The “battle of the brands” is the competition between dealer brands and manufacturer
brands.
Answer:
The message channel may be as important as the message itself in influencing the
receiver.
Answer:
Most firms operate in monopolistic competition, where products and whole marketing
mixes are not exactly the same.
Answer:
Accumulating involves collecting products from many small producers-often as a way
to get lower transportation rates.
Answer:
Discrepancies of assortment occur because individual producers tend to specialize in
producing a large assortment of products while individual consumers prefer to buy a
small assortment of products.
Answer:
Fad products are characterized by popular styles and they appeal to the mass market.
Answer:
Most firms avoid administered prices because they may be illegal under the
Robinson-Patman Act.
Answer:
The product life cycle concept applies to retailers as well as products.
Answer:
The publicity method called “pass-along” is rarely successful because people don’t trust
other people.
Answer:
Marketing opportunities that involve moving into totally different lines of business are
“diversification” opportunities.
Answer:
Which of the following is TRUE?
A. The product “P” in the marketing mix stands for only physical goods.
B. The product “P” in the marketing mix stands for both physical goods and services.
C. The product “P” in the marketing mix stands for only tangible merchandise.
D. The product “P” in the marketing mix stands for both physical goods and tangible
merchandise.
The Product area is concerned with developing the right product for the target market.
This offering may involve a physical good, a service, or a blend of both.
Answer:
When both regrouping and storing are needed, a firm should add a distribution center.
Answer:
Customer service reps are customer advocates, but they need company support.
Answer:
Eating places spend a higher percentage of their sales on advertising than do
amusement parks.
Answer:
Today, discount houses are found in low-rent facilities, have poor images with
customers, and offer few services and no guarantees.
Answer:
Agent wholesalers typically provide even more functions than full service merchant
wholesalers.
Answer:
In the adoption process, the confirmation step usually precedes the decision step.
Answer:
Consumer products that a customer buys on sight as unplanned purchases, may have
bought the same way before, and wants “right now” are impulse products.
Answer:
A common quantitative research approach is to use survey questionnaires with
multiple-choice questions.
Answer:
The right promotion blend depends on what the firm want to accomplish-so the
objective must be clearly defined.
Answer:
One new way to deliver customer service is to set up online communities where
customers help each other with problems.
Answer:
Firms that are described by NAICS code 3152 are more similar than firms described by
NAICS code 31.
Answer:
Reinforcement strengthens the relationship between the cue and the response.
Answer:
The group of people to whom an individual looks when forming attitudes about a
particular topic is his reference group for that topic.
Answer:
Few purchasing managers have been able to turn over any of their order placing to
computers because so few organizational purchases are routine.
Answer:
Macro-marketing emphasizes the activities of individual organizations.
Answer:
Leader pricing is normally used with products for which consumers do have a specific
reference price.
Answer:
Applying the experimental method in marketing research usually means the responses
of groups are compared.
Answer:
The external market environment doesn’t play a role in the marketing strategy planning
process because it exists outside of the company.
Answer:
Specialty shops will continue to be a part of the retailing scene as long as customers
have varied tastes and the money to satisfy them.
Answer:
Shopping products that a customer sees as different and wants to inspect for quality and
suitability are heterogeneous shopping products.
Answer:
Product type describes the goods and/or services that customers want.
Answer:
During the ‘sales era,” the firm tries to improve short-run marketing policy planning to
tie together its activities.
Answer:
Andy Cole sells fiberglass resins and fiberglass wire to the many small sailboat
manufacturers in southern California. He takes title to the products but does not handle
them. Instead, the resins are shipped in 50-gallon barrels directly from the producer to
the sailboat manufacturers. Cole is a:
A. selling agent.
B. cash-and-carry wholesaler.
C. manufacturers’ agent.
D. specialty wholesaler.
E. drop-shipper.
Answer:
Sales force training is needed for anyone:
A. with prior selling experience with the firm’s type of products.
B. with knowledge of the company’s products-but no selling experience.
C. with some selling experience-but no knowledge of the company or its products.
D. who is new to sales and/or the company’s products.
E. All of these alternatives are correct.
Answer:
Use this information to answer the following question that refer to the EI (Electech Inc.)
case.
