The industrial chemical industry in England shows a fairly regular rise and fall in
demand over four- or five-year periods. This provides an illustration of the _____
component of a time series.
a. trend
b. cycle
c. random
d. seasonal
e. irregular
A(n) _____ represents the products, services, ideas, and solutions that a business
marketer offers to advance the performance goals of the customer organization.
a. industry bandwidth
b. value proposition
c. marketing plan
d. customer relationship management program
A significant increase in the price of gasoline that leads to a decrease in the purchases
of new automobiles is an example of the impact of which environmental force?
a. economic factors.
b. political and legal factors.
c. technological factors.
d. all of the above.
e. (a) and (c) only.
Within the buying center, individuals who actually make the organizational buying
decision, whether or not they have formal authority to do so, are performing the role of:
a. a user.
b. a gatekeeper.
c. an influencer.
d. a decider.
e. a buyer.
“Delivering on promises” relates to which of the following dimensions of service
quality?
a. empathy
b. responsiveness
c. assurance
d. reliability
e. all of the above
The degree of latitude that an industrial firm has in setting prices above those offered by
competitors is dependent upon:
a. the firm’s objectives.
b. the cost of producing the product.
c. the level of differentiation that the product enjoys in the perceptions of organizational
buyers.
d. the size of the firm’s promotional budget.
e. both (a) and (b)
The cost of reaching a prospect at a trade show is approximately:
a. $50
b. $150
c. $250
d. $500
e. $750
Inventories are needed in business channels because:
a. production and demand are perfectly matched.
b. operating deficiencies in logistical system often result in product unavailability.
c. business customers can predict their product needs with certainty.
d. all of the above.
e. (a) and (c) only.
_____ are those attributes that are not typically required but that can ultimately lead to a
supplier being selected by a customer over other qualified suppliers.
a. Core benefits
b. Add-on benefits
c. Supplier personality traits
d. Customer values
e. Elasticities of demand
The use of a goods classification system can be extremely valuable to business
marketers because:
a. a marketing strategy appropriate for one category of goods may be entirely unsuitable
for another.
b. a marketing strategy that works for consumer products will often work for products
sold in business markets.
c. the physical nature of the industrial good and its intended use by the organizational
customer affects the marketing program’s requirements.
d. all of the above are true.
e. only (a) and (c) are true.
“Lead users” are characterized as important sources of new product ideas because they:
a. have needs that will be general in the marketplace in the future.
b. represent influential buying organizations.
c. are consistent early adopters of new technologies.
d. all of the above
e. (a) and (b) only
Which of the following performance attributes has research recently shown influences
customer satisfaction of business buyers?
a. Responsiveness of the supplier in meeting the firm’s needs.
b. Product quality.
c. Delivery reliability.
d. All of the above.
e. Only (a) and (b).
Research on new service success suggests that:
a. the determinants of success for new services closely resemble those found for
successful new products.
b. a well managed service development process is crucial.
c. successful projects provide clear customer benefits.
d. all of the above.
e. (b) and (c) only.
When purchasing a high speed packaging machine, General Foods would be classified
as:
a. an original equipment manufacturer.
b. a user.
c. a distributor.
d. a dealer.
e. an institutional buyer.
Relationship quality is composed of at least two dimensions: trust in the salesperson
and satisfaction with the salesperson.
There are many situations in business marketing where a direct channel of distribution
is not feasible.
For truly global industries, a firm’s position in one country significantly affects its
position elsewhere, so a multi-domestic strategy is required.
Transactional exchange centers on the timely delivery of basic products for highly
competitive market prices.
Disruptive strategies can take two forms: ____________________ disruptions and
____________________.
Hayes enjoys a well-established position as a supplier to the automobile industry. The
firm supplied wheels to the Model T Ford. Today, Hayes is betting on a new product,
fabricated aluminum wheels, which weigh up to 20 percent less than cast aluminum
wheels and 40 percent less than steel ones. Hayes has signed contracts worth $50
million for the new wheelsmostly for use in spare tireswith DaimlerChrysler, Ford,
General Motors, and BMW. Drawing on the industrial goods classification scheme, how
would you classify the aluminum wheels? Sketch out the critical buying motives that
organizations like DaimlerChrysler would emphasize in evaluating the wheels and
explore Hayes’ associated marketing strategy implications.
Answer:
n/a
For a strategy to succeed, individuals in a company must understand and share a
common definition of a firm’s existing business concept.
Your first task as a product manager at Dow Chemical is to evaluate the market
segmentation strategy followed by your predecessor. For the past four years, this
manager had been dividing the market on the basis of NAICS codes and developing a
separate marketing strategy for each of 5 different NAICS industries. Describe the
specific steps that you would follow in evaluating the existing segmentation plan. What
factors might prompt you to seriously consider making a change in the existing
segmentation approach?
Answer:
n/a
By directing its resources to all of its customers evenly, the business marketer is less
vulnerable to focused competitors that may seek to “cherry pick” the firm’s most
valuable customers.
From the business marketer’s perspective, the cost-per-thousand calculations for various
media options should be based on circulation to the target audience, not the total
audience.
Cross-functional teams appear to work best when the products are familiar, such as
product modifications.
Although the dividing line between strategy and execution is a bit fuzzy, it is often not
difficult to diagnose implementation problems and to distinguish them from strategy
deficiencies.
Although air provides the lowest average delivery time, generally it has the highest
variability in delivery time relative to average.
Expense-to-sales ratios provide one measure of the efficiency of marketing operations.
Two types of benefits can contribute to customer value in business markets:
____________________ benefits which are the basic requirements the business
marketer must meet to be included in the customer’s consideration set and
____________________ benefits which are those attributes typically not required, that
assist the customer in selecting a supplier from among a qualified set of potential
suppliers.
When the focus of the selling firm shifts from attracting customers to keeping
customers, these exchanges are best described as:
Large firms tend to make up the majority of the most profitable customers AND of the
least profitable customers. What are some of the characteristics that define both
high-cost-to-serve and low-cost-to-serve customers? What can business marketers do to
manage high and low cost-to-serve customers?
Answer:
n/a
Business-to-business service firms are more likely to emphasize transactional strategies
as opposed to relationship strategies.