BAS 282: The Marketing Environment: SmartBook

When marketers measure how optimistic consumers are about the overall state of the economy and their own personal finances, they are measuring ______.

consumer confidence

Which of the following are examples of factors in the external marketing environment?

* A decrease in the birth rate. * New technology that makes an existing product outdated. * An emerging trend that makes an existing product more popular.

Which of these results are most likely to happen to a company that ignores the marketing environment?

* A failure to anticipate new technologies. * Decreased product demand. * Financial losses

What aspects of the marketing environment must businesses scan to detect marketing moves their competitors are making, and then respond accordingly?

* Advertising and promotional efforts. * Overall market share * New and modified products on the market.

Gracie has her own business selling custom wooden rowboats. Which of the following companies would be Gracie's indirect competitor?

A company that sells jet skis

Which statement best explains how economic conditions affect consumers' willingness to buy products?

Consumers may decide not to purchase things because they are worried about losing their jobs.

In which type of competition do products with similar characteristics and the same or similar functions compete against each other in a market?

Direct

Which statement is true about the economic factors in a marketing environment?

Economic factors influence almost every marketing decision a firm makes.

Why are educated consumers prime targets for marketing strategies?

Educated consumers are likely to earn significantly more money throughout the course of a lifetime.

Which federal agency administers the laws that primarily affect marketing?

Federal Trade Commission

Which of these is an example of technology affecting the market?

The introduction of the iPhone in 2007 changes the way people communicate.

How has the shift in U.S. income distribution affected marketers?

They now need to develop marketing messages for the very rich and the very poor.

Which scenario exemplifies the concept of indirect competition?

Two dissimilar products provide alternate solutions to the same market.

Which of these groups accounts for 85 percent of all consumer purchases in the United States?

Women

Which of these groups have made the most significant gains in purchasing power in recent decades?

Women

The primary function of ______ is to lobby government officials to focus more closely on a particular issue, including some that affect marketing, such as restrictions on certain types of advertising.

a political action committee

Political __________ committees raise money to help elect individuals who regard a specific organization positively, or to promote a particular issue related to a specific industry.

action

Political and legal changes are important to marketers because those changes often ______ marketing plans.

affect

Marketers must take into account that the population in the United States is ______.

becoming increasingly multicultural

Environmental scanning is the act of monitoring ______.

changes outside of a firm's control

An example of __________ competition is when a toy store competes against a sporting goods store.

indirect

Many years ago, a gallon of milk cost less than $2. The fact that the same gallon of milk costs more than $4 today is most likely the result of ______.

inflation

When the general level of product prices in an economy increases, it is referred to as ___________ because each dollar buys less than it did before.

inflation

A firm's daily operations constitute the firm's __________ environment.

internal

Marketers who only do what the competition is doing are relying on __________ indicators, which means they are unlikely to ever dominate the market.

lagging

Which businesses have used new technology to cause a profound shift in the market in the United States?

* Amazon, one of the first companies that enabled customers to view products online and have them shipped directly to their homes instead of having to visit a store in person * Ford Motor Company, which manufactured the first automobile that middle-class consumers in America could afford to buy * Xerox, the first company to market plain-paper photocopy machines

How does competition affect marketing decisions?

* Businesses adjust their advertising in response to ads being run by their rivals. * Businesses must constantly scan the marketing environment to see what competitors are doing. * Businesses develop innovative new ways to sell their products.

Drag each example to the corresponding type of competition. No items may be used more than once.

* Direct Competition - A furniture maker faces competition from a newly opened furniture store. - A clothing boutique faces competition from a large clothing retailer. * Indirect Competition - A bookstore faces competition from a video streaming service. - A local butcher shop faces competition from a store that sells only fresh produce.

What are the four main economic factors that influence marketers?

* Income distribution * Consumer confidence * Inflation * Gross domestic product

Drag each effect to the corresponding sociocultural change that caused it. No items may be used more than once.

* Increase in two-income families -Many business offering extended hours. -"Money-rice, time-poor" society. * Increase in environmental awareness -Companies offering more "green" choices -Companies encouraging consumers to recycle.

What should marketers anticipate when the nation's GDP decreases?

* Increased layoffs * Rising Unemployment * Reduced Consumer Confidence

Kara owns a factory that makes solar panels. She finds out that the government might allow people to deduct the cost of solar panels from their taxes. From a marketing perspective, which of these descriptions apply to this program?

* It is a political factor. * It is an external factor.