Electech, Inc. (EI) produces a line of semiconductors for electronics products
manufacturers. These items range in price from $5-$100 and are used in products the
buyer is producing. EI also designs and builds computer networking equipment. The
prices of these items range from $5,000 to $100,000. These are used to control
production equipment. Usually, they are custom-made to the specifications of the
buyer-the firm that will use the product in its own production process.
EI sells nationally through independent sales reps-paid on commission-who work in the
large industrial centers across the country. EI is more concerned with the quality of
these reps than with the number of them. All of them also sell other lines. EI also uses
five full-time salaried salespeople who work out of its corporate headquarters under a
sales manager.
The home office salespeople are “technical specialists” who sell almost all the
networking equipment, while the “reps” mostly sell the semiconductors. Sometimes,
however, the reps will send in leads to customers who want networking equipment. EI
also sells some of its semiconductors through a Los Angeles wholesaler who carries
stock for West Coast customers.
There are many producers and importers of semiconductors in the U.S.-but several
firms have captured large shares of the networking equipment market. EI has held its
own, and in fact, over the past five years has increased its market share of these
products to over 25 percent-because of its better technical designs.
Industry-wide prices of the more or less homogeneous semiconductors have been
forced further and further down over the last seven years-as have industry profits. The
price of networking equipment is set by adding a standard markup percent to the direct
cost of the items-for overhead and for profit. Following industry practice, all prices are
quoted at the seller’s factory.
EI publishes a catalog, which is revised periodically. Also, it exhibits in most equipment
trade shows.
In the EI case, what is the nature of competition for networking equipment?
A. Monopoly
B. Monopolistic competition
C. Pure competition
D. Oligopoly
Answer:
A small pet supply company assigns its sales manager to make the strategic decision
regarding what blend of promotion methods the company should use for the coming
year. Is the sales manager an appropriate choice for the role in this company?
A. Yes, because the sales manager is likely to have a great deal of experience in public
relations
B. Yes, because the sales manager most likely functions as the company’s marketing
manager
C. No, because the sales manager is focused on managing the company’s mass-selling
effort
D. No, because the sales manager will likely hire an outside agency to develop
company ads
E. No, because the sales manager is likely to be less experienced than other managers at
this job
Answer:
Use this information for question that refer to the Centerville Retailers and Wholesalers
case.
Carol Lamb has lived in Centerville all her life. She owns a retail store that sells hobby
and craft supplies. She bought the store after working there for 7 years. Carol has just
been asked to head up the Retailers and Wholesaler Group of the Centerville Chamber
of Commerce. The most active chamber members in her group are described below:
Walden’s Leather is part of a regional chain of stores that sells leather goods-mostly
men’s and women’s clothing-with the upscale Walden’s brand name. Walden’s primarily
relies on its own stores where knowledgeable salespeople offer great service. Walden
products are also sold, on a limited basis, in some fine department stores.
Publisher’s Helper is a small business started by Audrey Yang that provides and stocks
display racks for paperback books and magazines. Most retailers welcome the service
Audrey provides, in part because she does her own research to determine which
paperback books and magazines sell best in Centerville.
Cuzco’s is Centerville’s alternative to Walmart. The store sells a wide variety of
merchandise. The company used to concentrate its product mix on small appliances-but
now Cuzco’s carries any product that it can sell profitably. Its low prices stimulate faster
turnovers and higher sales volumes.
Games Unlimited sells video games. Jamie Carraway, who owns the local store, signed
a contract with Games Unlimited and follows strict rules covering her store’s operations
and the Games Unlimited marketing strategy. She pays that company a fee for
promotion it provides as well as commissions on her sales.
Johnson’s Health and Beauty Supplies sells cosmetics and other health and beauty
products to retailers and salons throughout the greater Centerville area. It owns the
goods it sells to these retailer customers, and it provides all the wholesaling functions
they need.
