Marketing 6301 Quiz chapter 6

At the __________ level, competition is viewed as consisting of other products with similar features.

C. product form

Brands pursuing a profit objective at the expense of some share loss would normally increase their marketing budgets. T or F

False

Cross-elasticity is the change in value in one product's sales to a change in value in a marketing variable for another product. T or F

False

Generic competition is inward orientated. T or F

False

In assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a competitor, it is vital to know the political affiliation of its CEO. T or F

False

In gathering information about the market, it is essential to consult tertiary sources. T or F

False

Solutions to game theory models require you to determine the game's equilibrium, commonly called the Budget Equilibrium. T or F

False

The strengths and weaknesses of competitors and their current and likely future strategies is known as a market structure analysis.

False

A prisoner's dilemma game is the kind of game in which competition leads to a less-than-optimum outcome for both managers. T or F

True

Competitor analysis has an unsavory reputation due to many interpreting it as corporate spying. T or F

True

Economists often use cross-elasticity of demand as an indicator of substitutability. T or F

True

For industrial products and services, the marketing manager can determine the customer and competitor targets by consulting product sales literature, his own sales force, and trade advertising. T or F

True

For industrial products and services, the marketing manager can determine the customer and competitor targets by consulting product sales literature, his own sales force, and trade advertising. T or F

True

Industries subject to strong competition tend to be fertile application areas for game theory and strategic thinking. T or F

True

One approach to classifying or identifying competitors is to divide them into classes: supply-based and demand-based. T or F

True

One of the main parts of a competitor analysis is an assessment of their strengths and weaknesses. T or F

True

One way to anticipate a competitor's likely future strategies is to use a mathematical approach called game theory. T or F

True

Product form or product category competition is inward oriented. T or F

True

Product form or product category competition is inward oriented. T or F

True

Solutions to game theory models require you to determine the game's equilibrium, commonly called the Nash Equilibrium. T or F

True

The bottom line of the competitor analysis is a forecast of their likely marketing strategies over the next year. T or F

True

The strengths and weaknesses of competitors and their current and likely future strategies is known as competitor analysis. T or F

True

To use the game theory, one must have a list of participants, a list of strategies for each participant, and rewards and costs received by each participant. T or F

True

To use the game theory, one must have a list of participants, a list of strategies for each participant, and rewards and costs received by each participate. T or F

True

You can assess competitors' core strategies by studying their marketing communications. T or F

True

List and briefly describe some of the best secondary sources mentioned in the text.

a. A determination of the competitor's major objectives - determine whether the competition is pursuing growth objectives or profit-related objectives. b. An assessment of their current marketing strategies - this includes the segments pursued, how they are positioning the products or services, their value propositions, and the marketing mix. c. An assessment of their strengths and weaknesses - these can be evaluated on a number of dimensions, particularly the key success factors in the market. d. An internal analysis of your firm's strengths and weaknesses relative to the competitors. In other words, how do you match up against them. Perform a SWOT analysis.

List and briefly describe the main parts of a competitor analysis.

a. A determination of the competitor's major objectives - determine whether the competition is pursuing growth objectives or profit-related objectives. b. An assessment of their current marketing strategies - this includes the segments pursued, how they are positioning the products or services, their value propositions, and the marketing mix. c. An assessment of their strengths and weaknesses - these can be evaluated on a number of dimensions, particularly the key success factors in the market. d. An internal analysis of your firm's strengths and weaknesses relative to the competitors. In other words, how do you match up against them. Perform a SWOT analysis.

List and briefly describe the three elements required of the simplest form of a game.

a. A list of participants or players b. For each player, a list of strategies c. A payoff matrix indicating the rewards and cost received by each player.

__________ definitions of the competitive arena creates uncertainty in understanding market structure and conducting market analysis.

a. Ambiguous

List and briefly describe some of the best secondary sources mentioned in the text.

a. Annual reports - you can comb through the report and find interesting financial information, plant locations, and general strategic thrusts from a corporate perspective. b. Patent and trademark filings - these are available from on-line companies such as CompuServe and from Micro Patent. c. General business and trade publications - much information can be obtained from publications that are widely distributed or from those that are targeted towards specific industries. d. Trade associations - these associations are usually formed for public relations or lobbying purposes, but they often perform market research for the member firms, which may provide industry data on market shares and price levels. e. Help-wanted ads - a casual examination of the wanted ads in the Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times shows that companies disclose a good deal of information about their new products, areas of emphasis, job qualifications and standards, new plant or facility locations, and other information. f. Electronic data services - the Web has a number of sites that are of particular interest for analysis.