What are some typical results of a high level of GDP?

* Lower unemployment rates. * Higher consumer confidence.

When inflation starts to affect sales, how can marketers enhance the value of their products?

* Offer discounts * Accept alternative forms of payment. * Provide online ordering.

Which of these are among the six external environmental factors that influence the marketing environment?

* Sociocultural * Competitive * Demographic

Which of these are demographic characteristics of a target market?

* The age of consumers. * The education level of consumers.

Why do marketers tend to prefer consumers who are highly educated?

* They earn more than other groups. * They easily understand advertising messages.

How is marketing affected by changes in GDP that indicate a recession?

* They reduce willingness to buy products. * They cause a drop in donations to charitable causes.

What are the two main reasons why federal, state, and local governments enact regulations that directly affect the marketing environment?

* To ensure that businesses compete fairly with each other. * To ensure that businesses do not take advantage of consumers.

The four main economic factors that influence marketers are gross domestic product, income distribution, __________ confidence, and __________.

* consumer * inflation

In the United States, which ethnic group has the highest average family income?

Asian Americans

Which statement is true about political changes and legal changes?

Both legal and political changes are important to marketers because they are often intertwined.

Which economic indicator would best help you get a sense of a nation's economic health and standard of living?

Gross domestic product

Marketers are focusing more energy on targeting certain markets, including the ______ market, which is expected to double by 2050 and represent approximately 29 percent of the U.S. population.

Hispanic American

Which of these do marketers control in order to affect the marketing environment?

Marketing mix

What is the definition of immediate environment?

The internal and external changes that occur close to a firm's daily operations

Members of which demographic group are most likely to use social media?

Millennials

What external marketing factor is probably the most influential if legislation is passed that bans the sale of a product to certain age groups?

Political

Which groups lobby government officials to focus more closely on a particular issue, including some that impact marketing?

Political action committees

What action are marketers most likely to take in response to inflation?

Provide more evidence of the value of their products.

Rezzen, an Orlando-based firm, sells video games and tech gadgets. The firm exclusively targets Millennials. What communication channel does Rezzen most likely use as its primary method of reaching its target market?

Social media

What is the definition of the marketing environment?

The internal and external factors that affect firms and may help or hurt a product in the marketplace

While shopping for a new computer, Jake uses an app on his phone to compare the prices and features of computers available at various stores. What external factor affecting the marketing environment does this best represent?

Technological

Regulations such as the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Robinson-Patman Act, and the Wheeler-Lea Act are all enforced by which agency?

The Federal Trade Commission

How does consumer confidence affect a firm's marketing decisions?

The amount consumers spend is often based on their confidence in the stability of their future income.

What is the main difference between a firm's immediate and external environments?

The amount of control a firm has over the environment

What is the definition of sociocultural?

The combination of social and cultural factors that affect individual development

Typically, consumers buy more when ______.

consumer confidence is high

Age, gender, ethnicity, and education level of human populations are the four key characteristics of ______.

demographics

Indirect competitors offer products that have ______.

different characteristics

An example of ___________ competition is when a store selling leather handbags competes against a store that sells jute handbags.

direct

Companies have ______ competitors, who have products with the same or similar characteristics, and ______ competitors, who have products that serve a similar purpose but have different characteristics.

direct; indirect

Gross __________ product per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living.

domestic

The six external environmental factors that influence the marketing environment are competitive, demographic, political/legal, sociocultural, technological, and __________.

economic

The internal and external factors that affect firms and may help or hurt a product in the marketplace are known collectively as the marketing __________.

environment

The process of monitoring changes outside of a company's control in order to detect and respond to threats and opportunities is referred to as ______.

environmental scanning

Marketers often change their strategies when the economy contracts, because consumer confidence is based largely on consumers' ______.

feelings of job security

Over the past few decades, marketers have had to change their strategies as the gap between top earners and bottom earners has ______.

grown

Regular and accurate environmental scanning helps to make a company ______.

proactive rather than reactive

An increase in two-income families, more consumer interest in privacy, and an uptick in environmental awareness are what marketers refer to as ______ changes.

sociocultural

The term that describes the combination of social and cultural factors that affect individual development is __________.

sociocultural

Because a firm's external environment can affect the success of that firm's marketing strategy, marketing professionals continually scan and analyze that environment to detect and respond to ______.

threats and opportunities faced by the firm

The marketing decisions of a firm are influenced by the fact that today ______.

women are the decision makers in the vast majority of consumer purchases