Valu Grocer is an independent grocery store that belongs to an organization sponsored
by a large food wholesaler. The fifty stores grocery stores that share the Valu Grocer
name are linked by contracts that include basic operating procedures, storefront designs,
and joint promotion efforts.
Reddy and Sons sells equipment for several different manufacturers of plastic molding
in the Centerville area. It earns a commission from each manufacturer on the products it
sells for that manufacturer, but it does not take ownership of the equipment it sells nor
does it install the equipment.
Katrina’s Salon started out as a low-status, low-price, low-margin hair salon 15 years
ago. After some success, the company moved into a nicer storefront, raised prices, and
now operates in the middle of the market.
Which of these businesses is a voluntary chain?
A. Games Unlimited
B. Valu Grocer
C. Walden’s Leather
D. Katrina’s Salon
Answer:
Which of the following is a status quo oriented pricing objective?
A. Target return
B. Unit sales growth
C. Profit maximization
D. Growth in market share
E. Nonprice competition
Answer:
Which of the following is the best example of a “product-market?”
A. The MP3 player market
B. The young adult exercise market
C. The software market
D. The convenience market
E. The status symbol market
Answer:
Which of the following would probably be treated as a capital item by a large clothing
manufacturer?
A. Computer-controlled fabric cutting machines.
B. Zippers.
C. Cloth.
D. Buttons.
E. None of these would be treated as a capital item.
Answer:
The set of laptop computers sold by Dell is called a(n):
A. product line.
B. emergency product.
C. impulse product.
D. product assortment.
E. unsought product.
Answer:
Some nonprofit organizations set prices to increase market share because
A. it is a regulatory requirement.
B. they would never do any business otherwise.
C. they are trying improve their image.
D. they wish to monopolize the market.
E. they are not trying to earn a profit.
Answer:
“Promotion” includes:
A. personal selling, mass selling, and sales promotion.
B. mass selling and sales promotion.
C. sales promotion and personal selling.
D. None of these choices is correct.
Answer:
The _____ type of competitive advertising points out product advantages to affect
future buying decisions.
A. direct
B. interactive
C. indirect
D. strategic
E. phonetic
Answer:
_____ is the managerial process of developing and maintaining a match between an
organization’s resources and its market opportunities.
A. Strategic (management) planning
B. Target marketing
C. Mass marketing
D. Resource allocation
E. Marketing control
Answer:
Sales promotion:
A. should not be needed if a firm has a good mass selling program.
B. is not likely to be used in the market maturity stage of the product life cycle.
C. objectives should be developed after the other promotion decisions have been
made-so the manager knows how much is left in the budget.
D. activities are often handled by outside specialists.
E. All of these alternatives are correct.
Answer:
Which of the following would help prevent marketing mistakes in evaluating
international market opportunities?
A. Assume that all cultures around the world are the same.
B. Do not “think locally.”
C. Use machine translators.
D. Include local citizens in the evaluation process.
E. Save money by cutting research into foreign markets.
Answer:
Use this information for question that refer to the Sporting Products, Inc. (SPI) case.
Randy Todd, marketing manager for Sporting Products, Inc. (SPI), is thinking about
how changes taking place among retailers in his channel might impact his strategy.
SPI sells the products it produces through wholesalers and retailers. For example, SPI
sells basketballs to Wholesale Supply for $8.00. Wholesale Supply uses a 20 percent
markup and most of its ‘sport shop” retailer customers, like Robinson’s Sporting Goods,
use a 33 percent markup to arrive at the price they charge final consumers. However,
one fast growing retail chain, Sports Depot, only uses a 20 percent markup for
basketballs, even though it pays Wholesale Supply the same price as other retailers.
Furthermore, Sports Depot occasionally lowers the price of basketballs and sells them
at cost-to draw customers into its stores and stimulate sales of its pricey basketball
shoes.
Sports Depot is also using other pricing approaches that are different from the sports
shops that usually handle SPI products. For example, Sports Depot prices all of its
baseball gloves at $20, $40, or $60-with no prices in between. There are three big bins –
one for each price point.