__________ is the percentage change in one product's sales due to a percentage change in a marketing variable (such as price) for another product.

a. Cross-elasticity

__________ game theory seeks to predict the behavior of rational, intelligent firms competing independently.

a. Non-cooperative

List and briefly describe the four different levels of competition.

a. Product form/type - the narrowest definition of competition that results in the fewest competitors and includes only products or services of the same product type. b. Product class/category - a broader definition than product form that results in a product segment of the industry. c. Generic competition - incorporates the customer's notions about substitutability. At this level, competition is defined as the products or services that the customer views as fulfilling the same need. d. Budget competition - a product that is substitutable in the customer's budget.

List and briefly describe the information required to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a competitor.

a. The ability of the competitor to conceive and design new products - this dimension of the analysis evaluates the new product introduction record of each competitor as well as their resources devoted to this effort. b. The ability of each competitor to produce the product or deliver the service - a firm operating at capacity to produce a product is not as much of a threat to increase sales or share in the short run as is a firm that has slack capacity, assuming a substantial amount of time is required to bring new capacity in-line. c. The ability to market - how aggressive and inventive are the firms in marketing their products? Do they have access to distribution channels? A competitor could have strong product development capabilities and slack capacity but be ineffective at marketing. d. The ability to finance - limited financial resources hamper effective competition. Companies with highly publicized financial problems become vulnerable to competitors. e. The ability to manage - understand competitor moves by studying the backgrounds of the competitor's managers.

Rather than simply reacting to your competitors' moves, it is beneficial to anticipate them and act in a preemptory fashion.

a. True

The reason behind a competitor analysis is best described by which of the following? a. a forecast of their likely marketing strategies over the next year b. a forecast of their likely marketing strategies within the next month c. a forecast of their likely marketing strategies in the next 10 years d. a forecast of their likely marketing strategies in the next five years

a. a forecast of their likely marketing strategies over the next year

If a marketing manager observes that a competitor has increased his price decreased his marketing budget, it would be an example of which of the following?

a. a retreat, although only temporary

Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors and their current and likely future strategies is called __________.

a. competitor analysis

According to the text, all of the following are approaches to predicting a Competitor's future strategies except:

a. corporate espionage

According to the text, all of the following is advice for applying game theory except:

a. industries where there are abundant purchases but each is small

Which of the following is the best example of generic competition in the coffee drip machine category? a. juicers and water purifiers b. other brands of coffee drip machines c. percolators and espresso machines d. pots and pans

a. juicers and water purifiers

Because privately-owned firms do not have to account to stock analysts:

a. long-term profits may be more important than showing consistent positive quarterly returns

For consumer products, which of the following is best in tracking a competitor's segmentation and target market strategy.

a. media advertising

The most common form of equilibrium used for solutions to game theory models is called:

a. nash equilibrium

Other than objectives, all of the following are major elements of the strategy that the marketing manager must monitor except:

a. nonprofit contributions

Which of the below is a good example of competition in "product form" in the coffee drip machine category?

a. other brands of coffee drip machines

Scenario planning is used most often in which of the following types of industries?

a. petroleum

Which of the following best describes different specific combinations of features within each product type?

a. product variants and brands

Which of the following best describes a sophisticated, long-term version of the simulation process?

a. scenario planning

An example of a customer-based assessment of competition is __________.

a. substitution in use

To analyze the strengths and weakness of a competitor, assessment of all of the following categories are important except:

a. the ability to price discriminate effectively

According to the text, all of the following is advice for applying game theory except: a. industries where there are abundant purchases but each is small b. industries where costs are largely fixed, such as airlines and financial services c. industries with four or fewer significant competitors offer the best potential for using game theory d. situations involving competitive bidding

a. the disciplined thinking it imposes on managers

According to the text, all of the following are main parts of a competitor analysis except: a. the political affiliation of the CEO b .a determination of the competitor's major objectives c. an assessment of their current marketing strategies d. an assessment of their strengths and weaknesses

a. the political affiliation of the CEO

In evaluating industrial advertising, __________ can identify the target customers by examining the audiences who view, read, or listen to the medium where competitor's ads appear.

a. tracking services

Scenario planning is particularly useful as a basis for planning in all of the following environments except:

a. where data is abundant

Companies such as Kellogg, IBM, Microsoft, and Intel hire individuals from which one of the backgrounds below to help them better understand their competitors and predict their likely future strategies?

b. CIA

Which of the following is the most difficult kind of competition to assess because it cannot be observed readily and competitors may be numerous?

b. budget and generic

The final level of competition and the most general is called which of the following?

b. budget competition

The brand strategy of pursuing a profit objective at the expense of share loss is usually called a __________ if the ultimate intention is to drop the product.

b. harvest objective

All of the following are mentioned in the text as important attributes of a competitor's marketing communications except:

b. how they use price discrimination

Which of the following types of industries tend to be good application areas for game theory and strategic thinking?

b. industries subject to strong competition

Which of the below best describes a brand that is aggressive in its pursuit of market share?

b. must be viewed as a different kind of competitor than one that is attempting to maximize profits

Which of the following primary sources are excellent in determining competitor sales pitches, pricing, and other aspects of their activity?

b. sales force and customers

The main issues for game theory regarding new product entrants include all of the following except:

c. Is the market a high technology category?

__________ is a list of strategies, one for each player, with the property that no manager wants to unilaterally change his or her strategy.

c. Nash equilibrium

When a marketing manager conducts a competitive assessment, which of the following contains a summary of the different components of an analysis?

c. a SWOT analysis

Which of the following best describes a competitor with an ability to develop new products?

c. a serious long-term threat in a market

According to the text, all of the following are primary sources of information except:

c. annual reports

Which of the following is not a good example of secondary source of information?

c. employees

A casual examination of which of the following secondary sources of information shows that companies disclose a good deal of information about their new products, areas of emphasis, job qualifications and standards, new plant or facility locations, and other information?

c. help-wanted ads

According to the text, all of the following are areas to evaluate for competitors' tactical decisions except:

c. inside information

The concept of __________ is often the case in industries where one company has historically chosen to be the first to change price or make some other marketing mix or strategic decision.

c. leader-follower

A rival marketing manager who is trying to expand a brand's market share will spend money on which of the following types of activities?

c. market development-related activities

Which of the following examples best represents product form competition in drip coffee machine category?

c. percolators and espresso machines

This kind of game is seen often in highly competitive industries where companies, such as Coke and Pepsi, compete.

c. prisoner's dilemma game

The narrowest definition of competition that results in the fewest competitors that includes only products or services of the same product types is called __________.

c. product form competition

According to the text, all of the following are good sources of secondary information except:

c. the company sales force

__________ should be recognizable as a group of products that are close substitutes, are available to a common group of buyers, and are distant substitutes for all products not included in the industry.

d. An industry

When a marketing manager needs to determine the customer and competitor targets for industrial products and services, all of the following are sources of information that are useful except: a. your own sales force b. product sales literature c. trade advertising d. a company spy

d. a company spy

At the __________ level, marketers must convince customers that their product category solution to the customer's problem is superior to the solution provided by other product categories.

d. generic competition

Without disclosing the individual firms involved, __________ provide information about product form and category competitors.

d. government documents

Enabling the marketing manager to understand and identify the competition is the purpose of which of the following?

d. market structure analysis

A company where privatization resulted from a leveraged buyout is interested in which of the following situations?

d. more interested in profits and cash flow to pay down debt

The kind of game, in which competition leads to a less-than-optimum outcome for both managers, is called __________.

d. prisoner's dilemma game

In which of the product categories below is competition inward oriented?

d. product form and product category

Which of the following levels of competition can be determined from observation and external data sources?

d. product form and product category

The simplest form of a game requires all of the following elements except:

d. the age cohort of each player

Without the forecasting aspect of competitor analysis: a.you are always reacting to where competitors are going rather than where they have been b.you are being proactive and can predict trends in the industry c.you are being proactive and can predict where they are going d.you are always reacting to where competitors have been rather than where they are going

d. you are always reacting to where competitors have been rather than where they are going