricing
e. sale pricing
Which of the following statements best represents the universal goal of all sales
promotion activities?
a. To increase sales volume in the long term.
b. To stimulate customer interest and attention.
c. To induce product trial and purchase.
d. To enhance the image of the firm.
e. To gain the attention of members of the supply chain.
What type of marketing controls consists of unwritten, employee-based mechanisms
that subtly affect the behaviors of employees, both as individuals and in groups?
a. input controls
b. informal controls
c. process controls
Which of the following statements best describes the nature of a marketing plan?
a. It clearly outlines the organization’s mission and vision.
b. It outlines how the organization will raise capital to finance growth.
c. It focuses solely on the internal resources needed to develop a marketing strategy.
d. It clearly outlines the organization’s marketing activities.
e. All of these statements describe a marketing plan.
__________ is the curse of mature markets whereby products lack any real means of
differentiation and customers see competing products as offering roughly the same
benefits.
a. Specialization
b. Commoditization
c. Maturation
__________ typically occur within the competitive, customer, economic, political/legal,
technological, and/or sociocultural environments of the firm.
a. Strengths and weaknesses
b. Strengths and opportunities
c. Opportunities and threats
Motorola continuously establishes performance standards and assesses actual
performance by comparing it with these standards. Afterwards, Motorola often takes
corrective action to reduce any discrepancies. This process is most likely outlined in the
__________ section of Motorola’s marketing plan.
a. evaluation and control
b. marketing strategy
c. marketing implementation
Identify and discuss the various traditional market segmentation strategies. Include in
your answer a discussion of the relative advantages and disadvantages of each strategy.
Discuss the steps involved in the AIDA model of outlining promotional goals. How
does IMC strategy shift from one step to the next in the model? How does the important
of various promotional elements vary across the steps?
Describe how the business buying process differs from the consumer buying process.
Include an explanation of the unique characteristics of business markets.
Discuss the benefits associated with offering a large portfolio of products. What are
some of the key issues involved in managing the product portfolio?
Identify and explain the directives for the productive use of SWOT analysis. Which
directive do you think is the most important? Why?
Identify and discuss the five questions that should be answered by a good mission
statement. Why do you think some firms have mission statements that do not answer
these basic questions?
Explain why marketing implementation is difficult for many firms. In your answer,
discuss how these difficulties often stem from the relationship between strategic
planning and marketing implementation.