Todd is also curious about how Sports Depot’s new strategy to increase sales of tennis
balls will work out. The basic idea is to sell tennis balls in large quantities to nonprofit
groups who resell the balls to raise money. For example, a service organization at a
local college bought 2,000 tennis balls printed with the college logo. Sports Depot
charged $.50 each for the tennis balls-plus a $500 one-time charge for the stamp to print
the logo. The service group plans to resell the tennis balls for $2.50 each and contribute
the profits to a shelter for the homeless.
Todd is not certain if Sports Depot ideas will affect SPI’s plans. For example, SPI is
considering adding tennis racquets to the lines it produces. This would require a
$500,000 addition to its factory as well as the purchase of new equipment that costs
$1,000,000. The variable cost to produce a tennis racquet would be $20, but Todd
thinks that SPI could sell the racquet at a wholesale price of $40 each. That would allow
most retailers to add their normal markup and make a profit. However, if Sports Depot
sells the racquet at a lower than normal price other retailers might decide to carry it.
Randy Todd wants to use marginal analysis to price the new tennis racquets, but doesn’t
know the exact shape of the firm’s demand curve. Under these circumstances marginal
analysis:
A. is useless.
B. may be useful anyway because a profitable region usually surrounds the best price.
C. will suggest the same price as break-even analysis.
D. suggests that the only sensible approach is to follow the market leader.
E. none of these alternatives is correct.
Answer:
All of the following are key dimensions of relationships in business markets EXCEPT:
A. cooperation.
B. information sharing.
C. operational linkages.
D. non-specific adaptations.
E. legal bonds.
Answer:
In the US, social class groupings are typically based on all of the following EXCEPT:
A. type of housing.
B. education.
C. community participation.
D. occupation.
E. location of housing.
Answer:
From the Industrial Revolution until the 1920s, most companies were in the
A. marketing department era.
B. production era.
C. simple trade era.
D. marketing company era.
E. sales era.
Answer:
Which of the following statements about positioning is FALSE?
A. Positioning often makes use of techniques such as perceptual mapping.
B. Positioning refers to how customers think about proposed or present brands in a
market.
C. Positioning issues are especially important when competitors in a market are highly
dissimilar.
D. Positioning helps marketing managers know how customers view the firm’s offering.
E. Managers make graphs for positioning decisions by asking consumers to make
judgments about different brands.
Answer:
“Stockturn rate” means:
A. the number of days required to sell a given output of products.
B. the amount of time needed to sell every item in a retailer’s inventory.
C. the number of times the average inventory is sold in a year.
D. the rate at which products enter and leave an intermediary’s establishment.
E. None of these is a good definition of ‘stockturn rate.”
Answer:
A manufacturer spends a large amount of money on research and development leading
to the introduction of a product that is likely to present the firm with a breakthrough
opportunity. The manufacturer prices the product with the goal of achieving a 20
percent return on its investment. Which of the following types of pricing objectives is
the company using?
A. Target return
B. Profit maximization
C. Nonprice competition
D. Meeting competition
E. Dollar or unit sales growth
Answer:
The lowest cost and lowest risk way to enter a foreign market is through
A. a joint venture.
B. licensing.
C. management contracting.
D. a direct investment.
E. exporting.
Answer:
In the Jockey underwear ads using young people on the beach and the slogan, “Let ’em
know you’re Jockey,” the company is hoping to use __________ groups to influence
consumer behavior.
A. cultural
B. family
C. opinion
D. reference
E. social
Answer:
U.S. Census data show that:
A. less than 15 percent of all retailers have annual sales over $1 million.
B. very large retailers account for a small percentage of total retail sales.
C. manufacturers and wholesalers are more numerous than retailers in the United
States.
D. only about 15 percent of all retailers have annual sales over $5 million.
E. None of these alternatives is correct.
Answer:
Intermediaries in indirect channels of distribution:
A. Often perform functions that producers cannot perform efficiently by themselves.
B. Do not provide additional convenience to consumers.
C. Increase the need for producers to make large investments in distribution facilities
and personnel.
D. Make it necessary for producers to carry more inventories.
E. None of these alternatives is correct.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT a reason for you to study marketing?
