Marketing CH 2

You work for a major athletic brand company and have just recently entered a new market abroad. The marketing team has just identified the target market in the region and is in the process of asking questions that will help identify marketing mix strategies. Which of the following questions is correctly associated with the marketing strategy to which it relates?

"Is this item affordable in this new market?" This relates to price strategy.

You work for the marketing planning department of a breakfast cereal manufacturer and have been asked to determine which products are making money for the company. You decide to use the BCG matrix to make your decisions easier to explain to your counterparts and top management Indicate whether the following scenario represents a project or an initiative that is a star, a cash cow, a question mark, or a dog. Cereal B has made the company billions of dollars since it was put on the market. Customers love this breakfast food, and because the market does not seem to be shifting anytime soon, this product will probably generate income consistently.

Cash cow

The ___________________ section of the marketing plan supplies information about the company's current situation with respect to the ________________, the target market, and the firm's current objectives and performance.

Environmental analysis; marketing environment

You are leading the breakout session on developing the marketing strategy at your company's strategic planning conference. You have prepared discussion guidelines and rules of engagement to keep all attendees in the session focused on the objectives. Which of the following guidelines should you include for developing the company's marketing strategy?

The marketing objectives should specify a time frame for accomplishment.

You have assigned the responsibility for preparing the company's SWOT Analysis to one of the senior analysts on your marketing strategy team. It has been a while since she dealt with a SWOT Analysis, so to refresh her memory you ask her to define its key elements for your review. Which of the following definitions is(are) correct?

- Opportunities are external factors that are favorable to the organization. - Strengths are internal factors that are favorable to the organization. - Threats are external factors that are unfavorable to the organization.

Your quarterly strategic planning meeting will be held next month. You will schedule all the brainstorming and discussion activities for the meeting in a sequence and structure consistent with the hierarchy of the traditional strategic planning process. Which of the following sequence of activities should you schedule in order to be most consistent with the hierarchy of the traditional strategic planning process?

1: develop the company's mission and goals; 2: develop business unit strategies; 3: complete a SWOT analysis of the company; 4: develop functional area goals and objectives.

Wayne works for the parks and recreation department in the Catskills of upstate New York. Wayne has been asked to oversee the Vision 2030 campaign, which includes developing new facilities and services for community members; building a small theme park; and collaborating with local youth service organizations to address the recreational needs of teenagers and young adults. As Wayne's intern, you have a clear idea of what the strategic plan for the department entails, but you need to help your colleagues devise some tactical plans. Wayne asks you to focus on strategic development of parks and recreation services that are not only entertaining but also improve community health; it will be called the "Health in Entertainment" initiative.Which of the following would you suggest as a tactical plan linked to the aforementioned strategic plan?

Conducting a community needs assessment to identify key health disparities and health services gaps in the area

You have been hired as the head of marketing for a new fitness chain that has locations across the United States. You are aware of the competitive market and want to implement a differentiation strategy that will help solidify the brand. You know that in order to succeed, you must consider the environmental dimensions of marketing and develop strategies for segmenting and targeting markets. If you decide to focus specifically on diversity and sociocultural factors when developing your marketing plan and want to target the Hispanic population because it is the fastest growing minority in the United States according to the Census Bureau, which of the following strategies would work best?

Developing fitness programs that incorporate Latin dance and music and healthy eating courses that focus on making meals popular in Latin cultures

You work for the marketing planning department of a hotel chain that invests in properties all over the world and have been asked to determine which acquisitions are making money for the company. You decide to use the BCG matrix to make your decisions easier to explain to your counterparts and top management. Indicate whether the following scenario represents a project or an initiative that is a star, a cash cow, a question mark, or a dog. Even though the company continues to invest in Property C, it has not really generated revenue or income. You are going to suggest that the company sell this property to another firm.

Dog

You work for an airline company in the process of creating a new business plan for expansion. In order to succeed, the company's CEO and president of the board have called a meeting with the managers of each department to be part of the visioning process. You look at the company's profits and competitive advantage in the market; the relationships between customers and the company; how the company engages loyal customers; and internal business processes to help determine the company's future direction. A few of you decide that the primary focus should be to set up at least one hub in each region of the African continent. Furthermore, you determine that the funding to be used for this initiative cannot come out of your operational budget; thus the marketing and development teams must come up with a capital campaign fundraiser to gather the resources needed to expedite the project. What type of planning is being described in the scenario?

Strategic planning

You are leading the breakout session on developing the marketing strategy at your company's strategic planning conference. You have prepared discussion guidelines and rules of engagement to keep all attendees in the session focused on the task at hand. Your correct guidelines for developing the company's marketing strategy is:

Suggesting that the marketing objectives should be consistent with both the business-unit and the corporate strategies.

T-Mobile is the American operating entity of the German wireless network operator, T-Mobile International AG. Recently, T-Mobile eliminated its cell-phone plan contracts and now allows customers to come and go as they choose. Although the company has eliminated the "upgrade" system, where buyers can upgrade their cell phones for free after their 2-year contract is up, T-Mobile allows its clients to purchase phones, pay monthly installments, and have affordable plans. Those customers who may want to switch to T-Mobile but have contracts with competitors such as AT&T and Verizon can easily switch over because T-Mobile is willing to pay the client early termination fees (ETFs) with those companies. In the scenario above, the social-cultural, economic, and competitive environments are critical. Which of the following statements correctly describes the move(s) T-Mobile has made to respond to its socio-cultural environment?

T-Mobile is aware that people like to have the latest gadgets and purchase new phones often.

You asked your stockbroker to consider buying some shares of Facebook, Inc. for your investment account. But, first you want to review the summary points in the SWOT analysis the stockbroker's firm did on the company. The following summary points were listed in the SWOT analysis: 1. Facebook has a reputation as a market leader and it is quickly establishing a formidable brand loyalty amongst its users. 2. Because of its position in the industry, it risks incurring high costs associated with creating and marketing new products that are designed to perpetuate its industry leadership. These summary points suggest:

That Facebook has a first-mover advantage.

You work for a multinational food group that has recently entered the gluten-free market because top management has noticed that consumers are making healthier food choices and opting for healthier snacks. Although the company is a new entrant into the market, management is excited to see whether its marketing is effective and whether target markets respond positively to the marketing mix strategies that are employed. Because the company used second-mover strategy, the marketing team has been able to observe other companies and determine best practices when marketing gluten-free products. The marketing team at your company realizes that even though people want to eat well and make healthier choices about their snacks, they do not necessarily want to pay exorbitant prices for these products. To cut manufacturing and production costs, your company works directly with organic farmers to produce the ingredients and outsources some of the jobs so that the company can still make a profit. All these strategies enable the company to succeed and make a 45% profit during the first quarter of the year. Which of the following is the best possible explanation for the company's success?

The marketing team was able to learn from the first movers in the market and decrease the cost of their products.

You own a small landscaping business and would like to purchase new equipment that will help grow the business. To do this, you will need to obtain a business loan from the local bank. You have scheduled a meeting with a loan officer and she requested that you bring along your marketing plan. Fill in the blanks with the word(s) from the drop down list that best complete(s) each description.

Your company's MISSION is: To enhance the value and beauty of every customer's lawn. The purpose of purchasing the new equipment is to grow your business by 25% over the next four months. This is an example of a(n) OBJECTIVE. The new equipment you would like to purchase will allow you to mow lawns faster which will result in you servicing five additional customers per day. However, you will need to hire an additional employee to help with the increased business. This analysis of your company's strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities occurs during STEP 3 of the marketing planning process. You have determined that your target market includes single-family residences with a .25 acre lot or larger. Pricing for your services will range between $35 and $80 depending on the size of the lot. These details are part of your MARKETING STRATEGY. Determining the best promotional tools to market your business is likely part of STRATEGY FORMULATION. After the purchase of the new equipment, you find that your business has grown only 20% which is lower than you initially hoped. This realization likely comes during STEP 6 of the marketing planning process.

Your company is holding its annual five-year strategic planning conference. The purpose of the conference is to solidify the go-forward tactics and strategies to enable the company to compete effectively in its industry. You are managing this conference and the various breakout sessions that will take place. Consistent with the sequence of the traditional strategic planning process, the first breakout session should be:

a session where the firm's mission and goals are established or revised.

You work for a company with a diverse portfolio of services and products. Your company specializes in myriad markets, including appliances, aerospace, and electronics, to name a few. Each of the service and product lines within the company has its own staff and reports to the company headquarters quarterly. Furthermore, each service and product line has its own target market and maintains its own human resources, marketing, finance, and research and development departments. Which description matches the scenario described above?

c. Your company has several strategic business units (SBUs).

Walden works as the director of marketing for a health food chain. Every quarter, the company hosts training institutes for new employees in which they learn about each of the corporate departments and how they do their work. This year, Walden has been charged with the task of explaining the various components of an effective marketing strategy. Fill in the blanks with the words from the drop-down list that best complete Walden's speech about marketing tools. Some words may be used more than once.

Effective marketing strategies consist of the target marketing and MARKETING MIX variables. Marketing mix variables include product, distribution, promotion, and PRICE. Companies that are interested in addressing customer needs and building a competitive advantage over rivals must pay attention to these tools in order to ensure success and profitability.

You work for a tech company that is known for its innovation in developing platforms that support mobile technology. The company has thrived on its ability to enter markets before other competitors and on the fact that its customers are loyal. As a strategist, you advise company owners to wait to enter the market with their newest product because you suspect that there are lots of mistakes to be made, and rather than make the mistakes, the company should learn from others' shortcomings. Which of the following is a potential drawback from waiting to enter the competitive market?

If other companies manufacture a good product, you may lose some customers.

Marketers understand that the best marketing strategy in the world is doomed to fail if it is not properly implemented. With that in mind, choose the correct characteristics of an effective implementation strategy.

It begins with identifying the activities to be performed and ends with assigning responsibility for each activity to one or more team members.

You work for a company that offers electrical products as well as loan services for refinancing large purchases. You are in the process of conducting a portfolio analysis and come across a document with some blurred words. Fill in the blanks with the correct words from the drop-down list so you can make sense of the document.

Over the course of the last decade, the company's MARKET SHARE has grown exponentially. The strength of our product, promotion, price, and distribution strategies has enabled us to tackle a market that is traditionally very difficult to permeate. Because a majority of our product lines are CASH COWS, we have been able to take the PROFITS from those products and invest them in the research and development of other potentially lucrative businesses.

Your company markets a bracelet that monitors the wearer's heart rate and other health data. Before making a recommendation to management about how heavily to support this product next year, you decide to use the BCG matrix to make your decisions easier to explain to your counterparts and top management. Indicate whether the following scenario represents a project or an initiative that is a star, a cash cow, a question mark, or a dog. You are still uncertain about the bracelet because it's not particularly popular with customers, though growth in the industry might lead to some profits for the product in the near future.

Question mark

You work for the marketing planning department for a pharmaceutical firm and have been asked to determine which products are making money for the company. You decide to use the BCG matrix to make your decisions easier to explain to your counterparts and top management. Indicate whether the following scenario represents a project or an initiative that is a star, a cash cow, a question mark, or a dog. Allergy Medicine A has been generating money consistently for the last five years. It has a high market share in a market that has grown exponentially for almost a decade.

Star

You are writing an Environmental Analysis for the marketing plan for your company. You were given the following master list of environmental factors that should be addressed in the plan: Foreign exchange rates Trade policy Population growth rates Tax policy Environmental regulations Production automation trends Health and medical trends You are responsible for the subsection dealing with political and regulatory factors that will impact your company's marketing strategies. Which of the factors from the master list of environmental factors will you include in your subsection?

Trade policy; Tax policy; Environmental regulations