Video Assignment: The Nederlander Organizaon
The Nederlander Organization is a global theater management company that backs productions,
rents, and manages Broadway-style theaters. In this video, major managers discuss the strategic
decisions behind the development of a separate company to manage a loyalty program for
theater-goers. This company, Audience Rewards, allows a number of theater management
companies to pursue strategic growth and other market opportunities.
1. The Audience Rewards program is a:
a. pricing strategy.
b. promotion strategy.
c. distribution strategy.
d. product strategy.
2. When Josh Lesnick describes the Nederlander Organization’s demographic as skewing
female, 30–59, and with a household income of over $200,000, it indicates that the
Nederlander Organization:
a. is implementing information from a marketing audit.
b. has discovered a sustainable competitive advantage.
c. has compared its rewards program to a benchmark.
d. has conducted a market opportunity analysis.
3. When the Nederlander Organization developed the Audience Rewards program, which
option were they pursuing from Ansoff’s opportunity matrix?
a. Market penetration
b. Market development
c. Product development
d. Diversification
4. As the Nederlander Organization develops Broadway-wide gift cards and credit cards that
allow customers to accumulate points toward show tickets, they are:
a. implementing a diversification strategy by leveraging mailing lists provided by
partners such as Delta Airlines.
b. practicing adjacent innovation by leveraging their Audience Rewards network of
partners.
c. experiencing transformational innovation by partnering with companies who can
guide them in developing new products.
d. harvesting from their cash cow, Evita.
5. What type of competitive advantage does the Nederlander Organization have?
a. Cost competitive advantage
b. Product/service differentiation competitive advantage
c. Niche competitive advantage
d. Loyalty competitive advantage
6. Understanding that theater-goers would be interested in furthering the “Broadway
Experience” by redeeming points for events such as walking the red carpet suggests that
the Nederlander Organization:
a. divested its dogs and built up some dogs.
b. developed new ideas through Ansoff’s Opportunity Matrix.
c. discovered marketing opportunities through environmental scanning.
d. performed a marketing audit and implemented action items.
7. Audience Rewards developed relationships with the Nederlander Organization and other
theater owners to create the loyalty program that spans most Broadway shows. In a SWOT,
this is:
a. a threat, because the Nederlander Organization is a major backer but competes with
the other theaters.
b. an opportunity, because Audience Rewards can use these relationships to force other
theater companies to become part of the loyalty program.
c. a weakness, because Audience Rewards has to rely on these theater companies to
always get along and support the rewards company.
d. a strength, because partnering with these theater companies allows Audience
Rewards to have a competitive advantage against other, smaller loyalty programs.
8. Shows are produced by a large and variable number of different producers and backers.
Customers who go to the theater (no matter the show) are not typically considered a market
because the shows belong to many different people. However, the Nederlander
Organization performed an implementation analysis and realized that this group is a strong
market, if they had the correct method of reaching it.
a. True
b. False
9. One reason the Nederlander Organization wanted to find a way to incentivize its customers
that wasn’t through discounts was that:
a. discounting is a hard way to make money, particularly in Broadway.
b. they already had a niche competitive advantage.
c. it is too easy to lose the cost competitive advantage to the next low price.
d. they depended on backing the best plays to provide the competitive advantage they
needed.
10. An example of a marketing objective for Audience Rewards might be: “To establish a
system of rewards that will encourage customers to purchase at least two more tickets this
year than last year.”
a. True
b. False
Case Assignment: McDonald’s
For years and years, McDonald’s stopped serving breakfast at 10:30 a.m. And for years,
In April 2015, McDonald’s began testing a limited all-day breakfast menu in San Diego.
Then October 2015 came, and McDonald’s did indeed launch all-day breakfast
nationwide. Customers were ecstatic, but some of the initial excitement faded when the actual
Due to the popularity of the item, McDonald’s began testing all-day McGriddle sales at
stores in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in January 2016. By March, they began testing an expanded all-day
After almost a full year of watching sales, listening to customers, and testing new
The expanded all-day breakfast menu will include: Egg McMuffin; Sausage McMuffin
with Egg; Sausage McMuffin; Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit; Sausage Biscuit with Egg;
The all-day breakfast has been McDonald’s most successful initiative in years, leading it
Steve Easterbrook, president and CEO of McDonald’s, also said the company saw a 6
McDonald’s joins Jack in the Box, Bojangles, and Sonic Drive-In among the fast food
McDonald’s made other changes recently in addition to expanding breakfast. They
Sources: “McDonald’s USA Expands Its Popular All Day Breakfast Menu This Fall,”
McDonald’s Newsroom, July 6, 2016, accessed October 20, 2016,
accessed October 20, 2016,
TRUE/FALSE
1. McDonald’s pressed on with the strategic plan of offering all-day breakfast in spite of initial
struggles because strategic decisions require long-term commitment.
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 2-1 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
2. The dessert menu, like the breakfast menu, is a strategic business unit (SBU) of McDonald’s.
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 2-2 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
3. The foundation of any marketing plan is the firm’s mission statement, which defines a
business in terms of goods and services rather than in terms of the benefits customers seek.
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 2-4 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
4. By extending their breakfast menu to all-day, McDonald’s now has a competitive advantage
over Jack in the Box.
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 2-6 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
5. After their initial offering and then expansion of the menu for all-day breakfast, McDonald’s
can now move forward to the next idea and leave that strategic plan behind.
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 2-11 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. The breakfast menu is the __________ in McDonald’s portfolio.
a. star
b. cash cow
c. problem child
d. dog
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 2-3 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
2. McDonald’s would have conducted a(n) __________ to identify the strength of the breakfast
menu and the potential revenue increase by extending its offerings to all-day.
a. competitive advantage
b. marketing myopia
c. SWOT analysis
d. environmental scanning
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 2-5 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
3. Marketing objectives should be all of the following EXCEPT:
a. realistic
b. measurable
c. time specific
d. abstract
e. comparable against a benchmark
f. Marketing objectives should be all of these.
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 2-7 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
4. Which of the following is NOT one of the four Ps of the marketing mix?
a. product
b. planning
c. place (distribution)
d. promotion
e. pricing strategies
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 2-9 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
5. By extending breakfast menu hours and launching a campaign to advertise this, McDonald’s
began the __________ of the marketing plan.
a. evaluation
b. implementation
c. control
d. audit
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 2-10 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
Great Ideas for Teaching Chapter 2
James S. Cleveland, Sage College of Albany
Discussion Board Topics to Encourage Participation
Discussion board questions provided to students to encourage them to engage in thinking and
writing about the content of the Principles of Marketing course usually take the form of a
provocative statement to which students are asked to respond. An example of this would be “All
PR is good PR.”
Discussion topics such as this one are abstract and often require that the instructor provide an
initial reply to show students what is expected of them in their own responses. For students with
limited work experience, this approach may be quite appropriate. For adult students with
extensive experience as employees and consumers, however, the abstract nature of such topics
can be frustrating.
I have developed, therefore, a series of discussion board questions to use with experienced adult
students. These questions are designed to encourage them to use their experiences as employees
and consumers as doorways to better understand the course material and to make their own
responses more interesting to themselves and to the other students in the class who will read and
comment on them.
Each question has three parts.
1. First, there is a sentence or two from the students’ textbooks introducing the topic. By
using the text author’s own words, students are enabled to locate relevant material in the
text more easily, the text content is reinforced, and confusion resulting from use of variant
terms or expressions is minimized.
2. Second, there is a reference to text pages the students should review before proceeding.
Since the goal of the exercise is for students to apply the course content to their own
experiences, reviewing the content first is important.
3. Third, there is a request for the students to think about or remember some specific
situations in their experiences to which they can apply the text material, and a question or
questions for them to address in their responses.
The following example is for Chapter 2 of MKTG11. The three parts have been separated here so
they are more readily visible.
1. The term marketing mix refers to a unique blend of product, distribution, promotion, and
pricing strategies designed to produce mutually satisfying exchanges with a target market.
2. Review the four parts of the marketing mix from section 2–10 of your text.
3. Then, choose an idea, good, or service with which you are familiar, and describe its
marketing mix and how it resulted (or did not result) in a satisfying exchange for you.
Martha E. Hardesty, The College of St. Catherine
Buying an Education: The Four Ps on Day One
Students enrolled in my two-credit Introduction to Marketing course may be freshmen exploring
a business major, sophomores fulfilling a requirement for the accounting degree, or even senior
I begin the first class by asking students to break into small buzz groups. I then pass out a sheet
with the question, “Why are you buying your education at The College of St. Catherine?”
Typical answers for the first question might be “Small class size,” “Financial aid package,” etc.
As I collect their responses on the board, I discuss items as choices made by them or by the
institution. They gradually notice that I am listing their comments deliberately in one of four
columns. They note as well that I am keeping a separate list of other colleges they mention that
they had also considered. Inevitably, the discussion produces the four Ps of the marketing mix
and gives the foundation of our course. Typical inputs are listed below.
Product (specific major, class size, academic reputation, etc.)
The list of other colleges generates the competition.
The profile of the customer, “What you have in common,” is much less obvious to them. At this
private women’s college, gender and religion are sometimes mentioned; more often, students
Within the first class, then, we have generated the fundamental concepts of the course. Students
begin to differentiate the four Ps and to recognize the influence of competition on managing the
Paul LeMay Burr, University of Incarnate Word
Richard M. Burr, Trinity University
Analyzing Company Strategy via Multiple Resources
Beyond basic marketing courses, students can be expected to analyze the marketing strategies of
companies by building a “database” using widely available sources.
1. Encourage students to choose for a class project a publicly traded company. Owners of
2. Students should immediately request via the firm’s 1-800 shareholder relations number
3. Search the company’s website for annual and quarterly reports and press releases of strategic
4. Utilize the EDGAR website and the Security and Exchange Commission’s database of filings
5. Analyze Value Line’s one-page profile of highly useful data about the company, an industry
6. Study page B-2 of the Monday through Friday editions of the Wall Street Journal for daily
7. Search ABI/Inform, a database of over 1,000 publications that allows keyword subjects and
8. Analyze Hoover’s Handbook of American Business, which profiles publicly traded
9. Finally, give students specific heading areas to look for in their analysis of the firm’s strategy,
P.J. Forrest, Mississippi College
Marketing Mix Reports
One of the most helpful projects I’ve ever assigned in Principles of Marketing is Marketing Mix
Reports. The students pick a good or a service at the beginning of class, and throughout the
At the beginning of the semester, the students are required to choose a product by brand name.
Many popular brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, and Coca-Cola are chosen, but also some
In the past, I’ve had them hand in a single report after we had covered product, place, promotion,
and price, but at present, I break it down into four separate reports. These one- or two-page