102) Marketing services agencies are the marketing research firms, advertising agencies, media
firms, and marketing consulting firms that help the company target and promote its products to
the right markets.
103) Marketing success requires building relationships with other company departments,
suppliers, marketing intermediaries, competitors, various publics, and customers, which combine
to make up the company’s value delivery network.
104) Local publics include consumer organizations, environmental groups, minority groups, and
others.
105) Business markets buy goods and services for further processing or use in their production
processes.
106) Trudie Jones works for a distribution channel firm that helps several electronics companies
find customers or make sales to them. Trudie works for a reseller.
107) The demographic environment is of major interest to marketers because it involves people,
and people make up markets.
108) The single most important demographic trend in the United States that marketers should
understand is the changing family structure of the population.
109) As baby boomers reach their peak earning and spending years, they become lucrative
markets for financial services, travel, and entertainment.
110) The Gen Xers are increasingly displacing the lifestyles, culture, and values of the baby
boomers.
111) Millennials comprise the most commercially influential group in America today.
112) Millennials represent a larger demographic segment than the baby boomers or Gen Xers.
113) Marketers must increasingly consider the special needs of traditional households because
this segment of the population is growing more rapidly than nontraditional households.
114) The American workforce today is less white-collar than before.
115) Companies in several industries have recognized the buying power of the LGBT segment of
the U.S. population and have begun explicitly targeting these consumers with gay-specific ads
and marketing efforts.
116) Prior to the Great Recession of 2008/2009, American consumer spending was careful and
restrained.
117) Environmental sustainability concerns have declined steadily over the past three decades.
118) The technological environment is predominantly static.
119) The introduction of new technologies is equally beneficial to all industries.
120) The popularity of cause-related marketing as a form of corporate giving is rapidly
declining.
121) Secondary beliefs and values are less open to change than core beliefs and values.
122) When a company hires lobbyists to influence legislation affecting its industry, it is taking a
defensive stance toward the marketing environment.
123) Who are the major players in a company’s microenvironment? Explain the role that each
actor plays.
124) What are marketing intermediaries? What are the various types of marketing
intermediaries?
125) What is a public in terms of the marketing environment? In a short essay, briefly describe
the different types of publics faced by marketers and explain how marketing might communicate
with these publics.
126) What is demography? Why is the demographic environment of major interest to marketers?
Discuss the changing age structure of the U.S. population.
127) Explain the impact of the baby boomers, Generation Xers, and Millennials on today’s
marketing strategies.
128) What are the major trends in today’s natural environment? How do these trends affect
companies?
129) Why is the technological environment such a dramatic force in today’s market?
130) Discuss why business legislation is enacted. Provide examples.
131) What is cause-related marketing? Illustrate with examples.
132) How do people’s views of nature affect marketers?
133) How have large retailers such as Walmart changed the dynamics of partnering with
resellers?
134) What are two potential drawbacks of creating separate products and marketing programs for
each generation?
135) Why do marketers find baby boomers attractive?
136) How can marketers reach the Millennials effectively?
137) What does a traditional American household consist of?
138) Why do population shifts interest marketers?
139) In terms of ethnic and racial makeup, why is the United States today more accurately
characterized as a “salad bowl” than a “melting pot”?
140) Briefly explain why Americans amassed record amounts of debt and why the free-spending
trend has ended.
141) How can marketers benefit from developing solutions to environmental problems, such as
pollution and raw material shortages?
142) Why is government regulation necessary to protect consumers from unfair business
practices?
143) How do socially responsible firms positively impact consumers and the environment?
144) Explain the controversy surrounding cause-related marketing.
145) What is the difference between core beliefs and secondary beliefs? Give an example of
each.
146) What are the different ways in which the major cultural values of a society are expressed?
147) Why is it important for marketers to understand cultural swings?
148) In reacting to the marketing environment, what strategies do firms adopt to shift from a
reactive to a more proactive stance?