A. Marketing affects almost every aspect of daily life.
B. Marketing will be important to your job.
C. Marketing involves actually making the goods that people need.
D. Marketing affects innovation and consumers’ standard of living.
E. Marketing plays a big part in economic growth and development.
Answer:
Use this information for question that refer to the Pricing 1 case. (WPI) case.
As a project for her marketing class, Emily Washington is researching how five local
businesses price their products. The following are brief sketches of what she has learned
about each company.
At Bella Computers, Emily has discovered that the company earned a 6 percent return
on investment this year and wants to increase it to 9 percent next year. To its retailer
customers, Bella Computers gives cash discount terms of 2/10, net 30. It also gives
retailers a 3% reduction on the invoice amount for advertising Bella products locally.
Bella gives retailers’ salespeople 2% of the sale price for each Bella Computer they sell.
At Ross Pharmaceuticals, she learned that the company has invested heavily in
developing a new product that recently received a patent. Because cash is tight, the
company wants to achieve a rapid return on its investment. The new patented product is
badly needed in the market, so a very inelastic demand curve is expected.
Digital Imaging makes photographic prints for wedding photographers. It is very
concerned about competitor reactions to its pricing, so it has selected prices that will not
draw the attention of the competition and not start a price war. Digital Imaging offers
customers an 8% discount if their purchases exceed $20,000 a year.
Jack’s One Hour Cleaners recently opened for business. The company invested a lot of
money in new equipment, and feels that it has to quickly get “at least 10% market share
to stay in the game.” This need obviously influences the company’s pricing decisions.
Jack’s also plans to offer customers 20% discounts on any order over $20.
National Printing Equipment (NPE) produces equipment that helps to print newspapers
and magazines. The company sells directly to printers and through wholesalers. Its
salespeople negotiate prices with individual customers and often have to match
competitors’ prices. NPE has a new product, the Gutenberg NP201, with some
competitive advantages now, but competitors are expected to follow quickly with
similar products. The new product is being introduced into a market with elastic
demand. Regarding freight charges for its equipment, NPE’s invoice reads, “Seller pays
the cost of loading equipment onto a common carrier. At the point of loading, title to
such products passes to the buyer, who assumes responsibility for damage in transit,
except as covered by the transportation agency.”
The 2% Bella Computers gives to retailers’ salespeople is an example of:
A. value pricing.
B. push money.
C. everyday low pricing.
D. an advertising allowance.
E. a stocking fee.
Answer:
_____ is an outcome or event that a person anticipates or looks forward to.
A. A response
B. A need
C. A desire
D. An expectation
E. An attitude
Answer:
Regarding message planning and the AIDA model:
A. “getting action” is the final and easiest step in the process.
B. focusing on one unique selling proposition is one way to arouse desire.
C. a successful attention-getting device assures “holding interest.”
D. “arousing desire” is the first and hardest step in the process.
E. All of these alternatives are correct.
Answer:
According to the text, marketing means:
A. much more than just selling and advertising.
B. advertising.
C. producing a product that fills a need.
D. selling.
E. making a good product that sells itself.
Answer:
Organizational buyers purchase the same product from more than one source
A. if no supplier has a superior marketing mix.
B. to help ensure continuing supplies.
C. because a single vendor usually doesn’t want all of the business.
D. if vendor analysis results in a “tie score” for the different suppliers.
E. None of these is true.
Answer:
Distribution agreements which limit sales by customer or territory:
A. are always illegal.
B. may be legal if they are horizontal agreements between producers and
intermediaries.
C. are definitely illegal if they are horizontal agreements among competing producers
or intermediaries, but may be legal if they are vertical agreements.
D. are definitely illegal if they are vertical agreements between producers and
intermediaries.
E. None of these alternatives is correct.
Answer:
If the advertising objective is to convince potential customers that “Safeway Cleaners”
offers excellent dry-cleaning services, what medium would be best for reaching local
prospects?
A. Television
B. Magazines
C. Cinema
D. Internet
E. Newspapers
Answer: