A salesperson for an athletic shoe company is assigned the functions of order-getting,
order-taking, and sales support. Is this a mistake by his company?
A. No, because order-getters tend to be less well trained than order-takers.
B. No, because sales support activities can require a great deal of technical knowledge.
C. Yes, because order-takers are often required to develop sales presentations.
D. Yes, because one employee may fulfill all three types of roles for some businesses.
E. Yes, because supporting salespeople should always be involved in order-getting as
well.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT a trend affecting marketing strategy planning in the area
of Demographic Patterns?
A. explosion in senior and ethnic submarkets
B. higher real income growth in U.S.
C. geographic shifts in population
D. aging of the baby boomers
E. population growth slowdown in U.S.
Answer:
Which of the following statements is true?
A. Consumer demand for a specific brand at a profitable price helps build brand equity.
B. Brand equity is likely to be higher if retailers are eager to stock the brand.
C. The value of a brand to its current owner is called brand equity.
D. It is usually difficult and expensive to build brand recognition.
E. All of these statements are true.
Answer:
Jonquil, Inc., located in Walla Walla, Washington, is a major manufacturer of class rings
for colleges. It is one of two ring companies trying to become the solely authorized
class ring distributor for Carter Glass University in Virginia-a large university of over
25,000 students. When invited to make a sales presentation to the buying group at
Carter Glass University, Jonquil sent the national vice-president of marketing, the
national customer service director, the national design director, the regional sales
manager, and the local sales representative in Virginia. During the sales presentation,
each person discussed what role he/she would have in serving the Carter Glass
University account. Jonquil, Inc. seems to be doing:
A. Joint problem solving.
B. Team selling.
C. Sales promotion.
D. Order taking.
E. Missionary selling.
Answer:
With regard to retail buying:
A. most retail buyers see themselves as purchasing agents for their suppliers.
B. buying committees, instead of individual retail buyers, may make the decisions.
C. retail buyers make most purchases as modified rebuys.
D. persuasive salespeople, not buying committees, are the key influencers in the buying
process.
E. None of these alternatives is correct.
Answer:
Advertising expenditures by U.S. corporations:
A. average only about 2.5 percent of sales.
B. must be approved by an advertising agency that is registered with the Federal Trade
Commission.
C. are higher for newspaper advertising than television advertising.
D. are lower than in other countries.
E. are highest for business product companies (as a percent of sales).
Answer:
Use this information to answer the following question that refer to the PSI case.
Pump Systems, Inc. (PSI) produces two major kinds of water pumps. The smaller
pumps range in price from $5-$30, and are used in drinking fountains and soft-drink
machines. Most of these pumps are bought by manufacturers of these machines and
built into their product. PSI also builds larger pumps used in swimming pools and
reservoirs. The prices of these items range from $250-$500. These are usually
purchased by contractors, who build the pools and reservoirs.
PSI sells nationally through sales reps located in the large industrial centers. These reps
handle the selling function for PSI in their geographic areas and provide market
information. They usually do the same thing for 10 to 20 similar manufacturers of
noncompeting products-and are paid on a commission basis.
There are no other producers of the smaller pumps in the United States-because PSI has
patent protection. As a result of this, management has decided to follow a policy of
pricing high-to maximize profits-while the patent lasts.
Several competitors are in the market for the larger pumps. Industry prices and profits
of these pumps have dropped in the past few years as a result of firms trying to increase
their market shares. The product design has remained fairly stable over the last few
years-and one firm dropped out as it saw that it would lose more money with its
“me-too” product. Industry sales are increasing-but at a very slow rate. The price of
these products is determined by adding a standard markup percentage to the variable
cost of the items-to cover fixed costs and profit. For instance, pump Z has variable costs
of $250 per unit, and a markup of 40 percent of this cost is added to the $250 to get its
selling price. Management has estimated that fixed costs applicable to this product are
$200,000 per year.
PSI publishes a product catalog which is revised annually. Also, it exhibits in most trade
shows. PSI follows a policy of charging the same price to all customers-so all will have
the same costs at their own plants. All purchases are shipped directly from PSI’s factory
to its customers-and title passes at PSI’s factory.
What pricing policy does PSI use for its small pumps?
A. Skimming pricing
B. Price lining
C. Target return pricing
D. Prestige pricing
E. Penetration pricing
Answer:
Which of the following observations provides some hope that micro-marketing is
becoming more efficient and effective?
A. More firms are becoming sales-oriented.
B. More firms are becoming production-oriented.
C. Fewer firms are becoming customer-oriented.
D. Firms are embracing new technologies and diversity.
E. None of these is a good answer.
Answer:
Many firms prefer to distribute directly to the final customer or consumer because they
A. want to control the whole marketing job.
B. believe they can serve target customers at a lower cost.
C. think they can do the work more effectively than intermediaries.
D. can use the Internet to make direct distribution easier.
E. all of these are reasons why firms prefer direct distribution.
Answer:
A company that sells equipment through independent wholesalers wants to find out why
sales are down in one region. An analyst is asked to interview the wholesaler in that
region. This seems to be
A. part of a situation analysis.
B. the beginning of a focus group interview.
C. gathering information that will be analyzed by a statistical package.
D. a bad practice, since the problem has not been defined yet.
E. None of these choices is correct.
Answer:
Managers who think of customers existing to buy the firm’s output rather than of firms
existing to serve customers and-more broadly-the needs of society, have a
A. marketing orientation.
B. production orientation.
C. selling orientation.
D. dynamic orientation.
E. customer orientation.
Answer:
All of the following products are in the market maturity stage of the product life cycle
except:
A. laundry detergents.
B. breakfast cereals.
C. ultra high-definition TVs.
D. carbonated soft drinks.
E. gasoline-powered cars.
Answer:
Intensive distribution at the retail level would probably be most appropriate for:
A. Sports coats
B. Batteries
C. 10 speed bicycles
D. Tennis rackets
E. 35mm cameras
Answer:
The main difference between the “marketing department era” and the “marketing
company era” is:
A. more emphasis on selling and advertising in the marketing department era.
B. whether the president of the firm has a background in marketing.
C. more emphasis on short-run planning in the marketing company era.
D. whether the whole company is customer-oriented.
E. There is no difference.
Answer:
The Robinson-Patman Act says that to be legal, price differences must be based on:
A. a need to meet competition and cost differences
B. a reasonable profit margin as determined by the FTC
C. freight costs
D. transportation differences
E. None of these alternatives is correct.
Answer:
Macro-marketing:
A. is concerned with the activities performed by individual business organizations.
B. tries to match heterogeneous supply capabilities with heterogeneous demands for
goods and services.
C. is concerned with how effectively and fairly an individual business organization
performs.
D. assumes that the effectiveness and fairness of all macro-marketing systems must be
evaluated in terms of the same social objectives.
Answer:
_____ is what a customer must give up to get the benefits offered by the rest of a firm’s
marketing mix.
A. Promotion
B. Price
C. Product
D. Past
E. Profit
Answer:
National Family Opinion (NFO) contacts several hundred members of its consumer
panel and provides them with a printed description of a new chewing gum and its
package. Consumers are then given a survey containing several multiple-choice
questions about their attitudes toward the new product, based on what they read in the
description. The final survey question asks consumers to indicate the likelihood that
they would purchase the product. NFO seems to be conducting a:
A. Market test.
B. Concept test.
C. Prototype test.
D. Sensitivity test.
E. Attitude test.
Answer:
Baby boomers were born:
A. between 1978 and 1994
B. since 1994
C. between 1965 and 1997
D. between 1946 and 1964
E. before 1945
Answer:
In the context of interpreting data, identify the most accurate statement.
A. The confidence interval refers to the range located on the left side of an estimate.
B. The confidence interval is likely to contain the true value for the whole population.
C. The confidence interval is always very narrow.
D. The smaller the sample, the greater the accuracy of estimates from a random sample.
E. With a larger sample, a few unusual responses are more likely to make a big
difference.
Answer:
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA):
A. Provides a plan to reshape the rules of trade among Canada, the United States, and
Colombia.
B. Has resulted in the movement of production jobs to Mexico due to lower labor costs.
C. Eliminates the need for companies to adjust strategies.
D. Makes it more difficult to resolve trade disputes among the countries participating in
NAFTA.
Answer:
The “continuum of environmental sensitivity” suggests that:
A. some products are more adaptable to international markets than others.
B. it is extremely risky to sell basic commodities in international markets.
C. industrial products need to be adapted more than consumer products for international
markets.
D. All of these statements about the continuum of environmental sensitivity are true.
Answer:
Marketing managers should view potential customers as
A. all alike.
B. all having the same needs.
C. always wanting to meet needs in the same way.
D. grouped into segments of similar consumers.
E. different types, but all having the same characteristics.
Answer:
Mark is trying to determine his firm’s average cost per unit of production. He finds that
the cost for all labor and materials is $80,000 and fixed overhead expenses are $40,000.
If the company produces 20,000 items in the time period, the average cost is
A. $12.
B. $2.
C. $6.
D. $4.
E. $10.
Answer:
A Hewlett-Packard sales rep is making a presentation about a new printer product to a
group of purchasing agents when one of the agents withdraws to read a text message. In
the traditional communication model, the text-reading is the:
A. Source
B. Receiver
C. Noise
D. Decoding
E. Encoding
Answer:
Which of the following transportation modes is “best” at handling a variety of goods?
A. Truck
B. Rail
C. Water
D. Air
E. Pipeline
Answer:
Best Buy sets its prices below other electronics stores in its service area and generally
attracts more customers than the others. Best Buy apparently hopes to earn a profit by
A. achieving status quo pricing objectives.
B. setting prices based on “value in use.”
C. relying on a high margin percent.
D. setting prices based on a cost-oriented approach.
E. achieving a high stockturn rate.
Answer:
Pricing objectives should be explicitly stated because:
A. they have a direct effect on pricing policies as well as price setting methods.
B. they are signals given to competing firms.
C. they form the basis of shareholder expectations about a firm’s prospects.
D. it is required by law.
E. they are signals given to consumers.
Answer:
Integrated direct-response promotion:
A. isn’t necessary or useful when the channel of distribution involves intermediaries.
B. is usually part of a pushing effort rather than part of a pulling approach.
C. focuses on achieving a measurable, direct response from specific target customers.
D. All of these alternatives are correct for integrated direct-response promotion.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT a trend affecting marketing strategy planning in the
Pricing area?
A. overuse of sales and deals
B. more attention to exchange rate effects
C. use of “free” as a price
D. increasing use of electronic bidding and auctions
E. decreasing use of value pricing
Answer: